Barnet 2 - 2 Bradford City/Man United 4 - 3 Man City

An unusual weekend saw me attending back to back matches which couldn't have been more contrasting. A trip to Underhill was undertaken because of  a Bantams-supporting friend's annual bit of birthday blackmail. Normally I've managed to duck these as they've clashed with a Fulham home game, but not this season.
Underhill's a pleasant enough lower league ground, with large swathes of terracing and a quite pronounced sloping pitch. I particularly liked the tuck shop feel of kiosk at the back of the stand which sold cups of Bovrill.
The game itself didn't really amount to much, with whichever team was playing downhill in the ascendancy. The only goal of particular note being Bradford and Pakistan captain Zesh Rehman's volley. The officials, decked out in salmon pink didn't get a great deal wrong and the crowd of 2,282 was sporadically noisy but everyone seemed happy with a point.
It was fitting thet Mark Hughes scored Barnet's second equaliser as the day after I watched his namesake's side try to get one over on their more illustrious neighbours in Manchester. I've mentioned before I am at heart a United fan, so the opportunity to watch a derby for the first time in at least a decade was too good to pass up on.
Sat in the usually quite reserved South Stand, there was an electricity at this game from the start, aided by the pantomime booing of Carlos Tevez. Despite the early goal, United were jittery and second-best in the first half - typified by Ben Foster's brain freeze moment for City's equaliser - but in the second half I've rarely seen United so fluid, or Giggs so dynamic. In the first half Barry kept winning flick ons for Tevez and Bellamy to dash onto and cause a nuisance, but that didn't really happen in the second half. The ebb and flow of the game also helped the fans find their voices and the atmosphere buzzed. The two goals at the end of the game also provided unbelievable swings in emotions for everyone in there. I don't think I've ever cheered a Michael Owen goal quite like it.
The only other match I've attended that has come close to that atmosphere was the 1999 FA Cup semi-final replay between United and Arsenal (where Giggs scored THAT goal) but it was very reminiscent of Fulham's home 3-3 draw with Spurs a couple of seasons ago when Kamara improbably equalised in the last minute with an overhead kick. I was buzzing for a couple of days after that match and I'm still buzzing after the Manchester Derby.
I think City have a good chance of winning something this year, highly likely the League Cup, so I doubt Fulham will get a now customary win at Eastlands tomorrow night. But with his attitude to Europe, will Woy mind getting knocked out?

European tour

Not Fulham's though. Mine. I'm off to Cyprus for a wedding and then I've got to skeddadle to Copenhagen for work, so the next two weeks are a write off for me. It also means I miss the Everton match on Saturday and probably won't be back in time to watch Fulham in Bulgaria live on ITV4 a week on Thursday.
The derby with Arsenal will be my next match and, worringly again, tickets for that game have gone on open sale. The attendance at Chelsea this season was only negligibly lower than last year's in the end, but the fact that tickets were on general sale reflects the poor economy rather than the travails of the team in my opinion.
Anyway last week I went to Brentford. I didn't realise how close I lived to Griffin Park as well as all the other grounds. I've said before I live inside an unholy football triangle between Loftus Road, Stamford Bridge and (thankfully) Craven Cottage. But it seems during all this time I was actually living in an unholy rhombus.
There were three reasons for visiting the Bees. 1) They were playing Oldham Athletic, a team I occasionally watched at Boundary Park when I was wee. 2) Griffin Park still has terracing, at either side of the ground and I'm a sucker for terracing. 3) I got a free ticket.
Despite the terracing, I was underwhelmed by the lack of original songs from the fans. They were all identikit chants with Brentford or the names of Brentford players inserted at the appropriate moment. At least Fulham have some unique songs. However because of the size of the ground there was a lot more banter with the players and the officials, which was particularly amusing. The branding of Oldham's keeper Dean Brill as a giant Wotsit because of his horrid orange kit was perhaps the highlight. One linesman appeared to be continually barking at the players, although it later transpired that he was communicating with the ref via the little microphone thingy on his head. Anyway it wasn't long before the fans were telling him to get off his mobile.
The match itself was pretty dull, the first half in particular showing very little what you would call 'football'. Brentford won a penalty (although it was down the other end so we couldn't see what it was for) just before half time and duly converted it. This encouraged them to to out in the second half and actually start playing. They should have won had it not been for an audacious bit of skill by Blackman on Oldham's left wing. He brought down a long ball with one touch and put in a shot, at least I think it was a shot, that drifted into the far top corner. It was a piece of skill that had no place in this match and enough to earn Oldham a point.
What going to the match did highlight was the value for money we get at Craven Cottage. It would have cost £20 to go and watch the League 1 game and that was for standing on the terracing. If you wanted a seat then it would cost even more. A bit of investigation when I got home found that a season ticket for the Ealing Road terrace was £330 - the same price as my Fulham ticket. - albeit for 4 more matches.

Eurofatigue

Reminiscent to last year's away form, Fulham fans have recently been enraptured by draws, main the Europa League draw which saw the Whites drawn in a pot with Italian giants Roma, experienced Swiss side Basle and relatively unknown Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia. It is a tough group, harder arguably than Arsenal's group in the Champions League, and Fulham will not be disgraced if they don't make it out.
Irritatingly the only away date I'm free for is the final group game in Switzerland when it might all be over. I think there may be quite a lot of fans making that trip as most will want to avoid the buttock-stabbing Roma fans and the away game in Sofia comes just in three weeks time.
It seems that Fulham's endeavours in the Euro Vase is already disrupting what was the league's most settled team last season. Injuries to the front pairing and half the midfield means that the last few games have been played by a different look Fulham, which has struggled to perform. Perhaps that not surprising considering the 5 hour plane trips to Perm.
Still it has been a good time to sign up another couple of midfielders in the shape of experienced Jonathan Greening and South Africa captain Kagisho Dikgacoi. I wonder what the non-existent Fulham songsmiths would make of KD. His name doesn't lend itself to rhymes. A positive variation on 'I've never met a nice South African'?
In the meantime Fulham have been drawn away against the Nouvea Riche Man City in the Carling Cup, a competition that Woy will no doubt want to quietly drop out of as soon as possible. While Eastlands has been the scene of some improbable Fulham wins in the past two seasons, it seem that Mark Hughes' desire to win the League Cup is greater than anyone's from SW6.

Fulham 0 - 2 Chelsea

A strange passion-less game saw plenty of huff and puff, but little real quality on show. Chelsea came to the bridge as a powerful, professional and somewhat cynical side and seemed to brush Fulham to one side without really excelling themselves.
The two goals came from top class centre forward play between Drogba and Anelka, each laying on a goal for the other, in stark contrast to the unusual front pairing for Fulham. Clint Dempsey was pushed up to the centre forward role to support Bobby Zamora in the enforced absence of AJ and it didn't really work. Dempsey rarely ran beyond Bobby, which is a shame as he won many headers ahead of Carvalho but there was nobody to pick up the flick ons. Despite this for a long time the high ball to BZ appeared to be Fulham's only attacking outlet.
Perhaps as a consequence of Dempsey's absence, but more likely reflective of Chelsea's strength in the area, Fulham were consistently second best in midfield. It didn't help that Zoltan Gera appeared unable to control any ball that came near him first time. Passes just kept bouncing off him and it wasn't long before the home crowd was on his back. When Roy finally hauled him off after 62 minutes it was more an act of charity to the player.
Fulham barely pestered Chelsea's goal and Chelsea didn't exactly pepper the Fulham goalmouth either. It was a strange kind of match. From where I was sat, the Fulham fans easily outsang the Chelsea mob, who never really got going until Anelka's goal in the 75th minute. Some people on the messageboards complained about fans singing about Frank Lampard's mum, but I didn't hear that down the front of the Hammy End. In fact Lampard was having a friendly bit of banter with those down by the corner over the 'Fat Frank' jibes, which was quite funny. Opposition players taking corners in front of the Hammy End don't half get a bit of stick at times. I'd dread having to take one there.
An injury to Danny Murphy towards the end of the game highlighted the lack of creativity in the middle - can Baird and Etuhu really push on a team behind by two goals? I guess that's why Jonathan Greening has now, finally, been signed up.
Attendance:  Me, Ish and Jarrod

PS - this is the 100th post of this blog. Blimey.

Fulham 3 - 1 Amkar Perm

Despite sounding like a Kevin Keegan hairdo in the 1970s, Amkar Perm showed that they were a handy side last night. Either that or Fulham were very, very casual. With Chelsea coming up on Sunday, I'm hoping it is the former.
A very early goal, possibly the earliest I have seen Fulham score, did not reflect the first half at all, with Amkar having plenty of the ball. The goal itself was class though, with Bobby Zamora's pass to Andy Johnson beautifully cutting out both defenders and goalkeeper, allowing AJ to pop it over the keeper into the back of the net.
Amkar controlled the ball for most of the half with Danny Murphy having a particularly torrid time in the middle of the park. Whether this was rustiness or that fact that Amkar's strategy was to get at the captain, far too many of his passes missed the mark and he couldn't pull the strings as well as normal. Despite this Fulham had another two great chances before the break, one of which needed an acrobatic clearance by an Amkar defender.
The Russians seemed to be far more superior in the air than Fulham which caused a lot of problems in the home team's penalty area from corners, but the whites were far better in the second half. After seeing the crowd jump on Zoltan Gera's back for playing a poor pass when he could in fact have had a shot on goal, Clint Dempsey smashed one into the top corner from 20 yards. It was an absolute beauty, leaving the Amkar keeper sprawling.
That's when it all went a bit weird. AJ pounced on a loose ball at the back, knocked the ball past the last defender, went to follow it and got taken out by the mother of all cynical bodychecks. As last man, Dmitry Belorukov should have been shown the red card, but the referee bottled it. AJ stayed down for a while and then wandered off the pitch. I thought Hodgson substituted him as a precaution with Chelsea on the horizon, but it turns out he has dislocated his collarbone.
I had a similar injury playing pub football as a 17 year old way back in the mists of time, when running onto a long ball I collided with an outrushing goalkeeper and broke my collarbone. I was out for six months. AJ will only(!) be out for 4-8 weeks, but you've got to ask whether it will have any psychological damage. How reluctant, albeit subconsciously, will he become to try and ghost past players after this experience? I think, given the number of times he has been clattered in the penalty area and just brushed himself off, he'll be okay. Brave man, AJ.
Anyway, the referee compounded his mistake by not allowing Fulham to make the substitution when the ball went out of play for a thrown-in. Zamora was apoplectic with rage at this. I think that the referee would have booked Konchesky for time wasting had he not taken the thrown in rather than wait for the common sense approach of allowing a team to replace an injured player.
The Portuguese referee had a poor second half to be truthful. Every little touch in the first half which ended up being a foul was suddenly legal in the second half. He also booked Dempsey when the ball bounced up and hit him on the hand. I've never seen Woy so angry and animated in post-match interviews as he was here because of the ref's handling of the game.
Anyway old Belorukov got the pantomime treatment everytime the ball came his way. He also got 10,000 people laughing at him when Clint Dempsey crashed a freekick against his face as he stood in the wall. That's karma for you.
New boy Duff came on and ridiculously set up a goal with his first bout of possession. He turned down the wing, crossed it into the box for fellow substitute Nevland to knock it back for the rejuvenated Zamora to crash in a third.
This should have been game set and match, but Fulham contrived to make next week's tie so much trickier than it needed be by conceding an away goal almost immediately afterwards - midfielder Grishin crashing the ball into the top corner from an angle. In fairness, it was no more than Amkar deserved over the course of the match, although they had not had many shots on target. Certainly 3-0 would have been very flattering to a loose Fulham side.
But that away goal means that Amkar only need a 2-0 victory their plastic pitch next week. The pessimist in me is worried that this is achievable for the busy Russian side. Although they should have been without the services of their anti-football centre-half for the next leg, fate will probably decree that he'll score the decisive goal. That would be very Fulhamish.