Hello, welcome to my blog- although we lost again we looked very competent, and on a different day (with a different referee) we'd of got 1 if not 3 points.
Before I get on to the game itself there were a number of notable players off the field of play; Hangeland sitting in the Hammersmith End was absolutely great, I don't know if he is trying to maneuver a Loan Deal back to us as he's fallen out of favour with Palace- or he simply wanted to show solidarity with us as a club, as there has been a degree of negativity surrounding the circumstances of his departure. I personally would love Hangeland back, not to play every game necessarily but as a mentor- and the players at the club no doubt respect the hell out of him, and as said in my "Curious Case of Felix Magath" blog I think that level of respect was one of the reasons he was forced out of the club.
Karagounis (it would appear) is edging close to returning to Fulham for a third stint at the club, this could be a very shrewd bit of business on the part of the club. He (or rather his agent) has shown there is a definite willingness from Giorgos to come to the club and fight for the Fulham cause, and especially in today's game we lacked an element of creativity in the midfield- and it was very frustrating because from the perspective I have at the Cottage I could see numerous runs being made by our wide players which simply weren't picked upon. The argument of his age is redundant in my opinion as he showed in the World Cup he can play at a decent level for 120 let alone 90 minutes, and in games where he played last season we looked noticeably better in my opinion (especially Spurs and Villa home). Him being in the directors books surely means something is in the pipeline for Karagounis to return, I hope if he does he gets a fair crack at the whip- because for whatever reason in his prior two runs he hasn't ever really had an extended stay in he first team despite (in my opinion) his performances meriting one.
Malky Mackay was definitely at the ground today, I know this for a fact because I saw him walking through the little walkway divide there is between the pitch and the fans. Mackay wouldn't be a bad appointment from a purely on the pitch standpoint- as he showed with Cardiff he can definitely win promotion from the division, and with the signings of players like Medel he has an eye for talent. However at this stage the man I think Fulham need, needs to be someone who can get on with the substantial job as quietly as its possible to be given the circumstances. Mackay becoming the manager would add an extra note of pressure and could divide the fans which is exactly what we don't need at the moment.
Now onto the game, we were much improved from previous games- however in direct contrast to Wednesday we looked defensively sound, but lacked any real bite up front. I accept its different in away games when the onus is on the home team to attack, however we didn't really look like creating much today. Symons first team selection may of surprised some, however to me it was a very good selection- and crucially MADE SENSE;
Bettinelli
Hoogland Burn Hutchinson Amorebieta
Parker LVC Stafylidis
Ruiz Rodallega McCormack
If I'm wrong about the formation someone tell me, purely from watching the game and the positioning I think this was the formation we used.
I was surprised that we opted for Hutchinson and Burn as I thought it would either be Burn and Amorebieta or Burn and Bodurov with Amorebieta Left-Back. However we started with Hutchinson- and I don't think Symons will make that mistake again in the future. As such Amorebieta had a very poor game as well, however I think he was very stretched today- and his crossing is by far the best we have so I'm willing to persist with him.
The tackle from Hutchinson was appalling. It ranks with one of the worst tackles I think I've ever seen, if you haven't seen the game imagine an out of control lunge where the player who was on the receiving end was lucky he didn't break his leg. This left us at a definite disadvantage for the rest of the game. The Goal from my view in the Hammersmith End looked very unlucky for us. As far as I could tell it looked like the ball was deflected into the path of THE ONE PERSON YOU DON'T WANT TO GIVE THE BALL TO Jordan Rhodes, and that for me summed up the game- to put it simply we were very unlucky.
The Ref today was atrocious. It seemed like he blew up everytime one of our players touched a Blackburn player, I'm not disagreeing with the Red-Card as that was borderline GBH, however the ref today appeared to greatly favour Blackburn- and every 50-50 appeared to go Blackburns way. I feel we should of had a Penalty for when Hugo was pulled to the ground, I had a perfect view from where I sit (H2) and the defender had a handful of shirt, whether Rodallega would of got on the end of the pass is another matter- however it was a definite penalty in my opinion. I've noticed it in pretty much every game so far, however we've been bad enough in all but Cardiff to not use the Ref as an excuse for losing- however there is a definite gulf in quality from the Premier League refs to the Championship refs, and as far I can tell the ref we had today has been a Premier League reject for nearly 10 years.
As referred to above when talking about Karagounis, we lacked a creative spark in the Midfield in my opinion which Karagounis could add to us. Although Christensen took a while to settle into the game he (along with almost everyone) had a very good Second Half, however he seemed to be lacking a spark that Hyndman has- and I would hope Kit gives Hyndman a chance in the team. Hyndman would also in my opinion help to get the best out of Bryan Ruiz. Ruiz needs to be played centrally in my opinion, and it would appear as though Kit wants Ruiz to play on the wing- which isn't where he's best utilised in my opinion- however If we are to keep him on the wing, we need someone to "take the heat" off of Bryan and Hyndman would succeed in doing this and would give Bryan more space to pick a pass or shoot- as his chances to make an impact on the game today were very limited.
Rodallega demonstrated an incredible work ethic, however for the role he was expected to play today didn't suit him. Blackburn are a very physical team, and players like Hanley dominate the air unless you give them something to compete with. Rodallega is good in the air, but a definite lack of height affected his ability to make an impact on the game today. McCormack looked very lively today- and I think he could of definitely scored at least one goal today if he shot simply a split second earlier. We definitely lacked a cutting edge today in front of goal, however if we are to keep playing Rodallega and McCormack we would need to have either Smith or Woodrow play as well.
Overall this game was much improved, my next Fulham blog will be in the lead up to the Doncaster game- which is interesting in terms of team selection in my opinion as wholesale changes which you'd usually expect to see in a Cup Game after a very intense game at the Weekend, however for Symons every game counts so I expect him to take this game as seriously as todays.
Thanks again for reading, Feedback is appreciated.
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