“He has a dead leg and hasn’t trained since we played Tottenham on Boxing Day”
Hodgson on Bullard, after the Sheffield Wednesday win.
Conspiracy watch: Adam Lallana missed the Southampton v Man Utd game with an injury.
January 4, 2009
Roy on Jimmy
AJ’s goal (more good coaching)
Here for now (but it’s YouTube so may not last).
And my own version:
This gives me the chance to use my much-neglected coaching notebook (with pitches on the pages!). Taking frame grabs from the video would take forever and not really convey the passing so well, so I thought I’d just draw the thing. I’m an artist and a half, as you can see.
Stuff to note:
Fredrik Stoor is well forward. How often do our fullbacks usually attack away from home? Not at all often is the answer. He was right on the corner of the box when he received Murphy’s initial pass.
Lovely quick interchange then: Murphy to Stoor to Zamora to Murphy. Then Murphy turns and threads a perfect pass through, almost without looking. Hmmm:
This from page 37 of Massimo Lucchesi’s book on Attacking Soccer. Okay, it’s not the same goal, but you have full-back to centre-forward 1 to midfielder to centre-forward 2. It’s the same sequence. Again, it’s likely that this is the sort of thing the team works on in training all the time.
From page 32 of the same book:
It is essential that the play should be quick, crisp and adapted to opponents’ weakness. In the finishing touch phase it is vital that the players should move quickly and in time with each other…. It is important to see how the joint movements of two or more advancing players can create space for another teammate to take possession and attack from there.
Indeed. Stoor high on the right to pull defenders out of the middle; Zamora drops off and pulls two defenders; Johnson attacks the space; bang! Still needed a high degree of skill to make it work, but again, that’s where the practice comes in, right? Good work, team!
Kettering away!
What a draw!
A – brought up in Blunham, near Barford
B – where we lived when I was born/sister born here
C – played football here for a long time (well, was a substitute here for a long time)
D – moved to play for Oakley Rangers when 15
Everywhere else – have played cricket at most of these villages
Huzzah!
My mum and dad retired to the West Country about four years ago and I haven’t been back to Bedford since. There’s not much there, but still, it would be great to go back. And it’s the weekend before my birthday. So excited… just hope we can get tickets.
Jamie’s report: Sheffield Wednesday 1-2 Fulham
A thoroughly enjoyable day out with over 2,000 other Fulham fans at a bitterly cold Hillsborough. After some ambiguous comments in midweek, Roy Hodgson decided on fielding a strong line-up for this FA Cup tie, including nine of the eleven who had faced Chelsea a week earlier. He was rewarded with our first away goals since October and a first away win of the season.
This was truly entertaining stuff as Fulham abandoned the conservative tactics recently employed on our travels and attacked with great purpose and invention from the outset. It took 12 only minutes for Danny Murphy to find a perfectly weighted pass for Andrew Johnson, who slotted under the keeper to put us into the lead. However, this being a more open contest, chances came for Wednesday too. Schwarzer had to save well at the feet of (their) Johnson and the same player then headed over when well placed. We continued to pass it well, and seemed to have weathered the mini-storm when all of a sudden, full-back Tommy Spurr produced a peach of a shot from 25 yards which swerved away from Schwarzer and into the net. 1-1. Minutes later, Dickson Etutu, clearly inspired, tried his own version and almost succeeded with a ridiculously powerful strike from even further out. The crossbar it struck is probably still reverberating now.
We started the second period as we had the first, attacking intelligently and inventively. Johnson was especially impressive: a constant creator of opportunities as he ran the channels tirelessly whilst showing no little skill on the ball. But a goal failed to come and there was an anxious phase in the middle of the half when our impetus seemed to drop and Wednesday created some more openings of their own. Hodgson – unusually, and to his credit – reacted, bringing on Davies and Nevland. It did the trick and for the last ten minutes we pressed hard for a winner, Nevland guilty of missing two very presentable chances created for him by Johnson. In the end, it was the reverse combination that worked: Nevland receiving the ball on the right and crossed low for Johnson to slide home in front of the travelling faithful. Joy!
Of the ‘newcomers’ to the team: Etuhu was impressive, a real presence in front of the back four. Frederik Stoor proved a more than able replacement for John Paintsil – perhaps a defensively sounder if less dynamic version – and equally committed to the cause. Julien Grey’s performance on debut was passable, but little to suggest he might make an impact at Premiership level. Indeed, it was his substitution for Davies that prompted our late renaissance, along with the removal of Zamora (who was having an off day) for the enigmatic Nevland. Davies, encouragingly, showed glimpses of his form of last season and was unlucky to hit the post late on.
Good, good, good. Your correspondent is happy. This really was a satisfying day – an entertaining, end-to-end match, the right result, a fantastic away following and (I feel I must mention in light of our CCN supremo’s boxing day success) a small bet that went our way: £1 on 1-2 with Johnson to score first, at odds of 28/1. Now if only we’d put a tenner on that…
