Fulham 2 – 2 Manchester United

Fulham and Manchester United played out a pulsating 2-2 draw on the banks of the Thames, with both sides squandering chances to win the game. Manchester United, somewhat undeservedly, went ahead with less then ten minutes remaining in the match through Brede Hangeland’s unfortunate own goal.

Soon after, Damien Duff’s miskick caused the ball to spin up and hit him on the arm, and the referee duly pointed to the spot. The referee had a strange game, managing to annoy both sets of fans without getting too much wrong. In this instance, although the handball was accidental, a penalty will always be given. Nani, just on as a substitute for the disappointing Ji-Sung Park, hit his spot kick with power and purpose, but young Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale was equal to it and was able to parry it away.

Fulham, buoyed by Stockdale’s superb stop, launched an attack of their own, and Hangeland received an opportunity to make up for his own goal. He was not in the mood to waste it, rising high above Dimitar Berbatov to power a header into the bottom corner via the gloves of Edwin van der Sar. Craven Cottage erupted, and the Fulham supporters went home feeling like they’d won.

A draw seemed an unlikely outcome given what had come in the first 20 minutes. United looked very comfortable, passing the ball around the edge of Fulham’s area with consummate ease and little pressure from the men in white. An early chance fell to Berbatov, who volleyed from ten yards out only for Stockdale to produce another quality save to deny him.

Soon after, United had a corner from which they would open the scoring. Paul Scholes was lurking unmarked on the edge of the penalty area, and after the ball was knocked down in the box Berbatov had the sense of mind to lay it off for the veteran midfielder. Any team that gives Scholes this much space and time in a dangerous position will be punished, and Fulham duly were. Scholes hit a wonderful shot with the outside of his right boot which span away from Stockdale’s outstretched left hand and nestled in the bottom left-hand corner of his goal. At this stage a rout to match Chelsea and Arsenal’s wins on Saturday did not seem altogether impossible.

Fulham are a team with a great deal of fight and character, though, as demonstrated by their comebacks against Juventus and Hamburg in their run to the Europa League final last year. They responded well, and Dickson Etuhu should have scored after being played into the box with only van der Sar to beat. The Dutch keeper saved well from Etuhu’s initial shot, and when the Nigerian international attempted to lift the ball over him, a prostrate van der Sar stuck up a hand to claw it over the bar, an astonishing reaction save.

The teams emerged from the dressing room after half time with the game poised at 1-0, and Fulham began to show greater attacking purpose. Duff tricked his way past Patrice Evra on the right touchline (with the help of a big slice of luck), played the ball into the channel for an irrepressible Bobby Zamora who in turn cut the ball back from the byline for Simon Davies to drill home. United responded with pressure of their own, and by bringing on Nani, Ryan Giggs and Michael Owen, Sir Alex Ferguson clearly feared a repeat of the two previous seasons’ losses at the Cottage.

The pressure eventually told, with the ball ricocheting off an unaware Hangeland to put United ahead. The Norwegian was able to make amends to make this a very good start to Fulham’s campaign, and to leave some daylight between United and their title rivals already.

Tactical Point:

Mark Hughes has already begun to impose a few subtle changes to Fulham’s attacking play. Under Roy Hodgson, Fulham were incredibly organised, leading to a lot of defensive stability but a lack of goals. Hughes hasn’t changed a great deal, but is already encouraging his players to play more positively and directly, and to push forward more.

The most obvious example of this can be seen with the defensive midfielder Dickson Etuhu. Under Hodgson, Etuhu was a “destroyer” in the Claude Makelele mould, making tackles and shielding the back four in order to allow Danny Murphy to pull the strings in attack. In the home 2-2 draw against Chelsea two years ago, we can see how Etuhu made most of his passes from within his own half, and only a small proportion of them were forwards.

This year, against Manchester United, Etuhu spent much more his time in the opposition’s half and was much more willing to make positive forward passes. He was playing as more of a box-to-box midfielder, and the rewards can be seen when Etuhu burst into the box and forced van der Sar to make a double save – a chance he should have capitalised upon. This was to the detriment of Murphy’s game as Murphy had less time on the ball and suffered as a result, but made Fulham a more potent attacking threat overall.

The chalkboards for this can be seen below:

2010/11 Preview: Fulham

FULHAM

Mark Hughes: can he replicate Roy Hodgson's success?

IN:
Jonathan Greening (West Bromwich Albion) Free
Philippe Senderos (Arsenal) Free
OUT:
Chris Smalling (Manchester United) £10m
Erik Nevland (Viking) Free
Elliot Omozusi (Leyton Orient) Free

Fulham are coming off the back of the two most successful seasons in their 130-year history. After finishing 7th the year before last, Roy Hodgson worked miracles in taking the Cottagers to the inaugural Europa League final at the end of the last campaign. Despite a heartbreaking goal from Diego Forlán to destroy their hopes, the run to the final must be seen as a remarkable success.

Rather inevitably, Hodgson was headhunted by bigger clubs this summer, and left to take over Liverpool after Rafael Benitez left for Italy. This is by far the most important departure for Fulham this season. Hodgson has been the most important part of their success, and before he took over the West Londoners looked like relegation certainties. By imposing a rigid 4-4-2 system which utilised two highly-organised banks of four in order to stop opposition attacks, Hodgson presided over a period which saw Craven Cottage become something of a fortress, and made Fulham harder to beat on the road.

His move to Anfield has left Fulham rudderless for a number of weeks now, though, and the appointment of Mark Hughes should solve this problem. Hughes appears to be a decent appointment, particularly when the alternatives were rumoured to be Sven-Goran Eriksson, Bob Bradley and Ottmar Hitzfeld. Hughes almost took Wales to the European Championships, only losing to Russia by one goal over two legs, and had success with Blackburn Rovers, turning the Ewood Park outfit into solid upper-mid table finishers. His spell at Manchester City did not end the way he might have envisaged, but he still did a reasonable job there.

Fulham’s activity in the transfer market prior to Hughes’ arrival has, understandably, been quiet. The option to make Jonathan Greening’s loan from West Brom permanent was exercised, and Philippe Senderos has been signed on a free transfer from Arsenal to provide back-up to the impressive pairing of Brede Hangeland and Aaron Hughes in central defence. Chris Smalling has completed his £10 million move to Manchester United, but this was made public before the end of last season and the young defender will not be a huge loss for Fulham at this stage. Also leaving is Erik Nevland, returning to Scandinavia after a few seasons in London where he occasionally popped up with vital goals.

Hughes will surely want to impose his own character on the squad, and is already rumoured to be chasing Craig Bellamy’s signature. It is no secret that Roberto Mancini needs to sell a number of players at Eastlands in order to fit his squad under the Premier League’s new maximum of 25 seniors players, and Hughes has already signed Bellamy for other clubs on two previous occasions. Bellamy seems certain to arrive for these reasons.

Roque Santa Cruz is also rumoured to be a target, and would be a significant upgrade on the departing Nevland. Bobby Zamora finally found his Premier League scoring boots last season, and a partnership with a fully-fit Santa Cruz could prove quite fruitful. The presence of Andy Johnson should not be forgotten either, although he could find himself marginalised under the new Hughes regime.

It will also be interesting to see whether Hughes alters Fulham’s playing style. Under Hodgson, the Cottagers developed a distinctive brand of defensive, passing football. At home, this would become slightly more expansive, if still quite predictable, whilst away from home the strategy would usually be to sit back and focus primarily on gaining a clean sheet. Hughes might be tempted to try and open things up a bit more, and his teams have usually been more attacking than Fulham have been in recent years. With players like Simon Davies, Clint Dempsey, Zoltan Gera and Danny Murphy, he already has a number of midfielders who are comfortable passers of the ball and can contribute goals. If he adds Bellamy to this mix as a wide forward, Fulham might begin to score more goals as a team, even if this comes at the expense of their current defensive stability.

One other point to note is the physicality of Hughes’ teams in comparison to Hodgson’s. Under Hodgson, Fulham finished top of the Fair Play league last year, and finished highly the season before that. Hughes’ Blackburn teams were renowned for their physical approach, and actually came bottom of the Fair Play league a number of times. Will Hughes attempt to toughen up Fulham? Only time will tell.

After finishing 12th last season, Fulham do not have a European campaign to distract them this season, and with Hughes at the helm should not find themselves dragged into a relegation struggle. Having said that, another push for European qualification will almost certainly be too much; expect another season of quiet mid-table obscurity, perhaps just creeping into the top half.

Prediction: 10th.

Fulham 4 – 1 Juventus (5-4 on aggregate)

Just have a look at that scoreline. Fulham 4 – 1 Juventus. I can barely believe what I saw this afternoon, a magnificent performance in every respect. Zamora was incredible, Duff and Davies were untouchable, Gera was a handful, Hughes and Hangeland were imperious at the back, and Konchesky had a stormer surging forward from  left back. And then Dempsey came on to cap it all off with that beautiful, incomprehensible strike. Just… astonishing.

On March 22, 2008, Fulham lost 0-2 away to Newcastle United and seemed to be staring relegation in the face. A year (and possibly a great deal longer) of playing teams like Barnsley, Preston, and Plymouth beckoned. Now, two years later, we find ourselves outplaying the most successful Italian team in history and comprehensively beating them 4-1. What a transformation.

After staying up on the last day of the season in 2008, Danny Murphy said, “You don’t go from just avoiding relegation to challenging for Europe in just one season.” Well, Danny, we’re not only challenging for European qualification now; we’re challenging for the entire competition. A game I will never forget.

Zamora for England?

Now wait… stop laughing. I know it sounds absurd, but I really think that Bobby Zamora should be a realistic candidate for the England squad in South Africa. I mean, just think about it. Fabio Capello seems to have decided that England’s best way to score goals is to have a Heskey-style “big man” in the team. Heskey is brilliant at holding up the ball and linking the play, and his movement drags defenders around, creating space for Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard (cutting in from the left) to move into. Capello’s formation has clearly been justified by the fact that England scored more goals in World Cup qualifying than any other country.

Yet, despite this, the decision to pay Heskey still seems counter-productive. Heskey’s goal return for his country (and in domestic football), is abysmal, and by playing him, Capello is effectively resigning himself to the fact that he expects one of his two strikers not to score a goal. The ideal solution, therefore, would be to find someone who can do Heskey’s job leading the line, but who also provides a goal threat. I believe Zamora might just be that man.

Or at least, he is becoming that man. His goal haul so far this season isn’t particularly remarkable, but 5 goals is a reasonable total considering the fact that he plays in what is essentially a solid mid-table team. 2 goals in his last 2 games, however, suggests he might be making progress. The second of those, scored this past weekend at Burnley, was a great finish into the bottom corner using his unfavoured right foot.

As for the hold-up play that Heskey provides, Zamora is certainly at least his equal in this regard. Zamora’s play leading the line for Fulham has been outstanding at times, and his performance in Fulham’s 2-0 victory over Manchester United at Craven Cottage last season was nothing short of magnificent. Zamora gave Vidic and Evans a torrid time, pulling them all over the place and creating chances galore. His tally for assists is also by far the highest of any player at Fulham. Heskey is a decent player, but surely Zamora is as good, if not better – and the statistics show that he produces goal-scoring chances for other players more often.

With a goal-scoring record better than Heskey’s, and the fact that Zamora is pretty much a guaranteed starter at Fulham these days (unlike Heskey at Villa, who competes with Jon Carew), why not give Zamora a chance in the England team? I think he could do very well. The other alternatives would seem to be Peter Crouch or Carlton Cole. Crouch is a different kind of “big man”, and whilst Cole has shown potential, he is currently playing in a struggling West Ham side and does not seem to be producing the form his form of last season when his team were competing for a place in Europe. So come on Fabio, give Bobby a go. It can’t hurt, can it?

EDIT: Since writing this post, Heskey has also just scored two goals in three games to somewhat undermine my argument. My point still stands though – if Heskey finishes the season with more goals than Zamora, I’ll eat my hat.