Good workmanship performance,by us.the queries for next season is "Danny Murphy",while still turning in some good performances,dont think he can last the whole season. " Hughes" at right back,i feel that any good + winger can turn him, thought he was very suspect today. " Riise" although of late, a great improvement,his attacking form of play and his slowing down,makes the left flank at times over exposed. If in the 212/13 season we wish to achieve, the above positions must be addressed. Must give a mention to Diarra, best I have seen him play My best wishes to who went - a..e over head - wilst entertaining the kids in the park pre match.
To be honest it was a fairly pedestrian first half - while we had the bullk of the posession, Wigan were really well organised and we had difficulty making openings. An early goal for us (Dempsey penalty appeal - debatable if in the box but definitely a foul?) may have opened the game up. Much improved second half, although taking up the earlier point about substitutions my son said about the 60 minute mark "he needs to change something" and I agreed. The Pog and Demsey were coming too deep and while Riise made frequent runs, the space on the left wasn't being exploited. Frei's little cameo effort was a delight ot watch but should have been earlier. Diarra and Murphy were again sound. Dembele came good in the second half. The Pog's manouvered himself into a great position for his goal and scored with one heck of a shot. But he really should have had a hat trick. The was it wasn't it 'goal' off the crossbar was just too fast for any human to know in real time whether it crossed the line - I (with my NHS specs) even thought it had hit the net and came out; it was all so quick. So I can't see how Mr Mason (who replaced Mr Probert for some reason) could have given a goal. Mr Mason did incur the wrath of the crowd frequently however and it did seem like one of those days when we were going to get absolutely nothing from him - to be kind his interpretation of the 'diving' issue was often misplaced. Despite having two full backs on the bench(Baird and Briggs) Jol opted to again break the H&H pairing. I'll not rehearse that debate except to thank Senderos for his winning goal because he was otherwise quite poor. Overall it was a decent performance - we did play some excellent football at times and only good defending stopped us making more chances. Dificult to pick a MOTM though - between Diarra, Dempsey and the Pog. On balance I'd give it to the Pog for his effort. He needs a better service than he got today though - bring on more of Frei and Kaca. Well done lads for pressing on towards the end of the game and for getting your tripple double of wins. Come on, just L'pool to go to make it a season to remmber.
The first half was awful. I didn't attend the open training session not long ago, but I imagine you would have seen more commitment and energy there than in the first 45 today. After we had conceded the game changed and we began to look dangerous. We are still too crowded in the middle though. I would really like to see Frei on the right because he is so heavily one footed. On the left he is always going to have cut back or across the defender. On the right he can use his pace and put in an earlier ball- he probably won't score often from the right, but he's not going to be knocking in 5+ per season for a while anyway. More service from the flanks would suit Pog. It was obvious again today that he is not comfortable fielding long balls with his back to goal. He looks at his best driving forward with the ball and coming in on crosses. Dempsey has always been great at picking up the second ball on crosses into the ball too. Our main problem is motivation. The team that came out in the first half was a world away from the side that scored 2 against city earlier in the season. I don't know if Jol's attempt to instill confidence has translated into arrogance, or if he is just not a great motivator- but it usually takes something that happens during the game to get us going. At the minute we are like Liverpool in that we turn up against the big teams, but the smaller ones - like Swansea - don't get the same treatment. If the players played at 80% and above of their potential in every game we could be looking at a different league position. Having said all that I'm sure we will continue to improve. It's nice to be in the position we are now- but according to the trajectory of the club over the last 4 years it's not beyond reason to now expect more.
First half we just lacked any punch, and it was only after they scored that we upped the pace of our game. Apart from about 3 shots they didn't really trouble Schwarzer. Always feeling uncomfortable when Hughes plays rightback. One thing I enjoyed at half-time was the 8 year old Fulham academy in their kick-about. Good dribbling skills, and goalkeepers diving at peoples feet, haven't seen that in a long time. As Diddy Hamilton said Fulhams future looks bright. And who decides to put the sprinklers on before each half, no wonder our players slide all over the place.
I said I could see absolutely any score for this one, so can I claim that I got it right? After all, 2-1 falls into the range covered by 'absolutely any score'. Heh, this prediction lark is easy.
I'm not arguing with any of your assessment of the match Silky (not least because I haven't had the chance to see it on MOTD yet), but I disagree with your comment quoted above. Don't forget that for both of the last two years we've had to start again with a new manager. Effectively, we've had two transitional years following the glory of the Europa final season. It's reasonable for that to have put us back a bit. In twelve months time, we shouldn't feel the same way, but I think our current league position and form is probably fair enough in those circumstances.
Not much to add to what everyone else has said - a pretty turgid game exploded into life on 57 minutes and I thought we deserved the win based on the last half hour. It would have been more comfortable if Pog had converted one of the chances that hit the woodwork. Yesterday was the second match in a row we've scored from a set piece in the last 10 minutes. The common factor? Both goals have come after Murphy's no longer on the pitch taking every corner and free kick. Duff's deliveries from the two corners that lead to Dempsey's goal against Chelsea were superb, and Riise put in a good cross for Senderos's winner yesterday. We should mix it up more often rather than Murphy taking everything - not only was it big Phil's first Fulham goal against Wigan, but the first time any of our centre backs have scored all season. They should be getting more - particularly Hangeland - and I wonder if it's down to being too predictable at times.
Absolutely Super Bri; it's not as if it hasn't thunder plumped in SW6 over the last few days. In the first minute you could see the amount of spray when Figuerola cleared the ball out on their left. Ridiculous. A couple of happier notes - * that was the Pog's 100th goal of his career - magnificent * the celebration of Senderos and Diarra after the winner - wonderful Actually all season Senderos has been terrific in acknowledging the fans at the end of games. Much appreciated.
If we can nick a result at anfield as well then there's absolutely no reason why we can't go and finish above them now. I think because of their form Everton have probably sewn up 7th place and we'll struggle to get anything against them at Goodison. But if we could finish 8th with Liverpool 9th then considering how much they spent this summer what a remarkable achievement that would be!
It's difficult, but I would absolutely love for both us and West Brom to finish above Liverpool. That would make my season!
Oh I'm definately with you Surlyc!! Although I'd probably be satisfied with win at either Anfield or Goodison!
West Brom have done great haven't they? If Roy Hodgson can do that at a club of their size, who knows what he could do if he was ever given a chance at a bigger club. Someone like, say... Liverpool perhaps? It was good to see the Liverpool fans giving him a decent reception though. I can't say I was expecting that - they've slightly redeemed themselves in my eyes for that. Slightly.
What I find darkly amusing is how many Liverpool fans are in deep denial. "We're just one or two players away" or "Kenny can't be held responsible for the players on the pitch". No-one can manage that team of egos. Kenny has done no better than Roy, really. They deserve the mire they are in.
I was on the Liverpool not606 board yesterday and saw silkship having a good go at trying to knock some sense into them but to no avail. Hodgson is evil etc, we have a lot of European cups etc, Kenny needs time etc.
