Posts Tagged ‘Andy Carroll’

Fulham 3-1 West Ham: Winning the First “Must-Win”

Posted: January 30, 2013 by Kyle Bonn in Postgame
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Hugo Rodallega provided the winner as Fulham grabbed a massive 3 points at home

Martin Jol said 5 or 6 wins are going to be needed to guarantee we stay away from the relegation zone, and the club are 1 win closer to securing not only safety but a respectable finish.

The birthday boy headed home the first goal of the night (he was offsides, shhhhhhh), and Hugo Rodallega, who’s got 3 massive goals this year, banged home the winner just after West Ham equalized.  It was a very exciting back-and-forth match, but showed the weakness in defense for both clubs.  Fulham are going to have to weather poor defense for the rest of the season, and it isn’t going to be fun against better clubs.

That being said, this win is massive in terms of confidence.  It got Berbatov back on track (on his birthday, no less), it slotted Fulham up to 12th in the table for the time being, and picked up some kind of points ahead of a challenging stretch of 6 games or so.

The good:

Hugo Rodallega – The offseason transfer has been a statistical nightmare this season, but Rodallega provided pace, cutting edge, and fantastic passing as he led the charge up front for Fulham.  He seemed to dictate terms with the West Ham defense, and made some excellent runs that the Fulham midfielders mostly were able to pick out.

Dimitar Berbatov – The birthday boy picked a great game to bounce back from a run of poor form.  He’d probably have been better had he not been hampered by a hamstring problem most of the match, and he pulled up lame at the end to cap it off.  Hopefully this gives him some more confidence as well. Confidence is going to be a huge thing for more than just Berbatov going forward.

Sascha Riether – By far Fulham’s most consistent defender this season, he’s making a big case to be made permanently a Fulham player at the end of the season.  His tackles are spot-on, and he provides pace down the wing.  Most importantly, though, he’s made so massive tackles this year, and that’s what Fulham are lacking at the back.  It’s hard to beat him one-on-one.  Fulham absolutely need to throw everything they’ve got at keeping him beyond this year.

The bad:

Bryan Ruiz – This one’s not on Ruiz.  It’s solely on Martin Jol.  Ruiz isn’t a winger, and clearly can’t perform well in that position.  Ruiz has played out of position since Dembele’s departure, stuck farther back in the midfield than is suited to him.  He was stuck out of position today even worse, as Jol tried to stick Berbatov in more of Ruiz’s spot.  Dejagah came on for Ruiz and played very well in his spot, so I wouldn’t expect to see the Costa Rican on the wing much more, if at all.

Philippe Senderos – He made a few good plays, but mostly he failed miserably at his job again, and even got away with a blatant handball towards the end of the match after Fulham’s third goal had been scored.  Aaron Hughes has slipped mightily, but he’s still a much better option than Senderos.  Then again, so is a cucumber.

Man of the Match: Damien Duff, without question.  His passes were incredible, crosses were on point (something Fulham’s been missing this season), and even took a few great strikes on goal, coming just wide/high on them.  Alex Kacaniklic, who was left out of the side altogether today, is going to have a real struggle to get back into it, with Duffer now at 7 assists in 19 matches, and Urby Emanuelson – who will most likely slide into either left back or left wing – heading to Craven Cottage imminently.

Last words: Fulham were lucky that West Ham were somewhat off target today and Andy Carroll only played 15 minutes, but they got the job done, and 3 points in the bank.  We’re now in 12th place and 8 points ahead of the drop, which by no means is safe, but it’s a good enough distance for a slip-up or two against the top teams, which is probably bound to happen, especially this Saturday.  West Ham, meanwhile, are in a real troubling position in 13th, just one point below Fulham but their defense looks extremely poor and attack not as good as advertised.  Getting Carroll back will be huge.

There’s also word now that not only has Tom Huddlestone’s name popped up again, but Andre Villas-Boas has confirmed Fulham have spoken with the midfielder and he’s at Craven Cottage to discuss a possible transfer.  We’ll see where that’s headed.  Happy 3 points everyone! COYW!

Fulham vs. West Ham Preview: Back To The League

Posted: January 29, 2013 by Kyle Bonn in Previews
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Kieran Richardson and Fulham will be looking to put not only their recent form aside, but erase their 3-0 defeat from Upton Park earlier this year.

Well, as disappointing and uninspiring the performance, as difficult as it was to watch, it may be a blessing in disguise that Fulham have come crashing out of the FA Cup, as the rest of their fixtures this season will be league matches.  It’s all about the league now.  The road doesn’t get any easier, but before their third match in Manchester in 2 weeks, a midweek fixture at home requires our attention.  West Ham, currently 12th in the league, have been an inconsistent bunch this season, albeit at their best they’ve looked quite deadly.  Fulham fans only have to look back to their crushing 3-0 defeat from Upton Park back in September to see that best-case-scenario West Ham side.

There’s a possibility we could see a debutant take the ground at Craven Cottage on Wednesday, with Martin Jol’s first first-team signing of the January transfer window looking at a fitness test ahead of the tie.

State of Fulham:

It’s been rough going recently.  I could give you all the numbers about how Fulham have won just 6 of their 23 league matches this season.  I could tell you they haven’t won a match since December 10th against Newcastle at home.  I could tell you how Fulham are just 6 points above the drop.  But you don’t need all those numbers if you watched the Cup match against United.  It was ugly.  It was troubling.  I don’t want to get too worked up over it, since it’s the FA Cup and that’s not what’s important right now, and the players/manager probably realize that as well.  HOWEVER, I tried to stay positive after the match on Twitter, and was bombarded with tweets telling me how it’s not the scoreline or the opponent that matters, it’s how we looked, and that has a lot of fans worried sick.

We could see a bright spot in this match, as it’s possible Emmanuel Frimpong could see game action in light of his loan move to Craven Cottage.  However, Martin Jol first wants to test Frimpong’s fitness, and knowing the Dutchman’s previous actions, it’s not like him to toss new guys out there right away.

On the injury front, it’s pretty much the same as this weekend from Old Trafford.  Mahamadou Diarra’s out for another 3-4 weeks (whose health Andy Glockner, a fantastic writer for Sports Illustrated and also an avid Fulham fan, wrote at the start of the season was a key for Fulham this year – oops).  Kerim Frei is also out, and although Simon Davies is close to returning, this match may be just a touch too quick for him.

State of West Ham:

West Ham isn’t having a fantastic run of form in the recent going either.  You can pick any arbitrary period of recent games for West Ham and it doesn’t look too good.  2 points from their last 6 matches.  1 win in last 11 matches.  3 wins in their last 18 matches.  Last win was New Years Day at Upton Park against Norwich.  For West Ham, their next few matches are crucial to their season.  Sitting in 12th at the moment in a position of mid-table obscurity that Fulham are very familiar with, March (plus the weeks before and after) sees the Hammers face 6 clubs in a row all in the top 10, so they’ll be looking to get as many points before that as possible in order to weather the storm of March.

They’ll be looking to get Andy Carroll’s help during this important stretch.  The Liverpool loanee has been out since the middle of November with a bum knee, and it’s up in the air whether he’ll be ready to go for the trip to Craven Cottage, but early reports seem to indicate there’s a good chance of him playing.  In other Hammers injury news, young defender Daniel Potts is out after getting popped by Bacaray Sagna against Arsenal (he was knocked unconscious).

EA Sports Stats of the Match:

-West Ham have lost 5 of their last 6 away league matches and have managed just 6 goals in their last 11 away matches
-West Ham are undefeated in 12 of their last 13 matches against Fulham in all competitions
-Fulham have just 2 points in 5 matches against London opponents this season
-Steve Sidwell is tied for second in the Premier League with 62 successful tackles, according to the EA Sports Player Performance Index.  He’s contributed defensively (tackle, interception, block, clearance) every 10 1/2 minutes, best of any midfielder in the league.
-West Ham’s Joey O’Brien has attempted 45 tackles this season, but has been successful on just 22 of them (48.9%)

888sport.com Lines of the Week:

-West Ham to score 2 goals: 10/3; West Ham to score 3 goals: 15/2
West Ham have banged in 2 or more goals in 6 of their last 7 matches, and given the aging/struggling Fulham defense, this is a pretty good bet.

-Total goals over/under 2.5 OVER: 4/5
With the stat I gave you above, and the overall poor defense of these two clubs, you have to imagine this will almost be a lock.

-First goalscorers: Damien Duff 11/1, Bryan Ruiz 15/2
This for whatever reason feels like a Damien Duff game, does it not? And Ruiz seems to be one of the only Fulham players in form right now.  I’d bank on those two, especially since Berbatov’s pretty much stopped caring (or at least, it looks that way).

Prediction:

I think this will be an exciting match with goals.  Both defenses have been poor recently, and both are coming off games where they were leaky at the back to say the least.  I think at this point whoever’s home gets the three points, and since it’s at Craven Cottage, Fulham get the edge in my mind.  I’ll give it 2-1 Fulham, although even more goals finishing around 2-2 wouldn’t surprise me at all.  This is about as much of a must-win as you can get at this point in the season, and a vital 3 points.  Fulham lose this match, or even draw, and Martin Jol’s job status would seem even more in jeopardy.

Liverpool 0-1 Fulham: The Merseyside Curse is Broken

Posted: May 1, 2012 by Kyle Bonn in Postgame
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Fulham congratulate each other on the only goal of the match, sinking Liverpool at Anfield 1-0

They’ve done it.  Martin Jol…er…Billy McKinlay’s side have won in Merseyside for the first time since….too long ago for me to do the research.  And they’ve won for the first time ever at Anfield.  It was an interesting match, with not much riding on it, but nonetheless, one of the monkeys is off the Cottagers’ backs, which is always important going into next season looking for big things from the Black and White Army.

The good:

-The defense – they played bend-not-break defense, and it worked to perfection.  They came close to breaking a few times but someone was always there to bail out whoever was having a hard time.  It helped that the Liverpool strikers and midfielders were in about as poor form as you could be, as an on-target Andy Carroll may have sunk Fulham (so would a minotaur or soccer fairy, but all 3 are mythical creatures so we don’t have to worry).  The central defense pairing was as good as ever, and they continue to make the case why Martin Jol should never, ever break them up so help me God.  Also, John Arne Riise continues to show his worth in the attack as well, being a major player in the goal.

-The midfield – Danny Murphy was back in the starting lineup, and he was the captain at its best.  It’s amazing to me how just being in his proximity on the pitch makes everyone else around him better.  Kacaniklic was also his usual youthful, energetic self, and he helped set up the goal, among other great things.  He’s a beautiful chance creator, and one that hopefully continues to stick around Craven Cottage and the first team.  As one of my wonderful Twitter followers so eloquently put it: “Jol, please lock Kacaniklic into a room by himself until he signs.”  I concur (not that I condone kidnapping.  If you get caught Jol, you know nothing of this post or that tweet).

-The work rate – It continues to impress me every time Fulham get a positive result how much they work until the final whistle.  The two who come to mind are Danny Murphy, obvious as captain, and Pogrebnyak.  Both men work tirelessly no matter where the ball is.  The defense is another that works so hard.  I really want to give a ton of praise to management, because it’s obvious the players buy into whatever Jol and McKinlay are laying in front of them, and the players are inspired to perform well for the leaders.  It’s something whose importance cannot be overstated.

The bad:

-Clint Dempsey’s finishing – Oops! Dempsey missed a couple of sitters, one on a horrible back header by Skirtel.  I’m not going to harp too much on it because not only did it not have an affect on the outcome, but Clint’s allowed a bad game or two every now and then.  And he didn’t have an overall bad performance, just those two instances.

-The late injuries – It may be nothing, but Pogrebnyak came off with a back problem that looked like it may have been nagging him for about 10 or 15 minutes before he came off.  Also, Dembele may have an upper leg injury.  Hopefully they’re nothing really, but they’re something to keep in mind.

Man of the Match: This one is easy: Brede Hangeland.  HOW on EARTH no bigger club has picked him off our squad for a hefty fee is beyond me.  The Norwegian is quite possibly the most valuable body on the pitch day in and day out for Fulham, and one of the most consistent as well.  He had a phenomenal match, making a goal-line clear on a ball that beat Schwarzer, and also saved the day later in the match when Andy Carroll (I think) made a break down the side and into the box with no one else between him and the keeper.  Again, I will also reiterate his work rate. Impressive.

I think this match tells us less about our club, however, than it does about the ‘Pool.  Kenny Dalglish’s side has a lot of thinking to do before they face Chelsea.  Obviously they were playing very few regulars, but it’s still been established that they’re clear underdogs going into this FA Cup final, and they will have to play exponentially better than they did today to even have a chance.  It’s been an odd season for the Reds, and this weekend’s tie has a lot to do whether it will be a memorable one or one they’d rather forget.

Interesting note: Thanks to HammyEnd.com for this one, that goal today was Fulham’s first at Anfield since 2006 (Collins John).

Fulham vs. Liverpool: Playing With House Money

Posted: May 6, 2011 by Kyle Bonn in Previews
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Well, now that the club is safe and in the Premier League, the rest is all gravy.  We’re playing for finish now, and it’s a tight race in the middle of the table.  After 2 straight 3-0 wins, including one rare one on the road, the club is bringing its run of good form back to the Cottage.  This is an important match since Fulham are attempting to catch Liverpool in the table.

With a Europa League draw from Fair Play on the horizon for Fulham, the match draws referee Lee Mason, who despite being 11th out of 18 Premier League referees in matches, has given out the 4th most yellow cards (90 yellows in 21 matches) and ranks 4th in card points (1 for a yellow, 2 for a red).

I would hope that Mark Hughes would use these last 3 matches not only to maximize his spot in the table, but also to learn as much as possible about the club in order to get the best possible read on where they need to improve next season.  I believe that next season is an incredibly important season, as it has the potential to be a big one for Fulham.  Between another Europa League bid and a possible top 10 finish despite missing the team’s best goal scorer for most of the season, there is the potential for a lot of success.  But this summer has to go right, and that can only happen if Hughes is able to evaluate his team as much as possible to find the biggest holes and the important players.

State of Fulham:

Fulham received an injury blow with news the other day that Damien Duff would be out for the rest of the season after Achilles surgery.  However, the last 2 matches which Fulham won handily were both played without Duff, who was attempting to recover from said injury.  So it shouldn’t be too big of a blow.  On the flip side, Clint Dempsey is returning and so is Brede Hangeland, so the side should be stronger still.

The two 3-0 wins were excellent, but they seem like a ways away now with a very good Liverpool side on their way to the capital.  The last time Fulham hosted Liverpool, the Reds finished with 9 men after Philipp Degen and Jamie Carragher both were sent off and Fulham grabbed the win 3-1.  In fact, the last 9 times these teams have met, one side has walked away with 3 points every single time.

If Fulham were to pull out wins in their last 3 matches (which I don’t see happening but certainly isn’t out of the question) they would finish with their all-time highest points total.

One last thing, I really hope that Mark Hughes starts Andy Johnson and not Eidur Gudjohnsen.  AJ has played exceptionally well the last few matches he’s come on as a sub and Eidur, despite Sparky’s affection for him, has done nothing in my view.

State of Liverpool:

Kenny Dalgish has his biggest decision to make involving newcomer and newly fit Andy Carroll coming into this match.  Dirk Kuyt and Luis Suarez are both playing extremely well, and Dalgish sat Carroll (who came on in the 70th minute for Maxi Rodriguez) in the win against Newcastle on the 1st of May, in which both Kuyt and Suarez had goals.

As far as knocks go, Daniel Agger (knee injury, out for season) and Stephen Gerrard (groin surgery, out for season) are both long-term injury misses, and Martin Kelly is a doubt with a hamstring injury (tore it against West Ham in March).

Fulham will win if…

…they play good defense and keep Suarez and Kuyt frustrated.  There are a few dubious statistics I would like to share with you that don’t bode well for the home side.  First, Fulham have failed to score in 6 of their last 7 league matches against Liverpool.  That’s not the one I’m worried about though, since historical data doesn’t bother me as much.  The one that I am focusing on is the following: we all know how good the Fulham defense has been this season, especially at home.  However, something that I found today that shocked me was Fulham on average give up their first goal in the 31st minute, FASTEST IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE, if you can believe that.  If we get a goal down to Liverpool that fast, I believe it’s over.  However, if we can keep it at 0-0 for a while I think we have a chance.

Prediction:

I have gone against this team the last few matches (besides Sunderland) and it’s (happily) come back to bite me in the you-know-what.  Both these clubs are on a run of good form and I believe this will be an absolute heck of a match.  It certainly could go either way, especially being at Craven Cottage.  It’s Fulham’s run of good form plus the fact that they’re home plus the fact that I’ve wrongly doubted them a few too many times this season that lend themselves to my 2-1 victory for Fulham in front of the home crowd.  Would certainly be an exciting and promising win.

Other interesting notes:

-Fulham are the only Premier League club yet to concede a goal by penalty this season
-Fulham have won 6 of 7 at home, drawing the other.  During those 7 matches, only Blackburn has scored against Fulham.
-Liverpool are the only Premier League club to score in all of their 2011 fixtures
-Andy Johnson and Daniel Murphy are both 2 goals shy of 50 career league goals
-Fulham need 1 more draw to tie the all-time club mark for draws in the PL (16 in 1999-2000 season)

Finally, still trying to get more likes on the Fulham’s Finest Facebook page! So be sure to hit it up and hit like to get updates, polls, and to post your thoughts!