Portsmouth v. Fulham

I watched the first 75 live and the last 15 on DVR before reading about the result. Glad I did too because it was thrill to see Dempsey's goal and his reaction to scoring.

 

I did ...
Honestly, I saw a little improvement in the Zamora/AJ partnership ... they never really linked up but there were a couple of passes from Zamora to AJ that were nearly there ... one in particulare that I recall was from Zamora just outside the 18 and AJ came across the box and made a cleaver cut towards goal and Zamora slipped it to him around the defender and David James just beat AJ to it.
Where we're really lacking consistently is getting creative balls from the midfield.
As opposed to last year, the central midfield is playing back further and that's seemed to take Jimmy out of the offense a bit. I understand that having a more withdrawn midfield is how Roy controls the passing game but if that's going to continue to be the case we need more creativity and quality balls being delivered from Davies and Gera (or Dempsey, if he keeps playing well and Gera continues his mediocre form).

I'm always glad to see Dempsey get on the score sheet, but more then that it was nice to see the life that Dempsey and Nevland injected into the game.
I understand why Nevland doesn't start but unless we have the game in hand he makes a pretty strong case that he should be a last 20-30 minute sub every game. He'll be invaluable should a striker get injured.

Our biggest problem ... we gave away posession far to easily. Pantsil, Murphy, Bullard ... we're just lucky it didn't cost us more.

Personally, I like the overall style of play that Roy has instituted and I was really excited to see him make a big switch (virtually unseen so far this season) to three strikers up front. It was nice to see him really go after a point. Hopefully it's a sign of more sub-friendly things to come.

 

I watched in on DVR later in the day. I agree with Andy Palmer on the game.

I was fully ready, going into the last 15 minutes, that I was going to write the rant of all rants about how bad the team was playing and how ridiculous the midfield was playing but the Demspey goal shook my out of my rage, and I was able to settle down and collect my thoughts and emotion. We should feel good about what we got.

 

I watched on TV live at Nevada's with Sublicon and Optimizer and a few other folks I don't think we'd seen there before. Glad to get that late goal. Agree with the "good for the first 15 minutes, stinky in the middle 60, good for the last 15" analysis.

 

If that match did not speak volumes as to the changes in the side needs to make I don't know what will. Bully, Murphy and Gera seem to be flat in attack and are not covering that well in defense. The introduction of Dempsey brought an instant lift and even more so when Nevland was added to the equation.

Schwarzer... can't say enough about this guy. He was phenominal in the match and made some fantastic saves to keep Fulham in the match. AJ/Zamora will eventually get amongst the goals, but it starts with the service provided by the midfield. Needless to say, it has been lacking as of late.

Fulham continues to show belief in every match and you can't fault their desire. Time to showcase more creativity and add some new blood in the starting XI. Andreasen, Dempsey or Nevland could be just the ingredient needed to get Fulham a 'W'.

 

It seems everyone feels that way.

Me, I was about 30 seconds away from throwing my hands up on the season. For those in the chatroom, remember how I wrote "we're not shooting...", and then Dempsey and Nevland went nuts?

It was about at that point.

 

My thoughts...

- Paintsil was awful. He was beaten repeatedly by Traore and Belhadj as he dove in and took too risky of chances over and over. He also gave the ball away cheaply in the back 3rd no less than 4times. Pompey abused the left flank.

- Gera just doesn't add anything. At best, he makes average plays, but never takes any chances, and never makes an inventive play. You absolutley need that from your Right sided midfielder, and Dempsey DOES make inventive plays.

- Schwarzer was outstanding today, and last year, this game would have been 3-0 Pompey.

- Maybe it was just me, but did Dempsey look a lil heavy? He was certainly no less spry, but maybe the lack of minutes has him gaining a few?

- Why we continued to lob the ball up to Z and AJ I have no clue. Pompey central defense is large, and good in the air, and we created so few chances off these lofted balls. Zamora is very poor in the air for a big man, and AJ doesnt have a chance being so small. Keep it on the floor, fellas! Thats when we're dangerous!

Otherwise, thrilled with the away result!

 

I think he just looks thicker than last season. I am guessing that he hit the weights in the off season after the pounding he took last year.

 

Look at his first few matches with the club -- he was as skinny as Gera!

 

He did look a little heavier and was looking a little slow, but he was aggressive in attack, positioned himself well and was passing accurately (which is better then 75% of the team yesterday) ...

 

I want to see Dempsey in for Gera. What I have seen from him this year, I just don't rate Gera. I think Zamora is a pretty good player, not bad at getting others involved and holding up the ball, but for a Premier League striker, he is not a good finisher. That has been very evident quite a few times this year. What I saw from Nevland last year is that when he gets in position, he is a pretty clinical finisher. I wouldn't mind seeing him get a start. What is the deal with Stoor. Is he hurt right now? He was seen as a pretty big signing. I wonder if he can help our backline, though they haven't been that bad.

 

Think we might see Stoor soon. Paintsil has been giving away possession all season, but his defence has been excellent. Do the positives outweigh the negatives? I'm not convinced that they do or don't.

Simon Davies is a bigger concern IMO, but introducing Stoor might help get him going. No guarantee, but it might make a difference if Stoor can be more careful with the ball.

 

I'll be a bit more optimistic on the game. I thought things were alright, the back line was generally good, Nevland gave us a late spark, and hey we got a frikin point on the road. Not bad in the long run.

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I do have to say that now in my fourth full season of following the team I am getting a bit of empathetic about this whole system. We fight to win a game here, draw a game there, and lose the rest, and why? So we can hang on and do it again next year with no prospect of ever moving up in the world

Maybe my fandom is on the slide or maybe its simply maturing but either way the games consume a lot less of my thoughts and I'm certainly not as quick to starting yelling at the TV over them. Its got nothing to do with less Americans on the team or any of that but rather a frustration with the sport as a whole.

 

Fulham v. Portsmouth is just starting on Setanta on repeat right now.

 

I agree completely and this is down to a very overrated and overhyped premier league. Where 80% of the elite talent lies with 20% of the teams and where 80% of the country (England) follow 20% of the teams.

Fulham, Wigan, Bolton, Blackburn, etc will never be in the top 4 if the system stays the same. The only way they could get there is with an owner who spends hundreds of millions...but surely that isn't 'sporting', is it?!

Being Fulham, you live for those rare moments whereby it makes it all worth it. Kamara overhead kick against tottenham, or his goal against City away, Danny Murphy's goal against pompey or even Bocanegra's equaliser against Chelsea.

I could rant on but there is work to do...

 

Well written, Mike, reality is a "terrible thing" sometimes. Though for those with the mental toughness to stick with their perennial underdog, there's no better feeling than to prevail against all odds. It doesn't happen much, but when it does, it's sublime.

 

There's a an interesting piece up at Craven Cottage Newsround diagramming what lead to the Crouch goal. As a relative footie novice, I found this very insightful.

http://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/bullards-mistake/

 

I couldn't agree more. Every obstacle the team overcomes is far more satisfying for this Fulham fan, than if I supported a team like Manu where the expectation is always a far superior performance than the opponent. As unfair as the current system is, I find myself in some ways. not bothered by it at all.