Fulham v. Spurs [R]

Chris Coleman's Post Match Reaction (Sky Sports)
http://link.brightcove.com/services/pla ... d429035737
then click Chris Coleman..
(hope the link works) :roll:

 

here's a good article about the match. its got a great description of the cottage and its ambience.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/st ... nd&cc=5901

 

I thought Routledge's absence was really noticable, but it may just be me.

 

Another point in the bag and I have to be honest and say that I would've taken a point before the match solely on the basis that we DON'T HAVE A MIDFIELD. With Routledge not playing we had two starting defenders (Volz and Boca) who were covering. I just can't believe that we have been able to play as well as we have without C. Jensen, Diop, Bullard, (now Boa), Routledge, etc. thats basically every first team midfielder we have. It hasn't been fair to Browny, he's had to deal with no real midfield support but he's worked his socks off day in and day out.

Volz had another very solid match and Boca, I'd like to say, 'just played a role'. Playing a defensive midfielder but on offense just dishing the ball off to a better player once he got it. I thought Franck Queudrue had one of the best games in a Fulham shirt as well and overall, Christenval and Pearce did well.

Great to see Dempsey come on and have a few nice touches although he will have a bit of a learning curve.

Brian was solid as usual and the second yellow on Helguson was a bit harsh, he tried blocking the ball and Steed kicked his foot. Montella is pure quality, we are lucky to have him and I hope he enjoys his stay with us.

Finally on to Spurs. What an overrated, overpayed team...look at their bench yesterday and look at ours. There really is no comparison which makes me a bit prouder to be Fulham. Even when we had 10 men, we took it to them.

Its not that Tottenhams players are bad, they have some real quality and I feel Jol isn't the man for them. They need someone to take them to the next level if they are going to continue paying the amount they are for players.

UP THE FULHAM

 

There is a debate on TFI about Liam's game. I did not see the game so I wanted to get the board's thoughts. On one hand there was praise for Liam shutting down steed, but on the other hand others criticized Liam for his poor passing.

Three questions:
* Do you agree with that, and
* If true, does the good defending override the poor passing or is the reverse true,
* Is there anything the team can do about his poor passing? (My lack of a football background is showing here. I know in baseball, for example, you can't teach a fastball but you can improve breaking stuff. Also, a hitter, through hard work, can improve in hitting curveballs but it is not often just a matter of taking a couple days of BP or even a spring training's worth.)

 

Dave, I thought Liam had a great game minus the passing but game after game, if he is on the offense, with the ball and under pressure he gets flustered and makes a dumb pass. This can be fixed but I believe it can only come with experience. If he can get this passing issue down, he could be one of the best in the league. Overall, did he shut down Steed??? OH YES HE DID.

Hey Buchanan, to answer your question, you could tell that we missed Routledge. The guy has been getting better and better and if there was one thing we missed was his crosses because yesterday ours were abysmal at times.

 

On the second Helguson booking. Was there even contact? He went in studs up but I think the SPurs player saw that and flopped. I saw three replays and I didn't see contact.

And I, too, thought Chimbonda was off, like McBride on his early chance that Robinson did well to stop. The line judge must have been thrown off by the flick on, but at the time the original ball was played over toward Chimbonda, he was offside by a yard. Oh well. Still impressive to draw (and control play) 10-on-11.

 

I thought it was a pretty soft call, but then, I spent most of my weekend watching hockey and (American) football.

Had the pleasure of watching the match with a few young guys who were visiting from England, who told me I "deserve a medal for supporting Fulham". That was nice of them!

 

Of course you deserve a medal!

I think I deserve one too, for geting up, hitting the gym at 7 a.m., then driving downtown to the pub that shows the games and raising a pint at kickoff. I repeated the latter at the 25th minute, halftime, the 60th minute and the 90th. Last one didn't taste as good.

 

Spurs

I thought that we played really well against a team who have been flying pretty high lately, barring the Newcastle hiccup. Robinson saved twice at almost point blank range and we could have easily gone in 2-0 at HT. Then the bias against Fulham showed again, HH is booked for the second time, when if Lampard or almost anyone else from any other team it would have just been a free kick. Then if you think I have a complex about refs and the media being bias, how do you explain the fact that Dawson got shown a yellow for the handball and not a red!!!!!!!!! and how their goal was not given offside, i have watched it again and again in slow motion and he was clearly way offside, unless Fulham had 11 on the pitch at that time. We were on top when we only had 10 men against a good Spurs side, that was an excellent performance, we were just unlucky. Now all we have to do is play like that against Stoke and Sheff Utd and we will see some good results from this squad CC is slowly building. Go Bears