Well, That Was More Like It -- The View From South Texas -- FFC v. WBA

Re: Well, That Was More Like It -- The View From South Texas

Fulham had two shots on goal at home against West Brom and at least one of those was from a corner. West Brom gave us more room and time on the ball but in the end what did Fulham really do with it? Nothing truly effective. I saw the same problems in a prettier package.

 

Re: Well, That Was More Like It -- The View From South Texas

When you're starving to death, a can of spam can look pretty dang good. It's not, but that's what perspective does to you. So either Don really likes spam (he is a former military man of the canned meat era) or he's just so desperate for something positive that this effort looked good.

I can't disagree with that too much. Spam is crap, but I found myself enjoying this effort quite a bit more...but only by comparison to everything we've seen recently. It still wasn't good though and we will get relegated playing this way. You can't split points at home with the bottom teams in the league. Not unless you can take scalps off the big boys and there's no indication we can do that. And for all of our increased attack, it didn't generate more actual chances. We managed more shots off target and that's not a bad thing, but 2 on target isn't good enough.

We started off ok on offense. We were in a 4-2-3-1 and had some good rotation between the 3 attack mids (Kaca, Kasami & Ruiz). That and movement from the striker are what you need with that offense to confuse the marking assignments and generate a good attack. But it didn't take long for the movement to slow, the rotation to cease, and the 4-2-3-1 to turn into a less aggressive 4-4-1-1. You can always tell when our attack is going to crap out. Instead of forward runs, you'll see the front 4 attackers slowly jogging side to side in a sweeping motion following the side to side movement of the ball between the cm's (Parker & Sid). When Kasami started retreating we were in a 4-5-1 and trying to get back ahead of the WBA counters.

I agree with Don that Kasami and Kaca had some good moments in attack. But they produce very little in the final 3rd and offered little creativity. Part of that is on them, but part of that is on Berbatov.

Disagree about this being his best match. No goals, no assists, his offsides erased 2 efforts and he mustered a paltry 1 shot on target (from 3). On the first offside, the back line was about 6 yds from the goal...and he was 3 yds offside. He didn't make many runs for them and didn't show for the ball well either. And he slowed a number of our attacks with poor passes behind runners that they had to reach back to stop and then take a couple of touches to get going again. If they'd played balls to him like that, he'd have been flailing his arms about so much you'd think he might lift off the ground and take flight. He rec'd a beautiful pass from Ruiz, attempted a very difficult shot and put it over and he played a nice one touch pass to an oncharging Kaca at one point. He did stay forward more and he was only offside twice. Guess we should give him a cookie for that.

I think 75% wonderful for Ruiz is probably a little high, but then I'm probably letting the fact that he played every single corner he took right to the first guy in red & black skew my opinion. Or maybe it's the use of the word wonderful. He did have more shots (4), but missing the target on all of them, especially the one inside the box, takes the shine off of that a bit. He turned it over less, particularly in our own end and he was an asset defensively. Certainly not a bad effort from Ruiz, especially after a midweek match in CR. Hopefully the injury from rolling his ankle isn't too severe.

Sidwell and Parker are still an accident waiting to happen. The Ginga Ninja had 3 shots and got the goal, putting him into a share of the lead for FFC top scorer, and Parker looked more in control of the offense. He played more balls into the final 3rd than anyone on the team. However, they played far too much sideways football and that negated the extra forward balls b/c the defense were back and set. There's also the problem of them both getting forward and as a result, they expose the back. Kasami had 5 tackles. Ruiz had 4. Sid and Parker...combined for 3. Kasami won the ball back 12 times. Ruiz 10. Sid and Parker...combined for 9. Don't ask about Kaca, you can count all of his defensive contributions combined on one hand and have fingers to spare. The point is, if we were defending aggressively high up the pitch, that might account for the disparity. But we aren't. And if we're going to judge a pair of cm's (or cdm's) then defense and protecting the back four has to come into account. Jol isn't doing either player any favors in his selections, but regardless, they have to team up to provide more resistance. We are too soft in the middle and better teams than WBA (who sported a very defensive pairing in Mulumbu and Yacob) will make us pay. Once WBA put Morrison on for Yacob, you saw how the match turned. Is Parker MotM? Not in my book and not unless you think Sidwell should have been the stay at home guy or you think defense is optional.

When I saw WBA start Anichebe, I was actually happy to see Senderos out there and I agree with Don, he gave a good account of himself. He struggled more with Anelka, but you'll give up shots in the Prem (unless you play Fulham) and Stockdale cleaned them up. He also won the aerial ball from Kaca's corner (getting him an assist) which Sidwell then fired into the back of the net. If you're looking for MotM, Phil would be my choice.

Stockdale would be another contender. He made 2 key saves that kept this from going the wrong way and his distribution was fine. Wish he'd target Ruiz a little less as Bryan loses more aerial battles than he wins, but that failure isn't on the keeper. There aren't many good aerial options in our midfield.

Riether would be another candidate. He defended his flank well and he played almost as much of a qb role on offense as Parker (9 balls into the final 3rd and 7 crosses).

Kasami would have been my 4th candidate, and with a more inspired Berbatov or another striker, like a healthy Bent, he might have won it going away. The kid was good on the defensive end. On the offensive end, he's a bit like Ruiz. How much of his shortcomings are his own and how much is it the system and his cohorts? You really can argue it either way. The only thing stopping me saying he's MotM is that he didn't directly affect the outcome either way.

Richardson defended well prior to limping off. Hopefully the recovering hamstring was starting to bother him and he was taken off before re-injuring it. He was a definite upgrade over Riise.

While some fingers have pointed Hangeland's way, I don't think it's merited. He got turned by Anichebe and Stockdale made the save, no big deal. We can point to him on the corner, but think about this. We watched the US v Mexico the other night. The US had Dempsey and EJ, two ball winners who can get up in the air in addition to our cb's to defend corners. Plus we had Jones who isn't bad in the air either. Fulham has....Hangeland and whoever partners him at cb. Maybe Sidwell. I won't be mistaking Steve in the air for Clint or EJ though. Point is, sure, it's easy to scapegoat the tallest guy, especially when he isn't overly mobile. But he's isn't being put in a good situation for success either, is he? You can point all over the pitch and find examples of guys not being put in a position to succeed.

And that's the rub. Attacked more, yes. Created more chances, no. Had more possession, yes. Did anything useful with it, not really. Ended our home losing streak, yes. Ended our winless streak at the Cottage, nope. Even when we do improve, we don't. That's life under Jol. But hey, it looked better and that is an improvement. Kinda.

Oh, and please, for the love of all things holy, can someone, anyone, make a f'g back post run?!? Left another 2 goals on the table yesterday b/c no one will do this at Fulham anymore.

 

Re: Well, That Was More Like It -- The View From South Texas

Burton Albion? You didn't say this season. I guess I should have assumed that.

With where he's set the bar to date (this season) you can probably cut and paste that best game statement into the next several VFST's.

 

Re: Well, That Was More Like It -- The View From South Texas

Does the Celtic charity match count?

 

Re: Well, That Was More Like It -- The View From South Texas

Watched it unusual circumstances; which included pints at 7 am, conversation w/Fulham faithful (so not 100% glued to the TV), and most importantly watching the match, but with the volume of the Arse-Sunderland game. The 2 shots on goal is a little bit misleading. The Berba miss over the bar, his offside (the second half one) goal was questionable, and the disallowed goal by Hugo all don't count as shots on target. The ref should of overruled the lineman who didn't have the proper angle on where Sidders' was in relation to the play. That counts and it's 2-0, done and dusted.

 

Re: Well, That Was More Like It -- The View From South Texas

Thanks for the reports. I had no way of watching this match so the accounts from you all are much appreciated. My husband seemed to think Hangeland should've done on the WBA goal. Next week I should be able to watch.

 

Re: Well, That Was More Like It -- The View From South Texas

I don't mean to bust your bubble but Hugo's goal was properly disallowed. Sidwell was in an offside position when Ruiz struck his shot which rebounded directly to him for the headed pass to Hugo. Since no other player touched the ball Sidwell remained offside regardless of the number of defenders that tracked back between him and the goal after Ruiz hit the ball. It is the equivalent of returning from an offside position to play the ball.

Berba's second offside call may have been close but on another day Senderos earns a PK and perhaps red card for his foul on Anelka. A draw was a fair result on the day as Fulham was better side in the first half and WBA were better in the second. WBA's goal was a long time in coming but the final score was not unfair to either side.

 

Re: Well, That Was More Like It -- The View From South Texas

When Fulham decide to field a competitive horseshoes or handgrenades team we should be in good shape then.

I don't think the shots on target are misleading at all. Does it matter if you miss the net by 1" or 10'? Neither count as a goal. Disagree on both offside calls as well. I think the official got both calls correct. The 2nd was very close, but that's going to happen in every match to every team. We have to do better, especially at home, especially against a team with a lower payroll and quite arguably less talent than we have.

I'm tiring quickly of "we were unlucky". Then let's quit leaving our decisions to luck every match, yeah?

Glad you boys had a good time out. I love the chat room and every match being on tv, but there's nothing like getting together with other Fulham fans for a match or to just talk football. I'm glad I'm fortunate enough to have the opportunity to do that regularly.

 

Re: Well, That Was More Like It -- The View From South Texas

Thanks for the explanation Barry, I didn't think it was Sidwell who headed it (thought it was Kasami, didn't have the commentary for the match). An inch lower and Ruiz' shot would have rebounded over the line instead of on it. You're right Senderos could have easily been called for a pk. While it was far from a dominating performance, and not an unfair result, when the team concedes a goal in second half stoppage (especially at home) I'm going to feel it was 2 point throw away.