Wow. This was by far and a way our game of the season- and it probably ranks up there in terms of the Championship overall this season. It truly had everything- and pretty much summed up the Rollercoaster of Emotions we've had across the whole season nicely in a 90 Minute Package. I'm going to preface this by saying I still want Kit to go in the Summer- a win when we could play with a lot more freedom is simply papering over the cracks, and the fact we still nearly blew it sums it up in my book- that said I'm happy he got a win in (hopefully) his last Home Game- and we did put in a good performance today so I'll rightfully praise it.
This goals paragraph'll be a long 'un. When you talk about times to score a goal- just before Half-Time is right up there, and that's what we did today, I'm not sure who had the initial header- I think Hutchinson and then it was a good diving header from Turner, It's weird considering we scored 4 but Konstantopoulos couldn't have done much for any of the goals we scored today. The second was the first of the Penalties, and we've had a lot of luck in that we've almost always had a Penalty Taker who can score them almost every time dating back at least 6 or 7 years now with Murphy- then Berbatov and now McCormack. The first Boro goal was completely out of left field, Karanka went for broke with the 3 Subs at once tactic, and that did energise them- and it was a good finish from Reach, I do think Bettinelli should have done better for it, and without wanting to speak for him I think he slightly misjudged the flight of the ball. The second penalty as with the first one- you're relatively confident of McCormack finishing it, and he duly obliged. These next two goals were what's been dogging us all season- both times Ayala and then Kike had pretty much free headers and were able to loop and direct the headers into the net, the first of which came from a Punch from Bettinelli- and that's one thing he has to improve in his game because I hate Keepers who punch regularly- especially when they can catch it. McCormack's goal to complete his Hat-Trick was mental, and summed up the game- Boro truly went for broke when they sent Konstantopoulos up for the Corner and when they don't go right chances are you'll concede. I thought we'd blown it first at around the halfway line, and then again when McCormack decided to run in a bit further and let Konstantopoulos get in front of him, I'll admit I thought he'd blown it- but perhaps it was his way of rubbing it in and getting his Hat-Trick emphatically.
Bettinelli didn't have his best game, even he admitted it- apart from at Corners he wasn't ever put on a significant amount of pressure throughout the game; It's a straight fight between Bettinelli and McCormack for player of the season- and it all depends on if you take the attitude of it doesn't matter how many we concede as long as we score more- or it doesn't matter how many we score as long as we concede less. I'll talk about it more in one of the more immediate posts once the seasons over and will declare my Player of the Season- which to be honest is the only one that matters.
Both teams were a long way off of a defensive masterclass, I was quite disappointed we started the Defence we did for varying reasons. Jazz Richards chances are won't be here next season- and as we were playing with nothing to lose I wish we'd have played either Evans or Edun to blood them and break them in gently, and then I was disappointed with Hoogland playing- because he was playing Right-Back; that said I thought Hoogland did do alright today, he is very limited because of his pace- or rather lack of but he did well(ish) today and managed to anticipate a lot of the stuff coming down his side which helped. Turner got the goal of course- and he did look pretty solid, but that's pretty much what you expect from Turner, as did Hutchinson who I was surprised to see in the team in all honesty and I guess Kit's effectively made our minds up for us on Dan Burn as a potential started- that said Kit definitely picked right because a Turner & Burn partnership would have been ripped to shreds today against the likes of Bamford who was kept remarkably quiet today. Richards had his hands full today with Adomah- however for the most part he coped well enough to not get shown up, and between he and McCormack effectively salvaging the win by managing to get the ball back at around the halfway line when we had the chance I'd say it was a job well done(ish).
I admit I was surprised to see Bryan in the team today, but as with another player I think it was done for sentimental reasons as much as anything else and giving them a proper send off. Bryan isn't everyones cup of tea- but in terms of technical ability he's without a doubt Top 3- if not number 1 in the whole division and he produced some special moments today, I think we have an option of a year extension on his deal which I think we should use if nothing else than to command a fee for him- because he's too good to let go on a free. Another player I was disappointed to see was Danny Guthrie, however with Parker missing and Kit not wanting to give a debut out he was probably our best option at this stage- and he had probably his best game in a Fulham shirt today, he really put himself about and were it not for the fact it looked like he could have been Sent Off moments earlier I doubt we'd have subbed him. Broken record time- in that Tunnicliffe put in a solid display, I'm not expecting moments of magic from Tunnicliffe as I am Bryan; and Tunnicliffe plays his role to perfection- you only have to see his celebrations at the end when he murdered the Corner Flag to see how passionate he is- and unfortunately we've had quite a few times this season when people haven't been playing for the Badge on the Shirt. Now onto an unfortunately more down note- Kavanagh is a lightweight, he looks completely devoid of confidence evidenced in the Second Half when he had a seemingly free shot at goal but instead decided to play it back across the box and we blew the chance; and he's bodied off the ball way too easily. All I can say with Kavanagh' persistence in the team is that I hope Kacaniklic is injured.
McCormack is a Special Player, the fact he's had a return of 19 Goals and 10 Assists (with a game left) is testament to how good a player he actually is, McCormack is one our "must keep" list along with Bettinelli, Christensen and not many others for next season- and hopefully with a better team, and a more robust team in behind him he can equal or better his tally next season for us and his goals'll mean more. It was most likely Rodallega's last game- as with Ruiz's- Hugo isn't a clinical striker, and he had two or three chances today that he probably should have buried, but it doesn't matter in the end- more so with Bryan, but I will be sad to see Hugo go because he's a player who does care and wears his heart on his sleeve and I respect that.
All three of the subs Kit made today were glaringly obvious. the first was bringing off Guthrie- who as I've already said was taken off pretty much to preserve our man advantage, because if he'd done one more foul we'd have lost it- we brought on Fofana who I hope gets more of a look in next week, and I'd still be quite keen to bring him back in next season- although hopefully bringing someone else in may change that and they (hopefully Allardyce) may not fancy him. Both Woodrow and Smith were players we needed to attempt to secure the match and maybe expand on the lead Hugo was labouring and we needed someone to hold the ball up a bit more- it didn't really work, but it was the right thought.
I despise the word "Fulhamish" but I think we can describe the game today as such. Beating a team well in the hunt for Promotion and effectively wrecking any chance Boro had for Automatics was a job well done- if we can't have a good season at least we can wreck other teams.
Thanks for reading as always, the clocks nearly up on the season now- and obviously depending on the Bournemouth Result on Monday we could prove to be gate crashers for a Promotion Party once again next week. That's for next week, and then we can properly look ahead to the Summer hopefully with Allardyce in charge. But that's for next week and beyond, I hope you come back for the Norwich Posts next week- and then the one's over the Summer, but thanks for reading this one at least, and let's just bask in the sheer mentalness of the game today.
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