Lawro- "If there were three or four more games left this season than there are then I think Birmingham would probably go down but, as with Blackburn, I think they will just about be safe. This is a great time to play Fulham too because, as good as Liverpool were in their 5-2 win at Craven Cottage on Monday, the Cottagers were woeful defensively. They are normally nothing like that. Fulham manager Mark Hughes will want a reaction from his side at St Andrew's but I can see Birmingham edging this one to take one step closer to beating the drop." Understand some of his points, but i think two back-to-back woeful defense performances would be "unfulhamish." i imagine MH drilled them hugely after that performance, and hope for better things tomorrow. 0-1, for me. However, injury concerns over Bobby and Simon Davis could be a blow. Gera back however, a player whom i would like to feature in our two remaining games- send off he deserves. COYW
Yep. The more I think about it that was a breathtaking 20 mins from Liverpool, and Fulham's usually solid defence (Salcido excluded) went awol. Can't see that happening against Birmingham, but the blues will be playing for survival. 0-1 is at 10/1 on Betfair, a good price I reckon.
Ignore Lawro. Liverpool just blew us away. We should have won at Wolves and I enjoyed the trip to Sunderland, and reckon a 0-1 win is very doable. Pity I can't go this time.
Academy final,on Friday was an entertaining game,with Everton slightly the better winning 2 -1,chatting to one of the Fulham officials he commented that he had never seen so many scouts for a youth game. Evidently their point of interest was Fulhams, right full back Sanchez. I must say he definatly looked a class above the others.fast and a good distributar of the ball,although some of his passes went astray,it was more to do with our players lack of anticipation. The other notables were FREI, MINKOWITZ, and our Finnish goalkeeper. Well done lads getting this far.
Morning guys, I can see us storming this. We were so impressive against Sunderland and as previously mentioned so poor defensively against Liverpool. That said they were up against a striker who, much as it pains me to say so after his world cup shame, is going to be one of the premier league greats if he continues with performances like that. It should be mentioned though that we did score 2 against a defense that has only conceded 1 in 4 games. Hughes will have given them some firm words and got them working hard this week. I expect us to come out flying and showing some serious determination. Gilly, it would be great to see Gera get some game time, but if Bobby is fit he has to start. He was superb when he came on against Liverpool. Be nice to see Gera playing just behind him though. I hope Danny Hoeson is on the bench as well, and that he gets some time at the end of the game, when we are hopefully 2 - 0 up. Birmingham 0 - Fulham 2 COYW
of course- we are a far better side when he plays- evident indeed against Liverpool. I would perhaps maybe like to see gera introduced at around 60 minutes, instead of AJ. This does, of course, depend on the match at the time.
Largely agree with everyone, we should try and give gera a run out if possible, though we should still pick the team to win rather than on sentiment. We'd all love to see pantsill and gera get a final couple of games, but bear in mind that greening, salcido and halliche are all probably on their way out this summer as well, but there have hardly been calls for them to get a final farewell, so sparky has to be consistent in his approach to this. I'm going to the game tomorrow as its only down the road from me plus being the final away game of the season, so would really love to see a win. This said, I'm always reluctant to predict a fulham away win, plus birmingham probably need a final point to ensure safety. 1-1 I'll go for, though I'm still quietly confident of sneaking an away win.
I want to see the team have some fun with selection today. Schwarzer/Stockdale Salcido (Right back rather than left), Hangeland, Hughes, Briggs Dembele, Murphy, Sidwell, Dempsey (Dempsey and Dembele can switch either wing) Zamora/Gudjohnsen AJ/Hoesen Bench: Schwarzer/Stockdale, Kelly, Senderos, Kakuta, Gera/Davies, either 2 of those 4 striker options that don't play. I think that might be a good line up.
Some good ideas there FFC4L, though rather than switching salcido to right back, how about switching him to the reserves and bring in pantsill for a final game. I like the idea of dembele being tried on the right with bobby up front given how well this worked in the 2nd half on monday. Maybe try and slot kakuta in there as well perhaps?
dembele at wing could be a good idea- I want him in the side for the creative spark he can offer. I would like to see Zamora and AJ upfront- I have a strong gfeeling that they could be a great partnersip if were given time to work. Dont even mention Salcido, however. Liverpool was not the first time he bloopered. Hes turned in only about two decent performances all season, and many terrible ones. Pantsil for me, or maybe Briggs?
haha, I agree. I want Pantsil to play, but we have to be realistic. Hughes isn't going to drop Salcido. I think our best hope is that he plays right back and we let Briggs play left back. Kakuta makes a better impact off the bench in my opinion. And it's unlikely we will keep him for next season either. I saw Mark Hughes at the academy final on Friday. Any hope for a couple of academy players to make the bench?
