Ealingwhite
28 Jan 2004, 10:01 AM
Wed 28th Jan 2004
There was no easy introduction to life in the Premiership for Carlos Bocanegra....
When you're newly arrived in the country, you're playing in only your second ever Premiership game and you're being played out of position, it's not a bad day's work to pick up the man-of-the match award in many of the national newspapers.
That was the situation that new-signing Carlos Bocanegra found himself in on Sunday, and considering that it was an away game at Goodison Park and his team was on the end of a Duncan Ferguson-led aerial assault, it makes the American international's achievement even more remarkable.
"I've only just found out about that in the papers," laughed Bocanegra, getting ready for a training session at Motspur Park this week. "That's pretty neat, but more importantly I think the whole team played really well. Defensively we were good and showed a lot of improvement from the previous game - I think it was just a total team effort."
For someone who by his own admission is primarily defensive-minded, Bocanegra got forward with good effect against Everton - even popping up in the box to lay on Sean Davis' superb opener.
"Getting forward is not really my strong point," he said. "I'm normally someone who stays back, but if there are opportunities to get forward I'll try to take them.
"I've not played at left back for a few years, but that's ok as long as I'm playing - I just want to be out there on the field. Wherever Chris puts me is fine!"
As baptisms of fire go, Newcastle and Everton away are just about as tough as you can get. To have come through those games with such aplomb bodes extremely well for the future, and once again shows what a shrewd operator Chris Coleman is in the transfer market.
"It was a tough to get a draw," Bocanegra said. "We'd put in such a good effort and to give up a goal that late in the game is always rough, Duncan Ferguson is a pretty big guy and they were throwing a lot of balls in the box and they ended up getting one eventually.
"But it was an improvement on the week before and hopefully we'll keep getting better each game.
"We felt that we'd got the better of them without really taking our chances when we could have, but that happens. We're confident that when we get them back to our place we can get back at them again.
"It was kind of a physical game, but that was cool. I thought our centre-backs did a good job - Zat and Alain won a lot of headers and did very well. They lumped the ball forward a lot, but we coped with that pretty well."
With Spurs up next for Fulham, Bocanegra has an early opportunity to meet up with another of his international colleagues.
"I don't really know too much about Tottenham," he said. "Other than they've got Kasey Keller as their keeper, and obviously I know him from the States. But they're doing all right at the moment - hopefully we can stop them and get the three points at home that we need."
Bocanegra seemed delighted to have made the move to Fulham, admitting to being impressed by both the Club and the football over here.
"I like the Premiership a lot," he said. "The quality and the fast pace make for some great football and I would say that most games are very close to international level.
"I am settling in well. I'm in a hotel at the moment but I'm having a really good time; London's nice and I'm very happy to be here. We've got Brian McBride over from the States as well now so we're starting to get a bit of an American connection. The guys have taken us in really well, as have all the staff here. It's all just going really, really well."
There was no easy introduction to life in the Premiership for Carlos Bocanegra....
When you're newly arrived in the country, you're playing in only your second ever Premiership game and you're being played out of position, it's not a bad day's work to pick up the man-of-the match award in many of the national newspapers.
That was the situation that new-signing Carlos Bocanegra found himself in on Sunday, and considering that it was an away game at Goodison Park and his team was on the end of a Duncan Ferguson-led aerial assault, it makes the American international's achievement even more remarkable.
"I've only just found out about that in the papers," laughed Bocanegra, getting ready for a training session at Motspur Park this week. "That's pretty neat, but more importantly I think the whole team played really well. Defensively we were good and showed a lot of improvement from the previous game - I think it was just a total team effort."
For someone who by his own admission is primarily defensive-minded, Bocanegra got forward with good effect against Everton - even popping up in the box to lay on Sean Davis' superb opener.
"Getting forward is not really my strong point," he said. "I'm normally someone who stays back, but if there are opportunities to get forward I'll try to take them.
"I've not played at left back for a few years, but that's ok as long as I'm playing - I just want to be out there on the field. Wherever Chris puts me is fine!"
As baptisms of fire go, Newcastle and Everton away are just about as tough as you can get. To have come through those games with such aplomb bodes extremely well for the future, and once again shows what a shrewd operator Chris Coleman is in the transfer market.
"It was a tough to get a draw," Bocanegra said. "We'd put in such a good effort and to give up a goal that late in the game is always rough, Duncan Ferguson is a pretty big guy and they were throwing a lot of balls in the box and they ended up getting one eventually.
"But it was an improvement on the week before and hopefully we'll keep getting better each game.
"We felt that we'd got the better of them without really taking our chances when we could have, but that happens. We're confident that when we get them back to our place we can get back at them again.
"It was kind of a physical game, but that was cool. I thought our centre-backs did a good job - Zat and Alain won a lot of headers and did very well. They lumped the ball forward a lot, but we coped with that pretty well."
With Spurs up next for Fulham, Bocanegra has an early opportunity to meet up with another of his international colleagues.
"I don't really know too much about Tottenham," he said. "Other than they've got Kasey Keller as their keeper, and obviously I know him from the States. But they're doing all right at the moment - hopefully we can stop them and get the three points at home that we need."
Bocanegra seemed delighted to have made the move to Fulham, admitting to being impressed by both the Club and the football over here.
"I like the Premiership a lot," he said. "The quality and the fast pace make for some great football and I would say that most games are very close to international level.
"I am settling in well. I'm in a hotel at the moment but I'm having a really good time; London's nice and I'm very happy to be here. We've got Brian McBride over from the States as well now so we're starting to get a bit of an American connection. The guys have taken us in really well, as have all the staff here. It's all just going really, really well."