Hmmm...McBride grabbed his goal at the right time...it's hard to play 5 healthy strikers (Cole, Hammond, John, McBride, Radzinski), especially if you occasionally play a 4-5-1. Boa Morte's basically a withdrawn striker too, right? Anyway, I hope Macca's goal isn't too little too late. It'd be nice to see him score against Norwich on the weekend.
Gentleman Jim went from having a McBride organism to a Lampard killing his puppy in minutes. One classy guy. If he ever goes to America for a visit or vacation, buy him a drink. "flags up, sit down shut up" = classic!
Considering the poor showing on Saturday, I think Fulham can hold their heads high with this display. Let's hope Fulham learns from this and continues to take the game to their opponents.
This team didnt have much confidence going into this match they might of had 0 confidence. They just lost on a late goal. This team needs to find some kind of confidence with a win against Norwich a win their could be a start. If they dont win then Coleman may be out as manager.
Take heart Fulham fans. The first thing is to start playing well. Results will follow. Sounds like the traditional 4-4-2 target striker/quick striker worked well (maybe that's why it's become traditional). I'm still surprised there was no defender available to sub in on the bench. Was one of the midfielders able to play back there in a pinch?
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=169389&cc=5901 "Left-back Carlos Bocanegra managed to block his (Robben) next advance and escaped punishment despite seeming to push the Dutchman inside the penalty area - but Chelsea were slowly increasing their pressure."
IIRC he played well agaist him or maybe it was Duff in the league game against Chelsea despite what the scoreline said.
McBride's goal was more of a misdirect, albeit at a point-blank range, than of a tap-in. It was a good one-touch attempt. An interesting remark by Lampard on his goal : 'You have to shoot from the edge of the box and sometimes you get a bit of luck - which we got." Frank's so non-MLS.
Frank Lampard's one of the few players I go out of my way to follow during a game... and my eyes become saucers whenever he has the ball. I'm just not used to a midfielder with such offensive aggression and a tendency to shoot like he has. I only occasionally root for Chelsea due to him and their historical lack of success. (at winning the big one)
Bad luck for Fulham. Deserved a bit more from the game than what they got-- at the very least, they deserved to take the cup tie into extra time and/or PK's. And sounds like a very opportunistic goal from Macca, too. Bad luck for me as well-- had to turn the webcast off five minutes before that goal. This would have to be the morning where my wife says, "Will, honey, let's go to the gym today before work." If anyone's got a copy of Gentleman Jim's call of the match, I'd love to hear it... especially Macca's goal. If I ever hear that he's in Melbourne, I'll shout him that drink-- even if I'm not tending bar!!
Better ManU than Arsenal. Jens may be mad but this year Ed is bad. I haven't caught too many Fulham games of late but in the few I watched, it appeared that Boca was playing pretty well despite the bad results. Can any Fulham fans confirm (or deny) this impression?
Boca played the entire game at left back against Holland. What should Arena "remember" or have done differently? Play Boca at right back? It was an outstanding game and Fullham definitely did not have luck going for them. Chelsea was the better side for the middle 50 minutes of the match, but both of their goals -- one through a deflection and the other through a "Roy Carroll" -- were lucky. McBride was at his best, which means he won every header and his touch was good allowing him to distribute effectively on those occasions -- rare in the middle of the game -- when the midfield got him the ball. He couldn't make anything happen one-on-one, but that shouldn't surprise anybody. This game should be mandatory viewing for all of those who argue that McBride is only good in the air against Central American smurfs. If the balls are decent, McBride will get his head on a lot of balls. Boca I thought was really good, both offensively and defensively. His speed is not quite sufficient to be world class at left back, but his passing and ball control were excellent. He also was very strong positioning and using his superior strength. Duff and Robben got a number of good crosses in, but I doubt that very many outside backs would have been able to take away crosses when isolated with these guys. Robben did turn him around once and fire a shot that Van der Saar did well to parry, but once again he is Robben. I would rate Boca highly in this match.
Well at least Boca and Mcbride did well. Fulham still have the FA Cup. We did well against a 90% full Scum squad. They needed luck to win the match we were unlucky that 2 of our shots went of the wood they had a shot do the same.Overall if Moral Victories count then this is huge.
After catching the highlights of the game last night, Van Der Saar is not totally to blame. The ball took a deflection on its way to goal. VDS was diving to the left, and the ball deflected back to the right towards his legs. He tried to get it with his leg, and did knock it up off the underside to the crossbar, but still went in. Came close to stopping it though. Not a "howler" as others have said.
So McBride continues to impress when he's given the time. When is this "coming on in the 70th minute" in EPL matches going to end? When is he going to get a start already?