Craven Cottage Newsround

If you kill me, how are you gonna get the bird? And if I know you can’t afford to kill me, how are you gonna scare me into giving it to you?

I’m not wrong am I?

Note to lawyers:  as best we are aware, Mr Paul Stalteri does NOT smoke and this representation of Mr Stalteri does not intend to suggest that he does.  Smoking kills.  Mr Stalteri is a very fine full-back and (I presume) does not endorse smoking in any way.   Nor is he a private detective.

I can’t get over how solid the team looked as a unit on Sunday. Everywhere you looked somebody was doing his job well and working hard to help out a teammate. As a supporter this is great to see, particularly as part of a winning performance.

In the last days of the Sanchez empire the team had become so much less than the sum of its already dubious parts. Clint Dempsey, lowering his guard for a moment, suggested that the team had ended up trying to “jump the ball in”. It was a nice description of some not nice football.

But now things look different. Suddenly everyone out there is playing quite well, and, bizarrely, is somehow very likeable. Stalteri and Hughes are still in my thoughts now, two men who seem, on the surface, to be throwbacks to another time when players let their football do the talking and got on with doing a solid and unspectacular job.  You could almost imagine either in a 50s private eye film (Paul Stalteri as Sam Spade?), but we’ll save that thought for another day.

The difference between Sunday, when Danny Murphy led and received a standing ovation, and previous games, where half the crowd would boo Seol or Baird or Kamara was staggering. Not to get too middle class or anything*, but it was a much more enjoyable afternoon. I hated the last few games after Sanchez. Not just because of the losing or the football, but because of the negativity in the air, because of that booing. Now we all see hope. There is a great sense of optimism, that we can all be part of something thrilling.

Many of us have said that it might be more fun to win a few games in the Championship, but I wonder if those wins could ever feel like this one. Would there not be a slight feeling of expectations being met after every win? I’ve said before that I don’t get Chelsea supporters: they turn up, and either they’ll wander along to another boring win or they’ll be bitterly disappointed by everything else. Where’s the hope? Where’s the prolonged drama in that? Can they ever feel like we did yesterday? Doubt it.

But we shouldn’t get too carried away by one very solid performance - football teams blow hot and cold all the time (look at Boro!) - and now is the time to really be careful. I am, as long-time readers will know, quite prone to only seeing the good side in these situations, while conveniently ignoring everything else. We’re looking good though, eh?

* this is as good a place as any to admit that I took avocado, red onion and cumin sandwiches to Anfield this year. I feel much better for having admitted that, finally.

After yesterday’s game, I broke out the individual statistics to see if our perception of players’ performance actually matched what they accomplished on the field.

After looking at the data I would have to give the Man of the Match honours to Brede Hangeland. According to The Telegraph, here’s what he accomplished:

Brede Hangeland

• Won 69 per cent of his duels
• Made 10 clearances
• Completed 74 per cent of his passes
• 2 Ball recoveries
• 3 successful tackles
• 39 passes total

Here’s the rest, broken down by position with a few comments from me: (more…)

An interesting press conference with Roy Hodgson.  He said you could have closed your eyes and thought it was Old Trafford on Sunday.

Roy also talks of team selection and he makes it clear that the team will be playing with two forwards a lot more from here on out. RH said that the team had done a lot of work with two players up top the last couple of weeks and then with a wry smile on his face said that he can guarantee that they will be doing a lot more work in that regard in the next 4 or 5 weeks. He also said that he thought Eddie did well but has a lot to work on.

Soccer by Ives is normally a twice daily stop for me. However, I failed to get there today. But George H. didn’t and alerted us to this very interesting post by Ives Galarcep, mapping out Fulham’s remaining games. As well, he looks at the remaining schedule for Bolton, Sunderland and Birmingham. He says Fulham’s odds are actually better than many may think. He also points out that with Bolton’s remaining schedule they may be “toast”.

A good look at the final 8 games and the hope that we may very well have to stay up. I think yesterday’s win has everyone believing it’s possible.