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Some things I learnt from Saturday's visit of Bolton to the Cottage.
There are days when playing the beautiful game just isn't enough. Sometimes you have to work hard and grind out a result. Fulham dominated the game for long stretches but struggled to find a way to goal. At times our final ball was poor but when we did find the target Jaaskelainen was equal to most of our efforts and when he wasn't there always seemed to be a Bolton head or foot to stab the ball clear. In the end we were lucky to rescue a point.
Gary Megson deserves some credit for recreating an exact facsimilie of Sam Allardyce's Bolton team circa 2003. I'm not the most tactically astute but it doesn't take a genius to understand the Big Sam/Ginger Meg master plan.
1. Kick 'em early and kick 'em hard.
2. Keep kicking them until you can't get away with it any more.
3. Take every opportunity to win a free kick or a corner.
4. Once you've won a dead ball lob it in the box and win it in the air.
5. In the unlikely event you take the lead, defend like billy-o.
It's not pretty but it is effective.
Had Kevin Blom been refereeing this game I doubt Bolton would have finished with more than 8 men. Steve Bennett managed to book 6 Wanderers for a succession of crude and reckless challenges (and Jonathon Greening for an equally poor lunge at Klasnic) but became more and more lenient as the game progressed. The building frustration from our lack of a goal and the unpunished thuggery began to take its toll. On my language if nothing else.
Hodgson era Fulham are no walkovers. This was not a vintage performance but the team deserve credit for their persistance and hard work. We missed the presence of Zamora up front. Dempsey works very hard but doesn't seem to get the rub of the green when he's the lead man up front. We were rescued by a touch of class from Damien Duff and a deflection off Gary Cahill's knee. I celebrated the 75th minute equaliser the way I might have done a winner in any other game.
A sigh of relief at the end, Bolton deserved their point but we fought hard to preserve our unbeaten home record against them since we were both promoted in 2001.
What a difference 90 minutes can make. Things were looking particularly grim after Wednesday night. I was staying positive but the apparent loss of Aaron Hughes and an imposing set of fixtures did weigh heavily on my mind. A week ago we were a game away from a Wembley semi-final and on the fringe of European qualification now we were out of the cup and looking nervously at the teams below us.
Last year me and my mate Gibbo had talked about going to this game. We fancied an away trip and thought this looked as good a chance of seeing a win as we were likely to find. We realised we weren't going to be able to make it (work commitments and important birthday parties being our main obstacles) a while ago and on our journey home after the Blackburn loss it seemed pretty unlikely we'd be missing anything special. We did joke that it would be typical that we'd end up missing a goal fest and an away win - but didn't really believe it.
I sat in a Merit Tyre shop just before kick-off and watched Sky Sports News with Jeff Stelling cracking jokes about our away form. They showed a montage of all our goals away from home this season - Seol at the KC Stadium, Clint Dempsey at Portsmouth and Konchesky's January goal of the month - it didn't last very long. Stelling informed us that the previous lowest ever total for away goals was six - suggesting we had no hope of passing even that measly total. I spent a lot of the afternoon avoiding the football. A sneaky peak just before half-time showed us 1-0 up and (according to TiFF) well in control. Andy Johnson had shown some real striker's instinct to chase down Andy O'Brien and take advantage of his dreadful back pass to poke home from six yards. As I was trying to take this all in though Bolton equalised. Kevin Davies being a handful on the edge of our box and steamrolling through our defence to level the score just before the break.
I left it a good 10 minutes after full time before I dared check the score again. I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw the result. Simon Davies had restored the lead firing home a rebound after Danny Murphy had hit the crossbar from a tight angle. Diomansey Kamara confirmed the points collecting a neat pass from Dempsey before sending in an acute daisy cutter.
We've put some ghosts to rest here. Put an end to a run of defeats, picked up that first away win and scored enough goals to make sure we won't be holders of an unwanted Premier League record. We're three points away from that important 40 point marker and I'm feeling very happy indeed.
Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Andrew O'Brien, Samuel (Riga 74), Taylor, McCann, Mark Davies (Muamba 68), Gardner, Kevin Davies, Elmander.
Subs Not Used: Al Habsi, Hunt, Puygrenier, Makukula, Shittu.
Goals: Kevin Davies 45.
Fulham: Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hangeland, Hughes, Konchesky, Davies, Etuhu, Murphy, Dempsey, Johnson (Nevland 90), Zamora (Kamara 84).
Subs Not Used: Zuberbuhler, Gera, Dacourt, Stoor, Smalling.
Goals: Johnson 42, Davies 56, Kamara 88.
Att: 22,117.
Ref: Chris Foy (Merseyside)
A dreadful match. One of the worst games I've seen in recent memory. On the day the marvellous statue of Johnny Haynes was finally unveiled, you'd have been hard pressed to find a less fitting game to pay tribute to the Maestro. Crikey, I enjoyed losing to West Ham more than this snooze-fest. The fact that we could feel some relief in claiming a point from the game and the visiting team could justifiably claim they should have taken all three shows how really shocking we were.
During a shockingly poor first half both teams seemed to be struggling to find any spark. The only talking point that still lingers in my memory was a Sunderland freekick a few minutes before the break. Two Fulham players (Hughes & Hangeland?) combined to make what had appeared to be a good tackle, but the referee saw things differently (possibly feeling that two against one was not quite cricket) and awarded the kick in a dangerous position on the edge of the D. Kieran Richardson, who was lively throughout, sent a shot screaming towards Schwarzer's left hand side where it rebounded off the post, over Schwarzer's head, and seemed to nestle in the net on the other side. Except it didn't, it bounced of the right hand post too before eventually settling in Schwarzer's grateful hands (having possibly - if BBC reports are true - hit the left hand post yet again). This all happened almost too fast for my brain and eyes to keep up. Just to add to the humour, as the freekick was struck most of the 4000 strong Black Cat's support, were otherwise engaged chanting at a group of Fulham supporters on the riverside who had clearly done something to upset them. This meant most of them didn't even see the ball hit the first post. As they began to celebrate en-masse, the Fulham end had suddenly realised it hadn't gone in and were able to have a bit of a chuckle at the Wearsiders expense.
The second half began much as the first had ended. Fulham passing the ball neatly but aimlessly, Sunderland defending well and catching us on the break whenever they could. The few chances that were created seemed fall mainly Sunderland's way. Dean Whitehead sent a fierce drive just wide of the Fulham post and Kieran Richardson sent a lob over a scrambling defence only to see the ever reliable Aaron Hughes arrive to save blushes by clearing off the line. Then Kieran Richardson lined up to take another freekick, again on the edge of the penalty area, though slightly further out than his first half attempt. A bit of pushing and shoving between Pascal Chimbonda and the Fulham wall caused the Ref to step in and have a few words. Richardson then sent a rocket of a shot flying past a very static Schwarzer, for what seemed to be the goal to finally break the deadlock. But wait, no, the goal was disallowed, apparently because Chimbonda was backing into the wall. This sort of thing rarely goes our way and I was beginning to wonder whether we were going to use our entire season's luck up on one game.
This did at least finally fire Fulham into some sort of response. We started to attack with more purpose and created a few half-chances to give the home fans a glimmer of hope that we might find a goal to win a game we scarcely deserved too. Dempsey came on for an inconsistent Gera, but then made his first pass an overambitious cross field effort that gave it's intended recipient little chance of reaching. David Healy made his first return to the Cottage (receiving a generous round of applause, which I felt must have rubbed the salt into the wounds of poor Steed Malbranque who had been booed at almost every touch of the ball he made) and it seemed inevitable that he'd pop up to score a late winner. Thankfully this didn't happen, but he did get his head to a ball that fell to Djibril Cisse who smacked a stunning half volley over Schwarzer and almost cracked the cross bar in two (I'm beginning to suspect we might have signed up the goal posts from Reading after their impressive performance against us at the Madjeski last season). The final word in the game fell to Jimmy Bullard, who took a well placed free kick in the dying minutes for what was clearly our last chance to win the game. With a certain inevitability he smacked his effort straight into the middle of the Sunderland wall. This seemed to sum up our day and it wasn't long afterwards that the Ref took pity on us all and blew the final whistle.
There were very few positives to find although we did at least put an end to our four game losing streak. We also managed to pick up a point in a fixture that we'd lost last season. Aaron Hughes worked very hard at the back as did his partner in defence Brede Hangeland. John Paintsil had a shocker, not just defensively, where he was run ragged by a vibrant Richardson, but also going forward where he didn't seem to have complete control over his own feet. I guess we always knew he'd be this type of player, but I've been worried about his performances for a few weeks now. A lot of work to be done on the training field it seems, maybe a full week together will restore that spark to the side we've not really seen since Bolton.
Whatever the score might have suggested Fulham completely took Bolton apart on Saturday. It was a joy to behold and brought to mind a match we played against Stockport County under Jean Tigana. We beat County 4-1 that day but passed them off the park. Remarkably it was 1-1 at half time but the second half performance was a special moment, one where I realised we were in for an exciting and successful season. Stockport were left chasing shadows and I can recall actually feeling sorry for the opposition. This game might not have been quite so emphatic a display, but at times it wasn't far off. Bolton had reverted to the style of football they played under Allardyce. It's not pretty to watch but it can be effective. They're very physical, make niggly fouls that they seem to get away with time and again, and generally spend a lot of time pushing and shoving and getting in your face. Kevin Nolan is the epitome of this. A few years back I thought he was a half decent player. A cut price Steven Gerrard perhaps. Now he looks as far removed from a top class midfielder as it is possible to get. Slow, overweight and ugly. His tackle on Bullard in the second half was cynical and deliberate and got the yellow card it deserved. It seemed rooted in the mind of a player that knows his time has been and gone and he was deservedly heckled from that point on. The biggest cheer of the day came from an appallingly misplaced pass that flew wildly out of play for a throw in. Fulham aren't a team that normally copes well faced with this style of football, but we demonstrated a work ethic similar to that seen against Arsenal, stuck to the game plan and came out on top.The first goal came after a neat interchange of passes enable Bobby Zamora space to scamper down the left wing. He lobbed in a cross that was initially cleared by a Bolton defender before being slammed home by the right foot of Zoltan Gera. I've been expecting great things from Gera who was a player I'd admired for some time. This was the first game I'd seen where he really looked at home. The goal seemed to give him added confidence and he went on to have an excellent game. He almost took the game beyond reach in the second half, stretching to reach a Simon Davies cross, he somehow directed it back towards goal where it came back off the crossbar before being gratefully cleared.It was Zamora, though, who was my man of the match. His hold up play is excellent and the interchange with Andy Johnson promised a great deal for the season ahead. Zamora almost opened the scoring when he connected with a high ball into the penalty area before lashing home a powerful volley, but he was adjudged to have fouled Jaaskelainen. Television replays suggest that he did win the ball fairly, but we all know that 'keepers nearly always get the benefit of doubt. Shortly after that a neat one-two with AJ led to him firing a header at Jaaskelainen from point blank range. This time the Fin saved well. With the first half running down, I was starting to worry that we might regret not taking our chances but Bobby popped up with a neat bit of skill to give us the two goal cushion we deserved. Collecting the ball on the left side of the penalty area he turned sharply inside to leave man mountain Danny Shittu all ends up, and gave himself space to fire home a right foot shot into the right hand corner of the goal. A superb bit of skill completed with an excellent finish.This was another good team display. Andy Johnson looked sharp and speedy (though at one point in the 2nd half he was out sprinted by Shittu, an exception I can only put down to a lack of match fitness) and seems set to be a vital part of the team. I wasn't that positive when we were initially trying to sign him, but in one match he's pretty much convinced me I was wrong. I'm easily swayed! Danny Murphy was imperious in the centre, providing the focus of our passing and working hard for the full ninety minutes. In fact every one of the starting eleven contributed positively to a winning performance. There was a short but disappointing cameo from Seol that may have undone any good will he had salvaged after his effort against Arsenal. We also conceded a somewhat soft goal (announced as Heidar Helgusson's - which would have been his annual goal against us - but was eventually awarded to Kevin Davies) and looked a bit shaky as Bolton started lobbing balls in our box. The important thing though is that we survived it and can now look forward to the next fixture with some momentum on our side.
Despite the luxury of making some notes on the way home, I've not found time to put together a proper match report. I figure any later in the week and it would be the written equivalent of a Kevin Nolan tackle, so for now check Craven Cottage Newsround and Following The Fulham for their excellent match reports which pretty much say everything I'd have said anyway. I'll be back at some point this week to discuss what was a very impressive performance from the Whites.
There's an old Chinese proverb that runs something along the lines of the way to eat an elephant is to do so by taking very small mouthfuls. It seems appropriate to Fulham's current predicament. Whilst not many of us are going to be jumping up and down with excitement following last nights goalless draw at the Reebok, we have at least taken that first step towards a still unlikely escape from relegation. Our first point under Roy Hodgson. Our first clean sheet since Derby back in October of last year. A small but significant change in our fortunes. Both Hangleland and Andreasen made their debuts, Jimmy Bullard made his first Premier League start since that fateful day at Newcastle (and lasted 87 minutes) and Philippe Christanval came on as a second half sub in his first action of the season. We're a long way from any form of safety but we've begun the journey.
Crikey it's Wednesday since my last post and in that time pretty much nothing has happened. I was expecting a flurry of transfer confirmations to come through and to be full of positivity ahead of Tuesday night's match at Bolton. It's not looking good. Marlon King has officially joined Wigan. It seems they only paid £3.5Million which is a long way short of the £5M we had apparently agreed. Whatever the truth behind the "failed medical" and our attempt to renegotiate terms the one thing I am really glad about is that we won't be playing Wigan again this season. Daniel Cousins is still waiting on FIFA clearance to allow him to play for three clubs in one season. He claims to be already training with us, but neither FIFA nor the Premier League (who may also have to ratify the decision) are renowned for their speedy responses. NEC Groningen have rejected our "last offer" for Erik Nevland, so unless we decide to renegotiate that deal looks dead as well. All a bit depressing really after the excitement of last week. The trip to the Reebok looks ever more likely to be a point-less one but I've still got my fingers crossed for the beginning of the revival.
Glum. There's not really much more I can say about last night's result. It's a football truism that you can play the same team several times in a row and get a different result every time. Bolton are seemingly turning the corner under Sammy Lee and I had a sneaking suspicion we'd struggle to beat them. I wasn't there, though I probably spent my time just as fruitlessly stuck at work. I left having achieved very little other than prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the aging tape drive recently returned from the manufacturer was indeed still broken. Already too late to see the first episode of the Heroes double bill, I got in my car in time to hear Bolton score their first goal to take a 1-0 lead. Great. It seems despite fielding a strong side Sanchez tried a different formation which didn't quite work, and then, despite reverting to 4-4-2, though possibly aided by some dodgy decisions, we still didn't have quite enough to win the game. Murphy, Seol & Keller all got starts, though probably only Keller really did well. In the 23 seconds of highlights ITV managed to provide at very-late-o'clock, I saw Seol provide a bit of magic to create our goal and Baird (who apparently did OK) manage to be implicate himself in the conceding Bolton's first goal.There's a good report by Richard at Craven Cottage Newsround, a couple by Rob at Following The Fulham and another good report in The Times.Despite all this I still feel strangely positive about the trip to Walham Green Dog Track on Saturday. They cruised past a decent Hull side (featuring J J Okacha and Henrick Pedersen) 4-0 and managed to rest a number of players whilst doing so. All the signs are that we're in for a bit of a tonking but I fancy us to surprise everyone and pull off a good result.
Just watched the Sanchez video preview of this game on the Offal in which he makes some interesting points about our defensive problems. He clearly realises we need to improve and even talks about "individual mistakes" without naming names. Something the team will be working on in training. He talks about fielding "what he considers" a Fulham first team, although he also suggests there will be changes. Sanchez has been quite bullish about taking the cup competitions seriously which is good news to me. Both Murphy and Seol did well when they came on against City and I'd like to see both given a start. They are both versatile and could fit in just about anywhere across the midfield. Up front there's a chance we might see Kuqi, who needs some match practice if he is to be of any use to us in the Prem. That would give probably give Clint a well earned rest ahead of the SW6 Derby on Saturday. Despite our defensive issues, I don't think there'll be any changes to the back four, an extra game gives them the chance to work on improving as a unit though there's an outside chance that Volz or Stefanovic may be given a run. Keller might also get the nod ahead of Niemi. Like Kuqi he's a player we need to give some match time to if he is going to be a useful member of the squad.Football Blog "Who Ate All The Pies" stumbled across this picture of Chairman Mo doing his rap, alongside the Gay-vanettes, during one of the most cringe worthy moments of recent Fulham history. That Keith Allen has a lot to answer for!Finally here's Hameur Bouazza's scorching free kick against Manchester City for those that blinked and missed it..
Despite a calamitous start and atrocious conditions Fulham somehow managed to complete their traditional opening home fixture win over Bolton. It wasn't pretty to watch and it was never certain until the final whistle had blown but we showed a lot of spirit to get back into the game and once in front hold onto our lead.A catalogue of errors led to Bolton's opening goal. Konchesky tried to control the ball instead of clearing it, which led eventually to a Bolton throw in. Nicky Hunt placed one of his monster throws deep into our penalty area where Zat had a 'mare, letting the ball bounce and failing to clear the danger. Still there was no immediate danger and as Warner seemed to have claimed the ball everyone relaxed. However, as Warner came down he collided with Zat Knight and lost control of the ball, which then bounced behind him where Heidar Helguson (it was inevitable H would score) was waiting to slot home what could possibly be the easiest goal of his career. After that, and as the rain went from bad to worse, we seemed to struggle to find our rhythm. Bolton had a lot of possession and were passing it around really neatly. Anelka and Diouf were looking dangerous up front and I was beginning to fear the worst.We won a free kick down in the right hand corner and Chris Baird played a decent ball into the box. Zat made contact with his head to loop the ball high in the air and, under a challenge from McBride, a Bolton defender headed the ball towards goal. With two defenders close by Healy reacted quickest and fired home from the edge of the 6 yard box. This gave the team a lift and suddenly we had more about us and started to look more incisive. The second goal came as a Davies corner was cleared by Bolton. Smertin claimed the ball and with no immediate challenge he had time to take a touch inside before firing a shot towards the right hand post. Bolton defender Cid made contact with it as it flew towards him, but only succeeded in firing the ball into the left hand corner. Just before the break we almost saw a carbon copy of Healy's goal against Arsenal. Jaaskeleinen collected the ball in the corner of his area, but then inexplicably lost control. Healy reacted quickly to nick the ball away but as he moved to pass the 'keeper appeared to be impeded. I think he maybe made too much of the challenge, and even if he had got past a defender was closing on the ball quite quickly, so on reflection the ref probably got it right.We had our moments in the second half with McBride having a decent chance early on. Warner made a couple of decent saves, and Smertin and Davis were working hard in the centre. With about 10 minutes remaining, Kamara replaced Healy and Dempsey replaced Bouazza. Kamara really looked the business, he's got bags of pace and a decent first touch, I can't wait for him to be back to full fitness so we can see what he's really like. Probably our best chance of the second half came as Steven Davis fired in a glorious cross from the left wing which Kamara, who had done brilliantly well to stay onside, just failed to connect with. After that the latter stages saw Bolton in the ascendancy again as they piled on the pressure in search of an equalizer. Some poor finishing on their part and some dogged defending on ours ensured we claimed all three points. Playing poorly and winning is a not a bad habit to have.Plus points from the night were that the defence as a unit, barring that early lapse, looked very well drilled. We again played a very high line and this time pulled it off very successfully. Chris Baird was particularly solid, making numerous important tackles and blocks, and Bocanegra had a spell in the first half when it seemed nothing could pass him. Smertin also worked hard all night and deserves to claim that goal however big the deflection was. Healy was lively and as well as looking sharp in the box, worked very hard and covered a lot of ground as he looked to play off McBride's knockdowns. I should also mention Tony Warner who, after that dreadful early error, stuck to his guns and made good saves in both halves to help ensure our victory. I don't want to dwell on the negatives too much but I felt Steven Davis struggled to get into the game early on. He did get stronger as the match progressed though culminating in that superb ball to Kamara near the end. Paul Konchesky also had a poor game, getting caught in the wrong position a number of times, and getting caught in possession at least twice.A great start to the season though, hopefully we can get an improved performance on Saturday with the same result. Some dryer weather would be nice too. Despite being in row JJ of the Hammy End, my seat is right next to the executive boxes and thanks to a small gap between them and a lack of corrugated iron I was quite wet by half time. Still it can't rain like that again ... can it?The team lined up in a 4-4-2 formation as follows;
GK 12 A.Warner
RB 34 C.Baird
CB 06 Z.Knight
CB 03 C.Bocanegra
LB 04 P.Konchesky
RM 25 S.Davies
CM 10 S.Davis
CM 08 A.Smertin
LM 24 H.Bouazza
ST 20 B.McBride (C)
ST 09 D.Healy
Subs: 13 R.Batista, 11 D.Kamara (for 9 on 79), 23 C.Dempsey (for 24 on 80), 14 P.B.Diop, 02 M.Volz
