Fulham 1-0 Everton
It was a deceptively cold afternoon by the Thames, featuring a strong wind and light, icy rain that fired down all game. Fulham played far better than a 19th placed team should. Everton will not have enjoyed their Sunday. Newcastle, our next opponents, may well be worried.
Not because Fulham were fantastic. That would be an exaggeration. But at last we see a team out there, playing well as individuals and as a group. Today Roy went for a 4-4-2 which gave us much more oomph up front and worried Everton all game.
We started slowly, the main route of attack being Kasey Keller’s wind assisted bombs deep into Everton territory. They weren’t pretty and they didn’t make anything happen, but it seemed to keep Everton pegged back. As did the pace of Eddie Johnson. The new centre-forward, starting alongside Brian McBride, clearly has much to do before he is a force at this level. His touch can be poor and his shooting erratic, but he is learning to link with his teammates, and his pace gives us a real threat on the break. With any other Fulham player up front opponents can push up, safe in the knowledge that they will not be burned. Not now. We had options: over the top, or through neat movements in the middle of the park and on the flanks. Variety is everything in attacking play, and it is something we have lacked for too long.
Alongside Johnson, McBride had his best game for a long time. The team’s leader won everything in the air, and won it constructively too. His flicks often found white shirts and were frequently starting points for Fulham raids. He worked hard as usual, but now there was threat, now there was cohesion. Fantastic.
And it was McBride who scored the winning goal. Simon Davies, who is faster than he looks, whizzed all the way down the left flank before whipping a fine cross into the box. McBride arrived and planted his header into the ground, up, and into the far corner. The crowd, frighteningly noisy anyway, blew up into a cacophony of joy. A goal! A motherfucking goal!
Until then the concern had been that, for all the possession, for all the neat passing (and the not so neat passing too - there was a lot of that too), Tim Howard’s day had been quite quiet. Everton, famous thieves of away points (they had won seven away games before today), were starting to prowl around the edge of the Fulham box. A heartbreaking, season-breaking, defeat seemed possible. But Fulham 08 is more solid than Fulham 07, and managed to find the magic when it was needed. Special stuff.
All of this was possible because of our defensive solidity. Konchesky was back to early season form, Hangeland took care of the high stuff, and Hughes and Stalteri were both massively impressive. These pair are quiet, understated footballers, but know what they’re doing and do it well. It’s now a back four that picks itself.
In front of them Leon Andreasen, Danny Murphy and Simon Davies were all terrific. Jimmy Bullard, the fourth muskateer, had a quieter game, perhaps because of the extra responsibilities required of him in a midfield four, but again, it’s a quartet that picks itself when it plays like that. Nice to see something coming together like this, it really is.
Funny how around this time of year there’s always something strange afoot at the bottom of the league. Suddenly teams put something together, start to play, to get results. You can feel it happening, you really can. We’re not done yet.
The gallery:
Defence was pretty much perfect today:
Yakubu killed us at Goodison. Today we kept him in check.
Three of our better players today, all in a line: Davies, Murphy, Stalteri.
The end! Kasey signs for the kids.
Sky Sports comment on their ratings page regarding Eddie:
“Spirited but erratic”
Made me laugh for some reason.
Did anyone else see how he leapt into someone’s arms on the final whistle? McBride? When McBride went off I think Johnson thought it’d be him, so was sloping over that way. Then when Brian’s number came up Johnson seemed a bit taken aback, and clapped gently. I thought that was quite touching somehow! After his super tough debut against United I bet he enjoyed today.
weltmeisterclaude
16 Mar 08 at 5:36 pm
Another good moment now I remember it: Danny Murphy, when being subbed, applauded the fans. We were bloody loud today, I think it helped. Murphy strikes me as a very decent and thoughtful bloke, and his know how out there is probably more significant than we realise from the stands. I just wish he had the number 10 shirt. I’m funny like this, but he’s the closest thing we have to a 10. 27 just looks silly.
weltmeisterclaude
16 Mar 08 at 5:44 pm
As I posted on the comments concerning the interviews, I think Johnson has worked his way into the starting 11 now. He is raw and makes a lot of bone headed mistakes. Mainly, he just is so inconsistent which quite frankly, has always been his M.O. and a frustration to all of us U.S. National team supporters.
I think he needs a sports psychologist because it seems he just doesn’t believe he can do it sometimes. I really don’t think it’s laziness. It’s mostly lack of belief. Much like late in the game today when I believe Davies played a throughball to him and he stopped his run. The ball ended up holding up and he certainly could have gotten to hit. Oh, I just remembered a time earlier in the game, Jimmy B hit a long ball over the top to the right wing were Johnson could have made a run but for some reason didn’t. The camera happened to catch Jimmy chewing Johnson’s ass out for not making the run. I remember turning to Adam and saying, good for you Jimmy. He needs that.
But now and again he will have a game that will blow the socks off of everyone; So you know he has it in him. Now if we can get him to have one of those games yet this year. Or maybe two or three.
Also, I know the BBC report mentions it but your game report does not, but the header that Mc Bride scored on from Davies, who by they way also had a really great game, was deflected by Yobo. A little luck perhaps but a great run by Davies and a lightning quick reaction to a redirected ball by our man Brian McBride. A classic Mc Bride goal and absolutely fantastic to see him back on the boards again.
As a note: I know that this may not mean a lot to you English followers of the game, but there were 6 Americans who took part in the contest today. I think that may be a record for most Americans participating in a league game (overseas for us). You have to understand, we Yanks the follow football, we love a game that is not taken to very kindly by most American sports enthusiast and yet we are very passionate about the game doing well here in the States. So when we get that many players on a field, not at the same time mind you, but still, it is a great source of pride for us.
Lastly, (sorry this is so long, I guess it could have been a post of it’s own) I’m not sure the team actually started out in a 4-4-2. I wasn’t there so I can’t say for sure, but on several web sites and from the TV coverage, it looked like they listed Johnson as an outside right/wide midfielder. I’m just not sure because at times Johnson seemed to hang over wide and at other times he would push into the middle. However he was in the middle more than the outside. When he did push up front, Andreasen moved to the outside wing position filling the gap. At other times Andreasen would slide back into the middle to help out Murphy. I thought we might have problems on that side with Pienaar’s speed. But Andreasen held him in check.
bqfootball
16 Mar 08 at 6:25 pm
Although New York is my home, I’m currently working in rural Jordan. I made the hour and a half drive to Aqeba and the nearest Irish Pub/Sports Bar hoping to find the game.
Well, the trip was worth it. Hell of a game. I’ll be on a high the rest of the week.
I have to admit that I was unsure of Stalteri’s worth when we picked him up. However, he was fighting (and winning) all day. His effort was one of the many reasons we shut down a team in the top 5.
Eddie Johnson is a bit too rough around the edges right now. It seems that when Clint came over he was cocky enough to make his skill pay off. Eddie needs to believe, and work with the great talent around him. Trust in McBride’s ability to flick the ball on target - he did it all day.
We are still 19th, but back in the hunt.
Bradley from Brooklyn
16 Mar 08 at 6:39 pm
Clint took six months to really play well so it’s hard to be too critical.
Deflection, eh? Well I was at the other end of the ground so didn’t see that. Good that we got the luck though.
It was deffo 442, Brian - he and McBride were working back and forth all over the front line, but absolutely definitely in a 442. We’ve seen Roy’s 451 before and this wasn’t that.
weltmeisterclaude
16 Mar 08 at 7:30 pm
Strange than with Andreasen playing outside mid? I wonder how that came about? He definitely didn’t make runs up and down the length of the pitch all day, from what I could see. Seemed like he marked Pienaar out of the game in my opinion. Maybe Pienaar just didn’t have a good game, but his marks were one of the lowest of anyone on Everton from the reports I saw. I would have to attribute some of that at least to Andreasen. I also know Andreasen at times slipped back in front of the back line. So it’s was indeed an interesting decision and formation.
Wish I had the game on DVR to watch again and see if I was accurate on my assessment of Andreasen’s positioning and tactics.
Also, the crowd sounded fantastic today. Could it be that this relegation battle has finally united the Fulham fans to battle and let their voices be heard?
bqfootball
16 Mar 08 at 8:30 pm
Rich,
Nice report, a result like this gives us all hope that we can make it.
I really don’t have much to add about the team’s performance except that it was impressive that we were able to grind this result out versus a tough Everton side. Coupled with last week’s draw at Ewood and I’m feeling very good about the backbone that the team is showing right now. A result like this has to only help the squad’s morale & belief.
SBI has a nice summary of our survival prospects.
http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/03/fulham-wins-kee.html#more
George H.
16 Mar 08 at 8:33 pm
I think Andreasen was partly there to stifle Lescott too. He’s been an impressive player all year and Andreasen and Stalteri really did shut down the left flank.
weltmeisterclaude
16 Mar 08 at 10:25 pm
Gavin Peacock on Match of the Day has just discussed the win. When asked for the keys to the win he said that he really likes the look of the Johnson - McBride partnership, and gave some good examples of how they move well together.
He showed how on the goal Johnson was initially in the inside right channel and McBride in the inside left. They looped around, then Johnson dropped back, which cleared a space for McBride to move into and head home.
Good analysis I thought, and really well illustrated by Peacock. At the game we just see people running around, but when it’s slowed down like that you can really see the players doing good things.
I’ve been a little hard on McBride recently (perhaps he wasn’t quite fit) but today he was excellent, back to his best. Possibly helped that they had Johnson playing with him. As I’ve said on TiFF (and probably here too), when was the last time you even saw Fulham *try* to play throughballs?
Simon Davies was excellent again too. A real unsung hero. We’re set up well now: as I said in the report, the team almost picks itself now. Which is nice.
weltmeisterclaude
16 Mar 08 at 10:31 pm
Fantastic win!
I think Johnson has really added something. With his pace and willingness to run at defenders he commands a lot of attention (whether or not the final product actually merits it). The front line just looks to have a lot more punch, and Johnson is also a little bit more patient on the ball that I expected, a number of times he held the ball up and distributed it to the midfielders pushing up. He certainly still makes some bad decisions, and the moment late in the match where he didn’t chase the slightly overhit ball from Davies was inexplicable, he might not have got there but you’ve simply got to chase that when you have his pace.
McBride is a tremendous leader, he still doesn’t look 100% but he just chased everything, and even with a deflection it still was a quality header. I think he and Johnson compliment each other.
BQ that’s a pretty amazing number. As an Aussie I think our football experiences are fairly similar, with a fairly hostile media sceptical of a growing game. I don’t think we’ve ever had that many, maybe back in the Leeds days or when Venables turned Pompey into a pseudo Australian team.
Agree about the crowd, the noise coming through my TV was relentless. I went to the Blackburn game in November and the atmosphere at the ground was pretty poor, not even a patch on what I’m used to back here in Melbourne. Well it was something else today, non stop noise and singing, I may be a dreamer but I honestly believe it has an impact.
What a big 4 weeks to come!
Scotty
16 Mar 08 at 10:43 pm
wmc, quality match report. I’ve dabbled in that genre myself from time to time, but I never quite reach the level you do. Football knowledge, writing skill, passion, and analytical ability is a nice mix. Well done, again.
bq et al, I first got addicted to football as a teenaged airman in England in the 66-67 season. Never in my life did I expect a USA team in a World Cup Finals [hello '90, 94, 98, 02, 06], and I never thought I’d see an American playing in the top flight in England. John Harkes made me believe a little, but the idea of six Americans in a prem match is pretty difficult for me to accept even after all these years. It is a HUGE thing.
Not nearly so big as the win, however; and I’m hoping that we’re right about Roy’s influence on EJ. If he can get the best out of GAM, then the lad can work himself back into automatic status on the USMNT, and that’s good for all of us.
Finally, never doubt that those of us who hang out on this side of the water don’t envy all of you who get to stand in the rain, wind, and cold for two hours. Gentlman Jim and FulhamUSA.com chatrooms are nice, but we’d all rather be there with you.
A good day, eh?
HatterDon
16 Mar 08 at 11:15 pm
Went to my first game in a good while and what a respose! Keller was immense in goal, claiming every cross and distributing the ball usefully. the back four gave a ‘premiership’ performance, Stalteri and Konchesky did well in getting forward while keeping the opponents pegged back. Hangeland doesn’t need feet! He can deal with everything with his head! The midfield IMO were the key, they all battled hard all game, and played some nice intricate football, varying the play a lot. Andreasen pretty much owned Pienaar and Lescott, forcing them to put Lescott up front. Simon Davies is just quality, great delivery, a good footballing brain and he’s a lot quicker than a lot of people give him credit for. Bullard and Murphy were industrias in midfield and did well IMO, the balcnce was right, when Bullard went forward Murphy stayed back and vice-versa. McBride and Johnson look like a partnership! Johnson looks rough but his pace opened up our attack so much, giving the fullbacks and wingers oppertunities to get crosses in. All in all, a great performance, great atmosphere, and renewed hope! COYW!!!
masry
17 Mar 08 at 12:57 am
Let’s face it, if it wasn’t for Johnson’s pace, he wouldn’t be starting. But as stated previously, his pace is what we’ve been lacking all season and it throws a whole new look into the attack and allows us to move up the field more. Defenders need to cushion a bit more, making them pull their line back a bit.
Rich, yes, you and I have discussed this lack of throughball thing. It’s something Clint Dempsey excels at and I do wonder how we can somehow at sometime during the game fit him in and allow him to spring Johnson with a throughball or two.
But it’s such an overall effort. The d-line is really gelling and Hangeland is huge, pun intended. Konchesky had a really good game but Stalteri was perhaps even better. Just nice to have a solid team all the way through.
bqfootball
17 Mar 08 at 2:16 am
By the way, glad to hear we have an Aussie on board at CCN. Thanks for the comments Scotty.
Rich, to back up your point about the McBride/Johnson combo up front, these words from McBride himself.
“”The addition of Eddie (Johnson) has given us some pace that can hopefully create some more space in the middle of the field, while defensively we are much more solid.
Eddie’s adapting to the players very well and getting an understanding of where his team-mates want the ball to be played and where he wants the ball. He has a lot of ability and the willingness to learn.”"
bqfootball
17 Mar 08 at 11:54 am