In today's press conference Rene confirmed the status quo and no new injuries. So team selection should be simply... No Change!! He also said that Berbatov is committed to the Club. please log in to view this image
It is becoming boring now! All the suspence in trying to guess Jol's team has gone... (Joking obviously) Come on Fulham.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsV5W2aga8E&feature=youtu.be And the video. Different philosophy which is pleasing to listen to.
If ever we needed the twelfth man this game is then. I firmly believe if we get at city from the off and try to play them high up the pitch we could give ourselves a chance. Obviously they have a top class team but the cottage can ruffle teams. Getting ready in Sunday league changing rooms, a tight pitch, a roaring home crowd. Believe. COYW
Rene is such a contrast to MJ and excudes common sense. We might not get points from City, but again performance counts. Frankly most of us expected 3 defeats out of 4, and we got the 3 points from Villa. Let's go at them and see - nothing to lose in effort. COYW !!!!!
The referee is Mr Friend. In charge "the day the lights went out at the Cottage" (in the game against the other Manchester lot). please log in to view this image He was also dropped recently for the "Wes Brown Howler".
Proud of Rene and his team today. My only criticism in a grand game of football, is of Mr Friend. I'm not saying he had a bad game but he certainly didn't do us any favours.
Agree as well. We were excellent for 80 mins today, once again should not have been one the end of 4 goals. Tarrabt looked really sharp and worked very hard. Only one concern, we struggled with 15 mins to go as we did against Everton. Granted these are 2 excellent teams but I hope others are not taking note that we drift in the final 15 mins of games. Great work from meulensteen and his staff, really excited by the Xmas period.
Agree with a former posting we fade afte 75/80min,this is why in the window we need 2 class defenders. fitness and age are playing a great part in our present situation
Another great performance. Should we play in gear like this against Norwich, Hull and West Ham we can get the points. Agree on the points about Taarabt and Richardson. Some points: 1. Rene is not scared of trying new formations, but always playing players in their positions were they feel comfortable. 2. The ref protected city. Fernandinho should have been booked, same for Toure 3. Amorebieta played well next to Hughes. 4. When Kara left we sunk again. Lost the concentration. 5. I can see were Dempsey will fit as a super-sub or even starting. Great job by Adel but Dempsey would have been in the box more often trying to get at the ends of those crosses. Very positive.... Come on Fulham!
I agree that the refereeing was weak We are quite cynical when we are allowed to be,especially in the middle of the pitch,which stops opposition gathering momentum Left craven cottage feeling a bit fortunate to come away with all 3 points,wouldn't have complained if it had been a draw. Thought Parker was excellent in the middle
I arrived about 5 mins late, was very confused at first by the starting line up - as it turned out Taraabt was excellent and Richardson got a goal, although I'm still surprised he got the nod ahead of Duff, Kaca and Kasami. It was a good performance with some flowing passages of play. City are a dangerous team and their class showed. Kara looked puffed out by 60 mins and was a bit guilty for their 3rd goal where the ball got caught by the wind in the air and he lost sight of it- it ended up bouncing right next to him and from that Navas was put through. The defence looked good although we did concede 4. Dejegah showed some fancy touches and I'd say it was his best performance at the Cottage. Taraabt full of running, sadly his shooting boots weren't on. Sidwell had a 'mare. Around 70mins it looked like we might get a win - up to that point it had been quite similar to the game 2 years ago http://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/sep/18/fulham-manchester-city-premier-league, which we ended up drawing. But for the lapse in concentration by Kara - who can be absolved as he was excellent up to 60 and by that point was 18 mins 'expired', we might have got a draw. City have some real talent though, I particularly enjoyed watching Negredo and Toure who are the kind of players the media reported Barca as 'fearing' in the build up to their CL tie. Both are units with high level technical ability - they pretty much tick every box in terms of what a footballer needs to do. With Kompany just behind them it's a hell of spine to have, particularly considering all the other players that fit in around it. Kompany's goal, and the absurdity of it, led to about 5 mins of giddy joy with expectations suddenly of a glorious win. Credit to City for pulling themselves together. Hart seemed to be the second keeper I've seen, since Ben Foster (who the crowded chanted 'Englands number 4' at) to be affected by the noise behind him. His shakiness over our periods of pressure in the early second half seemed to spur us on. I wonder what the future holds for him - suspect Casillas might be joining in January.
Jut a word on Negredo & Navas. Both from my second team, Seviila, and both players I have seen a fair amount of. Negredo is an incredible player, big, strong and with brilliant technique (although generally not good enough to get into the Spanish starting 11 which says something about their squad strength) - he was called La Bestia at Sevilla and this has been picked up by the City fans, although he is now just The Beast, and you can see why if you watch him live. Navas is slighter but quicker and with great control and the ability to pick out a pin-point cross, very much in the Ryan Giggs mould to be honest and is one of my favourite players. He's also strong despite not being the most robust looking guy and can hold off challenges very well, although I do love to see him ride them when he's running at speed. It's noticeable how much more ineffectively Sevilla have played since they both left.
Probably what a lot of defenders say when they see him running at them at speed with ball glued to his foot.
