For ANYONE who has watched Fulham the last 9 games... since the 4-5-1 was being employed... tell me of another striker who made himself more of a presence than EJ? He ********ed up chances but, you saw the STRIKER involved in attacks... there were some bad ones, like getting the ball caught up in his feet... but it just showed he has the potential to be the man on his own. Really, if they play 4-5-1 continuously, EJ's the only real choice... he's the only one that looked dangerous, at times, by himself. That being said, there should be no more 4-5-1.
Which describes him to a tee. He came in spewing that folks were claiming EJ played great if it weren't for the announcer or the ref. It was nothing but pure, unadulterated, under a bridge living troll. No one here claimed EJ didn't suck ass the first 60 minutes, yet this guy came in saying just the opposite and that posters here were blaming the announcer and the ref. Maybe you could defend Chavez or Ahmadinejad, you'd have more ammunition.
He does not need to be brave to make that move. He has to be smart about this one, because Murphy is really killing things for the team imo. I just hope Dempsey can get a chance to play in the CAM role someday soon for Fulham. He would do well, and I think would have a better chemistry with EJ than Bullard, or Murphy. KK real did stabilize the defense of Fulham unlike Niemi, and will hope to see KK finish out the season for Fulham. Having watch the replay of this game, and I think some of you are right about EJ being the most effective Striker for Fulham to have played in the 4-5-1. Though I would rather they go with the 4-3-3 stop using defensive formation, and tell dem boys to go for it all take the chance you got nothing to lose right now. At least use 4-4-2 regular, or diamond formation much better than the 4-5-1.
Yes, Murphy has actually crossed over to being a liability for this team. His vision and passing ability seem to have abruptly disappeared.
Murphy only looks good when he has 5 yards of space at all times. When he is constantly closed down he pretty much becomes an empty uniform.
Still, though, who would have thought 7 or 8 years ago we'd be talking about an EPL match where there were 5 or 6 Americans on the field? It's pretty incredible when you think about it, given where this game was in the US before the 02 WC. Ok, now back to your regularly scheduled program.
Good lord did Eddie ever look sad in the first half. I almost felt bad for the kid, it looked like he forgot how to play the damn game. The second half was better, I do think the commentary was a bit harsh in the second, but Eddie clearly lacks confidence, but he's the best option they have for a solo striker, he was dangerous all game, but surely sloppy and downright awful for much of the match.
Not really. However I'll say Clint Dempsey did a lot less in this game than Eddie Johnson. Clint was practically invisible. Eddie looked a lot like we've seen him in the US and in MLS. He's got great raw tools, but we need to see those tools be molded into the finished article. There have been times in MLS and for the US that seemed to have been AHA games for him, and then he's slipped back to looking mediocre. Very frustrating. I guess what I'm saying is he's a very streaky player. He'll look like world beater for 5 games, and then look like he should be on the bench for the Charleston Battery for the following 5 games. If you want to be a prem striker you need to play consistently at a high level. These clubs don't have the luxury to wait for your streak to turn. Oh, and I also hate the 4-5-1. I've seen France play with it and make Thierry Henry look useless.
Random comments: 1. This was the only sensible formation that Fulham-coach-of-the-month has employed in the last 10 or so games. Five in the midfield worked against Blackburn away and they easily could have won. Unfortunately, ties aren't enough anymore for Fulham. 2. It took 92 minutes for the color commentator (what are they called in England, I wonder) when he said Fulham deserved a point. At least he can go into the next game on a positive. Rating 1.1. 3. Johnson got behind the defense several times and made well-timed runs to get there. He could have been in on the keeper in the 10th minute but for a clear foul that would have required a sending off for the defender. He hits the crossbar, wins a foul to set up game-tying free kick, is sitting in front of the net but Davies cross doesn't come through. He lays off a few very good passes. I'm sorry, but you guys are way too harsh. This is his first start in the Prem. What other Fulham forward has turned in a better game this year (not that this is much of a bar to hurdle)? Pretty good game with a couple of embarrassing moments. He could really use some aggression training though - can anyone coax that out of him ... coaching him must be like raising a underachieving teen. 4. Mike Riley doesn't like it when his hair is mussed by a pouring rain ... it's the only explanation I can come up with. 5. Fulham was reffed out of three points. They found yet another way not to win a game that could have been won. Unlucky Fulham are going down. 6. Jimmy Bullard won't be playing in the Championship next year.
This was actually his 2nd start and 3rd appearance for the side. I still think EJ needs some time to adjust but the one announce was a total twat and was way too harsh on EJ. The thing I like to look at even though there was no end product from EJ in the first half is that at least he was getting behind the defense for chances. I've watched almost every Fulham match this year and no one else on the team has done that. To me that at least should give him a run out for the rest of the season. Sure I wish he would have done more with those chances and I hope someone has a talk with him about going down so easy. Especially on the one play he was fouled and was already behind his defender. He should have stayed with the play but I wonder if his lack of cofidence made him decide that going down was the better option. It reminded me of the Copa play against Argentina. His second half was better looking because his play ended in positives with hitting the post and earning the free kick that lead to the goal. I don't think it was all that much of an improvement from the first half. I would have rated him a 6 for the game.
Without reading 26 pages, my impression of Johnson, not horrific for the whole game but looks so raw. At on point I thought, a season or two in the Championship might be GREAT for giving him that drive he lacks. He seems to lack that real drive for goal and if he pushed some of those first touches at the penalty box and just got on his horse he could be a good Prem/Champ. striker. He makes nice runs to get open and the just makes one bad decision once he has the ball (however, I thought his layoffs were near perfect). He was left on for 90 minutes which tells you something. McBride--love him and think the should get a one hour ESPN show about his career but he is done at this level. Dempsey is just out of position. Overall I think Fulham continue to get better and hopefully when they play the teams in the bottom 1/3 they can take advantage. They are not out of it yet but have a real fight on their hands.
He has employed the 4-5-1, pretty much exclusively, since taking over. There has been (I believe) two starts by Nevland, two or three by Dempsey, three by McBride and two by Johnson. So please don't say something if you have no idea what you're talking about. I agree with this... there were bad moments, but it was definitely a good performance for EJ.
I have been saying for at least 3 or 4 months that the owner must have made light of the refs, because it has been consistent, almost from the first match this year. Fulham have at least one goal disallowed for them and allowed (incorrectly) for the opponent nearly every match. It's either a clear offsides called or not called, a penalty called or not called. I thought Sanchez was being a baby earlier in the year in that he came out of each game saying, "well if it hadnt been for the ref," but now I can kind of start seeing his point.
I've spent my life yawning or even laughing at sports fans who claim their teams always get an unfair shake from the refs, but I'm actually starting to wonder what the heck is up with Fulham's fate in this regard. At the very least, they've had a run of very bad luck. Bad calls usually balance themselves out over the course of the season, as the old adage goes. But really, what breaks has Fulham gotten to neutralize all the questionable goals-against and disallowed goals-for? It's just been one after another. Fulham should be in a relegation struggle; there's no way around it. But the struggle might not have been quite this tough if the officiating had worked out better this season. Bad luck, indeed.
for as much as EJ struggled...Dempsey was far worse. He's going to find himself out of a job if he keeps this up. Last match he didn't make the team sheet, the match before he was an early sub after semi-struggling, and in this match he plain struggled. Soel Ki-Hyun is still wandering the Fulham grounds. And he's more of a natural wing than Dempsey is. Dempsey needs to get back to being himself.
Wow, I forgot about him. Kinda just fell off the map didn't he? I actually thought he played pretty well for Reading too.
Well, problem is, Dempsey's "self" is being a player with bravado, flair and expression. And I suspect that as the cold, grim reality of the relegation fight has set in, he's been clearly instructed to keep things straight and narrow out on the pitch. In other words, he's kind of constricted right now. I mean, it certainly seems that the drop in his performance has directly correlated with the deepening of Fulham's relegation battle. Playing tight and without freedom is problematic for a player such as Dempsey. Plus he just married a psychologist. Who knows how she's messing with his head!
What I meant was that this 4-5-1 was a good formation because it served a counter-attacking strategy to could work with Johnson at the top. This is different from a 4-5-1 employed equally against good teams and bad, home and away, where Fulham looked to find a target forward for knock-downs and flick-ons to ... no one. So this was a decent use of 4-5-1, whereas Fulham should have been using a straight out 4-4-2 against the Derbys and Sunderlands of the world. But thanks for the snide and arrogant comment. Well done.
He just needs to understand that the Prem refs allow a lot of contact ... heck, Paul Stalteri should learn that too. The same probably goes for Hangeland and Andreason as well.
Eddie was pants yesterday. It was kind of funny when the announcers were trying to reconcile his obvious deficiencies with his scoring record in the U.S. You had to wonder if they were aware that 8 of his 11 goals for the Nats were scored 3 years ago. He may eventually become a passable player in England, but I think it's much more likely that he becomes exhibit No. 1 when people over there criticize the game in the U.S. and deride our players.
I have video of the goals at http://watchsocceronline.blogspot.com/ and will post better highlights if I can find them.