France Football has the dish. France Football is a serious paper, incidentally. Twice a week it comes out. I would love something similar over here, but this country’s need for lowest common denominator tittle-tattle means that a serious football paper is probably impossible. However:
Le milieu défensif de l’Inter Milan, Olivier Dacourt, qui n’entre plus dans les plans de José Mourinho et sous contrat avec le club milanais jusqu’au mois de juin prochain, devrait être prêté au club londonien de Fulham jusqu’à la fin de la saison, annonce L’Equipe.fr.
Which roughly means: the Inter Milan defensive midfielder Olivier Dacourt, who will no longer be in Jose Mourinho’s plans and who is under contract with the Milanese clubd until next June, is getting close (?) to London club Fulham until the end of the season. The end bit’s not right, but the gist seems clear. Hmmm.
Good man.
Praises character and professionalism of the squad, people not wanting individual glory (wonder if that’s aimed at anyone?), praises Nevland’s attitude, but also others’, notes Clint’s 65 yard recovery run at the end to track Pennant.
Probably no more transfers but hopes for a couple of loans.
That’ll do…
A canny victory. Portsmouth enjoyed much of the possession and a lot of the territory, but they did not break through until it was far too late. In the meantime Fulham struck with three incisive breaks and secured all the points. Harsh on Tony Adams’ team, but life is hard and there are no prizes in this league for effort, especially when you leave massive holes in the middle of your defence.
The Fulham midfield shone today. A year ago Portsmouth came to the Cottage and steamrollered us in the middle of the park. Today we gave as good as we got. The heretofore maligned Dickson Etuhu misplaced but a single pass all game; before and after that he was smooth and immaculate in possession, and also made some telling interventions in defence. Ahead of Etuhu, Danny Murphy, Simon Davies and Clint Dempsey played with strength, discipline and some flair. Who needs Jimmy Bullard?
Not us. Dempsey set Andy Johnson free early on with a simple through ball between the Portsmouth defenders. Johnson raced clear and passed the ball into the net to give the Whites a reassuring early lead. Portsmouth fought back and hit the bar with a header, but otherwise Mark Schwarzer was largely untroubled.
The second half saw much of the same, with Portsmouth playing like a 15 year old boy plotting the disrobement of his new girlfriend. In his mind he’s on the verge of something very exciting; in reality, he’s miles away.
Fulham were in control. The only downside was a poor performance from Bobby Zamora. Our number 9 has been short of goals for some time, but his all-round play has been generally excellent. But today he couldn’t get into the game and as time wore on his head seemed to go and his play degenerated beyond repair. Erik Nevland replaced him on the hour and scored twice. Zamora must have been mentally kicking his cat.
So a fine, comfortable win that suggests all is broadly well. Which is more than can be said for Portsmouth, who, despite possessing a team full of good players, look like they’re in serious trouble.
