Fulham v. Shakhtar Donetsk

Looking forward to the highlights and from people who watched the game, but from the stats and gamecast, sounds like Shaktar was great in the first half, we were the better side in the second (maybe should have scored another one), and the big Aussie made an amazing save at the end. This is a great win against a very good team.

Bobby Z and Gera each w/a goal and an assist, not too shabby.

 

:banana:

 

Here are some highlights until UEFA's website puts up some much better highlights.

First two goals: http://videos.sapo.pt/ymMqGLbcuogRdct7Y4aH

Zamora's goal: http://rutube.ru/tracks/2950044.html?v= ... &bmstart=0

 

That'll do nicely. All we need is a draw at their place next week, and we're pretty good at getting draws on the road when we put our minds to it.

 

I let out a very loud YEAH!! when Zamora scored. The bar was pretty quiet so I got some looks. Great strike.

 

I went to a local bar to watch the game as well.

First off, I'll say that Shakhtar is a really, really good team. They're players are quick and very technical and, as a team, they have great movement.

Man o' the match: Bobby Zamora. It was his physical play, his ability to hold up the ball and draw fouls which was the difference for us; with their pressurizing and superior ability, we had no ability to really sustain our standard type of attack without Bobby's play.

Shakhtar dominated the first half, but they did appear to lose energy sometime in the 2nd half; likely lack of match fitness. Still, next week is going to be a challenge.

Schwarzer: 8. great save to save the win at the end

Kelly: 5. our weakest defender, provided nothing offensively

Hangeland: 6. did generally well, but lost the ball needlessly a few times

Hughes: 8 our best defender by far, saved our bacon more than once

Baird: 7 solid both ways

Murphy: 7 played well

Etuhu: 5 played ok, but his touch was off and he lost the ball a lot

Davies: 6 invisible in the first half, but found more space in the 2nd

Duff: 7 good throughout, a helpful outlet for our attack

Gera: 8 good support and defensive pressure; took goal well and almost had another off a corner with his head

Zamora: 9 man of the match performance. Shakhtar had no answer for him. Created one goal and scored another; won numerous free kicks in dangerous areas to create more opportunities.

Elm (sub): NR wasn't on for more than 3-5 mins

 

UEFA's highlights (including a great angle of Zamora's goal):

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/ma ... id=1450682

 

Fantastic victory and Shaktar are, indeed, a very, very good side. They certainly can knock it around with quality, even out-Arsenal, Arsenal.

HOWEVER, it's all Fulham's to win now, and I'm feelin' good that Roy can see the job is completed in Ukraine. The return leg isn't going to lack intensity, that's certain...it'll be quite an atmosphere in the "spaceship."

Great win.

 

Great victory, but I am not feeling that confident about the away leg. In what I was able to see of the game, SD looked a lot sharper than I thought a team still in the offseason would be.

 

For the opening three minutes Fulham were all over Shaktar. For the next 42 Shaktar's passing was superb. Gera and Zamora picked up where they left off prior to Gera's injury. They read and play off each other well.

All in all it was a good win but Fulham will have to play better on the away leg to advance.

 

I love Gera with Zamora...and I love Dempsey in the mix with Gera and Zamora even more.

And by no means do I think the 2nd leg is in the bag, however, I don't see the impending doom of being played off the pitch either, despite what the Brazilians from Ukraine demonstrated today. I'm sure Roy can create a plan to stifle their attack...enough to advance. And for this, I look to thee, Mark Schwarzer. He rocks.

 

If you just saw 25-30 minutes of last part of the first half, you'd of thunk they should have beaten us 3 nil. However, even though they kept possesion during that period, they rarely got any decent opportunities on goal.

F'ing big kudos to Gera/Zamora for both the goals and the assists that led to the goals. Dickson to me put in our weakest performance. Gave the ball away way too much and way too many poor touches. Good thing most of this occured near the middle of the pitch. Great save by the Aussie near the end of the game. I was thinking please God not another AS Roma ending.

Great adjustments by Woy at half, made all the difference in the world. Would love to go to the away leg just to check out Shakhtar's grounds but sadly not to be. This team never ceases to amaze me. Keep it up Whites!

 

They're not technically in the offseason, but I just noticed the winter break the Ukrainian League takes in the middle of their league calendar (from mid-December to late February) is about as long as their summer break (from early May to mid-July), maybe even a few days longer.

Great great goal by Zamora. I'd love to see this late save Schwarzer made, since the stream I was watching died after the first half.

 

Very cautiously optimistic going into the second leg. Taking into account SD's winter break status, I have to think match fitness and a bit of "ring rust" was a factor.
I saw glimpses of how dangerous that team can be.

With that said, I was really pleased with how well the team responded after the break.

That Zamora goal was something else. Bobby and Zoltan seem to have created a fairly dangerous partnership.

I thought Kelly held his own even though he is visibly uncomfortable playing LB. I feel bad for the guy. His confidence is shot and he seems to have this shell-shocked approach to his play...

Etuhu played below par and gave away too many balls in the midfield. He needs to perform better come Sunday...

 

Bobby's best goal in a Fulham kit. Good point LOBO about Kelly's crisis of confidence. If PK couldn't go last night I'm doubting he can go the full 90 next week.

Roy's postmatch interview just makes me appreciate his perspective on things. Last night was a victory that will be remembered by the fans forever. Roy's reminder of where the club was to where it is now is nothing short of miraculous. Done and buried at Citeh to victory on a European night? You've got to be kidding.

 

Ironically, I don't disagree with much that Don said. I don't think we're any more "fekked" than we were going into this matchup, in fact I'd say we're in better shape than I'd expected.

Roy looked pretty pissed on the sidelines. I'm sure if he was able to look past the anger he had to think that the passing and ball control display that Shakhtar put on was something Fulham aspires to.

That said, for all the passing they couldn't find much in the final 1/3. Looked like we played it that way be design as we looked very compact after our first goal.

What I'd like to see is us take our "Arsenal, home" approach and play much more physically and more agressively in the middle. With as much leeway as the ref gave both sides, I'm a little surprised we didn't do that.

Agree with Joe, best BZ strike I've ever seen. And how much scouting are the Ukrainians doing in Brazil? They have a boatload of them.

East Hull are in a tough spot in the next leg though. We showed we're the better defensive side. They showed they are clearly the superior team offensively. Yet they need a defensive performance to win. If they play for a shootout, we're in trouble. If they try to contain us and go for the 1-0, I like our chances.

 

Yeah, I dont think I've ever seen Roy look so mad.

I only saw the last 50 minutes so I missed the part in which Shakhtar looked so much better, thankfully. That Gera backheel to to Bobby and his crack of a goal now ranks among my favs

 

First things first, we defeated the UEFA Cup champions in dramatic fashion. Thank you Bobby.

The atmosphere at the Cottage was unbelievable and to hear singing from all 4 stands was surreal, very much like the night we played Roma but better. Fulham supporters are really showing up to support the team and make sure they play their part.

Regardless if we go out or not, we still have that night.

 

You're right, I think I let the tail wag the dog there. Glad for the W.