There's only one thing that sticks out to me about yesterday's game..

[General]

and all that is was the word "draw" - That's 8 of them, 3 losses and 2 wins all season and we still have a manager who seems happy with how we're playing!

It's all very well getting a draw every now and then against big teams and calling it a positive result and maybe against newcastle under the present circumstances it was but my god it's starting to frustrate me.

Why oh why can't we win... How far the apple has fallen from the tree - We go from beating juve, hamburg etc to finding it hard to beat anyone in the league! That's shameful.

When do things need to pick up by before the word "sack" comes into play - we're dreadful.

[FFCSteve]

We don't win because we are badly in need of a regular goal scorer.
We do make decent forward play but lack the finishing!

I look at it the other way.... A draw is better than a loss at the moment!

I believe Sparky gets seriously frustrated with draws. He knows exactly what we need. But until January, there is nothing he can do.

What else is he going to say during interviews without sounding negative all the time!

[LBNo11]

...I agree with your comments FFC Steve, especially the last two sentences. I also understand that we have our main goalmaker/scorer our of action and have suffered some injuries.

We have a squad of players, most of whom last season took us to the final of a European competition and fought against all odds to secure some memorable wins, so why can Mr Hughes not get them to string passes together nowadays, and why do we still pump high balls to a height impaired striker. We lack any width and only look dangerous when we cross from the line as in the days of wingers?

To me we are looking increasingly toothless and clueless in attack, no plan 'B' and even plan 'A' is looking suspect.

I am not calling for Mr Hughes head, I know that with some big spending in January, he will have an opportunity to make his mark, survive this season and maybe secure us a good position next season before he leaves, but it would be good to get our existing squad to play with more consistency and with a better sense of purpose...

[Jimpav]

Sorry TKTD/General but I think you are being pretty harsh on Sparky and the team with regards to all the draws we have had.

Not sure if this is a wind up but I'm going to bite anyway because there are others out there who might benefit from the half full approach as opposed to engineering a "Sparky out" campaign.

Firstly we've been completely incapacitated by our lack of strikers. There is nothing that Hughes could have done about this as the injuries came after the transfer window shut. Strikers = goals = wins.

Dembele is a great player but has been a shadow of his first few games since he came back from a long spell on the sidelines. Its unrealistic to expect him to walk straight back into a new team and start banging in goals.

Zamora, our star man, played about 3 games before he was savagely injured.

AJ has been out for 11 months before making his first start yesterday. Not sure what you expected from hi so far but try praying because only God can work miracles like that.

Dempsey/Gera will both get goals from the midfield but are not proven strikers. Bar his injury Dempsey earlier this year Dempsey has played non stop for about 3 years. Gera plays his best football when partnering Zamora and given free reign. We can't use this tactic until Zamora is fit.

If you read any of the match reports we did well yesterday. Contained Newcastle and threatened to score on a few occasions. We are playing a side that smashed Sunderland 5-1 and Villa 6-0. Oh and scraped a 1-0 win at the Emirates last week. So in my humble opinion a draw is not a bad result.

The team that beat Hamburg/Juventus/Basel was one with something to play for andwere making history every game, they had the whole country behind them. However  they also finished 12th last season. We might not be going to a European final but I guarantee you we will finish 12th or higher.

Is it really any surprise that we have not won away under Sparky when we have only won 9 away league games in 5 years?

It's very early to be judging the bloke given the injuries we have suffered and the time he had to recruit new players (Two of which have been absolute class).

So on this evidence I would suggest that we save the "sack" word for another day.

[epsomraver]

Very well put, I totally agree with every word Jimpav, if Fulham has one fault it is we have too many doom and gloom fans, there is a bloke 50 years a fan who I see only when we have lost and it is always oh dear we are doomed, if we win 6-0 he will moan it should have been 7!

[TonyGilroy]

Two more bits of perspective.

Only 10 teams have a better away record than us. We're not dreadful away from home - we're mid table.

Only 4 teams have a better defensive record.

Of course we need goals. A hold up player and/or pace and/or a finisher are needed but Hughes can't magic these into existence. Meanwhile we're playing doggedly and refusing to be beaten.

[Steve_orino]

Very well put, I totally agree with every word Jimpav, if Fulham has one fault it is we have too many doom and gloom fans, there is a bloke 50 years a fan who I see only when we have lost and it is always oh dear we are doomed, if we win 6-0 he will moan it should have been 7!

Yes, the great Lighthouse!   

[White Noise]

http://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2010/11/14/newcastle-0-0-fulham/

Newcastle 0-0 Fulham

Filed under: Match reports — rich @ 1:39 pm

Jamie Doak was good enough to write the following for us.  Great stuff, Jamie, thanks!   Sounds like we did okay.

Point played for, point gained. Sums up the performance really as we reverted back to a more Hodgson-like style.

As expected Newcastle flew out the traps, they're the form side and they played some very nice stuff, but nothing clear cut or nothing that our superb defenders couldn't handle.

Duff, who was getting a noisy reception from the home crowd, seemed solid enough at left back and we started to come into the game after about 15 minutes, a series of corners and not much else really, a frustrating amount of good possession but nowhere to go with it. Oh how we miss Zamora.

Chance of the first half came their way, that man Andy Carroll: a corner, pinball, the ball blocked on the line by Kevin Nolan before Carroll fired again at Schwarzer's chest.  (Just one save of a game full of good goalkeeping – hopefully we can hang onto him this January.)

Second half: Carroll fired a stunning volley from 25 yards which Schwarzer saved well to his left (thoroughly impressed by Carroll but full credit to Hughes and Hangeland for playing him so well.) Newcastle threatened further, Lovenkrands having a smart shot saved by Schwarzer.  We were on the rocks.

Our second half was poor. We have forgotten to play with AJ up top, it used to be so easy to simply chuck the ball up to Zamora and let him hold the ball but Johnson is a different player and adjustment might be needed; too often we tried to hit long balls out to him, which he wasn't going to win.

Hughes sent for Etuhu, possibly to sure up the midfield and he offered a threat from a corner which fell to Dembele, who smashed a volley off the bar. Unlucky but would have possibly been undeserved.  The game seemed to peter out with Carroll having another shot blocked by the immoveable Hangeland.

I'm not really sure it was a great game but it did show that we haven't lost all of our defensive steel and that AJ is ready for 90 minutes. On a side note I met Alister Macintosh on the journey home (oddly he was on the train not sure about the players) not surprisingly he was very coy on January transfers but he did say that he and Hughes were very much excited about having the chance to show City how they are doing now! Roll on next Sunday.

[Jimpav]

By the way- had we have won yesterday we would have been 7th in the league. We are not in a relegation battle.

[FatFreddysCat]

By the way- had we have won yesterday we would have been 7th in the league. We are not in a relegation battle.

We are in a relegation plus chasing Europe battle   :032: 

[Scrumpy]

Sorry TKTD/General but I think you are being pretty harsh on Sparky and the team with regards to all the draws we have had.

Not sure if this is a wind up but I'm going to bite anyway because there are others out there who might benefit from the half full approach as opposed to engineering a "Sparky out" campaign.

Firstly we've been completely incapacitated by our lack of strikers. There is nothing that Hughes could have done about this as the injuries came after the transfer window shut. Strikers = goals = wins.

Dembele is a great player but has been a shadow of his first few games since he came back from a long spell on the sidelines. Its unrealistic to expect him to walk straight back into a new team and start banging in goals.

Zamora, our star man, played about 3 games before he was savagely injured.

AJ has been out for 11 months before making his first start yesterday. Not sure what you expected from hi so far but try praying because only God can work miracles like that.

Dempsey/Gera will both get goals from the midfield but are not proven strikers. Bar his injury Dempsey earlier this year Dempsey has played non stop for about 3 years. Gera plays his best football when partnering Zamora and given free reign. We can't use this tactic until Zamora is fit.

If you read any of the match reports we did well yesterday. Contained Newcastle and threatened to score on a few occasions. We are playing a side that smashed Sunderland 5-1 and Villa 6-0. Oh and scraped a 1-0 win at the Emirates last week. So in my humble opinion a draw is not a bad result.

The team that beat Hamburg/Juventus/Basel was one with something to play for andwere making history every game, they had the whole country behind them. However  they also finished 12th last season. We might not be going to a European final but I guarantee you we will finish 12th or higher.

Is it really any surprise that we have not won away under Sparky when we have only won 9 away league games in 5 years?

It's very early to be judging the bloke given the injuries we have suffered and the time he had to recruit new players (Two of which have been absolute class).

So on this evidence I would suggest that we save the "sack" word for another day.

Exactly what I wanted to say, only better put.

[ron]

Also agree with all...except the benefits AJ may bring, because I think his best days are far behind him. The unvarnished truth is that we are so short of a finisher that if we don't get one in the January window, then we are looking at the drop which will at a stroke undo all the good work of the past few years.
At first I wasn't a Zamora fan, but have been totally converted. Get someone to run on to and convert the balls he can provide is the way to go in the second half of the season (all being well with BZ) and we finish up having had a good one. Stick with AJ running wide and being outmuscled to every ball suggests disaster is waiting round the corner.

[VicHalomsLovechild]

We beat Juve and Hamburg in Cup games where you play to get through to the next round. The League is a totally different thing. You are coming up against teams whose first thought is not to lose and their second thought is not to lose. We've also been on the end of a couple of dodgy refereeing decisions.
Injuries are part and parcel of the game. Without AJ's injury last season would Zamora have rediscovered the thrill of scoring goals?
I've enjoyed the games this season. Our midfield isn't sitting on our defence like last season. Once we get in the groove and we find the net then things will improve points wise.

[HatterDon]

By the way- had we have won yesterday we would have been 7th in the league. We are not in a relegation battle.

We are in a relegation plus chasing Europe battle   :032: 

Well said, that man!!  :54: