Friday 27 March 2009

Fulham 2 - 0 Manchester United

Now this one was hard to take. Don't get me wrong, Fulham totally deserved the win, but at this moment in time United need the points more than Fulham! Still, for the first half Bobby Zamora played liked Zidane and left Jonny Evans with twisted blood. Zamora would have scored too had it not been for reserve keeper Paul Scholes' save on the line. Unfortunately the midfielder wasn't the designated goalkeeper for this match and got his marching orders, with Danny Murphy dispatching the resulting penalty. Now the bright side to this was the fact that I had a bet on Murphy to score first and Fulham to win 1-0 at 125/1. So I was more than a bit pissed off when Zoltan Gera suddenly fulfilled the promise that I've been saying he has had all season by acrobatically scoring a second. The man is now on my shit list.
Despite being down to 10 men, United could and maybe should have equalised, with Schwarzer making one of the most amazing double saves I've ever seen live, from Park and then Rooney. The latter's second yellow card I think was more for the sins of the team rather than the player himself, Ronaldo being a petulant pantomime dame throughout the game - more of a thorn in the referee's side than Fulham's.
Similarly to the players' on-pitch behaviour, the Man United fans left something to be desired. I heard at least three racists slurs at individuals and saw several 'fans' threatening fellow Man United fans for the simple crime of wanting to stand where their paid for seats were. Many fans had either got in surreptitiously or just didn't want to go to where their own seats were and no-one was going to make them. Horrible scumbags. I'm glad I wasn't a steward having to sort that mess out.
Which brings me back around to Fulham. What kind of team loses at home to Hull and Blackburn before winning away for the first time of the season and then defeats the European champions a fortnight after being beaten 4-0 by them? A frustrating team, that's what kind of team. With an extra six points, Fulham would be five points clear of Wigan in 7th and only two points behind Everton.
Incidentally Fulham are one of five teams really in the mix for 7th place, which will be a UEFA Cup place this year, with three points between Wigan, West Ham, Fulham, Tottenham and Man City. It would be a travesty for Spurs to get the place, considering the contempt with which they held the competition this season. Personally I don't think Woy would want to qualify for Europe this season - the squad is way too small considering he doesn't rotate the starting line-up. It would be a measure of how far the team have come under Hodgson though.
Anyway, Woy, I have the feeling that you owe me one now. I would like to redeem this voucher in the next home game. Against Liverpool.

2 comments:

Chopper said...

Excellent and well balanced report Andy. I thought of you as the final whistle blew and wondered what you'd think about the game.

"What kind of team loses at home to Hull and Blackburn before winning away for the first time of the season and then defeats the European champions" - That just about sums up what it's like to follow Fulham. Reckon we could have you fully converted soon! ;-)

Bad Andy said...

Thanks Chopper.
I'll be fully converted on Saturday should they prevent Liverpool from winning.

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