Fulham FC vs. Swansea City match report - 23/11/13
Was the week-end's game between these two struggling teams in effect a "six-pointer"? That seems unlikely. Since we now know Swansea have players who can take a game by the scruff of the neck and grind out a result, while Fulham still do not - and remain firmly ensconced in the bottom three. Swansea were 5 places above Fulham on Saturday morning; but only 2 points better off. On this showing, I expect Swansea to finish well above us this year. Although the question still remains as to whether or not they should. The Men-of-the-Match were both from Swansea: De Guzman and Williams (plus a strong 35 minute cameo off the bench from Jon-Jo Shelvey). Though Parker ran them all close.
I took along a colleague from work to the game. John is an Aussie 'soccer' fan of Greek descent, who's been to a few Premier League games since he came to England. He has followed Chelsea from a distance for some years before arriving here; but that didn't stop him acquiring a Fulham #14 shirt, which he proudly wore to the game - "Karagounis". Alas, the Greek midfielder would not feature after his World Cup qualifying exertions last week. We stopped for a beer in The Crabtree before the game, where we got talking with a bunch of away fans, as you do. They promised to do us a favour by winning the game and getting our manager sacked. Very kind, I'm sure! This was my first chance to see whether the arrival of René Meulensteen as "Head Coach" (or possibly as a potential 'stalking horse' to current club manager Martin Jol) had made much difference to the Fulham side.
In fact, I thought we did look a lot better organised than anything else I've seen from Fulham this season (except PERHAPS after 20 mins. of the Palace game). Making Parker Capt. was definitely a good move. The Guardian match report said "personnel changes and a formation adjustment gave renewed solidity to a side that has leaked goals all season". They also said "Jol's substitutions were curious". All of which is mostly correct. It was good to see Bent start; although his 3 goals have all come as substitute. The local lad looked like a striker in need of more consistent pitch time. He should have scored when he hit the inside of the post in the 31st minute; and he should have at least hit the target before that, when he misjudged a tame, free, downwards header in the 27th, with the 'keeper beaten. Both of these efforts and the early foul by Rangel on Kasami which went unpunished, came in the first half, when Fulham did enough to go in ahead. This despite the possession stats favouring Swansea; and despite the two separate glaring errors in the 43rd minute by Boateng, each of which nearly put Swansea into the break ahead. In the first half the visitors mostly showed little attacking intent or threat. They were happy to contain; while we never tackled De Guzman's controlling influence. He mostly sat deep, pulling the strings like a puppet master in what generally looked like a spoiling 4-1-4-1 formation. Swansea held the ball and looked to break with pace. Something Fulham looked largely incapable of. Just before their first goal, you just felt Swansea were going to make their pressure count in a way Fulham had not done in the first half.
I was sitting in the middle of the Putney End, directly above and behind the Fulham goal in the second half; so I was close to both Bent's misses and, in the second half, both the visitors' goals. Their first, Aaron Hughes's o.g., was inexplicable. He wasn't under that much pressure. The skidding ball in from Pozuelo had been delivered too fast and just wanted to be collected or cleared. Hughes needed to choose between hooking the ball to safety or halting his run completely; and he did neither. A man with more pitch time this season would, again, have done much better. Otherwise AH had a good game.
Shelvey's goal was inexcusable. Left unmarked early in the move, he sprinted into the centre to collect a pass then danced around a couple of half-hearted challenges from Sidwell & Kasami, each of whom had got themselves on the wrong side of the Swansea substitute. Even as Shelvey unleashed his swerving shot, I thought Stekelenburg could have done better. Otherwise the GK, again, had a good game; looking composed and making several critical stops.
Amorbieta looked OK, in a limited way; but he was at fault for conceding the free-kick which led to Swansea's first. Richardson looked even more limited. There wasn't much else to report. Fulham's show ponies continued to trot around the parade ring without creating much danger up front. It was a game that could, probably should, have produced a point for us. A first-half goal might even have lead to all three points; but the more we wasted our few chances, the less likely even a point looked. We didn't lack fight though, for a change; and kept carrying the game to Swansea right to the end. Except when the visitors broke once again and nearly scored a 3rd in the final minute. I wanted to see a change up front, with the young Dembele getting a run, towards the end. It was difficult to see why we would include a callow 17-year-old in the match-day squad and still NOT play him, when we had nothing much left to lose, late on; and few threatening options up front. He could have done no worse than our toothless tigers. That our only goal came direct from a Parker cross speaks volumes. I was left nursing a blossoming cold in the Putney End and wondering if my toes would ever de-frost. They did finally, as I sat in the Oktoberfest Pub, watching the big German Bundesliga derby (Dortmund vs. Munich) over a few steins of imported beer; seeing football played on a big screen at a much higher level ... by which I don't mean being projected onto the wall, well above my head.
Tony Gale's column on the Fulham website says of next Saturday's match-up: "Make no mistake, Fulham’s game at West Ham United on Saturday is a massive fixture for both clubs". Uh-oh! Another possible six-pointer; and suddenly EVERY Fulham game is starting to look like a must-win fixture. Meanwhile, a badger cull continues in Gloucestershire to halt the spread of Bovine TB. I'm just hoping it doesn't spread too quickly to West London.
