It wasn't about the sending off. Fulham had chances too and to suggest that we would definitely of won with 11 men would be a little disrespectful. No. The sending of swung the tie in Fulhams favour, no doubt; they had started to look tired just before it but this game was more about three other issues: 1) Carroll was not effective. Sometimes, you just have to make decisions early and while I was willing Carroll to prove me wrong, it was obvious that he was being dominated from early on. God, we really lack a clinical finisher like, well, God! Not sure where to get that stats on goal chances vs goals scored, which is probably just as well because it'd probably ruin my day. 2) We missed Lucas......badly. Spearing is a willing substitute but is only half the player that Lucas is in that role. To be honest, I'm not sure how we'll replace Lucas without spending big money... 3) Dodgy ref: Given all of the above, you do still need a level playing field and in this case it wasn't level, he bottled it on at least two occasions imo.
I agree with everyhing apart from Point 2. I felt Spearing did a good job winning the ball and passed well. However, there were times when there was a big gap between defence and midfield which Fulham didn't exploit. However, I think Spearing will improve this side of his game. Yet again, Carroll does FA - completely ineffective. He is improving slowly but it's not good enough. Leave him out of the team and nuture. He's still a youngster and we should treat him as such just like we have done with Spearing and Henderson by taking our time before chucking them in. Carroll should not be starting or anywhere near our first team. He did not contribute one bit to any attacks and he looks out of place.
