If this match report is a bit lob sided, apologies up front, but this was a typical game of two halves, and I will get the footballing sayings out of the way now, because I am sick as the proverbial parrot. Fulham if we are being honest are shite, in the first period they could not live with Everton, whose football, passing game, movement and all round play was off the highest quality. The only thing missing though, through poor finishing, great goalkeeping, a shit refeering decision was the goal which in my mind would have started an avalanche of goals. The Blues should of, and could of have gone in at half time at least three up, but the fact of life is we did not, and yes we paid the ultimate price. Phil Neville was passed fit, and Moyesy opted for his tried and tested 4-5-1, and for the most of it, the tactics worked. Stubbsey, Roger, Joey and Phil had things under control at the back, whilst the midfield five were toying with their West London opponents. Chances came thick and fast as the Blues attacked the end were their travelling fans were massed. Johhno went close early on when he forced a save from Niemmi, and minutes later he should have been awarded a penalty, when Pearce cut across him in the box to take him down. Maybe now his reputation is following him, and the ref waved away Everton's protests, and Pearce had the audacity to bollock AJ, who you could see was getting more and more frustrated. Leon went close, but for me the most shocking miss of the half came when Mikky broke free, and ran with the ball from the halfway line. AJ moved into acres of space in the area, but Arteta decided to go it alone, as three Fulham defenders closed in on him. The square ball was the option, but it never materialised, and once again the Blues were thwarted, and became increasingly more frustrated. The half ended in the same vein with a flurry of corners to Everton, who could not convert any of the set pieces. The players retired to the little House in the Corner, to a chorus off boo's aimed at Mr. Atkinson the referee, for missing one of the more easier penalty decisions he will have to make, this season, but we have heard that before, and no doubt we will again. H-T 0 - 0 Now I am not the greatest fan in the world of Chris Colemanballs, but he could see at half time that his Fulham side were being undone by the Blues. His instructions were to mix it with us, stop us from playing, does that sound familiar from last week, well it worked. Everton were second to every ball, Fulham were out muscling and outplaying the Blues in the middle. We even made Radzinski look good, the little tw...., no won't go there with that one. In the first period Tim Howard would have three options to throw the ball out to, these all went in the second period, as he had no option to pump the ball up the park, were nine time out of ten, Fulham sent it straight back to us. Howard made a fabulous save at the foot of his left hand post, as the home side increased the tempo. It had to come, and with half an hour left, a speculative shot by Jensen deflected off Harry Hill which was enough to send it over Tim Howard's despairing dive. We still had chances, and Andy Johnson again went close, but Anti Niemmi saved twice at his feet. Everton huffed and puffed in the last ten minutes looking for the equaliser, but it never came. On our overall performance we deserved at least a point, but on our second half performance we deserved knob all. Our physical presence which we built a fourth spot finish so successfully two season's ago is sadly missing, as Leon, Mikky, Simple and co, too easily lost possession. I am trying not to get on the players backs to much, as the season still holds so much promise for us, but it hurts to see such a fantastic first half period undone by a showing in the second period, were the players looked strangers to each other. Nuff said !! A few more things, firstly to the knob ed, and the knob eds who applauded the knob ed, who threw the coin, go away we don't need you. Everton have fantastic support at Goodison and on the road. Sooner or later the authorities as dim as they are will take action. If you want to see away fans banned, or more disturbingly the threat of points being deducted for antics like that, well you are obviously are no Everton fan. Grow up, or simply piss off, and join the phone throwing gang over at Analfield. One more point if you will allow me. Congratulations to Sir Alex of manure for an incredible feat of twenty years in charge of a top flight club, when some managers don't even get twenty weeks in the hot seat. On our trip down to Fulham yesterday, we had to remind one of our young passengers, that twenty years ago, manure were a mid table side, pulling in 35,000 fans a week. Who won the League Championship the year he started his reign, we did of course. Sir Alex said it felt like yesterday when he started his tenure, to me them twenty years seems light years away, and I can speak for thousands of Blues, that we want them back. Starman by the way, Tim Howard, great save in the second period, but his all round handling, was once again, spot on. Bring on the Arse Wednesday night. F-T 1- 0 AJ Misses, and Shows His Frustration Mikky Challenges For The Ball

Lavo Reports from Craven Cottage   Today's Blue Kipper Star Man Star Man Stats Goals Bad Boys Prem Table     Another Blank     Booked     Assured   Dependable

BIG IN PUTNEY By Mickey Blue Eyes

It’s nice to be vindicated by somebody as decent as Arsene Wenger.

Last week I observed that so-called “match atmosphere” is generated by great players in great games. Not, as some dopes (particularly among journo information clerks in search of artificial hype) would have it, the other way round. Wenger said something like, “It is our job to play and win well enough to fill the new stadium. Our fans have filled the stadium. The rest is up to us. We are playing well, we are just not winning.” He might have added justifiably that they don’t lose many either. His opinion followed Thierry Henry’s request that their fans give more backing to their players, which in turn probably derived from an ugly crowd incident in our game there last Saturday.

It came after Arsenal launched their umpteenth second-half assault, this one wide left. Rightly the attacker quickly released the ball inside to Thierry Henry to try to catch our defence off guard. As we all know Henry is one of the greatest players ever to don a pair of footy boots – except when he’s rogering our team into the servitude of a gunsel of course. On this occasion the ball bounced off his foot as though he was a Sunday League player and then got cleared to the unrestrained, relieved glee of Evertonians. Normally it sticks like glue. That was surprising enough but what was sickening was the reaction of a nearby small group of Arsenal “fans,” out of their seats to give him the v-sign while booing and jeering.

It was that awful, that poisonous, you would have thought Henry did it on purpose. You had to see and hear it to believe it. It went way, way beyond mere frustration. And frankly I couldn’t care less how much they paid for their seats and their opinions. I paid my money too and in my view their behaviour was the kind of loony, narcissistic, self-pitying chauvinism that has always dogged the game among its worst fans. Me, I would have given them their money back and told the useless divvies to do one and never come back. They and their claque-mindset aren’t needed or wanted in the game at Arsenal or anywhere else. They are nothing but neurotic leeches in serious need of therapy; they have the intellect of a duck, the concentration of a flea, the memory of a goldfish and the sense of humour of a dead fish. They are virtually beyond parody and satire. Almost, but not quite. Plainly it hasn’t taken long to form the Ashburton Grove branch of the whining crackpot mindset that is the Meldrew Tendency.

I repeat, this was Thierry Henry, a player who has done more to restore Arsenal to greatness than any other player with the possible exception of Paddy Vieira. Which doesn’t make him invulnerable to criticism, but it does mean he has earned special consideration until the day his talents begin to fade. He is still a few more seasons from that. And in any case there never was and never will be a player who can turn it on and off at will, or who doesn’t endure a loss of form or make an occasional mistake. All of this is common knowledge to sensible fans. Which by definition excludes the Meldrew Tendency.

So Saturday saw us on the road to London again. This time to kitsch Craven Cottage on a bend of the sludge-brown drainage ditch in Putney, a ghetto of metrochavs, credit card debt and subscriptions to the ineffable Daily Mail. And the most unlikely place for a Premiership football match. Sadly, too, it always seems to bring out the worst in the tiny minority low-life who attach themselves to our club. This game was no different, though it was a long, long way removed from our day of racist shame a few years ago before Fulham moved temporarily to the London sports slum of Loftus Road. It became necessary to tell a fellow behind me that if he persisted in racist garbage I would get the police to throw him out. Fortunately he had the sense to listen.

A noon kick-off left us no time to queue amidst the hideous body odour and stale beer aura of a typical prematch pub, the kind of venue some tasteless nincompoops describe as “atmosphere.” It was no loss. Instead, we went straight to the ground after parking up. Wherein tray vendors walked among the fans selling everything from doughnuts to plastic bottles of the usually metro-overpriced beer. This unremarkable and sensible ploy – quite standard in American stadia – helps avoid time wasted in line at a servery. You can then stand in reasonable space and hold a coherent conversation without some nearby loud-mouthed yob in a confined area exhaling alcohol fumes or worse to the further detriment of civilisation, the ozone layer and the future of your kids. But it really is time the TV-induced farce of noon kick-offs and Saturday-Sunday-Monday fixtures is despatched to the dustbin of history. Enough is enough. It is beginning to erode the match enjoyment and overall shape of the fixture programme.

Most of us were optimistic about the match. I thought we would win if we played to our best form and so did many others. Alas.

We dominated the first half comfortably without creating many really good chances, but then failed to show up for the second half and conceded a flukey deflected goal to lose the game. Three more points lost needlessly, even allowing for our playing weaknesses. Fulham were quite ordinary for the whole game: they didn’t improve after half time, we simply lost it badly. In doing so our unbalanced lightweight midfield achilles heel once again became all too apparent.

During the first half we looked very confident and moved the ball around so well Fulham didn’t cross the halfway line much. We should have had a penalty right side in the box when AJ skinned their big, ugly centre back and then got downed without the guy making any contact with the ball. It was so blatant it left you slack-jawed when the referee fell for all the anti-AJ propaganda and waved play on. Then during a rare Fulham attack we sprung a right wing counter that had Mikky sprinting through almost to the edge of their penalty area before maddeningly it bounced away from his final touch. At that stage it didn’t seem to matter too much. We were running them ragged down both wings and piecing together some good passing movements. It looked merely a matter of time. Which of course is entirely the wrong attitude because we all know you have to take your chances when play is in your favour. Footy is an unforgiving game.

During this phase of play everyone in midfield performed well though Mikky looked a bit below form. Even Simon Davies gradually began to look the part. Unfortunately the game deteriorated every now and then to the level we always seem to get against this team; nothing outright dirty, just the kind of irritating niggle Fulham seem to employ when things don’t go their way.

After half time our midfield turned to jelly and that was that. We never controlled the game the way we did the first half. Mikky’s play lost more sparkle and then Leon ran out of energy the way he usually does. Midfield capsized as a direct result. Fulham just kept plugging away, nothing more, and inevitably got back into things without convincing anyone they were likely to do anything. There were a couple of warnings though when Tim Howard had to make good saves to keep them out. One from a downward header was world-class. We should have known. After twenty minutes we let one through when an innocuous left wing movement ended with a shot, wide left edge of the box, someone blocked it, it looped up into the air, was sailing wide…………..and then dropped in high left of Tim. By this time we were as niggly as Fulham and giving away stupid free kicks.

James Beattie came on for Simon Davies with twenty minutes left and Victor Anichebe for Lee Carsley with about five minutes remaining. Neither made much difference. Not that we stopped trying, it just didn’t carry any real conviction or weight. Needless to say AJ got denied yet another penalty when he got dragged back by the arm, a format rapidly becoming par for the course.

The referee added five minutes to the game and though we tried to press forward, and a couple of times looked like we might just break through, the truth was we deserved to get nothing for our second half performance. The game went away from us because we don’t have sufficient staying power in midfield. Until that deficiency is remedied there isn’t much to be done with team formations or any amount of wishful thinking about the style of play we employ. We don’t particularly need a “midfield enforcer,” just someone who can last the pace and be constructive with Mikky. This is why lesser teams can give us a good run for our money. That’s the way it is. No amount of whimpering will change it.

And if we play in Wednesday’s Mickey Mouse Cup the way we played in the second half the Gooners will turn us over no matter which team they play. Promise me you’ll buck up, Blues. Have a word with yourselves.

Meanwhile it would help a lot if there are some preliminary moves to bring in some midfield oomph in January. Always assuming the coffers aren’t totally depleted of course. As I have said before, I reckon we are within two players of a very good side. Whether we ever get them is another matter…………………

I don't know how anyone can throw coins at players when they charge you £3.50 for a meat pie. What a The very big Coleman wants the culprit jailed. Ian Ross is very angry, Moyesy is not happy and Jensen thinks it was a coin. And I still hate Radzinski.

Coleman says:"It was a coward who decided to throw a coin. Get him out, send him to prison or somewhere away from football. "I think he will be identified - I hope he will."

Ian Ross says:"As a Club we condemn without hesitation the actions of the moronic individual who threw a coin at Claus Jensen. We would urge anyone who knows his or her identity to contact the Police immediately. We will be studying video recordings of the incident to see if we can firstly isolate and then identify the so-called supporter involved.

"If the person responsible for what was a disgraceful - and potentially very dangerous - assault is a supporter of Everton Football Club and is convicted of a criminal offence, the matter will go before our Board of Directors who have the power to issue a life-ban from Goodison Park."

Moyesy says:"If someone did that then I agree they should be banned but you have got to accept there is as much chance of it being a Fulham supporter. He could have been aiming somewhere else. It could have been another player he was trying to hit."

Jensen says: I think I was struck by a coin, that was the only thing I could see nearby. If it was a coin and it was thrown that is disappointing."

I said:I hate Radzinski

Prematch Views

Match Reports 2006/2007            This Season's Stats            Premiership Table            Star Man

If you want to comment on the team news, what your think the team will be or comment on any aspects of the match itself
e-mail info@bluekipper.com

Jogger's Snapshots | Young Toffees | Sting Ray | Sausage's Sandwiches 
Cod Pieces | Look-A-Likes | Tomorrow's Chip Papers   I Top Toffee Ale 'ouses| Home
e-mail info@bluekipper.com