The View From South Texas -- Fulham FC v. Norwich City FA3 Replay

[HatterDon]

Up for the Cup

Yesterday – yes, I know, not my usual publishing speed – Fulham roasted an all-at-odds Norwich City at half-empty Craven Cottage and sent them down the mine in search of a Canary and out of the FA Cup.

Bouncing back from perhaps the most embarrassing league result in recent memory, Fulham controlled the action almost from the beginning and ran out 3-0 winners. It was much easier than the scoreline indicated. Yes, young Murphy started again and caused Riether some problems early on, but also early on Norwich displayed a tactical flaw. Passes upfield out of defense were tentative and to zone rather than to player. What was needed here was a greedy opponent – preferably a young winger – to capitalize on this weakness. In Alex Kacaniklic, Fulham have such a young winger, and he purloined passes all match. Fulham also showed a desire to press Norwich's defense and midfield all evening, which made it easier for the Whites to turn toothless City attacks into ruthless Fulham attacks.

Fulham's first goal combined two wingers, a center mid and a fullback, but was scored by our much maligned striker Darren Bent. Bent's not the most industrious chap ever to wear the black and white, but he knows what to do with a cross and a distracted defense. Fulham's second came from the Andrew Johnson playbook. Bent stretched out the defense by going wide, Kacaniklic moved to the right wing further confusing them, and found right winger Ashkan Dejagah racing into the penalty area like an Iranian Clint Dempsey. Two crosses, two easy conversions. What next?

Well, it wasn't immediately next, but Fulham's third goal came from a cross hammered into the back of the net by the White's own special one Iniesta. How sad is it when your leading goalscorer is a central midfielder and you have two proven goalscorers in your striker corps? Pretty sad, but just imagine how poor our season would be if we didn't have Sidwell out there – match after match – winning the ball, supporting the attack, and converting chances. Yeah, just imagine ... we might be playing crap match after match and finding ourselves in the middle of a relegation struggle.

Hey, wait a minute ... .

Individually? This match was my first look at Dan Burn. I liked what I saw. I think he's better than any CB we have on our books and should stay. Yes, I noticed that Hangeland was back, but I also noticed that he was still tentative and slow on the turn. It might be a fitness thing, but I think Fulham supporters are kidding themselves if they believe that they'll ever see the Hangeland that was the Rock of Defensive Ages.

Generally speaking, starting Special K and Super Iranian made Fulham instantly better. Two attack minded wide players increase the threat of Darren Bent significantly. I'm not all that sure about Karagounis as the protector of the back four, however. Despite the fact that I've seen several shouts for him to be man-of-the-match, I though him most responsible for Norwich's early attacking moves in each half. He dwelt on the ball and conceded possession leading to almost every threat to the Fulham goal. Oh, and speaking of which Stekelenberg was back, and impressed me not at all. I thought Richardson showed why he should be first choice LB, but I haven't figured out what Rene wants his sides to do yet, so I'm not predicting.

Finally, I was pleased to see Tankovic, Dembele, and Christensen get minutes. The highlight of the match for me was watching Dembele muscle Bassong out of the play and retain possession. I don't think City's central defender has had that sort of treatment from many teenagers.

All it all, it was a very good win and round four sends us to darkest Yorkshire to face Sheffield United. If we continue to use youngish players in the Cup, there's no reason why we shouldn't continue to look better in that competition than in the league. Or, maybe our leadership triumvirate will see the benefit in using the youth in the league as well. Well, perhaps.

HatterDon's Man of the Match – With a special salute to Alex Kacaniklic who set the tone of the match early on, the non-existent Shiner Bock keg goes to Steve Sidwell for being an old-fashioned English box-to-box midfielder. Well done you!

[alfie]

Very good read, but how did you want Stekelenberg to impress you, he made one absolute superb save and had virtually nothing to do, so i ask again what did you want him to do?

[HatterDon]

I usually leave the subsequent posts to the readers, but you've raised a fair point.

I thought he looked passive when we were being attacked. I didn't see a lot of movement. The shot that hit the bar and the corner where the Canary headed just over were two examples where I thought he might have been more in tune and less on his heels.

Of course, as you've said, he didn't have much opportunity to impress anyone such was the scarcity of activity around him.

[Nick Bateman]

Interesting read.

I was amused hearing the U.S. coverage announce they were "disappointed" that Clint Dempsey was on the bench....

[Snibbo]

Thanks HD. Insightful as always. Agree re Brede. There was an embarassing incident in the first half where he was left on his arse in the penalty area. If that was Senderos we'd still be hearing about it.

Disagree re Richardson. He got skinned a few times by their Murphy, and generally, for me, looked vulnerable defensively.

My MOM was Dejagah. He should be the first name on the teamsheet.

[Lighthouse]

I am still concerned that our keeper never actually ever leaves his line on crosses and corners.

[RidgeRider]

Well done!

[St Eve]

I thought Stecks and Brede solidified the defence. Kara was excellent. Richardson does not impress me.

[alfie]

I usually leave the subsequent posts to the readers, but you've raised a fair point.

I thought he looked passive when we were being attacked. I didn't see a lot of movement. The shot that hit the bar and the corner where the Canary headed just over were two examples where I thought he might have been more in tune and less on his heels.

Of course, as you've said, he didn't have much opportunity to impress anyone such was the scarcity of activity around him.

That's fair enough HD, sometimes when you sit in the stands you are looking at everything thats going on, whereas on tv it is focused where the ball is so you probably would have a better view of what the keeper was doing that i had.
Mind you i still think he is the best keeper we have.

[epsomraver]

Hd you missed the fact that we could have been 2 down in 3 minutes after the bar was hit and a sitter was missed by Norwich, we were very shaky from the off but settled quickly, something we cannot afford Saturday.I also do not agree with your comments re Hangeland, first competitive match for months ," he will never get back to his former self," I think you are wrong there.

[epsomraver]

I usually leave the subsequent posts to the readers, but you've raised a fair point.

I thought he looked passive when we were being attacked. I didn't see a lot of movement. The shot that hit the bar and the corner where the Canary headed just over were two examples where I thought he might have been more in tune and less on his heels.

Of course, as you've said, he didn't have much opportunity to impress anyone such was the scarcity of activity around him.

That's fair enough HD, sometimes when you sit in the stands you are looking at everything thats going on, whereas on tv it is focused where the ball is so you probably would have a better view of what the keeper was doing that i had.
Mind you i still think he is the best keeper we have.

Careful Alfie, people get very touchy when you make that point, however I agree 100% with your comments.

[EJL]

Thanks HD. Insightful as always. Agree re Brede. There was an embarassing incident in the first half where he was left on his arse in the penalty area. If that was Senderos we'd still be hearing about it.

Disagree re Richardson. He got skinned a few times by their Murphy, and generally, for me, looked vulnerable defensively.

My MOM was Dejagah. He should be the first name on the teamsheet.

To me, it looked like Hangeland simply slipped.