I am quite fearful for our future now, to be honest. I cannot see us getting anymore points and, with the other teams around us showing some fight, then we could very well see us dropping into the 18th place on the last day of the season. Southampton, Norwich and Newcastle have only got to win 1 game and they go above us. If Sunderland win on Monday they draw level and would have equalled or bettered our goal difference in doing so. Wigan are bloody unstoppable - the team that will not die - which would leave us to clank down into 18th place on the last day of the season. Sorry for being negative but I can't see any fight in this team - Ruiz and Berba may be lovely players but are not what is required in a relegation scrap, Hugo can't score, Duff isn't firing on all cylinders, team morale must be very poor and we cannot win. We have taken 1 point from the last 18. Sigh - another ruined Bank Holiday weekend. Thanks guys. How do you get to Doncaster, by the way?
We've watched from a comfortable position all season, no-one hardly mentioning Fulham for the drop and here we are two matches to go right in the sh1t. Today was about getting the three points and securing the Premiership for next season. Reading played well, all respect but we were dire and our fans were dire. Today had an end of season feel to it, an expectation that today we would pick up 3 points and that would be that. Suddenly now it's serious game on - we need a win and it's desperate. I hate it - so unnecessary, and I'm not feeling totally confident after today's performance. On Sunday we need the fans in full voice right behind the team.
It's dangerous. Still believe that we can get the points if Jol picks a team that can actually compete. Yesterday taking Kara out of the midfield cut the team in half. A positive thing that Ruiz made it to the box a few times. Still too late and no urgency. Our team full of on loan players can't fight for survival. And some of the ones on contract (Ruiz and Berba) do not seem up to the dogfight as said. Hopefully will not get to this situation.
We lost our 'Get Out Of Jail Free' Card Yesterday. I would suspect the teams below us are also looking at the teams they have to play in their last 2 games and might be thinking were can they can get the points from. On form it seems we are in trouble as some only need 3 points to over take us, that will put pressure on us for the last game if we can't take something from the Liverpool game.
I was as despondant as anyone during the match, but I don't feel as bad about it in retrospect. The first half was awful, agreed; in the second we showed more fight and character. A team who were just going through the motions wouldn't have twice pulled back from two goals down. At least one of the Reading goals - the third - happened because the defence was out of shape because we were chasing the game. Reither was missing because he was pushing up and we were caught on the counterattack. Some views which might not be popular: Rodallega, who I've never been a fan of, had the best game I've seen him play. He could have scored four, but with the possible exception of the scuffed attempt at an overhead kick late on, none of the misses were his fault. He was possibly our best player on the day. Ruiz got some awful stick from fans around me, and did a lot that was poor. He was also resposible for almost all of our most dangerous moments, even if you take the two goals out of the equation. I'd rather have someone who is a mixture of very good and very wasteful than someone who plays like Emanuelson did today - at no point did he do anything in possession that created an opportunity. Mark Schwarzer, good as he's been recently, was nothing special today. I wouldn't blame him for any of the goals, but a couple of years ago he would have pulled out a stunning save on at least one or two of them. As with most great keepers when they get too old, he's still capable of playing every bit as well as he once did, but he's no longer capable of doing it consistently. I hope the rumours are true and Jol intends to replace him this summer. We were in the Johnny Haynes stand, almost level with the penalty box, and I thought the ref got all three penalty shouts right. The one I was least sure of was Berbatov going down. I've watched the replay several times, and I think if you watch how the ball leaves the collission, the Reading defender has cleared it, which suggests he got the ball first and then Berba has gone over him. If roles were reversed and that was given against us, I'd feel very hard done by. Same goes for the handball appeal. The fans around us were vitriolic in their foul-mouthed (and, as it turns out, mistaken) abuse at the linesman after the Reading penalty, which was the only thing that really spoiled the day for my youngest, making his first visit to the Cottage. If the tall, bald bloke who ran down the aisle to offer the linesman his glasses is reading this, thanks for that. We pay our money and we're entitled to criticise, but sometimes we go too far. I thought he did. It was the kind of game that either side could have won 4-2. Their keeper was very good, making several of the kind of saves that Schwarzer at his best is capable of. That was probably the biggest single reason why we lost instead of winning. I've never felt that 40pts was definitely enough, but I still think it will keep us up if we lose the last two games. We look at our run in, but others in the not-yet-safe club have just as difficult a fixture list. Norwich have two points less and face West Brom and Man City; Newcastle (2pts less) have got QPR - okay, that's not daunting - and Arsenal; Sunderland (3pts less have got Southampton and Spurs. Given that some of the teams below or around us a playing each other, meaning someone will drop points, even if we lose both our remaining matches, I don't see everyone getting the results necessary to put us in the bottom three. That doesn't mean that scraping out of trouble at the last is when we should have achieved or that I'm happy with our league position, but we're on the fringes of the sh*t, rather than deep in it! On a happier note, we got there early enough for the boys to see some of the Fulham players arrive, and they got autographs from Riise, Kacaniklic, Ruiz, Emmanuelson, Duff and Hangeland on their programmes. Then, after the warm up, Sacha Reither threw my youngest his charity t-shirt. In everything other than (much of) the football, it was a brilliant day for them. As we left the ground, I asked my youngest if he wanted to go again, slightly fearful that the swearing and the disappointing game would have put him off. His face lit up and without a moment's thought he enthusiastically said, 'Yeah!' Another member of the black and white army duly signed up.
My biggest issue with Ruiz yesterday was that he got pushed out onto the right to let Emanuelson play in the middle (I assume, I don't remember seeing him for the rest of the game...). The second goal was a direct result of Riether making his usual run down the right, Ruiz ignoring him and giving the ball away and Riether being stranded out of position. Ruiz has no right foot, so cut inside every single time and the quality of his crosses was shown up sharply by the Berbatov/Kaca crosses which led to Hugo hitting the bar/Ruiz's second goal. If we manage to get that one last point which would confirm we stay up, Chairman Mo has to invest this summer. The number of loan players underlines the lack of balance in our squad. We have to sign some players to actual contracts for next year. I don't want a repeat of the Emanuelson experiment.
Good that the youngster was the lucky one to get Sascha's shirt Captain. That would have made my day never mind his. Sorry though that the day was spoiled by the language of some. A tad unusual for the JH and I suspect, as well as over-hyper frustration, because tickets were slow to go some were sold to other than the usual contingent. On a less happy note I'm about to make another post to get my own frustration off my back.
Yesterday was a tactical disaster. At no time was there any shape to the team. Duff started on the right and Urby on the left. In the opening 10 minutes Duff had the beating of Kelly - as evidenced in the second minute when he went past the LB and and crossed for Ruiz to miss a sitter in front of goal (an exact replica, by the way, as against Chelsea albeit it was from Rietherâs cross). Then for some reason Jol had them switch wings. End of pressure on Kelly. After half an hour Jol decided to go 4-4-2, took off Kara and brought on Hugo. However the four now in the middle were all over the place - on more than one occasion Urby and Duff were actually standing beside each other on the right. Worse all four we playing narrow and deep and for most of the first half there was half of Craven Cottage with only Reading players in it. In the second half he moved Bryan to the right and gave Urby the central role. While that showed an improvement it was still clear that nobody knew their own position never mind that of the others. The Jol subbed a left back for a left back - admittedly one not having a good game defensively. But why? It was the wings that needed sorting. And Richardson if anything was even worse than Riise. It is doubtful if Richardson was fit given that not once did he cross the half way line after he came on. On the point of fitness. Neither Berbatov nor Riether were fit. A case of Jolâs âhopefullyâ, wishful thinking that badly misfired. [Also Iâve never seen Riether so p*****d off as he was with Bryan in the second half]. Yeas defensively we were awful (and Iâll not dwell on Schwarzerâs performance) but primarily that was because there was no midfield, no wide players worth their salt ahead of them. A total shambles in other words and totally unprofessional.
A lot of wise words spoken, and in hindsight and after a few 'calm me down' pints I'm able to voice some views. Agree with Captain that Rodallegabomb had his best game in a FFC shirt. Slightly wasteful in front of goal but at least you could see he was trying and was unfortunate to not get the assist for Berbatov's 'penalty' (I think it was a stone wall) and to score with the shot that hit the bar. Also impressed with Kaca when he came on, and should never have been dropped for a half fit Damien Duff who has not had a good game in months. For the first time this season, I was impressed with Jol's decision to make a change early on when it was needed, but boy was it the wrong change. Karagounis was having an absolute stinker, but why not bring on Baird or Frimpong in his place? Shape went with that change. Worst players? All four of our defenders had an absolute mare, and I'll include MS and Richardson in that too. Senderos back to his usual self, Hangeland surprisingly poor against one of the worst attacks in the league, Riise needs to go in the summer, far too old now and if he has another 'screamer' from distance that hits Row Z I'm going to scream. Richardson when he came on was at fault for one of their goals. MS I feel could have done better with at least one of the goals, and the mix up which led to their shot being cleared off the line was embarrassing. That's defence done, now midfield. Duff needs to be dropped, and perhaps sold if we can get Frei back to full fitness. Kaca and Rodallega need to start the next game. Ruiz, as silly as it sounds for someone who scored two goals, was woeful yet again. I noticed at least a handful of times where an attack ended with him and before you know it there are FFC players with their hands in the air showing their disgust. Lax in possession and a liability in defence (I know that's not his job) If we get a 'decent' offer for him I wouldn't be adverse to seeing him leave. Karagounis? Poor, needed to be subbed off. Enoh, a trier as ever but was always up against it with a FFC side that had absolutely no shape. Emmanuelson? Perhaps the most disappointing. Of all the deadline day deals, I was most excited about this guy, but boy has he been a let down. Woeful against the bottom two sides. Berbatov, anonymous, but I presume he wasn't entirely fit and was rushed back due to Petric's injury. I don't think we will go down, as that would require Wigan winning the majority of their remaining games, but it will be tight. We won't get another point this season against Liverpool and Swansea, but will Jol be up for the challenge of re-shaping this side? Is he even the right man? His tactical decisions yesterday represented a man that genuinely didn't know what he was doing. Like a 'manager' playing Football Manager changing his formation 2-3 times per game when losing, he just clutched at straws.
On this occasion a "picture is NOT worth a thousand words" but here is a link to the highlights of the game v Reading anyway: http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/may/06/reading-highlights
Time for some positives: Bryan and Hugo had point blank range shots excellently saved Hugo hit the woodwork twice Good shout for a penalty turned down Free volley on the far post for Berba Bryan lost his footing in the box when about to shoot That's 7 clear cut chances on top of the 2 goals.
