Well, Who'd of thought it. Go to the Emirates and score 3 goals! Unfortunately we gave away 3 soft goals in my opinion. I thought it was a great game, we matched them everywhere and were unlucky not to take 3 points. All in all a positive result for Fulham but we need to keep working on keeping a clean sheet every now and then. Plus 2 points from games where i didnt think we'd get any. COYW.
At 2-0 down I said we had to score the next goal, as it would hit Arsenal's confidence. Turning point was Richardson going off, as afterwards we opened up playing the ball down the wings more, and Kacaniklic stopped Sanga bombing forward, and Dejagah got into the game more. Ruiz was at his best, Arsenals midfielders are used to teams trying to pass the ball and then intercept poor passing, but Ruiz is the type of player who will take them on and get past them and into the spaces behind them pressing their defenders to come out and close down. He was my MOTM, with the lack of concentration in the last minute to give Arsenal the opportunity for the penalty the only black mark against him. Thought Fulham dealt better with trying to play the ball out from the back despite Arsenal pressing them, the control from Schwarzer's kicks was better by Berbatov and the rest, but they were still 50/50 punts up the field.
Just noticed our last five results have been 2-2, 1-0, 3-3, 2-2, 3-3. Well at least we're more entertaining than last year's boring nil-nils...
We definatly need to spend on a quality defender in the transfer window. Thought Hangaland was abismal yesterday.
Entertainment is the word if you consider 43 goals have been scored in our 11 games so far. With 12 goals scored in 5 home games and 12 also in 6 away games, the obvious difference is our attitude/approach to away games. But we have conceded 15 in those away games, as opposed to only 4 at home. What we need to do, and make us excited as well as entertained, is to become more ruthless away; develop a killer instinct. In each of the last 3 away games when we've gone ahead there has still been the temptation to drop deeper and hold onto what we've got. Yesterday was a prime example, at 3-2 up we had Arsenal rattled but persisted in playing 'safe' square or backward passes and instead of forward or wide balls.
Definitely, and I would put that down to having Sidwell and Baird in the same team, and I'm not even sure Diarra would've done any different. We do miss Murphy and Dembele in that respect. On the plus side, our leader problem was a non-issue yesterday - Berbs looked like one yesterday. Elements like this are more prevalent if you're at the game (I wasn't) but he seemed to be the one rallying the troops.
You lot were outstanding yesterday...it's kind of got lost in all the arsenal are doomed hype...thought berbatov and luiz (excuse sp) were fantastic
There no doubt we can score bit a more creative midfielder and a CB for Christmas please Big Mart! Just to echo a previous comment, Hangeland has been poor all season so far, imo.
I think people are overreacting to yesterday's defensive fiasco. Arsenal are a team that will score goals against anyone, if we had shipped three goals to a team like Stoke or Norwich, I'd be worried, but Arsenal will expose moments of hesitancy against any team. I prefer to look on the game as an entertaining spectacle and a point gained where I thought there would be none. We played some fantastic football yesterday and the only shame is that people are far too focused on Arsenal's shortcomings rather than our attractive attacking play which exposed them. I thought Hughes was more at fault yesterday than Hangeland, who wasn't particularly responsible for any of their goals. Baird's marking was poor for the first goal, Riether was sloppy for the second and the third the entire back line tried to play offside, but it failed. If we are to continue shipping goals then it's important at least until January that we keep scoring them too, which to be honest, doesn't look like much of a problem.
we shipped 3 against Reading... I agree I think Hughes was weak yesterday. Hangeland wins more ball in the air than Hughes and he made 1 very good block on Walcott yesterday. I keep hearing QPR want in on Hangeland, personally I'd sell if its 3-4m.
I would sell to any one before QPR. Hangeland would be a vast upgrade over Ferdinand/Nelson for them, and I don't want to give them any help.
Cheers mate nice to be appreciated, on occasion. PS It's Ruiz. Keep an eye out for him on 1st December !
Berba reminded me at times the way Johnny Haynes did, Bidley, that pained look when others around him weren't "on the same sheet". But yes, he did a lot of leading, and especially in encouraging Kaca. The trouble is that there is nobody taking charge at the back and more particularly in the middle. The most obvious example being (as said before) the number of times Bryan (and sometimes Berba) was free on the left and Sidwell and/or Baird turned back inside and made a square pass to Riether or back to one of the Hs - and I mean when they were in the Arsenal half - which was the annoying thing.
I disagree about the third goal, Bandit. Watching it again on MOTD (and replaying the recording a few times) Hangeland moves out when no one else seems to, leaving Giroud in acres of space in the centre. If the third goal is down to anyone, it's him (or Ruiz, for giving the ball away in the first place). I think the point is that the central defensive partnership that has been so good for so long isn't living up to its past standards. You could be right with your calls for someone knew in January. Until then, either Senderos or Baird might be worth trying, just to change things.
One more word about Berbatov, I loved the way after he scored, he just grabbed the ball and encouraged the players to get back to their half of the pitch, as if to say 'No celebration, we have a game to win' Also the team huddle at the end of the game when Schwarzer saved the penalty, you can tell why players want to come to this club, there is a real sense of unity.
I just assumed it was the entire defensive line that had tried to play the offside and failed, apologies if this is untrue. I feel it does need changing, at least for the time being, but with Diarra out, would you want to risk moving Baird to CB? Who would replace him at CM now that Richardson may well be out long term. I still don't feel comfortable with Senderos, especially given his lack of fitness and match time, but agreed that something needs to be done. How is Burn getting along at Yeovil?
Could be wrong about this but I think Chris Baird's booking yesterday (which was very soft) was his 5th, so he'll miss the next match. In which case, I'd play Kara and Diarra in the middle at home against Sunderland. [Bidley mentioned Tavares in an earlier post and all I can say is he'd get blown away in the Premiership,] I think you are possibly tongue in cheek about Dan Burn, Bandit but whatever he's nowhere near ready to step in, yet. In the last two, possibly three games Aaron Hughes has been the week link (and not just his distribution, which was awful yesterday) but his positional play. That's normally his strength, anticipating not just the opposition but Hangeland/Riether. Most of our problems i.e. in conceding goals, has been at set pieces though and Jol keeps saying it's because we've lost the "height we had last year". While I can't say I've actually noticed it, I'm wondering if Jol has got them now zonal marking to compensate and they haven't sussed how to do that effectively in live matches ? Pains me but it may indeed be time to give Senderos a run out.
I wouldn't be adverse to seeing Senderos in defence, if he comes in and has a good game/keeps a clean sheet then fair enough. My Burn comment was to signify our lack of defensive options 58. Why exactly was Tavares signed anyway? We had Diarra (albeit injured) Kara, Sidwell and Baird in CM, as well as Kasami. The mind boggles.
