The View from South Texas -- FFC v. Toon Town

[HatterDon]

Return With Us Now to Those Glorious Days of Yesteryear ...

When I was in my early and mid-20s, I followed Luton Town -- hence my nom-de-Internet. During those years, Luton were either chasing promotion or relegation every season. The last home match of the year was the only match I could really relax at, since usually one or the other was settled by then. The rest of the time, I agonized for the entire 90 minutes. I soon learned that if I was ever going to have a collection of match programs, I needed to buy TWO on the day. One to keep preserved, and the other to twist into a sweaty mass of ink and soggy shreds. Of course, I could have saved the extra 3s I spent on programs [later 10P], since they would all disappear at once somewhat later -- but that's no story for a match report, so ... .

Today Fulham faced a resolute but pretty poor Newcastle side, dominated them on the pitch, had nearly all of the chances, and still contrived to keep me nervously stomping around my office glaring at my computer screen right up until the final whistle. Part of the tension was due to a good display of goalkeeping by Steve Harper. Most of it, however, was from our inability to convert as many as EIGHT solid goal opportunities. For 66 minutes I dreaded Newcastle scoring the first goal. For the last 23 minutes I sat there expecting an against-the-run-of-play equalizer to be followed immediately by a carnival loser. Instead of a cheap match program, I twisted up my insides for 90 minutes. Expect antacid stock shares in the United States to become more valuable.

About Newcastle. They really looked pretty bad. Losing Ameobi in the first few minutes didn't help them. Nile Ranger showed why he's never started in the Prem, and Lovenkrands was a godawful replacement for the invisible Leon Best. Barton's passing was as good as one might expect, but I've seldom seen him so immobile. All in all, aside from Harper, the only Newcastle player to impress me was Williamson. Since I have always admired Coloccini and Jose Enrique, it is credit to Fulham's attackers that they were kept very quiet. On what I saw today, the Toon will struggle. Like Blackpool and Stoke, however, they'll probably survive and finish above Birmingham and the Four W's.

About Fulham: I was disappointed to see Schwarzer in the lineup. I love Tha Big Aussie, but he'd only gotten back in England Sunday night, and I thought that the hot hand was Young Mr. Stockdale's, and that the position should be his to play himself out of. MarkyMark didn't see it my way, and Schwarzer kept a clean sheet, so it's all okay, but I did miss the power and accuracy of Stockdale's distribution via kicks.  And I think it's a shame that the message seems to be "It doesn't matter how well you play, the position belongs to someone else."

The defense was lovely to watch. Hangeland and Hughes pretty much controlled the middle. I love the fact that Mark deployed Hangeland just outside the penalty area on free kicks. He had Newcastle seriously worried, and might have earned us a penalty with another officiating crew. Despite seeing a lot of Barton on Newcastle's right wing, Baird more than held his own. I wish we'd come up with a new free-kick routine, though. Everyone saw the Stoke City highlights and now come tearing towards the ball the moment Danny slides it sideways. Paintsil? I thought it was his best match all season. He handled Ranger, Coloccini, and Nolan, he headed clear, he cut out attacking passes, he supported Duff very well, and he looked more than composed. I almost made him man of the match, but not quite.

Despite the fact that the Toon midfield contained Nolan and Barton, Fulham pretty much bossed it all evening. This is down to Sidwell and Cap'n' Danny. I made it my job to watch Sidwell as much as I could, and I think we all got to see more of his game. I especially enjoyed his shot. Yes, there were other players open, but he felt confident enough to have a crack. He's also not the gent you want to jump for a 50-50 ball with. I haven't seen ANY match reports, but I'm betting that several people from oop North are wanting to have him arrested. Murphy was masterful. What a continuing joy it is to watch that man earn his wages. Duff had one of those matches. I spent most of the match rueing the fact that he was the one getting most of the clear chances, since he was wasting them all. He was there when he needed to be, though, beating a tough goalie with his "wrong" foot and doing justice to as pretty a through ball as you're likely to ever see. After being booed all match -- again -- by the Toon supporters, it's fair to say that he enjoyed his goal celebration more than anyone else in the park. I'm not a big fan of badge love, but I think he earned it today. Dempsey was everywhere again today, and produced Harper's three best saves. He was a ballwinner and a spreader of defenses. Have we ever seen him play better than this season? I'm thinking not. I almost made him man of the match, but not quite.

Our Late President had a very good match AGAIN. He was especially useful coming in off the left wing. I thought he earned at least two assists today. On another night, he might have gotten one. I was glad to see him leave because that meant that he'd be back on Saturday to mess with Villa. Dembele was impossible to ignore. I continue to be impressed with his physical strength and his mental toughness. The skill and touch and turn of speed is still there. He has McBride's gift of finding space for himself. I'd like for him to relinquish the ball a little sooner some times, but that's really kind of petty of me, considering all he did for us today. What a brilliant display by our uniformed Silly Belgian.

Davies and Gera were on just for a few minutes and had really very little time to impress, although the Hungarian did a good job at clearing out of our area in the last minute, bless him. But bringing them on just highlights how strong and deep we now are. Today was a good debut for Gael Kakuta. I wasn't expecting much for him, but he made two Danny Murphy like passes to Dempsey that might have turned into assists and had two solid shots on goal saved by the ubiquitos Harper. He also provided a good display of defending from the front. Whenever Newcastle got possession in their half in the last 20 minutes, it was pretty much going nowhere, thanks to our loaner, Dembele, and Dempsey. The kid played a lot of blue off himself today. I think I'm going to enjoy watching him.

Mark sent the guys out there with good organization, fired them up nicely at half-time, and made well-timed substitutions. I really don't know what else we could expect of our gaffer, although I think had he been our #9 today, we might have won 5-0, which would have been a fairer reflection of the difference between the two sides on the day.

My man-of-the-match is Moussa Dembele. Why? Because I can't think of a thing he did out there that anybody on that pitch today could have done better.

So it's Aston Villa on Saturday, and it'll be a true test for our wide players. With Bent in at striker, Young and Agbonlahor are playing as orthodox wingers, and with their pace it's going to be all hands to the pump. I think we're worth a point there, and I hope we get it, because the rest of the month looks a little dire.

COYW!!!!

[Whiteroom]

Absolutely brilliant review. I agree with every word. I am interested that you picked up on Sidwell's input. I didn't really see that in the game. Your reports are an after match staple!

[NogoodBoyo]

Jolly good, Hatter.  Jolly, jolly good.
Was this shown on one of your FSC Plus or ESPN channels?  Or were you body-surfing on an Arab Chinese pornonline deals?
Nogood "always envious, isit" Boyo

[Lighthouse]

Never I have been so disgusted by the short sighted attacks on ........oh go on then, very true and well wrote like and that. I must admit for the first time I warmed to Hughes and HIS team. I have liked Mark Hughes and have stuck up for him. But today I saw HIS team. The front four were swapping places and playing up the centre of drifting out wide. It looked good and well drilled. If Roy had done it we would be talking tactical genius. But he didn't so we wont.

Fulham missed oodles because, all together now, we miss a cutting edge. But with a five point gap and a few more teams between us and the Wubawoos. I am beginning to like as opposed to just defend our new boss. So expect him to be off shortly.

[nevzter]

 :clap_hands:

Great report as always (and stay away from those Arab-Chinese pornolinks...)

At one point in the 2nd half, the possession broke down as such:  Fulham-88% v. Newcastle-12%.  I don't think I've ever seen such a figure and a good indicator of how the 1-0 scoreline was unflattering (don't think I've said that recently, if ever regarding a victory by the Whites!)

COYW

[BarryP]

Great write up as usual Don!  I too watched Sidwell today and I truly hope that Hughes policy of returning players immediately to the starting XI only applies to Schwarzer because I like what Sidwell is bringing to the pitch.  That is not intended as a real knock on Etuhu but I am not ready to see Sidwell back on the bench.

[Ag]

The match was available for streaming on ESPN3 here in the States.

Agree with most of what Don said, except I think you're reading too much into the Schwarzer/Stockdale thing.  That and overvaluing JP a little.  Better performance, but MotM contender?  He still needed Duff to bail him out a few times.

Excellent and astute writing as always.

[sipwell]

Mr Hatter, Sir,

you wrote "The View from South Texas -- FFC v. Toon Town
« on: Today at 12:48:48 am »" hence making it THE NEXT DAY for me  :005: :005:

The first twenty to twenty-five minutes were just plain awful in my book. Bad passing, lousy shots, etc. All players were ghosts at time and were very lively at others. I would personally have taken Brede Hangeland as man of the match for his continuous effort. He performed at a very good average, whereas many others had spikes of rubbishness and moments of excellence (Duff to name but one).

Fortunately we bagged it :)