Spurs v. FFC [R]

Wow, that's pretty horrendous. I'm with you on the 0-0, I think.

Nevtzer, I don't necessarily expect Fulham to pick up points against Chelsea, but with the good home form and solid defense, and Chelsea without Terry, I think I might be a bit disappointed by a loss. If Fulham are to be a top half side (and certainly that seems to be the ambition), progress needs to be made to the point where at least one point is always expected from a home match, regardless of how strong the opposition is.

 

Form and history will count for little in any derby and while Spurs/Fulham is not a big London derby it will still throw the form book out the window. Christmas also has a habbit of producing high scoring games so while the smart money may be on 0-0 I could just as easily see 4-3 or 3-4. Likewise the Fulham/Chelsea game will be just as hard to predict.

As for the earlier discussion about is 2 draws as good or better then a win and loss - it depends on the performances and the order of the victory, but I would gladly take 3 points from out next 2 games if you offered it to me now - but I think we are capable of getting 4 points if we continue to play well. I know that there are days where a draw feels better than a win and lift the whole club so it all comes down to context.

 

Thank you for clarifying GBFC. You catched my drift, as they say.

 

With Christmas and all that surrounds it, I have nothing more to say other than

COME ON YOU WHITES!!!

 

The TIFF is saying that Hangeland is out. That's a big blow. Be interesting to see if we still hold it together at the back without him.

 

That was satisfactory. Baird was actually reasonably competent as a center back. I wonder if Roy held the Hangman out so as not to showcase him to Harry. (Or perhaps just gave him a breather so he'll be fresh on Sunday.)

Demps was great and forced Gomes to make an impressive save on a bicycle kick. Played F5 through on his late chance as well, and won us a bunch of free kicks. I find it pretty ridiculous that Sky only rated him a 6.

Disappointing to see Jimmy come off limping; Etuhu was decent if unremarkable in replacing him.

Eight unbeaten going into Sunday's SW6 derby against the Scum.

 

Sounds like Brede was held out due to flu, but Baird filled in admirably. Otherwise, from the accounts I read (missed the match, commuting) we were involved in another stinker with a few bright spots (Dempsey's bicycle and a couple of Schwarzer saves) and almost nicked the three at the end on AJ's chance.

As mentioned, 8 undefeated, but would like to see us break out of this recent funk (Stoke, Spurs). Not sure if home with the 'scum is the place for that to happen, but good to at least take a point in what appears to have been a sub-par effort. Looking forward to Sunday....COYW!!!

Beat the Hell outta chelsea (that's an Aggie yell, fitting in this case).

 

Maybe it was too much egg nog, but after getting up at 6 am pst, taking the dog out, and making a pot of coffee, I didn't bother turning on the computer until 7:10 am (to find out the match was over DOH!!).

Soccernet was a little unkind with the "Bore Draw" headline, but it sounded from the match report there were some interesting moments. Brede out w/the flu and Jimmy getting hurt (any info on it??) is very concerning. From reading it appears Dickson stepped up and was solid for Jimmy but a special mention goes out to...

CHRIS BAIRD. Everyone's favorite whipping boy (HD has been the only one I can recall consistently defending him) comes in for Hang-man and performs admirably in place of our Player of the Year. To think what the lad has gone through w/practically every fan (from endless jokes to wanting to put him on a rail and sending him out of town). To have that kind of fortitude and belief in his own abilities, that is what a Professional is all about. We don't have a Standing O icon so CB this dancing banana is for you :banana:

 

Club website match report says "dead leg" for Jimmy. I'm no doctor, of course, but the way he was moving looked like cramp or muscle pull or something along those lines to me; attitude-wise, I thought he would've looked a lot more upset if he thought he'd re-aggravated his knee injury.

 

my thoughts

Granted stats and places may change, but Fulham currently are tied for third best overall defense with Liverpool, and tied for the second best away AND home defense.

Wow.

 

One has to be pleased with the result, given that Hangman was out and Bullard got injured in the first half.

There is a certain value to being the club that is comfortable with low-scoring or scoreless affairs - it is very frustrating to the opposition.

 

3-0 over Boro didn't do it for you, huh? But I hear you. It would be nice to score a goal on the road (which we've only done once since the first five minutes of the season at Hull).

I'd say 0-0 away in a derby is a nice result, especially when you consider that was the same score Man Utd put up at White Hart Lane two weeks ago. Obviously not comparing us to Man Utd, I'm just saying.

 

I guess you're right, but a scary thing is this team is good enough to be able to notch a W or two one the road and we seem to have a mindset that a point is OK. This Tottenham team is eminently beatable, at home, away, or in between.

Where was Bentley? What a joke this clown is going to be. Maybe that is due to being shut down by Hughes and Baird. BAIRD? He had a great match, congratulations to him, and I'll take things I never thought I would say for a thousand, Alex.

As soon as someone finds out about Bully's injury, please let us know.

Bring on the Blue Excrement.

 

If we were to beat every team at home and draw with every team on the road, you'd finish with 76 points, which would've tied you with Liverpool for 4th place last season. That kind of consistency is unrealistic, of course, but "win at home and tie on the road" isn't a terrible goal to shoot for. I don't think Spurs are as bad as their place in the table indicates; their goal differential suggests that they should be more like 10th-12th, and they've got plenty of offensive talent that could potentially bite us in the ass if Roy threw too much forward. As it was, the best chance to score late was F5 on the counter. No complaints here.

 

Some original research to throw at you. We've lost just one game in our last twelve. The only other teams that can claim that right now: Liverpool and Man United.

 

I really wished Andy Johnson chipped it immediately on that long ball or didn't get a bit clipped on his rush in about the 80th minute.

Clint Dempsey's header-to-overhead kick was majestic even if Gomes got it easily.

I feel that both teams didn't really have too many great chances against each other, so the 0-0 result makes sense and hey it's a point. But a part od me doesn't like it because it's yet-another-road-tie, especially against a team that wasn't playing particularly great on their own field.

By the way, I took a bad picture of something great at Nevada Smith's.



I'll try to do better on Sunday!

 

This match was exactly what I expected. Spurs are a good defensive team at home and this match in my mind was always going to come down to a goal one way or the other. Dempsey almost provided a moment of magic with his attempted bicycle kick and AJ had failed to convert on our best chance of the match. Spurs had a couple of opportunities that Schwarzer turned away but the story of this match was that both defenses outperformed both offenses. Given that we did not have Brede from the start and that we lost Jimmy with nearly two-thirds of the match remaining this feels more like a point gained than two lost.

I think an honest evaluaion of today's performance would conclude we played about twenty minutes of very good football at the end of the first half, about 55 minutes of not so good football and about fifteen minutes of so-so football. If Dempsey's shot had been six inches to the right or if AJ had beaten the keeper to score I would have felt like we had stolen a couple of points. Nothing wrong with stealing points of course but a draw seemed like the right outcome in this match.

The defense performed well. Konchesky was outstanding in his tackling. Baird filled in admirably for Hangeland. Pantsil was solid and Hughes barring one bout of ball watching was solid also. My lone disappointment on the defensive end of the pitch was Dickson Etuhu seemed a bit invisible during his time on the pitch. Considering it was his first extensive appearance for Fulham I am not overly concerned.

(As an aside OMG Zat Knight just scored in the 92nd minute to equalize against Arsenal)

Our midfield play was poor and very poor in the second half. Jimmy, Simon, Danny and particularly Clint were guilty of forgetting we were not the team in white today and gave the ball away with alarming ease at times. Perhaps last weeks dominating play by this group is jading my opinion of today's performance but so be it if it is. They have shown they can play at a high level and I now expect to see them perform that way on a weekly basis.

 

WOW, now that is something to be proud of and some seriously good form.

I just got back from WHL and have to say I was disappointed with their crowd, not very loud at all and kept singing the same song over and over again. They are not in good spirits.

My highlights from the stands are as follows:

Fulham fans singing "There's only one Gomes" (with the Spurs fans) and basically doing similar throughout the match.

Our fans Shhhh'ing the Spurs fans for their long periods of doing nothing

Schwarzer's miraculous save in the first half. AMAZING.

Dempsey's overhead kick that almost scored...WOW. And as a side note, his overall performance was fantastic.

Chris Baird in his natural position and dominating. Good on him, we were all impressed.

Seeing Dickson Etuhu come on and me telling Fletch that he WILL dominate the midfield. Oh, and the Fulham fans singing BRUTUS, BRUTUS, BRUTUS when he tackled (the other players call him this as well)

Did I miss anything else? Overall, atmosphere from our end was spot on.