Bad news: Newcastle 2-0 Fulham
Relative to the other games we have left, this wasn’t ‘must win’ anyway. But it was disappointing to see last week’s good form snuffled out so tamely.
Newcastle lined up with three forwards and took the game to us. Early on Mark Viduka picked up the ball on the edge of the box; Brede Hangeland was some way away from him, and could not close him down. The Australian jinked inside and hit a low shot hard into the corner of Kasey Keller’s net. 1-0, exactly what we didn’t need.
The Fulham response was encouraging, with Bullard peppering the Newcastle goal with long-shots and knitting together a number of neat passing moves. Davies, Murphy, Johnson, McBride, all contributed to the slick attacks, even if none of these attacks led to any clear chances.
There was no end product. At no point did we extend Harper in the Newcastle goal, or even really get behind the Newcastle defence. We threatened to threaten but didn’t get past that.
In the second half whatever momentum we had built up just died away. Newcastle won all the 50-50 balls, everything seemed that half a yard too far away from a Fulham challenger. We couldn’t get the ball, we couldn’t keep the ball, and a comeback seemed unlikely. Leon Andreasen, our rough diamond ball winner, was racing up and down the right wing. Why sacrifice the one player who has done most to rectify the early season weaknesses?
In the end Michael Owen made sure of the win with a nice header from a free-kick. He had missed a similar chance in the first half and we weren’t going to get away with it twice.
Newcastle’s last two league wins are against Fulham, which tells its own story. No matter. We must focus on the games ahead, starting next week with Derby away. That really is a must win game.
Where is Clint? It never looked like the 2 forwards could get consistent quality service. I would think that Dempsey’s creativity on the wing would really add to the attack, and lets face it, we aren’t going to climb out of the relegation zone without some goals.
I’m still not sold on EJ. Didn’t we bring in some more experienced dude who once was on the books at Man United? Whatever happened to that guy?
Murphy gave us nothing, once again. Andreasen needs to be in the middle. And I thought Davies had a pretty dreadful game from a defensive standpoint. Even Konchesky had a stinker, losing Owen on the 2nd goal, and giving the ball away countless times.
That didn’t look like the same team who beat Everton. Ugh.
Very frustrating today. Totally agree with you about Andreason - playing him on the right worked last week but there was no Lescott to nullify this time and it was so evident, especially in the second half, that he was badly needed in the middle. Unfortunately Hodgson fell into the trap of automatically keeping an unchanged team and formation the next game after a win, despite the small fact we were playing different opponents, at a different ground, in different circumstances. This used to be a trademark of Coleman’s which really frustrated me.
The bad side of our ‘passing football’ reared its head today - even whilst we were doing well in the first half there was barely an end product. We had a lot of good possession around Newcastle’s box but didn’t create chances because we were simply too slow getting there and their defence was always comfortably back in position. The passing needed to be more speedy and penetrative - failing that, we should have gone more direct. As it was we merely fizzled away into nothing.
Added to that, as Roy has admitted, we were so intent on all this passing that players were even shirking responsibility and checking back or passing (or simply panicking and losing it) when a shot was on. Reminscent of our performances away from home under Tigana! Added to *that*, Bullard had an absolute mare. Johnson sadly looked out of his depth. I *thought* our defence was sorted but the goals we conceded were cawful. Bloody Hell! If only we hadn’t won last week I wouldn’t have had the hope… they’ll probably go and beat Derby now just to tease us further.
Was I the only one who thought this game could have used a little Bouazza?
Just when I think we have things sorted out… Actually, I was worried that this might happen. With Newcastle desperate for a win and playing us at St. James’ Park, I was worried they would take it to us. And they did.
Johnson looked a little better but he needs to ATTACK! Nearly every pass of his is in a negative direction (away from the goal we’re attacking). I know as a forward man, that’s going to be the case many times. But he doesn’t even try to do anything with the ball! He just taps it back to his teammates. If he’d try to create something, I think good things would happen. I also think he needs to hustle after the ball a bit more. There were a few times today where he should have had more of a go for the ball.
I say drop Murphy for Demps and Johnson for either Healy or Nevland. This isn’t the time to try an untested striker from the MLS. The McBride/Healy pairing worked well at the start of the season. And the time Nevland’s been on, he’s worked hard. We need to make some changes up front. Johnson can be a sub to provide a late bit of pace if we need it.
http://football.guardian.co.uk/Observer_Match_Report/0,,2267558,00.html
Micky Roots in the fans’ bit of the Observer: Andeasen 1? Bullard 8? Sometimes I think Bullard could sit on his arse all game and get 7 out of 10.
Nordy - I’ve been thinking every game could use a little Bouazza since Roy came in! Why don’t we try playing everyone in their proper bloody position - ie. Davies on the right, Bullard and Andreason in the middle, and Bouazza on the left. Think it might be worth keeping Johnson in against a team a poor as Derby - it’s not like we have anyone else with pace (assuming Hameur isn’t going to be given a chance) and he might even gain some confidence.
As for Mr Roots - he’s right that we just didn’t turn up and it was a massive let down. But Bullard 8? - in the first half he was inconsistent, albeit at the centre of everything we did. In the second half simply everything he tried went wrong, and he was caught in possession countless times. Overall I make that about a 4/10. Adreason I would have given 5, for his usual effort, without any success.
I didn’t think Newcastle were all that good really - it was just that we were crap. To use a cliche, they were there for the taking. You could tell how on edge their fans were every time we got near their box. Shame.
I agree wholeheartedly with Jamie. We looked scared at times with no one willing to take the responsibility of taking a shot or making an attacking move. I exclude Bullard in this, but perhaps he has been trying to take too much of the load by consistently dropping deep to take a short pass from a defender or by insisting on taking every set piece including corners which I’ve stated in the past that Davies should be taking these.
As far as EJ constantly checking back and never attempting to turn a defender or move towards goal, this is pretty much what we’ve seen of his play in the US national team in recent years. It’s very frustrating to watch and as teams in the league see him play more, they gather more of an understanding of this tendency and won’t respect his speed at all. Hence, defeating the purpose of even having him on the pitch.
The whole positional thing has really bugged me as if we’re going to put players in positions that they’re uncomfortable with, we should at least try to limit it. With this current line-up, we have Murphy, Andreasson and Davies all playing in positions that they’re not entirely comfortable in. If Roy insists on playing Murphy (which I’ve struggled to understand), why not at least put either Davies or Andreasson in their natural positions?
When I saw Dempsey coming on, I was excited because I thought that he was replacing Murphy with Andreasson moving back to the holding role which made sense to me. Unfortunately, I was wrong.
It’s a shame, I know that this wasn’t considered a must win match, but we need all of the points that we can get right now and a point here could have been huge (even if just to keep Newcastle’s confidence down). I hate to put us in a position where the matches versus Derby, Sunderland, Reading and Brum are all must wins, but I guess we’re already there.
Bouazza had family issus in Algeria, for all we know he might not be back. But yes, I long for him flying down the left with Davies on the right. Hameur was not exactly consistent, but I think he played a part in a surprisingly high proportion of the good things we did under Sanchez.
We just had *nothing* in the second half did we? It was really frustrating that the team couldn’t grab the game more by the scruff of the neck.
Sometimes I wonder if the trick in situations like that isn’t to push the back four up to the halfway line and hope that it compresses the game in the opponents’ half. It would have been really dangerous, but there was so little interplay between midfield and attack that something had to be done.
I think what we saw was what Hodgson had been frightened about with the 442. THe midfield just wasn’t *right*, and as Jamie says, surely putting players in their best positions might have helped. I felt that the game really needed us back in our solid 4-5-1 again, which gives Bullard the freedom he needs.
This is being wise after the event of course, but the 2 up didn’t work very well so wem might have been better off controlling the midfield as a platform from which to attack instead. I dunno. Hodgson knows what he’s doing, but sometimes I get strange ideas that he’s already playing for next year, trying things out, getting Johnson ready for next season, etc.
I thought Fulham played some good football and passed the ball around well, but were lacking in the final third, there wasn’t a goal thread apart from Bullard’s long range efforts, looking at your remaining fixtures, there’s still a chance of survival, but a goalscorer is essential, what’s wrong with David Healey like?
Healy’s done alright when given a go, Shaun, but because he’s really a goalscorer and nothing else, if he doesn’t score he doesn’t look like he’s done anything.
Even accepting some really empty displays from him this year, I’m fairly sure he’s been underused. At some point I’ll do some work to see how many times he’s played in consecutive games. Not very often.
Every FFC fan forum I read (here, Fulham Facebook page, FulhamUSA, etc.) all say the same things: Why is Murphy out there at all?, Why play Andreasen out of position?, Why not play Dempsey in his natural position on the wing?
If we’re all seeing the same thing, what’s Roy seeing? Granted, we’re not football managers for a reason and he is, but still. It’s almost entirely a consensus.
And I agree with the posters above: EJ isn’t ready for primetime.
Well I’ve been a Murphy fan more than most. I’m sure that he brings some good intangibles out there, for one thing. And before Bullard came back he was our ‘go to’ man, free-kick taker, penalty taker (he’s a brilliant penalty taker, but I doubt he’d be allowed now that Bullard’s back).
But intangibles are only useful if they’re making a difference. I think we have two choices now:
stick with 4-4-2 and bring Andreasen inside, restoring either Bouazza or Dempsey to the left and bringing Simon to the right
or
go back to 4-5-1 and let Bullard go where he wants, which would mean Murphy keeps his place.
It’s a tough one.
Wow, I watched the game, and had the same reaction as most here. Apart from Bullard, the midfield was useless. I really can’t see how Murphy is a starter. He loses the ball consistently and makes terrible passes. Somehow, Clint is a now a bona fide striker, when it is was generally agreed that he was out of position there, and was more an attacking midfielder.
The forwards needed service, and they were not getting any. I think that is Clint’s strong point. Making a move, beating a defender and unleashing a good pass through to the forwards.
This was really the first game where I questioned Hodgson’s decision making.
Quite frustrating.
I agree with everyone about our play. One small quibble: why do people insist that Clint’s ‘natural’ position is out on the wing? He never played wing his entire career until the World Cup. He hasn’t played wing for the US since Arena left. He himself has said repeatedly that he prefers to play as a second striker or attacking midfielder.
I agree that he sometimes is the best choice out on the wing, but that doesn’t make it his natural position.
Perhaps it’s more that this is where he “fits” into the side. With Bullard about he’s not going to play in the advanced midfielder role, he’s perhaps not going to lead the line, which leaves the wing really.
Can we play you every week?
Yes, very good.
Actually I think we’d take that.