Honestly haven't felt lower after a football game than the 3-1 home defeat against West Ham under Hughes. Where do I begin? I'll start with our absence of luck throughout the 90 minutes. Disgraceful decision for the red card for Hangeland. Both feet were not off the floor, got the ball, and perhaps more importantly, Hangeland is not the sort of player to go into a tackle with intent to hurt the opposing player. Referee had no doubt whatsoever, failed to contemplate a yellow card, which would have been harsh itself, and decided to throw the game massively in Sunderland's favour. Whatever happened to favoring the home team? Sunderland's Danny Rose going unpunished for a similar tackle to Brede's, three of our players injured throughout the course of the game and lastly, John O'Shea only receiving a yellow card when bringing down Rodallega through on goal. I cannot remember a game where 'luck' has eluded us so much. Ruiz and Kaca will both miss our next three games at the minimum, and with Brede suspended for those three games, Diarra out injured among others, the next three games (Stoke, Tottenham, Chelsea) could see our solid start fade away rapidly. I will say that at times throughout the game, I felt proud to be associated with this club. 19 shots to 11 against a side who had one player more for the majority of the game, more possession and in general, gave a better performance. Had we had 11 men throughout the game, we'd have wiped the floor with a very average Sunderland side, had Sidwell has not spurned that glorious chance...
We play on the break mate, ****ing Morecambe had more ****s than us, means little. You weren't 'wiping the floor' with us with 11, you were on top, but that's how we play, on the break. Wasn't a red for me, not in a million, but to counter that with JOS is ridiculous, Rodellega was far from clean through. Biterness aside, we'll take the luck that has eluded us all season, and I wish you lads the best throughout the season. If we'd have got Jol when we got Bruce, we'd maybe be a European side by now, the fella is a diamond.
It really isn't bitterness my friend. 11 vs 10 we were the better side, you just took your chances, so fair play. Mignolet was voted your man of the match, what does that tell you? If Hangeland's tackle was a red card then by rights so should have Rose's and O'Shea's. A little equality goes a long way. Rodallega was in the centre of the goal, just outside the 18 yard box, JOS was the only defender in front of him, granted there were two either side of Rodallega, but I doubt either would have been able to catch him, or prevent him taking a shot. One of the commentators mentioned that Sunderland deserved the luck that had eluded them in previous games. I don't follow all of your games so can't comment on whether or not that's a valid statement, but does that mean that the good luck for Sunderland meant that Fulham DESERVED the bad luck today? What a stupid comment to make. Just following on from one of your statements. I wasn't aware Sunderland played on the break, obviously they did today, but wasn't aware this was a general MON tactic, I just thought you had little penetration or actual goalscoring threat. Does it frustrate you that a team featuring the attacking talents of Fletcher, Larsson, Johnson and Sessegnon aren't more attacking minded?
Bandy mate I feel your frustration. We were a better team 10 vs 11. I was confident that we could beat with 10 men as we were controlling the game. Depending on who you ask Hangeland's tackle was red, yellow, should not be booked. He could have avoided the tackle but hey. The ref was awful with no control over the game. JOS should have been sent off with two yellow cards... Anyway if we can play like this with 10 men we can do big things.
Agreed on all points Madness, but what about the suspensions/injuries over the next few games? Can we cope without Diarra/Ruiz/Kaca/Brede?
Mate, it drives us nuts. The keeper & defence are solid, today the defence was actually less solid than usual, so we simply don't need the protection. Catts really does do it by himself, and it frustrates us that we don't tell Sess & AJ to just keep the ball and go at teams, you saw on the first & third what they can do together. We should be playing 4-4-2 and going for teams throats, there are few teams that could hold of Sess, AJ, Larsson, & Fletcher, we should have Whickham on there to occupy a second defender, but we just don't. The personnel we have is suited to high tempo pressure, not counter attacking, it's so ****ing annoying! I honestly think if Jol managed us, with the same players, we'd be top 6, but the last 3 games have been encouraging. Maybe now with a good win away, some confidence will come through, we have 2 home games (WBA & Reading) and 6 points would see us top 10, hopefully we will gun it a bit more now that we've got a win under our belts.
That's pretty surprising to be honest, attacking wise you really should be aiming for top six. I don't remember MON being too defensive minded at Villa where he had similar attacking talents in Young, Downing, Bent etc so can't figure out why he would take that approach at Sunderland. The vast majority of Fulham fans have now come round to Jol after a shaky start (myself included) I'd have honestly have taken a 5-0 beating today without Brede's suspension and Ruiz/Petric/Kaca's injuries. We have a thin squad as it is! Good luck for the season! (obviously apart from the return fixture!)
Well, I never thought this either, but Villa fans suggest this is exactly how they played, maybe you just don't notice when it ain't your team! All the best fella, I have a feeling we'll be within a couple points of each other seasons end, both in the right half
My man appears to have been treated harshly - I'm told it was technically maybe a red, but from my angle he had a foot on the ground at contact. However, it turned the game on it's head. On the subject of cards, I see that Cattermole had to wait until the 87th minutes for his yellow. To make things worse in the second half, Ruiz went of injured in a tackle, while Petric got injured in the goal. And Kaca went off in the first half. More galling was that one Sunderland goal was a few seconds after we hit the bar, while we were down to 9 men for another. Even at 10 v 11 we were better for most of the match. Frankly, Sunderland's dream came true when Hangeland went, the excellent Karagounis was sacrificed and later Ruiz went off. However, Fulham battled right to the end. And the best chant of the day goes to "We want Mark Clattenberg". Onwards and upwards!
Could not agree with you more Bandit To quote Tony Fernandes, "It was an Almost Day" - a day when almost nothing went for us. The biggest blow was the injury to Kaca. Firstly because Hugo came on and I'm afraid there were times when I didn't realise he was even on the pitch. Secondly when Hangeland went, Jol had little choice but to sacrifice Kara effectively leaving us with only Sidwell in midfield. (I know that Berba filled in there in the second half but that robbed us of our most effective striker) Hangeland? I can only tell what I saw and it was a 50/50 ball and he did not connect in any way with the Sunderland player. I fail to see how that can constitute a red card. With hindsight if Jol had replaced Kaca with Petric and Ruiz had gone out on the left it may almost have turned out differently. Even so if we had been sharper on shots (those that we did have and those that we should have had) it would have been different. We were the better team even when we were down to 10 (9 men). There were aspects of our play we could have done better but it would be churlish to criticise. We had a go and like Bandit, I was proud of Fulham today.
The ref didn't protect us at all today. And I don't mean favourism but fair play. Worried about the next games but we need to wait and see. Baird should be back, Degajah also, and we have to use Kasami. One of the positive's was Kara's performance who I think was good! Hughes and Senderos will provide back-up for Hangeland.
Agreed. I think the game turned on it's head with Brede's sending off, not because we were to be a man short, but because Karagounis had to come off (was one of the best players on the pitch) and Senderos came on, not that Senderos did badly, but we suffered badly in midfield. It's a shame neither of our full backs can play CB as I would have preferred if we'd have gone with three at the back and kept our shape in midfield. This should be next week's lineup if Diarra is fit. Schwarzer Riether Hughes Senderos (Better physically than Baird for Stoke's rugby tactics) Riise Baird (don't rate Sidwell, at all) Karagounis Duff Dejagah (much better option than Rodallega based on today's performance) Berbatov (will have to wrap him in cotton wool ready for Stoke) Petric (had a great game today)
Hello guys, I would just like to address a few issues: Hangeland himself apologised for the challenge to the referee, I think that answers your thoughts about appealing it. I would be pissed off had a Sunderland player was sent off for it, but the fact of the matter is that is was by the letter of the law a red card. I saw a post about the luck leading to our first goal, as you hit the bar, but the mere fact you managed to hit the bar was amazing, with the deflection lol. We weren't as rough as some of you may like to think as well, it is football after all, I contact sport. Rose's challenge that riled the crowd up was immense. Also being down to 9 men for the corner surely didn't make much of an impact? Cuellar had his marker and he easily slipped him. JOS' challenge did certainly not deserve a straight red, our RB was coming across to cover. You could have easily equalised but Mig made some fantastic saves, I wouldn't say you dominated as we ourselves squandered some fantastic opportunities. It was a great game, and a fantastic result for us. Naturally you want to try and justify your loss with stuff like bad luck etc. we would be doing the same thing. Good luck for the season! I'm sure it will be a good one for you
I think in this case it is justified though. I don't buy this 'letter of the law' stuff, one of his feet were on the ground and he got the ball. There was no appealing from the Sunderland players for a red card. The red card changed the game, that's just a fact. Would you have won 3-1 11 vs 11?
Agreed on all points. In the interests of football karma though, we will get the rub of the green later in the season. You mark my words. We'll see how good MJs replacements for the injured places are. We gave it a good go though. ROll on next week.
OK in the opinion of the Ref it was a malicious challenge by Hangeland, and gave him a red, but what annoys me if those are the standards he sets, then he has to carry them through the match, and he only booked Cattermole for racking his studs into Duff's Achilles without even trying to get the ball, with the ref looking directly at it, that's why Berbatov squared up to Cattermole, cause he saw that was vicious tackle with no attempt made to get the ball.
Hangeland's Tackle - Make up your mind time http://watchhighlightsonline.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/video-hangeland-red-card-vs-sunderland.html I still think common sense by Mr Probert rather than a red card should heve come into play. However, on viewing again (and again) can't see an appeal being allowed, if the letter of the law is followed.
