Not sure what Steve Bruce‘s matchday experience was. Mine involved sitting in front of a screen in a Bali hotel watching safc.com’s slow-changing, allegedly minute-by-minute text coverage. The BBC’s was hardly any better; much worse, it seems, would have been finding a bar actually showing the grim truth of a 0-0 draw. Steve? His e-mail reached me in Indonesia and boils down to: “if only we’d managed to raise the bar” …
Dear Colin,
The save their goalkeeper made at the end summed up our luck in the game.
It was a great save and to be fair Mark Schwarzer has done that for years.
When you look at the Fulham team, they’re a good side. They’ve been in the Barclays Premier League for years and you can see why.
They’ve got a threat up front and they’re experienced at the back.
For 70 minutes we did very well. There were lots of good things about the game.
If we had scored rather than hit the bar twice in the first half then it’s a different game.
As the game went on we started to look a bit ragged. We were trying to push people forward and trying to get a goal and it left us exposed.
Overall, a draw was a fair result.
The only thing that was missing was the most important thing, the goal threat, which unfortunately today we didn’t have enough of.
We’ll take the point and we’ll move on.
I’m still seeing things I’m pleased with and on another day we might have won.
All the best,
Steve Bruce
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I thought that Ryan Noble’s all too brief appearance showed what we desperately need; which is a focal point for the attack. There isn’t one. He was making runs off the ball in and around the edge of the box which would have unsettled the makeshift Fulham back line. They weren’t troubled at all because he have no target and the midfield (apart from Sessegnon, who I thought had a marvellous game) never get into positions where they can cause a threat. Colback was through on goal but lost his composure because the ball was on his right foot. Cattermole wouldn’t be dangerous if he had a vial of anthrax tucked in his socks, but he had a more assured game than normal.
This team will never achieve anything as long as Mrs Doubtfire persists with the flying Pharoah. His continued inclusion has now reached the stage where it isn’t even funny anymore. There was one comic moment when his anal sphincter began to twitch in fear of having to run past his man. He cut inside and totally lost control of the ball in a triple salcow and pike of which Jayne Torvill would once have been proud, only to fall to the ground. He then made a lunge at the Fulham player in an failed attempt to foul him, which was followed by his appeal for a free kick.
It’s cruel amusement to witness the Egyptian’s shambolic performances week in and week out. There’s enough reason to sack Bruce in that alone. What Bruce thinks he is bringing to the team God alone knows.
Malcolm – I agree with the Westwood comment. He looked very confident coming for crosses etc. With Elmo, he gives us good energy on the wing but that final ball is just missing. If I was manager, I believe he wouldn’t even make the bench. When Larsson is available he’ll play right wing. Larsson will perhaps be our most quality player this season, just in front of Sess. I think Sess is deployed best on the left wing with a license to drift in when it suits him. Ji just doesn’ t posses that confidence yet and looks a little apologetic, but he’ll come good. Its a great pity for me that we can’t find a place for Gardner. But with Vaughn playing well and Colback too, he’s just edged out. I think Vaughn will replace Catts next week.
Ian – I was expecting Noble to come on for Elmohamady with Sess dropping back into right midfield to give us a threat in front of goal. What happened? Colback goes off for Ji and Richardson ends up in the centre. With Cattermole on a yellow, the balance (such as it was to start with) goes completely. We have Gardner and Vaughan on the bench both of whom have shown they can score yet we start with Elmo.
Bruce spent the prematch interviews telling everyone that Ji didn’t deserve criticism from his national boss because making a long flight takes it out of a young player then contradicts himself by using him as first change, despite the fact he has earned even more air miles since the internationals.
Eventually when Noble gets a run out he has hardly anytime left to show what he can do. From what I’ve seen Westwood deserves to be first choice keeper.
Had it been an entertaining game then I might not be sat here wondering whether to bother with Wigan next week.
Just wanted to add that I thought Westwood had a good game too. Dealt with crosses bravely and positioning was good to make some reflex saves. I think he’s taking full advantage with Mignolet being out. I think there’s some positives from the performance, but we are desperate for that striker who can put the ball away.
I think we missed Larsson terribly. For me he’s been a threat all season. Sess looked tricky when he got the ball, esp on the wing.
Did anyone else think Ryan Nobel looked useful when he came on? Although he’s slightly built and could be pushed off the ball, he looked energetic and got into some good positions. One for the future?
The January window cant come soon enough. Cisse or Pav in at all costs…. We desperately need someone.
I like the google advert on this page, which combines the word fossil with a large ticking timepiece. Could be a a metaphor
The January window is only a few weeks ago. Given Bruce’s “open door” policy, it’s a little scary to think of who we might lose.
Enough, Steve. Luck has very little to do with it-it was a dull and depressing display. I feel sorry for some of the players now. Sessegnon played with his usual skill and commitment, but he and a few others deserve better management and will go elsewhere if this continues.
Jol has joined Fulham relatively recently and with his experience and expertise should, if funds are available to him, take Fulham forward. However at present they are a mediocre team and we should have beaten them at the SoL. For Steve to ‘big them up’ as if they were one of the top 5 or 6 is ridiculous. Time is ticking, we will end up in the dog fight at the bottom of the league in the Spring if we dont start winning some games.