Fulham at Craven Cottage

[Guest rusty747]

We will win this. Five minutes to build up a head of steam then 1-3. Feel it in my water!

Who's a clever rusty747 then? And I won the predict the score too. Good weekend all round.

[MC11]

Bang on. Between him and Howard.

Surely pissed... Let's see who Sky give it to.

[flaminfox]

That is the result we need! Let's make it six in a row now

[SimonButtle]

Glad we got the 3 points, but we are so frustrating when we play like that, there really is no need for it, and once again how Osman continues to feature let alone start is beyond me.

 

Bring on them Gooners!!!

[Brett Angel]

I hate to keep bringing this up but that was definitely a game DM would have been beaten 2-1 after their goal went in.

[Brett Angel]

Surely pissed... Let's see who Sky give it to.

Its a matter of opinopinions son. Thats why we all have to listen to the other shite u came out with in the other thread about failing tosee any change from DM ere.... You've just seen it. A game we would have lost. We have just walked it in the end.bye bye.

[markjazzbassist]

first half was rough, second half was much improved. the subs made the impact (for both sides) with naismith really impressing and mirallas showing why he deserves a start over gerry and osman. even mcgeady really shone. so glad for the 3 points and BRING ON THE ARSE!!!!!

[MC11]

Its a matter of opinopinions son. Thats why we all have to listen to the other shite u came out with in the other thread about failing tosee any change from DM ere.... You've just seen it. A game we would have lost. We have just walked it in the end.bye bye.

Hahaha. Seasons not over yet and we fell well away at that moment in time. Stones was very good again today but fuckinell Naismith put a proper shift in. I don't think it's a case of opinion with you, you just don't rate Naismith so can't give him credit when it's due.

[Newty82]

Surely pissed... Let's see who Sky give it to.

For someone who always harps on about it being 'IMO, IMO....' you dont half contradict yourself?!

 

Cant we just enjoy the moment, instead of u pissing people off just because they have a different view to you?!

 

For your info...I have always disagreed with peeps getting MOTM when they dont play a full game, unless every other player was atrocious.

[MC11]

For someone who always harps on about it being 'IMO, IMO....' you dont half contradict yourself?!

Cant we just enjoy the moment, instead of u pissing people off just because they have a different view to you?!

For your info...I have always disagreed with peeps getting MOTM when they dont play a full game, unless every other player was atrocious.

Have you well I disagree with that "IMO" Edited March 30, 2014 by MiguelCotto

[Brett Angel]

Hahaha. Seasons not over yet and we fell well away at that moment in time. Stones was very good again today but fuckinell Naismith put a proper shift in. I don't think it's a case of opinion with you, you just don't rate Naismith so can't give him credit when it's due.

'And we fell away at that moment'. Hahaha glory hunter or what. At least get behind him through good and bad. Thats what support does.

[Romey 1878]

Job done. On to the next one.

[MC11]

'And we fell away at that moment'. Hahaha glory hunter or what. At least get behind him through good and bad. Thats what support does.

Glory hunter, yes I want glory. But..... hahahaha glory hunter....supporting Everton lol

[markjazzbassist]

Job done. On to the next one.

 

romey i miss your match analyzation and performance scores man, any chance they'll make another cameo?

[GoodisonRoad]

Important win. We need to make this count against Arsenal now though. Great game changing subs from bobby though. Wasn't there a link posted somewhere that he had made the most goal scoring subs in the league? He just added to it today!

 

Going to be an interesting end to the season that's for sure.

[barryj]

romey i miss your match analyzation and performance scores man, any chance they'll make another cameo?

Job done. On to the next one.

That was it!

[Newty82]

Have you well I disagree with that "IMO"

Same old cock.

[Romey 1878]

 

romey i miss your match analyzation and performance scores man, any chance they'll make another cameo?

 

The past few games I've always had something on the day after a game so not had time to do it, and I like to do it when the game's still fairly fresh in my mind (I even have trouble remembering things straight after the final whistle ). But I'll try and do it for this one tomorrow .

[johnh]

Have posted before that Naismith is the real deal. Showed it today. Stones had a great game, he is going to be a big name in the future. Thought Coleman had a good game after a few weeks of being ordinary. Thought we should have had the game sewn up by half-time, sometimes I think we overdo the 'tippy-tappy' passing and miss out on a shooting chance. We also overdo it in defence and on a number of occasions gave the ball away in dangerous areas. I think we will see off Arsenal. Their weakness is midfield where we are a lot stronger.

[Blue 250]

Have posted before that Naismith is the real deal. Showed it today. Stones had a great game, he is going to be a big name in the future. Thought Coleman had a good game after a few weeks of being ordinary. Thought we should have had the game sewn up by half-time, sometimes I think we overdo the 'tippy-tappy' passing and miss out on a shooting chance. We also overdo it in defence and on a number of occasions gave the ball away in dangerous areas. I think we will see off Arsenal. Their weakness is midfield where we are a lot stronger.

 

Not quite sure which first half you were watching ! are you sure it was Fulham Everton!

 

We were poor, Fulham weren't too good, thank god !

 

Second half we were more alive, willing to put a shift in and as you've said Naismith made a big impact, Stones and Coleman had very good second halves.

 

Could have been 4-4, but I think we deseved it by the end, Howard and Naismith were the main men.

 

Using Naismith as a foil to Lakaku looked prety good and Stones looks great for the future.

[Cornish Steve]

After a game like this, I find myself looking at the bigger picture. We weren't so hot the last three games, but we won them all. The truth is, it was three games in 8 days, and not many teams have a squad deep enough to win all three - and we did. In the first game, I sensed that RM was resting some key players (e.g., Gerry) ahead of the midweek game. Today, I got the sense that his tactics were to tire Fulham and then bring on fresh legs to win it. Not sure whether it was the case, but that's how it turned out: The subs made the difference. That's what I call managing for the season, not just trying to win every game big. Let's save our best performances for when we play the best teams.

 

Now that the busy 8-day period is over and the matches won, no matter how ugly they were, all eyes are on Goodison next weekend. Can we grab fourth place or not? We could manage it with a draw, but a win would be so much better.

[Newty82]

To be fair, I think we have to beat arsenal to make it realistic. A draw.....hmmmm, not sure.

[MC11]

The most impressive thing for me was the quality we had from the bench.

 

Naismith, Mirallas and Mcgeady completely changed the style of our forward play. Also the fact that there has been no mention of missing Pienaar.

[Dalziel Kane]

Managed to grab some highlights from today although couldn't ascertain too much from what was provided.

 

Team looked sharp often enough - attacking - dangerous - and in the end, a comprehensive win at a venue that has been less than favorable in past years.

 

Pity with the slow start, in regard to the early games with points dropped against opposition sides we should have beaten, but as it stands now, it's been a very impressive season for the most part, the best it seems for the best part of a decade and we've really established ourselves once again as a team to notice.

 

Was skeptical of Martinez when first took over from Moyes, but credit to the individual, has put together a fine side that causes significant concern to opposition sides and provides palpable pleasure to (our) club supporters and neutrals together. Today was a fine - and much valued - victory.

[rubecula]

Played poorly, won the game. That is the way, grind out results when not at the top of our form. Just remember the only way to win a game is to score goals, the finer displays can come when we are winning.

 

Next week we need to get the win above all.

[NyarkosLeftToe]

Played poorly, won the game.

 

I love these types of results, especially away from home, proper soak up loads of pressure then hit a team with a couple of quick goals and kill the game off, leaving their fans all miserable as fuck for rest of the week.

[Hafnia]

Goodison needs to rock next week. Get the ref under pressure as that lot try every trick in the book, especially arteta.

[Shukes]

Hopefully Ross is Ok as I think he will love playing against Arteta.

As long as we can up our pressure we should break them. Have to admit they turned up against city so we need to be up for this.

 

Come on Toffees let's see of we have the balls for it.

[Romey 1878]

Other than maybe the first 5 minutes we were never in that first half. We were absolutely terrible. Far too often this season we’ve started games slowly and yesterday was no different. It’s a good job that Fulham are a poor side and couldn’t take advantage. We were unbelievably lethargic; just knocking the ball around with no purpose and painfully slowly, there was no intensity at all. This allowed Fulham to pressurise us on the ball and more often than not they either won the ball back or we misplaced a pass giving it to them or put the ball out of play. It didn’t help that we pretty much had nobody providing any movement ahead of the play. They were all just stood around waiting for someone to do something. The only player that wanted to make something happen was Deulofeu. He took it upon himself to run forward with the ball, try to beat his man and create an opening. Sure, not much actually came from his efforts but how many 19 year olds will even attempt to take a game by the scruff of the neck? My admiration for him went up after his first half showing. Tbh, we were lucky to go in at half time still on level terms; a better side would have put us away.

 

While the performance in the second half still wasn’t great there was a significant improvement and I put that down to one man – Steven Naismith. While in the first half everything in front of the play was static he provided top quality movement. He was never still and was moving constantly, you rarely saw him stood still. Also, you rarely saw him close to a Fulham player; he made space for himself all the time and that meant he dragged Fulham defenders out of their set positions to follow him, providing more space for the likes of Lukaku, Baines, Coleman, Mirallas and McGeady (when they came on). It’s no coincidence that when he came on we looked much more of a threat going forward. He didn’t just benefit us going forward though; he was a terrier in closing their players down as well so the roles were reversed from the first half. We took the lead early in this half and that also brought a sense of confidence to our play – we had another couple of chances to go further ahead. Fulham did equalise with a spectacular goal and again put us under pressure for a while and had some brilliant chances to go ahead but we dug in brilliantly – we owe a lot to Howard for that; he made some point blank stops. In the past this would have been the signal to close up shop and hold on to what we had, but no such thing happened. Martinez made another two attacking substitutions – McGeady and Mirallas came on and instantly the impact was felt. McGeady played an inch perfect through ball (I love these!), Mirallas expertly controlled it, raced at goal and slotted it home. From that point on I felt we pummelled them and really wanted to finish them off – we had numerous chances to do just that. It took a little while longer to put the game to bed and there was a sense of fortune about it (Baines was offside) but I don’t care.

 

A massive three points for us despite not playing well, but points are what matter. However, we cannot afford to start slowly again next week against Arsenal. They will punish us. Its imperative, IMO, that we get the first goal. It’ll put the fear of god into them and they do not cope well under pressure.

 

 

 

Howard – He gave us the platform to win this one with numerous saves. I don’t think he could have done a thing about their goal even though it was at his near post – it was a ferocious hit and he more than likely didn’t see it ‘til late as well.

 

 

Coleman – Really wasn’t impressed with him first half. I thought he was awful defensively and was caught out time after time. He didn’t have a lot of help from Gerry, granted, but seeing as he was our whole attack I’ll let him off! He just seemed to not have a clue positionally and offered pretty much zero in terms of attacking. In the second half as the space opened up more he became more of a threat going forward at least.

 

Stones – The first half I thought he looked very uncomfortable. But that may have more to do with playing alongside Distin who had a shocking game. He looked extremely hesitant in his play – often the ball was there to be won and he looked in two minds and hung back instead. And he made a pretty big cock up because of this at one point, but he recovered well to tackle back and stop the Fulham attack. However, in the second half it was like a different player and he impressed me massively. The hesitancy was gone and he was all conquering. He’s going to be the heart of our defence, our leader, because he is the perfect defender for a Martinez side – on a few occasions he brought the ball out of defence imperiously and set us off on attacks. He didn’t just see that as his job done though, then he’d keep running forward and stay in the attack. That sort of play is going to be massively important to us as we progress.

 

Distin – He just had one of those games where you actually start hoping the ball goes nowhere near him. He was terrible, particularly in the first half. His judgement was way off and misjudged a lot of things that really could have cost us dearly. And just how many touches of the ball does he want before laying off?! On too many occasions he dawdled on the ball letting Fulham players close him down. And even when they didn’t the majority of the time he either played the ball out of play or launched it to absolutely no one!

 

Baines – Meh. He was OK. I can’t think of anything of note that he did other than the assist for Naismith’s second goal.

 

 

Deulofeu – Like I said earlier; in the first half he was our only attacking outlet, everything went through him. Yes, he could have done better at times but he’s still a young boy and you’ve got to give him credit for giving it a go. He had Riise worried every time he got the ball and deserves praise. I can also remember him putting a peach of a delivery across the 18 yard area and no one had took it upon themselves to get in there – Barkley and Lukaku were like statues. And another time when his shot was saved and the ball came to him and he quickly put the ball back into the danger area only for a Fulham player to intercept the ball before it reached Lukaku. All in all a promising display from him.

 

McCarthy – He loves a slip doesn’t he? He needs to sort his studs out because like in every game he slipped on his arse and this time it cost us a goal. I reckon he’d have stopped Dejagah getting that shot in. Other than that, though, he had a solid game. Certainly better than his midfield partner.

 

Barry – Not a great afternoon for him. He looked very tired and off the pace to me and this allowed the Fulham players to get at him (targeted?) and force him to play the ball quicker than he’d like. He mostly did find an Everton man but the pass was often a hospital ball meaning we lost the ball anyway.

 

Osman – This game showed that he cannot and should not play two games in a week. He was knackered right from the off and he was another player that Fulham really got at and took advantage of. They were on to him quickly whenever he got the ball and forced him to turn over the ball. It didn’t help his case that he drifted infield constantly but then didn’t have the energy to get back to his wing position, leaving a hell of a lot of space for Fulham to exploit.

 

 

Barkley – He just wasn’t on it was he? Totally off the pace and was more a hindrance than a help. Particularly to Lukaku. I felt he sat too close to him, clogging up the space. And he wanted far too much time on the ball and invariably he was closed down and the ball taken from him.

 

 

Lukaku – For the first half in particular he cut an extremely frustrated figure. Like I said, Barkley was clogging up the space and, also, when he was making good runs he was totally ignored and the ball was played elsewhere. I don’t think it helped his mood that balls kept getting launched over him rather than to him. I thought he looked much better in the second half when there was a lot more space for him once Barkley went off, and on a few occasions he used his strength to great effect – it is something that is improving.

 

 

Naismith – Game changer. Pure and simple. He gave us exactly what was needed and what was severely lacking in the first half – he moved between the lines (dropping deep sometimes, which was what Barkley had totally neglected to do), he occupied the Fulham players, he opened up space for all of our other attacking players, his movement was of the highest quality, he used the ball brilliantly, he linked up well with every one else, he harried the Fulham defenders. He topped it all off with two goals as well and should have had a hat-trick! My MOTM.

[Brett Angel]

Other than maybe the first 5 minutes we were never in that first half. We were absolutely terrible. Far too often this season we’ve started games slowly and yesterday was no different. It’s a good job that Fulham are a poor side and couldn’t take advantage. We were unbelievably lethargic; just knocking the ball around with no purpose and painfully slowly, there was no intensity at all. This allowed Fulham to pressurise us on the ball and more often than not they either won the ball back or we misplaced a pass giving it to them or put the ball out of play. It didn’t help that we pretty much had nobody providing any movement ahead of the play. They were all just stood around waiting for someone to do something. The only player that wanted to make something happen was Deulofeu. He took it upon himself to run forward with the ball, try to beat his man and create an opening. Sure, not much actually came from his efforts but how many 19 year olds will even attempt to take a game by the scruff of the neck? My admiration for him went up after his first half showing. Tbh, we were lucky to go in at half time still on level terms; a better side would have put us away.

 

While the performance in the second half still wasn’t great there was a significant improvement and I put that down to one man – Steven Naismith. While in the first half everything in front of the play was static he provided top quality movement. He was never still and was moving constantly, you rarely saw him stood still. Also, you rarely saw him close to a Fulham player; he made space for himself all the time and that meant he dragged Fulham defenders out of their set positions to follow him, providing more space for the likes of Lukaku, Baines, Coleman, Mirallas and McGeady (when they came on). It’s no coincidence that when he came on we looked much more of a threat going forward. He didn’t just benefit us going forward though; he was a terrier in closing their players down as well so the roles were reversed from the first half. We took the lead early in this half and that also brought a sense of confidence to our play – we had another couple of chances to go further ahead. Fulham did equalise with a spectacular goal and again put us under pressure for a while and had some brilliant chances to go ahead but we dug in brilliantly – we owe a lot to Howard for that; he made some point blank stops. In the past this would have been the signal to close up shop and hold on to what we had, but no such thing happened. Martinez made another two attacking substitutions – McGeady and Mirallas came on and instantly the impact was felt. McGeady played an inch perfect through ball (I love these!), Mirallas expertly controlled it, raced at goal and slotted it home. From that point on I felt we pummelled them and really wanted to finish them off – we had numerous chances to do just that. It took a little while longer to put the game to bed and there was a sense of fortune about it (Baines was offside) but I don’t care.

 

A massive three points for us despite not playing well, but points are what matter. However, we cannot afford to start slowly again next week against Arsenal. They will punish us. Its imperative, IMO, that we get the first goal. It’ll put the fear of god into them and they do not cope well under pressure.

 

 

 

Howard – He gave us the platform to win this one with numerous saves. I don’t think he could have done a thing about their goal even though it was at his near post – it was a ferocious hit and he more than likely didn’t see it ‘til late as well.

 

 

Coleman – Really wasn’t impressed with him first half. I thought he was awful defensively and was caught out time after time. He didn’t have a lot of help from Gerry, granted, but seeing as he was our whole attack I’ll let him off! He just seemed to not have a clue positionally and offered pretty much zero in terms of attacking. In the second half as the space opened up more he became more of a threat going forward at least.

 

Stones – The first half I thought he looked very uncomfortable. But that may have more to do with playing alongside Distin who had a shocking game. He looked extremely hesitant in his play – often the ball was there to be won and he looked in two minds and hung back instead. And he made a pretty big cock up because of this at one point, but he recovered well to tackle back and stop the Fulham attack. However, in the second half it was like a different player and he impressed me massively. The hesitancy was gone and he was all conquering. He’s going to be the heart of our defence, our leader, because he is the perfect defender for a Martinez side – on a few occasions he brought the ball out of defence imperiously and set us off on attacks. He didn’t just see that as his job done though, then he’d keep running forward and stay in the attack. That sort of play is going to be massively important to us as we progress.

 

Distin – He just had one of those games where you actually start hoping the ball goes nowhere near him. He was terrible, particularly in the first half. His judgement was way off and misjudged a lot of things that really could have cost us dearly. And just how many touches of the ball does he want before laying off?! On too many occasions he dawdled on the ball letting Fulham players close him down. And even when they didn’t the majority of the time he either played the ball out of play or launched it to absolutely no one!

 

Baines – Meh. He was OK. I can’t think of anything of note that he did other than the assist for Naismith’s second goal.

 

 

Deulofeu – Like I said earlier; in the first half he was our only attacking outlet, everything went through him. Yes, he could have done better at times but he’s still a young boy and you’ve got to give him credit for giving it a go. He had Riise worried every time he got the ball and deserves praise. I can also remember him putting a peach of a delivery across the 18 yard area and no one had took it upon themselves to get in there – Barkley and Lukaku were like statues. And another time when his shot was saved and the ball came to him and he quickly put the ball back into the danger area only for a Fulham player to intercept the ball before it reached Lukaku. All in all a promising display from him.

 

McCarthy – He loves a slip doesn’t he? He needs to sort his studs out because like in every game he slipped on his arse and this time it cost us a goal. I reckon he’d have stopped Dejagah getting that shot in. Other than that, though, he had a solid game. Certainly better than his midfield partner.

 

Barry – Not a great afternoon for him. He looked very tired and off the pace to me and this allowed the Fulham players to get at him (targeted?) and force him to play the ball quicker than he’d like. He mostly did find an Everton man but the pass was often a hospital ball meaning we lost the ball anyway.

 

Osman – This game showed that he cannot and should not play two games in a week. He was knackered right from the off and he was another player that Fulham really got at and took advantage of. They were on to him quickly whenever he got the ball and forced him to turn over the ball. It didn’t help his case that he drifted infield constantly but then didn’t have the energy to get back to his wing position, leaving a hell of a lot of space for Fulham to exploit.

 

 

Barkley – He just wasn’t on it was he? Totally off the pace and was more a hindrance than a help. Particularly to Lukaku. I felt he sat too close to him, clogging up the space. And he wanted far too much time on the ball and invariably he was closed down and the ball taken from him.

 

 

Lukaku – For the first half in particular he cut an extremely frustrated figure. Like I said, Barkley was clogging up the space and, also, when he was making good runs he was totally ignored and the ball was played elsewhere. I don’t think it helped his mood that balls kept getting launched over him rather than to him. I thought he looked much better in the second half when there was a lot more space for him once Barkley went off, and on a few occasions he used his strength to great effect – it is something that is improving.

 

 

Naismith – Game changer. Pure and simple. He gave us exactly what was needed and what was severely lacking in the first half – he moved between the lines (dropping deep sometimes, which was what Barkley had totally neglected to do), he occupied the Fulham players, he opened up space for all of our other attacking players, his movement was of the highest quality, he used the ball brilliantly, he linked up well with every one else, he harried the Fulham defenders. He topped it all off with two goals as well and should have had a hat-trick! My MOTM.

think mirallas deserved a shout like!!!!