Today we witnessed sporting heroism from a hobbling Ian Pearce.  The burly centre-back sustained a miserable ankle injury while undertaking defensive work in his own six yard box.  At first he could not walk for a while, but with time he became able to hop, then stand, then sort of run.  He couldn’t leave the field, three substitutes having been already introduced, so it was very much a case of ‘do what you can to help,’ Ian.   Well he did that, gamely battling obvious pain before earning a standing ovation and a point with a late equaliser.

Until then it looked as if all Fulham’s efforts were to count for nothing.   Again the whites started slowly and were taken aback in the third minute when Niko Kranjcar swung a shot from the edge of the box into the very top corner of Niemi’s net.  It was a wonderful strike.   From here Portsmouth were content to drop behind the ball, but Fulham, again employing no width, were unable to create much.   Radzinski’s high, swirling mishit of a volley was well-saved by James in the Portsmouth goal, Brown drove low to James’ right and was denied by another smart save, and Queudrue’s arrowed shot from distance was also repelled by the Portsmouth ‘keeper.   It wasn’t looking like our day.

Coleman made, for him, an early substitution, bringing Routledge on for Diop ten minutes into the second half.  The lively winger made a difference straight away, looking sharp, demanding the ball and showing good pace with his runs.  He instantly became the focus of all our attacking football and Fulham’s commitment to attack grew, with both Rosenior and Queudrue getting forward at every opportunity.  The pair had fair games, Queudrue tackling well but wasting possession too much, Rosenior showing off his pace and  getting down the right flank whenever he could.  It was an excellent comeback from him after The Wigan Problem.

Chances were rare, even with the introduction of Montella and John up front.   Pearce’s injury meant that Davies had to cover at right back, while Rosenior swapped sides and Franck tucked in at centre-half.  Portsmouth raided occasionally and Niemi made a couple of fine saves to keep things close.   But still nothing, until Smertin, who was excellent throughout, drove into the box.  The ball fell to Pearce, whose shot appeared to get a deflection before rolling into the bottom corner for that late, late equaliser.

The year’s first “Coleman Out” chants could be heard today.  Premature in my view, as the team was making a decent fist of the game.  Certainly we’ve played a lot worse than that this year and won, but people don’t want nervy draws at home to Portsmouth, they want goals, attacking football, and enjoyment.   On today’s evidence I’d suggest that we need to get back to a lineup that not only includes but features Wayne Routledge, as the current first choice configuration is too narrow, too uninventive, and isn’t going to surprise anyone.   With points being won beneath us we need to pick up wins.

Bouba jumps…

Post scuffle…

The hero returns to his station, a job done

Good morning!

I’m back from Edinburgh, having endured two five hour train journeys. On the second of these I sat next to a man who wore no shoes. This had predictably smelly consequences, but the train was crowded and I had no alternative.

But this aside, all is well and I’m looking forward to the Portsmouth match. Down there earlier in the season we were lucky to get a point, Portsmouth throwing the kitchen sink at Niemi, who was heroic in response. One save, just in front of us, saw him claw a free-kick out from right under the angle of bar and post, a wonderful stop. It’s nice to have him back. That day Zat Knight scored an improbable opener for us, but a late Andy Cole strike gave Portsmouth the point they more than deserved.

Philippe Christanval is out with the flu and Vincenzo Montella has a slightly off groin, so probably won’t start. This might mean we see the same team that played against Wigan, which could be horrible to see. But it’s a fullish squad and we’re at home so we must have some hope. And the last time I felt this ropey before a match we beat Arsenal, so the omens are good.

Meanwhile, the Sun and the Mirror are both spinning something out of not much in regard to our manager’s future at the club:

“A section of our fans have been unhappy with some recent performances and I think a lot of it’s to do with boredom,” he said.

“They get excited about being in the Premiership but after a few years demand the club move on.

“I said when I took over I had a five-year plan to stabilise the club in the Premiership, get back to and redevelop Craven Cottage and improve the training ground. At the moment I’m focused on staying in the Premiership but there will come a point when either I get pushed or I’ll decide I can’t take Fulham to the next level.”

Are the comments in question, which has been parlayed into:

COTTAGE CRITICS MAY SEE CHRIS DEPART

by the Mirror.

The Mirror also has the first two-thirds of that quote in another article with the same date on it, this one entitled:

COLEMAN FAN FEARS

Indeed. All of which has been overcooked here and elsewhere so let’s leave it there. One thing though: Sky Sports, using those same quotes, refer to Coleman as “The Welsh Tactician” again, which always makes me smile.

I’ll be back later on with words and pictures from the game. I have a weird feeling about this. We could see some goals today.

Fulham were quick to respond to an article on Reuters that suggested MAF is looking to sell up:

Following an article that has appeared on Reuters’ website today, claiming that the Chairman is interested in selling Fulham Football Club, the Club has issued the following statement:

‘The statements within the article quoting unnamed and unspecified ‘sources’ are untrue and highly damaging to the Club. It can only be assumed that these spurious comments are deliberately intended to unsettle and destabilise the Club at a critical time in the current season.

The Club’s Managing Director, David McNally, has written to Reuters demanding an immediate withdrawal of this damaging and baseless story, and insisted that an apology be issued in its place.’

Which is nice. Means nothing, I don’t suppose, but good work from the club to quieten things down.

Meanwhile, GBLB on TFI has sketched out Coleman’s spending on current squad members:

Volz 0.5m
Quedreue 2.5 m
Brown 2m
Helguson 1.3m
Radzinski 1.75m
Diop 2.5m
John 1.3m
Jensen 1.25m
Mcbride 0.6m
Bullard 2.5m
Dempsey 1.5m
Pembridge 0.5m
Davies 3m
Elrich 0.6m
Niemi 1m
Runstrom 0.7m
Zakuani 1.1m
Crossley 0.5m
(Smertin?)

I found that interesting, in that there’s really not a *bad* buy there. I mean, yeah, Elrich may not have worked out, Runstrom isn’t proven either way (even if he doesn’t appear, at this point, likely to break out) and Zakuani was purchased with the future in mind (he had been a regular at Orient since his mid-teens and is a full international; also, he’s been playing in a Stoke defence that’s ‘famously’ stingey). People criticise these future signings, but if there’s a young player you think might contribute then it’s sensible to move for him before everyone else notices, right? You can’t win them all, of course, but there are enough good players in that list to suggest that Coleman knows a player when he sees one. But what sort of player?

One thing the list isn’t big on is pace. There are good, solid professionals all over the place, but not a lot of what you might call va-va-voom. Fair enough, but to survive and thrive you’d perhaps look for a bit more. But add Wayne Routledge’s name to the list and assume a couple of players kick on, and perhaps we might be having a different discussion this time next year. I hope so. Chopper’s got a good article up about his take on things at present, and he likens our current state to Coventry a few years back. I see Southampton too, another team that was solid enough, kept on surviving, then didn’t. We, like West Ham and Charlton this year, are just a bad season away from dropping out of the top division. I’d feel a lot safer if we started to play to win rather than to not lose, but with the billions at stake this year I understand why things are as they are. It’s just not always a lot of fun to watch is it?

In another sport, this time basketball, here’s a really interesting piece about whether teams are losing on purpose to get an improved draft position. In American sports the young players go through High School and usually College before being allowed to join the professionals. At this point they’re all listed and the worst team picks first, and away they go until everyone’s got their fill. It ensures something of a competitive balance, and prevents situations like we have here where Chelsea own most of the country’s promising youngsters, Arsenal own most of the rest of the world’s promising youngsters, and Liverpool and Man Utd have ownership of the best two young goalkeepers in the country, even though they don’t need them. Anyway, the suggestion is that teams are deliberately losing to improve their draft position, which is unethical but makes every sense with the rewards as they are.

Interesting contrast with us, where there are no meaningless games because of the $£$£$£$£$$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£ on offer at the end of the season. In a way it’d be quite nice to relax a bit once we’re safe, see what an Ehui/Helguson strike partnership works like, etc. Not gonna happen, of course: money talks and entertainment walks (away).

Right, I’m off to Edinburgh for a couple of days. I’ll be back with Portsmouth discussions at some point. See you then.

Posting is fast and loose again owing to time constraints.  There’s a new Coleman video on the official site which I confess to not having seen, but someone who has suggests that we won’t now be seeing Vincenzo Montella starting against Portsmouth.

This could, of course, be nothing more than Coleman scheming and trying to keep Harry Redknapp guessing.  Montella, he is said to have said, might lack match fitness.  To which I have to wonder what match fitness is.  If Montella’s been training all month, has played for the reserves, he should be aerobically fit and well used to having people kicking footballs in his general direction.   Furthermore, he was unfit in all senses of the word when he first joined us but it didn’t stop him scoring goals, so what gives now?  

To my mind you start Montella and ask questions later.  If you’re in doubt, never mind, do it anyway.  The man’s a goalscorer and we need one of those like Posh Spice needs food.

Bruce at duNord reports that:

 Four USA players were released back to their clubs following yesterday’s game:
Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham
Brian Carroll - DC United
Tim Howard - Everton
Oguchi Onyewu - Newcastle

so I guess Dempsey’s staying with the USA, which presumably means he’s not needed for the weekend.

As you may recall, I keep an eye on Slavia Prague in the Czech league.  Well for the first time this season they’re top of the table.   Rock!

Latest highlights here:  http://www.slavia.cz/video.asp.  Looks like a fairly poor game (beat Brno 2-1 at home), but check out the last few seconds of the film… would that we could sort something similar out over here.

New video interview with the manager on the official site. It is short, but he says (I’m paraphrasing slightly) of the coming Portsmouth match:

“I can’t tell my players a certain way because they like to express themselves. We will attack, Wigan was a one off. At the Cottage there’s not a team we need to fear, we’ve beaten them all.”

I know this is just empty PR and yes, I am easily pleased, but that’s encouraging. He’s going have a go at Portsmouth, which is great if he means it. Let’s see how we line up on Saturday, but fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, from Volzy.com:

“Do I need to tell you that I’m absolutely gutted about being left out of the team again last Saturday?”

Nope. I’m gutted that he’s not playing, and what’s worse is that I can’t quite work out why he’s been dropped. The only things are that he was somewhat culpable against Man Utd, that Coleman had a very attacking bench for Wigan and Villa, and that Volzy was looking very jaded after his hard-running stint in our engine room. I’m convinced that Coleman’s not daft, so I wonder if it’s more a case of the last one. Volzy’s down about it but with a full squad Coleman can rest his players now.

At the risk of turning this into a Clint Dempsey site, here’s more on our flamboyant new signing. Today he and his countrymen licked Ecuador 3-1 in Tampa, Florida. Boca played and did okay, but I wanted to get a feel for how well Dempsey played. Understanding the sort of form he’s in would go some way towards explaining his use (or lack thereof) at Fulham. Well, there’s a good forum for this sort of thing at Big Soccer, a site at which I spent a lot of time last summer in the hunt for World Cup tickets.

Anyroad (I say ‘anyway’ too much, it’s lazy writing or something), I went to Big Soccer and looked around a couple of the relevant discussion boards. Here’s the combined wisdom on Dempsey’s performance:

Dempsey, what a disappointment. How long does it take a man to be game fit?
Demps seems to have lost his mojo.. missed a sitter and looked lazy and uninspired..
Dempsey- never really seemed to get into the match much and missed that horrible sitter. Still, I think the position is his to lose.
Dempsey was not the player I (we?) expected today. Perhaps it is the England weather. Perhaps it is because he has only had a month off over the past year. But he looked off.
I think Dempsey is still showing the rust of not getting consistent minutes at Fulham. regardless of his form now, he’s still our RM for this cycle.
Dempsey: disappoointing. Missed a sitter. Otherwise uninspired.
Beas and Dempsey can sit, based on today’s performances.
Dempsey is just in a fog. It looks like he just isn’t in any kind of rythm, which is understandable. I think he’ll come around, but it may not be as soon as we would like.
Dempsey, come on bud that was the worst show ive seen him give in a long, long time. He needs to step up i dont know whats going on with him. Realistically wouldnt mind seeing Mapp at RM next go around against guatamala just to give him a run for his money.
Dempsey - I guess riding the bench at Fulham isn’t helping his game much. At least he’s making more money. He needs to take a long look at himself and figure out where he’s going cause hs’s starting to fade. The other thing is that maybe he’s just not an outside mid? That was not the position he had most of his success at. He didn’t have a bad game, we just need more from his position.
Beasley and Dempsey are really killing the myth that players need to go to europe to develope. Neither was good.
Dempsey has had a long season and is learning the fastest most physical game in the soccer world on the fly. Maybe he shouldn’t even be in camp right now so that he can get a rest… but his two-way play IS better since going to Fulham, and I think we ought to cut him some slack.
Dempsey - Clearly not a good performance, but I’m not concerned. He has the goods but is out of form right now. He hasn’t had much pt in 6 months. I think that will change, and we should be patient.
He didnt do anything except lose the ball. Why was he on field for 80 minutes?
Looked off during the game. A few flashes, but overall not his usual self.
A rare underwhelming performance from Demps. Not only did he miss that sitter, but anytime he took the ball wide he lost it.
Not a very good performance. Looks tired I would of put fresh legs in for him in the second half.
Not bad, showed a few flashes, but the weakest spoke in the midfield alignment.
Out of sync with the rest of the team, made bad decisions.
he was willing to try, and I’ll give him that. But did he look like he was even on the same level as the Ecuadorians? Lethargic, like some old player who used to make brilliant moves, but time/injuries took their toll. I’m not sure what’s up, but hopefully he turns it around.
Just looks out of it, not really putting himself in position to be dangerous, and looks slow in his thought processes when he does have the ball with some space
yikes, you know things are going bad when he can’t even get the step-over to work! Whiffed on a goal that he ALWAYS puts away. Clint is not sharp now and looked disinterested today but I know his form will improve

Yikes. These are generally thoughtful posters so I trust their opinions. Seems like Clint’s in a funk now. It could be that changing country’s just got to him a little, these things do happen, but perhaps some of the comments above shed light on Coleman’s reluctance to throw him into the first team. Or is it a chicken/egg thing where that’s exactly what he needs?

Who knows? Interesting to ponder though.

UPDATE:  some replies to my question here.    Also, be sure to check in with Bruce at duNord later for his overview of the game, etc.

Right, well I’ll leave you with the thought that while things have been pretty dire for Fulham lately, there’s a reason for optimism: Vincenzo Montella. The Italian poacher is now back from suspension and I can’t believe Coleman will dare to leave him out of the Portsmouth game. If things go his way from now until the end of the season our situation could change massively.

Occasional Fulham player Wayne Routledge scores in the first ever real football match at the New Wembley.

1341: GOAL England U21s 2-1 Italy U21s
Wayne Routledge, who has not scored in the Premiership this season, puts the home team in front. Giorgio Chiellini fails to cut out Matt Derbyshire’s cross and Routledge smashes the ball home from a tight angle. Stuart Pearce, watching from the stands, is heard to shout “great ball” during the build-up.

Hurray!  I wonder if Coleman was watching?

Volzy’s interviewed in the Guardian.

He clears up the whole Hoff thing:

And you’re a fan of the Hoff…
Well, as soon as I stepped foot on this island as a German I was labelled as a Hoff-worshipper, so I thought I would take it to ridiculous levels and really take the piss. I’m not a fan of the man, but of how an often ridiculous figure can create such hype. Unfortunately a lot of people didn’t get it and took me seriously and now I have this [wearily] never-ending story. It worked out a lot better in my head than it did in real life.

Brilliant.  He’s a class lad, Volzy, and another that I wish we saw more of in the first team.  Looking back on the season, our best run came with Volz and Brown up the middle, it was a lively pairing that did a bit of everything.

Meanwhile Clint Dempsey and Carlos Bocanegra are preparing for their US v Ecuador game. Boca’s really turned into a good player this season; some harsher judges mention the fact that he played through the Christmas stretch where our Goals Allowed started to get out of hand, but generally speaking I think he’s done pretty well. I like him and Christanval together and think that in time they could make for a good, if slightly short (see how Spurs used Mido to beat us) defensive partnership.

Dempsey we’ve discussed. Coleman’s just giving him tasters at the moment. I tried to go back on Youtube last night to look back on some of Deuce’s goals compilations, but Dad’s internet connection groaned under the load so that’ll have to wait. It does, however, strike me that we’re in danger of his not being ready becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. At some point you just have to throw him out there and see what happens.

(Dempsey in training this week, (c) US soccer website)

If you do this you have to be prepared for him not contributing at first, but as I’ve said before, Routledge took a few games to get into the rhythm of things and Dempsey may need the same. This team really lacks a bit of unpredictability and Dempsey’s surely our best chance of making something out of the ordinary happen (especially if Claus is forever banished). He has looked a bit tentative so far, but we signed him because he has this unusual ability: the man’s a walking box of tricks with an eye for goal and if that does translate to the English game he’ll be a big success. I really hope we see him play before the season’s out.

Right, not much today, we’re off to Bath (the place).

Thursday brings us little of note, other than the news that last night’s reserve side was bewilderingly strong:

Fulham: Lastuvka; Volz, Knight, Watts, Queudrue; W Brown, Pembridge (Ehui 70), Collins, Jensen; Montella (Hudson-Odoi 74), John

How about that?  Despite the ‘big’ names on show, the team was only able to get a 1-1 draw with Reading’s reserves, which is slightly underwhelming.  But unlike the first team games, reserve team matches aren’t all about results, so hopefully the lads enjoyed a good run out.  It was at the Madejski Stadium so maybe it’ll give the lads some inside dope for the forthcoming Premiership fixture there.  Who knows?  Anyway, our goal was an own goal, theirs a penalty.

Absent from the reserve game was Clint Dempsey.  This is because the man’s with the US National team preparing to take on Ecuador.  In so doing he, and his teammates, will be wearing a brand new pinstriped Third Strip.  You can see it here.

Here is a quote from the website:

The 2007 MNT Third Jersey is another example of Nike’s worldwide commitment to providing players with garments that are both comfortable and technically advanced. Nike fabric technology wicks sweat away from the body through the shirt while featuring raised nodes on the underside that lift the shirt away from a players’ body to keep the skin drier and reduce shirt cling. The jersey also features breathable weave side panels that help keep a player cool.

Indeed.

Finally, the Senegalese FA is cross because we haven’t released Bouba for a game against Tanzania.  Coleman is insisting that Diop is carrying an injury, to which the Senegalese FA have replied:

“We have sent faxes to Fulham, FIFA and the English FA. If he is injured as they claim, we want to verify it ourselves - as the rules say we can.”

Which is fair enough.  I haven’t been especially impressed with Coleman’s attitude to Diop’s international career. I understand that Cookie gets cross when Diop returns from these trips with an injury, but sometimes I get the sense that he thinks that just because he doesn’t know much about Senegal and its opponents, the games are somehow not important.  Anyway, if Diop is injured maybe someone more attacking will get a game against Portsmouth.  Grinding out abysmal 0-0 draws in Wigan is one thing, but if he plays that way against Portsmouth he’ll be booed by a lot more than 800 people.

Wednesday’s edition is brought to you from my Dad’s study in Wiltshire. My folks have gone on holiday, hopping over to Amsterdam for a few days. I trust them to behave themselves and stay out of mischief, I think. Anyway, when this happens someone needs to look after the dogs, and I’m always up for a job like that, so here I am.

Double good news in that my sister had picked me up a Colorado Rapids shirt from her recent travels and I’ve just got my hands on it. Worryingly similar to Chelsea away, in that it’s the adidas template, but there’s a load of black on it and it has the Rapids logos and stuff, so yeah, great stuff and I’m delighted. Also she got a buy-one-get-one-free induced Mexico away top, so that’s cool too, another white shirt, this time with some green bits. Both are lovely and light, both will be great for the summer, both will make my girlfriend wish she had a more sartorially adept boyfriend.

Also: I’m not at work, I’ve got 6 music on, and I’ve just listened to Afghan Whigs live in session from ‘94, and now they’ve got Sebadoh’s Too Pure on, which is fantastic. Now some old Dinosaur Jr! Wowzers. If there was any way to be a professional dog-sitter I’d be there tomorrow.

Fulham? Not today. It’s been a terrible week for following Fulham and all the negativity’s getting me down. I wish we had a game on Saturday to make things better, but we’ll have to make do with England losing in Israel instead and all the hot air that’s sure to generate. Sometimes I just wish the press and the whole media thing would just take a couple of weeks off, let us watch the games, form our own judgements, and get on with enjoying things as a sport. Then Steve McLaren would never have had to take the media training that has made him act like such a smug politician, and we might have a manager with half a soul in charge of things. Sven was called bland by the press, but I don’t think so. That man had depths alright, they were just too deep for our hacks to reach. He saw the English media comedy for what it is, but was being too well paid to get away from it. Points off for the Ulrika episode, that’s just wrong on so many levels, but I liked Sven and I wish we had him back. Perhaps he’ll fancy a bit of managing at Fulham in the future?

Meanwhile, I suggest that you all wander over to Bruce at du Nord. American Soccer (well I couldn’t say football could I; it’d be too confusing) is growing in popularity all the time and Bruce covers about all you need to know about it, and does so with considerable style. Have a look.

The Coleman in/out arguments are bubbling away like a saucepan of tomato soup that’s been on high heat for two days:  it’s all very hot and exciting at first, and the soup was splashing madly all over the cooker, but you can only boil these things for so long before they end up as black and smelly and ruin the pan and possibly the kitchen too. 

My point?  Perhaps there isn’t one.  Perhaps there is.   One thing’s for sure though, we haven’t got a beautiful tomato soup to taste.  Sometimes these metaphors do more harm than good don’t they?  No matter, nothing ventured, nothing gained. 

And on the subject of bad vegetable related issues, Bjorn Runstrom has covered himself in glory at Luton.  From the Sun:

LUTON striker Bjorn Runstrom has delivered a bizarre attack on the club — insisting his team does not have a chance of staying up.

Runstrom, whose struggling side have lost six games in a row, slammed Town’s coaches as “clowns” and said some of the players would be better off in American football because they hoof the ball into the air.

His comments will come as yet another blow to the Championship outfit, who sacked boss Mike Newell last week for criticising the board.

Swede Runstrom, 23, is on loan from Fulham and played 11 minutes as a sub in Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat to Ipswich, which left the Hatters second bottom.

He said: “I wouldn’t bet a penny on them staying up. They dug their own grave when they sacked Newell and put me on the bench.

“An iceberg would have a greater chance of making it in Hell than Luton have of staying in the Championship.

“Against Ipswich, we played the same as we have lately — like s**t. I prefer the bench to going out on a pitch where half my team kick the ball as high and far as possible and the other half run away to avoid getting a pass.

“Some of the guys would be good American football kickers. The others should get out of football.

“I hope I don’t stay here and be humiliated. For the fans’ sake, I still hope for a win. But with these clowns for coaches, I doubt it.”

Luton striker Warren Feeney is set to play for Northern Ireland against Sweden next week.

Yet Runstrom said: “He’s completely harmless. He’s scored one goal in, like, 30 games. And that was when the defenders were out to get their hot dogs!”

Well, what can you say?   Fair play, Bjorn, but, er, what sort of service is he expecting back at Fulham?  Because, y’know, we’re not averse to the odd high ball are we?

UPDATE:

From Nick the Swede on TFI:

First things first, this is old news and comes from a 4 day old ”interview” on Björns own fansite. The interview was removed very quickly after Björn phoned them up – so as usual the Sun is lying. He’s never said this to any journalist.

I believe Björn has said these things because it ”sounds” just like something he would say ;) He would however never, ever say it to a media representative and if he’s said this to Fredrik who runs the fan site it was most likely not meant to be published.

The apology from the fansite and a new interview with Björn was published on Sunday evening and it doesn’t say anything like the text that the Sun has stolen claiming to come from their interview.

More on the Rosenior affair (from the Guardian):

“I just went to clap them and they said a few things that maybe they will regret,” said Fulham’s right-back. “I love this club, my dad was here, I’ve been here since I was a little boy and to get a reaction like that is really disappointing. They travelled a long way today and they are paying a lot of money to come and see us but we give our all week in week out.”

“It’s really hurtful. We’re defending for our lives with five minutes to go and all you can hear is ‘boring, boring Fulham’. A lot of teams have come to Wigan this year and not managed to get a point. It would have been great if it was a football spectacle but would it have been so good if we had lost 4-2 today?”

All of which is, I think, fair enough.  Our defence did do fairly well in containing Wigan, and would’ve gone of thinking ‘job done’.  But that’s not enough for supporters getting up at 5-6am and giving up their Saturday.  Fulham don’t have to try to play football; we don’t have to watch.  I’m damned if I’m going to Middlesbrough at the end of the season.  It’s not Fulham’s fault that Premier League football has become so drunk on money that it can’t stand up, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it.  

It’s been said that there’s merit in getting draws in games like this, and this is true.  But a draw was the absolute best we could achieve playing like that, and if Wigan had played with any gumption they’d have won the game.  We weren’t going to score, not playing a system that’d only work with the 2002 version of Michael Owen up front.  And with respect to Brian McBride, who can do many things well, he’s not the 2002 version of Michael Owen.

The other issue that is often shoved aside at this time of the season is that a lot of us like watching football for the spectacle.  Sport, to me, is partly about the joy of watching gifted athletes at the top of their profession.  That’s why Arsenal are so nice to watch: they do things the right way.  We can’t play like Arsenal, but once in a while we play in a manner that’s not entirely dissimilar.  It’s why I like watching Routledge, Queudrue, Claus and even Clint Dempsey.  Watching them in action is aesthetically pleasing; they’re good *footballers*, they do things that ordinary cloggers can’t do.  

I don’t think any of us would’ve minded a 0-0 draw in Wigan if we’d had two wingers who at least afforded us notional opportunities to attack and occasional chances to entertain.  But by loading up on defensive and narrow midfielders, all we could do on Saturday was defend, all we could’ve hoped for is a coincidence goal.  It was, as has been said a hundred times over, absolute rubbish.   I only wish we didn’t have to wait two weeks for Portsmouth and a chance to forget this sorry weekend.

Wow.  Fulham and Wigan ghosted to a draw and nothing at all happened.   We had two shots, Bouba skewering a quarter chance high and wide in the first half, Brown skewering a long-ranger wide late in the second.  In between Wigan had a few moves, missed one sitter, and that was about that.

Boca and Pearce played well in handling Wigan’s forwards, Bouba looked committed and won a lot of headers, but the rest of the team collectively played their worst game of the season (worse than Sheffield in my view).  It comes to something when Michael Brown is not making any impact at all, as was the case yesterday.     There really is nothing more to say about an awful, awful match.   Both teams wanted a point.  They got it.  Thanks, lads.

Off the pitch things got a little more tasty.  At the end of the game Liam applauded us.  Whatever we think of him, the lad cares.  He was first to clap us again.  He was answered with loud booing from the back of the stand.   Liam hadn’t expected this, grabbed the badge on his shirt, made shouting gestures and waves his arms in rage.  The crowd shouted back:  “F*ck off, Rosenior, F*ck off, Rosenior” to the tune of Liam’s usual tune.   Liam stalked off.

The lads probably felt quite clever with such a sharp response, and I can see where they came from.  Liam had played as if his confidence is gone, his passing as bad as we make it out to be, his defending pretty good, as it usually is.  Moritz Volz, who I rate highly and others like a lot, was not in the squad.  We had travelled a long way, getting up at 6am, to watch a terrible game.  People were cranky.

But I think they overstepped the mark there.  Liam gave his all again, and in his mind he’d probably just been part of a solid, bend but not break defensive effort that earned us another point towards survival.  We didn’t attack much (at all) but that’s not Liam’s fault.  And here he was clapping us, as he does (and again, he was first to do so), and all he got back were boos.  Not specifically aimed at him, but boos.  He was angry at this, frustrated for a number of reasons probably, and reacted badly.   I don’t think he’ll forget this, as being told to “f*ck off” by a crowd can be taken on a number of levels, none of them positive.   The crowd had been negative but good humoured until then, but I think crossed a line there.

The team lined up with Niemi-Rosenior-Pearce-Boca-Franck-Davies-Smertin-Brown-Diop-Radz-McBride.  It was a team that I had predicted on the way up, and was predictable in the way it played.  Coleman had HH, John, Routledge and Dempsey on the bench.   No Volz, no Christanval (who’d played in midweek for Europe), no Claus (who has the ability to turn games like this).  The team’s play was unimaginative and negative.   People have tried to get more people to away matches but if Coleman isn’t going to bother sending a team out to play then why should we bother to watch it?  It’s an argument I’ve heard people make before and I’ve never agreed with it, but this was a low point.  The team *is* capable of playing football, it was just too scared to try yesterday.   Another point.  Thanks, Chris.  I’ve been even-handed, fair-minded and fence-sitting all year, but that was unadulterated shit.

Moritz Volz, Claus Jensen, Wayne Routledge, Clint Dempsey, Vincenzo Montella, Phillippe Christanval.  All can play football.  I hope we see them again soon.

Some pictures:

Ready to go…

Antti’s  alert, which Boca watches Heskey

Meanwhile, Radz finds space…

The young lads formed a posse near the front, hoping to make something happen.