Roy Hodgson has spent more than three decades coaching in European football and he has never seen a better team than Manchester United’s current incarnation.
The Fulham manager made that assessment after watching United eviscerate his team at Craven Cottage on Saturday night, inflicting the heaviest defeat of his 14-month tenure despite, as he said, Fulham playing reasonably well.
But they were no match for a United team who opened Fulham up at will in cruising to a 26th FA Cup semi-final 100 years after the club’s first such appearance.
(Independent)
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The renewed hope of Anfield loyalists will be tested by a glance at next weekend’s fixture list. Fulham versus Manchester United. Just reading the words reminds you of the moment in wildlife films when a herd of deer are grazing and the camera pans across to the tigers flexing their claws behind the bushes. United beat Fulham 4-0 at Craven Cottage in the FA Cup this month after a 3-0 aperitif in the league at Old Trafford. And those were United sides on cruise control.
Humiliated by Liverpool, their great rivals, on Saturday, they are angry. Backlash, perhaps? “It’s quite possible,” Roy Hodgson, the Fulham manager, said. “We can promise that we will give them [United] a good game. But I don’t think the Liverpools and the Chelseas can really expect that much of Fulham and say, ‘They’ll beat them for us’.”
(The Times)
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Boss Roy Hodgson says Fulham are in a no-win situation if they beat Manchester United in The Premier League this weekend.
Hodgson’s team came in for criticism following two performances against United in less than a month, with a 3-0 league defeat followed by a 4-0 thrashing in their FA Cup quarter-final at Craven Cottage.
This was all very different to the adulation they received for turning over Arsenal at the start of the season and then netting a draw at Emirates Stadium last month according to the Fulham manager.
“So what are we? Are we a hopeless team who shouldn’t bother turning up or are we the team who did turn up and should have beaten Arsenal at the Emirates?” Hodgson said.
“Well, I know where we are and that’s what matters.”
(Setanta)
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Attempt missed. Clint Dempsey (Fulham) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is close, but misses to the right.
Attempt blocked. Andrew Johnson (Fulham) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Paul Konchesky.
Attempt missed. Simon Davies (Fulham) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Bobby Zamora with a headed pass.
Attempt missed. Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United) header from the centre of the box is just a bit too high. Assisted by Patrice Evra with a cross.
Attempt missed. Bobby Zamora (Fulham) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Andrew Johnson.
Attempt blocked. Brede Hangeland (Fulham) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Simon Davies with a cross.
Attempt saved. Bobby Zamora (Fulham) header from very close range is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Brede Hangeland.
Penalty conceded by Paul Scholes (Manchester United) with a hand ball in the penalty area.
Goal! Fulham 1, Manchester United 0. Danny Murphy (Fulham) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the top right corner.
Attempt missed. Clint Dempsey (Fulham) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Paul Konchesky.
Attempt blocked. Bobby Zamora (Fulham) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Paul Konchesky.
Attempt saved. Bobby Zamora (Fulham) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt missed. Clint Dempsey (Fulham) right footed shot from the left side of the box is high and wide to the right.
Attempt saved. Bobby Zamora (Fulham) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Danny Murphy.
Attempt saved. Simon Davies (Fulham) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Danny Murphy with a through ball.
Attempt blocked. Bobby Zamora (Fulham) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Paul Konchesky with a cross.
Attempt missed. Simon Davies (Fulham) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Danny Murphy.
Attempt saved. Dickson Etuhu (Fulham) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Clint Dempsey with a cross.
Attempt saved. Bobby Zamora (Fulham) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Clint Dempsey.
Attempt blocked. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Attempt missed. Bobby Zamora (Fulham) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Danny Murphy following a set piece situation.
Attempt missed. Ji-sung Park (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Wayne Rooney.
Attempt missed. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) header from the centre of the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Darren Fletcher with a cross.
Attempt missed. Bobby Zamora (Fulham) left footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Paul Konchesky following a set piece situation.
Attempt saved. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Wayne Rooney.
Attempt saved. Darren Fletcher (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by John O’Shea.
Attempt blocked. Ji-sung Park (Manchester United) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Attempt blocked. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Rio Ferdinand with a headed pass.
Attempt saved. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Wayne Rooney with a cross.
Attempt missed. Clint Dempsey (Fulham) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Bobby Zamora.
Attempt saved. Ji-sung Park (Manchester United) right footed shot from very close range is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Cristiano Ronaldo with a cross.
Attempt saved. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt blocked. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Attempt missed. Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by John O’Shea with a headed pass following a set piece situation.
Attempt blocked. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Darren Fletcher.
Attempt missed. Clint Dempsey (Fulham) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Brede Hangeland.
Attempt blocked. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Attempt blocked. Diomansy Kamara (Fulham) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Clint Dempsey.
Attempt blocked. Simon Davies (Fulham) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Diomansy Kamara.
Attempt missed. Carlos Tevez (Manchester United) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Ji-sung Park.
Goal! Fulham 2, Manchester United 0. Zoltan Gera (Fulham) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Andrew Johnson.
Attempt saved. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
(ESPN)
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Guess the whites lineup…. Berbatov and Giggs up front. Scholes and Ronaldo start.
Really positive start. Another corner…
And a sending off and a pen!
Scholes off. 1 up!
Wow, we’ve got a chance now.
Ronaldo. Hilarious!
Perfect half. 1 goal, loads of chances (for us), Ronaldo behaving like a twat.
Berbatov off, Rooney on.
No way we can survive this pressure!
Tevez on!
Gera goal!
And Rooney off!
All over. Great game.
(Toby and Jamie)
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How to explain this result? That was the question for anyone who had witnessed United dismembering Fulham on the same ground just 14 days earlier. For Roy Hodgson it came down to “moments”.
The Fulham manager went on to explain that, in the 4-0 FA Cup defeat, his team had begun well but conceded a sloppy goal at a set piece, quickly followed by “a wonder strike”, and it was game over. On Saturday Fulham again began well and were this time rewarded. Paul Scholes handled Bobby Zamora’s header on the line, resulting in a penalty, which Danny Murphy converted, and a red card.
“It’s moments again,” said Hodgson. “I talk about the moment of the corner kick two weeks ago, which we defend badly and they score. Alex [Ferguson] will be thinking about [Scholes' handball]. Say he hadn’t handled, the ball had just gone into the net, and they’d played on with 11 men. It could have been a totally different story.”
(Independent)
i downloaded and rewatched the game just to analyze it better.
murphy, for me, was most definitely ‘el mero mero’. he did so much defensively and was his usual impressive attacking self.
roys tactics were spot on with the high pressure.
Hangeland/schwarzer were secondary mero meros,
dempsey had something of an off game, most of his involvement in the game was in the defensive end, which he did a decent job of, but didnt look pretty doing. he’s always banging upper bodies with those he defends. although he seems to have perfected the use of the quick back-pass-to-retain-possession-while-advancing, which is good.
everyone else did their jobs.
at seasons end though, I would like to bolster the strength of the quad in the positions currently held by Etuhu and Zamora.
from LA
Comment by mandela — March 24, 2009 @ 12:23 am |
How to explain this result? Rest.
Comment by rjbiii — March 24, 2009 @ 10:07 am |
I must be alone here for the lack of comments or perhaps everyone wore themselves out commenting on the previous post, but I thought this particular post rather genius. Nice one Rich!
Comment by bq — March 24, 2009 @ 11:22 am |