Fulham away to Sunderland

Only two cool things about Sunderland; Their home is called The Stadium of Light, and their nickname is The Black Cats. Sadly for their fans they have been consistently one of the most boring sides when they haven't been yo-yoing between leagues, hardly befitting of the above attributes. Case in point in the final 3 trips up north Fulham has come away with two 0-0 draws sandwiched by a rare 0-3 away win. The most memorable part of the match was seeing how dour Mark Hughes was during the victory, which was the obvious sign that he knew his time was coming to an end on The Thames.

As for the match the biggest issue this time of year is how important the match is for the teams. For Sunderland this is as vital as Stoke was last week for us. The Black Cats are sitting on 29 points and 3 points will relieve the pressure. For Fulham this is a chance to further solidify their mid-table position and almost be safe for another top flight term. However, the squad better be ready for Sunderland to come out with a lot of energy. A 0-0 prediction would not be a bad call, but fingers crossed it's a better match than the Norwich snoozefest. I'll go with a 1-1 final with Ruiz getting a scrappy goal.

 

Don't know what kind of form they're in right now, but I like ours and we owe them, so I'll say 1-2 Whites, Berba with a brace.

 

A Fulhamish afternoon up north. Up 2 goals, but lucky to escape with a point. I never doubt his effort and commitment, but Senderos is a calamity waiting to happen. I'm sure HD will talk about it on his 'View' later, but the match swung in the 70th when the Sunderland keeper saved Berba's shot from a sublime Ruiz lob pass then they hit us on the counter for the equalizer (poor clearance by Senderos). Pretty good day as far as results, and now the lads are up to 10th, BUT the bottom half of the table is tightening up.

 

I find myself in disagreement with Mr Whitbread on several fronts. Firstly, Sunderland aren't boring. 0-0 doesn't always mean a boring match and you could argue we're the ones to blame for the "boring" label when we go up there. In fact, of the two teams today, they were the one who played with a real intent. When they went on attack, they did just that. You can certainly fault their execution, but they played to create as many chances as they could. We on the other hand, played Martin Jol Sexy Football and pissed about with the ball more often than not.

Secondly, Senderos. Absolutely guilty on the penalty but in fairness to him, you never see that called. That's not to say it shouldn't be, but it's a liberty that many cb's take and very often get away with. The announcers were pretty much spot on in their assessment of it. As for the second goal, it's not a poor clearance by big Phil. He lunged a leg forward to just make contact with the ball...and it fell into Sessegnon's path. There's no way he's getting a controlled effort to clear on that ball, so the only other option is to let it continue on it's path across our box. That isn't exactly the better option. If you're bent on finding guilt, then point the finger at the lazy way we retreated to defend the counter and the fact that only 5 Fulham got back...vs Sunderland's 4. Seeing as we scored a goal the exact same way earlier, it makes it all the more egregious.

I do agree that we were lucky to get a point out of that match. On the surface, a draw on the road is a good result. So is scoring 2 road goals. And by Fulham standards, so is taking 10 shots with 5 on target. But the reality of the matter is we started the match against a side that was noticeably unsure of itself and it clearly lacked the fans' confidence. It was also a side with two midfielders in the back four. Now in fairness, John O'Shea's claim to fame is the he played all 11 positions during his career with United and he's been playing cb for Ireland. For Sunderland, he's been a cdm until recently. So maybe it's 1-1/2 midfielders in the back four. Craig Gardner is a cm (and would have been the perfect replacement for Murphy, imo) but he's clearly no left back. That was glaringly obvious on the Dejagah penalty. In the buildup, I always felt Dejagah was going to ground there, but Gardner obliged him by sticking out a foot and making contact, so the pen was deserved...even if the ref made a bit of a meal of it in how he called it.

For whatever reason, MJSF doesn't put a high priority on chance creation, preferring to sit on the ball and possess it for extended stretches instead. There are times when I'd agree with that, but not with a 1 goal lead, on the road, with an entire half to play against a make shift defense. Had we pressed to create chances, odds are we would have scored more goals and likely won. And if the idea is that by playing MJSF we limit the opponents chances, well today should have disproved that theory once and for all. Sunderland had 18 shots with 5 on target. They had 7 corners and a handful of freekicks that they flat out squandered. And that doesn't account for the poor crosses that didn't connect with anyone in stripes.

Meanwhile, of our 10 shots, only 3 were from quality positions and one of those was the penalty shot. Outside of Duff and Reither and Dejagah on occassion, no one looked to push the attack forward. If you watch us closely you'll see that we only score when we play direct, with very few exceptions. The rest of the time we pass it around pointlessly through Berba and Ruiz and it usually comes to naught. Sure, Ruiz made a beautiful chip to Berba that was saved, but how many times did he just stand still on the ball while everyone around him stood still watching? And on that chip, there was nobody to clean up when Mignolet's saved sputtered to the right in front of goal. Why? Because when we play MJSF, it doesn't appear anyone knows when to go from possession mode to attack mode outside of the passer and the guy making the run. Everyone else is making themselves available as an outlet for another pass. The only other guy in the box when that play happened, was Riise, who is hardly a poacher or a threat to put the ball in the net.

I'm thoroughly frustrated (and often bored) watching us play to the point that I really don't even enjoy it anymore at this point. Quite frankly, I'm amazed that we continue to get results and that we find ourselves in 10th today. However, if you look at it closer, we're also only 3 pts and 6 goals from 15th. Hopefully our luck holds up & we can keep squeezing points out of this turnip and then maybe Jol can do something to win me over to MJSF next season.

 

Gnashing teeth. AG said most of what I thought, and far more eloquently - believed in a win for 50 min then happy for only a point thereafter. Story of this season.
COYW. Damnit.

 

:text-+1: However, you'll never convince me that Dunderland aren't as boring as hell (not that Fulham haven't put in a few Zzzz performances this season), even though yesterday's match was entertaining from both sides. Was the penalty questionable? Yes. The second wasn't a 'clearance' as more than a clumsy tap in the center of the pitch. Everyone makes mistakes, but he reminds me so much of Gooch (injury prone, robotic, and at least one horrific error a match) it's scary. Speaking of defenders, my cousin Zak Whitbread is finally back from injury (that's a shocker :roll: ) and was able to be on the bench as Leicester City continues free falling from automatic promotion to 5th place in the Championship. He may be the only thing that can possibly save the Foxes promotion bid and the USMNT's porous back 4... :angry-soapbox:

 

Good, then I won't bother trying. I'm happy for you that you can find entertainment watching us...I really wish I could.

Senderos makes Gooch (pre-injury rash) look athletic. He's not a bad cb, but you need someone with some pace and agility to partner Hangeland (or Senderos for that matter), not someone who's even more stiff. That's why H&H made such a brilliant partnership for several years, they were perfectly complimentary of one another. Hughes didn't have that much pace, but he made up for it with his ability to read the game.

Glad to hear your cousin is back in action. Hopefully he can stay healthy. The USMNT is a bit of a lost cause at the moment. Shame we're squandering the primes of several of our greatest players' careers, but it would appear Mo and Don were right in their foreshadowing. Klinsmann, much like Jol, took something that looked to be on the verge of going to another level and somehow figured out how to muck it all up.

And no, no milk carton required. We had a slow couple of weeks for Fulham football, then I was out of town for the Stoke match w/e, and like I said, I'm not enjoying the product that is FFC at the moment. I was finding my own complaining to be a bit stale, so I could only imagine the rest of you did to. Figured a break from that wouldn't hurt anything.

 

Joe is Whitbread really your cousin or am I on the outside of an inside joke?

Seriously disappointed we couldnt get three. Contrary to many of you I thought we deserved it. I hope I'm not considered a turncoat for this, but I was happy to see Senderos get called for that PK. I cant stand it when defenders do that. Let's just hope that decision catches on.

 

Mo, Matt started calling me Mr. Whitbread a year or two ago when I was incessantly calling for him to get a call to the USMNT camp (he was starting for Norwich at the time). Of course if his last name was Smith or Davis it wouldn't have been a running joke.

Match highlights, http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/march ... highlights

 

Usually two mediocre teams just above the relegation fray facing another in early March equals a draw. Sadly we had to concede a two goal lead in the process. Some positives to take from this, some negatives. Personally I'm more frustrated that due to the obtrusive FA Cup and International Break, Fulham are on a run of just 2 games this whole month, and will play just 5 total in Feb & March.

Also, HI EVERYONE!

 

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