[Archived] Fulham Preview

[Montfort]

Great result. Lovely to look at the table for a change. Glad that Diouf is fitting in after all that we /I have said about him. It is hard to dislike someone who works so hard and so enthusiastically. Even more delighted that Roberts got the winning goal. Some of the criticism he gets is unfortuneate but not only did he get himself into position ( which he does exceptionally well on a regular basis) but came up with a first class finish.

I think the probability of us staying up has risen dramatically. Hope we can get something from the games against Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea

[Duff's Minder]

That's the most fun I've had at a match in ages, by the end even my mate the Spurs fan was singin along. We've got the mental toughness it takes, going a goal down so early on and grinding it out like that was fantastic, there's no way that team is going down.

The biggest surprise for me was Diouf, I thought he'd played well in his early games but he was fantastic last night he might have ego problems off the pitch but on it he gives everything. Great signing.

[MCMC1875]

Fair assessment by Hodgson on the bbc:

"I've got to say I thought Blackburn played with a lot of energy. We were struggling to match that energy.

"There have been a lot of games for us recently and players are beginning to look tired.

"They've played the long-ball game very well and forced us back.

"I can't say they didn't deserve to win the game, I can't say that we did enough to win it. We lacked a bit of energy but the lads put up a brave performance.

"We simply met a Blackburn team with more energy than us, more strength than us and as a result they were able to get the three points which were so vital for them. We'll just have to wait for ours."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/e...rem/7922053.stm

That vindicates Sam on the FA Cup selection then, if anyone was still in any doubt.

[Rovermatt]

What a massive result. The league table looks very nice at the moment (aside from the top of course).

[Hughesy]

what a game. First half i thought we had an absolute shocker, but in the second we OWNED it.

Samba - 9

Super Samba. fantastic performance i thought. Messed up once, but on the whole another brilliant performance from the big man. Won every header and was keeping good order in defence. Samba has become one of the vital members of our team. Amazing that hughes got someone of his quality for £350,000.

I keep saying it every week, but he really is key to us now and is by far our best central defender. £350k is just crazy, cant believe he couldnt get in their side.

He also seems to really of upped his game under Sam.

[iamarover]

Colossal, elephantine, enormous, gargantuan, gigantic, grand, great, immense, imposing, impressive, mammoth, mighty, monster, monumental, titanic, towering, tremendous, whopping. As Doctor Thesaurus left Craven Cottage last night, his entry under MASSIVE was complete. As his wind lashed face turned towards the Putney End he could be forgiven for adding 'emotional' to that sensational list. What a night. Samba. Warnock. Tugay. Diouf. Roberts. Legends all of them. And the master Caesar, Allardyce, to him the laurels of victory. Tactically briliant, he outfoxed his opponent and refused to be fazed by anything so irritating as a first minute concession. And the support. Loud and proud..what a following on a Wednesday night. The fields of Elysium seem a lot closer this morning.

[Ray-Von]

Colossal, elephantine, enormous, gargantuan, gigantic, grand, great, immense, imposing, impressive, mammoth, mighty, monster, monumental, titanic, towering, tremendous, whopping. As Doctor Thesaurus left Craven Cottage last night, his entry under MASSIVE was complete. As his wind lashed face turned towards the Putney End he could be forgiven for adding 'emotional' to that sensational list. What a night. Samba. Warnock. Tugay. Diouf. Roberts. Legends all of them. And the master Caesar, Allardyce, to him the laurels of victory. Tactically briliant, he outfoxed his opponent and refused to be fazed by anything so irritating as a first minute concession. And the support. Loud and proud..what a following on a Wednesday night. The fields of Elysium seem a lot closer this morning.

Are you Stuart Hall by any chance?

[Guest Kamy100]

Superb result and great to see Rovers move out of the relegation zone. I said before the Hull game that we needed 7 points from the next three games and we have managed to achieve that. It is important to break down the season into small chunks and so the next three are: Arsenal (Away), West Ham(Home) and Tottenham (Home). With our erratic home form I think 5 points from that lot would be good, it would put us within touching distance of safety.

Last night was a massive result and a great confidence boost for everyone. However, we still have some big hurdles to overcome!

[B.R.F.C]

What a game and what a great comeback Easily the most enjoyable game of the season for me.

The performance of the team 2nd half and the atmosphere to push the boys on was superb. Thought Diouf had a blinder as did Stevie Warnock who has seemingly found some magical shooting boots? There was 2 if not 3 great efforts where he was denied by Schwarzer.

An as per the chant last night

The Blues are staying up!

[AggyBlue]

Just watched the match, it was very scrappy but did improve when Benni came on for Andrews.

We certainly created enough chances to win half a dozen games. Hoofing the ball long and putting pressure on the second ball worked a treat.

We seemed to panic at the back too much for my liking, not the rock solid display that we've become accustomed to under Sam. I wonder how much Nelsens dodgy start had to do with that.

Think I'll watch it again this afternoon

[MCMC1875]

Just watched the match, it was very scrappy but did improve when Benni came on for Andrews.

We certainly created enough chances to win half a dozen games. Hoofing the ball long and putting pressure on the second ball worked a treat.

We seemed to panic at the back too much for my liking, not the rock solid display that we've become accustomed to under Sam. I wonder how much Nelsens dodgy start had to do with that.

Think I'll watch it again this afternoon

Where is it being shown and at what time?

[waggy]

WHERE'S WAGGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i'm here watched the game on tv last night,we could have been 3 down before we had a shot,warnock was immense deserved a hat-trick even jr scored.there was a 10 minute period in the 1st half when the ball was never out off the air,but thats sam.why we kept pumping the ball to a 8ft centre half was beyond me,even tony gale remarked on it.good win these 3pts will make a difference,even a defeat on saturday will not mean a return to the relagation zone

[Nelsonfan]

Brilliant result, and one that we really needed to make our game in hand count! Thank god it did. When we went 1-0 down I was really worried because fair play to Fulham, they have become difficult to beat at home these days.

But we did manage it, and it was because again we had a great team effort, with one or two great performances in there..... We're gaining something that we lost at the start of the season, and it is beginning to just pay dividends. We're not out of the mire yet by a long shot, but at least we're giving ourselves a really good chance with it all!

[AggyBlue]

Where is it being shown and at what time?

Sorry it's not as such, but it's available on demand through a BT vision box.

Games that are not live on sky are available both in full or 45 min highlights for a couple of days after each game.

[LeChuck]

How good does that table look this morning?

I'm certain we won't go down now, to come back in the manner we did (let's not forget how excellent Fulham's home record is/was) shows we've got the character and, perhaps more importantly, self belief to get out of this. In fact, being 4 points off 10th and with 750k per place up for grabs, let's be looking up rather than down.

Not much else to add on the game to what's been said, apart from how unlucky was Warnock last night? If any one of those goals had gone in he'd probably have taken the goal of the month award. If he can keep striking the ball like that he might become an unlikely source of goals for us.

[ross-shire rover]

From the far north of Scotland a very big pat on the back to all those of you who were at the game "supporting" our team. It clearly made a huge difference. There's been a lot of criticism ( some fair, a lot unfair ) levelled at the team and last night showed what a difference genuine support means to the players.

[modes98]

It is important to break down the season into small chunks and so the next three are: Arsenal (Away), West Ham(Home) and Tottenham (Home). With our erratic home form I think 5 points from that lot would be good, it would put us within touching distance of safety.

That would leave us 7 games to get another 5points. Easy peasy

The main issue is whether you can see Pompey, Boro or Wba picking up more points than us in the run in and I can't see any of them doing that.

[briansol]

Fantastic result!

However there were a lot of danger signs in especially in the first half. Fulham could've been up 2-3 goals in the first 15 min as the defence were all over the place. Nelsen never seems to get back to his old level, and maybe Ooijer would be a better partner with Samba. The tactic of 4-5-1 was set up to get a draw and the early goal made it very hard against a Fulham side with Hangeland to dominate the air. We played like Bolton only without Kevin Davies. We wasted 4 corners as Diouf is even worse at set piece taking than Pedersen. Diouf is a strange one for me. He works very hard, but there were little end product from him untill he scored. But after that he was very good at running down the clock and wanting the ball. For me he is useful squad player but there must be a lot of better players on the right side. He also is not quick at all which I thought he was.

Pedersen played better than for a long time. Kept the ball well and provides crosses including an assist. He won a lot of headers and tracked back well. His corners however let him down again.

For me the catalyst was changing the formation to 4-4-2, which we should have played against Everton and started with against Fulham. We desperatly needs win and the 4-5-1 is designed to draw. With the 4-4-2, the Fulham defence had to pick up 2 strikers and that also gave Robert more freedom.

Warnock was excellent again and had deserved a goal. Givet is quality and Warnock in midfield let us use our best players.

Looking forward to Saturday where anything would be a bonus.

[Stonesrick]

Samba - 9

Super Samba. fantastic performance i thought. Messed up once, but on the whole another brilliant performance from the big man. Won every header and was keeping good order in defence. Samba has become one of the vital members of our team. Amazing that hughes got someone of his quality for £350,000.

Did a lot better in the second half but dicey in the first half wouldn't merit such a high mark I would have thought?

Diouf - 10

DIIIIIIOOOOUUFFFFFFman of the match for me. Worked harder than any player on the pitch and inspired our fight back. I've been a bit scathing about diouf in the past, but im converted. absolutly fantastic. If he can play like that for the rest of the season we'll have no worries staying up. Fulham couldnt deal with his strength. What a buy by big sam.

Let' not get carried away, again he improved after the interval but the last time I witnessed a 10 out of 10 performance was probably Shearer some years ago.

Warnock - 6

I though Warnock had a bit of a shocker today. Wasnt impressed. Gave the ball away too many times, balls to nowhere. Good shot to hit the post but all in all a pretty terrible performance from him, especially in th first half

A bit of a shocker, I think most people will agree that he was MOM by a country mile and had to do the job of 3 midfielders as both Tugay and Andrews were not at the races.

Howver, I suppose it's a game of opinion and that's what makes it so exciting and worth travelling all that way for 90 minutes.

[PAFELL]

What a game and what a great comeback Easily the most enjoyable game of the season for me.

The performance of the team 2nd half and the atmosphere to push the boys on was superb. Thought Diouf had a blinder as did Stevie Warnock who has seemingly found some magical shooting boots? There was 2 if not 3 great efforts where he was denied by Schwarzer.

An as per the chant last night

The Blues are staying up!

After the match as the players came out to get on the coach, Ryan Nelson commented on the support from the Rovers fans and that it helped keep the team fighting.

My wife wanted to wait and try and get some autographs / photos after the game. Must give credit to Jason Roberts who signed for everybody, but also told other players to go and do the same - which they did. I asked Jason Brown about his injury - he said he wasn't injured. Givet though was limping as he went to the players coach - so hopefully it is not serious.

Your right about the fight back - even fulham supporters said after the game that they were 'stunned and surprised' at the way Rovers played that second half.

[DP]

I would agree with all that Stonesrick.

For me the best Rovers players last night were Warnock, Roberts and Pedersen, in that order.

Although MotM was our often derided 12th man - the Supporters. It was like we sucked the ball towards us in the 2nd half.

[T4E]

Agreed. My scepticism for the current regime increases...

Ill be delighted if I'm being ripped to pieces for that comment later on TCO.

Good job we got knocked out of the cup though, the free weekend has done wonders for us.

Hehehe

[PAFELL]

I would agree with all that Stonesrick.

For me the best Rovers players last night were Warnock, Roberts and Pedersen, in that order.

Although MotM was our often derided 12th man - the Supporters. It was like we sucked the ball towards us in the 2nd half.

It is a pity the supporters are not like that at home games - last night was fantastic - but Fulham is always one of those grounds that supporters like to go too. I also think that the fact they have a neutral area helps the atmosphere - even the neutrals were cheering on Rovers last night.

Cannot argue with your choice of best players last night - though in the second half I would have to add diouff.

I cannot get carried away though, because if we had been playing against either chelsea / arsenal etc in that first 15 -20 minutes rovers would have been at least 3 0 down.

[tonygreenbank]

Whole game now on SS1 3.30-500

[ffan]

Good result for you.

Shame about the booing though.