Posts Tagged ‘Chelsea’

Fulham 0-3 Chelsea: What Happened

Posted: April 18, 2013 by Kyle Bonn in Postgame
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It’s David Luiz’s world and we’re all just living in it.

David Luiz deposited a 35-yard screamer and Mladen Petric cleared Philippe Senderos’s goalbound header off the Chelsea goal line.

What.

That was my reaction after this match. What did I just watch? Turns out that Luiz Zeus-bolt was a harbinger of things going to come, but I had a hard time wrapping my head around the entirety of it.

This was one of the weirder matches of the season. Fulham didn’t play poorly at all. The buildup play was creative – albeit sloppy – and the defending was relatively solid. In addition, Chelsea really didn’t play all that well. They were sluggish (so was Fulham) and they definitely didn’t have a top 5 cutting edge about them.

And yet, here we are, 3-0 losers at home.

Ultimately, Fulham made mistakes (a lot of them) and Chelsea made them pay, and that’s what good teams do. And Chelsea is a very good team.

The good:

Eyong Enoh – The best Fulham player on the pitch by a longshot, Enoh was physical, accurate, and looked like he was trying a whole hell of a lot harder than anyone else under Martin Jol’s command. Enoh finished 48/49 passing, 5-for-5 in tackle attempts, and drew 3 fouls while committing 2. The only blemish on his record was a “failed clearance” he somehow got in the attacking half of the pitch on the touchline. I like what I see from the Cameroonian, and I hope Fulham give him a few more chances to prove he’s worth exercising the option to buy on his loan deal.

The bad:

Bryan Ruiz – Ruiz has been a focal point for discussion between Fulham fans this entire season. He cost a great deal, and hasn’t brought a whole lot of quality to the pitch. Many refuse to give up on him yet, but time is quickly running out on the “he needs to get used to the Premier League” excuse. To be fair, he has 6 assists, second most on the team. Everyone knows he’s ineffective on the wing and a little more effective stuck behind Berbatov. The Costa Rican hasn’t been awful….until last night. Ruiz’s passing was horribly inaccurate, and he displayed a quality his detractors have repeatedly pointed to – a lack of physicality. Ruiz was pushed off the ball numerous times, and other moments he had an opportunity to make a tackle but was simply brushed aside. I’ve made the argument in the past (and I know at least a few agree with me) that Ruiz’s biggest issue on Fulham this season is that he’s the exact same player as Berbatov. A player who uses technical ability and occasional bursts of pace to excel up front and slip into spaces most players wouldn’t dare take on. But with Berba up front already, and obviously not going anywhere, where is Ruiz to go? We’ll have to see what happens in the near future, but Bryan’s flirtations with fans patience is rapidly running out.

Mladen Petric – It was difficult to have a worse game than Ruiz had, but Petric managed to pull it off. It was exciting to see his name back in the lineup after months of being relegated to the bench. He’d shown a bit of an understanding with Berbatov both early in the season and in his few short substitute appearances. However, after an invisible first half, his world came crumbling apart in the second period. The most baffling moment was clearly when he attempted to redirect Philippe Senderos’s header off a corner into the net where he happened to be stationed at the far post. The problem was twofold. One, the header was already clearly goalbound. Two, Petric redirected the ball alright – out of the net and over the top. I must say, it’s quite impressive how Petric managed to get that ball over the top of the bar, but he figured out a way. That completely changed the course of the match. Fulham trailed 2-0 at the time, and a goal would certainly have put pressure on Chelsea that so far had eluded the home side. Instead, Chelsea went down and scored a third minutes later, sealing the match. Petric was off target, lacked any pace whatsoever, and had no connection with his teammates. A player who early on in the season showed the potential to be labeled a steal off the free transfer market now probably falls into the “you get what you pay for” category.

Sascha Riether – I hate to put the German in this category, because he’s had an outstanding season, and because of that certainly gets a pass for a few bad matches. He’s been one of the top 3 right backs in the Premier League. However, after an outstanding cross lifted into the box by Riether in about the third minute (which Ruiz managed to flub completely into a howling miss), the right-back proceeded to have possibly his worst match of the season. Riether had trouble handling passes, and had a poor time defending. He allowed John Terry – one of the best in the league with his head – 5 yards of space about 7 yards from the goal, and Terry made him pay for his first goal of the night to make it 2-0. Sascha picked a bad match to have a stinker too – the club relied heavily on his attacking play with Ruiz having such a tough time on the right wing. Riether’s 48 received passes is his most in a match since he had way too many (70 to be exact) against Manchester City back in January.

Man of the Match – (null) I guess I can give it to Enoh by default, but everyone else was poor/non-existent.

Other observations – So many players on this roster have never been more obviously replacable than they were at Craven Cottage last night. John Arne Riise is no longer the force he was on the left side and has become wildly mediocre. He had acres of space in the box in the closing minutes of the first half and managed a timid outside-of-the-foot “shot” from a player who used to be known as the Riise Rocket. Wasn’t much of a rocket. Urby Emanuelson has shown nothing of value beyond the fact he plays for AC Milan. His strengths don’t translate well to the Premier League, and he can head back to Italy sooner rather than later as far as I’m concerned.

Where to go from here – The hardest part about this match was the exposure of Fulham’s patchwork roster. It’s never been more evident how many holes this squad has. The striker situation is still a mess – Berbatov is the only reliable goalscorer and quite frankly only consistently solid play up front. The midfield outside of Steve Sidwell is a patchwork of loanees and old misfits. The wing is aging and injured. The defense is incredibly old spotty – embarrassing mistakes are rampant and outside of Riether they provide little pressure link-up play in the attack. The club will limp towards the finish-line just fine, but this summer will be unbelievably important to the club’s future. It’s funny because that’s exactly what we all said last summer, and we were stunned with the last-minute results. This summer, the shock departures are officially a thing of the past, and Martin Jol can begin his long-term plan for how to bring this club better results.

Fulham vs. Chelsea: Begin The Gauntlet

Posted: April 17, 2013 by Kyle Bonn in Previews
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Martin Jol faces Rafa Benitez for the second time this season after securing a draw at Stamford Bridge in the reverse fixture.

The Manager has told me all about our games with Chelsea, and it would make us very happy if we can get the result. It’s a chance to create a bit of history, because these are the matches that the fans remember especially. The atmosphere is always good in these types of matches, they’re very noisy and that adds to the experience. I’m sure Craven Cottage will be full and the supporters will be there getting right behind the team.

Urby Emanuelson is ready for the derby.  With a midweek derby at Craven Cottage, arguably the toughest stretch on the Fulham fixture list begins tonight under the lights against Chelsea.  Fulham couldn’t have picked a better time to welcome Rafa Benitez’s clan into the friendly confines, as their away form is about as horrid as it could possibly be for a top-5 club at the moment.

State of Fulham:

The Whites reverted back to their away form of old the last two matches, playing odd lineups and shooting for 1 point instead of 3.  Martin Jol’s tactics seemed uncharacteristically defensive as opposed to home matches, which seems to contribute to the poor away form.  I’ve never been a fan of changing tactics completely when on the road as opposed to home.

Either way, the return to Craven Cottage is a welcome one.  Fulham sit on 40 points and 10th in the table, 1 point behind Swansea and 3 back of West Brom, although Southampton and West Ham are 2 points back in the rear view mirror.

This is possibly the toughest stretch on their league schedule of the season.  Chelsea visit Craven Cottage, and then they host Arsenal 3 days later before heading out on the road to Merseyside, where Fulham have had exactly zero success in the past.  The only consolation is that 4 of the next 5 matches are in the friendly confines.

This is Steve Sidwell’s last suspension match for his straight red a few weeks ago.  He’ll be ready to go on the weekend.  As for injuries, Damien Duff is out with the thigh strain he suffered against Villa, but that’s about it other than the usual long-term absentees of Mahamadou Diarra and Ashkan Dejagah, both of whom are out for the season.  Enoh had some trouble with his ankle in training, but Jol says he’s fit.  Don’t be surprised if Frimpong starts with Enoh on the bench, but I’ve said that the last 2 matches and Enoh’s gotten the nod so who knows.

State of Chelsea:

“For us, the disappointment of losing the semi-final against City will be a factor, and we need to make sure we are over that.  It’s a derby game, a huge game anyway, and if they win they know they are safe from relegation and can then play without pressure. It’s a tough fixture for us, it always has been. They often raise their game at Craven Cottage, especially against us. We never find it easy to play there, but the pressure is on us now.” -Petr Cech

Fulham couldn’t have picked a better time to have their match with Chelsea rescheduled to. The Blues have lost their last 3 away matches, and are coming off a defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup.  This will be Chelsea’s 60th match of the season in all competitions, but Jol is correct when he says they have the depth to pull that off.

The Blues will be missing both Ashley Cole and Gary Cahill, and Marko Marin is a gametime decision after picking up a knock in training.  Oriol Romeu is a long-term absentee with a knee injury.

EA Sports Stats of the Week:

-Fulham have drawn in their last 4 league meetings with Chelsea.

-Frank Lampard has scored 6 league goals at Fulham.  The only place he’s scored more is Bolton’s Reebok Stadium.

-Demba Ba is the only Chelsea player with 100 or more shots on goal this season.

-On the heels of the Aston Villa draw, Fulham have benefited from 5 own goals this season, most in the league along with Manchester United.

888sport.com Lines of the Week:

-Frank Lampard to score: 2/1
On the heels of the stat I gave you above, it’s not farfetched at all.  Maybe Martin Jol wants to take a second look at Lampard after seeing his Craven Cottage scoring record.

-Draw or Chelsea: 1/5
OH MAN WE’RE HIGH ROLLERS HERE. The last time Fulham beat Chelsea? A 1-0 victory at the Cottage in 2006 when Luis Boa Morte scored. In fact, that’s the only Fulham win over Chelsea in league or cup play in the last THIRTY-TWO YEARS. Safe money there.

-Halftime/Full time – Fulham/Draw: 14/1
Fulham would be 5th in the league if matches ended at halftime.  That’s reason enough to grab 14/1 odds here.  Great value.

Prediction: As much as I would like to see Fulham grab points from this, I certainly don’t believe Chelsea will go to their 4th straight away defeat, and even a point will be tough with Cech, Ba, and Torres all in form.  Going with 2-1 Chelsea snatching victory at the Cottage.  Fulham have it in them to pull this off, I just don’t see it ultimately happening.

I leave you with Rafa Benitez’s thoughts on the derby:

“Fulham are a very good team, you can see the level they’ve been at in the Premier League for a while. Derbies are different, anything can happen.”

Let’s hope anything can and will happen.

Chelsea 0-0 Fulham: Frantic but Effective

Posted: November 28, 2012 by Kyle Bonn in Postgame
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Apparently every camera at Stamford Bridge was trained on either Rafa Benitez or Fernando Torres, so this is what I have for you. Somewhat funny to see the new man in charge so flabbergasted.

In one of the more tactically exciting 0-0 games (at least the second half, if not the first), Fulham were able to grab a point at Stamford Bridge against one of the better teams in the league.  The last 10 minutes were very back and forth, and Fulham did well to not let one fall in under very heavy pressure. I’ll take it.

In the last 6 matches, Fulham have gone DLLDDD. They haven’t won since the 1-0 win at home over Villa. They’ve won 1 match in their last 9. And yet, this one match on its own, it’s a good result.

The defense was frantic and required lots of last minute clears that weren’t incredibly effective, but did the job.  There were chances on the other end, including a volley that Riise completely flubbed, but I’m not mad we didn’t convert.  Getting any points at Stamford Bridge are a positive.

Remember, this is still “survive till January” mode and with all the injuries and depth issues, so it’s not the end of the world where we are.  The losses to Stoke and Sunderland were killer, but the situation isn’t unredeemable, even though Fulham have now dropped out of the top 10.

The good:

The center-back partnership – Aaron Hughes in particular was good, after a few matches where he’s been below par. He and Senderos were serviceable today, especially after the last match where the Swiss was an abomination.  The wing backs were good too; Riise piled up blocks and Riether was his usual rock solid self.  Good showing without Hangeland.

The senior squad – Karagounis and Diarra were excellent in the middle today, and despite giving way for the final quarter of the match after clearly being winded, they were excellent in slowing down the attacks and allowing the defense time to regroup after each assault.

Hugo Rodallega – I was very impressed with Rodallega’s defending.  It was obvious Jol told Hugo he would be needed in the back, and that he would be up on counter attacks.  His numbers shocked me (1/5 clearances), but I thought he looked solid helping out.  His ariel play was great, despite being 0/3 in ariel clearances, and 2/4 in ariel duels.  However, clearance numbers are misleading to me, because a successful clear will sometimes fall back to the attacking team, but it still helps at least delay the attack enough to stave off the pressure.

The bad:

The finishing – typical Fulham finishing.  They only had precious few chances in this match, which is to be expected, but they didn’t convert anything. Riise absolutely botched Fulham’s best chance of the game by almost whiffing on a volley and then losing the ball over the back line after.

The clearing – Fulham defended very well, and cleared very poorly. We could have had way more chances had the clearing been effective in alleviating pressure much quicker.  They’re a bit lucky to have not allowed a cheap goal on a failed clearance falling to a Chelsea striker in a good position.

Where from here?:

December is SO VITALLY important coming up.  There are a ton of winnable fixtures that Fulham must take advantage of.  They weren’t able to do this against Sunderland and Stoke, they couldn’t finish against Reading, they couldn’t finish against Southampton.  They’ve shown today they can hang with a team like Chelsea, so it’s time to get a point at home to a surging Spurs, and then pick up 3 points against a reeling Newcastle club, QPR, and Southampton and Swansea at home. They’ve dropped points in the last 2 months, and it’s time to man up. Every club, even the champions, have stretches where they don’t play their best.  Top 10 teams learn from their mistakes and in the end use that to beat the teams they should.  That’s this time for Fulham. Jol knows it too. More reaction below, but here’s the quote that struck me from his reaction, and it pertains to what I was just talking about:

“I am a little frustrated. The team is well organised and created chances against a team that works hard, so you can see us going forward, but still we have to improve…We have the players who can change the game and we need to link with them and do it quicker, but overall I think we are watching things that are positive. We have to play with a higher tempo for the players that we have up front.”

Jol’s reaction to Chelsea:

On Riise’s miss:

“Our shape was good, they had a lot of pressure but we have three or four good chances – nine times out of ten we would have broken them. John Arne Riise’s miss was disappointing. I told him that he should have shot across the goalkeeper and into the bottom corner. He covered 80 or 90 yards and not to score was disappointing.”

On players returning:

“We had a lot of players coming back; Mahamadou Diarra was playing his first game, Giorgos Karagounis was lacking a bit of rhythm, and we leave here thinking we could have nicked it.”

Lukaku a No-Go, According to his Agent

Posted: August 8, 2012 by Kyle Bonn in Transfer
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Romelu Lukaku fights for the ball against AC Milan during their friendly in Miami in late July

Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku, rumored to be heading to Fulham on loan for a while now, will apparently NOT be an option at Craven Cottage, according to his agent Christophe Henrotay of Sports Innovation SA.

“I can assure you that Lukaku will not go to Fulham. I’m currently finalising a loan deal to another Premier League team. I cannot say where or when until this is finalised but negotiations are going well so far. There were talks between Chelsea and Fulham but we talked to a lot of clubs. The journalists didn’t even contact me to check if the information they printed was true.”

Sometimes agents make stuff up to drum up interest, but that’s pretty definitive and sounds like it’s a done deal.  I’m a little bummed, for a few reasons.  First off, it seemed like a very legitimate rumor, and I think this proves it was, since he’ll be going on loan somewhere else.  Second, I got to watch him play in the Chelsea v. AC Milan friendly I went to in Miami, and not only is he MASSIVE, but he played ok.  It was very clear he’s raw talent that needs improvement, but I think he would have done well at Fulham.

With Martin Jol having confirmed the club is looking to bring in two more strikers this season, this is one option that appears to be no longer that – an option.

UPDATE (5:02 PM EST): Rumors say the club Lukaku will be headed to is EVERTON. Nothing confirmed yet obviously but there are some rumblings on Twitter.

The Fine Line: Why Crappy Journalism Make Footballers’ Lives Hell

Posted: October 6, 2011 by Kyle Bonn in Opinion
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Pajtim's missed penalty in the Carling Cup tie with Chelsea caused a swarm of media rumors...none of which had any merit.

A story came out a few days before  Fulham played QPR that Bobby Zamora had a bust-up in training with Martin Jol that could cause the striker and fan favorite to be leaving as soon as the January transfer window.  Then Fulham rocked QPR’s world with a 6-0 annihilation of epic proportions, and everything seemed right in SW6.

Then, another story came out.  It didn’t focus on the 3 points Fulham desperately needed and came through with in sparkling fashion.  It didn’t focus on how things seemed right with the club.  Its focus was a week earlier, when Pajtim Kasami banged a penalty off the crossbar against Chelsea in a Carling Cup tie Fulham eventually lost.

The story’s headline: “Fulham fury after Martin Jol fines Pajtim Kasami for missing a penalty.” However, the story suggested that, according to a ‘Fulham insider’ (whatever that means), Fulham manager had angered the club by fining Kasami for taking a penalty when he shouldn’t have.  The article states that Jol had assigned Orlando Sa to take the penalties in that game, but Kasami had stepped up and taken one.

Wait a minute…..didn’t the headline say he was fined for missing the penalty? Well, later in the article, it goes on to quote its ‘Fulham insider’ saying “Kasami wouldn’t have been fined had he scored it.”  Aside from the fact that apparently this ‘Fulham insider’, as we would learn later, is an idiot, if he/she even exists, we are led to believe by the title that Kasami was directly fined for missing a penalty, which would be absolutely nonsensical.  However, the real reason for the fine is buried in the article.

Not only is this headline absurdly misleading, but the entire article itself is built on a false premise.  If the real reason for the fine (the fact that Kasami wasn’t even supposed to take the penalty in the first place) had been brought forward, the entire premise of the article (to criticize Jol for silly fines) would be lost.  Because I think most of us would agree that if a player disobeys a manager’s orders on who should take penalties, a fine, especially one as petty as 500 quid, is an appropriate course of action.

THEN, the story took a really weird twist when it came out that Jol had FINED HIMSELF for failing to inform anyone but Orlando Sa that Orlando Sa was supposed to take penalties.  Wait….what?  So that shed some doubt on a lot of things, until Kasami himself came out to the media (on the Fulham official website, nonetheless) to dispel any unrest rumors.  Which was good because if anyone would be upset about a potentially problematic fine, it would be the person who got fined.  But Kasami said everything was just peachy. AND, it was also reported later that Brede Hangeland was going to talk to the PFA about the possibility of a violation with the fine.  But Brede said that was news to him, and it also ended up being untrue.

So what is my point on all this?

Well, there was really no reason that Pajtim Kasami should have to come out and rubbish rumors like this.  All articles like this do is cause publicity and emotional issues for players and managers alike.

My message to the masses is the following: please hold journalists accountable for idiotic stories like the original one The Sun posted.  Call the publication.  Write a letter.  Do something to stop this sensationalism.

I’m a little biased, I will admit.  Not only did I graduate from a university with a journalism degree, but I come from a country where NONE of this would fly.  For example, look at ESPN lacrosse analyst Quint Kessinich.  2 years ago, a player on the Virginia University men’s lacrosse team was charged with murdering his girlfriend, a member of the Virginia women’s lacrosse team.  When the story broke, Quint tweeted (not even wrote an article, he TWEETED!) incorrectly that Virginia lacrosse was cancelling the rest of the season.  Now, granted, a story like that would cause a little more emotional unrest than most because it involves a death.  However, it still falls under the category of misleading and incorrect breaking news that causes emotional unrest.  Because of this, Quint deleted his twitter account, fell into a few months of obscurity, and almost lost his job.  All because of a tweet.

Please, consumers of Premier League media, I beg of you: hold your newsbringers accountable.  Laud them when they break stories that end up being true, and chastise them and their employers when they break silly, misleading, and untrue stories like this one.  And maybe we can make a difference in things like this from happening.

There’s no reason Pajtim Kasami should ever have had to come forward and rubbish these rumors.  There’s no reason why Martin Jol, time and time again, should have had to come out and rubbish transfer rumors during this past summer of swirling ridiculousness.  And there’s no reason why this bad reporting should continue. And don’t tell me “that’s just the way it is and has been.”  That’s the telltale excuse of someone who is perpetuating the problem.

And finally…let us enjoy our 6-0 derby win without worrying about bust-ups and untrue fines! Sheesh!

/rant

Cottage Talk: Chelsea Recap/West Brom Preview

Posted: September 23, 2011 by Kyle Bonn in Cottage Talk
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I’m back with Cottage Talk! It will air in an hour and 10 minutes from this posting, at 6 am ET/11 am BST.  Remember, if you missed it you can always listen back but if you’d like to call in, take a live listen!  Hope you enjoy as Russ and I break down the Chelsea Carling Cup match and preview the trip to West Brom for a visit with Roy Hodgeson.

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