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[petrusha]

For some reason, I'm really looking forward to this game.  Having gone abroad to live, you accept that you'll hardly ever see City live any more, but this is the first time in the few months since I came back over here that I've had real pangs of regret at not being able to attend.

Great chance for us to build on the last couple of results with another win, as we look (fingers crossed!) to end the season in a positive vein that will give us grounds for hope for the next campaign.  And should be a decent atmosphere as well: Fulham usually bring a very small contingent, but with it being a really crucial game for them, they should bring a few more this time, especially as their club is offering to pay the costs of the travel.  Hopefully, we'll have a decent turn out of our fans for the last home game too.

Looking at Fulham's circumstances, it really is do or die for them.  They have to catch two of the three teams immediately above them in the table, and are currently four or five points behind all of those teams.  If they beat us and other results go their way, they close the gap significantly; they then have Birmingham at home next, before finishing against Portsmouth six days before Pompey play in the FA Cup final, so they'd be in with a real chance of the great escape.  On the other hand, if Fulham fail to beat us, then, even with two wins in their remaining games, for them to survive, the clubs above them would have to pick up virtually nothing from any of their last three games.

So Fulham will really have to go for it, which should suit us given that we struggle much more against teams who put an accent on stopping us playing.  And I don't (though I've slightly lost track of who's now playing for them) think they're all that powerful or imposing a side in physical terms, are they?  If not, then again that should suit us. 

IF the players show any complacency or disinterest (i.e. seeming to think the season's over already), we'll lose.  Otherwise, and provided that available personnel allows us to field something vaguely recognisable as a defence, then we must have a great chance.

I predict: 3-1 to us.

[Tragic]

Other than Bullard in the middle they don't appear to have that many nose biters in the side under Roy H. Davies and Murphy are fairly light weight and prefer to get forwards and given that they need the points they'll have to go for it, they may even go 4-3-3?

Their front two do have me a little worried though McBride and Healy are a handfull (we struggled away from home against them) and we'll need to concentrate to stop them. If we do that then I can't see any reason why we shouldn't win the game and keep the pressure on Villa and Pompey. The added "bonus" of it being the last home game might make one or two give that little bit more...

An early goal would be very handy...heads down if we score early!

ctid

[Tragic]

I wonder if, given the injury worries we reportedly have...we're likely to be missing Ned, Dunney, Richards and Garrido, Sven would consider the back four below for this game?

Williamson
Ball
Corluka
Logan

Seems balanced enough to me, neither Logan or Williamson would shirk any tackles and both would get forwards to support our wingers.

Go on Sven be a devil...the last thing Foolham will want are players desperate to make a name for themselves!!!

ctid

[Ged]

We've got to go for it, and get a win. Anything less and we can forget about being taken seriously.
Fulham as an isolated incident wouldn't be an issue, but recent failures against Derby, Bolton and Brum (and only getting a draw at the Cottage) make this a must win game.

[petrusha]

Another point - Prem rules allow us to wear a kit other than our registered home kit on one occasion in a season.  As rumour has it that we're having three new kits next season, what price us wearing one of them against the Cottagers?

Btw, I like Bullard and McBride and they may give us problems.  Have they got anyone else who's any good?  I can't think of anyone, but I've just had a long conference call that's nearly made me lose the will to live so my powers of recall may not quite be at their sharpest.

[PD]

havent seen much of Clint Dempsey since he went there but he could be a  threat. 

[wasp]

The old boy has made some canny purchases , nb at centre half and Bullard takes a great free kick. They are skillful and will have to outplay us to win. I therefore foresee goals and on form, three points.I'm hoping the damn has burst for Benjani.On the other hand, this is City.Defensively we will see Sun, Corluca, Ball and Garrido as both he and Sun have recovered from illness. Potentially that back four is disastrous, but who knows what our lot will do.50/50 on Dunney apparently. Rest if any doubt say I.

[Ged]

We can put them down tomorrow, and while they aren't as obnoxious as Notlob or Brum, we've got to put our own fans first and end the home season on a high.

[Tragic]

Mike Dean is the ref...oh dear!

ctid

[Paul]

Mike Dean is the ref...oh dear!

ctid

They've demoted that many that they're scraping the barrel now.

[Tragic]

Mike Dean is the ref...oh dear!

ctid

They've demoted that many that they're scraping the barrel now.

We're good at getting them demoted...Deano you are next Deano Deano you are next

Trouble is the kind of performance required for that to happen would also probably scupper our fair play chances...sniff!

ctid

[Skint]

We can put them down tomorrow, and while they aren't as obnoxious as Notlob or Brum, we've got to put our own fans first and end the home season on a high.

Yeah I know you're right really. Just it's my favourite london venue and I found it a pleasant change from the usual latent hostility you can feel at away games.
You know the score-city actually win away for once- not that particularly impressive ,a sort of FC crap versus shiote FC match! If ever the home fans are going to be pissed off ,then this is it,surely. Cue not talking as you're surrounded by fulham fans and suddenly one of them pipes up to his mate with a "well-that was a bother,wasn't it? Are you trying out that new wine bar-got to dash to b and Q to pick that garden table and i'll join you later" A couple of them even sussed I was a blue and congratulated me-hope they come straight back personally.

[wasp]

Yeh, always pleasant to walk through the park and no need to hide colours or keep stum.Will miss em. But we haven't beaten them yet.

[Mick]

But we haven't beaten them yet.

And we didn't. That wasn't pretty at all. Could have, should have, been 4 up by half time, absolutely comfortable, and just switched off and let them take the game. Disgraceful lack of application.

[bladdered]

I thought it was an enthralling game. We played some great stuff at times with Ireland, Elano and Petrov playing some great passing moves, especially in the first half. What let us down was a failure to finish and the rookie defence. But fair dues to Fulham and that Bullard fella who played like a man possessed. Hope that sort of spirit rubs off on us for next season.

[Paul]

I thought it was an enthralling game. We played some great stuff at times with Ireland, Elano and Petrov playing some great passing moves, especially in the first half. What let us down was a failure to finish and the rookie defence. But fair dues to Fulham and that Bullard fella who played like a man possessed. Hope that sort of spirit rubs off on us for next season.

Totally agree, the result also showed that while we are now a comfortably top half side, we're still the city of old at heart.

I thought the last 25 minutes was great (only about 15 seconds spoiled it), we moan we want to be entertained, and when we are, we moan.

Disgraceful lack of application.

I'm not sure about that Mick, we could easily have won it at the death just like they did, but they wanted it that bit more than we did. We should have finished them off yes (see Villa of late), but they weren't going to just roll over, and while they looked dead for nearly an hour, once we gave them a sniff, it was them that got themselves back into it, I wouldn't blame our defence as not 1 of that back 4 plays there regularly, it didn't look a penalty to me, and Corluka had been off with a knock before their first goal.

Fair play to Fulham, they had 19 shots to our 15 apparently and Hart made 2 very good saves, while making a bit of a ricket on the first goal (and arguably on the penalty save for me as well).

We pay our money to be entertained and we were, but most City fans had assumed we would just turn up and win (see wasps comments for the reality of football), and it shows if you're 10% off your game at this level you WILL pay for it.

[Mick]

I  don't agree with much of that.  I do agree that we were entertained, but the problem wasn't that the fans thought they just had to turn up and win - the problem was that the players thought that. Once we went two up they just went to sleep - did you see the incident just before half time when Elano and Petrov were passing the ball between them on the half way line - they must have passed it back and forth 5 or 6 times with no attempt to go anywhere. What was that about? I'll tell you what I think it was about, I think it was about thinking the game was won and no more effort need be expended, I think it was also about a lack of respect for our opponents. I dislike that sort of showboating in any circumstance, but if players must do it they should wait until they're at least 4 goals ahead.

I come to be entertained, and I want to see good football, but I also support a team and I want to see them win football matches. I get pissed off if they play crap football, but I also get pissed off when they lose. I don't think that's particularly remarkable. If I just wanted to watch good football and not care about the result, I'd be at the Emirates or the swamp or wherever I thought I'd see a good game. And whilst we played some excellent football at times, and it was a joy to watch, we clearly switched off once the players thought they were comfortably ahead. We didn't switch back on again until after Fulham had equalised. We suddenly recovered our hunger and we started playing again, and created several chances, most of which were comfortably off target - Keller had only one save to make. And as can happen when you're committing yourself like that, we got caught on the break, which was unfortunate - but we should never have been in that situation in the first place.

I'll give credit to Fulham - Kamara made a huge difference when he came on, and Bullard was excellent - but overall they were a poor team, they're where they are in the table for a reason. And when we went two up, their heads dropped, and we could, and we should, have gone on to score more and kill the game off. This is what a good team would have done - we had the ability to do so, but instead decided to treat it as an exhibition match. An exhibition match would have been us scoring 4 or more goals, not farting about when we were 2-0 up. So I stand by what I said - lack of application.

I recall the game at SJP about 3 years back. The one where we lost 4-3. I didn't moan at all about that one - the second half was tremendously entertaining, I thoroughly enjoyed it, even thought we lost. Today was different - yes, we played some fantastic football, and yes, we saw plenty of super passing, some brilliant interplay, some super pass and move, and some wonderful long passing, and two fine goals for City. And we saw plenty of chances, for both teams.

But we also saw our team throw away a game they should have comfortably won - not just by turning up, but by consolidating on the excellent start we made. Sven thinks we threw it away, he said so. Michael Ball said on the radio that they weren't prepared to do "the dirty work" (as he put it) in the second half which they had done in the first half. I think I'm entitled to characterise that as a disgraceful lack of application - the team captain for the day as good as admitted that they hadn't done their jobs in the second half. And I think I'm entitled to moan about that.

[Mick]

I  don't agree with much of that.  I do agree that we were entertained, but the problem wasn't that the fans thought they just had to turn up and win - the problem was that the players thought that. Once we went two up they just went to sleep - did you see the incident just before half time when Elano and Petrov were passing the ball between them on the half way line? They must have passed it back and forth 5 or 6 times with no attempt to go anywhere. What was that about? I'll tell you what I think it was about, I think it was about thinking the game was won and no more effort need be expended, I think it was also about a lack of respect for our opponents. I dislike that sort of showboating in any circumstance, but if players must do it they should wait until they're at least 4 goals ahead.

I come to be entertained, and I want to see good football, but I also support a team and I want to see them win football matches. I get pissed off if they play crap football, but I also get pissed off when they lose. I don't think that's particularly remarkable. If I just wanted to watch good football and not care about the result, I'd be at the Emirates or the swamp or wherever I thought I'd see a good game. And whilst we played some excellent football at times, and it was a joy to watch, we clearly switched off once the players thought they were comfortably ahead. We didn't switch back on again until after Fulham had equalised. We suddenly recovered our hunger and we started playing again, and created several chances, most of which were comfortably off target - Keller had only one save to make. And as can happen when you're committing yourself like that, we got caught on the break, which was unfortunate - but we should never have been in that situation in the first place.

I'll give credit to Fulham - Kamara made a huge difference when he came on, and Bullard was excellent - but overall they were a poor team, they're where they are in the table for a reason. And when we went two up, their heads dropped, and we could, and we should, have gone on to score more and kill the game off. This is what a good team would have done - we had the ability to do so, but instead decided to treat it as an exhibition match. An exhibition match would have been us scoring 4 or more goals, not farting about when we were 2-0 up. So I stand by what I said - lack of application.

I recall the game at SJP about 3 years back. The one where we lost 4-3. I didn't moan at all about that one - the second half was tremendously entertaining, I thoroughly enjoyed it, even thought we lost. Today was different - yes, we played some fantastic football, and yes, we saw plenty of super passing, some brilliant interplay, some super pass and move, and some wonderful long passing, and two fine goals for City. And we saw plenty of chances, for both teams.

But we also saw our team throw away a game they should have comfortably won - not just by turning up, but by consolidating on the excellent start we made. Sven thinks we threw it away, he said so. Michael Ball said on the radio that they weren't prepared to do "the dirty work" (as he put it) in the second half which they had done in the first half. I think I'm entitled to characterise that as a disgraceful lack of application - the team captain for the day as good as admitted that they hadn't done their jobs in the second half. And I think I'm entitled to moan about that.

[Paul]

Mick I wasn't having a go at your comments, I agree with most of what you say, I was just more relaxed about it all. We should have won, we did throw it away, but Fulham more than played their part in what was a very entertaining game, and it was all very "typical city".

The trouble is we're not as good as many of us think (and yes the petrov elano thing did annoy me), and while Fulham are where they are on merit, so are we, and there is still much work to do, for one thing we need to develop a winning mentality and the last 3 months show that many (most) of these players don't have it.

I was frustrated just like anyone else, but I still enjoyed everything but the result.

[Mick]

Not offended, Paul, just expressing my frustration, and I am frustrated.

I enjoyed much of the game, but I didn't enjoy watching them switch off, and I didn't enjoy losing a game we should have won. And what I find frustrating is that they could so easily have sent us home happy from the last home game of the season, instead of which I felt pretty much let down and deflated, and I suspect I'm not alone. And that's not down to the ability of the players, it's down to attitude. I agree, they don't seem to have a winning mentality, or maybe it's more accurate to say they don't seem to have a killer instinct. We exhibited that sort of behaviour when we were winning all our home games earlier in the season, but we got away with it, and it wasn't much commented on because we'd got the result. How many times did we go one-up and then just settle?

I don't know if it comes from Sven, he had a habit of obviously shutting up shop with about 10 minutes to go, but that wasn't what got my goat. I found it irritating even in the autumn when we were all on cloud 9 that once we'd gone ahead we seemed to show little ambition to build on it. Part of that is the lack of a reliable and regular goalscorer, I'm sure, but it's not just that. It's noticeable that even when we've played well we've not really thrashed anybody, even when we've looked like we could, even when we've looked like we were about to. I think we could have today, I think if we'd just  continued to do what we were doing so well we could easily have put 4 or 5 past Fulham.

But whilst I'm obviously annoyed with them, I wasn't so frustrated that I needed to post everything twice, post everything twice, you can put that down to fat fingers syndrome! 

[BlueAnorak]

'Attitude' is the word that hits the nail right on the head. The whole of our midfield players (and a lot of the rest of the team) have an awfull attitude and it's the major problem that needs to be fixed for next season. They play to do enough to win and no more. Worse, once they've turned off they can't turn it on again. The biggest need for next season is a midfield enforcer who never gives up and bullies the rest of the team into working come what may.

Without an enforcer, I fear that we're only going to get worse next season. Bullard would fit the bill - his attitude yesterday was fantastic.

Of course it doesn't help that Sven (seemingly) doesn't drop anyone who has a really poor game.

[Mick]

The biggest need for next season is a midfield enforcer who never gives up and bullies the rest of the team into working come what may.

That's a good point - Dunnie's own attitude is good, and he leads by example, but I think he's a bit too quiet on the pitch at times, and of course he wasn't there yesterday anyway. We need somebody to rally the troops when they've elected for a bit of r & r before the game is over. Thinking back to the incident with Elano and Petrov passing the ball back and forth on the half way line - we seem to have nobody to say, "Come on chaps, the game's not won yet, play up," translated into footballer speak. Mind you, that incident happened right in front of the home bench - I know Sven is far too polite to say anything, but why was Faz not screaming at them to get on with it. I was, but no fecker listens to me, and rightly so.

I've no suggestions as to who we should start rumours about.

[Opacity]

This leadership issue is spot on.  All the really top teams have a powerful leader on the pitch.  As much as it pains me to say so players like Keane and Ince were tremendously influential for the scum.  Likewise Viera at the Arse and now Gerrard at the Grievers.  We need one of those please Dr T.

[Tragic]

Entertaining first half well first half of the first half...one where for the first time in this run in we've put a bag of clag side to the sword YAY...erm well you know.

Complete and utter bag of shit second half and on that performance alone I wouldn't pay the coonts a penny piece in wages. Last home game of the season and they stop playing after 25 mins!?!

I am not a prawn sandwich munching tosser that goes to a game "to be entertained" and if I were I don't class being 2-0 up and then baring our @rse and losing 2-3 entertainment! A "neutral" may have really enjoyed the game, a SKY pundit may have enjoyed the "fightback" lofl fightback my @rse, I'm not a neutral and I thought it was crap!

I boringly enough attend a match to see a performance from my team that should last for 90 mins, now over the years this "performance" has taken many many forms some good mostly erm not...the performance from yesterday was shit simple as, even if the worst side to visit CoMS this season hadn't have won the game I would funnily enough still be pissed off with the "performance" as it was not good enough overall.

Yesterdays game was worse that losing to Brum away, in that game we knew exactly what we were going to get from minute 1...namely fook all. In the Foolham a game the tw@ts played some rather nice footy, looked threatening and took the game to Foolham, they actually showed us what we should be doing to dross like Foolham and then from 1 to 11 stopped...but it was sunny and we had a chance of winning a bag of chips in the centre circle so hey what of it!

I am hoping to see better "application" in the remaining games of the season, yes it may come as a shock to them but the season isn't over just yet!

Yours still fookin pissed off...

ctid

[jds]

For the first time I'm blaming Sven for a defeat.

Williamson should have started, not that headless idiot who's a poor right back. Logan should have started at right back, or at least gone on when Ireland went off with Elano pushing forward. We would then have had a right back and a left back in their proper positions.

Hodgson saw how bloody awful we were at the back first half and took advantage of it. He saw that Sun is a poor footballer, Elano doesn't like a tackle, and Corluka is so laid back he's nearly horizontal and doesn't lunging last ditch tackles.

Sven was out-thought by Woy Hodgson. A good day out was spoilt by the second half and that shitty presentation. Can we not, for once, have a day that goes well from start to finish?