Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Fulham - Liverpool
Will Cookie break his duck?
Fulham tries once again on Wed to finally get a road win. Besides the pressure of being the only professional team in England without a road win this year, they will have to do it at Anfield vs. a struggling Liverpool side.
I think what makes Liverpool so tough to break down and beat is that they are have two excellent ball-winning central midfielders (Alonso and Hamann) as well as two dynamite central defenders in Carragher and Hyypia. When teams are facing with this formidable task, they decide to focus their attack on the wings. The problem occurs when the wingers cannot beat Liverpool’s outside defenders and are forced to play early balls into the box with the hope of winning something in the air. With both Hyypia and Carragher so solid in the air, they usually have enough coverage since most teams only have one excellent target player up front. While McBride and Helguson are both very good, they will clearly have their work cut out for them. Even if one of them is somehow able to win a clean header, Pepe Reina is extremely tough to beat.
Fulham’s best hope would be to play Diop and Elliott in central midfield with Boa Morte and Malbranque on the outside. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that Diop will be fit enough to play so Malbranque will most likely have to play in the middle. That leaves Boa Morte to try and beat his old teammate Steve Finnan. Finnan, a very capable defender, will allow the Fulham captain to work the wing, but will not permit him to cut it back into the middle. What makes Finnan’s job a bit more difficult is that Alonso will miss the game due to his two yellows that he received vs. Arsenal last week.
On the other end, Liverpool has absolutely dominated games lately, especially at Anfield, but has had trouble hitting the back of the net. They seem to make every keeper they see look fantastic (witness Myre’s performance for Charlton a few weeks back). Benitez has a ton of options upfront, but none seemed to be working at the moment. Their best hope is to get Harry Kewell or Luis Garcia in a one-on-one matchup with Moritz Volz in a counter. When Kewell has been given chances lately, he’s been able to finish them.
For the most part, the Cottagers has been pretty steady in defense, but seem to suffer momentary lapses on the road which have cost them dearly. They played extremely well vs. Bolton at the Reebook, but then Knight and Bocanegra got totally bullied off the ball by Kevin Nolan (hard to believe he’s not in the England squad for Germany!) which allowed him to score the winning goal. The lack of communication between Fulham’s two central defenders led to Everton’s first goal this past weekend. James Beattie made a run off of Bocanegra who failed to properly pass him off to Knight. This allowed Beattie to get behind Knight who then compounded the error with a clumsy challenge which led to a penalty kick.
Fulham seems to have a lack of confidence on the road and play as if they expect to lose. If they can somehow draw first blood, it will be interesting to see how Liverpool reacts. For my prediction, I’m picking the Reds to win 2-0. (George)
Comments:
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I'm trying to pull for Fulham but it's getting harder and harder. From Coleman's comments, they didn't play that badly. But the score says otherwise. At least Collins John got the start and produced quick results. My real concern is for McBride and Boca...if Fulham's season continues to go down the tubes, it may have an adverse effect on their play in the WC. Every player is different and McBride is a seasoned veteran, but Boca may be more impacted. he didn't even dress for this game...is he hurt? (Bostrom)
I liked Coleman's spirit at first, but how does Zat Knight keep getting starts? Coleman's days are numbered.
Fulham would be the perfect team for Bruce Arena to break into the EPL with after the WC. Mid-table team at best with 3 former MLS players (the horror), including 2 Americans. It's a no-brainer. He'd have them in the top half in a year and in Europe after two ;)
Fulham would be the perfect team for Bruce Arena to break into the EPL with after the WC. Mid-table team at best with 3 former MLS players (the horror), including 2 Americans. It's a no-brainer. He'd have them in the top half in a year and in Europe after two ;)
# posted by 
: 3:16 PM CST
: 3:16 PM CST
Kerry...I like your Arena suggestion. Selfishly, I hope he stays on with the U.S. as we could make quite a run in four years. Or we could make a good run again this year as well. Either way, he's certainly earned the respect to pilot an EPL team. I enjoyed his time with DC United...he really did get the most out of that bunch, even tho they were very talented by themselves. And his entry into the EPL would break another barrier for Americans.
Kerry,
I agree with you on Zat Knight. I was shocked to see him get some consideration for the English national team this past summer. He's a terrible defender and the one positive attribute that he has (height, he's 6'6") is not even that big of a deal as he's mediocre in the air.
Unfortunately, Coleman really has no other options in central defense. Alain Goma is way past his prime while Dean Leacock, who is a great young prospect, just can't stay healthy. Phillipe Cristanval is an option, but Coleman seems like he's trying to groom him for a holding midfielder role.
Watch for Zesh Rehman who is currently on loan at Norwich. His natural position is as a defensive midfielder, but he has the size (6'2") and the aerial skills to develop into a classic center half.
I still like Coleman and think he's valued by Mohamed Al Fayed as the leader of the club. Until this past January, he's never been given any money to buy players, but he did very well with some cash (Niemi, Michael Brown, Elliott and the Bridge loan). In the past, he's shown himself to be a very savvy purchaser who has always worked with a limited amount of funds which is huge at a small club like Fulham.
With Arena, I could never see him managing in the EPL. He's so prickly when dealing with the reporters here that he could never handle dealing with the relentless challenges from the English press (although he would never fall for that cheap sheik gag that Sven did!). He would definitely need a lot more polish before he went & did that, although it would be great to see him try. (George)
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I agree with you on Zat Knight. I was shocked to see him get some consideration for the English national team this past summer. He's a terrible defender and the one positive attribute that he has (height, he's 6'6") is not even that big of a deal as he's mediocre in the air.
Unfortunately, Coleman really has no other options in central defense. Alain Goma is way past his prime while Dean Leacock, who is a great young prospect, just can't stay healthy. Phillipe Cristanval is an option, but Coleman seems like he's trying to groom him for a holding midfielder role.
Watch for Zesh Rehman who is currently on loan at Norwich. His natural position is as a defensive midfielder, but he has the size (6'2") and the aerial skills to develop into a classic center half.
I still like Coleman and think he's valued by Mohamed Al Fayed as the leader of the club. Until this past January, he's never been given any money to buy players, but he did very well with some cash (Niemi, Michael Brown, Elliott and the Bridge loan). In the past, he's shown himself to be a very savvy purchaser who has always worked with a limited amount of funds which is huge at a small club like Fulham.
With Arena, I could never see him managing in the EPL. He's so prickly when dealing with the reporters here that he could never handle dealing with the relentless challenges from the English press (although he would never fall for that cheap sheik gag that Sven did!). He would definitely need a lot more polish before he went & did that, although it would be great to see him try. (George)
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