Omens and viewpoints

It being a cup game I found myself in the Johnny Haynes stand yesterday for the F.A Cup quarter final against Spurs. I'd thought when booking the tickets it would be good to be closer to the action. We'd been in the Riverside for the Shakhtar match and enjoyed the change of scene. The old Stevenage Road stand is shallower and really we were too low to have a great view of the action, that combined with my own sense of foreboding and a tight and, at times, scrappy affair led to an uncomfortable 90 minutes. In fact I can't remember enjoying a game that we've not lost less. As the last few minutes ticked away I could visualise both the elation of a goal for us and the gut wrenching disappointment of a goal for Spurs.

During the week my Mini had reached the unusual landmark of 66,666.6 miles, something that I noticed approaching by chance and managed to capture on camera. Note to any Police officers reading this, I had pulled over and safely parked the car before taking the shot. It did take a bit of doing though to find somewhere suitable at the right moment. This felt like it might be an omen of some kind. You'll probably realise by now I'm quite superstitious.

The first half seemed to be all Spurs. They're no Shakthar Donestk, but they made more use of the ball going forward. Fulham struggled to find any rhythm but remained stoically organised and limited Tottenham to a weak header from Peter Crouch and a Kranjar shot from the edge of the box. Crouch, who was all elbows and whinging, may well have risen to my top five most disliked players in the premier league.

The second half was much better, as Fulham attacked with more purpose and the game opened up a little. We really missed the guile of Danny Murphy in midfield. Jonathan Greening can be a tidy player but I could count the number of forward passes he made on one hand and none of them had the direction or purpose that Murphy might have achieved. Our forward play therefore tended to be a bit repetitive and lacked any real drive or speed of thought. Too many times we'd break down the wing but then slow down the play until we had few options available or simply gave the ball away. I felt yesterday was an occasion when switching the wingers might have shaken things up a bit. Duff and Davies (though to be honest the Welsh wonder had a poor game) bombing down the wing and slinging a cross into the box might have created something our patient build up could not. Though, I guess, that's not really us.

Credit goes to Dickson who had a fine game in the middle and also Chris Baird who seemed to see a lot of the ball. On a positive note we're still in the hat and will at least know who we might face by the time of the replay. The initiative is definitely with Tottenham now but we've got nothing to lose. Maybe Murphy will be back and we'll have one more massive performance in us.

Tottenham Hotspur 0 Fulham 0

A fourth consecutive goalless draw away from home made all the more impressive by the absence of Hangeland (due to flu) and the loss of Jimmy Bullard (dead leg) after just 37 minutes. Baird filled in superbly for the big Norwegian whilst Dickson Etuhu replaced Bullard. Spurs seem to have most of the game but Dempsey (with a spectacular overhead attempt) and Johnson (unable to find a way past Gomes neat the close) spurn decent chances to snatch the points.

Coincidentally we've also been Last on Match of the Day four times in a row.

Tottenham: Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Zokora, Huddlestone (Jenas 20), Bentley (Campbell 58), Modric, Bent (Pavlyuchenko 72). Subs Not Used: Cesar, Bale, O'Hara, Woodgate.

Fulham: Schwarzer, Pantsil, Baird, Hughes, Konchesky, Dempsey, Murphy, Bullard (Etuhu 37), Davies (Nevland 90), Johnson, Zamora. Subs Not Used: Zuberbuhler, Gray, Stoor, Andreasen, Kallio.

Booked: Konchesky

Att: 35,866

Ref: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire)

League Position: 8th

Performance & Cocktails - Fulham 2 Spurs 1

Simply thrilling. Fulham's best performance of the season so far and a joy to watch. Pre-match we'd discovered the cocktail bar in the Duke's Head. A retro styled oasis tucked away within the the lower levels of the riverside pub. We were, therefore, in good spirits when we arrived at the ground.

Fulham started well. The same style of play we're now used to under Roy but at a faster pace and with more accurate passing. For the first 20 or so minutes we seemed to be dominating. Dempsey, who had replaced Gera but was playing on the right wing (Simon Davies switching to the left), looked on top form and an audacious bit of skill, cutting the ball back inside his own legs, left two defenders out of position and allowed him to fire in an excellent shot with his left which Gomes did well to tip onto the crossbar. As the half hour approached though Spurs seemed to be getting back into it. David Bentley received a cross field pass from Modric and fired a shot centimetres wide of Schwarzer's right hand post. Then Darren Bent found a bit of space but could only toe-poke his shot into Schwarzer's arms. I began to worry that we might regret not scoring early when we had been so dominant. That all changed from the unlikeliest of opportunities.

Simon Davies cut in from the left wing to send a looping cross towards the penalty area with his favoured right foot. Not a spectacular ball and one which neither AJ nor Zamora were likely to win, however as it dropped, seemingly destined for Heurelho Gomes' arms, it took a slight deflection off Woodgates head which Gomes failed to react to. The Spurs 'keeper looked shell shocked as the ball bounced off his hands and into the back of the net. A shocker. The Fulham faithful were in full voice and making the most of their new "hero". On the pitch the goal led to renewed vigour and again the game swung back in our favour. Johnson's pace was causing all sorts of problems to the Spurs back four and he was combining well with strike partner Zamora.

Jimmy Bullard was having his best game since the Arsenal match that had resulted in his England call-up. His dead balls have been disappointing of late but, following a foul for a push on Dempsey, he took a rocket of a free kick that seemed destined for the bottom corner of the net but was well saved by the under pressure Gomes. Murphy continued to pull all the strings in midfield and with Simon Davies also back to his old self (despite playing left wing) our midfield looked impressive throughout. I was particularly pleased to see Dempsey finally get a deserved start and have no doubt he's done enough to retain his position.

The game was a real end to end thriller now. Spurs had switched to 4-4-2 at the break with Lennon and Pavyluchenko replacing Modric and Huddlestone. Lennon in particular was causing problems with his pace down our left flank. With the game delicately poised it seemed certain the next goal was going to be crucial. Thankfully it came our way. A Konchesky corner aimed to the far post saw Simon Davies rise above Gareth Bale to head goalwards. The ball was partially cleared but only as far as Davies' head again. This time he did enough to nod it into the danger area, where Andy Johnson reacted quickest to lash home from 2 yards. 2-0 Fulham and we were in ecstasy. In fact we celebrated so much that my friend Gibbo's phone took a trip over the barrier at the side of the Hammy End, to nestle safely, but completely out of reach, on the concrete ledge that runs down the side of where we sit.

It was nail biting time after that. Spurs pushed forward with greater intent and for a while we were on the back foot. Hangeland was immense during this period, seemingly winning every thing Spurs threw at us. Hughes, who'd also had a great game, was equally busy. Inevitably Spurs did score, Frazier Campbell firing home from the edge of the box to make the final ten minutes even more tense. Bobby Zamora, who had worked incredibly hard all game, almost restored our two goal advantage straight away. A high ball was nodded towards his own 'keeper by Ledley King, but it was Zamora who was closer and, with Gomes hopelessly out of position, he was unlucky not to find the target. Gera replaced Dempsey, Andreasen replaced Bullard, both departing players receiving rapturous applause. Zamora had one last moment of magic collecting the ball deep in the Spurs half, he held the ball up faked a step over once, then did it again, then a third time before playing the ball neatly back to another midfielder. The home end lapped it up.

A glorious game and a terrific result. As the full house cheered off our heroes, and John Paintsil went on another lap of honour, Gibbo did a bunk over the railings to retrieve his lost phone (still in one piece and in full working order). Nothing was ever going to spoil a day like this.

Spurs 5 Fulham 1 - Where do we go from here?

Whoever takes the manager's job permanently can be under no illusion that we're in for a very tough battle to avoid relegation. This was our heaviest defeat of the season and just highlighted exactly how severe our situation is.

As I watched the BBC live Internet updates filter through it didn't take long to realise we weren't going to win. A glimmer of hope when Dempsey pulled a goal back was crushed 6 seconds later with the news a third Tottenham goal. To rub salt in the wounds it sounded like Malbranque was having a field day and returning cult hero Moritz Volz, forced into playing centre back, got sent off.

The Match of the Day highlights didn't give much insight into the way we played so I recommend reading the two excellent reports at Craven Cottage Newsround and White Lines. Lewington's admirable attempt to play football seems to have only served to highlight exactly how poor we are. It's vital that the board get the manager's appointment right. We need someone who can takes us forward whatever division we find ourselves in next year.

Spurs v Fulham - Team News

I wouldn't normally do this but there's a couple of interesting team selections mentioned on the BBC for today's game. Ledley King is in the Tottenham line-up for the first time this season, while Kevin-Prince Boateng drops to the bench with Tom Huddlestone and Jamie O'Hara starting in midfield. For Fulham, Ray Lewington makes three changes to the side with Chris Baird replacing the injured Omozusi, Seol Ki-Hyeon and Alexei Smertin drafted in to replace Davis and Bouazza and Volz back on the subs bench. No sign of Steven Davis at all.

Spurs v Fulham - Match Preview

A short trawl through the Internet to see what is being said about the Boxing Day game. The BBC state that Spurs will be without Ledley King, Anthony Gardner, Gareth Bale, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Didier Zokora. Whilst Darren Bent (hip), Michael Dawson (migraine), Ricardo Rocha (thigh) and Jermaine Jenas (ankle) are all doubtful. Fulham's only new injury concern is Elliott Omosuzi who injured his leg in the game against Wigan. Ray Lewington will remain in charge of the team, will be looking to achieve the seemingly impossible and win away from home for the first time since November 2006.

The Spurs Odyssey site point out that "Despite their 2-1 defeat on Saturday, Spurs remain in the top six form sides in the Premier League based upon the last 6 games, with 3 wins and a draw during that time. Fulham on the other hand are in the bottom three of that league, without a win, and having dragged themselves out of the bottom three of the league table with a draw in their last game at home to Wigan" but are aware that "Ray Lewington has had a little more time to work with his squad. Fulham do have good players, including Simon Davies playing some of his best football since he left us".

The Proud Cockerill reckon we'll suffer the backlash of their defeat against Arsenal. "A couple of resounding wins against weak sides will put us in good spirit for a climb up the table and assault on cup glory, while an unthinkable blank period will see us back worrying about the basement battle. The latter really should not occur as Spurs have been on an outstanding run since Juande Ramos took over. Even on Saturday, Spurs proved that they can match any team in the effort stakes and that has been half the trouble over the past couple of seasons at least".

There's a number of new names in the frame for the manager's job. No doubt some are press speculation rather than genuine candidates. For now though Ray Lew's back in the job, I noticed in a recent programme that he's our fourth longest serving manager, and there's a nice interview with him on the Offal. He's a decent bloke and does know his stuff so we're in safe hands.

Reserves looking strong with a win over Spurs

A very short post to congratulate the Reserves on another good win. The announcement some time ago that this game was to be played at Craven Cottage had me expecting a return for the prodigal Jimmy Bullard but it was not to be. Jimmy's probably a good couple of weeks away from an actual game. Volzy continued his rehabilitation with another sixty minutes, but the rest of the team (Warner aside) were fairly young and have done well to nick a win in the last few minutes.

Fulham report HERE

Spurs report HERE

UPDATE: Nice report from White Lines HERE

Fulham 3 Tottenham Hotspurs 3

We were really awful today. Ripped to pieces by a decent Spurs side, and looking for all the world like prime relegation candidates ... and then, out of nothing, we sparked into life. We worked really hard to get back into a game that everyone could see was dead a buried, and then, somehow we did. A turning point maybe?

I was running a bit late and having found a good parking spot a bit of a walk from the ground, I stepped out of my car a step straight into a huge bit of poo. Great! Just what I need. My Dad went to find a ticket machine whilst I attempted to clean my shoe with a scrap of newspaper. We then realised we had no change between us, so a quick dash to the petrol station to buy a paper and we were cutting things a bit fine. As we crossed the Fulham Palace Road I realised we had 15 minutes to kick off. As we eventually reached the ground there was an unusually large number of people still outside, some even walking away from the ground. Turns out there had been some problem with fake tickets, so it took us some time to get through the turnstiles. Walking to our seats we saw Kamara have a good chance saved (though apparently he was offside anyway) and eventually sat down with the game about 5 minutes old. Niemi did not look that confident early on and, unsighted by the sun, flapped at a Robbie Keane corner. That was thankfully cleared, but the next thing we know he's failed to deal with the resulting near post corner and Kaboul (of all people) is walking the ball home.

Niemi continued to look shakey and Fulham seemed to be second to everything and a yard off the pace. By contrast Spurs were lively and sharp, combining crisp passing with some excellent movement to leave us struggling in their wake. Indeed one such passing move put Berbatov clean through, with Stefanovic unable to get hear him he fired home a rasping shot. This second goal was followed by two more glorious opportunities for Spurs to go further ahead. First Jenas and then Keane wanted too long on the ball, and the Fulham defence were given second chances to clear the danger. This was to prove costly for Spurs as a Fulham corner in the last few minutes of the half saw Dempsey climb well and place a well taken header past the left hand of Paul Robinson. We held on and all things considered were happy to be only 2-1 down at the turn.

The second half saw some improvement, but it was still Spurs finding the best chances. Berbatov shot from distance forcing Niemi to tip the ball onto his crossbar, Jenas also shot from a way out which Niemi again saved well, then Steed hammered a shot against the post. In between all this we were starting to look more promising, but that went up in smoke when Bale broke free down the left wing and finished well to make it 3-1. Game over. Dead and buried. No way back. I had thoughts of the 3-2 win over Spurs at Loftus Road and felt there was no way lightning could strike twice. Somehow it did.

We didn't give up, Smertin and Davis beginning to get more control in midfield and we almost scored when Dempsey back healed a Smertin cross towards goal, but he was judged offside and Robinson saved well anyway. Healy replaced Bouazza and Kamara moved to the left. Then it happened, Dempsey, who was lying on the ground managed to get the ball to Smertin who found a bit of space and fired in a decent shot towards goal. It would have been on target but would probably have been collected by Robinson but it took a huge deflection off a Spurs defender and looped high over the 'keeper's head and finish in the far corner. 2-3 and game on! Smertin was replaced by Collins John and we went 4-3-3, with Simon Davies moving to central midfield and Steven Davis moving out to the right. Later even Stefanovic joined the fray as we piled the pressure on Spurs. A big throw from Baird was flicked on by Dempsey and spectacularly Diomansy Kamara placed an overhead kick in the top corner. 3-3 and we all go nuts. A stunning goal, and a point nicked to leave us feeling a lot better about ourselves during the international break.

Dempsey was outstanding throughout and my man of the match. Playing as the target striker he won a lot in the air and held the ball up well. Even when things weren't going for us he kept on trying and I was impressed with his work rate before he scored the first goal. Smertin and Davis also did well, growing into the game the longer it went on. Smertin in particular seemed to be everywhere and was the driving force in pulling us back into contention. Baird had another torrid time, Bale being his chief tormentor. I'd liked Baird in the first few games but the last couple of matches have seen him struggle to deal with pacey wingers. Niemi's performance was also a worry, he made some could reactive saves but did not look confident with balls into the box.

Fulham lined up in a 4-4-2 formation as follows, switching to 4-3-3 and then 3-3-4 as the subs came on.

• GK 29 A.Niemi
• RB 34 C.Baird
• CB 06 D.Stefanovic
• CB 03 C.Bocanegra (c)
• LB 04 P.Konchesky
• RM 25 S.Davies
• CM 10 S.Davis
• CM 08 A.Smertin
• LM 24 H.Bouazza
• ST 23 C.Dempsey
• ST 11 D.Kamara
  

Subs: 01 K.Keller, 02 M.Volz, 09 D.Healy (for 24 on 70), 15 C.John (for 08 on 79), 22 E.Omozusi

Daydream Deadline

Hello, I'm back. I was out last night and missed most of the deadline day excitement, so here's a quick summary of all the ins and outs since my last post.

OUTS
Zat Knight to Aston Villa for £3.5m
Liam Rosenior to Reading as part of swap deal for Seol Ki-Hyeon
Papa Bouba Diop to Portsmouth for an undisclosed fee
Gabriel Zakuani loaned to Stoke City

INS
Dejan Stefanovic from Portsmouth on a 2 year deal for £1m
Seol Ki-Hyeon from Reading in exchange for Liam
Danny Murphy from Tottenham on a 3 year deal for an undisclosed fee
Shefki Kuqi on loan from Crystal Palace until 1st Jan 2008
Nathan Ashton unattached but previously with Charlton on a 2 year deal.

That's a busy couple of days and it's going to take a while to get my head around what's good and what's bad. I'm pleased with the signing of Stefanovic and think he can do a good job for us, Ki-Hyeon could be useful but not so sure about Murphy or Kuqi (Ashton is one for the future). Stunned by Zat's sudden departure, how appropriate that his last touch of the ball for Fulham was in scoring an own goal. Very sad to see Liam finally move on and will write more about this next week, not surprised about Diop.

A very tough game today, Spurs are as desperate for the points as us. I think they may have a bit too much for us to cope with in our current state of affairs, but still hope the Whites can pull off a performance to surprise me. We'll probably see Steed in their starting line up, hope we don't boo him today but also hope he doesn't play very well. If your going, enjoy the game, I'll try and post a report sometime tomorrow. Come on you Whites!