Holding out until the 86th minute was hard work for the team today and we so nearly got the point. City have a lot of talent - their bench alone being worth much more that our team. We just could not get enough of the ball, especially in the second half. A word of praise for Chris Baird who was my MOM today. And Schwarzer reacted well in goal. And it was good to see Kaca come on and make an impact. However, my scepticism in respect of Bryan Ruiz resurfaced again today - good for the first 30 minutes but then just not up-to-it when the tough going became relentless against the top sides. As to penalty claims, yellow cards etc, it all evened out. Just a shame that the score did not. Next up Saints away, Villa at home and Reading away - All winnable, so 4-9 points. C O Y W
Agree GeraS - unfortunately he had to go off with a thigh injury (holds breath for the Southampton game !) In the first half we were more than a match for City and although 1-1 was probably fair at half time we could just as easily have gone in 2-0 up. Second half we disappeared up our proverbial and for some reason went ridiculously deep - the gap between the midfield and Petric (subsequently Hugo) was wider than the Thames. City didn't play any differently; we just didn't pressure them and kept backing off and I just can't understand why. Sidwell (who didn't have a very good first half) was particularly guilty. Agree with GeraS on Ruiz but would not single him out for what was in the end a very disappointing display.
And here is Jol's take on the game - says it all really: http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2012/september/29/manager-reaction
Singling out Ruiz is typical - he was no worse than anyone else. We played well for about 60mins, then went off the boil completely and played far too deep. The result is no less than we deserve, roll on next Saturday.
Ruiz played well but was alone and no support to pass the ball. It's a problem with midfield. Baird and Sidwell did a great job but could not match City's. In the first hard we were poor at the left were City were doing a party. We deserved a point for effort but we stayed too deep in the second half. Come on Fulham
I don't think Sidwell did a very good job, to be honest. Baird was solid, kept his game simple and did very well against such a highly talented opposition. Sidwell however repeatedly gave the ball away and it was a miracle he didn't get booked/sent off with the way he kept clipping at the City players. I thought Ruiz looked good in the first half actually, quite a bit stronger. However, losing to Manchester City is not a disgrace. Silva was the best player on the pitch yesterday by a mile (as against Martinez, who I didn't even realise was playing until he got substituted on 85 minutes...). They are an excellent team and we have to pick ourselves up and move on.
Been in the middle of moving house for the last few weeks so not been posting, but made it to the game yesterday. Lots to agree with above. Ruiz cut a frustrated figure towards the end of the game, but everyone was giving the ball away in the second half so it's harsh to single him out. I'm still holding out the hope that having Berbatov in the team will bring the best out of Bryan, and it would have been interesting to see how we'd have got on with Berba in the side yesterday. On Cottager's point about lacking a leader - I was thinking exactly the same thing yesterday. The one player I did see shouting at those around him and gesticulating was Baird, who I agree with as man of the match. I'm not convinced by Rodallega on the left and would prefer to see Kacaniklic there from the start, but I doubt it would have made a difference yesterday. However, we can't be too tough on any of the players for losing to Man City. I did a quick calculation, and I reckon the total cost of the players that City had on their bench yesterday was about £140m. I very much doubt we paid more than a third of that on all 18 players we had in our squad. One other thing - just how good is Vincent Kompany? We very rarely got the ball up to Petric and then Hugo in the second half, but when we did Kompany dealt with it like it was a training game. A class act.
A few Observations from yesterdays game. I too didn't think Ruiz played that badly, he just doesn't have the same outlet for his passing. My 3 amigos of Dembele, Dempsey and Ruiz is now one amigo on his own. Second half our passing was very poor, too many passes were intercepted, and City just gained control in midfield early and pushed us back. Fulham man of the match was Baird, Duff was not at his best, as I thought he had the beating of Clichy in the first half and for City Silva was pure class, but Tevez was classless. Interesting point in the match programme was that the last 4 games that Mark Halsey has officated Fulham games they had lost 3 (now 4 out of 5) and one draw (at home), two of those losses were at home (now 3 losses at home). My view of Halsey is that he seems to be one of those starstruck Refs, ie gives the bigger club players more leeway. (I'll probably be up against the FA on a charge for writing that ). Yesterday I thought he had a poor game, he gave us a soft penalty, but let City get away with the usual nudge in the back just before we went to jump. (29.09.12 Fulham 1-2 Man City) 17.02.12 Fulham 0-3 Swansea 01.02.12 Fulham 1-1 WBA 26.12.11 Fulham 1-3 WHU 21.09.10 Stoke C 2-0 Fulham Cup But to balance that he officiated Man City 1-3 Fulham 12.04.09 (and strangely didn't officate any City game in 2012 till yesterday).
I thought Ruiz had a good game,2nd half the service into him was quite poor and the midfield were giving him no outlet to play off hence the ball coming back at you again I think when teams are under the cosh it's the responsibility of the coaching staff to stop them defending too deep rather than the players themselves as its the natural thing to do. Berbatov holding the ball up to give the defense a breather and a Danny Murphy type player in midfield would've made a world of difference
Here are video highlights of the game - http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2012/october/01/match-highlights
I was disappointed not to get a point out of the game considering how long we held out of. I didn’t really get a clear view of the penalty as it was at the far end (I sit in the Hammersmith Stand) but heard from people at half time it was soft. Having seen it on MOTD it does seem very soft and not even in the area. We held out well though and MS pulled of some good saves. Had City scored in the first 10 min of the fist half wouldn’t have had any complaints but its gutting we lost in in the last 5 minutes. Haven’t really got any complains about how we played. As cottager said we lacked a leader but that has been the case all season. I though Ruiz was poor and am coming to the conclusion he is never going to cut it. We would be lucky to get £3m for him now, he just hasn’t adapted to the PL and is knocked off the ball way to easily. I though he said he was going to work on his physical side over the summer but it looks as though he spent as much time in the gym over the summer as I did. Apart from the dubious penalty Ruiz had a goal bound header just after half time and also had a shot on target towards the end but apart from that we didn’t really threaten their goal or test JH. I not convinced by our midfield at the moment. I know it’s a make shift one but I really hope we sign a midfield leader in January. Without being too negative City could have one by 3 or 4. Had City's finishing been better and Tevez stayed on his feed a little longer it would have been a different result. We played well for parts of the game buy City completely dominated.
Apparently Sidwell was suffering from a bug in the week before the game so I guess that may have affected his performance. However it emphasises our midfield problems when we have to play someone 'under the weather' !!
