Sunderland 1 Fulham 0 (micro post)

Depressingly familiar story away from home. Kenwynne Jones scored the only goal just before the hour mark after Schwarzer had parried a shot from Djibril Cisse. We've changed from a team on a nine game unbeaten run to a team that's only won one game in nine. The transfer window clock is ticking down and there's a whiff of panic in the air. The squad certainly seems worryingly small and a few key players are struggling for form. We're not really doing a great deal differently though and if last season taught us anything it's that staying positive can lead to great rewards. A big game on Saturday either way.

Sunderland: Fulop, Bardsley, Ferdinand, Collins, McCartney (McShane,70), Malbranque, Whitehead, Tainio (Leadbitter, 81), Reid (Edwards, 75), Cisse, Jones Subs not used: Colgan, Diouf, Chopra, Healy

Fulham: Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Davies (Gera, 76), Etuhu (Nevland, 83), Murphy, Dempsey, Johnson, Zamora Subs not used Zuberbuhler, Stoor, Andreasen, Kallio, Baird

Bookings: None

Att: 36, 539

Referee: M R Halsey (Lancashire)

Back to the Cottage

With the International shenanigans finally out the way (for a few weeks at least) we can get back to fretting about the state of our League campaign. It seems a long time since the disastrous 5 minutes against West Ham and, following the loss at the Hawthorns, we find ourselves fourth from bottom with both Newcastle and Spurs below us. Precarious to say the least. My sense of optimism is hardly helped by our impending visitors. Last April the home game against Sunderland seemed to be a must win game. It was a game we ended up losing with very little fight and was the point at which I finally put my hands up and accepted relegation. The benefit of hindsight eh?

My expectations for this weekend are pretty low. Our current form doesn’t suggest a team capable of improving on last season’s effort and it seems to me that Sunderland have made some very good additions to their squad. They won on their last visit to London (a 2-1 win at Spurs, but who doesn’t win there this season) and put in a very creditable performance against Arsenal (a 1-1 draw) in their last home game. I’m not confident. We need some big improvements to pick up a much needed win.

Before the game there will be the excitement of the Johnny Haynes Statue unveiling. Tosh Chamberlain and Johnny’s wife Avril will be in attendance for what will, no doubt, be an emotional occasion. Fans are invited to gather in front of the Cottage from 12:00 onwards for a 12:45 ceremony. Much credit for all this should go to the Johnny Haynes Statue Action Group who have put in a lot of work to make sure it has happened.

Fulham 1 Sunderland 3 - Autopsy report

In many ways this game encapsulated our entire season. We started brightly, played the ball around well and created a couple of decent early chances. Ultimately we paid the price for not being able to take those chances and making some very basic defensive mistakes.

It had all begun so well. The crowd were up for it and making a great noise and the team looked determined and ready for the fight. The first 15 minutes were possibly our best of the game. Bullard lofted a ball over the Sunderland back line which McBride connected with in the penalty area but could only send a fairly tame header directly at the 'keeper. Then Simon Davies lashed in a shot from distance which flew just high of the crossbar. Not long after that we had our first warning of what was to come, Danny Collins nodding home an Andy Reid freekick which was thankfully disallowed when Referee Halsey spotted a push in the melee. We failed to learn from this though, and whilst Fulham continued to play football going forward, defensively we were second to the ball time and again. There was still a lot to feel positive about but when Sunderland scored a minute before the break you could feel the positivity drain out of the crowd and the team.

We started the second half in similar fashion to the first but again failed to take an early chance. McBride stretched to direct a header goalwards and Kamara was slow to react to the rebound. But before we had time to start believing again we were caught by a sucker punch. A big hoof up-field from Craig Gordan was knocked on by Kenwyne Jones, who comfortably out leaped Hangeland, Hughes lost the flight of the ball and Chopra was on hand to lob Keller. Nuts. Hodgson made some changes to try and rescue the game moving to a 3-4-3 formation with Healy and Dempsey coming on for Stalteri and Andreasen (who had just been crocked by a lunging tackle from Konchesky). Healy scored out of nothing, after seemingly losing control of the ball he sent a curling shot into the top right hand corner of the net. Suddenly we might have grasped an unlikely lifeline. It wasn't to be. Just like at Derby we went to sleep at the back and conceded within minutes. This time Hangeland had a moment of madness, twice failing to deal with a innocuous ball, and then getting further into trouble as Daryl Murphy brushed past him and set up Jones for the killer blow. It was shocking stuff. We made a poor team look good and demonstrated exactly why we're in the position we're in. We're not good enough for this league any more and it's going to be a long hard road to get back.

Fulham 1 Sunderland 3 - It's over ...

Sunderland 1 Fulham 1 - Belated match reaction

A little late in the day with this thanks initially to Virgin Broadband being out of action from Sunday afternoon through to Monday lunch time, and then, when service had finally been restored, number one son hogging the PC to play his online games. Still, better late than never.

Before I head down a path of negativity I think I should at least state that prior to the game I would have been happy with a point. Yes, we DO need to win more games, but right now I reckon an away draw, against anyone, is not to be sniffed at. That said, and based only on Sky’s hour long Football First highlights, this appeared to be another fairly poor performance from the Whites.

There were some changes in the starting line up, though possibly the only one that wasn’t enforced was Elliott Omozusi who made his Premier League debut replacing Chris Baird at Right Back. Carlos Bocanegra came in for the suspended Konch at Left Back, Simon Davies returned to the right side of midfield and Clint Dempsey switched to the left side due to Hammeur Bouazza’s second shoulder dislocation of the season. Omozusi, still only 18, had an excellent game and hardly put a foot wrong throughout. He’s been on the first team radar for some time and with Volz injured and Baird struggling to adapt maybe he can grasp this chance and claim a regular spot.

The game itself was disappointing. Fulham can lay some claim to being on top for most of it yet we never looked like we could claim a win. Even during a first half in which Sunderland were shocking we didn’t stamp our authority on the match and make it ours. The goal apart we had chances to score more but one way or another fate conspired against us. A early Davies free kick found Dempsey leaping well in the box but unable to direct his header away from Craig Gordon. Then a mix up between the Sunderland ‘keeper and Danny Higginbottom saw the defender play a ball across goal to where David Healy was presented with a completely unguarded net. With two defender’s closing It needed a first time shot but Healy snatched at it and saw his effort go comfortably wide of the post. Dempsey then played a sublime through ball from the left channel for Kamara to run onto. Unfortunately the Senegalese international was either pulled back or tripped over his own feet (replay’s were inconclusive) and crashed to the ground. The goal came shortly after that when Kamara was awarded a free kick. Simon Davies neatly clipping the ball over the wall and into the top corner of the near post. In his post match interview Davies credited Sanchez with suggesting he try, but even so the execution was superb.

Sunderland came out much stronger in the second half and at times we were definitely on the back foot. Kenwyne Jones looked impressive up front and Danny Murphy did very well to charge down one of his shots early on. We still had chances though and when Healy was pulled back by Greg Halford as he was about to run onto to a decent diagonal pass (from Davies?) it was inevitable that Halford would see Red. In a similar position Kamara seemed to dwell on the ball too long but then somehow muscled his way past Nosworthy before firing in what appeared to be our second goal. The ref pulled play back for an apparent foul by Kamara, though the replays suggested there was very little contact. Healy and Kamara eventually made way for Kuqi (making his Fulham debut) and Seol. A substitution that I suppose was designed to help us hold onto to the points but I would have preferred to see what Kamara could do alongside Kuqi. However, having gone down to ten men Sunderland seemed to up the tempo again. Niemi saved excellently in a one on one with Grant Leadbetter, following a looping kick from Jones, but this was a warning sign of more to come. Kenwune Jones finally got the goal his performance deserved when he managed to get his head to a decent cross and brought the scores level. Jones looked every inch the sort of player we could do with (and have been missing since McBride’s injury). We were on the rack now and in the dying minutes Omozusi made probably his only mistake of the game to allow Stokes through for another one on one opportunity with Niemi. This time the Sunderland players shot was poor, but Niemi did very well in that situation again by making himself big and imposing.

Sanchez claimed afterwards that we had dominated the game from the 1st ‘til the 85th minute and had therefore been unlucky not to win. If that’s Sanchez idea of dominating a game then I think we’ve got very big problems indeed. Lawrie might point to the fouls on Kamara and Healy or the disallowed goal as evidence that he is right but I think you make your own luck and we’re still playing without the passion and fight that you need to survive at this level.

A couple of minor bits of trivia to end on. This was a match up between (allegedly) the quietest team in the Premiership (us) and the noisiest (them), yet throughout Sky’s coverage the Fulham songs could be plainly heard. Well done those travelling fans at least we won that contest. The game also saw the first (and possibly last) appearance of our new blue third strip.

• GK 29 A.Niemi
• RB 22 E.Omosuzi
• CB 18 A.Hughes (C)
• CB 06 D.Stefanovic
• LB 03 C.Bocanegra
• RM 25 S.Davies
• CM 10 S.Davis
• CM 27 D.Murphy
• LM 23 C.Dempsey
• ST 11 D.Kamara
• ST 09 D.Healy

Subs: 12 T.Warner, 07 S.Ki-Hyeon (on for 11), 08 A.Smertin, 14 S.Kuqi (on for 09), -- N.Ashton

Bexhill or bust

As the team head up North to face Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, I'll be heading the opposite direction to see my Dad in sunny Bexhill. That means I've not got time to write a preview of the Sunderland game. Rob's got two excellent pieces up on Following the Fulham including his regular and always interesting interview with opposition fans and Rich has a short summary of the likely Fulham team at Craven Cottage Newsround .

One quick item that caught my attention. A quote from the Mihir Bose BBC football blog that suggests the Spurs board have been playing the same game with statistics that we have this week!

"A measure of their desperation was that the board also pored over statistics - one doing the rounds was that Spurs were one point and four goals down on the corresponding fixtures last season.

"That's fixtures, not the corresponding time of the season. They were clutching at straws."

Dad's got Sky so I should get to see some decent highlights this week. I have a nagging feeling though that I might not want to bother.