The Fulham fans were terrific today - we out sang, out cheered, (outed Terry !) the home lot throughout. At ctitical times they upped the ante to lift the team - not least in the last 15 minutes or so when we were tiring - and the support was so obviously appreciated by the players leading to (most) throwing their shirts in to the Fulhan end at the finish. In what wasn't exactly a thrilling game we were very organised. I'll get rid of the few negatives first - Riise and Sa (who just doesn't attack the ball). I know loads of people will read loads into the absence of BZ and AJ, but well, suffice to say SA isn't the answer. Kasami replaced him for the last 10 minutes and I know he's not a striker but he's so one paced. Trotta ?? Enough, enough. The positives. As I've already said we kept our shape well (was it 4-3-3 or 4-1-2-3 ?) and there were some great performances. Backs other than Riise sound. Ruiz, kind of in and out of the game but showing touches of class. Demps a mature leading role and of course the all important goal, again (although I'll need to watch the replay to be convinced it wasn't an OG). Frei a constant tormentor. Which leaves me with the 3 contenders as my MOTM. Close. Stockdale was truly outstanding. Murphy was again Captain fantstic; finding space, probing and showing some of the youngsters up with enough stamina to cover ground and make a great tackle in the 93rd minute. Top notch though Dembele. I'm just breathless with his contribution today. I think we got what we came for and deserved it. Well done lads and the fans. A final accolade of course must go to our lucky black shorts - when will those PR people waken up?
When was this? Both home and away support was poor, I was sat in East Stand and most of the vocal support was in the Matther Harding End. Well done on your point by the way, I was impressed with the way you retained the ball, kept possession and broke with pace, something we didn't do. Draw was fair
Cottager it was a Dempsey goal, well deserved. All the team played well. As was not in the game can't say much about Riise. Sa did relatively well for a first appearance. At least as good BZ would have done haha.
The ESPN gave ratings and comments,about all todays premiership matches. Fulham v Chelsea RATINGS ~ 8:5 Stockdale M O T M. Chelsea ~ 7 Sturridge, Mata, Romeu. Fulham ~ 7 Frei, Dempsey, Ruiz, Dembele. The comments on the Fulham players Stockdale ~ Fantastic performance from the Fulham stopper. M O T M * Ruiz ~ Looked Berbatovesque,exquisite control Frei ~ !st half ?, 2nd half,visitors best outfielder, great pace and skill. Dembele ~ Showed why a number of top clubs are interested. Dempsey ~ As ever the spark in the engine room. Murphy ~ Special mention,classy performance,from a man who dictated midfield.
Stockdale was immense. The commentators played him down so much it was disgraceful - if he played for another club they'd be wetting themselves.
Another good confidence boost for the young and new players. It's now about trying to get consistency in their performances. Dembele had a performance that will test Fulham's resolve in keeping him if a top club puts in big offer. Still think he is not the finished product, and needs a few more seasons with us to mature. Frei looks another prospect in the making. Took time to get into the game, but he loves taking on defenders. Sa hasn't had much game play, a lot of fans already think he's not up to standard, but I just wonder if he could used in a Geoff Horsfield role of giving certain defenses a hard time, allowing the likes of Dempsey the space to operate in. Ruiz has very good control, I thought he only stood on his right foot but the cross for Dempsey goal shows he has it in his locker to use both feet. His tackling needs to improve, but again still getting use to the pace of our game. The older players like Murphy and Dempsey played their roles well. Dempsey again 'Ghosted' in again to get his goal. I was surprised Etuhu was left out but Murphy played a more defensive role than usual, and did really well to marshal the defensive midfield in the last 20 minutes. I'm still not convinced about Senderos (Nice header to Ruiz for the goal), I tend to get worried when he is picked, that it will only take one mistake or clumsy tackle to let in a goal. Granted he does have the ability in passing a good ball out of defense, something that Hughes doesn't do well.
I like the Berbatov reference to Ruiz, Valj - that's exactly what my son and I said coming away from the game. Some limited highlights, confirming SuperBri's comments - http://http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-All-goals-and-highlights-Chelsea-vs-Fulham-1-1-English-Premier-League-2011/tabid/317/articleID/237766/Default.aspx
I think yesterday confirmed that Sa is not up to the challenge. He had a great chance from that header in the first half and absolutely skied it. Those headers where you run onto them are the easiest to hit, as they generate more power, if he gets it at least on target there's a good chance of a goal, but he missed. As much as I'm not liking Zamora right now I think he would have buried that.
was at the game. Our support was decent vocally, but im always wound up by how at least 2/3 of our away support at such matches dont get off their arses until we actually score, and many dont chant. i was in the upper tier at the bottom near the chelsea fans in a santa outfit, and was threatened with being thrown out if i didnt sit down. Others had similar experiences- we wouldn't have them if everyone just stood, as every other teams away fans in the football league do! Match wise- very pleased with our performance. Stockdale immense, and senderos was great coming forward, making us the goal. Kelly was leagues aheadof baird on wednesday, and our attacking midfielders- Ruiz Dembele (who tracked back fantastically well) were all good. Sa was poor. He worked his arse off and looked like he really cared, which i liked, but his first half header was a fantastic chance which he did awfully, and he had one very lame shot. However, he did hold the ball up well, but seems to lack pace. kasami was fine, but had a chance to win it for us and was dissappointed with his shot- straight at cech and weak. Well Played fulham, and bring on Norwich.
forgot to mention Frei. he was great, but i would have liked to see him test bosingwa down the line rather than cut in every time (which to be fair he did very well.)
Didn't know what to predict before yesterday's game and even more so when I heard neither Zamora or Johnson were not in the squad. All that was certain was that we weren't going to score many. I was pleasently suprised. The team selection was a real gamble but an insight to the future of Fulham. Not everything worked and Sa had a more than hard task upfront. All in all a good team performance. As for support, I thought it was good and vocal. I don't actually agree with standing unless it was a designated standing area. At the Emirates I had to stand all game but felt very sorry for the 80 year old behind me who would have seen nothing. Talking of the Emirates I am not sure which has a quieter set of fans Arsenal or Chelsea. Some say the Cottage is quiet but it is unbelievable how timid Arsenal and Chelsea fans are. Sitting has certainly quietened down the match atmosphere at all grounds which cannot be good.
It's not constant standing I'm talking about, it's standing when your team is in the box. The majority only stood when we scored, which does lead to less noise. It was good on chants like COYW and come o fulham- but most don't join in with any others. The cottage can be subdued, but often our home support can be fantastic- teams think it's bad coz their fans sit the other end so cannot hear- often we cannot hear them either. Arsenal and Chelsea support were both woeful, but both always have large and very vocal away followings
I don't think Sa is as bad as all that (I think Sa to Bandy is what AJ is to Val), I agree he hasn't put in a good shift since the Chelsea game in the cup though. Perhaps he's just no good as a lone striker? All this aside, as Gilly quite rightly pointed out he went out there and gave his all, which is more than can be said for our 'star striker' Bobby.
Fellow 606ers let's not be harsh on Sa. Only given a few chances and although he didn't make a great impression he is trying hard. Against Chelsea he tried alone and managed to hold a few players away from our half. We need two forwards this transfer window on the assumption that both our sought after forwards are out... Fingers crossed!
I don't think it's reasonable to say he hasn't been given a chance. He has started twice in the league and once in the cup against Chelsea and made numerous sub appearances. I think in this amount of time he needs to at least have shown some sort of potential as he is still relatively young. Gecov has had fewer games and has been able to create a positive impression, same with Frei and Briggs. I don't think he is built for the lone striker role either but due to injuries he had to play there. I think Dempsey would have been a better bet up front with Frei and Ruiz on the wings with Dembele behind Dempsey, but hey we got a result so who am I to complain?
On sa - I think we need to give him more time. As gilly says he works hard and looks like he cares about the team which is a good start (and more than you can say about our "star striker" recently. On the fans - I watched the highlights on football first and all you could hear for most of the game was fulham songs. This may be one of those acoustic issues (like when people say the cottage is quiet but it never seems like that when you're in the middle of the hammy end) but our fans certainly sounded in good voice
cant quite make Sa out,there is something which seems to say that he could make it. But saying that,i dont think he is ready for us, or the premiership. I think he is worth keeping and loaning out to a championship side,we can analyse the situation after say 6 months.
I agree with val - a few months in the championship would do sa a world of good. Unfortunately he seems to be our only striking option at the moment so we can't let him go immediately. Unless something dramatic happens in jan of course!
Penguin, I agree Sa tried hard and seemed to care - you only had to look at his celebration when Demps got the equaliser and he came back out at fulltime to join the others in throwing their shirts to the fans at he end. But we are talking about the Premiership and he's not there (certainly not yet). Two examples. First, he waits for the ball to come to him rather than attacking it, as I said in my first post. Consequently he has one, or more, defender on top of him when the ball does arrive rather than giving himself that bit of extra space. Second, a striker of quality does not jump for the ball with his eyes closed. I'm not talking about the header he missed in the first half (I was at the other end and only know he missed a sitter) but when we had corners in the second half that's what he did. He seems like a really nice guy but I'm afraid isn't going to give us any edge/threat up front.
