City Vs Fulham Preview (from Sky Sports) Fulham could be relegated this weekend if they fail to beat Manchester City and both Bolton and Reading win at Spurs and Wigan respectively. The Cottagers' 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool last time out left them five points behind third from bottom Reading with just three games remaining. Roy Hodgson's side did win their last away game, although the West Londoners have secured back-to-back away wins in the Premier League just once in their history. To make matters worse, City have the fifth best home record in England's top-flight with a haul of 37 points from their 18 games at the City of Manchester Stadium. Hodgson's side will need to keep a watchful eye on in-form Darius Vassell, who has scored five league goals against the lowly Premier League outfit. Captain doubtful City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has a defensive headache for the visit of Fulham with captain Richard Dunne doubtful with a hamstring strain. If Dunne is indeed ruled out then youngster Sam Williamson could be given his full debut after coming off the bench in last weekend's win over Portsmouth. Although Micah Richards (knee) and Nedum Onuoha (shoulder) are out, Sun Jihai is set to return and could feature at right-back allowing Elano to secure his more familiar midfield role. Benjani is likely to lead City's attack once again with Vassell and Bulgarian Martin Petrov for support. Changes Fulham may well ring the changes following their defeat to Rafa Benitez's side at Craven Cottage. Erik Nevland and Diomansy Kamara may be given the nod ahead of Brian McBride and David Healy, who failed to impress against The Reds. Hodgson will be hoping Antti Niemi is available following Kasey Keller's less than assured display against Liverpool. Niemi has been out of action with an Achilles injury. Should Niemi miss out again Tony Warner may also be drafted in, as the West London club look to keep their survival hopes alive. Jimmy Bullard and Simon Davies should retain their midfield places, although Leon Andresen could come in for Danny Murphy.
Thanks for starting the thread Alan. Joining the ranks of making his debut (maybe) is Shaleum Logan. He's been returned to MCFC from his loan spell with Stockport County (my home town) to bolster City's depleted ranks. Who'd have thought that we would have a defensive problem! So we could have a completely new back line. If we all pull together , as we did last week, we should be OK. Injuries have certainly turned our end of season upside down. Come on City
Well done Sven, take off our best players and it all goes downhill. Maybe im being too critical, but Ireland and Vassell were the two standout players of the match and they did fantastic, outstanding so why were they substituted??? It was the last home game of the match, the players dont need to be rested for any reason! Our proud record at Eastlands let down badly by today. A lot of the blame has to be with Sven, I felt nervous reading Sun's name in the team - a good servant over the last few days but I hope he isnt anywhere near the team sheet next season, dont renew his contract and let him leave. Push Logan up and make use of the talent from the academy. Fulham did the impossible but we didnt play that well, it was the same story we've had for most the season - only a small number of goals for the amount of chances we've had and its shocking how we missed so many of them in the last 15 mins. The blame can be pinned on quite a few of the players, Corluka had a disasterous second half, he made Kamara look world-class and got out moved by him to score the first. Even for their third goal, there were plenty of our players back but somehow Kamara was allowed space again to shoot. Hart, Petrov, Elano, Ireland and Vassell are the only players who didnt deserve that. After recent rumours regarding Sven's future you would of thought he would of made sure the team signed sealed and delivered the win before making any changes - credit to Fulham, a 2-0 lead would make most people think the game was already over but this is a side 19th and battling to stay in the division, a never-say-die attitude that once again has shown our own vulnerabilities. Theres no reason for losing a two goal lead, though I saw it coming a mile off when they got one back. Im sick of this typical City tag, I thought we'd finally got rid of it partly this season but it goes to show it seems as if its firmly in our DNA! Thaksin's first game in quite awhile, the result would only make him doubt Sven's ability as manager - in reality it doesnt matter if the fans want him, Thaksin has the final word and no doubt rumours will only grow stronger after today. I don't want him to go, of course I dont and any fan who did would need their head testing but his tactical decisions did little to reassure us and I completely understand why the fans didnt stick around for the end of season lap of honour by the players - nothing to do with what has been achieved this season but it was the result today that has ended the season on a sour and bitter note, losing to Fulham (no disrespect) is failure. I can imagine the better players were pissed off. We'll see how Thaksin reacts to this, see how true these rumours are. The game was only for us to lose at halftime rather than there for Fulham to win. We created our own misfortunes but Fulham deserve credit, they never once gave up and they exposed our makeshift and at times sad back four. The tactical decisions will be regretted. I feel so frustrated with recent results against the struggling teams that its hard to see past the fact that we're still disgraceful at times. The way we go about stuff, never finishing off matches when the opposition are there for the taking and always regretting the inevitable comeback. Theres no consolation in people saying "Well Fulham/Bolton/Reading/Wigan/Derby/Birmingham battled hard, of course it was going to be a hard match cos they are a relegation team and they have something to play for. It was always going to be hard getting something against them." Sorry but I've not heard a bigger load of trash in my life, theres a reason why they are down at the bottom but in our matches against them you'd guess we were a team just wishing to stay in the division. We're not, the thorn in our foot has been these results but time after time we haven't changed, we have played in exactly the same disappointing way. Its pointless beating the teams around us if you cant even keep in front against the bottom teams. All the best for Fulham, they proved that they have more bottle than we do
What the bloody F#CK was Sven doing. That has been our problem all year loosing to the teams we should beat. That was a pitiful performance. Injuries or not that was dreadful.
I'm sure we played a 0-5-1 formation. Our defence has been ravaged by injury. Still a weak effort, but it's the end of the season, with only a fairplay route to europe open to us. We'll be better next year.
As Alan says, it seems to be in City's DNA to lose to the teams we should win against. Notable victories, TWO AGAINST THE REDS!!!! I agree with Alan's comments, SGE's team selection and substitutions have to be questioned at times. I didn't see the match, but why take players off (and two players that are doing well) when you're winning the match (with a defence that's far from being you're first choice), if it's not broken, don't fix it! At least we didn't miss a penalty kick (aka trip over my own bootlaces Ronaldo!). SGE might well have just shot himself in the foot, if he hasn't already. A really bad way to lose our Eastlands reputation. The team will feel extremely disappointed at the result, only hope they can pick their chins up off the floor. SGE's comments: http://www.mcfc.co.uk/default.sps?pagegid={DBD12D53-8346-431D-A04F-5D0F8664DE80}&newsid=549785