The Jimmy Bullard show - Fulham 1-0 Sheffield Utd
Yeah, that was better. Fulham put together a very sound performance yesterday, winning 1-0 but having chances galore to make it more. In the end Jimmy Bullard’s free kick was the difference.
Fulham started very brightly. The team was unchanged but for Collins John’s introduction instead of Helguson. This was the third combination tried in three games, and is probably the pairing that’s looked most effective, although we do have to remember that it was against a Sheffield Utd that Fulham should beat. But John looked fairly lively and even hit the post in the first half. McBride still looks a little isolated though. Fulham, and Rosenior in particular, are still sending too many aerial balls to him that are just being dealt with too easily by defenders. It’s what David Pleat calls ‘coincidence football’, in that if anything comes off it will be more through luck than judgement. And that’s a dangerous way for a top flight team to play.
But they did pretty well. Brown had another tidy enough game, the Wardrobe showed that he has fantastically good control in tight spaces, and was a rock in the midfield. The back four was again sound, with Christanval in particular having a good game (in one stretch of play he had three key interceptions/blocks in about 20 seconds). Liam Rosenior got down the flank well in the first half, definitely his best game of the season.
In the end Fulham were probably a bit too good. The goal came from a free kick that was probably just about the right decision, Jimmy Bullard stepped up and whipped it past a flat footed Kenny into the top corner. In the second half he maintained the high energy levels and thumped a shot against the Hammersmith End goalpost from 25 yards, a shot that came about after Radzinski had messed up when clean through. McBride was also put through in the second half and shot wide, Kenny getting a slight touch that made all the difference.
So a livelier team that now has 4 points from 3 games and is probably fairly happy. Good stuff.
Also worth noting that everyone in the Johnny Haynes stand got a free t-shirt commemorating the man. Nice touch, Fulham, thank you.
