Fulham @ Stoke City

Thanks, good to be back. Family drama + being insanely busy at work + 8 Phish shows in a month = not enough time for the Whites. But I'm back strong in '10 and like our squad, ready for a strong push to the finish line, starting with this afternoon. We get that critical road win everyone mentioned earlier in the thread: 2-0 Fulham, Duff and Murphy (from the spot)

 

I really can't believe what's happening. Its like we don't want to be out on the pitch and would rather be at home by the fire. We obviously aren't getting anything from this game, but hopefully we can play better in the 2nd half.

 

If you want to be glass half full and take something positive, I have some independent, original research for you: it's the first time we've conceded 3 goals in a match since May 2 at Stamford Bridge. That's 34 matches in all competitions without conceding 3. Pretty impressive.

 

Agreed. All 3 goals were absolute garbage too -- hopefully not a recurring problem.

Also, 3-0 down and losing our best striker...at least we made a game of it.

 

Agreed. All 3 goals were absolute garbage too -- hopefully not a recurring problem.

Also, 3-0 down and losing our best striker...at least we made a game of it.

 

I can't say I'm overly surprised to drop the points on the road against a tough Stoke side. But I am surprised we conceded 3 goals to them.

Looks like rb is going to be an adventure until either Simon comes back or we bring someone in.

AJ is on the fast track to be this year's Zamora. In fact, it's starting to look like maybe he was part of the problem with Zamora last year.

I wonder how many Brits make the blue shirt one of the scapegoats?

Good on Duff and Dempsey for trying to pull one back. Here's hoping we go back to form and leave AJ on the pine on Saturday. COYW!! Surely we can beat a team on our pitch that hasn't even been paid yet.

 

Not happy. My good buddy is though and gloating. Stoke has done so well after struggling out of the fizzy pop league. ¿Qué pasa?

 

What's the deal with Zamora? GJ said Faye kicked him in the arm; Sky says he has a shoulder injury; CCN says he was hospitalized. All in all, it sounds pretty serious.

 

Kathy where've you been? Always wondered 'bout your trip to England whether your son got a tryout with Fulham.

 

It looked like BZ was kicked in the groin area and then fell awkwardly on his shoulder.

 

We just got back from taking the kiddies drinking at our faux Irish pub. First half was truly embarassing, especially considering we made the kiddies finish their homework by 4:30 and made the trek in 10 inches of snow. Also, I never did figure out who started - we had no sound and were fairly far away from about a 37" screen. I guess that fourth midfielder ( spotted Duff and Murphy and I believe Baird but who was fourth) must have made zero impact or I would'be seen his mug. Anyway, thought they fought back admirably in the second. Dempsey made me proud. Duff and Zamora were great also.

Zamora was fouled and came down on his shoulder - he was definitely hurting. I wouldnt be surprised if he dislocated it. It may have been the result of a bit of over acting the foul on his part but I'm not sure.

Also, me likey those blue shirts (sorry Don)

 

Zamora injury report from the offal. According to Roy BZ's shoulder is probably dislocated.

 

Ouch. That does sound unpleasant. I did a Google search for "dislocated shoulder" and one of the news results was this article about a Gillingham midfielder (coincidentally) who had a dislocated shoulder back in October, had to have surgery, and will only be back to training later this month. That's a very long layoff. Sounds like some reinforcement up top would be very useful. And Hangeland had to come out today, and Paintsil has a knee ligament injury, AND Konchesky got banged up late in today's match. Fucking Stoke.

On the bright side, Dempsey's goal was really great. Here's a highlight. And the blue shirts do look sharp.

 

What I will take away from this match is that Fulham player a stinker in the first half. It was (pick your own adjective) bad and maybe even worse than that. I really thought the 3-0 score flattered Fulham. However, as badly as Fulham played they could have taken points in this match. Stoke's third goal was questionable for offsides and there was a clear handling of the ball in the box during the closing minutes of the match. Had either call gone Fulham's way there was a point to be taken and possibly three had both calls gone to Fulham. I know I am a Fulham short-timer and that I have very little background to compare this Fulham squad to others but the fight in this Fulham squad to battle back from such a poor showing in the first half is something to be admired.

My biggest concern going forward is not one really poor half of football. Poor halves of football happen even to the best of teams. My biggest concern is the number of injuries Fulham seem to be racking up with so much football left to play. At the end of this match is appears Fulham have added BZ and perhaps Brede to the list of players we won't be able to rely on in the near future and that does not even address both Duff and PK who were noticibly limping around at the end of the match. What Roy does in the January transfer window may well decide how this season ends.

As for this match it was three points that Fulham need to start taking but it is three points now gone. Bring on Portsmouth come Saturday!

How did the starters perform against Stoke IMO:

The Good
Bobby Zamora and Aaron Hughes performed well. The biggest problem with Zamora tonight was that he and AJ were not on the same song sheet. I can only remember Hughes being beating once today and that was on a very good over the head flick by Ricardo Fuller. Zamora and Hughes were not spectacular but they were not part of the problem either.

The Invisible
Mo the fourth midfielder was Zoltan Gera and there was a good reason you could not figure out who it was. Gera never really got into the flow of the match out on the left and when he did get the ball he never seemed to keep it long or to do very much with it.

AJ also seemed to have no impact on the match. I know he just returned from injury but I am beginning to believe he no longer has the pace to get behind defenders. The same central defenders that Zamora was running away from with the ball AJ could not seem to separate from without the ball. If this is due to his fitness or injury then so be it but until he shows he can separate from defenders and get behind a defense he is going to struggle to make and impact on a match.

Chris Baird was perhaps the most invisible player on the pitch tonight. He basically was unidentifiable and I don't think I could get past one hand on the number of times I can remember him putting in a tackle.


The Bad
Danny Murphy goes straight to the head of this list. You can rail on the defense all you want but Danny could not hold onto the ball and when he did manage to make a pass it seemed to not reach its intended destination well more than half the time. Two of Murphy's giveaways indirectly led to Stoke goals. Between Baird and Murphy there was a big hole in the middle of Fulham's midfield.

Paul Konchesky played okay for most of the match and I know he was injured and gimping about at the end of the match but the another PK moment of obstructing the defender that led to free kick that led to the second goal is mind boggling. Brede was clearly in position to play the ball and PK was clearly looking at Brede before he turned his head to find the defender and step in his way. I sometimes wonder if PK's synapses all fire properly.

Reserving Judgement
Mark Schwarzer made all the saves he should have so he did well but when three goals get in ... well I can't blame Schwarzer so let's just say he did well.

Brede - It would be easy to say that Brede had a poor match and that he kept Stoke onside for their third goal, if they were onside, but I don't know how much the injury affected his play so he gets a pass.

It would also be easy to say Kelly played poorly, very poorly or outright badly because he did but I am going to give him a few more matches to prove it was a fluke outing today.

The he played well but it is hard to say he played well before Dempsey came on because he was starved of the ball award goes to Damien Duff. No one on the pitch looked more frustrated than DD. I was happy to see him score off the Dempsey pass because he played hard but really didn't see the ball enough today

Substitutes
Dempsey's pass to Duff for the first goal was outstanding and his goal was SPECTACULAR. He was not perfect today but his mistakes were mistakes of aggression in trying to make things happen and he did make things happen. I am pretty sure he had Pulis crapping in his pants during the final 30 minutes of the match. He was easily Fulham's most influential player.

Smalling was steady if unspectacular today. He shanked a couple of clearances but his positioning was fine and he played better than Brede did during the closing parts of the first half.

I wish the Nevland for AJ substitution had come earlier in the match. While he did not score he gave the Stoke defenders fits and I would have liked to see him get more minutes to make things happen.

 

I get delayed, finally make it to the pub, and it's 3-0 and no sign of CD...I'm thinkin "WTF?" Then BZ gets hurt, and Clint comes on and scores a wondergoal, and assists on the other one. I think we might just be on to something.
Seriously, I guess this shows how thin our side really is. I think AJ's time has past. The earlier post about him being part of Bobby's problem last year, in hindsight, is spot on. He clogs things up without doing anything dangerous in attack. He looks small, and slow.
On a positive note, hopefully, "this is just a blip on the radar screen."

 

That was the worst half we have had since LS. We were comisserating in the chat room about a) a lack of a reliable feed and b) the overall crappiness of the game. Murphy seemed to have a particularly bad time.

Oh well, there goes our hopes for the Champions League. Bring on Portsmouth.

 

Maybe with the schedule Demps needed a break - perhaps it is because Gera scored...

ROY - NEVER START GERA IN FRONT OF DEMPS! How many times does he have to prove he is better? HOW MANY?!? When in doubt - Gera gets the nod... Pisses me off.

That being said - I dont know all that went into making the decision.

 

Completely forgot the game was on and missed the first half.

Caught the second half. What a weird game. Not much to add to what other folks have said. I will say I am very glad they nutted up and made a game of it. A 3 nil loss would have stung a bit. One could argue a draw would have been a just result.

The loss was almost acceptable just to watch Dempsey's goal. 15 years ago I would have likely laughed in your face if you'd said an American would be cracking in goals like this in the top division of English football.

FYI snowing like crazy over here. I think we've got 10 inches in Henley. Wonder if the team was able to get home last night. A lot of roads were pure grid-lock.

 

A link to the video of Dempsey's goal:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/soccer ... cerinsider

 

Okay, in light of today’s fixture between Arsenal and Bolton being postponed, I really got to ask: why did this match even go on?

Both Carling Cup ties were postponed, and four players (Sanli, Zamora, Hangeland, PK — any others?!?) got injured yesterday.