CLINTÃO

1974 Goal of the Season by Fulham's Alan Mullery

The Daily Telegraph chose it as the third greatest long distance goal of all time.

[End post]

Dempsey's assist against Bolton

West Ham 3 - Fulham 1

Was it a lack of imagination? Was it a lack of quality? Was it simply a matter of three horrendous errors that lead to three not exactly brilliant goals? Is Bullard necessary?

Perhaps these errors weren't really all that horrendous. Could Paintsil have simply headed that ball out for a corner rather than taking it on his chest or was he caught in a too tough a position to do anything safe? Was Konchesky in a hopeless situation to begin with, and that challenge was, although looking horribly mistimed and deserving of a straight red, the only way to avert a sure goal? Dickson Etuhu's turnover looked inexcusable but there was a long way for the Hammers to go from when they got the ball at center circle.

Etuhu, despite the apparent athleticism, overall looks much more limited than Andreasen, who replaced him when it was too late. Our midfield looked short of ideas throughout, with the starting quartet's, and Gera's passing, leaving much to be desired in terms of both accuracy and creativity. Johnson battled hard, but seldom to good effect. Zamora, and then Nevland, hardly made an impact. Schwartzer, perhaps affected by his backline's shakiness, himself looked unconvincing in controlling the area. I really have no complaints about Hughes and Hangeland.

Anyway, I don't know what to make of this match except that Andreasen needs to move ahead of Etuhu in the pecking order and Zamora, in that we don't have better options, needs to make better decisions and generally be more influential. Oh well, Konchesky's goal was a beauty.

Fulham player of the match: none - nobody stood out.

Check this out

By that, I mean this interesting statistical tidbit on CCN concerning our main man Clint Dempsey.

Trond Olsen Highlights

Fulham are interested in this guy.

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.

Andrew Hush of ESPN Soccernet interviews Clint Dempsey (Part I)

Here.

My favorite part of the interview:

ESPNsoccernet: Since regaining your place, it seems you have been given some freedom to move from your outside midfield position when the moment is right.

CD: We try to make sure that, while we are trying to create things in attack, we know the right time to gamble. A perfect example was the goal against Manchester City, where I played it to Bobby [Zamora] and Jimmy [Bullard] was on the overlap but I was still up there in support of the attack.

The type of player Jimmy is, he likes to get about the field a lot. He finds himself in different positions and so, to try and help keep the shape, I tuck in sometimes when he goes out wide. I think that helps give us a better balance and makes us tougher to break down defensively in case we lose possession. If Jimmy makes a run on the right and I overlap, then there is a big hole in the middle if we lose the ball.

Fulham Winger Analysis

I compiled a spreadsheet attempting to analyze the relative effectiveness of three Fulham wingers, Simon Davies, Clint Dempsey, and Zoltan Gera, based on whether each plays on the right or the left. My initial hypothesis (or impression if you will) was that both Davies and Dempsey are more effective on the right, while Gera is equally effective on both wings (his public protestations to the contrary notwithstanding). My analysis relies on two stats, both obtained from the Daily Telegraph website: passes attempted and percentage of passes completed. I observed the following conventions: (i) I relied on the Daily Telegraph density charts to determine where each player played in a given match; if the players clearly switched positions (such as against Blackburn) during the match, I disregarded that match (ii) for each player, I only considered matches which he started and (iii) I did not adjust for matches where any of the three players was substituted; unfortunately that means that passes attempted numbers are a bit skewed. Gera's total passes stats against Newcastle and Middlesbrough are disregarded due to early substitution, but passing percentage in the Newcastle match is not. Clint's numbers against Middlesbrough are treated as if all occured while he played RW; in reality, he started at forward. Clint's numbers at Stoke are obviously disregarded as he played up front the entire match. So far, this spreadsheet is only marginally useful, and only as to Simon Davies, who I think basically played 90 minutes in every match and spent substantial minutes on both flanks. If the number of passes and their accuracy reflects a player's involvement, there is not a notable difference as to the wing on which Davies plays.

Aston Villa - Fulham Highlights

Cardiff Players Agree: Eddie Johnson - Man of the Match

Eddie Johnson was man of the match against Crystal Palace?

Who would have thunk?

Some players are "comfortable" on the ball. Some players, think Brede Hangeland, are never on the ball (except to boot it out). Eddie Johnson is the only player I can think of that is emphatically uncomfortable on the ball. I suppose his "link up play," his runs, and his energy (and the latter might be a new one) is what one hopes to get from him.

UPDATE: "He has a terrific touch, good movement and outstanding spring to get up and win aerial challenges in defence and attack."