Posts Tagged ‘Damien Duff’

Aston Villa v. Fulham: The Search For Points Continues

Posted: April 12, 2013 by Kyle Bonn in Previews
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Mark Schwarzer will look to continue his great form and help get Fulham back to their winning ways at Villa Park.

Fulham continues their 2-game road trip with a visit to Villa Park, on the heels of a crushing 1-0 defeat by Newcastle at St. James Park.  In typical Fulham away fashion (which many had thought the club had put in the past), Martin Jol seemingly played for the draw and Alan Pardew’s crew made him pay.  The Fulham midfield is suddenly thin again, and according to both players and coach, they need another win to absolutely secure their Premier League status for next season.  They’ll be visiting a Villa side that will be fighting for their lives.  What gives?

State of Fulham:

The biggest storyline for Fulham in this match will be their midfield, which has been ravaged in recent weeks for a number of reasons.  Steve Sidwell is on the 2nd match of his 3-match red card ban.  Urby Emanuelson played extremely poor in his substitute appearance last time he saw the field.  And now the injury bug has struck Fulham in a big way.  The club made public that Ashkan Dejagah’s ankle will most likely require surgery that will keep him out for the rest of the season, and Eyong Enoh, who came off against Newcastle with an ankle knock of his own, probably won’t play at Villa Park.

The missing names mean we almost certainly will see Emmanuel Frimpong, and we could see Emanuelson get another shot.  It probably won’t happen, but a dark horse to start in place of Dejagah would be new extension-signee Buomesca Tue Na Bagna (a.k.a. Mesca), who could possibly get a shot. After what seemed like an experimental lineup at St. James Park, it will be interesting to see who Jol runs out tomorrow.

Fulham’s loss at Newcastle was their first since the beginning of February, and the Whites have 11 points between those two L’s.  Still, it will take one more win to allow Martin Jol to sleep easy at night knowing his side will appear on the same table next year.

State of Aston Villa:

Villa have enormously bolstered their position in recent weeks, sticking 9 points in the bank in their last 6 matches to get themselves not only out of the relegation zone but a much-more-comfortable 2-points gap.  They will be riding high after picking Stoke apart 3-1 on the road, and are also going to be receiving a few boosts as they head back home.

Cieran Clark could be back after missing 2 matches with a shoulder injury, and Darren Bent could complete his comeback after making a substitute appearance against Stoke.  Bent has been out for 5 matches with his second ankle injury of an injury-plagued season.  The London native has started just one game since Villa’s last match at Craven Cottage on October 20th, and he hasn’t played a full 90 a 4-1 loss at Southampton in September.  With Christian Benteke and Gabriel Agbonlahor both playing hot, it could be tough for Bent to get back into the side, but we’ll see where Paul Lambert goes down the stretch.  The injured list still includes Chris Herd, Marc Albrighton, and Richard Dunne.

Villa have a relatively easy schedule down the stretch, so I wouldn’t label this a must-win for them by any chance, but with Sunderland, Norwich, and Wigan still left on the docket, 3 points or even 1 for Villa could give Villa Park a much better vibe going forward.

EA Sports Stats of the Week:

-Despite making headlines on the scoresheet with his wonder goal, Matthew Lowton’s tackling has been a massive part of the Villa defense.  According to the EA Sports Player Performance Index, Lowton is second in the Premier League with 103 tackles, and is successful a fantastic 73.8% of the time.

-Fulham haven’t won at Villa Park in the league since 1973 in the old Division Two, but did win in the FA Cup there in 1999.

-Aston Villa have conceded in their last 16 straight league matches, and a Fulham goal would make 17, the highest of such streak this season. Also, the next goal Villa concede will set a dubious club high of 60 league goals in a season.

-Opponents have hit the woodwork 18 times against Fulham this season – the most in the Premier League.

-A goal by Gabriel Agbonlahor would be his 60th for Villa, a club record.

888sport.com Lines of the Week:

-Christian Benteke to score: 5/6
We’re going safe this week.  Those are horrible odds for a reason – he’s scored 10 goals in his last 11 matches.  How can you bet against that? Fulham’s defense has been solid recently, but you have to expect Benteke to net.  The odds aren’t good but he’s an incredibly safe bet.

-Both teams to score: 8/11
Villa has conceded in its last 16.  Benteke and Agbonlahor are on fire.  Dimitar Berbatov is calm as always.  You have to imagine goals are there to be goals are there for the taking in this one.

-Half with more goals – 2nd half: 21/20
If matches ended at halftime, Fulham would be 5th in the table; Aston Villa would be 6th.  That’s enough of a reason to put your money here.

-Damien Duff to score: 9/2
I have to have one reach, right? With Fulham’s midfield a bit thin, expect Duff to switch to Dejagah’s old right side (unless Jol plays Manolev on the right again, yuck), and he’ll have a good link-up with Sascha Riether.  That could be Fulham’s main artery of attack in this match.

Prediction:

Goals are certainly in the cards for this match, and I think it will be an incredibly exciting one to watch, so long as Jol doesn’t lineup the same way he did against Newcastle.  I can certainly see a 2-2 draw and a point both sides will be extremely happy with.

Breaking Down The Fulham Harlem Shake

Posted: February 28, 2013 by Kyle Bonn in Uncategorized
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I decided this conglomeration of awesomeness needed to be on my site in some manner, so I figured why not go all out and break down this madness. I’m having a hard time figuring out who’s who in the video, so feel free to leave a comment if you can figure them out. We have a few clues from this picture tweeted by Mladen Petric.

Pre-shake breakdown:

1) Bryan Ruiz and Steve Sidwell both suck at pool. UPDATE: apparently this is snooker, not pool? Or maybe not? I’m American, I don’t even know what snooker is. Carry on.

1a) An astute twitter follower pointed out Ruiz shoots pool right handed. Or maybe he just doesn’t shoot pool (or snooker) at all.

2) Apparently something top-secret is written on the lounge whiteboard because Billy the Badger walks by and his head gets blurred out for a moment.  What’s written on there that’s so important? We’ll never know.

3) Ashkan Dejagah (I think?) has some nice spin on his ping-pong shot, but Riise drops a nasty shot on him towards the end.

4) We need to enter Billy into a serious dancing competition. Wow.

5) Everyone not playing a sport or dancing looks like there’s a serious midterm exam coming up in an hour. Stay in school, kids!

Shake Shenanigans:

6) I just saw way, way too much of Sascha Riether in the bathing suit on the left.  That face he makes is horrifying.

7) Whoever’s behind the Iron Man mask also has boxing gloves on and wrote “I Am Single” on their chest.  I like to think this is a Strong Bad reference.

8) Nobody’s having more fun than Emmanuel Frimpong. Nobody. Also, his lower body is blurred out for a bit. Don’t want to know why.

9) Damien Duff is in the middle of the pack in a duck hat, and plays a mean pink air guitar.

10) Hugo Rodallega is sporting the monkey costume.  I was really hoping he would jump on the banana.  Alas, he was too busy twerking.

11) Most messed up costume definitely goes to the guy in the yellow construction worker vest, pink afro, and panda mask behind the banana.  Congrats on your blue ribbon, it’ll fit right in.

11a) A close second goes to the guy in the bottom right wearing a Borat swimsuit, a Lucha Libre mask, and a Fulham foam finger riding what appears to be an inflatable zebra.  Someone please fire the costume designer right now.

12) I really hope Martin Jol is in here somewhere.

13) Yes Berbatov is a boss. Yes he forgot a word on his shirt. Yes it reads “Keep Calm and Do The Harlem.” Yes he’s still a boss.

That’s all. Please add anything you notice in the comments, we need a full breakdown of this hilarity. Have a good day everyone. Sunderland on Saturday! I’m now entirely confident we’re going to win because if the football gods can’t smile on this I don’t know if there’s any hope.

Fulham’s Midfield Revival

Posted: February 25, 2013 by Kyle Bonn in Opinion, Player/Manager
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Giorgos Karagounis and the rest of the Fulham midfield have, despite age, revitalized a seemingly dire situation into a reliable unit.

It wasn’t long ago that Fulham fans were bemoaning a midfield which to describe as “thin” would be generous beyond recognition. Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey were no longer an asset on the Fulham FC books, Mahamadou Diarra’s injury left a gaping hole in front of the back 4, and Danny Murphy’s ability to dictate the pace and direction of play in the center of the pitch was a role left unfulfilled.

Fast forward to now. The club has picked up 7 points in their last 4 matches, and while there is still an obvious gap in the creativity department, Martin Jol has figured out how to position his players to utilize each one’s best attributes and scrape by despite the missing cog between midfield and striker.

More importantly, he’s taken rusty old parts and shined them up like new to revitalize careers.

It’s already been mentioned numerous times here how Steve Sidwell’s career has flourished once again now that the Dutchman has moved Ginger Iniesta a touch further back and charged him with running the defensive midfield department. Since Diarra’s transfer to the physio room, Sidwell has performed admirably, and one could argue the knee injury to the Malian is one of the better things to happen to Sidwell’s career. Sidwell’s made 76 tackles this season, which is up there for most of anyone at any position in the Premier League.

Speaking of rusty old parts, Martin Jol plucked Giorgos Karagounis off the free transfer market from Panathinaikos and has turned the 35 year old into Danny Murphy 2.0. Even Jol admitted, “Giorgos is not the youngest at 35 but I miss him every game I play the other players.” In a sense, Jol admits Karagounis has played his way into the starting lineup, not just by what he brings when he plays, but what the team misses when he sits. More gaffer on the Greek, “against Stoke I knew that we needed someone, who could play and make us tick in midfield and I think he did that.” Seriously think to yourself, when was the last time Fulham fans have been able to say that about a midfielder? Hasn’t been since Danny Murphy.

Karagounis’s performance in the Stoke match was fantastic. 67/71 passing (94%!), and not only was he spot on, he distributed his passes in a way that kept the Stoke defenders completely off guard. 22 forward passes, 26 backwards passes, and 23 square passes. With that kind of distribution, it’s obvious Karagounis was running the offense, deciding where the next attack would come from. Check out his dashboard:

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The Greek’s heart, desire, and most of all work rate are second to none, and it’s obvious by this dash. Look how all over the pitch he was! He was concentrated a bit on the left simply because that’s the side of the midfield he played on (Sidwell was on the other) but he ended up just about everywhere. In fact, Karagounis was involved in 3 of the top 4 highest passing combinations in the match. He sent it to John Arne Riise 17 times, to Ruiz 13 times, and got the ball from Hangeland on 11 occasions.

And when needed, Chris Baird has filled in admirably, using his skills as a defender in conglomeration with pinpoint passing, which is the theme under Martin Jol’s possession scheme. Passing success this season as a whole: Baird: 84%, Sidwell: 85%, Karagounis: 91%, Diarra: 90%, Frimpong: 90%, Richardson: 86%. For the type of game Jol likes to play, those numbers are perfect fits.

The wing play has been fantastic as well recently. Damien Duff just got his new contract (and deservedly so) and once again has shown quality on touch. His 7 assists are his highest single-season total since his Chelsea days, and we’re only in February. In addition, 4 of those assists have come in his last 9 matches, which shows he didn’t pad his assist stats early in the season when Fulham were banging in goals left and right. They have come more so since the goals have somewhat dried up for the team.

On the other end, Ashkan Dejagah has impressed in his last few starts. The Iranian has struggled to stand out in his first season in the Premier League, but most recently against Stoke, he was fantastic on the offensive end. He created 5 chances, and completed 91% of his passes (40/44), including 22/26 in the attacking third. He provided linkup play on the right side, noted by the fact that Sascha Riether passed to Dejagah 14 times, good for the 2nd most effective passing combination in the match.

While the situation isn’t ideal, and there’s still a long way to go, the overall state of Fulham’s midfield isn’t as dire as was once thought. Though reinforcements have been brought in in the forms of Emmanuel Frimpong and Urby Emanuelson, just about the time they’ve gotten here the players already in place have stepped things up. Once Diarra returns, Martin Jol is going to have a real selection situation on his hands. Against the next 4 opponents Sunderland, Chelsea, Tottenham, and QPR, the midfield will become even more important, hopefully these guys can keep up their good form or it could be even more of a tough stretch than it already looks.

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.

Fulham 2-1 Newcastle: First Win Since October Provides Hope

Posted: December 10, 2012 by Kyle Bonn in Postgame
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Steve Sidwell gets appreciation from his teammates after netting his first-half goal to put Fulham up 1-0.

A much-needed win at the fortress of Craven Cottage provides 3 points for Fulham to take on the “road” across town to QPR.  Meanwhile, Newcastle’s form continues to dip, with 1 win in their last 10 matches, including staying winless on the road this year.

A very exciting end-to-end match featured tons of chances, and while many went wasted by both sides, two moments of brilliance were enough to put Martin Jol’s side through for the win.

You have to look back to October 20th to find Fulham’s last win, and their 2 scores snapped a goalless streak that hit 317 minutes (3 matches plus some) before Steve Sidwell banged in his 4th goal of the season.

The midfield was strong, the attack was bright and creative despite the absence of Bryan Ruiz (which is promising given he’ll be out until January), and the defense was its usual porous but didn’t break save but once on a stunner from Hatem Ben Arfa that probably took a slight deflection as well.

Man of the Match:

Hugo Rodallega – I tweeted before the match that, while I recognized the fact that Rodallega has played more recently, I felt Mladen Petric up front would give us the best chance to win today.  I was obviously wrong.  It can’t be understated how important the relationship he has developed with Dimitar Berbatov is to the end product.  While I still think Petric is still a better ballhawk and finisher (what a blast from him today, missed the top corner by millimeters), Rodallega’s ability to cut and find space and strength in the air gave Newcastle all kinds of problems today.  Berbatov had a down day (more on that in a bit) and Hugo picked up the slack and more. Rodallega’s one mistake was somewhat obvious, he embarassingly dove after getting caught from behind in a 1-on-1 chance, but it doesn’t diminish how cutting he was today.

The good:

Sascha Riether – Riether continues to impress down the right-hand side, which is where the attack seemed to develop for the most part, especially early in the game.  Riether works incredibly hard, with the best example on a huge chance at the end of the first half when he streaked down the pitch untouched and took a touch from Duff before crossing to Berbatov in the box. He’s solid in defense as well, masterfully clearing off the line to deny Coloccini a powerful header in the top left corner.

Damien Duff – Duff’s been down the last few matches, being relegated to the bench at times, and often disappearing at others, with his usual pinpoint accuracy turning to limp, unstinging balls across the box.  Today, however, he was on point, picking up 2 assists and providing both long, dangerous crosses and short, cutting touches.  His free kick in the 2nd half found Rodallega’s head perfectly; it put Hugo in perfect position to redirect it into the back of the net.  Duffer’s going to need to continue this great form, as Fulham are quite thin both in the middle and on the edges.

Steve Sidwell – Ginger Iniesta’s reinvention of his game has given Fulham a MASSIVE boost, and given all the injuries and departures in the transfer window, an argument could certainly be made for midseason MVP of the club.  He’s turned from a conventional midfielder to something of a Danny Murphy clone.  He can score, but more importantly he provides power and strength in the midfield.  What a long way Sidwell has come from his dark days at Aston Villa.  While he’s not without his faults, it seems every time he gives the ball away he works his darndest to get it back, and his stamina is second to none.

The bad:

Alex Kacaniklic – The young Swede has shown so much promise so far at Craven Cottage, but recently he’s been very poor on the ball, and it’s starting to become a little troubling.  Martin Jol obviously has faith he’ll turn it around, as shown by the amount of runouts he’s getting, but his first touch especially hasn’t been anything to praise, and often results in giving the ball away.  He hasn’t found as much space recently either. I think he’ll turn it around, but it remains to be seen how much leeway he’ll get from Jol with Dejagah playing pretty well off the bench.

John Arne Riise – His defense was solid, but he was nonexistent in the attack with most of the cutting edge happening down the right edge.  That’s not entirely his fault and probably more a product of the gameplan, but I still think his goalless streak with Fulham is starting to get to his head.  He had one shot today, and it was clear over the bar from a long way out, and just the way his demeanor was before, during, and after, he seemed frustrated by his lack of scoring.  I hope it doesn’t continue to bother him.  He’s gotta just get back to doing what he does well, rather than trying to be something he’s not anymore.  Goals are nice from defenders, but as Sascha is proving, that’s not their top priority. Riether recently has outplayed Riise by a long ways recently.

Mark Schwarzer – Today was the day we’ve been waiting for for a long time.  Had it not been for the fantastic play of the defense (all 3 of Riether, Hughes, and Hangeland performed spectacularly at the back), this could have been a very bad finish.  Schwarzer has seemed to be losing a touch of his decision-making with every game, and today it was really bad. He also, for the first time, seems to be finally losing a bit of reaction time.  His range is still all there, but I think it’s getting very close to the time to make the permanent switch to David Stockdale.  Schwarzer has been a workhorse, and has given a ton of his career and life to Fulham, and it’s incredibly appreciated. But I think the best interest of the club is to move to the young English talent sooner rather than later.

Dimitar Berbatov – His ball movement and first touch was second to none as always, and a joy to watch.  But his finishing left a lot to be desired, and going forward Fulham are going to need him to finish chances.  Had Newcastle equalized, it would have been even more painful to see a replay of that 1-on-1 chance he blasted straight at Tim Krul (to be fair it was also a great save but he should have done better).  Putting him here was tough since even on an off day he’s one of the best players on the pitch, but he needs to convert those chances if Fulham are going to consistently get points in the future.

888sport.com Lines of the Week Recap:

This week I debuted the sponsored segment 888sport.com Lines of the Week.  So how’d I do if I was a betting man? (For the record I’m not, it’s a touch illegal here in the States).

Dimitar Berbatov to score anytime: 5/4
I lost here, but not for a lack of trying.  That 1v1 chance he blew would have made me furious had I put money on this.

Hatem Ben Arfa to score anytime: 4/1
Bang. Off the deflection.

Half with the most goals – 2nd: evens
2-for-3, I’ll take it to the bank. Thanks for playing!

What now?: This can’t end. The club can’t take its 1 win, put it in the bank, and start over.  There were some issues today, but overall a lot of positives to build on and bring to Loftus Road.  Anything but a win there is a bit of a disappointment, and it would certainly be painful to be QPR’s first win of the season. Good win today! Time to beat the ambitious ones.

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