Things really are not looking good (we all know that!) and today we left it too little too late once again. THE GAME Well when I saw the team sheet I was worried. Ferdinand against Lukaku didnt fill me with much joy I have to say. We began the game with real intent - MBia having a shot within the first minute, however that was the best sight of goal really that we had in the first half. From then on WBA were in control and we gave Brunt too much time and space to pick his shot into the bottom corner. Should have closed down much earlier. The half petered out really and came at a good time for us as we looked to have run out of ideas. We just did not get going in the first half and they played the conditions much better. Second half was much the same and they quickly got a 2nd goal that from the Lower loft end looked like a certain Green error. They were again in control until 68 mins when out of the blue Cisse popped up with a goal - ironic that moments earlier the crowd had ironically cheered him when he won a header. You would think right we have one back, time to really crank up the pressure - and we did to begin with - mackie and taarabt having shots on goal. But then it dried up once again and until the final 5-10 mins we didnt really get into full gear. Too little too late. However we should have been given a penalty for handball and we forced a succession of corners with one cleared off the line. THE RATINGS GREEN - 6 - average tbh. first goal not his fault and looked ok until the second went in. imo he should have punched rather than tried to put it over the bar, but it was a foul nevertheless. from then on he looked nervous throughout - one mistake (ish) and he went to pot. TRAORE - 5 - ok going forwards but had a tough time defensively and looked shaky many times. HILL - 6 - didnt win enough headers for me but was up against the big lukaku. but did marshall the defence in nelsens absence. FERDINAND - 5 - first 30 mins he was doing well but then once they scored, especially in the second half he made several errors with poor passes. straight after their first he almost let morison score in the same corner as brunt. FABIO - 5 - poor imo. didnt cope well with the conditions and generally didnt do a whole lot. MBIA - 6.5 - full of effort and energy and was the engine of our play but was a bit rash at times which doesnt help. sometimes gives the air of panic! but should have been awarded a pen and linked well with the forward players mostly. FAURLIN - 5 - poor. alot of misplaced passes, although a few nice ones as well but overall looked off the pace. SWP - 7 - MOM - not often this happens but our mom for me. was always involved and even beat not one but two men in one movement. some nice ball control and always a threat. pleased to see him playing well again. MACKIE - 6.5 - alot of effort as usual but wasted on the RW. when moved centrally he was much more effective in causing more problems. but all day was winning the ball back and encouraging others. must not let him leave in jan (if fulham rumours are true). TAARABT - 6 - always tried to influence the game but slippery conditions didnt help. made a few nice runs and had some opportunities. corners improved as the game went on but a few poor ones. CISSE - 5 - got a five as he scored but other than that was a pathetic performance from a striker imo. has got some abuse on twitter which we dont like to see. but did pretty much nothing really other than the goal. imo need to put mackie up front now. SUBS: DIAKITE - 6 - brought energy to the team and tried to make those bursting runs forward but found it difficult to break through. should have done better with an attempt on goal. HOILETT - 6 - got some nice crosses into the box and set up a few decent chances but would have liked to have seen a bit more from a sub running at a tired defence. FINAL WORD As the title suggests, i think the writing is now firmly on the wall. Relegation im afraid. I just cant see enough on the pitch to suggest anything else. We continually make it easy for teams to get ahead and leave it too little too late to rescue a draw at best. That is not the way forwards when we need really 25-30 points from the remaining 57 points to play for. January may see signings made but will that help us to go on a run of wins that will save us? Last season we just did it, and we are worse of this year. Trying to remain positive, but if I'm honest things are very bleak. Too many players mugging the fans time and time again. We HAVE to improve performances to give us the chance to win games as we just dont do enough. We can moan about not getting two decisions go our way today, but we didnt deserve anything from our performance in the first 60-70mins. Sometimes you make your own luck - and if our performance had been better perhaps on another day both decisions would have gone for us.
Thanks for that Judo worth the wait. Sounds like the players are resigned to going down as well?! We must give credit to Clarke and WBA. they look a decent team and are going well this season, always been a hard team to play and maybe Clarke has just given them the mi9ssing ingredients to push them forward. As for us..SWP, MOM? really. That coming from you really does suprise me as i know your view of him. Fair play to him though. Ferdinand has never been good enough in my opinion and what happened to Nelson? Is he injured. I thought Green was starting tio get some confidence back and was improving over the last few games. Ceasar got to be back in i think. As for the point on Cisse, Ive always said that if my CF does F-all the whole game but gives me a goal every game, then I'd be happy and pick him. You really cant ask more of a striker than to score goals. Thats his job! For me, he's done his job and scored. Dont care if he runs, tackles or anything else IMHO Bear in mind that I havent seen the game yet so I'm probably talking absolute bo**ox and will be fuming when i watch it later !! Think the damage was done in the first 16 games mate. ot loooking good,but, we're still in touching distance..Keep the faith mate and maybe..just maybe..!
I admit that things are not looking too good for survival now. But I am looking forward to seeing who Harry brings in. Dj plus another striker? Central defender? And a good defensive utility player? Loans more likely.
I think the best we can hope for is that we improve with a few loanees in the second half of the season to give us a solid platform to win promotion next season, but there will need to be a sea-change in the effort and pride shown by the team, we've been seriously short-changed this season...
BUT - I have to disagree - if the decision HAD been CORRECT - the game would have been different. We weren't the worse side of the normal game as a whole, they won based on a couple of terrible decisions! So the analysis makes no sense.
That's a pretty fair summary of todays proceedings Judo. We didn't have our usual team de-breifing after the final whistle and rightly so. There was nothing to be said that we haven't already said on numerous occasions this season. I'll see you for some more of the same on Super Sunday mate.
Thanks for the summary Judo. I know I'll cop some flak for saying this but I really don't think we're playing that much better under HR than under MH. It's the same old story - players out of position, out of form, couldn't be a*sed, poor for the majority of the game, cannot create chances etc. Fulham are awful at the moment and it needed a once in a blue moon performance from Adel to get us home, just. These players are finished imo. There is no new manager bounce because these guys are mentally shot beyond repair. That f***wit MH started the rot. The next transfer window is our last throw of the dice so hopefully Harry still has a trick up his sleeve. Wouldn't be a bad idea to start planning for the npc either.
I simply just don't get this complaining about Cisse. I even turned round and had a go at some of the morons behind me today after he scored! He DID win a few headers throughout the match, even though he was up against two man-mountains! That ironic cheer in the 2nd half was born out of complete ignorance imo. A 5, after he scored is way too low imo. Mackie would almost certainly have missed that chance. Cisse also linked up well at times and chased and harried. Give Cisse chances and he'll score goals! Really wouldn't blame him for leaving after all the stupid abuse he gets.
Pretty much what i said mate. he's a striker and thier to score goals. He did his job so i dont care what else he does. I dont get it either. Wish a few more of the team would just "do thier own jobs" then we wouldnt be at the bottom..IMHO?
