Fulham v. QPR Match Thread

I'm a very, very happy man. Just got back from the Cottage and Fulham put in the effort deserved of a 6-0 win...could've been 8 or 9.

 

Wow, fun match. A more than great result. Finally, we have a win and are midtable!

I thought Barton was going to blow.

 

Wow, what a performance. So, so impressed. There's been spans of more than a month in the past few years in which it seemed Fulham didn't score 6 goals total. Fantastic result.

COYW

 

In retrospect, the difference between the nervy 2-0 result I predicted and the 6-0 white-wash I was privileged to witness this afternoon was largely down to our surfeit of attacking confidence. AJ's second goal in Denmark Thursday night was a pure striker's goal; sublimely handled and dispatched with aplomb. Today, he looked a man transformed from the industrious but wide provider I saw just five weeks ago at Wolverhampton and Newcastle. He is now the picture of an in-form, International quality striker.

Dembélé took the ball just behind level with my seat in block XL. As he cut into the middle, from Zamora’s lay-off, I said “c’mon, direct Moussa!” But as I said it, I could see in his eye, he was looking straight ahead towards goal. He made up his mind, no more of the irritating, crab-like movements across the edge of the box. AJ’s cool finish set us all into bedlam. I can see us scoring quite a lot from interplay between Dembélé and Zamora, with Dempsey arriving as the late man, as he did from AJ and Bobby in H2.

“Northolt United” were a dire lot, but more on their witless support later. As in Denmark Thursday, Murphy had far too much space n midfield. I thought their back four looked static against Villa last weekend, and that was with Traoré at LB. Luke Young can not carry the attack forward, and neither could Bradley Orr. What resulted were a series of ineffectual long balls above the midfield from Fitz Hall and Anton Ferdinand that largely went wide and isolated Bothroyd and Taarabt. It was no surprise that Barton came back to CB briefly late in the first half to start the attack from deep. Mackie came on mid-way through second half, and seemed to ask “does my bum look big in this?” Beyond that, Colin was out of ideas and it showed. Delicious agony was written on his face. I wanted him to turn to his right so I see it more often. As Motty said in Munich ten years ago “It just keeps getting better, and better, and better!” Alas, I doubt we will see them again in this league. Their three clever players in Wright-Phillips, Barton and Taarabt rarely linked up and how many long ball teams stay up?

That is just as well because their supporters showed none of the self deprecation one would expect of a team immolating live. There were a series of dim chants about imaginary supporters sneaking out (our own allegedly) and CC being a library though avid readers may have fashioned something more unique. On their northbound evacuation up Stevenage Road they made shushing sounds, and when I passed them at the Southern Cross on Fulham Palace Road, their profane invective spoke for itself: They came with ideas above their station and left with curses.

The injury to Bryan Ruiz was the one blight on the day. He struggled to run and face grimaced whilst trying to keep a stiff upper lip. Hopefully, he will only be out a few weeks. His centering pass to Sa was self-less and if he contributes five goals whilst adjusting to EPL pace this season, I will be delighted. On the other hand, after the match, Joey Barton shook hands with each Fulham player and match official and was first to acknowledge his supporters. Barton has a sweet right foot, but perhaps more heart than I previously gave him credit for.

But this day belonged to one man only. Two years ago, I often thought of Andy Johnson. Whilst his teammates and we supporters lived the European dream, I imagined a lonely man in a gym. When I was 28, I very nearly lost my own profession. The loneliness comes from the isolation of a man and his dream. The cruelest pain is from not knowing whether everything one prepares one's whole life for will ever reach fruition and a foreboding over what might have been. So when it does come good, on a glorious Autumn day in your hometown, amidst a warm sun and a cloudless blue sky, it is everything one could have dreamt and more than worth every effort taken.

 

sublimely stated, sfm. cheers.

 

Agree completely and the last paragraph was particularly enjoyable to read. Thanks.

Nevzter glad you finally made it aboard.

 

I haven't been posting match thoughts anywhere for a while, just emailing them back and forth with Don. But with the FUSA relaunch and some chiding by Mo, well, here we go.

Had I not known about the teams, I'd have thought Fulham wore orange (at least, I think that was orange). QPR played 5 in the midfield with few of them in advanced positions and only 1-2 in the box at any given time. They were slow on the counter and in moving the ball up the pitch, and bereft of ideas when they did manage to find themselves in the final 3rd. And they got a goose egg for their efforts. Very similar to what we've done lately. Of course the obvious differences would be in defending, which they did little of and at GK where, despite a superior surname, their keeper is no Mark Schwarzer.

There were rumors of a feud between Zamora and Jol and of a player rebellion at Motspur over the manager's tactics and strategy. If true, I approve. I've hated Jol's 4-2-3-1 more and more each time I see it. It doesn't generate enough pressure in front of goal, doesn't fit our personnel, and we have employed it far too negatively. Today though, I saw none of it. We looked to be in 4-4-2, at worst 4-4-1-1. AJ was in a far more advanced position and attacked with vigor where Dembele usually plays too far back as a CF. The CM's were further forward as well. Instead of 1-2 in the box, we had 3-4 in there most of today. It was beautiful, it was effective, and I hope it's what we see going forward. If Jol attempts to sell Zamora in the winter, he should be drawn and quartered with some of the remains left on the (other) MJ statue.

I've been ranting that Dembele isn't a striker/forward for a while now. I've thought he should be on the right as an inverted winger backing up (or in lieu of) Duff. The idea being, his greatest strength is running with the ball. He has shown over and over that he prefers to operate in space and rarely ventures into the tighter confines of the box. Putting him out wide gives him the space to do that without running into a cul-de-sac. With his booming left foot, playing him on the right also gives him a shooting option outside of the box. He was out there today and aside from some errant passes, I thought he played well.

For some time, I've been of the opinion that AJ and Bob can't work together. But today, I've never been more happy to be wrong. I thought they were fantastic. When AJ ran the channel, Bob filled the middle and when Bob played the hold-up man role, AJ was darting around looking for space. I don't know if it's European confidence or what for AJ, but that's the best I've seen him look in quite some time. And it's a welcome sight.

The other observation I had was that Dempsey seems to be relishing the facilitator role more this year. Especially in the last two matches (QPR & Odense), he's played some slick balls and shown creativity and vision in setting up our attack. This will come at expense of his goal record but makes him even more valuable to our side. Not that he didn't do it before, it just seems like he's doing more of it now.

All in all, it was a great match and I thought everyone played well. If I were in a less euphoric mood, I'd bemoan how crap Riise is, but I'll have plenty of other opportunities to do that.

For QPR, the cutaways of Warnock were priceless. He looked like he'd eaten something foul and was ready to cry much of the time. And it may just be me, but SWP makes Freddy Adu look like he's on HGH.

Unlike our London brethren, I hope QPR stay up as they give us a more proper derby than chelsea. I know, that's probably blasphemy, but the two clubs are closer together in the pecking order than we are to the scum. Plus, it's nice to have a derby we can get the better of.

Great match for Fulham and I'll be curious to see if the changes today were a one-off thing or if the players have gotten Jol to reconsider.

 

AJ looked liked the AJ who ran wild and scored a ton of goals for Crystal Palace and damn near kept them up by himself a few years ago.

Great reports sfm and Ag, awesome insights (dare we ask for another "View" from the San Antonio area??)

 

Hope he doesn't mind my talking out of school, but he was busy most of the day and was watching the match tonight. The feedback I got from him....Holy Ducking Spit. Or something like that.

 

Thanks for the write-up Ag.

Agree about Dembele needing space to thrive. He played really well, but I still have concerns about him being all left foot. He only goes to the left. I think QPR saw this and by the end of the match Dembele was dribbling out of bounds on his right. It is one superb left foot though and his defending is really solid too.

What is up with Riise. He's not looking like the player that he is. Thought he looked good in his first matches for us but not lately. Crosses are awful and he goes down the left but then isnt prepared to receive the ball.

Anyone hear why Baird played CB rather than Senderos?

Best play of the day? Danny's free-kick through ball to AJ. If you noticed AJ gave Danny an ever so slight nod before the kick. Priceless.

Anyone see the two Qpha Bieber wannabees near the end of the match? Is that what Qpha fans are like?

 

Senderos had a terrible match against Odense. That would be my guess.