Fulham @ dog trackers

4) Berbatov sparkles again for Fulham

A goalless draw that merely increases the sense of anguish at Stamford Bridge might have drawn the focus, but the only endearing memories from this west London derby were actually sparked by Fulham forwards. Dimitar Berbatov glided through this contest with all that classy elegance of old, Martin Jol describing him as "unplayable" and even Rafael Benítez conceding his brilliance. Fulham pulled off a coup in securing him in August as Mousa Dembélé and Clint Dempsey bade farewell. Their gain is the rest of the division's considerable loss. Then there was Kerim Frei, under-used on loan at Cardiff but restored to fitness and back tormenting Chelsea leggy full-backs with his scuttling energy and direct running late on. The Turkey international will surely re-establish himself in the months ahead, and Fulham can prosper this term with the pair in the ranks. Dominic Fifield

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... ue-midweek

 

We're not communists (don't even think you can get Chicago style here in SA) but I doubt you'd be impressed with our pizza choice either. Of course, I can take the easy road and say Don picked it, I just paid for it (since he supplied the beer).

Speaking of the beer. If you like a good hoppy ESB like...say Red Hook or Mirror Pond...give Victory HopDevil a try. That was one of the selections from Don's pack and I was impressed with it. It's actually an IPA, but it tastes a lot like the two I mentioned. There was another one, a lager from NY that American Mike is a big fan of, but I don't recall the name. Neither of us are big lager fans, but Don drank it and said that one was really good.

 

all of it sounds great. thanks, ag.

 

A quick note on tactics. If Berbatov's natural tendancy is to drop deep to impact play (which it is), does it make sense to play him as a lone striker? There were times when Karagounis was our most advanced player and (at least once) when Berba was about 12 yards from goal (that would be our goal) in open play.

Now there are many reasons that Martin Jol is on the touch line making these decisions and I'm sitting at a desk in an office building in L.A., but it would seem logical that you would need/want a genuine target man up top with Berba in the lineup. Unless I'm missing something.