Fulham USA: US Supporters club of Fulham FC

St. James Park on Saturday was host to two teams who prefer to wear black and white, two teams who have restless supporters and managers under the microscope, and two teams for whom “entertainment” is a word they know but have trouble associating with football. For 45 minutes those two teams – Newcastle United and Fulham FC – produced a first half of football that was dire enough to send this observer to get some eye drops to wash away the memory of it. Neither team showed any inclination to take over the game, and neither showed the skill or teamwork to accomplish it even if they had the inclination. Fulham did have a good 10 minutes or so there about halfway through the first 45, but the only real shot on goal was one from The Barcodes from great distance.

In the second half, one team came out with a different attitude and different tactics, and basically took control of the match with a scintillating display of attacking football. The team that DIDN’T was Fulham. And so Fulham...

Arsenal Win Swimmingly at The CottageWell, it took me about five minutes to identify what was falling from the skies in SW London this morning – it’s been a while since we’ve had any meaningful rain, you see – but once I did realize that November had made an early visit to England’s Green and Pleasant Land, I was able to see what was going to be the telling factor in the match. When playing in conditions like that, your keepers and back four are always going to be on unsure footing. Whichever team tried to unsettle the opposing defense early and often was likely to walk away with the three points. The Gunners attacked from the beginning; Fulham didn’t. Fulham lose 1-3 and can have no grumbles about it.

The thing is that our defense had played a well organized fluent match against Sunderland last weekend, while Arsenal had fallen apart against Villa. The Gunners also had a mid-week “must win” Champions League qualifier and some key defensive injuries and suspensions. With a shaken...

Martin Jol and his array of first team fellows will greet Arsenal in Fulham’s home opener on the season this weekend. Another chance for the Fulham faithful to give a rousing welcome home to the old guard and an opportunity greet many of the new boys who could be given their official debut at our home by the Thames. I am certain the butterflies will be running rampant both through the dressing room and through the grand old stands as the players prepare to take the pitch against our London adversaries come Saturday.

If recent history is any judge we should be in for an entertaining match between the two squads as the last four matches have featured six goals, a win, a loss and two draws for each side accompanied by Steve Sidwell drawing the ire of Fulham fans for his reckless challenge which left the White’s a man down after only twelve minutes of play and Olivier Giroud drawing his own red card at the death of the same match. Since I have been a Fulham fan Arsenal has been the...