Fulham vs Sunderland

Need to keep improving and WINNING, even on the road. Good work from our internationals over the break, especially Clint and Bobby Z., so I expect to see better luck than what we suffered from the Spurs match.

3-1, Good Guys over the Black Cats.

 

That would be me. Hopefully we'll see some folks in the chatroom.

 

According to my on cable guide it will be show on delay from 5 to 7 on Saturday on Fox Soccer.

 

It's better than nothing, but I normally don't do a very good job of waiting to find out! I'm sure I'll have GJ and chat sat morning. with that being said, 2-0 good guys.

 

The dvr will be set for the delayed broadcast. Back-to-back away wins??? I looked it up and the lads did it at the end of last season (this same fixture and then at Birmingham). I'll go w/the same 1-2 score as the B-day boy, Bobby and the Captain from the spot.

 

Is it too early for a six pointer?

COYW

 

If anyone in the Bmore/MD area wants to see it live we'll be airing it on the big TV via my laptop (and fsctv) at Liams.

bmorefulham.wordpress.com

 

Good job Timmy! Now if you can also set up a TV to show Curious George you may be able to get Heather and her wee bairn to stop in.

COYW

 

Feeling pretty good about this one for some reason. I'll say 1-0 Fulham.

Unfortunately cant watch this one live but will be watching on FSC at 5. Just have to avoid Twitter until then.

 

We are going down. We won't be able to have the great second half of the season like last year because we will be too tired because we started in June. We have too old a squad to compete for 11 months. Unless we pull off some amazing wins over the next few weeks, we are going down. The only good thing going for us is that teams like Wolves and QPR are really shit and might not get more than 37 points.

 

A bit frustrated, but it could be worse.

Considering the makeshift backline and our complete lack of ideas going forward, I'll take a 0-0 result.

Thought BZ looked completely out of sorts today. Fatigue?

We really need to figure out how to score goals on teams other than QPR. Arsenal and Twente away coming up. Yikes.

 

I thought a draw was a fair result. Both sides suffer from a lack of legitimate strike options and are victim to their own tactics. For us, it was...yawn...the same old, same old. No width, not enough attacking options forward, too congested in the middle, and not enough men in the box. We got credit for 9 shots on goal, but it seemed a number of them came from outside the box and were little threat. Dembele got a good look early in the first half but shot it straight at Westwood. Etuhu got a solid header on net right before HT, but Cattermole cleared it off the line. Baird had a pretty good effort from a free kick. And Dembele and Dempsey linked up in a 2-on-1 counter but Clint dragged it wide. Playing it back to Dembele was probably the better option there.

I thought Sunderland looked the slightly better side in the first half. Despite the increase in shots on target (7-6), neither side looked likely to score in the second with two exceptions. We got the counter chance late and Sunderland had a deflected shot that Schwarzer made a brilliant save on. They dominated possession, but again, for the match I felt it was pretty even.

We had to go with a makeshift defense again this week and it showed at times. Hughes looked really rusty at rb all game. Senderos was downright dodgy in the middle in the first half but I thought he was much better in the 2nd. I thought Baird held his own out on the left. He was going to struggle with Elmofondleme and Sessegnon, but he minimized the damage while playing a spot he hasn't occupied often. Hangeland was solid.

Offensively, we were predictable, easy to defend and poor. I thought the announcer made a good observation when he said that we go for the safe pass over playing balls to split the defense far too often. We were our most threatening on corners but couldn't quite get on the end of them to cash in.

MotM, Schwarzer. Despite delivering one of the worst goal kicks I've seen in the Prem and a missed punch, he made two brilliant saves that kept us level.

Random observations:
I don't think I've seen Clint that visibly gassed in a long time. That probably had something to do with not getting anything out of that counter.

With all of the talk about interest in Dembele, I almost think we'd be better served with his exit. Sounds stupid I know, but he won't play the CF position properly but does so many good things that Jol feels compelled to put him out there. It just seems he and Dempsey wind up playing the same position offensively and it's jamming us up. With one gone, AJ or Ruiz get more time and both seem to do a better job of utilizing that gaping hole we leave on the far left side of our offense.

I'm starting to think Zamora is a victim of his own success. What I mean by that is that he tries to play the hold-up role so often that he's not mixing his game up and giving the defense more to think about. To his credit, he's not exactly getting a lot of support up there either but when he went wide and mixed it up in the 2nd half against Spurs, we (and he) were more effective.

It's still too early to call, but 10M for Bryan's song is starting to look like a bust of a transfer. I'd love to see him paired up top with Zamora as a legitimate 2nd striker, but the fatman apparently finds 2 strikers to be blasphemous.

More frustrating tactically....Jol or Klinsmann?

And has anyone else caught any City matches? They have really come a long way (thanks to hoarding gobs of talent) and are looking rather "Barca-esque".

 

Yeah, Dempsey did not have a good day, and was visibly exhausted. It's really disappointing because his sharpness and energy at the start of the season was something to behold. Unfortunately, Europa and Klinsmann's two-a-day training regimens have obviously taken their toll.

I dont get it with Zamora; he is such a good player and we are not seeing it on the pitch anymore. Ag I dont really get what you say about him playing only the hold up role. I dont see him playing as much of it as he used to. He's out wide alot and just simply not getting the ball enough. I think his lack of impact is more about the way Jol is having him play.

Rather than get rid of Dembele, or Dempsey, I would rather Jol play Demps as the withdrawn forward as has been done so many times before. That way Dembele, Ruiz, and Duff can be on the wings. Dembele drops way too deep when he is at forward; he is also very good at dispossessing his opponent so I would rather see him as a wide midfielder where he has greater defensive responsibility.

I wish Jol could've just listened to Ray about what has been learned about all our players in the past. Then he could've spent his energy figuring out how to get his 10 million pound boy Ruiz ready and onto the pitch.

What a save by Schwarzer, a legendary save for the point.

Didnt realize that we had a Bird on the team.

 

Actually Mo, I think the solutions to our offense and Dempsey/Dembele are easy and numerous. But solutions that fit into Jol's apparent strategy? Not so much.

On the Zamora thing it seemed like on most of the balls played to him, he was at the top of the 18 yd box, slightly to the right, and leaning on or engaged with Wes Brown. The accuracy of those balls left a heck of a lot to be desired. I can't put my finger on it, but when Bob was in his best form (pre-injury) we'd knock balls up to him all day and he'd distribute or shoot. Now, it results in a turnover most of the time. I think it's a combination of a change in tactics/shape and the way we're being defended. All that said, I do think there's a slight element of "auditioning for England's #9 shirt" to it.

I caught the "Bird" thing while watching the match too. Maybe it's a regional dialect thing over there? Good job by you and Don pointing it out.

 

Maybe Zamora isn't that good? He's had one great season in the premier league and hasn't been the same since. Right now he's annoying to watch as all he does is bitch and is doing absolutely nothing on the pitch. If a team wants to pay £10m in the window then we should sell.

Ruiz needs to play before we can say it's a bust. He gets 10 minutes a game and still manages decent touches and even a great goal. Remember the game he started against Chelsea was pretty damn good so I'm not ready to say he is no good.