Craven Cottage Newsround

Well perhaps, when all is said and done we will not have been a scoring machine. But looking at the league table today you may be shocked to see we are tied for 3rd in the Prem. with 9 goals scored. It’s true and we sit only behind Liverpool with 11 and Arsenal with 10. High powered Tottenham also have 9. Good company to keep, ya?

But before we write home to grand-dad with the good news, mind us to look at what we’ve given up so far this year. And the magic table says…………11. Yikes! We are in a 3 way tie for the second worst record. Derby is of course the worst of the worst with a whopping 15 goals given up in 6 games. That’s 2.5 goals per game. Bolton and Spurs are tied with us. Reading is running a close 4th with 10.

It’s also interesting then to look at goal differential. Let’s look at the bottom of the table, where of course we are tied 5th worst.

Derby -11
Reading -7
Bolton -4
Sunderland -4
Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Tottenham and Fulham all with -2
Portsmouth -1
Villa 1

So what does this tell us? Well, quite simply, we need to do a better job of keeping the ball out of the back of our own net. If you didn’t know much about the team but did know Lawrie Sanchez came in as manager this past year, you would probably assume that he plays an attack first sort of game, throwing defensive caution to the wind. But we all know this is not the case at all. In fact coming in, many thought that Sanchez would be a very drab and defensive sort of manager.  He was accused of playing boring long ball tactics by some of the former Fulham players who are no longer on the roster. But that has been anything but the case.

(UPDATE) Thanks to White Noise on the new TFI board for pointing out this first-half stat. It’s really amazing. Fulham rank #1 if we were to just play the first half of a football game.

So we know that the defense has given up too many goals in the later sections of games. Look at this graph which shows “when” goals have been scored for us and against us.

Nothing new here. We all know it. 5 goals which is approximately 45% of the goals scored against us in the last 15 minutes. And of those 5 goals, 3 were in the final 2 minutes. Arsenal scored in the 90th, Villa in the 90th and Middlesbrough in the 88th. Which is of course why everyone has been asking the question, what does this team need to do in order to learn how to “kill teams off” as Danny Murphy was quoted as saying yesterday.

So what else might we be able to find looking at these statistics? First of all, Sanchez said that Man City has been as lucky as we’ve been unlucky. Referring to the fact that City have won 3 games by 1 goal and we have lost 3 games by 1 goal. I don’t think I need to tell you that City sit 2nd in the table. But for a few breaks we could be in that same spot, we really could! Of course they won’t remain there as I hope FFC will not remain in 16th. All things even out in time, we hope.

Last week our defense looked very solid for the first time all year. We all wish for a similar showing this Saturday as we combine consistency in the back with the new found attack Lawrie has orchestrated up front. If we can stabilize things in the back, things will start going Fulham’s way and who knows, perhaps in another 6 games from now City and us will have swapped places in the table.

Tomorrow I will bring you some individual statistics that I was surprised with and think you may find interesting.

-Brian-

(I’d written this before I saw Brian’s post, so am posting it anyway… different viewpoint I guess)

Wow, heavy news from down the road.

I’m quite sad about this.  I know he was an ass, and that he managed our arch rivals, but I liked Mourinho.   His owner wanted his team to become a galactic extravaganza of superstars, but Mourinho, sensibly, resisted this.   He understood that teams win games, not reputations.  So while, for example, Real Madrid have spent the last few years tripping over their egos, Mourinho has gone about building teams a different way.

Or tried to.  Ultimately the money burning a hole in Roman’s pocket became Too Much.    Amusingly he paid Milan the £30million they had asked for Andrey Shevchenko, and also foisted expensive misfit Michael Ballack on the team.   Ballack was and is a good player, but with Big Frank in the side, where could he play?   It upset Mourinho’s carefully crafted team (a team built around Claude Makalele, the polar opposite of the galactico philosophy).  He had to juggle things he didn’t want to juggle.  It didn’t work.

So the owner looked at this and decided that enough was enough.   As is his right, of course.  But I don’t know that it’s in his club’s best interests.  Now they have to start again, spend more millions, and spend them wisely.  It could produce the greatest team on earth, it could produce a laughing stock.  Time will tell.

I appreciated Mourinho’s approach to the game.  Behind all the media silliness was a loyal and intelligent manager.    He has achieved a lot in a short time, and the league will be worse off without him (assuming he doesn’t pop up at Spurs, which frankly wouldn’t surprise me.  What better way to stick two fingers up at your former employers than fashioning an even better team on the other side of town?).

So yes, they’ll be in disarray for a bit, and perhaps this is a good time to have a derby match.  But without the pantomime villain in the other dugout,  will it lack the spice of previous encounters?   Probably not.

In a day filled with rumors of his resignation, the BBC broke the story tonight/early morning, that Jose Mourinho has resigned as manager of Chelsea FC. They reported that he had texted his senior players including John Terry to tell them the news.

Chelsea’s official site has had a very short statement saying that the Portuguese manager had left the club by “mutual consent”.

However, ESPN’s Soccernet is reporting a somewhat different story. They are saying that Mourinho did inform senior players that he was leaving following training on Wednesday, but one of those players was sure that the manager had not resigned but had been sacked by Chelsea. They are also saying that Mourinho and Abromovich had a crisis meeting after Chelsea had only drawn with their Champions League opponent Rosenborg. According to Soccernet the two had a “furious falling out”.

One thing you have to say about Mourhino is he likes attention. And everything he does, he does in a very big way. I remember when he first came into the league I thought he was entertaining and in some ways was good for the league. But in my opinion the man got on my nerves very quickly and his antics grew old. I can’t say that I am sorry to see him go.

-Brian-

UPDATE:  Forum archived here. 

Excellent recap on the fans’ forum there from Brian.  We’ll cover that in more detail when it’s archived, but once more it sounds as if Sanchez is talking a good game.   And why not?  We’ve started well, and but for a succession of bizarre collapses would be where our next opponents are now. 

Not much to talk about in the meantime, but here’s a rare Adrian Leijer sighting:

“I expected to play for Melbourne but Fulham obviously liked me as a player,” Leijer said yesterday. “Things have worked out well for me and Melbourne Victory,”

Fulham gave Leijer No. 37 and he has been playing in the reserves since he arrived in London a month ago.

“I’ve signed for three years,” the defender said.

“I’m more of a development player. I’m not expecting to go straight from the A-League to the Premier League.

“Fulham is setting up a group of players about my age and, hopefully, will develop them into Premier League players.

“Obviously I intend to put my head down and work hard.

“Whether I start pushing for the first team is, I suppose, up to me and my performances in the reserves.”

Nice to know that we’re taking development players seriously.  Bringing players through the system is far more cost-effective than constantly raiding Championship squads, and while we have competition for the best local talent, grabbing players from the US and Australia makes huge sense on a number of levels.  Leijer might make it or he might not, but conceptually I believe it’s a sound signing.

Here’s Diomansy Kamara on his goal celebration.  I’m not sure I fully understand him, I thought he was making a strange “C” shaped gesture by his ear as he ran around.   Oh well.

Finally, Danny Murphy on being at Fulham.  Again, this looks like a very astute pickup.   Murphy’s played football with some very good players in his time, and seems to have his head screwed on.   He gives us backup in a position where we’re a little short, which is always a good thing.  But he’s more than that, a good enough player to be a regular starter too, so if Davis or Smertin should wear down we can make a change without concern.  And Jimmy Bullard is going to enter the equation at some point too.   Good stuff.

“I thought the lads played great and to go to Wigan and put in a performance like that says a lot as it isn’t an easy place to go to. But its like the gaffer said, sometimes you need to kill games off and we will be working on ensuring we do that in future games.”

Indeed.  How they do that remains to be seen, but I would guess that the law of averages will help.    We can’t keep conceding late goals.  Can we?

When you’re old, It’s not the money that you remember is it? It’s the memories that keep you warm at night.

-Lawrie Sanchez-

Well, I did my best to try to listen to the Fulham Fans Forum yesterday. The problem was, I was working and was trying to stream the BBC live, wearing headphones and being called away from my workstation pretty regularly. So I know I missed a lot and I’m sure there are others that came away with more than I did. And in fact if you wanted to listen to it I was told that the BBC London would be archiving the program on their site today. I don’t know if that means a podcast or streaming but either way it’s certainly worth a listen. I looked for the link but couldn’t find it yet. So if anyone finds it please post the link in the comments section and I will update this post with that link.

So here are a few of the highlights I got from the program. Remember, I am paraphrasing here with just a few notes I took. I don’t have an actual transcript to refer to.

Lawrie Sanchez:

- When I assessed the players at the end of the season and I knew we needed to improve. There were only 5 players in my opinion who were able to take to Fulham to the next level.

- Quite frankly, the team had got stale. The Chairman and I talked and agreed we had to make some big changes. We couldn’t add just one or two players. We needed more quality in the team. I believe I’ve done that. We now have more balance and more competition in all the spots.

- Villa and Arsenal teams are teams in the top 6 yet when we played them we should have won them both.

- Man City is on the other side of the lot. They have three 1-0 wins. I think Sven would tell you that he was as surprised as anyone in how well they’ve done so far. Longer term, they will be caught up. They’ve been the opposite of us. They’ve been lucky, we’ve not.

- Niemi was less than impressive in his first game back, Keller did well.

- I’ve read in recent days what Liam has said about me and the team. When I sat down with him this summer he came straight out and said he felt he was better off moving on. I assumed he had someplace to go. We found out later he didn’t. So we started looking for him. We asked a lot of clubs but no one had any interest. We orchestrated the deal with Reading. They didn’t want him at first so I offered them a swap with Ki-Hyeon. Even then they didn’t want to do it. It took some convincing. I don’t think Reading is really convinced Liam is an outside right back either.

- Seol is a wide player. He’s a big boy, he can strike the ball with both feet and he can play just about anywhere.

- Goals for the team are to consistently be in the top ten. To be competitive in every tournament competition. To be self sufficient financially and to sell out every game.

- I was just telling the players the other night that I’ve walked out of many a famous stadium as a winner when I played. Games where my team went in as the underdog, yet we won. I need my players to have that same belief. When I coached Northern Ireland I had a couple of players that were there mainly for the break. So I sent them home and they didn’t get to participate in the victory over England. They missed out on that night and won’t ever have those memories. When you’re old, it’s not the money that you remember is it? It’s the memories that keep you warm at night.

I’m a great film fan. In Bull Durham, (a baseball film) he said he had 21 days in the show. Well, this is the show. The Premier League is the best league in the world. Maybe not technically, but for pace, entertainment money spent. There’s nothing like it.

-Brian-

Rosenior believes the style of football being played under Lawrie Sanchez at Craven Cottage would not have helped his chances of breaking into the England setup.

“I want to be England’s next right-back,” said Rosenior in the Daily Mirror.

“Micah Richards is doing a great job, but I honestly feel I am as good as him and within the right environment could prove to be even better.

“People may say that’s arrogant and that I am living in a dream world, but I honestly believe that.

“But in order to show it I need to be playing in a certain way, and that wasn’t how Lawrie wanted to play.”

Rosenior is expected to make his Reading debut on Saturday when his new club visit promoted Sunderland.

It’s a quiet news day today so let’s go back to this story, which appeared earlier in the week.

One thing that jumps out here is about this “style of play” thing.  I’ve mentioned it before because Claus and Franck Queudrue both mentioned it as they left the club.   The strange thing is that on the field the Sanchez era Fulham team has shown more attacking gumption than Coleman’s efforts, and the football has been pretty good at times.  

What I suspect Liam’s getting at is that under Coleman a lot of our attacks actually came through the fullbacks: typically either Liam or Franck would see a lot of the ball in any given game (the stats last year agreed with this).  Sadly for those of us who had paid to watch, they abused this authority to strike wayward elevated passes in the general direction of Brian McBride, with little or no end product resulting.  

This year Baird and Konchesky are emphatically defenders.  Their remit does not extend to attacking, which notionally ought to make us more secure at the back.   And I think it will:  just as we’re scoring more than I had expected, we’re conceding more too.  This should settle down in time, I would guess.   But this might be what Liam’s getting at.   He probably sees himself as a dynamic, wing-back type, which would appear to be anathema (is that what I mean?) to what Sanchez seeks in a fullback.  Or not, but that’s how it looks to me.  Brian might have a better idea.

Big Point Two:  the original debate with Liam had been whether he was good enough to be Fulham’s right back.  Some said yes, some said no, but I think most of us saw potential in him.  But to me that potential, if realised, would’ve got him to an acceptable/above average level in the Premiership.  Not to the point where he would be a dominant force. 

So he’s raising the stakes here.   The first thing to say then is that Micah Richards is no ordinary right back.   He is as outstanding a young defender as I can remember:  fast, strong, steady, fearless, good in the air and in the tackle, able to score goals and link up with the midfielder in front of him, and possessor of a presence that is exciting Sven no end.   He has it all.  He could be very, very good in a very short space of time.   Peak Sol Campbell good.

Liam is quick.  He is very good at shadowing a winger in a one-on-one situation, and has shown glimpses of ability haring down the wing.   But to compare him to Micah Richards is not sensible.   Liam is right to be confident - top level players pretty much have to be if they’re to survive - but this is delusional.  

Good luck to Liam, who I’m sure will appreciate Steve Coppell’s understated and cerebral approach to the game, but I don’t know that he’s being realistic about what he can achieve.  

PS Reading played Liam in midfield on Saturday.

There.  Over-analysis, eh?  He he.  There we are.  Hopefully we’ll get something more to talk about soon.

Rich

Excitingly, I’ve been interviewed by the good people at FulhamUSA.

This whole Fulham Review thing is really taking off to an extent that Martin and I could never have dreamed.   We just have to hope folks will buy them at the weekend now.    So if you’re at the game, please do say hello.   There should be a good crowd of us dotted around:  me, Hady, Martin, Toby (who set this whole thing off), Matthew Crockatt’s relatives (Matthew’s manning the shop until close to kickoff)…. so we should be visible.   So yes, like I say, come over and say hello.  You don’t know happy it’ll make us feel.

And if you’re not at the game, hop over to www.thefulhamreview.co.uk and order one!   Sorry, I’ll stop plugging it soon, but a lot went into this and we want it to do well.

cheers
Rich

Some odds and ends for a Monday lunchtime:

Lawrie on the “Road Hump”:

“There is no mental block for me because I have got no history with it,” new boss Lawrie Sanchez insisted.

“And if there was a problem with the players here before, there are not that many left.

“It is just a fact of life that Fulham have won one game away in the last two years.

Indeed.  We should have won on Saturday and could have done so in either of the two preceding away games.  The away hoodoo should become a thing of the past fairly soon.

Clint on the game on Saturday:

“I only had three chances and I scored one, so to me that is a good stat. I have to keep looking at the positives and I’m scoring goals right now,” the American told The Sun.

“We thought we might be on for a win so it’s disappointing, but we’ve got a point and that’s better than we’ve done the last few times away.

“If we look at the positives then we’ll be a better team for it. We can’t dwell on it and think ‘what if’, then we’ll just find ourselves in a hole.”

Though he thinks Fulham outplayed Wigan for long periods at The JJB Stadium, Dempsey was not too disheartened with the draw.

“I thought we were the better team and at least we ended up with something to show for it,” he explained.

“I don’t think people will be low but I don’t think people will be jumping around on the bus home either.”

Fair enough again.   This thing about him missing chances is getting daft: Clint scored one, missed a couple of half-chances, end of.  No striker alive scores every time he tries to.   Clint’s got 3 in 3.  That’s pretty good, no?

The one thing I’d mention is that all four of his goals for Fulham have been hit first time.  He has yet to control a ball and then put it away.  Time will tell if this is indicative of his general ways or a coincidence, but the good old Youtube highlights are also full of him converting chances first time.    Something to watch.

Finally, I was just flicking through a Reading fan site and saw the following among their list of positives from the Sunderland defeat:

“Rosenior’s corners”

Well I’ll be…

Oh, the second Baker and Kelly podcast (thanks to Ormondroyd on TFI).

UPDATE:

Not an update as such, but just seen this on the Official, courtesy of White Noise:

Ian Holloway’s new autiobiography is being previewed in ‘The Times’ and this extract clearly shows that LS was a little bit different to his colleagues -

The one occasion I did go out with the lads, I realised not being out with them regularly was a bonus after one of them spiked my drinks. The next day I had to be taken off at half-time, but none of them told Harry [Dave Bassett, the manager] why I was struggling and that it hadn’t been my doing. There was definitely a bullying culture at the club and if you were on the receiving end, as I was quite often, you had better have thick skin, otherwise they’d destroy you.

Some of the things the lads did to each other, such as cutting the bottom of your jeans pockets so your money falls through or cutting out the crotch of your pants so when you pull them up they go right up to your chest, just didn’t make me laugh, even though it was happening to other lads. Even if I had been in the right frame of mind, I still would think it was childish at best, because it’s not my type of humour.

Lawrie Sanchez [now the manager of Fulham] was on the end of a lot of Wally’s wind-ups, but he wasn’t having any of it and just let it wash over him. He would read a book, listen to music or concentrate on the successful wine bar he owned – he didn’t give a toss what they thought and I admired him a hell of a lot for it.

Isn’t that interesting?  I’ve always found the footballers’ culture of practical jokes a bit weird (people cutting up each others’ underpants, chopping off a suit at the knee, etc.. I mean, isn’t that just annoying?  I don’t expect them to spend their time thinking up clever puns or anything, but…) so this makes me warm to the boss even more really.   Must’ve been a tough fellow to stand up to his teammates in such a team (and Wimbledon certainly had a lot of ‘characters’ back then).  Respect.

If you’ve not seen it, here is Mr. Dempsey’s goal vs Wigan.

In watching this it’s clear to me that Dempsey didn’t receive a give and go pass from Kamara as many of the news reports said, but the ball was swept away from Kamara by a defender and it just rolled on over to Dempsey who picked Wigan’s pocket with a good clean left footed finish. Nicely done on the build up.

Another comment from this play that seems to be a pattern with this new FFC team; watch again and see how quickly the play develops. Shades of counter attacks and Arsenal. But I’ve really been noticing this from the very first game of the year against that same Arsenal. In fact I do believe I even commented on this early this season on a post. I enjoy seeing that ball being played quickly forward and with some skill and creativity. When a team is put on the back foot so quickly, good things happen, just as this goal proves. We may have not even have made the final pass that allowed the shot and goal but the quick build up of pressure allowed it to happen.

And speaking of, I think we still need to learn to get better final balls into the box and have a few more finishes than we are getting. If my memory serves me correct from our previous game and in yesterday’s game where we controlled possession, we still didn’t dominate on shots or shots on goal. That needs to change. I’m certain Lawrie has been working with the boys on it and will continue to do so.

Another thought on the game report compared to the video highlights. Bocenagra’s header really wasn’t that close. Not only did it bounce over the bar as was reported but it was well wide. But I do enjoy watching how he losses defenders on his runs. The man is getting very good at it. Bocanegra has most certainly learned how to beat defenders to space and how to pick out those open spaces on set pieces. I was taught years ago to come clean on a set piece you need to use the two components of time and space by changing direction and changing pace. Watch this video of the highlights of the game and you will see how cleanly Bocanegra gets away from his man by what we call a darting run. Check and change pace is the key. Exactly how he scored his goal in the U.S. game v Brazil. Quality!

Bouazza’s foul was unnecessary and caused by a lack of marking in the first place. Then he had to play catch-up and pressure Melchiot which resulted in the foul. Also, while watching this video look at far post (right of our box)upper penalty area. Not sure who that Wigan player is but he was totally unmarked! Come on boys, a full 90 minutes are required.

I expect to see Seol Ki-Hyeon replace Bouazza next week. Sanchez seems to be a big fan of his and was gushing about him in his press conference this past week.

At 88 minutes we almost give another goal. In this way all those on the board that are saying we are crap, well….they’re correct. But the team is not crap and all this relegation talk is rubbish. It’s a new team with a new manager and he is trying to get all these players to gel and be on the same page. In my opinion, so far so good. But we do need to start getting some results soon. We’ve got to put games away earlier when we have the opportunity. That way we’re not panicking in the final 10 to 15 minutes of play. The good news is we’ve actually had chances to win every game we’ve played but perhaps the Spurs contest. Keep it up I say and hopefully it will all fall into place soon.

So what happened to all those “boring long-ball” comments I heard from some of the departing players on why they didn’t want to stick around at Fulham. Boring, boring Sanchez? I think not!

If Lawrie Sanchez was working to create a different type of team at Fulham he has certainly done that. This roster and its style of play looks nothing like the team 2006/2007, and thank you for that Lawrie!

Results aside for now, who would rather watch this team play than Cookie’s team of last year? Ah, I thought so.

-Brian-

For the third away game in a row Fulham took an early lead. Diomansy Kamara caused havoc with a surge into the Wigan box, the ball, no longer under anyone’s control, squirted loose to Clint Dempsey, who calmly steered a left footed shot wide of the advancing Kirkland. From here we wondered if the much delayed first away win was soon to arrive. We should have known the answer.

Wigan had nothing. They lost the in-form Heskey to a turned ankle early on, and from there Antti Niemi’s goal was under no threat whatsoever. Fulham were not dangerous either, but were good value for the lead.

As usual, we had chances to kill of the game, and as usual they fell to Dempsey. First he swapped passes with Bouazza on the edge of the box, but this time Kirkland was out fast and charged down the American’s snatched finish. Then Smertin mis-hit a shot across goal and Dempsey’s attempted flick dribbled frustratingly between the goal and Kamara. This was barely a chance, but sniffs like this are the difference between winning away and not winning away, and at some point we need to start taking our opportunities.

And so it was with a horrible inevitability that Wigan equalised.  Melchiot burst into the box having neatly exchanged passes with Michael Brown. Bouazza caught up with him and then tripped him. Silly. Koumas slammed the spot kick past Niemi.

Then the game livened up. A drowsy cross into our box beat everyone but Paul Scharner, but Niemi fell onto the Austrian’s flick. Phew. That would’ve been typically harsh. The defence, featuring Aaron Hughes for the first time this year, was sound throughout. They didn’t deserve to lose.

So is the glass half-full? It is, I think. The nagging but irrelevant thought that we could have won every game this year only distracts from the realisation that we’re improved in most areas. The points tally may not be what it might be, yet, but the signs are that the team is ready to take things to the next level. We must hope it is soon.

Looks like we’re not going to be on stream anywhere today. West Ham v Boro, Sunderland v Reading and Birmingham v Bolton all are though… very disappointing, one way or another I’ve only missed a handful of games since I started this site. Oh well, Match of the Day highlights it is. Hopefully we’ll conjure up a good match so we get more than the 2 minutes at midnight that the Beeb have surely earmarked us for. The signs aren’t good though!

Gubbometer

1. Roder - 3
2. Wigan - 2
3. Gubba - 1
4=. Fulham - 1 (Gubba difference: +1)
4=. Bolton - 1 (Gubba difference: +1)
6=. Everton - 1
6=. Newcastle - 1
6=. Aston Villa - 1
6=. West Ham - 1
6=. Middlesbrough - 1
6=. Birmingham - 1
6=. Aston Villa - 1

(NB. Gubba difference decides placings where teams are equal. It is the number of times a team has appearade last on Match of the Day with Tony Gubba commentating.)

Lawrie Sanchez on Northern Ireland:

“I knew they’d be difficult games, from the very fact that we lost to Iceland in the first qualifier,” Sanchez told Sky Sports News.

“But I thought the team had got past the stage of struggling in Iceland away.

“To be fair the performances were decent but it was about turning chances into goals.

“The goals that were conceded were unfortunate to say the least.”

These two recent defeats pose an interesting question:  were Northern Ireland ever as good as they looked under Sanchez?  And if not, was Lawrie getting them to over-achieve, or was it just a bit of timely and prolonged luck?   Now he’s gone, are the team really missing him, or are they just settling back to their true level?    Hard to know isn’t it?

We have Wigan away tomorrow.  It’s nice to be talking about Fulham again, the break has been too long.   I’m not going up to Wigan - we went last year and it was one of the worst games in the history of football - but hopefully will be able to catch the match somehow, somewhere.    I’m actually half-confident that we might sneak something.  The way this season has gone you’d almost expect an away win at some point, and, having run Arsenal close and threatened against Villa for a long time, perhaps a win in Wigan is the natural extension of this early form.   Or not.   This is Fulham, let’s not forget.   But with Jason Koumas presumed out for the home side we ought to fancy our chances.

This seems to have been the question for a while now. When Clinton Dempsey, the forward/wing/central-midfielder/attacking-midfielder started his Fulham career it seemed he was thrust out wide. It is true he played that position sometimes for the U.S. But really he would usually push inside and more often would be a central-midfielder or forward. So where did this outside-mid stuff come from and why is Dempsey seeming to take to the forward position so well, even playing the target man from time to time? Well, there would be no better way to find out than to ask the man himself. And that is exactly what Ives Galarcep did last week when Clint was back in the U.S. for the Brazil game.  On his blog, Soccer By Ives, Mr Galarcep asked Dempsey some interesting questions and got some interesting answers. Though referring to the National team here, I think a lot can be understood from reading these quotes

In a 4-4-2 I like playing up top honestly. Whether I’m a target or I’m more of a free roll underneath the target forward, that looks the best.

Right now, the way you look at it, we play a 4-4-2 and our two center mids are more holding mids. They get involved in the attack but at the same time, most of the time they’re really just holding down the fort, collecting loose balls, winning challenges and keeping possession for the team.

I wasn’t looked at as a right winger until the World Cup. I never played right wing. If you look at the Revolution, I played attacking mid, defensive mid and forward. With the national team, when I first came in, I was playing an attacking mid or center of midfield.

When I got to Fulham initially that was the position I was playing but as you can see, they moved me up top. Anywhere I’m going to be near the goal is where I want to be. I love scoring goals, there’s not a better feeling than that. I love attacking and wherever I can do more attacking than defending is where I want to be.

-Clint Dempsey-

And just so one doesn’t think that I only write about Dempsey, I would like to bring to the attention of our Northern Ireland readers (and everyone else who is interested in our N. Ireland players) a great story done by the Financial Times on the state of football in N. Ireland.

http://www.thefulhamreview.co.uk/

As you might or might not know, my friend Martin and I wrote a book last year and briefly made it available to the world.   People really liked it and we were delighted with the finished product.

It fell into the hands of Matthew Crockatt of Crockatt & Powell booksellers.  Matthew’s a Fulham season ticket holder and liked what he saw, so, with Adam (Powell) decided to publish the thing.  It’s taken a while to get things printed, but the books are now available again.

The finished product is a far superior quality to the earlier Lulu effort.  The paper’s a lot thicker, the cover’s a lovely matte finish, and the whole thing’s great.  We’re delighted.

Hop over to C&P to buy a copy!   Shipping to the USA is available too.   If the book sells well we’ll do the same thing next year, and the year after that, and so on.    It’ll be a fine addition to your shelves.  Great value at a fiver too.  Seriously.

And yes, we should be dotted around the ground/environs before Man City, so come over and say hello.

UPDATE:  Matthew has posted about the book now too.

cheers
Rich

A few weeks ago I wrote a fairly miserable report of my experiences at New Wembley.   It had been a bad game played by a bad team amid a number of spectators whose outlook just seemed that bit wrong.  It was depressing and I felt unhappy all night.

No matter:  last night was fantastic.  Perhaps it was because the match was a competitive fixture, perhaps because it was against Russia and not Germany, perhaps it was just the way the stars were aligned in the North London sky, but we - and everyone else, it seemed - had a really good evening. 

I read a quote from Michael Owen saying how the team were a little shocked at half-time; despite leading 2-0, they knew that they had been up against it for long periods.   It got even more difficult after the break, as the Russians constructed a number of scintillating attacks down either flank, through the middle, and everywhere in between.   They were beautiful to watch on the ball, controlling everything instantly before moving the ball along to a well placed teammate with no wasted touch.  An absolute delight to watch, and I would imagine that we’ll have a real game on our hands in Moscow. 

So the England triumph was very impressive, especially by such a margin.  If the first two goals owed something to poor Russian defending (and this was to be their achilles heel all night), you still have to credit Michael Owen for his instincts in front of goal.  The first landed at his feet inside the six yard box, but how did he compose himself to slot his shot into the one place the Russian keeper couldn’t reach?   As for the second, Heskey, playing as if he were 9 feet tall, drew defenders to him and freed space for Owen, whose volley was hard and fast and flew into the net.  

Great stuff.  One of the reasons this England team had become so boring was the continued failure of the players to perform as a cohesive unit.  For too long we have attempted to shoehorn our best players into the side, regardless of how this affected the performance of the group as a whole.   And these performances were always underwhelming and only occasionally effective.  Now, with enforced absences, we appear much stronger, and much more pleasing on the eye.   If Neville, Beckham, Lampard and Rooney walk straight back into the team when they’re fit, are we really better off?  World Cup 2006 would suggest not.

As I mentioned, we had a terrific evening.   Really good, if distant, seats (photos tomorrow), a lively atmosphere, and no money wasted on expensive concessions.  The latter was because we miscalculated our journey, leaving Tooting at 630 and only reaching Wembley at 745.  This including a perfect set of train changes, so if we’d had trouble with the trains we’d have missed it all (something that also would’ve happened had Hade not checked that I had the tickets as we were leaving - I did not…).   

The only downside was that we felt obliged to leave after 80 minutes again.   Being on the South side of the stadium our post-exit jog meant we had that much further to go to get to Wembley Park, but, once there, we were on the trains quite quickly and home by 1115.  Had we waited for the final whistle I feel confident that we would’ve needed to add another hour to that at least.   We were far from alone; people started pouring out after about 75 minutes, which is again a damning indictment on the Stadium planners.   Every midweek England game will be the same, and it’s a real shame.

Back to Fulham tomorrow!