This Summer: Deciding Regression or Revival

Fulham’s decisive 3-0 win on the road at Swansea moved the Whites up to 12th in the final Premier League table, but it can’t hide the shroud over the final quarter of the season.  It was a limp down the stretch, one that saw them even become mired in the relegation talks for about 2 weeks in the final month.

Given the bright starts to both the beginning of the season and the new calendar year, it was a disappointing way to close out the season.  During it, just about every single one of Fulham’s squad weaknesses were exposed.

This summer, Martin Jol is tasked with starting over…again.

The sale of Clint Dempsey and, more importantly, Moussa Dembele shredded Jol’s plans for building a long-term improvement at Craven Cottage to continue the groundwork begun by Roy Hodgson. Now, he must find a new foundation to structure his squad around.

That solution was thought to be Bryan Ruiz, but it seems his inconsistencies have caused Jol (and much of the fanbase) to reconsider.

The Dutchman in charge can’t be blamed for the exits of two cornerstones of his plans for success at Fulham.  However, it is now his responsibility to move on and build anew.

This season was a struggle, forced by the departures to be a bridge rather than a step up.  Jol had to piece together short-term stopgaps such as Giorgos Karagounis and Philippe Senderos.  Karagounis will most likely move on (although his passion will be missed by many), and Senderos has signed another 1-year deal.  These are not options for the future success of Fulham, however.

With the youth squads having another outstanding season and the budget still strained, it’s not going to be easy for Jol to make high profile purchases.  The board may be instead focused on bridging the gap to when the young guns are ready for the big stage.

But this summer, with new pieces required in the central midfield, central defense, up front and even between the sticks, the duty for Martin Jol is a big one.

Will the squad recover enough to continue the slow climb up the Premier League table into established top-10 consistency? Or will financial restraints and a lack of action cause the squad to squander the progress made by managers past? It hangs seriously in the balance, and Martin Jol may indeed hold the key to whether Fulham can continue to work towards the long-term goal or whether relegation is in the conversations of the near future.

Fulham 0-1 Arsenal: Fantastically Wasteful

Steve Sidwell’s tackle in the 12th minute earned him another straight red and doomed the squad despite a valiant effort a man down.

Following a harsh decision but also a baffling challenge by Steve Sidwell in the 12th minute, Fulham were immediately handcuffed for most of the match, and doomed to failure off the bat against a top-4 side in Arsenal.  Instead of laying down and dying, the lads put in a fantastic effort, and deserved much more than a 1-0 loss.

However, when put in a disadvantageous position such as this, a team ABSOLUTELY MUST take advantage of the few chances they are given, and Fulham failed to do that today, applying the dark mark to the match.  Dimitar Berbatov was a sulk-machine up front while wasting the few chances he had, and it rubbished a wonderful wing performance by both men on the touchline.

The red card decision was a bit harsh in my opinion.  It’s definitely a yellow, but for Sidwell to be sent off that early for a challenge that didn’t come up high and hardly caused any damage is a bit questionable.  That being said, for Sidders to give the referee the opportunity to make that call by going in two-footed, spikes-up late is utterly stupid, and having just come off his suspension for the previous red, lasting 12 minutes is condemnable.  Martin Jol agreed:

“I can’t defend him because it would probably sound ridiculous. It was the first foul and it spoilt the game a bit. Sometimes you hope the referee will book you because it wasn’t intentional, but if you are consistent it is a red card.”

The disadvantage showed early and often, and was evident in the stat book following the match.  Arsenal attempted 768 passes compared to Fulham’s 285.  Arsenal grabbed over 71% of the possession. Of the 27 highest passing combinations in the match, Fulham had one of those.

The good:

Urby Emanuelson – After putting in multiple poor performances with the club, a lack of midfielders/wingers forced him into the squad, and he gave back a fantastic effort.  Someone once told me they thought Emanuelson fit much much better in Serie A than in the Premier League because he’ll get the space to use his pace and runs much more effectively.  He isn’t a precise passer, and his strength lies in speed, dribbling, and creating openings on the ball rather than cutting edge passing or runs off the ball.  Today, thanks to Sidder’s red, it gave him an opportunity to show off his skills, and he thrived on the counter with the space to produce on-ball chances.  I don’t think he’ll ever make it big in the Premier League for this reason, and I don’t think he’ll get a chance in a match this season to put in another performance like this, but it’s nice to see him succeed, and the effort he gave was second to none.  Every time he lost the ball he threw himself into it to get the ball back.

Alex Kacaniklic – Given a start so soon after being recalled from Burnley, he used the same opportunity Emanuelson had with space to create chances, although Kacaniklic is a different player in the sense that he’s less about pace and more about finding seams and making big passes into the box.  The two of them used different strengths and different styles to be incredibly effective on the outside of the pitch, and Arsenal were scratching their heads to figure out what to do about it.  I’d love to see him get more opportunities, because his style applies to the Premier League much more than Urby’s, and he’s definitely a big part of the future of Fulham.  With Dejagah out for the remainder of the season, Alex may find himself with plenty of minutes down the stretch.

Eyong Enoh – Put in a really tough position with his central midfield partner sent off so soon, Enoh took control of the middle of the pitch and performed admirably on his own.  With Fulham playing mostly on the break, there wasn’t much bossing to do, but he still did plenty of his part.  He was 30/34 passing, received all 19 of the passes sent to him, made 2 of 3 tackles in the attacking third, and best of all stepped in front of 6 passes. Enoh’s physical presence was felt but he didn’t overdo it, committing 4 fouls but avoiding the referee’s book.  Someone on Twitter aptly compared him to Mahamadou Diarra (thankfully much younger).  With an entirely new midfield not out of the question for next season, Martin Jol would do well to heavily consider exercising Enoh’s buy clause on the loan.

Honorable mention: Stanislav Manolev – Manolev filled in for the injured Riether well.  He played almost exactly the same role, and it was hard to notice a difference.  Manolev was busy, receiving 44 of Fulham’s 219 completed passes in the match (20%).  He was involved in 79 of Fulham’s passes (36%) (44 received, 35 passed).  He sent 7 crosses into the box, completing 3 of them.  He was fantastic on the defensive end as well, succeeding on both his tackles and intercepting 5 passes, and blocked a cross as well.  It was like Riether never left the squad.

The bad:

Dimitar Berbatov – Making a scene when a teammate doesn’t complete a pass you want or makes a run you disagree with is fine, when you back it up with results when they do give you the ball.  Instead, Berbatov whined and complained about his lack of touches, but did nothing with the chances he was given.  He drove directly at Fabianski from the right side of the box in the 20th minute when Kacaniklic found him in space.  That would be his best chance of the match, and it wouldn’t get any easier.  He was passed to 5 times in the box, and only found the ball once out of those 5.  He completed just 3 of his 7 forward passe, all in the attacking third.  He won just 2 of his 7 ariel duels.  It wasn’t a good day for the Bulgarian.

Bryan Ruiz – For the second straight match, Ruiz was obviously below par, although it was nowhere near to as bad as the Chelsea match.  He showed a little more strength and a little better possession, but it was hard to go anywhere but up from his performance Wednesday.  His passing was good (32/37), but only 18 of those 32 completed passes went forward.  For an attacker slotted just behind the striker on a team playing on the break, that’s a poor number.  His time to break out and show his worth was today with the space left by the red card, and while Urby and Kaca took advantage, Ruiz did not.

The corner game – Corners represented some of the best opportunities for Fulham today, often given after promising breaks that were defended at the last moment.  In a match where the club needed to take advantage of all their opportunities, Fulham failed miserably from all set pieces, but the corners were particularly bad.  Many were too short, and overall failed to produce any danger for Arsenal.  In fact, only one corner found a Fulham player, and it was a corner played short by Bryan Ruiz.  All 6 corners sent into the box produced nothing.

Funny note – I called Per Mertesacker scoring in my preview post, saying he’d be a good risk at 10/1 odds to score, and 55/1 odds for first goalscorer.  Good on you if you selected the latter, that’s a wonderful payout.  Hopefully someone took heed of my tip! I also hit on the fewer than 2.5 goals tip, but that was a significantly lower payout.

Man of the Match – Have to give it to Urby for his wonderful effort.

The squad gave it a vailant go overall.  Down to 10 men, it’s a mountain to climb for such a long time.  Great to see the effort, and with results not overly important right now, that’s the most important thing.  However, it still is quite disappointing not to come away with any points.  Thankfully all the bottom 3 teams lost again this week, so safety is even more assured at this point.  Headed to Merseyside, I can’t be very optimistic given our prior results there, but there are still a few opportunities to pick up points in the final 4 matches.  Here’s to the best finish possible, and a major overhaul in the summer, Martin!

Fulham 0-3 Chelsea: What Happened

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.

Breaking Down The Fulham Harlem Shake

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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.

Solid Sascha: The Right Right-Back

Riether ranks up with the best defenders in the Premier League, including Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand.

It’s been a while since Fulham has had any consistency at the right-back position. Think back through the last couple years. Stephen Kelly, John Pantsil, Fredirk Stoor, Moritz Volz (could The Electrician have restored power during the outage at Craven Cottage???), Elliot Omozusi. Then you remember Steve Finnan. Finnan is a name in the minds of all Fulham fans as probably the last established right-back at Craven Cottage, playing 5 stellar seasons and 172 matches in White, helping them blast through the lower divisions into the Premier League, before moving on to bigger and better things at Anfield.

Sascha Riether has brought back some fond memories for the home fans at Craven Cottage, and his no-nonsense attitude on the touchline has been a bright spot in an otherwise porous and aging defensive line. On loan from FC Cologne, Riether looked for a way out after their relegation to the German second division 2. Bundesliga, and found his respite in SW6. At first glance, bringing on a player from a relegated German club brought a few fans to question the decision, thinking back to the revolving door the right-back position had typically been for Fulham. However, when you look a little deeper, you also see Riether had won a Bundesliga title with Wolfsburg in a dream season where they at one point won 10 straight matches, including beating Bayern Munich 5-1, and the right-back also registered two vastly important goals. He banged in the winner at Borussia M’gladbach and also found the back of the net in a road draw with Hertha BSC.

At Fulham, it’s been no different. Although not the fastest player on the pitch, he’s brought an attacking flair down the right side, bringing pace to the touch and swinging in some fantastic crosses, as well as developing an immediate partnership with Damien Duff and his old Wolfsburg teammate Ashkan Dejagah.

However, it’s been his defensive ability that’s not only caught my eye, but been his most valuable asset. Riether’s ability to track any winger or striker on the dribble down the touchline is more than impressive, and he displays a tackling precision that allows him to take on just about anyone one-on-one, something that’s been missing elsewhere in the back 4 this year. As Lydia Campbell pointed out in her fantastic Hammy End article on Riether, I can’t remember an incident where I saw Sascha out of position, despite sometimes being in attacking positions. On the flip side, we saw just last week Philippe Senderos make a fatal mistake staying too long for a header he had no chance at winning, causing him to be horribly out of position for Manchester United’s only goal.

Thanks to the great work of the folks at EA Sports, I’ve gotten some Player Performance Index numbers on Riether, and they’re just as fantastic as you’d imagine. I mentioned his tackling precision – he has a 76.6 tackling success percentage, highest of anyone on the squad with regular playing time (Matthew Briggs is the only player with a higher percentage, and he has too small of a sample size to be in the discussion). In fact, that tackling percentage is 2nd among all right-backs in the Premier League. He has 16 clearances and 83 interceptions, both third highest on the squad behind our two regular center backs.

In fact, according to the EA Sports Player Performance Index, Sascha Riether is the 4th best right-back in the Premier League, behind household names Rafael, Branislav Ivanovic, and Pablo Zabaleta; he’s also the 12th ranked overall defender in the league. That’s high praise when you notice names behind him such as Per Mertesacker, Gael Clichy, Robert Huth, Kieran Gibbs, and Martin Skrtel (who’s having a horrible season). Don’t forget, this is Riether’s first season in the Premier League.

I’ve pulled his dossier from possibly Fulham’s best defensive performance of the season, their 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge at the end of November. Statistically Steve Sidwell was a defensive machine, but Riether was all-around our best defender that day. Here’s his dashboard:

Obviously this was a fantastic defensive display by Fulham as a whole, but aside from a few failed clearances and some incomplete long passes up the touchline, Riether was virtually perfect. Also, he took a Torres to the face:

LOOK OUT, A FLYING TORRES!

Now while his defense is by far what I’ve been most impressed with the German about, his attacking ability has also been incredibly positive to the club. With such a weak attacking midfield, Fulham have relied heavily on their ability to stretch the field to the touchlines and use their wingers to provide creativity. The club isn’t a very good crossing team, so often they use the wing-backs or wingers to serve as the link between the back and front through the middle third, and then players like Bryan Ruiz and Dimitar Berbatov take it from there, feeding the strikers up top. Just look at Riether’s dashboard again from Chelsea. He doesn’t cross the ball much at all. He provides passes just beyond the midline, usually to someone like Damien Duff or Bryan Ruiz who bring it up through the middle from there. Let’s look at one of the most recent positive attacking matches Fulham played, their 1-0 loss to Manchester United. They didn’t score, but the club put on some real pressure, especially late. The clean sheet kept by United had mostly to do with a few factors at the end product up front. The buildup, Riether’s role, was fantastic. Take a look at the progression, and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about:

He takes the ball from the central defense over to the wing:

Riether brings it up over the midline and then it’s off to either Dejagah or Ruiz. In fact, Riether to Dejagah was the most common passing combination for Fulham, happening 13 times.

As you can see, Riether is a major link up the right side, taking the ball from the back and feeding it into the middle from the wing. Even passing to Dejagah, a winger, is more into the middle of the pitch than up farther along the touchline.

Finally, there is one more attacking number I’d like to give you from the gracious people at EA Sports. Riether has connected on exactly 400 passes in the attacking half of the pitch – 2nd most on Fulham behind only Dimitar Berbatov. That’s how much they trust Sascha to be the connective force on the attack for Fulham. It’s also a product of the fact that he’s the only player on Fulham to have played in all 25 matches this season, so he’s seen more playing time to accumulate those passes. But it’s still a very important number to understand the trust Riether has developed from Martin Jol. Thanks in large part to this, the EA Sports Player Performance Index has Riether the 2nd most valuable player on the club behind Berbatov.

That trust didn’t come right away either. Check this out: Riether, in our season-opening match where Fulham dominated Norwich 5-0, Fulham held the ball 60% of the time, and Riether passed the ball 49 times, but only 6 of those 49 were in the attacking third. In the second game of the season, at Old Trafford, it was the same story – Fulham only held the ball 40% of the time, limiting Riether’s passes to 38, but only 2 of those 38 were in the attacking third. Now, fast forward to Saturday’s match with Manchester United, where Fulham only possessed the ball 45% of the time, and Riether only had 36 passes as a result…but 16 of those 36 passes came in the attacking third. He’s touching the ball much more up front now as opposed to dumping it off to the midfield way back in the defending half like he did in his first few forays with the squad. The trust has developed.

Now, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions with Sascha, because remember, he is 29. I wouldn’t start comparing him to Steve Finnan just yet, because he may not have the window of opportunity to play for as long with the club as Finnan did. We’ve all seen how age can break down our beloved center back pairing into shells of their former selves. But if Martin Jol can secure a permanent deal for Riether, we may have a bit of security for a few years in that corner of the pitch.

And that part is the key: securing the deal. There is a very strong argument for Sascha Riether for Fulham’s Player of the Year so far this season, and he absolutely needs to be back next year. In fact, I’d argue that if Martin Jol does not secure a permanent deal for Riether after the season and he goes elsewhere, it is quite possibly a fireable offense. He talks all the time about keeping our players, including recently being happy to keep all our players through the January transfer window. So this time, we absolutely need to keep this particular player. I don’t expect it to be a problem, especially at age 29 I doubt any bigger clubs will come calling, but you never know.

Keep up the fantastic work Sascha, it’s a wonderfully bright spot for the present and the future of Craven Cottage.

Fulham 0-1 Manchester United: It’s Not The Size Of The Dog In The Fight…

Bryan Ruiz battles for a dribble

Just a week ago, this was 4-1. Just a week ago, it looked like it was 22-on-11, it looked like nobody cared, it looked like 11 players rather than 1 team.

Not anymore.

A week after the most boring 4-1 match in history, we had the most exciting 1-0 match in history. 5 posts hit in the first half.  32 shots overall.  49 crosses overall. 13 corners.  What a game.

The good:

The creativity – I put this here because no one single person stood out to me.  At any point, new players stepped up to make fantastic passes or runs.  Ashkan Dejagah was a joy to watch, although he needs to improve on his first touch.  Bryan Ruiz’s passing was poor in the first half, but he played so much better in the second and was a key player in the crazy charge in the final minutes.  Damien Duff also reappeared in the second half.  Hugo Rodallega ran things from the front, and made some fantastic cutting passes in the box and just outside it.  Sascha Riether played a key role on the right, especially after Rooney scored.  Urby Emanuelson came on in the 68th minute and showed his pinpoint long passing.  Nobody stood out to me, but everyone certainly contributed. Just ask Sir Alex Ferguson:

“I think it was really determined performance. It wasn’t easy because Fulham played their part”

Sascha Riether – Once again, the man stood out in defense.  Many are saying he’s our clear-cut player of the year, and I can’t disagree. A must-buy for Jol after the season.

Chris Baird – Also fantastic defensively in the midfield, with Sidders out Baird filled in admirably.  Happy he didn’t go to West Brom, yes? I know I am.

Mark Schwarzer – We’ve said here for a while that this may be Schwarzer’s last season as Fulham’s first choice keeper, and deservedly so.  But today, he matched David De Gea in quality, as both were fantastic between the sticks.  He made a ridiculous save inside the first 10 minutes, and kept up the performance the whole match.

The bad:

Philippe Senderos – I honestly don’t have much to put here, so I have to single out the man who made the mistake that led to the goal. Maybe I’ve been too harsh on Senderos this season, but he’s flat out not good.  He stayed too long under a header he had no chance of winning, and by the time he realized he’d been beaten, it was too late to recover, and Aaron Hughes was no match for Rooney that close to goal on his own.  Brede Hangeland left at halftime, and I hope he’s ok because I don’t know how much more of Senderos I can take. He’s good off corners, that’s about it.

The lights –

Some of the best jokes on Twitter included MAF forgetting to pay the electric bill despite pulling the club out of debt, Peter Odemwingie trying to tunnel into Loftus Road and hitting a main, and blaming David De Gea because everything’s his fault anyways.  Well done folks.

Man of the Match: This is tough for me, because like I said before, nobody really stood out to me.  I would have gone with Hangeland because he was doing excellent at the back before getting injured.  I’m going to go with Sascha Riether because he once again proves how valuable he is on the right, making tackle after tackle and providing lots on the attacking end as well.

What now?: This result was expected, just not in the way it happened. Of course it’s frustrating to not get anything from this match, but after last week, who honestly expected points here? It’s a great match to build from, and Martin Jol’s tactics were spot on.  With the added players from the transfer window into the ranks, it’s promising looking ahead.  We have Norwich away, Stoke home, Sunderland away in our next 3, and that’s a bit tougher of a stretch than it may sound off the bat given this team’s away record.  However, if we can manage at least 5 points from those 3 fixtures and not lose, it will be a successful period to me ahead of back-to-back games against Chelsea and Tottenham.

Remember: No points were earned from this match.  So the only way the valiant effort benefits us is if we build on it in the future.  If we take a step backwards in the next few games, this effort is all for nothing.  If we can build on this, it becomes a stepping stone and possibly a turning point in the season.  That all depends on what the club does going forward. COME ON YOU WHITES!

Martin Jol postgame:

“According to Jol, Brede Hangeland’s Achillies tightened up, nothing to play around with. Said it’s not serious, but may miss a few weeks”

UPDATE: Jol also said Brede Hangeland’s achillies tightened up, and although it’s not serious, he may miss a few weeks.  That’s a massive blow to a team with just 3 center backs on the roster, although Chris Baird can play back there in an emergency.