Hello! We're another game closer to the Summer, and that's pretty much the only overwhelming positive we can take from the game today- Before I start reviewing the game from a Fulham perspective (and I hope this isn't patronising for Rotherham Fans reading) I thought Rotherham were good tonight- the best teams play better than the sums of their parts and I thought Rotherham put in a really solid away performance that on balance deserved the 3 Points- and if the Championship had competent officials chances are they would have done.
Let's get onto the goals, Rotherham got at us from the first whistle- they could have scored after 23 Seconds- and again without wanting to patronise Rotherham this was the type of goal you'd have expected them to score in that it was ridiculously scrappy- but they more than deserved it; I'm not really sure who to blame for the goal from a Fulham perspective, I know Smith had a touch somewhere in there but it was all a bit of a blur. A Week and a Day ago we conceded an Equaliser to make it 1-1 when it shouldn't have stood, so I guess this was the old "It all Evens itself out" cliche- Sitting in H2 I had pretty much a perfect view of the McCormack handball- and I'll freely admit we got away with one today, that's made it 4 games in a row McCormack's scored in; and I said it in one of my recent Previews it is good for a striker who's a bit off colour to still be scoring.
Bettinelli had his busiest game for a while in that he was actually tested semi-consistently. The one thing I don't like about Bettinelli's game is his tendency to punch from crossed and it nearly cost us tonight. As I said the goal was all a bit of a blur from where I was- it didn't help I haven't eaten all day and have a bit of a headache so I'm not sure if Bettinelli could've done better for the goal, so I'll leave it as a maybe.
Turner looked shaky today, of course the performance today came directly after I said I'd like to see us sign him permanently in the Summer- he nearly gave away a goal in the second half when he got caught on the ball, that said he was far from bad and considering some of the defensive displays we've seen this season it ranks somewhere in the Middle. Dan Burn was pretty solid again today- however I'm still reserving judgement on him because (although he scored) Matt Derbyshire is hardly the standard for Championship Strikers, and if he puts in a good performance against Boro & Norwich then I'll start getting on the Dan Burn bandwagon. I don't think Jazz Richards was fully fit today- especially in the first-half we were completely shown up on his side and all of their attacking threats were coming down our Right-Hand Side- but he did grow into the game, which is understandable given he hasn't had any game-time before today in roughly a month. I'm not sure why we didn't at least have Grimmer on the Bench because I thought he was our best player against Wigan, and I'm hoping we're playing Richards with some kind of view to signing him permanently because if we don't have him come August we'll have just hindered the development of Grimmer for very little return. Husband was pretty indifferent again- and that's pretty much all you can say about him today, I do still rate him though and as I said in my Preview if we can get rid of Amorebieta and get in Husband in one move I'll be more than happy to do so.
Parker was a complete liability today, I think I was harsh on Fotheringham after his performance today. He seemingly made it his mission to lose the ball at every opportunity- it makes zero sense that Parker can go from his performance against Derby a little over a month ago to his performance today where he was the worst player on the pitch by a country mile. Tunnicliffe was pretty indifferent today, he has his part to play in all of our games because of his work-rate but with Rotherham scoring early and then sitting back it was hard for Tunnicliffe to do his Tunnicliffe things- because as I've said he is a limited player. Guthrie in a passing sense was probably our best player today- he was the one player who was consistently spreading the play and getting the ball up the pitch with any semblance of urgency especially in the First Half. Bryan was quite indifferent today, I do still rate him though- and it wasn't exactly helped we put him on the Left-Wing for the Second Half, which all but neutralised him.
As I've already said McCormack is a nice change in that he's not exactly on form at the minute- but he's still scoring goals consistently at this stage, making it 4 in a row now; and you have to think or at least hope McCormack will get the chance to score again on Saturday, which he'll hopefully convert. Smith was completely ineffective today, once again he looked knackered after about 65 Minutes- so why he wasn't subbed was beyond me.
Speaking of Subs we only made the one today, with Hoogland coming on Tunnicliffe- and from a Right-Sided Midfield perspective this was probably Hoogland's best game for us, he was up and down the line and got himself in a position to score on multiple occasions- his first header in particular he should've done a lot better with. The reason we only made the one sub tonight in my opinion was because Kit didn't know whether to stick or twist- and was shown up in terms of his naivety, he didn't know whether go for it and bring on Woodrow or bring on someone like Stafylidis, basically he didn't know whether to bring on a sub with a view of protecting the point or going for all three so he did neither.
We got a point by the skins of our teeth today, and we were lucky I'll admit it; this game pretty much summed up our season in that we're still pretty likely to stay up but because of outside influences as opposed doing it under our own steam. Once again I didn't join in with all the booing etc. at any point of the game, I think it's just because I'm beyond caring at this stage of the season- yet I'm still going to Renew (felt really bad for the guy who renewed at Half-Time by the way) and as I've said I'm going up to Blackpool this weekend, stupidity- probably. I'm not for one second going to blame Khan- and anyone who thinks Kit is the man for next season is beyond stupid, I'll direct you to my Preview for tonights game where I discussed managerial candidates for next season- and I think these last two games where we've been outplayed by two of the teams in this division who are supposedly worse than us in terms of positioning sums up why Kit isn't the right man for us come the Final Whistle against Norwich- and I think giving Kit the Summer will be a decision on par with appointing Magath in terms of the detrimental effects for the team.
Thanks for reading as always, these Fulham blogs are coming thick and fast now- and my Blackpool Preview will be out a day earlier than usual because I'm headed up to Blackpool on Friday, so come back tomorrow for that- as always I hope you enjoyed the Review even if the game was sub-standard; and let's hope to see a win to end this run of draws.
I was one of the many who was calling (shouting) for Kit to take over during his custodial run as manager. The team seemed to be gelling under him, they were certainly winning, and just having the mad German out was a blessing.
ReplyDeleteBut now? I just think he's in over his head. I look at the talent we have on hand (and we certainly have some pretty solid talent), and I just can't understand why we are where we are in the table. Some of the guys on Cottage Talk will insist that the table doesn't lie, that we are sitting in 20th place because that's where we deserve to be. But is it really?
Kit's continued and blind insistence on playing the diamond, having players out of position (Tunnicliffe last night, for example), misguided substitutions, and a truly horrible defensive record on set plays, forces me to believe he's got to go. His job was to keep us in the Championship this year, and it looks like he's done that - but I simply can't handle another season with him at the helm and playing the way he does.
I don't know all the potential coaching candidates like you do, but I have to think there's someone out there who will be a better fit. I admire Kit for the work he's done with the U-21s, and for stepping up to the first team when we needed him, but I just don't think he's ready or able to continue past the end of the season. Give us some new blood, and some new hope, and let's shoot for better days come August.