Blow me down with a feather. What a result. Finally a game where we play 90 minutes. Why havent we played like this for the last 5 games? Anyway, a fantastic win. Happy days.
And, apart from a few minutes of drizzle it didn't rain! Got to be top spot on the Football League Show tonight.
Today we played as a solid unit. There was cover on the wings by people dropping back. Parker was immense in the midfield. Hoogland when came on for Parker was the defensive midfielder we needed. The diamond worked today as Derby went on a 3-4-3 formation! Woodrow was really good and won a few fights. Even Ruiz put an extra shift. Don't imagine running but covered more ground than normal! Should take us with confidence in the coming games! Well done to everyone!
Bad as we've been playing, I would have give 10-1 odds we were going to lose this one. Who'd have thunk it.
Happy to discuss it now .. as Madness says Woodrow did well. And in areas that Hugo has been lacking in of late - not only did Cauley win some battles but he was prepared to take them on. pulling wide, running channels and more. Probably egging him a bit but surely not a co-incidence that that's the most shots we've had in a home game for some time (18 I think). Main credit though needs to go to Scotty Parker who was immense before he came off. Surprised he came back out after the knock he took right at the end of the first half and that he did was a demostration of the grit that all the lads showed today. Close behind him was Bryan by dint of his awareness and willingness to look for the ball. His play, although there was the odd flutter when he was caught in possession, was the thing that made "the diamond work". The back four and in particular Stafylidis were the best I've seen them. No disrespect to LVC (and his injury looked worrying) but we were also better organised when Kavanagh came on - this was undoubtedly because Tunnicliffe switched from left side to right (still no idea how Tunnicliffe seems to be an automatic choice 'cos, apart from a lot of arm waving at others, he contributed little and was our poorest player by a mile). This was a real team performance though - proper'in-their-face stuff.
Great win today! Much in line with the comments made.... - Marcus was sound. - Captain Parker did well. - Bryan Ruiz made a real difference: a class apart on ball control, tackling etc. - But I think it was Woodrow making himself available and running the channels. The Derby front line, lead by Darren Bent (!!), was hardly top-of-the table stuff, but great for the confidence of oput defence. Athough I still have concern at the space on left defence. Upfront and in the middle our youngsters had some lessons in dealing with some "experienced" defenders, but made some good incisive attacks - good signs. COYW !!!
As I said before the game on here, all I wanted from the game was for them to compete and not give up at the first sign, and boy did they do that and more. If I was being critical we should have taken more chances. But well done they didn't really give Derby to many clear chances.
Late night guys - we are indeed the "Feature Match" Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05510y6 Trust they will show Moussa Dembele hammering the crossbar in the last minute
I think Kit got the interview wrong at the end, we haven't been doing anything like showing the commitment that we did today for the last 6 games. They got it right that Parker, McCormack and Ruiz ran the show and the rest did well, although I still thought Stafylidis has no sense of positioning and switches off at times, and Tunnicliffe is too slack and a bit lazy at times, played better when he was moved to the right side and Kavanagh went to the left to protect Stafylidis better.
I don't see that slagging off helps at all, for who wants to perform if they get slagged off? It's more likely that you would give up or FO to where you may have some understanding, especially as a young lad in any career. The team started well, the fans got behind them, that is what helps. Our cup is nearly 1/3 full this week, so lets try to help it get filled further.
I think Ros was referring to the critiquing of the team on 606. However, the fans were getting vocal at games when they know the system was wrong and the players weren't making as much effort as they should (hence the comments about us only playing one half of a game well etc). Yesterday proved that we have players of a quality that should be in the top half of the league, comfortably. I also agree that Woodrow is a better option than Hugo. I love a player that will run and chase and harry the oppo, track back for the team etc. This for me seemed to transfer to other players too. Parker getting stuck in, McCormack unlocking Derby time and again and my ol' friend Ruiz playing well too. Kavannah gave us balance, Tunnicliffe played okay when he went to the right (should have scored). The centre backs played well. I am now basking in the glory of beating Derby and making up for the miserable game at Derby earlier in the season.
Who knows rosc, who knows? In his post-match comments Kit at least acknowledged that Matt Smith is back …. “Hopefully, [Hugo] will be back],” Symons continued. “His [injury] was a funny one. I took him off against Wolves and he took his boot off and his leg just swelled up. It was a bizarre one. He actually did it in the first half but he wasn’t aware of it. He was moving freely, then after the game he was in a protective boot, on crutches, coming out of the stadium. So we were quite worried. We got him x-rayed and scanned, but there’s nothing there. It’s just soft tissue, like a dead leg. It just swells up. There’s a good chance he’ll be fit for Tuesday. He did the warm-up with the Team on Friday, and some straight-line running and he was fine doing that.” “It was more precautionary in that if he got a kick, he would be in trouble so he has a good chance of being available for Tuesday. Cauley did very well, and Matt Smith will be back so there is no guarantees for anyone. This is what we want. We want competition for places and we want to be playing people that are in form.” ….. but who he’ll pick on Tuesday?? Full post-match comments from Kit: http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2015/february/28/manager-reaction
The only decent thing Tunnicliffe did all game was take a swipe at that pigeon which took roost just outside the Derby penalty box in the second half. And he missed that as well!
So the team can play !! Let's hope it's a confidence booster and we can take this through to the next few games. Can't really add to much to what has already been said, to which I agree most. That pigeon stayed for the whole game and didn't seem too fussed about players running around him.
In the interview after the game, Kit said that the team's been playing well, just not getting the results. You think that's true, or is he just blowing smoke? I watched the replay this morning on TV. Fulham seemed to dominate. We could have been up 4-0, if Tunnicliffe could hit the broad side of a barn from 10 feet.
Think he was getting carried away by the hype McLaren gave us in his post-match interview 'cos, no we haven't been playing well recently. A major difference yesterday was that Scotty Parker was able to do what Scotty Parker is good at and that was because of this man - please log in to view this image Bryan's heat map
