Fulham v Pompey

I thought the Fulham fans sounded good in the first half, but obviously there was little reason for singing in the second. Empty seats are disappointing though.

 

Portsmouth

I wanted to thank the people who contribute the write ups about the game.

I thought FFC started off nice, Dempsey had that nice crack from outside within the first 5 minutes. There were a couple other opportunities, but I thought that the balls fed to the front were forced in the air too much. It seemed as the game went on, Dempsey was spending a lot of the time trying to beat Sol Cambell in the air with his back to the goal. That is a pretty tough task. Dempsey has demonstrated a nice aerial game, but it did not appear to be the route the team should have taken. Even when the guys up front were getting the ball at their feet, they were getting swarmed by the Portsmouth D. I think as the game wore on, this was even more apparent because Kamara did not seem involved in the game.

Thoughts??

 

too disgusted to talk about this match. thank goodness for the break, i need to get my mind off this garbage for a bit...after i make one more post on another thread that I have to start right now!

 

I think I posted my original message in the wrong place, so I may have missed out on some of the discussion prior to writing my message. I may have been a little redundant in terms of discussing the aerial game of Dempsey.

As HatterDon mentioned, McBride would have been better suited to battle with Campbell all day as opposed to Dempsey. I was just bummed about the game in terms of not much build up of an attack, and giving up counter attack goals. I think Keller was in the right position, and he was the victim of deflections off of his own defenders.

 

Nah... you're fine edibella. I catch MOST of them and move 'em sooner or later.

Helll I even post in the wrong place once in a while.

I have no comment on the game, by the way. Typical for the Crew and Whites to fall on their faces same weekend. too bummed to care right now.

 

The team looked good in the first half and I enjoyed my first opportunity to drink a beer while watching a Fulham match (due to the 5pm start time). According to Portsmouth their half-time adjustment was just to "get the ball to Sean Davis" which would explain the sudden appearance of a Pompey midfield. Portsmouth was faster and bigger and LS had to address that which he did not do by starting Healy. Kamara should have started. If Kamara started we would have had some serious pace down the entire left side and I think we would have scored. Edibella, to your point, had we not been two goals down I dont think Portsmouth could have swarmed us everytime our forwards got the ball at their feet. By the time Kamara came in, it was too late. I think LS knew it was too late also as shown by the fact that he made all three substitutions at once. I thought Dempsey looked very good, and was glad to see that because I was a little worried after his last two games.

All in all, I still feel fortunate that I now get to see lots of Fulham matches on TV and I am enjoying the level of play in the EPL.

 

Every team has these type of matches, and it took me a whole 24 hours to get over this one. I was there and I had enough of people talking crap about our support.

The first half the team and fans did brilliant and didn't let Portsmouth play their game. The 2nd half was completely different and we were outplayed...but two deflected goals were again 'unlucky'.

I can say this was the first time I worried that Sanchez is not the man for the job. I'm not panicking and I have full faith in Sanchez but I am worrying a bit. Then again, had we beat Boro (and still lost to Portsmouth) we would be in 12/13th with a different look on the season.

We are playing much better than last season and we must get 9 points from 3 games. I expect nothing less.

 

Current Position

18th

I vented spleen on the loss to Bolton, but this result simply baffles me. No need to rehash the obvious on FFC's performance.

Pompey has some seriously-large CBs and I bet Dempsey and Co. have the bruises to prove the same. The Pompey defense allowed little to nothing to flow from any flick-ons, especially in the 2nd Half.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting different results. SEE Fulham's long ball/crossing performances against Portsmouth, 10/8/2007.

 

Alright - I am as disgusted as all of you. I am sick of ties and losses! My high school girls are getting their butts handed to them, and then I come home after another loss to watch BOTH my teams (Tottenham, Fulham) bring home a tie or a loss - AGAIN! What a depressing week for football.

Ok - now that I have that off my chest... I have said this before, and we all agree - BAIRD NEEDS TO GO. I think that if that is fixed we would be alright back there - at least good enough with Keller putting in strong performances.

My problems in this match were up top tho. Healy and dempsey are not a good team. You guys are right - clint is not really a true point player, and Healy is not a game changing player all by himself. He might sweep up garbage, but you cant count on him to make the pass needed to get people thru, or to rifle in shots from 30 out. There were at least 3 great opportunities for him to slot the ball or find the slanting runner and he f'ed it up. I am getting sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

I get it that people like LS - but come on - who cant see that coming?

 

I was dissapointed in Dempsey overall. He won lots of headers but he missed a boatload of chances to put one, two or three in the back of the net. If there is one thing he needs to work on (as does Kamara) it's his finishing.

Overall, have to agree with Jensers and say that healy and dempsey are not a good partnership...why was Kamara on the bench?

 

I finally get to watch a match where i don't have to get up at the crack of dawn, and this is what i get. What happened to the team that played Chelsea? I was so mad, it ruined the rest of my day. Still love FFC, but a little effort is all i'm asking for.

 

I agree with AmericanMike. As much as I love Clint Dempsey, he has left a lot of goals out on the field, and it was not just this game. He has missed some really good oppurtunities this year. However, he is still playing very well. If he can get better finishing, he can go from being a really good player to a great player.

I am not seeing much from Healy and Baird. I understand that Healy is not going to do it on his own, he is more of a poacher and needs good service. He is not getting it right now, and would like to see Kamara starting and using his pace. Baird I just want to see gone.

Bouazza looks good at times, but could get a little more consitant. Smertin has had some poor performances also. I don't know, I am just so frustrated right now. I would really love to see Brian McBride and Jimmy Bullard right about now. Hopefully we can get going against Derby and carry it on.

Come on Fulham. Come on Fulham. Come on Fulham.

 

I would like to see a little creativity in the midfield. There is not much distribution from the central midfield. It would be nice to have someone in the middle who could feed the guys up front. The long ball over the top everytime is obviously not working.

The central mid is the position Derby County picked up Feilhaber to play.

 

I couldn't bring myself to watch the second half. I just fast forwarded it and hoped for another Tottenham come back.

They looked great in the first half, but couldn't come up with anything. They had the ball 70% of the time late in the first half. That should have resulted in something. ANYTHING.

But to be fair - Pompey has a huge defense and we showed up with our best answer on the bench.

Just poor all around. If we pull out nothing but a solid 3 points from Derby, I am going to start being worried.

 

I really cant agree with the dissappointment so many of you express in Dempsey. He failed to finish a few chances on Sunday but not a one of them was a very good chance. I'll admit that I havent seen as much of the EPL as a lot of you but I've seen enough to know that the big name finishers miss chances like Dempsey did all the time. Plus we all know that is not his position and he is being marked much more closely now by the opposition.

American Mike, I saw some of your responses on FulhamFC MB to Americans who were criticizing the fan support at the cottage on Sunday. Can you explain for those of us who may not understand the realities of attendance and fan support in English football. On television, it really did seem like the place was filled with Pompey supporters - you heard and saw them more. I cant deny that I felt a little bad for the players, and that hasnt been the case in prevoius home matches (only seen a handful though). I'm not criticizing because I'd be one of those fans watching the game intently most of the time instead of cheering. Just interested in some more insight. Do some Fulham fans stay away 'cause they cant stand the Pompey supporters, was there something else going on that day, etc?

 

I could not really blame Dempsey for that game. He had a couple of opportunities, but that D was swarming him everytime he touched the ball. He is not the target man McBride is, so I was not sure why they kept trying to go over the top. He is good in the air, but he is more effective when the ball is coming from a throw in on the side or a cross that he can either flick on or strike it himself. I thought he had ssome great ball control moves in terms of settling some of the hard balls passed to him - even the commentator mentioned it (I like it when I say something out loud to the TV, and the commentator says the same thing). I loved that shot in the 3rd minute that almost caught James off guard. I did not think Dempsey had much time to turn with the ball and take on a defender - due to the swarming D.

I think they should have used Kamara to try and counter the size of the Pompey backline. There was not enough midfield support in that game. Bouazza was creating a few problems for the back line with his speed early on, but they seemed to adapt to that attack pretty quick. The next time I remember a midfielder getting involved in the attack was Hyeon. He likes to take defenders on - it was not that successful, but the D had not seen that from the midfield until he came on. I did not think Murphy made much difference when he came in, but again, the over the top game takes away from the midfield being involved.

I did not feel that Portsmouth was pressing all the time, and they received the benefit of deflected balls from the Fulham D. I thought Keller was in the right place each time, but the deflections went the right way for Portsmouth. I remember when Smertin got the benefit of a deflection from the Spurs defender that went right over Robinson's head. He was in the right place, but he was unlucky.

At the end, it sure did sound like the match was at Portsmouth. That kind of bummed me out.

 

Pettyfog,
I caught a little of that Crew vs Dallas game today. I did not see the final, but it was 1-1 during the time I watched. I watch a lot of EPL and MLS matches (my wife would say way too many especially on the DVR), and I have been looking to see the Crew play lately. The main reason is for Robbie Rogers. I thought this guy had an outstanding U-20 tournament, and it was not until today that I got to see him play for the Crew. What in the heck were they waiting for? He creates several opportunities down the wing with his pace, etc... I think he may be one of the next young US players to go abroad.

He was basically doing to FC Dallas what he was doing to every U-20 team the US played against. I do not think he gets the press others do, and I thought he would get an offer like Szetela.

Just my take.
Eric

 

I was so frustrated by this match that I couldn't bring myself to post until a week later! I thought my feelings of "oh, great, Fulham is going to be relegated" were gone but this match brought them all back. I can't say much that hasn't been said already. I wonder though, if our defence wasn't as agressive in trying to block shots, they might not have deflected and Keller might have saved the two goals (he looked in proper position to). I know you can't tell a defender to back off and not try to block a shot but it just made me wonder...

After frustration and bitterness all week, I'm taking heart. Bullard and McBride will be back around Christmas time and coming up is another transfer window where we can perhaps pick up a quality right back. I think in the long run, we'll be okay and I do believe Sanchez has us going in the right direction. Come on you whites!

 

Thanks for reminding me of this thread BC. I've been meaning to reply to clevelandmo but couldn't remember what thread it was in.

Anywho, to answer your question about our support against Pompey, it wasn't has bad as it looked. The main reason why it wasn't sold out was the fact it was a Sunday evening kick-off (thanks to the bastards at Sky). Sunday games are awful, less trains running, gotta get up for work the next day, etc.

As for the empty seats people saw, they were not in the home ends, I can tell you that. They were, infact, in the 'Neutral End' which Fulham has had in place for a few years now and in my opinion has run it's course. We should give it to home fans or away fans for now on.

Regarding Pompey supporters, they are scum of the earth...Neanderthals and not exactly attractive opposition.