Fulham Away to Southampton

Poor all-around as others have said. Very frustratig. Looked a bit better in the second half, but Southampton is a poor team. We should have taken the match to them from the start; even if we don't manage an early goal, we should control possession and generate the majority of the chances. The blame's to be shared on this one for sure.

Buoyed by the fact that Berba and Petric should be back soon enough, and that this was an aberration rather than typical from our backline. Still very concerned about the center of the park. Sidwell and Baird are a stop-gap, but not a solution (all due respect to both). Hoping for a (much!) better effort in 13 days, when I'll be happily sitting in block FL of the Haynes stand.

 

Mentioned it on the Hangeland thread, but Brede was beyond poor yesterday. If Zat Knight had put that performance out, he would have been scorched. Couldn't believe he got beat through (his bread and butter) the air, on a play he heads away 99 out of 100 times. Biggest highlight was being able to fast forward the halftime. Neither team deserved to win so a point each was fair, even though to be lucky enough to get ahead, it sucked seeing the Saints tie (and almost win) it. Take a point, get healthy, and forget the fact we'll never get that 2 hours back from our lives.

 

Watched it on and off in dvr mode yesterday - 2-1 up and Brede can't put a head on it (I think he was held down on that play, not sure) - Schwarzer is trying to become #2 given his judgment these days. Not good, but what the hell, it is a point away! COYW

 

Fulham have taken a huge step backward in midfield. Some time when I am awake enough I might try and put some coherent thought to that statement.

 

It's still early, of course, but I would suggest we've taken a huge step backward overall, not just in midfield.

Let's be honest, some of our stalwarts haven't been particularly stout so far. I'm talking about Schwarzer, Hangs, and Riise. We've LOST our midfield, simply because we couldn't afford to keep them, or, in the case of Murph, well, I don't really know.

You can't lose as much talent as we have this summer and not feel it. And now we're starting to feel it. This break is good, but will it help? I have my doubts.

 

Yeah, that about sums it up to me. I meant to be in the chatroom, but couldn't sleep Saturday night- slept through my alarm and already had plans later in the day, so I just ended up watching the match on Monday and didn't get around to posting until today. It might be an exaggeration to say that our defense looked shakier than it has since the Lawrie Sanchez era, but it wasn't good. We got lucky that Ricky Lambert didn't put a chance or two away. To get three points would've been an absolute steal (especially since Hooiveld's own goal was absolutely dreadful and a total gift) , but it's never not disappointing to concede in stoppage time. The good news- maybe Kieran Richardson netting will build his confidence up and improve his midfield play and hopefully, Petric and Berbatov will be up to full strength after the international break, Diarra and Frei will be back soon- and our first match back is against a pretty marginal Villa side back at the Cottage. It's hard for me to imagine a Fulham team that will beat opponents by piling up goals, but if our defense doesn't improve and Berba and Petric come back strong, that may be what we'll have to do.

The international break is annoying, but I think we'll come back from it in better shape.

~ Steve