Christensen gets on the end of a low cross but can only glance his effort wide of the far post. Bikey is now up front.
Goal Fulham. Rodallega is played in by Christensen down the right. He cuts inside the defender and curls it low beyond Henderson. 3-0
Wilson shoots low from the edge of the area and the keeper is beaten... but it hits the inside of the post and bounces out.
Full time 3-0 The game was lost in the opening 15 minutes. After that, despite steadying ourselves and having a lot of possession, we couldn't do much with it and Fulham were able to hold us at arms length before sealing it just before the end. Look forward to hearing from those who were there.
George Tucudean = Massive pile of dog ****...!! The geezer in incapable of holding the ****ing ball. We desperately needed him to hold the ball up tonight, but he was too full of fancy flicks and ideas outside of his ability... ****er...!! For all our possession in the second half we created absolutely **** all (93 mins until we hit the target with a meaningful attempt on goal). I'm pleased with the character we showed though, because we never gave it up. The sooner Vetokele gets back the better. Without him we look utterly toothless...!! We can't rely solely on him to get our goals. Mark my words, If we don't bring in a proven Championship forward we will deffo finish nearer the bottom than the top.
Looking at the fixture list I think we need 3 home wins in November (Wednesday, Millwall and Ipswich) heading into Christmas. It's so hard to be an optimist in the Championship!
Our luck ran out tonight. Not unlucky, just our luck ran out. The first half was as bad as anything I've seen in recent years, our midfield did not function at all. The only bright spot was the fans, who were terrific.
Having slept on it, it's a little easier to be objective. If I'd posted last night...... A lot of the comments on here have already said what needs to be said about the playing roster. We have a lightweight squad which includes only one decent striker, and he didn't play last night. George Tucudean is so far off the wavelength of the rest of the team that he may as well be playing in a different kit. Basically, Fulham wanted it more. Their incentive was to convince their owner that Kit Symons is the man to take charge. They would have done that in spades last night. Charlton's incentive was to climb to third in the table but that didn't seem to be any sort of inspiration, or if it was, it didn't show. Both first half goals came about from Charlton errors, firstly a loose pass in midfield which would have had Scotty Parker's eyes opening wide with delight at the easy possession and all that open prairie in front of him to the Charlton penalty area. The second Fulham goal came when Ben Haim (I think) hooked a cross back over his head into the path of an unmarked Fulham player instead of booting it over the roof the stand. Henderson did what he could to keep the resultant shot out but could only parry the ball into the path of Rodellaga. Two cock-ups, two goals. If Fulham's goals could be called 'lucky', inasmuch as Charlton gifted them to them, it was luck they had earned. They came out of the traps positively and showed an appetite for the game that seemed to take Charlton by surprise. By the time we got our heads around the fact that we were in a game, we were out of it. Lots of second half possession, lots of corners, but ultimately no end product. Moussa's header which the goalie parried around the post and a couple other limp efforts were all we could muster from a period in which we finally got a grip on the game. But it was always Fulham who were presenting the threat. Henderson was the only goalkeeper having to make saves. It always felt as though Fulham were going to get the next goal, and so it proved. A somewhat superfluous final flourish from Rodellaga who scored, I think, just to show that he could. He then feigned an injury because he was bored now that he'd got a couple of goals and wanted to get out of the nasty rain. As soon as he was subbed, his calf injury got well enough for him to run to the dressing room. Things to be positive about..? Not a lot. The team did show some dicker in the second half and tried to play with tempo and purpose, but Fulham upped their game too. They had something to hold onto and made sure that they did. Charlton's best player was Jackson. He played on after sustaining a nasty cut over his eye and led by example. Ahearne-Grant came on midway through the second half and played with confidence. He looks good. If he carries on like this, we'll be able to sell him by Christmas. The Squad: It is what it is and we have to get on with it. If Igor isn't available, George plays. It's like that for a number of positions. I think BP needs to be lining up another striker for the January window, as well as a driving force for midfield to inject something more purposeful and direct into the play. I also think Ahearne-Grant is worth a starting place for a few games. He looks bright eyed and bushy tailed and his impressive enthusiasm might just rub off on some of the others. Final comment: I thought the referee did well. It wasn't a tough game to referee, really, because both sides played the game instead of resorting to dubious behaviour, but he kept it flowing and didn't produce any cards. I think that's worthy of mention. Well played Mr Stroud.
The most frustrating thing last night was that so many of our players were unable to control the ball, you could probably count about 20 times where we lost possession due to lapse of concentration on mis-control. It was a mistake ridden performance.
It was horrible in the first half. The 2nd half was better - just but that was more to Fulham reducing their intent to score but to ensure winning. The team have been found out, now the season starts, let's see how good the manager really is and wether he gets the backing.
