Fulham v. Bolton

I'm guessing Duece is up front alone again?

 

In a word...UGLY. However, even though Sunderland got a W, they have to go to Anfield this weekend. Wigan and Birmingham City lost so we now sit 4 points behind, a tiny step forward today, obviously Roy played for the point.

 

In my mind we were relatively lucky to get a point out of the match. Niemi did play very well though, repeatedly denying Bolton what would have been a winner. First half was decent for us but once again in the second half we came out flat and got dominated.

 

And that sucks. I really didn’t like the two defensive substitutions. Why pack it in so early? At the 60 minute mark it was obvious that we needed some help up front. Why not put in some fresh legs upfront and give it a go? I was also really disappointed by the fact that there was no play on the wings at all. They tried to dribble straight up the goal too much. At this point we cannot be happy with draws.

 

Agreed. But ya know what...I'll take that point.

After about the 35th minute you could sense Hodgson said "screw it, we're not going to over-stretch ourselves," and packed it in for the remainder of the game.

Its frustrating we didnt get three, but those are two vital points dropped by Bolton.

EDIT - Guys, if you watched that match it was evident we WERENT going to score. Even though he was left to his lonesome, Demp botched a several attempts and had no pace. Call me crazy, but he needs some time on the pine to improve his psyche.

And yes its odd we didnt use Healy at all and Booze until the 80th. But ya know what? Healy sucks and never does anything, and Booze just recovered from injuries.

Again, a frustrating day but its better than zero points.

Bring on the Villa.

 

The only positive I can take from this game was the fact that Hangeland looks like he will shore up our defense with his height. Other than that it was the same old shit from us and if we keep playing this way we will go down. I actually think we are already down. We are total shit attacking. Now you know why I want an attacking player. Because we freaking suck. Everytime we got the ball in a 3 v 5 position or something we slowed it down. Like WTF? If Dempsey had anybody in support we could of scored a couple of goals. It seems as though alot of people are blaming Dempsey, but when you play up front by yourself every freaking week you will lose confidence. Esepcially when you totally make a defender look like a fool a couple of times and notice that you have nobody to give the ball to. He belongs on the damn wing. How many games do our countless managers need to see to know this? I am sick and tired of watching this crap. I am sick and freaking tired of getting my hopes up only for them to be dashed because of boring shit football.


Sorry for shit being thrown in there a couple of times, but it took all my might to not use harsher words.

 

Hatter,

Roy can only employ aggressive tactics if he has players that can actually peform their given roles. Healy is not a Premiership quality striker. It is a waste to have him out there. So in reality Fulham has one option at forward and that's Dempsey... unless you let Bouazza have a go who's played up front once all season. You also want to build up Bullard and integrate Andreasen into the side. You don't have much time to do this and you have to wait for EJ and Nevland to get in to the squad. And you want to sort out the back by adding Hangeland in there. Why f his confidence up his first game?

Fulham simply doesn't have any competent strikers. Kamara can't do it. Healy doesn't have the athleticism to cut it in the Prem League at all. Dempsey is not a forward, a striker, nor a pure finisher. So Fulham simply can't run out aggressive tactics and automatically bank on getting some goals.

We all know, including Roy, that you have to play to win all the remaining games... but you have got to have the right tools to play that kind of game. No matter what Roy did this game Fulham was going to be hopeless up front. There wasn't a tactic that would rectify the fact that Fulham is without any offensive threat whatsoever.

Until EJ, Nevland, and maybe a mystery third striker comes in... Fulham will produce nothing up front. Goals might would come by set pieces or fluke situations.

 

I hear you Don, and I feel your pain. Look at the bright side, its not every day you can use a great expression like 'lipstick on a pig'.

 

If we'd have had EJ, we woulda had a chance for 3 points today - Bolton were very open to a pacey player breaking their off-side trap.

Still, I was pleased with how the defense played and were held good possession at points. I thought our two new buys played very well - exactly what we needed.

I actually look forward to our next game - we've stopped the boat from sinking - now its time to start bailing the water out!

 

Dear Roy H.,

Thank you for buying strikers. Use them at the EARLIEST possible nanosecond, fortheloveofgod.

I don't mind playing for the point at the end of a tough game. But playing for the point from minute one?!? Enough of Dempsey up front alone, please oh please oh please. Worse was Dempsey alone and NO wingers. Why even play a guy up front at all, then? Jeez, just call it a 5-5 and play in our half of the field.

Okay. I'm trying to calm down. But that kind of game sucks to watch, for multiple reasons. I'm going to attempt to console myself with the thought that 2 new strikers will equal an actual attempt to score goals.

I am not currently an EJ fan, but if he can come on and make a difference, I will shut up about him.

Of course, I've been saying that about his Nats performances for about a year and a half now, and he's not given me any reason to quit yet.

Still, a point's a point, and if this was a "transitional" game designed to integrate the newer defensive players before we bring on the guns, then so be it.

 

I rarely go on rants on this site, but I had one all prepared to go, but now I've read most of what I wanted to say in others' rants. I HATE the way Fulham played today. It's one thing to try to play for a draw against Arsenal, but against Bolton??? Fulham were FIVE POINTS into the drop zone headed into this match. They need WINS. I'd rather they lose the match trying to win than pick up a practically meaningless point in a six-pointer.

As far as I am concerned, they lost this game. I can't believe I waited all day to watch this garbage.

Sorry, I know I'm usually Mr. Optimism, but I'm officially depressed now.

 

No way we were going to win this match playing a 4-6-0 formation. Perhaps we weren't going for a win; RH may not admit to it, but that all seems obvious now.

In a time when practically every match has become a "must win game," we're putting a line-up that features no strikers on the pitch. These are strange times indeed...

 

Do goalkeepers not wear #1 in Finland?

Niemi looked willing to come off his line, but his punches weren't as strong as they should've been. But I guess it's tough to complain about a clean sheet.

Baird didn't look like a liability for a change. He's no good going forward, but at least he didn't get repeatedly exposed like he has in other matches.

Hughes was good enough.

Hangeland showed why people were excited about him. He's dominant in the air. Occasionally tried to be too fancy while clearing, but Bolton put considerable effort into keeping high balls away from him.

Konchesky was so-so. Bolton's wide players got a little bit the better of him, but he made a couple of really nice recoveries.

Andreasen was not overly impressive and took some bad fouls. I'm surprised he didn't get booked. A different ref and he could've seen two yellows.

Volzy looked energetic but I think he's going to struggle to find a role. I'm afraid he's not good enough going forward to be a wing midfielder like he's been used, and not quite solid enough on defense to be the regular right back. Thinking about it, he might be worth a run out in the defensive midfield role after (in my opinion, anyway) a not-great debut by Andreasen.

As was pointed out, Murphy slowed EVERYTHING down and that was not what was needed. Reasonably composed on the ball in the face of Bolton's pressure.

Bullard was alright. I'm really not sure what to expect so I'm not really sure how to evaluate him.

Davies still looks uncomfortable on the left. While the style of play should be the same, he doesn't seem to know what to do as much on that side.

Dempsey looked tired. He needs a rest.

Christanval (understandably) looked rusty.

Bocanegra didn't really do enough to make an impression on me one way or the other. Neither did Bouazza, but getting him back should help to address our GLARING GLARING GLARING lack of pace.

Overall... without looking at things in context, a point on the road is generally a good result. Unfortunately, as we've been saying, we've played ourselves into a position where we need three points, not one, and not just at home either.

 

I can understand what Roy was doing but it is still very disappointing. What fan wants to watch a game in which all you do is play defense. Yeah, Hangeland looked good but he had 5 other defenders and most of the midfield helping him. What's the point of the big guy then? Can he do the job with four in the back or not?

Like Lyle said we had no strikers out there and we were not going to score. It seemed clear that was the case as I watched the game as it has for weeks and weeks.

There was a time when this very same team (without Hangeland, Andreasen, McBride) could score goals. All I can believe is that the clean sheet and not conceding 2nd half goals has become so important that it has overriden the abiltiy of this team to score and create any offensive threat.

At least when we were dropping points in the second half, I could enjoy half a match a week! The entire game is punishing now.

Roy, get something happening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ughhhhhh

 

Basically a lot of my thoughts have already been said over and over by others.

Today's game was painful to watch.

 

Well I made long trip up to Bolton last night (only got back at 3am this morning!) A very good trip and met a lot of fans who’s faces I recognized but never got the chance to have a conversation with. Funny how the Fulham fans who traveled last night all banded together due to the fact that you had to be slightly messed up in the head to travel all that way on a weeknight!

I thought the team put on a very encouraging display last night. They passed the ball well, albeit the pace was slow and both our new signings looked very, very good. Hangeland even got a song last night and acknowledged it several times. He is a player we needed for a long, long time.

Once we found out Dempsey was upfront on his own, I knew it was going to be a draw but what could you expect Hodgson to do? We have no strikers and Healy would’ve been worse off in a lone striker position, add the injuries we have to some of our midfielders and, well, you have the reason why 6 defenders on the field. I wasn’t happy with that in the slightest because there was an opportunity to win the game, unfortunately some of our transfers were/are a week too late.

If it’s any consolation, we are playing passing football again, pulled a point up on Wigan and we are still VERY active in the transfer market.

COYW’s

 

Most of my thoughts about the Bolton game have already been stated. The only thing I can add is it appears almost certain now that David Healy has no future in Hodgson's squad. If he didn't play him yesterday against Bolton I doubt we will see him on the bench once the new strikers have joined the squad.