It was obvious what was going to happen from about 70 mins. Very frustrating, some good bits of play but just didn't see it out. Second half Kaca was, again, not on the left wing playing through the middle alongside Kasami. Jol must be telling him to do this, which makes no sense. Scantily clad women and a mascot simulating sex with the goal- what's going on.
Why was he on the bench then? And if Dejegah is injured (or whatever) why didn't we have a natural right winger like Mesca preferably starting, but at least as back up? Someone running at the Baggies defence would have created havoc. Just on the point of wing play. There were uncountable times today when a simple, quick ball could have been played wide, instead the ball was held looking for a 'killer' pass through the middle, which didn't happen. This begs the question (again) of what goes on in coaching sessions?
am I deluded, or do I watch another game, the only player we had splitting the defence, was ruiz, no one was making run for him to play the ball into, hes ball for berba twice were inch perfect, maybe its just me
I thought the FA had ratified that to be offside that feet being in line but the body a bit forward, was not offside. (we had a Kasami goal disallowed at West Brom 2 seasons ago for that). So Berbatov's second disallowed goal should have stood. His first was offside, and Sidwell was only just offside for the 3rd disallowed. I think Fulham are seen as a soft touch, our manager should highlight this more in his interviews, even if it means getting fined. Let's get nasty. We need to kill teams like WBA off with a second goal, if we'd got the second, their confidence would disappear. Injury problems, Ruiz going off on a stretcher looked bad, Berbatov went off with a reported tight hamstring, Bent out with hamstring problem, and after Riether clattered into the advert hoardings, he seemed to be limping throughout the game, Richardson came off, so was that an injury?.
I've seen nothing of today's game, so I can't comment on this, but of the games I've seen Ruiz often gets slated regardless of how he does. Some people - in seats around me and on this board - only see the flaws (and there are flaws in his game, I'm not claiming he's Zidane or something) and filter out all of the good stuff. On the basis of that circumstantial evidence, you may well be right, Traveller. I think the reason he's in the team is his ability to pick a pass, and we don't seem to have anyone else who can do that right now. It's a shame Bent is injured, as he would have been making those runs all day long.
Yesterday's game was up for taking. The goal Berbatov scored should have stood. Also one of the handballs could have been given. But that was not shown yesterday. Ruiz had a couple of good moments. The pass, and when he put some pressure on their defense resulted in mistakes. I agree with Jol that he should have scored. Yesterday the game needed Kara in the second to get the ball moving faster and forward. Sidwell was good, so was Parker but one of them could have made way in the last 10 mins or so. On the ref, he should have booked Mulumbu who had a couple of nasty tackles. Nobody is happy with the result and we are where we are. Need to field a strong team and keep Chelsea at bay next week.
Couldn't agree with you more. Ruiz was picking the ball up in good positions but no one was making any runs for him so he was often forced to pass the ball back. It annoyed me that every time this happened the crowd were shouting at him saying 'stop slowing down f***ing play' or so, when it was obvious that he was not to blame as no one on the wings or down the middle were making runs.
According to Jol Ruiz is supposed to be making the runs... Unless Ruiz has a problem understanding his role. Even when playing behind Berba he is not making any runs. I believe the comments regarding him bring slow have to do with the fact that he can't use his right leg at all. This slows him down. Ruiz was not the weakest link yesterday. Simply not our day. My question is similar to others. Where is Dejagah or Mesca?
I saw a replay of the game. It wasn't all bad; I guess that's the best I can say about it. Stockdale was very good and Sidwell and Parker did a tidy job in the middle, but if we can't put down WBA at home, I think it could be a long, nail-biting season. Ruiz reminds me of Dembele a couple years ago, holding the ball too long and slowing down the attack while trying to find the perfect, brilliant pass. Dembele out grew it and became a huge asset for us, but it remains to be seen whether Ruiz will do the same.
Just watched MOTD2 and they said Berbatov was fractionally offside, which makes my point that I said above, that I thought the FA had said you were not offside unless there was clear daylight between attacker and defender !!!! so they got it wrong. To me Premier officials at games are getting too many decisions wrong, and changing the course of games. There are not too many Refs that I think are good any more. The Ref from the lower league in the game against Burton was one of the best I've seen in ages.
As far as I know it is if any goal scoring part of the body (i.e. not the arms) are beyond the last defender then it is offside, and in that case I think Berba was marginally off.
That was my understanding too. I don't remember hearing about the ruling SuperBrian refers to. Nice to see you back, by the way, Fulhamireland.
Come On You Ciall Nonnolly Boys (now that I'm out of the Sidders Cup!) - welcome back ineed Fulhamireland. Just on the ref's decisions. I've now had a chance to look in slow motion at the play before the corner leading to their goal and it does appear that Scotty Parker did get he last touch. But my gosh it was very iffy and fair play to Mr Probert, he took an age before making his decision on Saturday. So, it looks as though I was wrong on that and Berba's second offside. On another day either could have gone in our favour but I guess that's sometimes the margin between a win and not.
Well we didn't get any luck in this game rosc. Because, to continue the point about decisions going against us, I forgot to mention in the last post the handballs inside the penalty box. The first Mr Probert was probably correct not to give since the player was only a yard or less away from the cross and he didn't move his hand. The second was distinctly different. The distance was significant and he definitely moved his right arm up towards the shot, which was going towards goal. That for me was a penalty.
its no coincidence that they scored when Ruiz went off. I thought he played well. Okay some passes went astray and he got caught on the ball a few times but he's got some skills!
I thought we were very lucky in the second half when Senderos stood on Anelka's ankle as he was running in on goal. Maybe Stockdale was going to get there but still he tripped him in the box and that could easily have been given. On the Berbatov offside thing it was a lot more frustrating for me as him not scoring left me down for a 100/1 bet:
