Craven Cottage Newsround

Lest we get too carried away, nothing much has changed.  But Charlton saved and then lost their game at Everton, while Wigan stuttered all the way to the finish of their game with Spurs, a match that showed why the team’s in such trouble: 1-0;1-1;2-1;2-2;3-2;3-3.  At some point Paul Jewell must have felt like summoning a local witch doctor and getting on with some serious voodoo, either on Keane and Berbatov or perhaps even on his own defence.  Losing one lead is unfortunate, losing two’s careless, but three?  Mon dieu.  At this time of the season too.  They won a point but lost two more.

All of which underlines how difficult it is for teams at the moment.  We watch Fulham’s dubious attempts at football and wonder how on earth this team is supposed to get another point, but the fact remains that we are still slightly ahead of the chasing pack.  And that chasing pack still has a lot to do if it’s going to reverse a whole season’s worth of dodgy form.   Charlton and Wigan showed yesterday that games in hand mean absolutely nothing for bad football teams.   It’s been a valiant surge by Alan Pardew’s men, but like West Ham, they dug themselves and enormous hole to begin with.   I’m feeling that little bit safer this morning.

Doubly so because Lawrie Sanchez  has gone on record as saying that Carlos Bocanegra’s dwelling in the buildup to Reading’s goal on Saturday will be the last time something like that happens while he’s in charge.  Good.  For too long we’ve given up shoddy goals, sometimes all the goals we give away are shoddy even, so if Lawrie’s got some trick that’ll make our defence concentrate and not do stupid things, well, the man’s alright in my book.   He’s confident too (from the Guardian):

“They said I couldn’t beat Spain, couldn’t beat Sweden and couldn’t beat England,” said Sanchez. “So I’ve proved the impossible is possible. That’s why I’m here. That’s my unique selling point. If they [the players] want to see what can be done against the odds, then they’ve only got to look at what I was achieving two weeks ago [with Northern Ireland]. Once they know, ‘Yeah, he knows what he’s talking about’, which I think they do now, then they’ll get the rewards that go with it and they’ll do it better next time.”

“I could have written the script on the first half,” he said. “Why? Because I’m a manager and I can see things before they happen. I’d like to think it was calm and constructive [at half-time]. It was pretty much, ‘That doesn’t work for you, this will, let’s do what works for you’. It’s an easy decision for the players.”

Splendid, and on we go.  Blackburn, worn out yesterday, another game on Wednesday, well they’ll be ripe for the beating on Saturday won’t they?  Hurray. 

Defeats are expected these days, but there was some fight there today. And if it didn’t look like much of a performance, let’s just say it was a massive improvement over what we saw in Sheffield and Wigan. But we needed at least a point and didn’t get a thing.

Reading were quick out of the blocks and had early chances. Niemi made a wonderful reflex save early on, jabbing out a foot to flick the ball wide at the last moment. Fulham couldn’t keep the ball. We went one down with a typically Fulham concession, the ball not being cleared, players not dealing with their responsibilities and the ball squirting across the six yard box for Reading’s Hunt to smash home from close in. Same old, same old. Sanchez will know what he’s dealing with now.

From there things improved, but not to any great degree. We scored a goal from a Diop header, disallowed for offside (wrongly said Sanchez post-game), but rarely tested Hahnemann apart from that. Meanwhile Niemi made another fine reflex save to keep us in it, and Ian Pearce went off with more ankle trouble.

The second half was much better, the game being played in the Reading half, but still chances were rare. Simon Davies, losing his battle to become a Fulham regular, couldn’t beat Hahnemann when clean through, McBride, who’s playing on reputation now, headed in completely the wrong direction when better placed than he may have realised. The final big chance fell to Michael Brown, who hit the top of the bar following good work from Dempsey and Montella. That was that.

Sanchez had stayed with our usual side, minus Smertin. Diop was recalled and Routledge started on the wing, with McBride and Helguson up front. The team looked short of confidence, unsure of itself without its manager. The relegation issue seems to have been driven home. We were unfortunate to lose Pearce early on, although Zat Knight played as well as he has for a while in his stead. Elsewhere Rosenior, who applauded us at the end with a feeling that is absent in his colleagues, had another committed game and is impressing me more now than at any point in the season so far. Unfortunately, on the other flank, Franck Queudrue had a stinker; he mightn’t have been match fit, but his passing was atrocious. To his credit he kept trying when he must’ve wanted the ground to swallow him up, but that was a dire performance from my favourite Fulham player. Hopefully he’ll rebound next week.

Then we get to the (even more) troublesome part of the team: midfield. Brown looks lost now, and was missing in the first half. He revved into action after the break, but that wasn’t the captain we’ve been enjoying this year. Diop was alright alongside him, but Routledge also had a poor game and Davies is striving for average at best. Up front McBride needs a summer holiday and Helguson was willing if not hugely threatening. His best moment was grabbing a Lucozade Sport container in a threatening manner after being victimised by a poor refereeing decision.

Where now? Unlike others, I could see Dempsey growing into the game when he was brought on. He ran with purpose a couple of times, and found himself in a decent (albeit offside) goalscoring position late on. He also made a chance for Brown (via Montella), and at least looks like he can use a football with positive intent. Montella… may be a fine player, but you can see that we’re not going to get good value from him playing as we do. Before he signed some wondered if Fulham would be good enough to make the most of his runs. Well the answer seems to be no, and doubly so because we only ever see him for 20 minutes.

So there we are. Another game another defeat. Blackburn’s a must win game, but haven’t they all been lately?

Gallery:

Defending:

Goal! During the half-time kickaround…

Montella shows what he can do… also at half-time:

Heidar had a rough old day:

Well tomorrow the new era begins.  It may be a short new era - that’ll depend on results - but whatever, it begins tomorrow.  And we’ll be there from the front lines (literally, we’re in row B) reporting on all the action.

Things are feeling a lot brighter now aren’t they?   What with the new management team, the thought of a more attacking lineup, and a sort of beatable side that may be sort of going through the motions by now, and is certainly in pretty ropey form.  More: they’ll be missing Sonko, Convey, Murty and Lita.  Kevin Doyle might be out, Steve Sidwell might be too.  Lawrie Sanchez couldn’t really have asked for more in an initial away match.

So that’s positive.  Add to that a raucous away crowd (well we’ll be excited, and we’ve sold it out, so why not?) and players trying to make a point, and, well, let’s hope it all goes to plan, eh?   This year’s been full of so much dashed optimism, almost every time I expect anything good to happen it hasn’t, but tomorrow’s different.   COYW!

If you type “football (or soccer) tactics” into Amazon.co.uk you get some interesting sounding stuff. The first in the list is “Flat Back Four” by Andy Gray, which I scrolled past because I think he’s an insufferable blowhard, but straightaway there’s a really good book called “Soccer Modern Tactics: Italy’s Top Coaches Analyze Game Formations Through 180 Situations” by a man called Zauli:

A comprehensive look at modern zone formations through the eyes fo the author and ten high level professional Italian coaches. Arrigo Sacchi (Milan, Italian National Team), Marcello Lippi (Napoli, Inter, Juventus), Walter Novellino (Venezia, Napoli, Piacenza), Carlo Ancelotti (Parma, Juventus), and Renzo Ulivieri (Parma) are among the impressive list of contributors to this valuable coaching reference.

You really get an insight into the game. Much of it goes over my head, but I’m glad I have the book.

There’s a Charles Hughes/FA book next on the list, which I didn’t look at either (done a lot more harm than good, that), then something called “Soccer Strategies and Systems” by Jens Bangsbo, who’s a Danish coach. I have that book too, it’s not as interesting to me as the Italian one, but there’s a lot of food for thought.

The final book I picked up was “Match Analysis and Game Preparaton” by Henny Kormelink and Tjeu Seeverens, a pair of Dutch coaches. This is described thus:

An inside look at the match analysis and game preparation methods of some of Holland’s top coaches. Included are chapters by Foppe de Haan of SC Heerenveen, Bert van Lingen, Frans Hoek, and Jan Rab, Chief Observer for the Dutch National Team. Examples of actual match data reports and a full match analysis are also given. Also included is an analysis of World Cup 98 with Jan Rab.

This is another fascinating little book. You might think I’ve gone too far in this, turned from supporter to trainspotter and lost the plot. And you might well be right, but I’m one of those people who likes to understand things, to find out more.  It drove my mother mad when I was a lad, me asking why every ten seconds, but it’s the way I am.   As I said, much of the information within these books was too hard to follow, and to be honest, not especially interesting on a piece by piece basis (e.g. if defender 2 does this then defender 4 must do this, especially if attacker X is doing this… gets a bit dry). But being so obsessed, I kept trying. Why, I wondered, could four defenders who all seem quite capable, who are being protected by a lot of defensive midfielders, concede so many goals? What is it that they’re doing that I can’t see when I watch a match. And while I can’t pinpoint the answer, I now understand that there are about 50 *little* things defenders need to do when an oponent attacks. Presumably then these little things all add up, and the more of them you do the better able you are to cope with the unexpected.

From reading the books I think I understand why Jan Lastuvka has had issues. And I definitely understand more about formations and why Italian coaches might use different formations for different games. Incidentally, on the latter, Gianluca Vialli’s book is quite good on comparing the differences between English and Italian football cultures: the former eats, sleeps and drinks tactics, wanting to learn more, whereas over here we’re not fussed, don’t want to overcomplicate things, and are more concerned with motivation. Who’s won more World Cups lately?

And what on earth has this to do with Fulham?

Les Reid. Reid, by almost all accounts, is a first rate coach. He wasn’t made for managing, but he’s been there, done that, and got the t-shirt where coaching is concerned. I’ve spoken to Charlton supporters who all agree on this, and all think he’ll be very useful at Fulham. When I was reading the books above I sometimes wondered if Coleman would do the same. Would this big, striding Welshman be devouring information on the finer points of the game, as his Italian counterparts surely would? Perhaps… but perhaps not. 

There’s a danger of me sounding like an arse in this post: I don’t for a minute mean to suggest that simply by reading a couple of theoretical manuals about defending Coleman could have improved the team.  Of course not.  He’d done his diplomas, he knew what he was doing.   What I am suggesting is that there are always degrees of knowledge in these things.  There has, for some time, been a suggestion that Coleman is a) fairly weak tactically and b) had relied too heavily on Steven Kean for this side of things, something that he had been encouraged to change if the rumours are to be believed.   We, of course, cannot know if the above is true.   We don’t understand the game enough, so we can’t make this sort of judgement.

But, Les Reid is, by reputation, very strong on the very thing we *suspect* we’re bad at.  And if coaching and tactics are important, and I think they are, and we’re going to be a little bit better in these areas, well, that can’t be a bad thing can it?    That’s why I’m positive.  But it’s all speculation at the moment.  We’ll see how it plays out on the field.

“Voschev, for his part, turned over onto his front and began disgruntedly muttering about what a mysterious life it was he had so pitilessly been born into.”  -Andrey Planotov, The Foundation Pit

Which must be how Chris Coleman feels.   One minute he’s the strutting young manager, running a top-flight football club and being praised in the media for his work with what is widely perceived to be ‘a limited budget’.   Then his wife bugs him (literally), his team stops getting points from their hacktastic efforts, one thing leads to another and before he knows it he’s unemployed.   Northern Ireland’s manager is called in to salvage next season’s TV treasure.

Collins John and Antti Niemi have stuck their heads above the parapet, and both seemed aghast that such a thing could have happened.  They weren’t worried about relegation, and felt sure that things would work out in the end.  But this is how footballers think: remember the World Cup?  When it mattered most, our boys would find a way to win.  Well they didn’t, did they?   That was the danger here.  While Collins and Antti and doubtlessly most of the rest of them were happy enough with their future form, others saw things differently and have taken action.

It’s not surprising that both players were loyal to Coleman, who’s always been a players’ manager.  And maybe the players were just putting a brave and consoling face on.   But a few people are slightly disturbed that more urgency hadn’t crept into their words, that the struggle ahead didn’t seem more of a threat.   After all, we’ve all been cacking ourselves for weeks.  The realisation that you care a lot more about the club than the players do is not a nice thing, even if it is almost certainly true in most cases.  

Which is where Lawrie Sanchez fits in.  A number of us were concerned that the team would struggle to win another point this season.  And if that seems extreme, well, what else *could* we think given the way the performances have gone from bad to worse in recent weeks?   Now at least there is hope.  My perverse concern is that Coleman’s magic touch against the big clubs was what was going to save us, and without that we’re going to get stuffed, but if you’re relying on beating Liverpool and Arsenal for survival something’s not right is it?  Indeed, if we do go down, it’ll have been our travails against other lowly clubs that will have done for us, but let’s not think about that for now.  No, Lawrie Sanchez must now do as he does with Northern Ireland, galvanise his troops and get us some of those there point things.   Glad I ponied up for Reading tickets now!

Not a lot to add from yesterday. We learn that Sanchez arrived back from holiday, took a phone call, then whizzed off to Harrods to meet MAF. At which point he’ll have had to urgently work out who he had in his squad and what they’re all capable of.   Luckily he has Dave Beasant to help him.   The same Dave Beasant who was, apparantly, in fits of laughter as he walked across the pitch after the Man City defeat.

Meanwhile, while the rest of us were watching Man Utd rip up Roma, Chopper went to Motspur Park. His thunder was stolen slightly by Chris Coleman’s removal, but it’s always great to read about the reserves, see who’s doing what. Great stuff, as usual.

That didn’t take long:  Belfast Telegraph links us with David Healy

Eurosport’s “Who is this Sanchez man?” thing

Also, Reading’s official site says that Sidwell’s an injury doubt for the weekend, which is frankly massive news.

Fulham Football Club this evening announced its decision to replace Chris Coleman as Manager with immediate effect.

Chris Coleman has provided a fantastic service during his ten years at the Club and it is disappointing that the Club has no alternative but to part company. As a team and organisation Fulham Football Club has goals to attain and success to achieve and by no means can this be compromised.

As part of the re-structure, Steve Kean will also be replaced with immediate effect.

After consultation with the Irish FA President Jim Boyce it is agreed that Lawrie Sanchez will join as Caretaker Manager for the remaining five Premiership games of the season.

Really didn’t see that coming. Coleman *is* Fulham to me. Earlier in the season he carried himself across the pitch in that bold, alpha-male way of his, a leader if ever there was one. That swagger had gone of late. His interviews never really changed, he retained that affable way he had to the end, scratching his nose as he talked and making all the right noises about being positive and understanding the predicament, but in the end results do matter more than personality and the board have decided enough’s enough.

And so Laurie Sanchez comes aboard. Frankly this man has achieved more than most in football, taking Northern Ireland from laughing stocks to the top of their UEFA 2008 group. And I don’t use the term laughing stocks lightly: they went over 12 hours without scoring in one stretch. Now they’ve beaten England, Sweden, and many others. Sanchez’s thing is getting the most out of his players, getting more from them than people thought they had. Put that way, he’s an astute signing.

His arrival now, for the last five matches, suggests that a lot of the heavy lifting behind the scenes has been done over the last week or two. In that respect, credit the board with foresight and decisiveness. It’s never a nice thing to do, but relegation is there for the taking, and something had to change. I thought Coleman would get the chance to make these changes, to fix the mess he’d made, but understand that the club is in a bad situation and that results have been dire for a long time. Sanchez has, presumably, been well briefed, will have watched the team a few times, and now has them for three days in training. He will be inheriting Coleman’s squad, but won’t have his own favourites, won’t be determined to grind out 0-0 draws from the remaining games, and presumably will inject some life into things. Again: it’s an astute pickup.

My regret is that I didn’t see Coleman leave the field on Saturday. I like to clap the team off whatever’s happened, and I like to make sure the manager knows that he’s being supported. Some quarters find this attitude strange and insist on booing, but to my mind, being positive has to be better. The players and the manager know they’ve played badly and that things aren’t good, and having 20,000 on their back is hardly going to lead to the sort of flowing, instinctive football we play when we’re at our best. And I applaud because they’re Fulham and they’re doing their best.  People like Coleman, Rosenior, Volz and Brown are visibly shocked when they leave the field after defeats.  They don’t deserve boos.

Chris Coleman did a decent job for Fulham, but with everything at stake the club needed to act.  It’s a shame, and reflects the fast-paced, money-ruled world of instant gratification we live in today, but Coleman, should he wish to, will get another job, and I’m sure everyone would wish him well in that.  Now he’ll get to spend valuable time with his family, while someone else gets the sleepness nights and the stress.

Lawrie Sanchez, ladies and gentlemen. How about that?

Well things are all very negative aren’t they?   Gone are the days when managers were given a chance to get themselves out of a mess: there’s too much money at stake now.   For whatever it’s worth, I’m as disappointed as anyone about results, but can’t see that a change would make much difference now unless it’s extremely well thought out and a real manager with a real track record is brought in.  

There’s nothing particularly different about now and a month ago, except that we now have less time to make things better and that teams around us are improving their results.  If a change was due, perhaps it was due earlier in the year.  This team, as we’ve discussed, has been teetering on the brink all season, but large doses of good fortune and the ineptitude of others has kept our heads above water.  Well now our rivals have got their act together and our luck’s run out, and here we are fighting for our lives. 

Like a few people, I can’t see where our next win’s coming from, but you can apply this thinking to the entire season to date and we’ve scraped by so far.   So perhaps all isn’t lost.  We have to remember that Watford are down, that West Ham are going to have to play like Champions every week, and that Wigan, Sheffield Utd and Charlton all have ground to make up on us.  A narrow survival seems the most likely outcome at this point.

Which is nothing to get excited about, but would represent a minor success all things considered.   Let’s not forget that a lot of people thought Fulham were due to go down this season.

None of which escapes the problems we have on the field.  We can’t score goals unless a defender makes it happen (to repeat from yesterday, 5 of the last 6 have been from the back, 3 from Bocanegra), and we’re conceding them all over the place.   The dynamic of the team is a confused mess, with a back four, two shielding midfielders, but no collective presence to repel opposing attacks.  We haven’t scored a goal from outside the box for an eternity, we haven’t scored a goal from a passing move for an eternity.  We have absolutely no weapons to attack teams with.  No wonder we can’t get results.  

Simon Davies floats around and generally keeps possession, but I confess to have perhaps overvalued this in my initial reaction to him.  Now I just can’t see how he helps *this* side, beyond serving up the set-pieces for our defenders to attack.   Smertin has fitted in nicely and is out-Browning Brown, who looks exhausted and ineffective at this point.  His game is based on tenacity and energy, take those away and you’re left with a hole in midfield.  Routledge is buzzing around well again, and it’s great to see him back in the side, but even if he were in the form of his life, who would make the most of any chances he creates?  McBride looks more knackered than Brown.  Heidar’s a favourite of mine, but he needs crosses to be of any use and they’re not happening either.  Montella’s been a let-down, when all is said and done.  He worked brief wonders in the cup, but the suspension and injuries have cut him off since.   What to do?  How *can* things change? 

I really don’t know.  The defence will be reinforced by Queudrue next weekend, but that’s about all we can do.  Given Coleman’s vow to tighten up and take flair from the equation, he’s clearly trying to close the game down and hope we can make a difference from set plays.  It worked for Greece in the 2004 Euros, but that was built on a cast-iron defence.  And our defence is nearer rusty aluminium than cast-iron. 

It’s depressing.  When I left the ground yesterday I was staring blankly into space, numb.  I had been expecting good things, I’d had a good easter break, then that.  It’s not the defeat that hurts, it’s the sheer hopelessness of it all.  If Man City pick us apart on our own turf, how can we expect to get anything from the better teams we must now face?   We can’t.  We can’t expect anything, which is why everyone’s so down.  We can hope that the great Fulhamish god in the sky has a surprise in store for us, and I’m sure He has, but will it be enough?  I have to think we’ll survive, but it’s been a sobering few weeks and the fury and negativity we’re all seeing is doing nobody any favours.   Let’s hope we can squeeze a win from Reading next week.  They are, after all, the only team in the league in worse form than us.   Fingers crossed.

The stage seemed set: a bright, sunny afternoon, a crowd in relatively good cheer from the start, and opponents we’d hope to beat.   Nope.

Joey Barton scored the first, a low drive from the edge of the box.  My memory is hazy but there was the vague whiff of defensive mishap about the buildup.   Barton slipped Beasley in for a second, and in the second half Rosenior’s slip, attempting a difficult clearance, left Vassell one on one with Niemi, and the City forward buried the ball for a third goal.  In between Niemi had made a couple of fine saves.

Fulham had started quite well, but were let down by some extraordinary passing into spaces where no white shirt was running.  The last team to pass like that at the Cottage were Charlton before Christmas, when they were in the midst of their awful run.  Davies shot hard but just wide early on, Smertin smashed a half-volley from 20 yards that the City ‘keeper palmed over the bar, but beyond that chances were rare.  The team played to feet where they could, but too often this simply ended up with going backwards to Christanval in the hope that he could make something happen.  Christanval is a fine passer, but this felt wrong.

Coleman’s reaction to this was to throw on Tomasz Radzinski.  Now, I’m less critical of Radzinski than others, but this single gesture was heartbreaking.  You need to get back into a game, you need hope, and you see Tomasz Radzinski coming on.   My first thought was:  if Radzinski’s the answer, you’re asking the wrong question.   He buzzed about and yeah, he’s a fair footballer, but he also has a decent track record of not scoring or making goals.  It was so underwhelming.   Predictably, Montella arrived next, and predictably he failed to really make an impact.  City were massing the defence by now and with Dunne and Distin in decent form there seemed to be no way through.   Routledge took a knock, Dempsey arrived next, but this made no difference either.

Then we scored.  Predictably the goal came from Carlos Bocanegra.  Five of our last six goals have come from defenders, three of them from Bocanegra.  This, I fear, tells us all we need to know.  Fair play to Bocanegra, who’s been outstanding lately, but his own muted reaction to the goal was instructive.  The goal came directly from a Simon Davies corner, Bocanegra charging to the near post and thumping his header home decisively, and suddenly there was hope.  But for all the huff and puff that followed, chances were rare and a comeback was never likely.

If we thought that was a must win game and we lost it, what does that mean?  Soon our points cushion will be gone, soon we’re going to have to win a game.  The unthinkable is looming.

Today’s montage features Volzy getting a bang on the head:

Hold onto your underpants. Tomorrow the whites face Man City in a game that simply must be won. It is, by some distance, the easiest game we have left.

Coleman’s job now has to be one of relaxing the players. The team has played well at times this year, but has been underwhelming when too defensively constructed. We’ve been playing not to lose rather than to win, which can’t happen now. So what will we see tomorrow?

I am, as you may have noticed, currently enjoying rare spare time. I’ve been playing around with Photoshop a fair bit, and it enables me to bring you my traffic light guide to tomorrow’s squad. Pointless? No! Never. What does this revolutionary tool tell us then? First, we have four green lights at the back, but with Christanval likely to start. Franck might too, his injury against Everton possibly being a mischievous circumvention of the disciplinary system (Franck’s on 9 yellows, but as of today the rule has changed and the ban from any card will not be so severe now).   As Zat likes to say in his programme notes, “The big man’s outta here” (after another dodgy display, Zat.  Thanks for everything though).   You would assume that we’ll see the same midfield as per Everton, but the problem lies up front where suddenly we’re back to McBride and Helguson again.

This might work, but it could also see Coleman go 4-5-1 with Diop back in the side. I hope not. While 4-5-1 can be great if it’s 4-3-3 often enough, usually with Fulham it’s just a recipe for punting the ball at McBride, something Man City’s bus-sized centre-half Richard Dunne will deal with all day. The rabbit in Coleman’s hat is Clint Dempsey, whose selection would certainly surprise Stuart Pearce’s team, but unless Coleman’s desperate to make something happen I can’t see this coming to pass.

Ah, we can speculate all day. What matters is that we attack, we attack, and we attack. We the supporters must shout our heads off. That’s about that. I think we’ll win 4-1. There’s no reason there, I just have a hunch.

Yeagh.  West Ham, 3pts, Sheffield Utd, 1pt, Aston Villa, 3pts, Charlton, 1pt, Man City, 1pt.  Only the sound of a pig’s ear being made in Wigan offers consolation.   As it stands, things are getting worse.

Fulham tried a different approach to playing away, but this didn’t work either.

The whites got into a number of promising positions and scored the game’s first goal, but Everton’s greater quality proved crucial. Carlos Bocanegra, our only goal threat these days, opened the scoring with another fine header. But Everton hit back straight away as Lee Carsley burst into the box and slid a fine finish into Niemi’s bottom corner. He was not picked up by a Fulham midfielder, and Zat Knight was fractionally slow to challenge him. Initiative surrended.

Brown was harshly penalised on the touchline, Arteta spun a fine free kick onto the head of Stubbs, whose header was planted past Niemi at pace. Bocanegra’s challenge failed to put him off, Niemi’s dive might have been more effective. Then on half time Fulham, and Knight in particular, failed to clear, the ball found young James Vaughan and the young forward smashed the ball past Niemi for three. Earlier he had hit a post following a fine Lescott cross. At this point they were all over us.

The second half was different though. Fulham created some good situations, and with slightly better execution may have got back into the game. The best chance, a header from McBride, slipped wide of the post, missing by nothing at all. Undeterred, the whites poured forwards and won a number of free-kicks in the Everton third. But the chances came and went, Knight headed high when well placed, Helguson did the same. On a number of occasions the ball fizzed around in the Everton box but went unclaimed by Fulham forwards. Had he been playing, Montella might have found space, might have reacted to these situations, might have scored a couple.

So we mounted up well over a dozen shots on goal, yet Tim Howard was scarcely tested. And while Fulham lacked quality when it mattered most, Everton showed how it can be done. Anichebe arrived as a substitute and scored with his first touch, a confident, firm finish from 15 yards following more good work by Everton’s master of puppets, Arteta. A punch in the stomach for sure, but bad things happen to teams in freefall.

Coleman might say that he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. We criticised him for being negative at Wigan, then he opened things up here and we lost 4-1. But I would suggest that if we’d played like this at Wigan we’d have won easily, and that if we’d taken chances tonight it could have been a different game. What it’ll probably mean is that we’ll go back to tight, narrow, fearful football on Monday against Man City, when the situation demands that we have a real go at them. It’s a must win game, 1-1, our scoreline of preference it seems, wouldn’t be an acceptable return from the easiest game we have left.