Just pointing it out Bidley lol To answer the original question he did ok not spectacular but nothing wrong either though he is def not a winger!
The corners from Ruiz were decent, but it was more suspect Palace marking than anything, which led to the two goals.
Came through loud and clear Cookie - absolutely terrific. Best summed up by these two comments from Palace fans: "Second half sounded dead. Fulham fans were the loudest we've come up against so far this season." "Tonight everything was an embarrassment but to be outsung by Fulham at selhurst - not good enough."
Have to bow to you Cookie, since you were at game and I only watched it on the box, but even your qualified "ok" seems generous. And, as you say, goodness knows why Jol persists on playing him on the wing. With Madness on the 'alleged' third assist - it was an awful free kick. As for being given the other two, which were corner kicks...??? Mind, as Bidley says, a great improvement on our previous efforts this season.
I'm just trying to get across the fact that although he wasn't amazing he didn't do anything wrong because I know the haters will be waiting to pounce. Yes his three assists were all set pieces but the free kick hit the wall which was about 7 yards away not 10 and as for the corners I remember a time when we couldn't cross a half decent corner for toffee both whipped in quite well into decent areas and just about flat enough couldn't do more than that. I know the haters will say he gave away a few passes but if we want to go down that route so did every player.
On another note the reaction between Kasami and the fans at the end was brilliant, he seems to be very happy playing now and happy to be at the club can't see him wanting to leave anytime soon even if we get a few bids! he also put a good tweet on twitter after the game but I'm not on twitter so can't post a link
Cookie thanks for sharing the experience and atmosphere in the ground... The voices of our fans were very clear especially after Sidwell's goal and most of second half. Just to clarify once and for all my position towards Ruiz and any player who consistently under-performs. I do not hate the guy and have nothing against him. Through Ruiz, Riise in the past, I am expressing my frustration towards a player who is not PL material. Riise used to be, Ruiz is in his third season and apart from a couple of glimpses has not shown what we expect from him. Mostly is has to do with Jol and his stubborness as I posted above that he thinks himself above all. In any case, I believe that he should not be starting until he is proven better than someone else on the bench. And I believe we have some youngsters that should be given a chance... The improvement of the team was visible but certain problems remain. Onwards and upwards from now on! Was the win against Stoke the turning point? History repeats itself?
Good news Cravingawin, both my accumulators came in, but I'm very annoyed at myself for 3 reasons. 1) They only netted me a £97.50 profit (I thought it was a good 50 sheets more than that). 2) When we went a goal down I said to my mate "if I didn't already have money riding on this I'd whack at least a tenner on us winning (I guess we would have been at least 5/1 on the in play market). 3) At half time Sky had some price boost bets - the 2 that caught my eye were: Bent to score next and Fulham to win 4-2 at 100/1 and.... Berbatov to score next and Fulham to win 4-1 at 80/1 (which came in)!! Again I said to my mate "I'd have a fiver on both of those if I didn't already have money on this". Foolishly I didn't want to curse my accumulators. Basically I would have walkers away with £445 profit if it wasn't for those pesky accumulators! Oh well, mustn't grumble. A ton profit, a great performance and 3 points...I've had a lot worse Monday nights!
Thanks for the replies re: Ruiz. I'm not claiming that a couple of corners and a free kick that hit the wall mark him out as a creative genius (!). It sounds as if, generally speaking, he had a reasonable game. My point is that on numerous occasions in the past, he's been our best way of making something happen in a game and yet lots of people dismiss him as not being good enough. It's a valid opinion, but from what I've seen one that can only be held by ignoring the carefully threaded through balls, etc, that no one else in the current side seems to be able to make. He has his faults, but I think his critics focus on them and fail to see what's good about him (just as his defenders, like me, can sometimes seem to gloss over his faults and just see the positive). He's by no means guarenteed a place, but I'm still happy to see his name on the team sheet. If he's in the team at Southampton, I'll be watching to see if I've got him completely wrong.
Let me oblige you Cookie.... @PajtimKasami Proud to be MOTM, score an important goal for FFC and i love you Fulham Fans! Hard work paying off! #ffc #coyw pic.twitter.com/qgFuN4zEvx He even got congrats from Andy Murray: @PajtimKasami was probably the best individual goal I've ever watched live! Congrats on the win and good luck for the rest of the season! Role on Saturday - C O Y W!
Kasami Wonder Strike - The Boring Bits: Distance: 28.3 yards Speed: 57.8mph Time from boot to goal: 1 second And here is a link to the highlights on FulhamTV, showing ALL the goals: http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/october/22/crystal-palace-highlights
I think you will find that Ruiz (Bryan!) played the ball on purpose in to the wall. He's been practicing most matches but it hasn't come off before!
I felt a bit for Ruiz yesterday. In the first half we did not use either wingers. The ball went to Parker who found SIDS and then we went backwards to the defence. Rarely did we feed the ball to Ruiz or Kasami. This seems to be part of our issue this season. In the second half Ruiz came inside a bit more and started to get on the ball and was influential. Like others I am not convinced by his performances but I am not sure if that is Ruiz or him not being played in the correct position.
I've only seen brief highlights but did notice that all four of our goals came either from a set piece or were an act of individual ability - still doesn't appear to be much semblance of a coherent team. Nevertheless a very important result- we probably have enough talent to stay up. Lets see how Kasami reacts to his wonder goal - is it the start of a special career or will that be his biggest achievement come 2023.
Silk ship it's amazing what a bit of confidence does two wonder goals put us two one up and then five minutes into the second half a third from a set piece and suddenly we started passing it around and keeping possession with ease A couple of times the Fulham fans had the Ole's going and without creating to much we were looking good, obviously we created the chance where Kasami almost got his second wonder goal of the night. Hopefully a weight has been lifted and we start passing it about a lot better now
As well as the passing and possession, the really encouraging thing was that the players looked as though they wanted the ball. As you say Cookie, it'sa cofidence thing mostly. Silky does have a point as well though. Despite all the good stuff the number of shots on goal is still very low, which games stats show: Possession%: 46-54 Passes: 374-452 | Accuracy%: 76-83 Final 3rd: 120-110 | Accuracy%: 62-65 Shots: 14(4)-9(6) And hopefully Berbatov has the goal monkey off his back. Oh, oh....
I may be too pessimistic at this point with Jol- but Crystal Palace, even away from home, we should be controlling and beating - although I wouldn't expect a 4-1 result. I think he will avoid the chop - looking at the Jaguars info earlier in the week and they have had three (one caretaker) managers since 2011 with 4 wins and 24 losses in the time since- Khan took charge just after the coach of 8 years was sacked. The experience might make him less likely to be too trigger happy with Jol and at this point I think we're probably committed to his squad and maybe isn't much point changing and just hoping it all works out. I wouldn't be surprised if Jol left at the end of the season of his accord though - he took the boos personally and could probably land a job at a few premiership clubs, on higher wages with a bigger budget, or go overseas.
