Blackburn 1-1 Fulham
One way or another Jimmy Bullard will be playing in the Premiership next year. Today his effervescent midfield display finished with a late, late free-kick to earn Fulham a just about good enough point. If he doesn’t keep us up there will be a long queue of managers wanting to buy him in the summer.
It may not come to that, as today’s point just about maintains the two wins gap between us and our rivals. We’ll have to get those wins at Reading, Derby, and at home to Birmingham and Sunderland. Same as before today. We’re treading water.
Hodgson made a change in goal today, replacing Niemi with Keller, a move that is hard to argue with on balance. Niemi saves a lot of shots but there are doubts about most other aspects of his game. Keller is solid, if unspectacular. Today he did well, reliable when called upon, notably in the second half when throwing himself at the feet of Jason Roberts, who was through on goal.
His reasonably relaxed day was possible because the defence was again fairly solid. Konchesky gave another battling performance, and the Hughes/Hangeland pairing seems to be acceptably reliable. Paul Stalteri on the right had a good but eventful game.
It took an hour for Fulham to create a clear chance: Johnson, nervous and clumsy again, burst clear in the inside right channel. He swerved in and out and then shot hard, but his drive flicked the bar and the chance was gone. From here he improved and showed glimpses of what might be a good player. But there is work to do.
Soon after we were a goal down. Neat work down the right, a good cross, and Morten Gamst Pedersen, unmarked in the middle, crashed his header past Keller. Marking?
But wait. Replays showed that he had slipped his marker, Stalteri, via a stealthy judo throw! The ball was some distance away and the officials were not monitoring the far post area. It was not a goal, a glaring non-decision, but such is life for Fulham.
There seemed no way back. Fulham pressed forward but Blackburn repelled our messy, desperate attacks. But in the last minute Simon Davies cleverly dinked a pass over the defence and into the path of Johnson. The ball was hooked clear just as Johnson was bearing down on goal, and, extraordinarily, Mike Riley awarded a free-kick for high-feet. The usual committee discussed things, Konchesky rolled the ball to Bullard, and Bullard whipped a shot over the wall and into the top corner. Amazing.
It is more than likely too late now, but it is not impossible to see a good team coming together out there. The defence is not perfect but almost certainly now good enough, and Hogson has found a gem in Leon Andreasen. The midfielder is raw but extremely effective. Simon Davies is a class player, and if Danny Murphy can no longer control games, then he seems to be a useful person to have around if the team is to focus on short passing. Clint Dempsey was hot and cold again today: we may be seeing the after effects of his early season workload. But he can play. Which leaves us the one, golden problem: scoring goals. Can this team find a way to score two goals a game for the rest of the year?
The goal:
Jim sizes things up
Here’s what he’s faced with:
Holy barnet! 1-1!
Nice to get a point on the road, but you’re right about us having to win those four games to stay up. If we can do that, who knows?
You could really see how having pace up front helps our attack. While Johnson looked out of his element at times, he did have some good moments. He really seems to struggle with his confidence and when you watch him, you expect to take guys on. However, many times, he seems to shy away from this, but once he makes a good move, he becomes more aggressive each time. I would love to see him playing with McBride up front for a full match which I think that Hodgson will do in those must-win matches.
Dempsey seems very tired. I wouldn’t mind seeing Bouazza or Kamara replace him in the starting XI and then Roy can bring him off the bench.
Was surprised to see Keller in goal, but he played well. As he’s gotten older, he can be a little shaky when balls are played back to him and his goal kicks keep getting shorter and shorter, but overall he’s probably more of a calming influence back there. Also, he’s much better at coming off of his line than Niemi is.
I thought Hughes played great. He really was effective which was nice to see after his poor performance vs. ManU.
I’m not sold that Stalteri is better than Volz. I don’t think that Volz would have gone down as easy on Pederson’s goal. Plus, he’s much better at getting forward.
Bullard’s goal was great. While I love the fact that he wants to take every dead ball and is willing to take that responsibility, I wouldn’t mind if he relinquished the corners and the non-shooting situations to Davies. Davies is simply better than him in this area.
Hopefully, this gives the squad confidence for the monumental task which is in front of them.
George H.
9 Mar 08 at 1:04 am
Bullard’s strike had me dancing around the house. There has been so many crappy late calls against us, that it felt good to get one.
Dempsey seems to be more interested in throwing himself on the ground then trying to score goals.
Johnson what can I say, he has looked lost at times. Damm, he is fast. I can’t believe his speed.
I just found your site tonight. Looks great. Thank you.
Bob K
9 Mar 08 at 2:57 am
Thanks Bob K. And many happy returns to you. :)
bqfootball
9 Mar 08 at 4:38 am
Ofcourse Johnson looked lost at times, he was playing up front by himself, something he’s not use to. Plus this still only his 3rd match. Give him time, most guys get a “pre-season” to work out the kinks.
Johnson needs minutes. He’s going to get minutes. He’ll be fine.
Jason Gatties
9 Mar 08 at 6:47 am
I think Johnson gave us a nice taste of what might be. He needs to be a lot stronger, there’s no doubt about that. It was far too easy for defenders to push him around yesterday. But when he did get some separation he showed good ability, and the shot that hit the post was close enough for him to have gained in confidence.
I saw Nicholas Anelka yesterday, who had a quiet game, but you can tell that Anelka’s playing by instinct. He’s very confident in his ability. Johnson still seems to be taking an extra half a second to assess things, which is partly a lack of belief I would assume.
But I think he did enough to keep the shirt. A goal will do him the world of good.
weltmeisterclaude
9 Mar 08 at 9:07 am
I’m with you on Hughes, George, who I thought had a nice enough game back there. Stalteri’s good enough I think, and seems less error-prone than Volzy. At this point I think Volz is a midfielder, he doesn’t seem to have convinced as a right back and has shown considerable promise in an advanced role. I’m just glad he survived the Sanchez cull, he’s a terrific squad player.
weltmeisterclaude
9 Mar 08 at 9:09 am
Did you guys see that little wink Bullard gave before he was going to take the kick?
After he did that, I knew he was going to score
Andrew
9 Mar 08 at 12:38 pm
Yes, I do believe it was RH who said that neither Baird nor Volz is a true right back. I agree, Stalteris been a major improvement over both. Omozusi looked like a true right back as well but there’s still lots of development that needs to happen for the young man.
bqfootball
9 Mar 08 at 12:40 pm
I liked the look of Johnson yesterday. Poor in the first half due to being way too lighweight and expecting too much from the referee… but once he started running the channels in the second half he really offered us something different. If he’d scored instead of hit the post it would have been a great goal. Let’s keep him in the team and play him WITH McBride, or Dempsey, or someone.
JamieR
9 Mar 08 at 3:04 pm
Andrew, I just watched highlights of the game. Pederson also gave a wink yesterday. Of course his was right after the goal as he was looking to the bench. In other words, did I get away with one or what.
bqfootball
9 Mar 08 at 8:18 pm
Yes, Stalteri should have been a bit tougher although Pederson might have caught him by surprise. Thankfully, we finally had a call go our way that results in something positive. Bullard is starting to remind me of Becks in the England squad. He seems to always come up with massive free kicks to save our bacon!
Johnson didn’t impress me a whole lot but, as others have said above, I think his potential is pretty big. If he uses his size to his advantage, gains confidence and gels with the team, he could be a great forward for us.
Demps seems a bit out of it. Of course, I could barely find him on the pitch without those god-awful yellow shoes :)
I saw the wink. Gotta love Jimmy!
BC
10 Mar 08 at 2:58 am
According to this bloggers report at With A Plum, Pederson actually but his leg behind Stalteri’s and then gave him a push back. Good description at the link.
http://withaplum.wordpress.com/2008/03/08/blackburn-1-1-fulham/
As to the wink, I think there’s something about the pure joy the man plays with. He doesn’t smile quite as much as Ronaldinho, but he plays with the same sort of joy that the Brazilian plays with. Although he does have better teeth. But I don’t think either are going to be winning any beauty contest in the near future.
bqfootball
10 Mar 08 at 11:27 am
My guess is that Clint is still suffering a bit from the injury that kept him out last week.
Derek
10 Mar 08 at 7:22 pm