Column

From My Seat: Fulham (A)

Blues totally dominated the opposition to such an extent that 8-0 or more should have been achieved.

A trip out to The Cottage, where wins have not been the norm but, with a team in good shape, we strode through the park to the ground, full of confidence.

What transpired was almost unbelievable as the Blues totally dominated the opposition to such an extent that 8-0 or more should have been achieved. As it was, just two defensive howlers and the inability to score more than two of at least a quarter of a century of gilt-edged chances saw our record read four draws from last four matches. It would have been much better to have won two and lost two in points terms.

The half started with the Blues fast out of the traps and totally dominating, yet after just six minutes we were behind when Neville made a stupid unnecessary tackle that afforded the opposition a free kick just outside our box.

The Neville blunder was compounded by Howard when Ruiz floated the ball over the wall, no great pace but our keeper seemed late in picking the flight and managed only to push the ball onto the post and in off his back or so it looked from my seat. The language was choice around the faithful gathered. I believe that is the sixth match in a row where we have conceded in the first 15 mins after starting really well. Something needs looking at.

The rest of the half was one-way traffic as we pressed forward in waves but Fulham put up two banks of four and said "Let’s see what you have got" — which in truth was not much where it mattered: in that final third.

Tremendous joined-up approach play, interspersed with a few longer balls to try to turn their defence, failed to make their keeper make even one worthwhile save all first half. We still didn’t look great at the back when, after total domination, a simple three-man Fulham move saw Berbatov in; but for his shot going straight at Howard, we could have been two down.

Osman was creating well and following up to offer himself on the edge of the box for any cutbacks. Three came but all were well blocked by the home defence.
We forced corner after corner and all were either punched away by the keeper or headed clear by a determined rearguard.

Mirallas was raiding well down both flanks and causing problems but both Jelavic and Pienaar seem to be lacking form at the moment and were responsible for some very promising situations to pass by... none more than Jelavic who totally mistimed a tremendous Baines cross after great link up play with Pienaar and his header was... well, let’s just say miss-timed.

Coleman was raiding fast and well down the right but all too often his choice of cross was poor, often too near to the keeper or too low to bother a well marshalled defence. We had the sight of Jelavic being put in one-on-one by a bad Fulham back-pass but, where last season he would have clipped the ball over the keeper, he displayed all the hallmarks of a striker out of form and confidence by clearing angle of bar and post at the far stick.

Half-time came and how the Blues were still 0 - 1 we will never understand, only those in the 18-yard box could ever explain...

Second half and this was even more one-sided than the first as crisp joined-up football tore Fulham apart yet a goal would just not come. Mirallas was all dash and class as he got a great cross in that found Osman but his fine shot hit a defender. A Jags header across goal was somehow missed by both Heitinga and Fellaini from barely a yard out, incredible.

Then, 10 mins in, it happened. A goal made once again in Belgium as that man Mirallas raced down the right, I could see him look up and find Fellaini with a cut back cross to Fellaini who executed a fine side-foot volley and the net bulged. The faithful roared as Fellaini danced in front of them pointing to his name on the back of the shirt.

As often happens, as soon as we had levelled, Fulham got forward and Berbatov got a strong shot in at the near post which Howard did extremely well to palm away, a great save that somehow sums him up to me. Great shot-stopper touch; dodgy in assessing things with time on his hands.

For a short spell, Fulham increased in tempo and had us on the back foot... but this soon passed as our superior all-around play had us dominating again, with Mirallas to the fore, and one great cross saw the keeper just fingertip the ball away from Pienaar, who would've had a tap-in. That should've been the case for Jelavic, but he had not done the striker thing and anticipated that a half-chance may occur and race in; instead, he just hung out near the corner of the box.

Fellaini then fed Jelavic in the box and he was unfortunate to have the ball whipped away by a wide awake defender just as he was pulling the trigger. Mirallas did more good work and worked himself a shooting chance but blasted well off target. See – it can happen to the best. Mirallas then raided twice more and got in crosses, the first was just a little behind Osman who had tracked his run but the ball flew over; then the second was a cross that seemed to evade everyone and go right across the box.

Surely a goal had to come... and, on the 70-min mark, it did. Jags picked out Fellaini with a long ball that suits the build of the Belgian and scares defenders, he controlled and turned all in one movement and rifled the ball past a static keeper and into the net. Pandemonium broke out followed by all the songs we know as surely we had won it now, such was the gulf between both teams.

We continued to press and the best of these moves saw Fellaini hit a post but the ball came back at Naismith quickly and he was unable to get any real power and the ball was hacked away. Naismith was just on for Mirallas who had shone throughout and I thought it was a pity that the manager had found the need for the change but he may have been feeling the kicks he took last week.

Fellaini then volleyed a great Naismith cross and "GOAL!" died in our throats as the keeper made a great save.

Just on the 90-min mark Distin replaced Jelavic and I could see the reasoning behind that as Fulham were going for broke and the tall Hangeland was pushed upfront... yet something nagged at me that Fulham, seeing a front man go off to make way for a defender, would send even more forward and maybe get a reward.

This didn’t look likely as we went into injury time until Coleman showed his inexperience and defending nous in these last tense situations and got caught on the ball when it should have been long gone – indeed, a Gerrard-defined Stoke-like hoof was called for. Instead, Fulham took the ball from him and broke down their right and the cross evaded everyone across the box until Sidwell poked home at the far post with Coleman all at sea.

The silence of the faithful was deafening. We had done enough to win 20 matches but ended up with a 2-2 draw – Gutting!

MotM – Osman, Mirallas or Fellaini. Best three players on the pitch—take your pick.

Overall, a great display by the Blues. They looked a top side in all departments, except for that vital deadly ice cool head in the opposition box, and a propensity for defenders to make crucial errors at crucial times. A scenario that separates the very best from the very good.

All is not lost as plenty of games still to go; even with our frailties, we are in a decent position to kick on. We will need to believe that form is temporary and class is permanent for I believe, when we do manage to click in all departments, some poor team is going to get a hiding.

Sunderland next weekend and a sure three points – so bound to be a draw!. See you there to find out...
UP THE BLUES

Reader Comments (23)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

About these ads

---

, placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails', target_type: 'mix' });