Good Fulham performance tonight, albeit against one of the poorer quality teams to visit The Cottage -Watching our neighbours tonight was a bit like Wolves or Stoke on a bad day when they first came up – I think they made 11 fouls in the first half. I gather JT is whinging about Etuhu blocking him off for our goal, not that he has ever done same on a regular basis, nor that Cahill had Brede all tied up just a couple of yards away. Anyhow, enough about our neighbours…. We were good for our point, not giving up and finishing the stronger. We had a couple of really good chances and could have finished ahead at the end. Riise was excellent, always finding space – My MOM!. Frei was looked dangerous - a real find! Murphy worked hard, but Diarra still looks a worry – 5 matches to get up to the pace. Hughes and Hangeland kept the Chelsea attack at bay. However, Duff was not so hot tonight. A pity about the penalty decision, reportedly for a trip by Kelly and not danny's tackle - Rubbish! Actually, Lamps had a better shout against Brede. But given all the fouls by Chelsea toinght, they deserved little. I actually felt sorry for Torres tonight - he hardly got a decent ball all night, and the 2 he got were well shepherded by our defence. Anyhow, that's 5 wins in 9 matches, with only 1 draw. C O Y W
I thought Frei was MOTM, although Riise did play well. My seat lets me look across the attacking line when they play toward the Hammersmith, Duff was clearly about 10ft behind Frei at most points. It's difficult to know which is preferable. One is offering an attacking threat, the other has the full back covered. Fortunately Chelsea had no width so it was not an issue. We should try Frei on the right, at the minute he isn't putting many early crosses in because he clearly doesn't have/doesn't trust his left foot.
I think a draw was a fair result in the end. I thought we played well and was particularly impressed with Frei - he is certainly one for the future. Was suprised with all the Chelsea fouling. I think they had trouble trying to control Dembele, Dempsey and Frei. I need to see the penalty decision again as at the moment not totally convinced. Ref was very quick to give it but I better not comment until I see it again. Was a thoroughly entertaining game and with better luck we could have won that. It certainly kept the Chelsea fans quiet - hardly heard them all match.
Had the penalty been for murphy's foul that would have been interesting. In the hammy end most were angry and annoyed with the decision after we put such a solid shift in the 1st half but the ref received minimal stick for the decision, suggesting a penalty was justified. He got the ball though it was clumsy regardless. Didn't see kelly's alleged foul at the time so will need to see a replay before I comment on that
I think the only player who can be criticised for his performance tonight is Duff. He had one of his worse days but as has been mentioned offered good cover defensively. The back 4 were impressive, Riise was particularly outstanding. Kelly had another good solid performance, doing the simple things right. Midfield out-passed and outplayed Chelsea at times, I'd say if we had Pog available and played Dempsey instead of Duff we'd have won it. My MOTM has to be Frei, all the kid needs is a better left foot and he'd have the lot, his pass for Riise in the second half and his run and shot in the first were extremely encouraging.
Newcastle fan in peace. What a player Frei is. I watched you's a while back and I was raving about him then. Yesterday just added to my belief he is a mini Ronaldo and the next big thing in the PL.
Thanks Pouch, Frei was certainly a little star last night and a star in the making. Overall, like others I feel that a draw was a fair result but it would have been more fair had it been 0-0 than 1-1 with their 1 being the debateable penalty (not to mention Frank's fist waving antics at the Hammy End afterwards - all very unnecessary). I feel that had the Pog been fit the game could have gone our way - Dempsey leading the line against Bolton is one thing but against Chelsea is another -and that's not meant as a criticism in any way but an out and out striker with Demps playing behind him could have threatened the defence in ways that Demps alone couldn't. All in all 4 points for an Easter weekend isn't a bad return.
I noticed Fat Frank's response to his goal, and I also heard him referring to the game as 'a big local derby' in a post-match interview (or was it pre-match? - can't remember). The point is, after years of Chelsea not feeling the same about Fulham as we do about them, things seem to be changing. I think we are now seen as a genuine threat and therefore regarded as 'proper' local rivals in a way that we weren't a few years ago. And here's a thought, the 4pts we have taken off them this season may well prove to cost them a place in the Champions League, or even cost them a place in Europe altogether (if Everton win the FA Cup, only 5th will qualify for Europa by league position). If that's how it pans out, I'll be chuckling about it for months.
Ha ha - good point Captain. Also, if I were one of them (shudder) I would be seriously worried about upcoming games given their performance last night. We lacked a cutting edge because we didn't have a striker. They had strikers but they didn't do anything - I didn't even realise Torres was on the pitch for the first 15 minutes. Barcalona (and maybe spurs) are going to rip them to bits. I still dislike Frank but its good to hear he gave us some respect off the pitch if not on it.
I was a little disappointed to hear some of the Hammersmith end chanting about his mum- I think that's where his reaction came from.
I definitely didn't hear that. The only Frank chant that I was aware of was the old one about his girth
It wasn't particularly loud or sustained, small number of fans. The fat Frank chants do make laugh, partly because of the apparent absurdity. You've got a crowd of a couple hundred middle aged guys with guts hanging out shouting you fat bastard at a toned professional who has just run 12km.
Was there anything about Lampard in the programme? Fulham's facebook page was asking for people's favourite Fulham chants for a programme-feature for this game, and several people suggested Lampard-related ones. If they used any of those and he'd read them before the game it might have had something to do with his response. Incidentally, having not been at the game I'd be interested to see if my '12 Danny Cullips' story made it into the programme (it was getting a lot of likes). Oh dear, I'm posting on a discussion board about stuff I've posted on Facebook. I've finally been eaten alive by social media. That mess around my feet is the crumbling remains of my self-esteem.
I didn't buy a program so can't help with that but I thought the club had asked for favourite chants about Fulham players rather than chants about other teams/players. As for social media, you'll be on twitter next Cap!
The best ones were the oft-repeated Jimmy Bullard one (better than Steve Gerrard, thinner than Frank Lampard) and (to the tune of One Man Went to Mow) 'One man couldn't move, couldn't move Frank Lampard, one man and his transit van couldn't move Frank Lampard.' If they printed that one, I don't blame him for having the hump with us! Hmmmm, Twitter. Is that something for people who like birdsong? I'm bang up to date, me.
My personal favourite; "When the ball hits your head, and you're sat in row z, that's Zamora" sung to the tune of "That's Amore".
