Fulham 2-2 Manchester City: Tenacity and Confidence Lead the Way

The 2 goalscorers celebrate the equalizer

Whew…what a game.  So many thoughts after this one.  Could Fulham have actually pulled off a victory here? What if the defense hadn’t blown an offsides trap? What if the linesman had called offsides on that first goal? What if Bobby Zamora doesn’t fire a homing missile and give the Cottage some life? What if Fulham doesn’t take 15 seconds to get going in the second half? But in the end, after 5 Premier League matches, Fulham are officially the first club of the season to not lose to Manchester City.  Roberto Mancini’s bunch is starting to come back to Earth, and although their club has an unbelievable knack for finding the back of the net, it still doesn’t seem like they have the mental capacity to chase a championship.  They eased off the pedal after the second goal, and it allowed Fulham to push them to the brink.  It was essential that Fulham brought their physical presence to the Cottage today, and they did just that.  Unlike against Twente, they were disciplined but aggressive with their challenges, and it paid off.

The good:

Clint Dempsey – The physicality of Dempsey, who kept it up the entire match, rubbed off to his teammates and allowed them to hang with the likes of Yaya Toure, Micah Richards, and Vincent Kompany.  Dempsey was essential today in the buildups, and he provided the necessary spark to get his team going.  I don’t think Dempsey’s captain material, so take this the wrong way when I say this, but if you ONLY look at today’s game, Dempsey played like a captain.

Mark Schwarzer – After an unimpressive open to the season for the goalkeeper, Schwarzer has had a good few games.  And today was no different.  He saved an absolute cracker from Dzeko to his left, and in a season where the Fulham attack has played against the best goalie that given week, Schwarzer matched his opponent.  He weathered barrage after barrage from Man City.

Moussa Dembele – On because of an injury to AJ and Ruiz looked a bit sluggish in his debut, Moussa was essential to starting many of the Fulham buildups.  As one Twitter follower put it, he was the “catalyst to the second half” and I couldn’t agree more.  He has the ability to turn on the afterburners like few players have.  And he took a ROCKET of a shot that was saved by the on form Joe Hart, and seeing him take shots like that is very good.  His confidence is quickly returning, and a confident Dembele is a dangerous one.  He played real well.

The entire midfield – Danny Murphy, Steve Sidwell, Dempsey, and Dembele brought their A game today.  I know it’s getting a bit old, but their physical presence and ability to never back down from a challenge was of monumental importance.  Even when at times Sidwell seemed off in the attacking third, and Danny Murphy was nonexistent for stretches, they held their own, and didn’t allow Man City a free pass to their attacking third.  That was huge.

Stephen Kelly and John Arne Riise – First off, how valuable is Riise on those throw ins from the attacking third? They’re almost like corners! Having a guy who’s able to rocket the ball into the box with his arms is huge.  Now into the good part.  Both wide defenders were stellar today.  The physicality I’ve already talked about.  But both of them didn’t let anything past them.  The middle was a bit sketchy again, but these guys brought it today.  Just a very well played match on the edges.

The bad:

Why even bother with this section? Nobody was really that bad to put in here.  I’ll go with that silly offsides trap that allowed City’s first goal, but otherwise I was very very happy with the play today.

Man of the Match: Wow, lots to pick from here. Schwarzer, Dempsey, Zamora, Murphy, Dembele all very deserving.  It’s a very tough choice.  However, I’m going with Mark Schwarzer.  Without him, Fulham has no shot going into halftime.  Without him, the rally never has a chance. Who’s your man of the match?

Hats off to: Sergio Aguero, first of all, for his brace.  The guy hasn’t missed a BEAT since coming from La Liga.  What a fun player to watch.  Second of all, Joe Hart.  How many times is Fulham going to face the goalkeeper of the week? It’s agonizing.  But he did a great job.  The header saves are the most impressive.  No time to react.

Overall, it’s a weird feeling to be happy with a 2-2 draw at home to stay at the bottom of the table.  But number 1, it’s still very, very early in the season.  Remember, Fulham were in the relegation zone in December last season, and finished 10th.  Number 2, the team they played was 2 up, and was one of the best teams form-wise in all of Europe.  And finally, be happy Fulham could finish today.  Scoring 2 goals is excellent.  Once we were 2 down, I had such an awful feeling knowing that Fulham AGAIN was going to play a pretty good game and get clean-sheeted.  But they put 2 past.  Zamora’s goal was an absolute beauty.  Couldn’t have placed it better.

Final note: could Fulham be catching Chelsea at a better time? Reeling from their defeat to Manchester United, with Fulham coming off this absolute confidence booster (which they DESPERATELY needed) and maybe climbing their form back? Who knows, we will see.  Chelsea’s a little banged up too.

Cottage Talk: Twente Recap and Manchester City Preview

Russ and I just finished our most recent Cottage Talk episode, where we break down the FC Twente 1-1 draw and give our gloom predictions for the upcoming tie with the in-form Manchester City at the Cottage.  We got Danny Pugsley from Bitter and Blue to join us and give us insight into the juggernaut that is Manchester City, and he was great.  Take a listen, and let us know what you think! Feedback is always good.

Also, we are now on iTunes, so search Cottage Talk on the iTunes store in the Podcast area and you can download the episodes right to your iPod or other i-device!

Correction: Well this is embarassing

Ok so I stand corrected from my previous post. After having a Twitter conversation with a few followers today, I have found out my analysis of the Fair Play situation had one fatal flaw that blew the whole thing.

Apparently, because the FA is retarded and has issues, the result of the FA Cup final had no bearing on the Europa qualifying. In the Carling Cup, if the winner has already qualified based on table position, the extra spot goes to the first position left out on the table (6th position). This year that was not the case because Birmingham City won, so that means they steal a spot from the table position. However, in the FA Cup (which I was not aware of), if the winner has already qualified by table position, which Manchester City has, the spot goes to the runner-up. If they have already qualified as well, the spot then is added to table position. However because Stoke was the runners-up they take the spot. A stupid rule.

So this year, the Europa spots will be Stoke City, Birmingham City, Manchester City, the top 5 in the table not already mentioned, and the top Fair Play table position not already qualified.

In simpler terms: if Tottenham win out and grabs the 5th spot, Fulham have no competition for the Fair Play slot. If they do not, we fight it out for the spot based on Fair Play ranking at the end of the season.

So we root for Spurs!! They will play Liverpool tomorrow and Birmingham City in the finale.

Man City: Hughes Reaction to Draw, Handshake

Mark Hughes on the handshake spat:

“I apologise if I offended anyone. Maybe I’m old-fashioned but I didn’t think he offered his hand with any sincerity today. I was well beaten 4-1 by City and Roberto in the reverse fixture at our place and I offered him my hand and admitted they were the better side. ‘Maybe I misread it but I don’t feel Roberto really acknowledged the efforts of my team and what we had done by the manner he offered his hand, by not looking at me.”

As far as I’m concerned, Mancini didn’t look at him, that’s a fact.  If Hughes took offense to that, that’s his perogative.  Mancini said he did it because Hughes did it to him first at the last match, which is a really immature excuse.  But then again the whole dispute is kind of immature.

As far as the draw was concerned, he was actually disappointed:

 “We played really well today and I’m a bit disappointed to be perfectly honest because I thought we looked the more likely team to score.   Their goal was completely against the run of play in the first half so obviously one-nil down at this place it’s a difficult situation but I thought my players were excellent today, really took the fight to City and scored a fantastic equalising goal. If it’s a criticism of my players today is that on occasion we didn’t just quite pick out the right ball because we had good opportunities because we created some good stuff today.”

“In the first half we were in control of the game and conceded against the run of play and it’s difficult when you go behind against such a good team. But we’ve got character and desire in abundance and we showed that in the second half. In fact we’re a little disappointed because I thought we could have won it. We have been away at some of the hardest places to go to this season and haven’t got our rewards and that was in the back of our minds. We feared that today, but weren’t prepared to allow that to happen. City are playing every three days at the moment but they’ve got the resources to cope with that because they are a top club and they’ve got to get used to that. They looked like they were struggling at times to keep tabs on us and the desire of my team helped with that.”

Well said I think.  I agree, the team played well.  However, I think Hughes, along with many fans, are getting tired of seeing “we played well enough to win but we mustered a draw.”  At some point you have to start converting or you’re going to be in the bottom half of the table despite a differential of zero.

Man City 1-1 Fulham: The Handshake That Wasn’t

Well, it’s it always fun to watch to grown men professing their respect and honor for each other isn’t it?

I’ll take the point, no question.  It was nice to see Fulham up and attacking, as well as keeping the lid on the counter-attacks as well.  It seemed Manchester City wasn’t really all there, and they were on their heels the whole match, even when attacking.

The good:

-Andy Johnson: The goal for Fulham was all AJ, even if Duff got the finish.  An absolutely beautiful cross made the chance happen.  AJ was on point all game until he was subbed out, and he passed his energy on to Gudjohnson who came in for him.  Not much else to say, other than great energized, precise game from the Brit.

-Mark Schwarzer: He wasn’t needed too much, but when he was, he was there for the save.  Nothing he or anyone could do on Balotelli’s goal, it was a laser beam into the bottom corner.  He made a great save over the top on a shot from outside on a corner that came diving back down to Earth after starting high.  He was good, gives me great confidence.

-The defensive hustle: I know I always clump the defense into one unit on these postgames, but they seem to play well together or falter together.  Here, there were multiple through flawless through balls by the Man City attack that the defensive had to rush back, and they were able to stop all the chances.  Like I said earlier, nothing they could have done on Balotelli’s goal, he was well defended.

-Mark Hughes: I’m putting him in here because, not gonna lie, that handshake made me feel good.  Not sure he should be trash talking after a draw, but I’ll take it.  Love the passion.  I will say, I really like Hughes, he’s got me on board with what he’s doing here at Fulham.

The bad:

–Dickson Etuhu: I’m only putting him in here because there really wasn’t too much bad to take from this game, it was well played.  Etuhu made some dumb moves.  Shocker, I know.

-Clint Dempsey: He had an off-day, and as much as I love his passion as well, he needs to know when to cool off as well.  Almost got a stupid card (not sure how he wasn’t booked) after he let his frustration get the best of him and grabbed Yaya Toure’s leg.  He needs to chill out or else he might hurt the team.

MVP: Andy Johnson.  Give it to him.

Gimme that point.  Absolutely.  Next up: Blackburn. March is a slow month unfortunately, with only 2 fixtures due to Champions League play.  Let’s hope Bobby Zamora can recover for next match.  The slow March will hopefully give the club some time to recover from their injury issues once and for all.

I will give you Hughes quotes as they come in, stay tuned.

Here’s the handshake in full for your enjoyment:

Your Welterweight Title Bout: Mark Hughes vs. Manchester City

A lot of talk has been going back and forth about Mark Hughes’ past involving Manchester City.  Mostly trash talk, but not all of it.  There doesn’t seem to be too much bad blood between the two entities, but nonetheless people are still running their mouthes about it.

I tweeted earlier today (if you don’t follow me, you should, @FulhamsFinest) that Kolu Toure said Mark Hughes should be lauded for his work at Manchester City, especially if they win a trophy.  That’s about the only good thing one side has said about the other.

courtesy zimbio.com

The one thing I wanted to mention that I haven’t already is the following: Mark Hughes basically echoed Kolu Toure’s statement (except it wasn’t really an echoing because Hughes said it first).  He said the following:

“We had to very quickly move in the market and bring in better players and stronger players, and that’s what we did.  If you look at the City side now, I would suggest some of their main performers, and strongest, are the likes of Vincent Kompany, Nigel de Jong and Carlos Tevez. They’ve had a huge impact for City.  Along the way, some purchases haven’t worked for whatever reasons, not really in terms of the ability those players have, but because of circumstances and the thinking of the management team and the coaches. And that happens when there’s a change in management.”

Basically, he said: “Man City is good because of me” and he has a point.

Now, the most recent thing to come out of this chatter is the details of Mark Hughes’ firing from City and, at least according to Sparky, they’re not pretty.  I’m not so sure I believe everything he’s saying (especially after he saluted all 4 corners of the arena), but according to him, he had no idea he was being fired until 15 minutes AFTER walking off the pitch after beating Sunderland 4-3.  Of course, he added that he has no hard feelings towards City. Sure Sparky, whatever you say.

I’m not so sure what to make of all this blabbering, to me it’s kind of extra curricular, but I will admit it does add a bit of extra umph to this match tomorrow, if you will.

If you’re wondering what to look for tomorrow from Fulham and Man City, check out my match preview post by scrolling down a few.  Or if you’re lazy (like me), click here.