The View from South Texas -- Arsenal v. FFC

[HatterDon]

Move along ... nothing to read here.

The band made a "personal appearance" to sing our new Christmas song at a local shopping mall in aid of a Radiothon fundraiser for Elf Louise -- the great lady we wrote the song for. So, instead of settling in to watch the match, I was playing and singing, secure in the knowledge that I could watch the DVR of the match. So, sing we did and, since it was only 1000 afterwards, we went down to a local music store to play other people's guitars for about an hour. Then home to discover ... THAT I MADE A HASH OF THE BLOODY DVR AND THE ONLY MATCH I'M UNABLE TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND IS FULHAM'S.

Crapola.

So, move along ... nothing to read here.

[ImperialWhite]

According to Fred it's repeated on SkySports at 8.15pm over here, you might be able to catch it then.

[FatFreddysCat]

Move along ... nothing to read here.

The band made a "personal appearance" to sing our new Christmas song at a local shopping mall in aid of a Radiothon fundraiser for Elf Louise -- the great lady we wrote the song for. So, instead of settling in to watch the match, I was playing and singing, secure in the knowledge that I could watch the DVR of the match. So, sing we did and, since it was only 1000 afterwards, we went down to a local music store to play other people's guitars for about an hour. Then home to discover ... THAT I MADE A HASH OF THE BLOODY DVR AND THE ONLY MATCH I'M UNABLE TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND IS FULHAM'S.

Crapola.

So, move along ... nothing to read here.

  :011:  :011:

[BarryP]

How about a view from Southern Indiana instead as I do my best to cover for my compatriot's lack of DVR skills.

As posted at FulhamUSA:

re: Fulham @ Arsenal

My $0.02 worth:

The Defense
I am still not sure how Arsenal didn't score about 5 in the first thirty minutes because there was not a single defender that didn't look somewhat lost.  Arsenal smelled blood in the water on Briggs side of the pitch and exploited the young defender at every opportunity.  I am not sure if the substitution was tactical or for injury but this was simply not his day.  Briggs is a youngster and can be excused for not being able to contain the likes of Nasri but some of Pantsil's decision making has to be called into question.  Saving the ball from going over the byline is a great hustle play on the attacking end of the pitch but for a defender it is just baffling.  The fact that it was such an unbelievable play may have been the only thing that prevented Song from doing more with the opportunity that Pantsil laid at his feet.  Song must have been stunned.  I know I was.

I have heard Hughes is being blamed for the first goal but there were multiple breakdowns leading to Arsenal's first goal so pointing the finger at Hughes alone seems a bit harsh. Hughes had a poor match in general but the pass that led to his dire touch was poorly delivered and contributed to the turnover.   Combine the turnover with Hangeland getting caught ball watching a bit and Briggs coming to a full stop and failing to trail the play it was basically a team breakdown that put Nasri into space for the first goal.

Hangeland was the best starter of the back four but still had a poor match and Schwarzer was solid all day.

Baird was the right man for the left side today.  After his insertion into the match everything changed with Arsenal's attack being blunted and Fulham grabbing a foothold in the game.

The Midfield  
Something has to give in the middle of the pitch.  Fulham essentially played a five man midfield today and still there were times, especially early, when the back four looked like they were going to be overrun.  Dempsey had the best overall match I have seen him have in a while.  He looked strong on the ball, distributed well and at times frustrated Nasri while marking him.  Davies and Gera were both solid on both ends of the pitch but something is not clicking with the Murphy/Etuhu combination that I have not been able to entirely put my finger on. I am not sure if the problems are at an individual level or if the two just are not reading each other properly. It seems like they are either 2 yards apart or 20 yards apart and they are not able to find some middle ground that will allow them to play off of one another.  There were far to many times that Murphy received the ball and had nobody to outlet the ball to leaving him stranded in the middle of the pitch.

The Attack
Kamara wasn't bad but he was not good either and I don't belive either Johnson merits a comment.

Even as I read my own player comments they feel a bit negative and perhaps a bit harsh since I truly believe Arsenal deserves credit for playing excellent football.  Fulham competed well over the final hour of the match after a really poor first thirty minutes but Arsenal were just to much in the end.  Nasri's second goal can only be applauded as a fine piece of football and the result seems to fairly reflect the match.

Onward and upward.  COYW's!

[NogoodBoyo]

BarryP - not too dissimilar to my view of the game.  The first half hour was tortuous.  In the three games I've watched against the big bouys (Ms. Clinton, Mank City and Arsehavenal), we've looked woeful until caution (or was it a misunderstood tactical plan and formation) is thrown to the wind once we go behind (not quite the case with City when we waited till the 2nd half to wake up).
Once again the team lacked belief, discipline, organisation.
Biggs should not have been started against either Wengeral or Clinton.  Deer in headlights.  But, I take my hat off to Hughes for having the courage to take him off after 30 minutes and back him up afterwards, although Biggs's confidence might have been damaged for years.  Nobody likes an "I told you so", but I told you the signs were there against our neighbours.  Out of his depth.
Szhwartzer was nothing short of superb in this game.  Without him it could well have been 5-0.
A. Hughes?  Mystifying.  Another bad error leading to the goal, but remains a very good, fast centre half. 
HangerLane?  More solid, but not at his best.
Pantsil.  Sorry,  he should not be playing for us.  He has completely lost it.  Terrible defending, massive brain farts.  Something serious has happened to old Johnny.
Baird?  Turned the game around.  Controlled Nasri, stopped the bleeding; Kamara's goal came quickly after his arrival.  He needs to start every game from now on as he clearly makes a big difference to the side.
Davies.  Great game.  Marvelous cross near the end that could so easily have been a goal.  Ran like a loonie. 
Gera?  Gerat game.
Murphy.  OK.  Gave the ball away, but was left stranded by lack of options and support.  Still influential but struggled due to Etuhu's strange sense of positioning and involvement.  Hughes thought Etuhu played well.  I thought he was average.  When we have our full backs back, I wonder whether Baird should take the midfield holding role.
Kamara?  Lively.  Dangerous.  Kept their back-line on their toes by challenging them on their high-line offside plan.  Should have scored a 2nd, but was a real handful.  Should not have been subbed as we lost our way with AJ who didn't bring anything to the attack.
Finally, it was a very good game of football!
Nogood "not saying that, isit" Boyo

[aFFCn_Fan]

Schwarz - Looked assured, and solid
Panstil - I thought he played ok, but after reading comments here I find myself agreeing and wonder if Woy used to give him more support and cuddles = more confidence. Don't think Hughes rates him, and based on his performances this season am not surprised.
Hughes - below par, which is a shame. But you can't be 100% all the time.
Hangeland - is kind of looking less and less his old self. They've obviously been told to be more attacking and less time is spent on defending than under the last regime.
Briggs - was impressed when he played the Dark Side and thought he did well. Saturday...not the same player at all. Is it the fact that Duff gave him more cover and direction and Dempsey let him get on with it? I'm not sure. was he injured? I don't know but he seemed to have been slow and off the pace a couple of times.
Baird - two years ago I never thought I would say this, Baird was solid, showed his versatility playing LB and had a good game I felt.
Ethuhu - I think he was told originally to get forward more. He has looked lost positionally for much of the season, leaving DM to cover.  I thought he played better against the Arse. Not his best ever, but he was in the centre of the park more often and passed to players other than DM.
Dempsey - looked like his old self. He wasn't going over all the time and moaning to the ref. He was busy and stronger than he has been for a while.
Davies and Gera - both were back to their form. Gera has been better, but playing off Kamara he was nearly back to his best for us (which was when he was behind BZ).
Kamara - was running all over the game. Not his normal game, but his hold up play was good. Still a bit too selfish with the ball trying to take on 4 players when a pass would make more sense.

EJ&AJ - really??? Same old complaint, short striker, play long balls to him? Not gonna work. Although we really pushed them all the way to the end, swapping Kamara for AJ was a mistake.
EJ - still to convince me he is worthy of a place in the team. He has the assets to potentially be a real threat, until he gets on the pitch.

Overall, we showed a lot more promise than I've seen in a while. Even though we were overrun for the first 20-30 mins, we looked better than. As mentioned by Barry P, I don't think Ethuhu and DM are really working so well together this season, but they looked better together this week, and I think because Ethuhu wasn't missing in action qoing forwards quite so much

[HatterDon]

I must forget to set my DVR more often. This has turned into the HatterDon invitational.  :HD:

I will finally get a chance to watch the match some time today as FSC is re-running it. Once I've done so, I'll come on here and tell all the reviewers how wrong they are!  :drums:

In all seriousness, thanks for keeping the thread alive.

[NogoodBoyo]

I declare this thread officially dead before Big Don sticks the knife in it.
Nogood "four bollockings & a funeral, isit" Boyo

[CincyFulham1]

Don, I have the match on my DVR.  I can burn you a copy and send it to you if you want.  In fact I have all them if you missed any others.

[HatterDon]

Don, I have the match on my DVR.  I can burn you a copy and send it to you if you want.  In fact I have all them if you missed any others.

Thanks very much, kind sir. But it's being broadcast at 2200 central. I'm recording it and will watch it in the early bright.

[Rambling_Syd_Rumpo]

I aggre with almost everything posted here but have a little to add

Murphy,I know I keep banging on but we need a replacement-to bring on slowley at first but to take over maybe the begining of next season,the guy has very little lateral movement,he still has the vision, he can still pick out that killer pass and even pull off one killer tackle,BUT one of each doesn't cut it any more,he's not a bad player by anymeans but time has caught up,nothing more, nothing less.

Pantsil-this is breaking my heart but he was bought specifically to play a certain system that we don't play any more,he isn't getting the protection he was used to and boy you can tell all the lap of honours in the world aren't going to help if you can't do the job your asked to do so he'll be gone in Jan-I reaaly wish it wasn't so but he's lost it and it's a shame...................


Baird-this guy is becoming one of the first names on the team sheet for me,honest,runs all day,will never hide get him signed on a very long contact first chance you get Sparky

EJ-don't know why we signed him,don't know why we keep him,if he is tearing it up in training why can't he do it when it matters?


AJ-not sure,he's doing his best but something is wrong,maybe it's the supply but I think he will never be the same player we signed,another one to be gone in Jan

[HatterDon]

Well, I finally got to watch the match -- Tuesday morning here in the States -- and I'm puzzled about some of the things that have been said on this thread and elsewhere about individual players. As a team, I was quite pleased with how we fought back, but we were clearly outclassed all day. Our central defense is set up to combat muscular direct ground and air attack. Arsenal don't do that, so our biggest strength wasn't going to benefit us much. Arsenal is all about speed and passing and delicate touches. They did that in abundance Saturday, and the fact that they only pulled out their three points on the basis of an unstoppable individual effort by a brilliant on-form player should say something about how Fulham play the game.

Now for some quibbling. I saw a lot of moaning about Etuhu along with many lines about how JP is looking better. Well, aside from missing two shots on goal, I didn't think that Etuhu was within miles of being the weaker of the two central mids. I did, however think that Paintsil might have just played himself back onto the bench.

I didn't see much wrong with Hangeland's passing.
I didn't see a man-of-the-match performance by Baird. Indeed, I didn't see any Arsenal hesitation in attacking our left wing once the switch was made. The fact is that it was the deciding goal, not the opening one, that was made on the left side of our defense.
The announcers commented on Briggs's limping before there was a sub ready to come on, so perhaps there was a niggle.
I saw a lot of encouraging things from Davies, Dempsey, and especially Gera.
I thought Kamara has a total of 30 good seconds in the match, but I think he hurt our attack more than he helped it.
Brilliant point blank save by Schwarzer on Arshavin, but am I the only one who wondered why Mark stood there and calmly watched the ball land at the Russian's feet instead of moving one step forward and catching it?

My worst player of the match was Murphy, but that's only because he sets the bar so high for himself. Invariably Murphy was where the attack and the transition between defense and attack broke down.

My best player of the match was Dempsey. He showed himself a true box-to-box midfielder and I still think that of all the players on our books, he's the most logical replacement for Danny.

As for the future, I think a healthy Salcido on the left and Baird on the right will solidify our defense and help support attacks. If Dembele returns fully fit, we can cause some trouble and get ourselves out of this section of the table.

COYW

[AlFayedsChequebook]

Thanks for the analysis HatterDon, but I still contend that Murphy looks poor because Etuhu is allowed to do whatever ha wants rather than shield the back four.

Very much agree about Kamara, I really am not a fan, especially since I punched the seat when he missed the sitter at the end of the first half which would of put us 2-1 up and broken Arsenal's fragile spirit.