Tottenham 0 - Fulham 0 (Match Report)

This was an excellent point for us, needless to say. No Hangeland, Bullard going off in the first half due to injury, yet we still found a way.

There is no one player who especially impressed on the day. Konchesky, Baird, Etuhu, and Dempsey all could be said to have exceeded expectations.

The Hughes-Baird(!) partnership in the middle did a solid job, with Baird showing a propensity to head it out with conviction. The Murphy-Etuhu(!) partnership also had an impressive a day, with Etuhu showing some serious athleticism in shutting down space in a blink of an eye. Murphy won a lot of balls, as he has been doing lately, but then proceeded to send passes that the intended recipients did not expect. He also needlessly lost possession very late on by apparently waiting for that perfect pass: oh well.

Dempsey and Davies switched wings in the first half, with Dempsey moving to the left. I had been skeptical in the past of his playing there as I perceived him as being extremely right footed, although I suspect that Davies's crossing quality improves when he is on the right. This time around, Dempsey showed how much he improved offensively by not diminishing in influence after the switch. As I am sure will be discussed elsewhere, he almost scored the goal of the year by forcing Gomes into a solid save off a bicycle kick. Earlier, while still on the right, he had a decent volley comfortably saved by the Tottenham keeper. While in possession, he had a few decent flicks, as he does, but also lost possession or misplaced passes on several occasions, as he also does. It is on the defensive end where Dempsey did some of his best work of the day, however. He was involved, it seemed, in winning countless balls and started promising counterattacks. Davies did have some decent work on the right, his low cross that Zamora almost got to being especially memorable, but overall he still seems like a defensive lightweight that doesn't exactly force the issue as an attacker to counterbalance that deficiency. I would like Nevland (like he did in stoppage time today) or Gera (on whose injury status I am looking for an update) come in for him later on when we need an offensive spark, or Andreasen when we need a defensive one (a defensive spark? Yes!). Should Gera start when he gets healthy in place of Davies? My silly spreadsheet from earlier, albeit from a small sample, seems to suggest that Gera is awfully active in the attack when on the right.

Konchesky and Paintsil both did a job Fulham supporters could be proud of. Konchesky, with a notable assist from Dempsey, did not let Lennon run wild, even managing to stay with him on a sprint into the penalty area and proceeding to kick it off Lennon for a goal kick. Same could be said with regards to Paintsil, who had Bentley and, later, Frazier Campbell to contend with, and handled those tasks admirably. These two aren't the best fullbacks in the league, but both are solid defensively with only an occasional lapse, and contribute at least a little bit in the attack.

Upfront, Johnson was active and dangerous as always. After the many attempts of Murphy and Dempsey to send him through, there was a success as someone's (sorry) ball finally allowed Johnson to sprint past his nemesis on the day, Dawson, and while seriously off balance push it against the outstretched arm of the prone Gomes. As a history teacher of mine used to say, "almost" only counts in horseshoes unfortunately. Zamora, aside from the aforementioned cross by Davies, was substantially less influential than he was last week against Middlesbrough - when he was very influential. Perhaps this time around his matchup against the physical Ledley King was unfavorable. He didn't really have a chance to showcase his strengths of holding the ball up and distribute it with his back to goal.

Aside from one questionable moment when he seemed to have come out with no hope of getting the ball and was left stranded, Schwarzer did a solid job controlling the penalty area. He also produced a stupendous save on Lennon early on. Other than that, despite Spurs' pressure, he was never really troubled.

Overall, a deserved draw in which Fulham had some chances. While Spurs probably looked the more threatening, one would probably expect that with the roar of the crowd behind them, their budget, and the fact that our arguably two best players, Hangeland and Bullard, were not involved.