You don't often expect defenders to score, but surely Riise's first rocket for us has got to come soon!? Cheers for that Bandy, sounds much like what I heard, except Berbs was continuously given grief by the commentary team for giving the ball away (which I won't read a great deal into). Interesting how this is a team we could've fielded before January, i.e. no new signings played with the small exception of an Urby cameo. It seems as though the competition for places is putting a rocket up the players!
A good overall performance from the Fulham team today, against physical team. We were a bit wasteful, but had 20 shots vs 7 from Stoke, who didn't deserve wanything from the game (save for a maybe a red card?). Everyone played their part today, so well done! Ruiz and Berbatov both excited us and frustrated us - that's what you get with flair players. And I'm looking forward to seeing the well-taken goal on the TV. C O Y W
well done guys deserved the result would have been a crime if we had got anything out of that game. Think we were lucky to end up with full 11 on the pitch both Huth and Nzonzi could and should have gone all the best for the rest of the season
Blimey, when I saw a Stoke fan has posted here I expected the polar opposite of that! Fair play to you and best of luck for the rest of the season.
Haha I thought exactly the same Bidley! Berbatov was a little sluggish in possession, but I think that was more down to the fact there wasn't always an easy option available to him. I thought we were excellent throughout, especially in the first half. Dejagah really does give us a much needed injection of pace on the counter attack.
As Bidley said, thanks for this RandW. I thought you suffered when Etherington went off so early. You are correct though about Huth (who didn't get even awar ning for his forearm smash on Senderos, so might be hearing from the 'panel' next week) and Nzonzi who should have gone for this : please log in to view this image However enough of Stoke. A terrific all round team performance and I wouldn't argue with the scores or the assessment given earlier by Bandit (although I do think he's generous with an 8 for Berba - some (actually most) of his passing was a tad lazy). That has to be Dejagah's best performance and I think he just shaved being MOTM. Of the outfield players, Kara deserves loads of plaudits and Hangeland was just immense in the air. As usual, got to be the odd negative and it's our lack of 'sharpness' in the final third (both passing and shooting). That said twenty plus attempts to Stoke's seven or so underlines our dominance. COYW
Thanks for the comments guys. 3 points well deserved by the sound of it. Only point for me is that we need to put these games to bed early enough when we have something like 67% possession! Come on Fulham!
And deserves better than being last on MOTD!! Incidently this was our first back to back clean sheet this season (and in fact the first for almost a year).
I guess that because we will have 30 seconds top of analysis, they will fail to mention the 'assault' of our players?
Solid performance continued into the second half and we deservedly took all 3 points. Gracious of red and white to come on here, best of luck to you this season as well mate. I thought as solid as we were, Stoke looked a bit lacklustre and looked like a team trying to get a point away. They caused us some issues when they went 4 4 2 but glad to see we held them at bay. Incidently the more I see that challenge from N'Zonzi the more I wonder why players like this are allowed to get away this. I think he got booked so therefore that is the matter done and dusted, no retrospective action can be taken. This ruling is utter nonsense and an incident like this highlights it. At no point was N'Zonzi either a: playing the ball or b: looking at the ball. He is staring Ruiz in the face and completely meant to bascially punch him. It was not a bad left jab really, there is no place for this and he should be made to take the concesquences. I may get done for this but I felt that if we had had a striker on the pitch today who was willing to run the channels we would have won that game by more. Do not get me wrong, Berbatov is fantastic player and his finish today was sensational. But ... when Petric came on he immediately ran at there defence and got a shot off. I felt that too many times today players were looking for an outlet but Berbatov was not there. It may be harsh on a player who technically gifted on another level, but an old fashionned striker who finds the gaps behind the defence would have destroyed Stoke today. COYW
I am not in a position to make justified comments on the game as have seen only highlights. But I understand where you are coming from and this is the old point of having both Berba and Ruiz on the pitch. Berba scored today and the midfield with the defense kept a clean sheet, but we need to put games to bed sooner than later.... One point on the refs and their assistants. Two blatant red cards. They should have finished with 9 men! Don't care if FA takes action as will be too late! Overall a great win which will lift our morale!
To my surprise, they did mention both the Nzonzi punch and (much more surprisingly) the Huth forearm smash. Stoke certainly don't do themselves any favours with the "thug" tag when you see multiple incidents like that. Have to feel a bit sorry for their fans though, as I'm sure the thuggish aggression comes from Pulis.
Was very surprised to see Jol go with Ruiz and Berba- glad we managed to get a result against a poor Stoke team who posed very little attacking threat, particularly when Etherington (who has done some damage at the cottage) went off. The Stoke right back, Shotton, looks like a real player- I knew a bit about him before but never seen him play, one for England I think. Our problem yesterday was pace and movement, everyone stops when Ruiz has the ball. Duff and Dejegah are not a great pairing for a home match where we should be on the offensive. Dejegah had one of his better games but, along with duff, he lacks pace. With Ruiz and Berba in the middle we are not going anywhere fast- at times it was like Field Marshall Haig's Blackadder strategy where we walk very slowly toward the opposition goal. Not much happened in the game itself, Nzonzi committed GBH, Reither had another stormer and Maximus Aurelius stopped it from becoming a Greek tragedy. When Reither has the ball on the attack he just runs- it's amazing how few players do this given its effectiveness. Jol should work on it with some of the pacier players- just take them on. It was perfect against Stoke on a compressed pitch. Reither my man of the season so far. Hangeland, who I've criticised recently, had another strong game. Senderos- I know he can be a scapegoat, but if he keeps on with the calamitous mistakes, this time it fell to Crouch fortunately, he cant keep playing.
As much as I appreciate the Blackadder reference, I can't agree with your point about Dejagah slowing the game down. I thought he terrorised Wilson on the left, his quick thinking to get away from him in the second half which led to Wilson's yellow was pure class. I agree that he's by no means the finished article, a bit like Aaron Lennon used to be, all pace and no end product, but yesterday was a massive improvement. I agree that Duff had one of his quieter games. Riise was more of an attacking threat down the left. Would have liked to have seen Kaca on for Duff with half an hour to go really. It's a game that would have been perfect for him as Stoke's wing backs aren't exactly speedy.
I went on the Stoke City forum and you make a valid point. The vast majority of Stoke fans dislike Pulis and want him out of their club. They aren't a fan of the way the club play football and wish another manager was at the helm to install a new philosophy. However, I did see one post where one fan claimed Ruiz should have been sent off for his handball in the first half. Nonsense. But at least they refused to defend Huth and Nzonzi.
Some thoughts from yesterday: - Ruiz looks so short on confidence right now. When he has the ball he slows play down and frequently ends up passing backwards, but when he actually tries to play football he makes a big impact. It's frustrating to watch because he clearly needs to find that confidence and fans reactions are not helping him. But Jol needs to work out how to get Ruiz playing like Ruiz again. Arguably a harder job than managing Berbatov. - I cringed a little when I saw our line up yesterday. Stoke are a physical team, but they are also slow and we really lacked the pace to go at them. This was exactly the kind of game where Rodallega (who is just a good Kenwyne Jones apparantly!) or Kaca would have been good subs. At least we were defensively solid, because we lacked pace and penetration through the middle. - To expand on my previous point, I was very frustrated at Jol's substitutions yesterday. We let the game drift in the second half and we needed a change to try and kill the game off (someone like Petric). Instead we waited for so long and then brought on Baird for Karagounis and just hoped that Stoke would not spark to life. Does Jol have so little confidence in our subs to impact a game at home against the likes of Stoke? - Karagounis changes the way we play, even more than Berbatov. He always has his head up and plays the ball forward. Sidwell is still insistent on passing the ball anywhere but forward, but Kara adds much needed vision to our CM. My only concern is how Kara impacts our dressing room. He is a clear leader and very vocal on the pitch: does that antagonise our other senior players? - Berbatov is Berbatov. We have to establish our system around him and get the best from him. One of the few times Ruiz attacked the ball in the 6 yard box (and was blatantly bundled over), the ball fell to Berbatov with time to spare and he hit it beautifully. We can play the right way to utilise Berbatov, but our second strikers (Ruiz, Hugo & Petric) all lack confidence. Time to earn your money Mr Jol! - Stoke were very lucky to keep 11 men on the pitch, with the referee frequently bottling any even slightly controversial decisions. Don't know if its because the match was televised, but the referee was very leniant. - Senderos started well in the first 10 minutes, winning headers and challenges against Crouch. Then, for whatever reason, it changed and Senderos didn't seem to win a challenge for the rest of the game. He didn't seem to even challenge Crouch after those first 10 minutes. Very odd, considering he was presumably selected ahead of Hughes for his extra aerial ability. - Riether and Dejagah finally seem to be building up a good relationship on the field. Dejagah is a direct runner who struggles with the final ball (much like Lennon), but Riether just runs so much that he is nearly always outside him for the cross. Just a shame that we never had anyone in the middle... - Early games followed by rugby games watched in the pub equals one stonking hangover the morning after. Worth it, I feel, but still painful this morning!
Good points made The sum up Ruiz's performance, the commentator made a remark that really did seem to fit 'Ruiz is so comfortable on the ball, he's always looking to make things happen (Ruiz gets caught in possession) I guess I gave him the commentator's curse.' This is Ruiz all over. He will do something that makes people think he's great, then a minute later he's disappointing again.
