A good effort against a good team, but another defeat. Hopes of an escape dwindle further.
Simon Davies gave us an early surprise when he scored directly from a free-kick. His cross from out on the left appeared to have landed perfectly on Carlos Bocanegra’s head, but little or no contact was made and the ball carried on unimpeded past Robert Green and into the bottom corner.
West Ham were too good to take this lying down and stormed back into the game. Paul Konchesky, back on his old stomping ground, seemed to have Freddie Ljungberg covered on the touchline. But the West Ham winger accelerated away, finding the space to whip a cross into our six yard box, a cross so good that Dean Ashton didn’t break stride before glancing his header beyond Antti Niemi.
West Ham were throwing everything at us now. Ashton volleyed goalwards, Niemi – somehow – got a hand on the shot and diverted it onto the bar. Later Ashton tried again, this time with a delicious curler, bound for the top corner until Niemi pawed the ball away. Carlton Cole had a go, put clean through by an Aaron Hughes mistake, but somehow could only prod the ball at the stationary Niemi.
Amid all this carnage one Fulham player stood out. Steve Davis was having his best game in a white shirt, tackling, passing and running past West Ham players with great purpose. Great to see.
Half time came at a good time for Fulham. In the second period we improved considerably, but still Robert Green saw little action. Simon Davies grew in influence, carving neat little passes around West Ham players and making things happen. He, Volz, Davis and Murphy started to boss the midfield. Nothing came of it though, in part because Dempsey and Healy up front were having one of those days. They were well guarded by an underrated West Ham defence but didn’t make life difficult enough for their minders. There were occasions in this game where genuine pace would have made chances, but our forwards, willing as they may be, are not quick.
West Ham’s winner came from Anton Ferdinand, thrashing home following good endeavor from Mark Noble on the right. It followed a partially cleared corner, and was another goal to make Roy Hodgson scratch his head in wonder. Nobody appeared obviously at fault, but a good team would have dealt with this easily enough.
The game eased its way towards a conclusion. Jimmy Bullard returned to first team action, replacing Moritz Volz with 15 minutes left. He got a huge reception but was unable to make an impression. One free-kick, probably in Konchesky territory, was blasted abysmally high and wide, but his busy demeanor and infectious ebullience will serve the team well in the struggle ahead.
We forged two late headed chances: Chris Baird climbed high to meet a Murphy free-kick, but could not keep his header down; Clint Dempsey did better with his effort following a corner, but Noble was waiting on the goal-line and hoofed the ball away. It was not to be.
I thought I’d start doing photos again:
Upton Park is one of my favourite places to watch a game. The colours seem so vivid, the crowd makes some noise, and everything just feels as football should feel.
We had some good banter with the crowd on the left.
Us: “How shit must you be, we’re winning away”
Later, them: “How shit must you be, you’re losing again”
Us: “How shit must you be, you’ve only scored two”
etc…
Bullard (left) and Smertin enter the game.
Brian McBride signs for fans at half-time. He had taken a seat in the away end, but was right up with the singers. Cue “Brian for president” but also “We fancy your wife”, “He’s got a lovely wife” and “Brian, give us a song”. He’ll have got a good feel for how much the club means to people though. Hopefully he’ll be on the pitch soon.
Good report Rich. I’ll be flying back tomorrow, (Sunday) but expect to have a busy Monday with meetings already scheduled for me at work. Maybe some comments Monday evening.
Comment by bq — January 13, 2008 @ 12:34 am |
Watching this match and seeing some of the results from teams which we are competing with for survival, it makes me realize what a huge task that Hodgson has in front of him. Without some new players, we’re doomed.
Sure, it was great to see Bullard back on the pitch and hear of McBride’s progress, but we need so much more than that would have helped yesterday). This team, while sometimes can have periods of some nice possession, just doesn’t have the physical or technical skills to compete at a Prem level (the pace of Bouazza and Kamara could have definitely helped yesterday). We can play keep away from the other team, but we never seem to get anywhere while doing it. The majority of our side yesterday are probably squad players for most EPL teams, but they’ve been put in prime positions for us and they just aren’t good enough (Rich – I don’t share your view of Davis’ performance as I thought he was average, like everyone else with the exceptions of Niemi and Stefanovic).
I hope that Hodgson is able to pull some rabbits out of his hat in the coming weeks because he’s going to need to for us to survive.
Comment by George H. — January 13, 2008 @ 6:03 pm |
(Saw some typos in my previous post so please disregard it)
Watching this match and seeing some of the results from teams which we are competing with for survival, it makes me realize what a huge task that Hodgson has in front of him. Without some new players, we’re doomed.
Sure, it was great to see Bullard back on the pitch and hear of McBride’s progress, but we need so much more than that. This team, while sometimes can have periods of some nice possession, just doesn’t have the physical or technical skills to compete at a Prem level (the pace of Bouazza and Kamara could have definitely helped yesterday). We can play keep away from the other team, but we never seem to get anywhere while doing it. The majority of our side yesterday are probably squad players for most EPL teams, but they’ve been put in prime positions for us and they just aren’t good enough (Rich – I don’t share your view of Davis’ performance as I thought he was average, like everyone else with the exceptions of Niemi and Stefanovic).
I hope that Hodgson is able to pull some rabbits out of his hat in the coming weeks because he’s going to need to for us to survive.
Comment by George H. — January 13, 2008 @ 6:06 pm |
It’s hard to feel good about a loss, but that being said, I felt ok after watching the match yesterday. A loss sucks, but it wasn’t due to lack of effort.
The only thing that pissed me off was getting spoiled..haha. The match was televised on delay here in the States and I stayed off the net to avoid spoilers and as I watched the end of the Liverpool match…boom…final score plastered across the top of the screen. That has never happened. Usually I’ll avoid the post game or half time show to avoid spoilers but this time that didn’t work. Thanks Setanta…haha.
Comment by Jason Gatties — January 14, 2008 @ 1:44 am |