[Archived] Fulham 2-1 Rovers

[Mike Graham]

just back. We were appaling for much of the game and a disgrace to the fantastic rovers support.

MGP must be dropped, he is a 2 minute wonder boy and just does not have the ability, strength or speed reqd for thr Premiership. As for Gray and Emmerton please get rid, it is games like this that make me bloody angry; I should have gone Christmas shopping in Preston!

[Exiled_Rover]

I should have gone Christmas shopping in Preston!

367526[/snapback]

Jeez that bad eh

Just seen the highlights: shocking defending for both their goals. Dickov wasn't offside, but hey you lose some, you lose some . Knight is a better finisher than most of our forward line, and Emerton is pants. He missed a very similar one earlier this season, luckily we put away enough of our chances to cover it up.

Whoever the commentator was is a muppet, Neill very lucky for absolutely nothing, not to mention his love of the phrase 'carved open'

Edited December 17, 2005 by Exiled_Rover

[1864roverite]

I got bored listening to the game on the radio at work so I turned off, it really made me angry to listen the chances we squandered.

Git involved in more work which led to me just watching the highlight on motd.

A sitter you say ? a girl could have headed that ball into the net.

Completely brassed off with this result, not looking forward to wednesday evening in the freezing cold cauldron of boro

[Big A]

An odd game really, if we'd played like we did for the last half hour we'd have won easily, as it was we had more than enough chances. However on the basis of the first hour we didn't deserve anything though Fulham were little better for the most part.

The first half was poor all round, we started perhaps slightly the better and Emerton missed a sitter when he headed wide in front of an opener goal. We were struggling to break down Fulham's defence especially with Bentley and Dickov up front. There was little physical presence (Knight easily contained Dickov) and for all the possesion we had we couldn't create anything. However defensively we looked shaky, Collins John and Radzinski both nearly scored when we failed to deal with long balls and the Fulham goal right before the end of the half was poor too. Boa Morte floated in a free kick and Todd allowed Bouba Diop to get in front of him far too easily to score.

The second half started in a similar vein and Fulham again exposed our poor defending to score a pretty decent goal after some good passing football. Boa Morte with an excellent finish from Helgusson's cross. Shortly afterwards Kuqi appeared and from then on we were much better and controlled the game. Kuqi and Dickov were both clean through before being stopped by late offside flags, MGP's free kick hit the bar amongst numerous other attempts. Kuqi caused problems as did Thompson when he came on for possibly injured Pedersen. However once again we struggled to carve out clear cut openings and we were reduced to rather more hopeful efforts. It was fitting that the goal was an own goal, Knight kindly nodding in Dickov's cross, as it seemed that Rovers couldn't put the ball in the net at all. Dickov then shot just wide and forced a decent save from Crossley as Rovers tried to provide an equaliser.

The game was pretty physical, Neill's challenge (which wasn't as bad as MOTD made out imo) was just one of several pretty poor challenges. Knight and Dickov both made nasty challenges on each other and Boa Morte did his usual best to wind up everyone and everything. If Kuqi had started things could have been very different however the defence was worryingly insecure. Neill did well enough, especially going forward, but Todd, Zura and Gray didn't impress. Emerton did ok without doing anything special while Tugay and MGP were in and out of the game rather. I thought Savage was one of our best players today, he did extremely well in midfield up against Diop and then Legwinski. Up front Dickov ran his heart out, causing problems for Fulham especially after Kuqi's arrival. Beforehand he hadn't had much service but looked better than Bentley who did much better when he switched to the right wing. I'd play him in front of Emerton next match, his skilful technique was more suited to the wing than the centre forward role where he was out muscled. The two substitutes Kuqi and Thompson both made an impact, Kuqi caused a lot of problems for Fulham as you'll have gathered though at times didn't quite have the ability to capitalise while Thompson added energy and drive as Rovers pushed forward in the last fifteen minutes. Bellamy could have made a big difference today I feel, with him playing we'd have made and converted more chances.

[krislu]

Having seen the game I can say that we were the better team in terms of making real goal scoring chances. On another day we might have won this one.

We seriously need to improve our defending, and defensive set pices are something we should work hard on. Really poor defending by Todd on their first goal, their second, well our defense was all over the place.

As for our formation, in my opinion we either play 4-4-2 with two natural strikers, or we play 4-5-1 with a strong centre midfield. Playing something like 4-4-1-1 with Bentley just behind the striker does not work at all, its time for Hughes to see this.

There are just too many players out there not performing at the moment, and as a team we look pretty poor. We must get our act together, otherwise its going to be a grim Christmas run for us.

[Mike Graham]

I got bored listening to the game on the radio at work so I turned off, it really made me angry to listen the chances we squandered.

Git involved in more work which led to me just watching the highlight on motd.

A sitter you say ? a girl could have headed that ball into the net.

Completely brassed off with this result, not looking forward to wednesday evening in the freezing cold cauldron of boro

367528[/snapback]

are you going to Boro? Fancy sharing the fuel??

Edited December 18, 2005 by preston blue

[Crunching Tackler]

To be an optimist, I was impressed with the way Rovers eventually responded to being 2-0 down. True we missed sitters (Emerton), were embarrassing at the back (Savage, Neill) and fell asleep at times, however thinking back to the past few seasons our responses to being 2-0 down have been even worse, leeking more goals and affecting moral even more. The last 20 minutes Rovers, reflecting Hughes' bull-dog spirit, achieved a scrappy, none the less, a goal. I think this shows our improvement in the last two seasons under Hughes. Don't get we wrong a 2-1 loss is as bad as 5-0 thrashing, but regarding moral and confidence I think that Rovers haven't dealt too bad a blow and take out the positives from the game. Its easy to say, but I believe Rovers need a bit more fine tuning in order to earn a touch more luck.

[Yorick]

With Bellamy fit a formation of 4-5-1 is a non starter. He is our best player because of his speed not because of his strength, he is not suited at all to playing most of the game with his back to goal.

Alternatively when Bellamy is injured our other players are best suited to 4-5-1, and especially away from home. Todd and Nelsen end up with glowing reports when Mokoena is doing all their donkey work. I know we were classed as unpopular and boring but other teams really struggled to score against us in the second half of last season. One great result at OT must now be tempered with the situation at Old Trafford and both their and our results since. Time and again members moan that Bellamy (and to a lesser extent Dickov) apart our strikers are not Prem standard and I know that MH will know this too. Sparky's decision therefore is easy, for awaydays we should only play with one of em. Bring back the Axe, rest Toogs and save him for for home games or away substitute appearences and go 4-5-1 saving 4-4-2 for the last 20 mins should the situation require it. As for some members looking toward Gally and Jansen to return. and save our season. Thanks for the sentimentality guys but no thanks we need to move on.

Edited December 18, 2005 by Yorick

[Ozz]

Bit quiet here this morning.

[G Somerset Rover]

Neil was lucky not to get book/red carded for the elbow on Boa judging by our dealings with refs this season. Watching goals on sunday they picked up on it...lets hope the ref didn't in his post match report. Sometimes you have to wonder what Neil is thinking. As for Andy Todd, I think even a 5 year old knows the basics of defending...GOAL SIDE ANDY.

Edited December 18, 2005 by Somerset Rover!

[SAS]

jesus, what a friggin nightmare that was getting home

seems we are getting a lot of decisions against us lately, nothing we can do about it though

if boa morte and diop hadnt had come back for that game we would have beat them soundly i think

[den]

Seems like the knives are out for Todd - for some reason. Todd wasn't at fault for the first goal, the free kick should never have been allowed to travel that far without a rovers player getting a head on it. Jeez, it was about 18 inches off the ground, having travelled 30 yards, when he scored.

Blame the players in front of him.

[G Somerset Rover]

Seems like the knives are out for Todd - for some reason. Todd wasn't at fault for the first goal, the free kick should never have been allowed to travel that far without a rovers player getting a head on it. Jeez, it was about 18 inches off the ground, having travelled 30 yards, when he scored.

Blame the players in front of him.

367569[/snapback]

You are right Den. It is easy to blame Todd, but you must admit, his marking Of Bouba was pretty poor. But after watching it again, as you quite rightly say, Zura I think it is allows the ball to travel all that way when he could have cut it out. Our defending on the whole this season isn't good enough.

[Bobby G]

With this kind of defending last season, we would have been relegated.

We are playing some good football this year but not scoring enough due to lack of quality up front and letting in goals with largely the same set of defenders as last year.

2 reasons:

No 4-5-1, which means we are matched evenly more often than not in midfield and secondly possibly a more adventurous outlook leaves us more exposed at the back?!?

How many matches in a row have we played with the same back four this season? I reckon the central defensive partnership has been changed alot this season due to suspensions and injuries.

[MarkBRFC]

jesus, what a friggin nightmare that was getting home

367564[/snapback]

To be fair it was your own fault

[krislu]

Todd wasn't at fault for the first goal

367569[/snapback]

The player he marked scored = his fault simple as that

[SAS]

To be fair it was your own fault 

367577[/snapback]

nah it was that goon of a man that worked for virgin trains

[philipl]

Regardless of allocating blame, we are seeing Souness-esque defending again.

Positives at the back:

Neill still inconsistent and occasionally homicidal but his inconsistency now ranges between OK and fantastic with dire cut out of the repertoire.

Zura was pure class until recently.

Brad needs stability and organisation in front of him. To be honest is not looking as vulnerable as he did towards the end of Souness' time at Ewood.

Negatives at the back:

Nelsen still good but not as commanding as last season. Lets hope it was injury niggles and not being sussed by Prozone that is the problem.

Todd back to the Todd of three seasons ago- a bit of a soft touch for teams willing to be creative and quick combined with moments of psychopathy.

Zura of the last three games- this is why the Gers only asked for £150K.

Gray is vulnerable to pace and what do all Premiership clubs have in spades? pace. His restored confidence is visibly ebbing away- Matteo's recall is looking inevitable.

[AllRoverAsia]

Dickov v the Fulham giants - not a hope even with all the huff and puff

Pederson - he's gone off since the 2 v Man U - why?

Bentley - was he playing?

Emerton runs like a crab with the twitches and can't head a ball

Savage - does he actually make tackles?

............................. I better stop now

[greggyk]

Dickov v the Fulham giants - not a hope even with all the huff and puff

Pederson - he's gone off since the 2 v Man U - why?

Bentley - was he playing?

Emerton runs like a crab with the twitches and can't head a ball

Savage - does he actually make tackles?

............................. I better stop now

367586[/snapback]

I actually disagree with most of your points there.

Dickov caused all sorts of trouble, but had no natural stirke partner to help him out in some great positions

Bently did ok (out of position) and made some good runs

Emerton actually had the beating of the left back most of the game, but no one ever passed to him when he was behind the Fulham midfield

And Savage was our best player by a mile. He stoped so many Fulham attacks and looked 10 times more creative than Tugay did.

Edited December 18, 2005 by greggyk

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

just back.  We were appalling for much of the game and a disgrace to the fantastic rovers support.

I agree.

The first half, in particular, was a pathetic excuse for a football match. I thought it was a case of two crap teams playing Division One/Championship standard football. I sat there during the first half thinking "Why do I bother to waste time and money travelling to watch this".

During the 1850's, the stench of sewage and pollution from the River Thames became so bad one summer that sittings at the House of Commons had to be abandoned. It was known at the time as the 'Great Stink'. A hundred and fifty years later, as I glanced to my left hand side and saw the Thames between the gap in the stands, it seemed that the stench had once again returned to the area during a wretched first half of football. For much of the first 45 minutes, the quality of play from both sides was an insult to the 20,000 at the Cottage.

After about 20 minutes, Tugay needlessly gave the ball away in his own half, gifting the ball to Boa Morte, who crossed for Collins John - completely unmarked in acres of space in the box. Friedel pulled off a decent save from the Dutchman's header.

That should have served as a warning to Rovers not to give possession away cheaply. But instead, Rovers continued to be guilty of some sloppy passing, with Lucas Neill and Andy Todd being two particular culprits. There was one dreadful poorly timed backpass from Lucas which could have resulted in a Fulham goal.

A couple of scousers were sat in front of me, and they obviously weren't too knowledgeable about Rovers because one of them said: "Who is that number 7 ? He looks good."

"I think that's Emerton. He's their best player," said the other scouser, dressed smartly in a suit.

About ten minutes later, our "best player" was presented with a gilt-edged chance - a simple header from a couple of yards out. An average schoolboy would have had no problem scoring from that position. Not our Bert though. Emerton somehow managed to make a pig's ear of it - heading the ball off-target.

This is an international footballer with 40 caps to his name, someone who reached the UEFA Cup final with Feyenoord, and who'll be facing Brazil in the World Cup next summer. He's also someone incapable of the basic skill of heading a ball properly. If he's really our best player, then God help us.

Mark Hughes, in the technical area, shook his head in disbelief at Emerton's miss. Just before half-time, we gave away a free-kick on Fulham's right-hand side. It wasn't in a particularly dangerous position and should have been dealt with by our defence.

Seems like the knives are out for Todd - for some reason. Todd wasn't at fault for the first goal

I have to disagree Den. I thought Andy Todd was initially in the wrong position to pick up Diop and he allowed him to get in front too easily. Just before the free-kick was about to be taken, I saw Hughes and Mark Bowen on the touchline frantically shouting at the players and gesturing to them to mark tightly. The instructions were either not heard or ignored by our defence, who allowed the ball to float into the path of Diop, who nudged the ball into the back of the net.

Hughes looked livid after the goal went in, kicking a spare ball away in anger. I hope that Hughes suitably kicked some backsides at the half-time interval. Fulham have got a few big black guys in their team like Zat Knight - about 6ft 7", Collins John and the wonderfully named Papa Bouba Diop. These players needed to be given particularly close attention at set pieces because of their size.

We seriously need to improve our defending, and defensive set pices are something we should work hard on.

You're right Krislu. We seem to have developed a habit this season of conceding goals from free-kicks. There was the one at Anfield where Cisse scored from a Savage foul, and at Stamford Bridge, Tugay needlessly conceded a free-kick from which Lampard scored.

Last season some of our overall performances were poor to watch because of the style of play that was adopted in a relegation battle. Our defence was usually quite strong and resolute in the second half of last season though and that allowed us to dig in and grind out results. The worry this season is that we're still crap to watch, but with the main difference being our defence looks weaker and is making silly mistakes.

In the second half of last season I think we had one of the best defensive records in the Premiership behind Chelsea. So far this season we've conceded 24 goals, which is poor. This puts pressure on our strikers to come up with goals, and as Den rightly said earlier, our forwards, minus Bellamy, are Division One/Championship standard. They aren't good enough at this level.

Just seven minutes into the second half yesterday, a cross from the Icelandic Helguson was met by Boa Morte to slot the ball into the net. On our last trip to London a few weeks ago, we managed to come back from 2-0 down against Charlton to win the match. After Fulham's second goal went in yesterday I couldn't evisage a similar scenario. Mainly because our strikers looked so poor.

Pedersen, who had an erratic game - never quite getting to grips with the match - did strike the crossbar from a free-kick in the second half. Crossley looked beaten and I think the shot would have gone in if it had been five inches lower.

In the last minute of normal time, Paul Dickov's cross in the box was met by the head of Zat Knight to steer an own goal into the net. We might have nicked a point in injury time if Dickov had shown a bit more composure. He curled one shot just wide of the post when he perhaps had more time to go forward and find the target.

Also in the dying minutes of injury time, there was a fairly tame shot from Dickov in the box which was comfortably saved by Crossley. Savage was in space to the right of him and he should have either passed to Robbie or at least struck a shot with more conviction. Rovers only came to life in the latter part of the second half. In the first half we lacked passion and it looked like a training game.

David Bentley flatters to deceive. At times he looks good on the ball, but then gives possession away too easily. After a couple of mazy little runs yesterday he ended up losing the ball. He's still got a bit to learn at this level and one could see why Arsene Wenger felt that he wasn't good enough for Arsenal.

Don Howe once said that when a team loses, 8 times out of 10 it's down to the midfield. Yesterday was perhaps the exception to that rule though. We lost because of a stupid mistake at a set-piece. We lost because our strikers aren't good enough and they don't have enough movement and composure in the box. We lost because Brett Emerton can't head the ball in from two yards out.

Anyone that thinks this shower is good enough to finish in the top 6 this season is living in cloud cuckoo land. A Carling Cup victory would be the only way IMO that we could qualify for Europe. There's no way that we're good enough to do it via our League positition.

And if it wasn't for the tattooed Welshman Bellamy, we'd be staring at a relegation battle. The 4-1 win over Charlton in November being one exception to the general malaise.

Football can be infuriating to watch sometimes. But I'd still much rather watch the beautiful game than be one of the 20 million couch potatoes stuck at home yesterday watching the final of "X Factor" and "Strictly Come Dancing". Those two programmes make me want to vomit and even a Rovers defeat isn't half as bad....

Edited December 18, 2005 by Anti Euro Smiths Fan

[Jordan]

What a waste of money!!!!!!!!!

[FourLaneBlue]

Thanks for the match review AESF, it was an enjoyable read.

[chris]

Bently made some good runs!!, is that what it takes to be a striker for Blackburn these days, how about setting up some chances or having a decent shot on goal. I'm not sure how he gets in the team to be honest, he's very wasteful. maybe he was as cold as me

Dickov did well, a shame Hughes put Bently with him as Bently was hardly in the game and poor old Dickov had a bit tooo much to do

I though both team made allot of mistakes and Fulham got a bit lucky

negative: Bentley long way off a good player, better off at Burnley

Positive: probably Dickov, but then he only had one shot at target, everyone else was just worse. Gray, Tugay did ok

[blue phil]

Good post Euro Fan........

Thanks to the services of some dodgy foreign channel I managed to watch the game in the pub and agree with those who argue that Pederson and Bentley simply aren't offering enough in hard fought games like this . Thompson hasn't impressed me as yet since his latest comeback but I am hopeful that he will be more of an asset in games such as this in time .

I'd always have Tugay in the team but he still plays too deep for my liking - just as well Mokeono wasn't playing or the'd bump into each other .

As for the defence , it was woeful at times - the second goal would have shamed a pub team . I'll be glad when Nelsen is back and would not be upset if Todd were to be left on the bench . Lucas Neill's behaviour borders on the psychopathic at times - twice yesterday he was lucky not to walk and don't be surprised if future refs don't give him the benefit of any doubts . Dickov is as bad at times and our reputation continues to suffer .