To go to Boro with a view not to concede

[BedsFFC]

and achieve it, really is what a top ten team would achieve.

Well done boys.

Boro's last 4 home games

Middlesbrough
3-0
Leeds      
Middlesbrough
3-0
Wolves   
Middlesbrough
3-1
Brentford      
Middlesbrough
2-0
MK Dons

[Fulham1959]

Good post, Beds !

[love4ffc]

It shows that when this team is firing on all cylinders that they can do good things.  Hope this is the start of something big and not just a one off.

[filham]

Then a clean sheet away to a team with this recent home form is magnificent. I would like to think it shows that Kit has at last got or defence playing as a unit but before such a conclusion can be made we need to see a couple of good performances in the next two games.

[Sir Alec of good Stock]

It was always going to take some time for a newly put together defence to gel. However good a player is, it takes time to learn the strength and weaknesses of those around you.
An excellent point.

[fulham traveller]

I thought we would lose 3-0'. Well done lads

[Wearethewhites]

I'm just hoping we take this into the Leeds game and do another Wolves. Every time we seem to take a step forward, we end up taking 3 steps back.

[DJinNJ]

Agreed, not as good for the neutral, but I think 0-0 serves us better than 3-3. There's goals in this team, we just need to improve defensively. After the last couple of seasons, I would have taken 16 goals conceded in the first 11 games back in August, but hopefully we can still improve on that.

[mikestrand]

Reminded me of Charlton circa 2005.

[Forever Fulham]

I don't get all the happiness over a tie.  I get that it's an away game, and that 'boro is a top tier Championship team.  But if we really have ambitions of returning to the EPL ASAP, we can't be satisfied with a tie.  Ever.  When you play to eke out a tie, you rationalize settling for less.  But  we've been through the meat grinder with this team over the last two years, and we have a lot of new players, playing next to those with whom they aren't entirely familiar.  Plus, we were missing a few starters for this game.   So I get that a tie against this team, at this time, seems like an accomplishment.  But it's a slippery slope to accepting ties as decent enough.  But you can't think that way if you want to be promoted.  On paper, we had more than enough quality to match 'boro. 

[snarks]

I think you're right, but it's a draw not a tie, still for all the recent performances and against a team that are particularly high flying, yes my ambitions are such that not losing is a good result, but only if fulham beat leeds, otherwise 1 point from 6 is not what I want, 4 from 6 would do though.

[lamby]

I have been calling for a good old fashioned Roy Hodgson boring, composed, structured nil all away for ages. Grind out a few points away against the best teams. 

[Alexis]

I have been calling for a good old fashioned Roy Hodgson boring, composed, structured nil all away for ages. Grind out a few points away against the best teams. 

Let's just hope we don't end up at 7th place in the Championship.

[JHaynes Paperboy]

I don't get all the happiness over a tie.  I get that it's an away game, and that 'boro is a top tier Championship team.  But if we really have ambitions of returning to the EPL ASAP, we can't be satisfied with a tie.  Ever.  When you play to eke out a tie, you rationalize settling for less.  But  we've been through the meat grinder with this team over the last two years, and we have a lot of new players, playing next to those with whom they aren't entirely familiar.  Plus, we were missing a few starters for this game.   So I get that a tie against this team, at this time, seems like an accomplishment.  But it's a slippery slope to accepting ties as decent enough.  But you can't think that way if you want to be promoted.  On paper, we had more than enough quality to match 'boro. 

1 point away and 3 points at home, "you do the math"

[Fulham1959]

I don't get all the happiness over a tie.  I get that it's an away game, and that 'boro is a top tier Championship team.  But if we really have ambitions of returning to the EPL ASAP, we can't be satisfied with a tie.  Ever.  When you play to eke out a tie, you rationalize settling for less.  But  we've been through the meat grinder with this team over the last two years, and we have a lot of new players, playing next to those with whom they aren't entirely familiar.  Plus, we were missing a few starters for this game.   So I get that a tie against this team, at this time, seems like an accomplishment.  But it's a slippery slope to accepting ties as decent enough.  But you can't think that way if you want to be promoted.  On paper, we had more than enough quality to match 'boro. 

How about we learn to walk, before we try to enter the sprint race ?

[Max Headroom]

statistically, with middlesborough second with one of the meanest defences and most prolific attack, it makes it one of the top two hardest games of the season, so a nil nil draw is excellent.

[Forever Fulham]

I'm doing the math(s) alright.  This isn't the start of the season.  We  aren't near the top of the table.  We have a lot of making up to do.  When you play for a draw, is it really any different than trying to hang on to a lead?  And we've seen how that has gone.  No more attacking, no more keeping the opponent out of a rhythm and pinned back.

[HatterDon]

Well, first of all we didn't play negatively. We had 49% possession overall and 64% in the first half. We had 13 shots to their 15, and -- from what I was able to hear on the radio, and from subsequent reports -- a very large portion of the match was end-to-end.

It's not as if we parked the bus and played defense against their offense for 90 minutes. We played the game well and we got a hard-earned point AND the clean sheet. Considering that we were without our default LB and one CB AND considering we lost our GK to injury with a significant amount of time left, I'd say the result bodes extremely well for us going forward.

Of course, there are some who can find negativity out of anything short of 3 points. This, however, ain't a video game.

[Forever Fulham]

I agree with all of that, and I think I sufficiently qualified my initial post. 

[Funky Fulham Dave]

Yes HatterDon's summary of the game is just about right.

Fulham played very, very well and had McCormack taken just a little more time with a chance near the end Fulham would have earned and deserved the victory. And as far as Karanka's moan-up about time wasting don't believe it. The Boro' manager was clearly frustrated by Fulham's excellent defensive display on the day, which was interspersed with some really good attacking play.

And something that has largely gone unmentioned is a decent penalty award to Fulham in the first half when Boro's Ayala sliding clearance in front of the unguarded Boro' goal was blatantly helped by his arm and hand. Stearmen and O'Hara went nuts and chased after the referee who wasn't having any of it. I wonder what the ref' would have done had it been at the other end?


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