Review of Game
Fulham again failed to win the league yesterday, that’s four league games without a win so far this season, our worst top flight start to a season since the 50’s, but it’s not all doom and gloom. Yes it was a game many of us will feel we should have won, and yes there are a lot of things that still need to improve, but we are getting there slowly as Jol starts to get his ideas across to the squad.
We dominated for long periods against a Blackburn side that were set up for the draw, - Steve Kean using a philosophy that many Fulham fans would recognise from his time as Assistant Manager at the Cottage, where a point away from home is better than losing – and also one that rarely threatened.
We started the first half brightly as both sides seemed to be afraid to make a challenge and so many players found time and space on the ball and we got into a few threatening positions down both flanks with Sidwell spurning the best chance when he failed to wrap his foot around the ball from Duff’s pull back – the one time he found someone from a cross all game.
However, the game then seemed to drift for a while with both sides content to have possession of the ball without really looking threatening. Ruiz, our new £10million man was thrown in at the deep end with less than a couple of days training and into a system, where the squad are still trying to understand their roles within the team, and it showed as he struggled to adapt to the pace and strength of the Premier League. In fact it was from him losing possession that we conceded the opening goal, one that no doubt was a good strike, but possibly could have been preventable.
The strike seemed to wake Fulham up though and Bobby scored an equally good goal just six minutes later, although you have to question the challenge made by Givet. In fact by this stage we should have had a penalty as a misplaced Scott Dann back pass allowed Bobby in on goal, only for Salgado to jump all over BZ and prevent him getting a strike away. Half Time came and the score was 1-1.
The second half followed much the same pattern with Fulham dominating possession without really threatening to score too often, whilst Blackburn relied on the counter attack and the pace of their young side. Time and again we would get into good positions only for the final ball to let us down, and although we were getting good numbers in the box, no one tried to get across the first name and create something, although Robinson in the Blackburn goal was forced into a couple of good saves towards the end from Murphy and Dempsey. It looked like one of those days again where nothing would go right and the more I watched the more I could see us losing from a Blackburn counter attack.
The fact that it nearly happened in injury time was more due to Jol trying to win the game more than anything else which resulted in us getting caught out late on and saw a sickening clash of heads between Schwarzer and Holliet (Blackburn’s best player for me) that resulted in play being held up for over 6 minutes . Blackburn failed to score from the resulting free kick and the game petered out into a draw.
Overall Thoughts
Yet again, we failed to capitalise on our domination of possession, and although we are clearly going through a change in formation, with Jol trying to make us a bit more fluid and allow the players to interchange position, this was a game that we needed to win. I still can’t work out why Jol persists with Hughes at right back, when clearly he is uncomfortable there and we have better players in that position. It makes no sense to split the Hangeland / Hughes partnership up in the middle of the defence, even if Senderos has played all right there so far this season. If it ain’t broke it, don’t fix it.
Going forward is where the problem lies, yes we play nice football, but there is no cutting edge to it, and when we get into a good position, our final ball is something I would expect from a schoolboy playing football, not someone who get paid £25,000 a week. I mean how many times did we hit the first man yesterday? Ruiz looked like a man out of his depth yesterday, and is clearly going to need time to adjust to the pace of the game here, but also more time training with the team.
Jol is maybe trying to change things too quickly, a bit like Hughes last season, but if he is given time, I would expect it to pay off for us, although really the Europa League is a distraction we could without, if nothing else it would benefit the team from having more time on the training pitch to try and understand what Jol wants from them. Overall the performance are still much the same, we pass the ball well without threatening, but we do look more exposed at the back so far this season, and a big improvement is going to be needed next Sunday if we expect to beat the Juggernaut that is Man City at the moment.
Player Ratings
Schwarzer – 6 – Had no chance with the goal and to be fair had very little else to all afternoon.
Hughes – 5 – went off injured after 25 mins, but for me needs to played CB not RB
Senderos – 6 – Looked composed on the ball and has not really put a foot wrong since coming into the team.
Hangeland – 7 – Won everything in the air and is starting to bring the ball out from the back, hardly threatened from Set Pieces though.
Riise – 7 – a typical performance, bombed down the left all game, although we need to stop letting him take free kicks, don’t think he has got one past a wall yet this season
Ruiz – 5 – Only played 45 mins and struggled, although he clearly is not a right midfielder. Will need time to adjust to the league I think
Murphy – 6 – Had an average game and unlucky not to score in second half, although his dead ball deliveries were not to the usual standard.
Sidwell – 7 – Got about the pitch well, and should have done better with the couple of half chances he had, the team looks better with him in rather than Etuhu
Dempsey – 7 – Showed some nice skills when on the ball, but otherwise an all round average game
Duff – 8 – Started the match behind Zamora, but seemed to have a free role, Was our biggest threat going forward, but his final ball lacked at times. Finished game at left back
Zamora – 8 – If only for the goal, which he took very well, was unlucky not to get a penalty before scoring and had a good battle with Dann. Still does not look fully fit though.
Subs
Kelly – 7 – Came on for Hughes and played well, got forward well, but at fault for the header that lead to Schwarzer clash of heads with Holliet.
Dembele – 7 – replaced Ruiz at half time, and again showed glimpses of his skill, still needs to learn when to release the ball though
Johnson – 6 – Did not have much time to make an impact, although he might have scored had Bobby not got in his way
Manager Rating – 6
Jol is still trying to get his more fluid approach across to the players and it shows at times. He still baffles me with some of his selections, Hughes at right back being one, when clearly Baird and Kelly are both better there. Also cannot understand the decision to start Ruiz on the right when he looks the sort of player to prefer playing behind a big man like Bobby. There are signs that things are coming together slowly, and the squad now definitely has more depth and quality than it did, but with games coming thick and fast this month, time is something that we may not have if we don’t to be in a relegation dog fight this season.
