The View from South Texas -- Whites v. Baggies

[HatterDon]

Super Simon Davies ... Super Simon Davies ... Super Simon Davies

I suppose I could quit there but, of course, I won't. Today, Fulham looked a very good side, and did what a very good side should do against a pretty poor side -- win 3-0.

The Baggies can knock the ball around, and that's a fact. Despite the fact that they had nothing much in their back four, and that Carson's recent performances make me wonder how he could be a full international [even if it was with England  :hook:], they looked good going forward and caused some concern in our defense -- almost as much as our right FB did, but that comes later. Odemwingie certainly catches the eye. He holds the ball well and turns like a dream. Dorrans looks useful, as does Brunt, although the latter doesn't have the same menace about him that he had the last time WBA were up. I was one of the chorus of voices who'd hoped we'd go for him two summers ago. With all their attacking prowess, however, they really only threatened twice. The one defender who did well was Hurst, which is funny, seeing as how he had to deal with Davies all day. Before today's match, I'd have told you that I thought WBA would live to fight another season in the Prem, so classy they look when they're on song. But they really have too many holes in defense, and their midfield is easily pushed around. Without significant and extensive help in January, their yo-yo existence will continue.

Fulham looked like Barca for about the first 15 minutes, but then they apparently realized who they were, and it didn't look much like we were going to do much on the day. But, inevitably, our midfield completely dominated there's, and that's what often wins matches. We played only a bit better today than we did against Spurs, but even Gomes is better than Carson, so ... . By position:

Welcome back to the lineup, young Mr. Stockdale. His first save came with a fumble, but he was quickly on it. He really had only one or two saves to make, but he did them well. Two things made me really sit up and take notice. One was when he leapt up and took a cross out of the air about a foot away from Odemwingie's head, and another was when Thomas fired a curler that I thought needed a paw to slide it over the bar, but our youngster just let it fly over. He looked good and confident, and how great to come back with a clean sheet.

Our defense was interesting today. I'll bet that Chris Baird didn't get credit for a lot of tackles today, but he nimbly toe-poked about four or five balls off the feet of West Brom attackers to a nearby teammate. It might not even have been obvious to folks at the match, but he not only defended with skill, but also with economy. Going forward his passes and crosses were, frankly, terrible, but he wasn't really needed today to make the attack work. Hangeland and Hughes stepped on each other's toes a time or two, but the latter was the perfect "last rider" when we were attacking, and the former ate those silly high balls into the area for a late tea. Oh, and the goal was choice. He'd tell you that he should have had two, but I'm certainly not going to quibble. I will, however quibble about Paintsil. His first half display was little short of shocking. Twice he "put on the style" as we're apt to say out here in Gawd's Country, and almost gifted West Brom with goals they didn't deserve. He played around with the ball in the face of attackers and had me screaming at him in my living room. Why he wasn't substituted at half time is beyond me. Since he pulled the same show-offy stuff in the second half, I wouldn't be surprised to see Baird at RB against Wigan. Oh, and I honestly didn't see the "horrible disgusting tackle" that the color announcer saw, even though they showed it to me a half-dozen times. The announcers should succeed in getting JP banned, though.

Our midfield was magnificent. Duff looked like the Duff we all loved last year. He crossed well, won the ball, tackled back, and scared the Bejesus out of Carson more than once. His quick right-foot worm burner in the second half was breathtaking. Welcome back Duffster. No wonder Blackburn covets you. Murphy played another captain's innings, even clearing a ball in defense that I thought was heading for an empty place in our goal. How is Cap'n' Danny able to slow things down, have a look, and then jump back into the fast lane so often? I don't know and I don't care. I'm just going to enjoy him while he's here. Dickson Etuhu had his best match of the year hands down. If I see comments about this match to the effect that he only passed sideways and ran around aimlessly, I don't know how I'm going to react. He was immense as a ball winner, as cover for the back four, and as engine room for the attack. His pass to Simon Davies for our first goal was as much a thing of beauty as was Simon's shot. And speaking of My Favorite Living Welsman [sorry Boyo, os5889, etc.], what a match! Yes, Carson should have palmed the ball over, but what a crack on goal that was. And assisting on the other two goals didn't hurt either. Every one of his corners could easily have resulted in a goal, and he box-to-boxed it all day. Full marks to Marky-Mark for giving him a chance for a standing O. Oh, and Riise showed up to prove to everyone that he has nothing to offer Fulham, other than to make Damian Duff look taller.

Our strike force was intersting. During the aforementioned first 20 minutes, Kamara looked like Berbatov. For the next 40 or so, he looked like Krushchev. Dempsey, once again, worked his butt off and niggled and worried the West Brom defense. I can guarantee you that they won't want to draw us in the FA Cup if it means another 90 minutes with Clint. Gera came in to, I suppose, support Clint, but didn't really impress. I think he's gradually playing his way out of The Cottage. If he goes, I'll certainly be one who misses him. Speaking of folks obviously on their way out, Eddie touched the ball twice, to rapturous derision by the supporters. All things considered, though, I think I prefer the sarcastic "Ed-die, Ed-die" chants and the cheers whenever he touches the ball, to the booing I've heard him get on previous substitution appearances.

And so we won 3-0. On our way to choir practice tonight, I was recapping the match for HatterMom. I said, "I can't remember the last time we won a league match by three goals." She said, "I can. Man U; last season."  :029: I married well!  :004:

Hughes got us some breathing room and a leap up to 13th. Our goal difference looks very good, and that's three good matches on the trot. We still need a big man in the #9 position, and we still need so solidify our FB situation, but we're playing like a mid-table team, and that's a good thing.

Finally, I have to say that for the first 60 minutes or so today, I was as nervous as I have been for a Fulham league match since the last four or five matches of The Great Escape. It wasn't until Dempsey scored that I began to relax. I am filled with confidence about this team and its leadership, but I was sore afraid of no points today. I was hoping for 7 points from our four holiday matches, but after the West sHambles, I was ready to slink away with four from four. Six will do nicely, thank you very much.

The Posh on Saturday for the FA Cup. COYW!!!!!

[nevzter]

Cheers, HD, thanks again.   :wine:

3-0 is a fine result - onward and upward from here, ladies and gents.

COYW

[Ag]

Whoa, you watched the match?!?  That would mean you successfully negotiated your way through ESPN3.  Color me impressed, Mr Don.

Oh, and good report as usual.

[Tom]

Great report Don.  :wine: :beer: :wine: :beer:

[FatFreddysCat]

Have to disagree about Pants i thought he had a great game, and Duff in the first half was the same as he was against Spurs getting in good positions but the final ball was terrible, much better in the second half. My MOM EJ  :011:

[nevzter]

My MOM EJ  :011:

He certainly came on and shut down WBA for the last 7 minutes.  Good call, FatFreddysCat.

:yay:

[BestOfBrede]

"Duff looked like the Duff we all loved last year. He crossed well, won the ball, tackled back, and scared the Bejesus out of Carson more than once. His quick right-foot worm burner in the second half was breathtaking. Welcome back Duffster. No wonder Blackburn covets you".

Could this be why Duff has started playing again - to get noticed?
I don't think he would have been on anyone's radar a few weeks back!

[Rambling_Syd_Rumpo]

can't disagree with any of that,great write up as always :clap_hands:

[finnster01]

Good stuff Mr Hatter (yet again)  :clap_hands:

I think Sparky should have just taken off Davies for a well deserved rest and not bothered about putting Riise on. We would have played better with 10 men but luckily we didn't need to.

[AlFayedsChequebook]

Good report, and only disagree on one point.

Chris Baird's crossing was awful, but much of hi passing forward was excellent. At one point, at about 70mins, he hit a 50-60 yard pass from the edge of the Fulham area to the toe of Clint Dempsey who, had this been in the 20th min would have been able to control it and capitalise on it.

[TonyGilroy]

I'll put in a good word for Pantsil. At half time someone said to me that he's an accident waiting to happen which, I agree, is how it can look but invariably he recovers and often spectacularly.

I didn't see what happened with Cech but no West Brom player indicated any anger at Pantsil. If it was a stamp he'll get a 3 match ban and deserve it.

A really good performance yesterday. Quite clearly there are worse teams than us in this league. The energy level was incredibly high given that the players had had 4 hard games with no squad rotation.

[ImperialWhite]

I'll put in a good word for Pantsil. At half time someone said to me that he's an accident waiting to happen which, I agree, is how it can look but invariably he recovers and often spectacularly.

I didn't see what happened with Cech but no West Brom player indicated any anger at Pantsil. If it was a stamp he'll get a 3 match ban and deserve it.

A really good performance yesterday. Quite clearly there are worse teams than us in this league. The energy level was incredibly high given that the players had had 4 hard games with no squad rotation.

Disagree re:Paintsil - Duff was forced to cover for him several times. Could well have ended in tears. (probably the most entertaining player on the pitch, mind)

[epsomraver]

Have to disagree about Pants i thought he had a great game, and Duff in the first half was the same as he was against Spurs getting in good positions but the final ball was terrible, much better in the second half. My MOM EJ  :011:

totally agree Fred, I was able to go last night, first half in  Hammersmith end,  second JH and JP  had a good game , don't agree either about Dempsey, he looks like he is nursing a knock, yes he was good but only in small bursts and spends too much time on the deck winging.
Gera played well but has lapsed back to his "trying too hard" as he did when he first came, but still a fans favourite, Eddy is like Eddy the eagle, lovable clown , at least he trys though.

[Whiteroom]

Great summary. Its becoming an after match staple. I will however have to join a few others in disagreeing with you about Pantsil. I thought he had a really good game and made some difficult tackles look routine.

[sipwell]

I think it is proven that either Sparky or Etuhu reads this forum. His passing went forward rather than lateral and see what a difference it made :)

Great report!

[Lighthouse]

I didn't see the game except for the highlights but listened to the GJ commentary. So it is great to be able to read such reports as this. Great Stuff. I did hear however (or read somewhere) that Demps was poor in his control and lost the ball too often. I am interested in what comments people have.

Also, we had a debate here about watching the game live or on TV. The second goal must have looked a Hangeland header and was so described by GJ until Demps did his victory run. I had to watch from several angles to see that Brede had missed it. So a tick in both boxes of the live/tv debate.

[timmyg]

And so we won 3-0. On our way to choir practice tonight, I was recapping the match for HatterMom. I said, "I can't remember the last time we won a league match by three goals." She said, "I can. Man U; last season."  :029: I married well!  :004:

Actually Don, she's incorrect. It was against Burnley on February 9th, 2010.

Just saying.  :dft003:

[RidgeRider]

Thanks Don. Terrific report. I was unable to listen to or watch the match, due to work, but this report and the highlights help a great deal. Please keep them coming!  :clap_hands:

[mrska]

I didn't see the game except for the highlights but listened to the GJ commentary. So it is great to be able to read such reports as this. Great Stuff. I did hear however (or read somewhere) that Demps was poor in his control and lost the ball too often. I am interested in what comments people have.

Also, we had a debate here about watching the game live or on TV. The second goal must have looked a Hangeland header and was so described by GJ until Demps did his victory run. I had to watch from several angles to see that Brede had missed it. So a tick in both boxes of the live/tv debate.

From the look of it.. it hit Brede head and bounced on to clints..  the momentum of both propelling it into the net..

Assist for Hangeland??

[NogoodBoyo]

OK Big D, you and I need to have a talk on how you get to see these games.  ESPN3 - where's that?  Up at the police radio end of the dial?
Nogood "envious of 'Big Hat No Cattle's ' digital prowess, isit" Boyo