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 Saturday 3rd December 2005, Barclays Premiership, The Hawthorns, Kick-Off 3:00pm
Albion: Kuszczak,
Watson, C Davies, Clement, Robinson, Greening (Earnshaw 82), Wallwork,
Inamoto, Kamara (Carter 67), Kanu (Horsfield 72), Ellington. Subs not
used: Hoult (gk), Albrechtsen
Fulham: Crossley,
Volz (Knight 70), Goma, Bocanegra, Rosenior, Bouba
Diop, John (Legwinski 71), Malbranque, Boa Morte, Radzinski, McBride (Helguson
82). Subs not used: Warner (gk), Pearce
Referee: Steve Bennett (Kent)
Assistant Referees: Ralph Bone (Kent), Ceri
Richards (Carmarthenshire)
Half-Time: Albion
0-0 Fulham
Attendance:
23,144
Conditions:
Cold with rain
MATCH REPORT
BY: ALBION FULHAM TEAM NEWS: Chris Coleman names the same side that beat Bolton 2-1 at Craven Cottage last Sunday. TEN MAN FULHAM DENY BAGGIES IN HAWTHORNS' BORE DRAW It really does say something when the highlight of the day is the pre-match music. The unexpected but welcome return of ‘The Liquidator’ was quite literally the only memorable moment of a dire game between two very poor teams who look certain to be in the relegation shake-up come May. Baggies’ boss Bryan Robson thankfully reverted to the team that did so well last weekend at Middlesbrough. Hopes were high that the team could produce a repeat of the form they showed at the Riverside Stadium and for the first 20 minutes of the game they did. With Kanu, Jonathan Greening and Junichi Inamoto all influential Albion did pass the ball about quite well although only a Nathan Ellington free-kick on eight minutes actually troubled Mark Crossley in the visitors’ goal. Fulham were looking equally toothless up front although Albion were fortunate that referee Steve Bennett adjudged Curtis Davies' back pass to Tomasz Kuszczak not to be deliberate despite everyone else in the ground seeing that it clearly was. Despite possessing the likes of Brian McBride, Collins John and Luis Boa Morte Fulham were easily one of the poorest attacking sides to have played at The Hawthorns this season and it’s easy to see why they have yet to pick up a victory on their travels. As the half went on Albion continued to dominate possession and in the 27th minute Kanu, who had minutes earlier narrowly failed to get on the end of a Paul Robinson cross, put the ball into the Fulham net from close range only to be adjudged offside. That was the closest Albion would come to breaking the deadlock. As half-time approached, for some reason Albion’s game completely fell apart. The performance from then on was reminiscent of Wednesday’s Carling Cup tie at Old Trafford, totally devoid of ideas coupled with shocking passing and decision making. In first-half injury time the hosts did receive a major boost when Fulham captain Boa Morte was sent off for a second bookable offence. The Portuguese star had already been booked in the 17th minute for a foul on former Fulham midfielder Inamoto and when he chopped down Steve Watson two minutes into injury time referee Steve Bennett was left with no real option but to give the player his marching orders. It was remarkably the fifth red card dished out in the last four meetings between the two sides. The hope was that Albion would come out after half-time and take the game to Fulham but it was not to be. Despite a brief 10 minute spell we looked totally and utterly clueless and our only tactic appeared to be Neil Clement launching long ball after long ball onto the heads of our strikers, most of which were either misdirected or easily cleared by the opposition defence. Fulham themselves were more than happy to sit back and soak up the pressure, safe in the knowledge that we lacked any idea on how to break them down. The 67th minute saw Albion’s first substitution with Darren Carter replacing Diomansy Kamara. Although Kamara had been poor, to replace him with Carter was a wrong and strange decision, especially given his atrocious performance in midweek. With Fulham down to 10 men, sitting back and proving tough to break down surely it would have been worth a try bringing on Rob Earnshaw and dropping Kanu behind him and Ellington. Maybe it wouldn’t have worked but we certainly couldn’t have been any worse. Five minutes later Robson made his second substitution and this time it was an even worse decision; the clearly injured Kanu being replaced by Geoff Horsfield. There was probably only one person in the ground that felt that Horsfield was a better option than Earnshaw, unfortunately that person was the Albion boss. Try as he might Horsfield is simply not good enough for the Premiership. The number of times he is caught offside and gives away needless free-kicks is beyond belief and today was no exception. It’s no surprise that Earnshaw is unhappy at the club when he’s overlooked for players of Horsfield’s standard. Albion continued to huff and puff without any real idea how to make a breakthrough. Even the way too late introduction of Earnshaw eight minutes from time failed to make a difference. The announcement of five minutes injury time to be played did give the home fans some hope but to be fair even if we had played for another 45 minutes it’s doubtful either side would of broken the deadlock. The final whistle was met with boos from the Albion fans, a combination perhaps of frustration and disappointment. Yet again we failed to win a game that was classed as ‘winnable’. We did it far too often last season and we are doing it again this. The fear this season though is that there will not be a ‘Great Escape’ at the end of it. MAN OF THE MATCH: Junichi Inamoto PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF TEN Kuszczak 6 - Not a lot to
do, kicked well.
Watson 7 - Good solid performance.
Davies 6 - Defended well although distribution
was again not too good.
Clement 5 - Good in the air but poor with the
ball at his feet. Error prone and sloppy in possession.
Robinson 6 -
Much improved performance from his last two games.
Kamara 3 - Failed to beat his man time after
time.
Wallwork 6 - Worked hard, one of his better
displays.
Inamoto 8 - Always looking to get forward but
defended when needed. Rarely wasted a pass.
Greening 6 - Started well but faded. REF WATCH
Steve Bennett 4 - Whistle happy
FAN
WATCH
wba.co.uk
Bryan Robson :The sending-off worked against us. We got anxious because the expectation is that you should beat ten men. Then you start doing things you don't normally do. You start forcing the play rather than being patient. I think the sending-off was a little bit harsh but having said that Boa Morte had already been booked and that was about his third foul afterwards. But full credit to Fulham. They defended very well in the second half with ten men." "In the first half, we played well and were looking dangerous. Fulham didn't really create anything but because they had 11 men on the pitch it was more of an open game. They went into a defensive mode when they went down to ten men and did it very well. Because we were trying to break down ten men, we kept throwing the ball forward far too early instead of playing through midfield. We were guilty of that. As soon as the second half started, we got anxious and didn't show enough patience on the ball. That made it a scrappy second half for us." "The only positive I can take from the game is that we played a team like Fulham, who have got very good attacking players, and over the 90 minutes they haven't created one chance where I thought they could have scored. That's pleasing because it was a solid performance from us but disappointing because the game tailed off in the second half. But we feel there is still more to come from us. We've got a stronger squad than last year and the lads have more belief in themselves. I do feel we are heading in the right direction after the last few games." Source: wba.co.uk
Chris Coleman:
"That's the best we
have defended all season. In my first year in charge we defended like
that and that's why we had success because we didn't give away silly
goals and we had a lot of clean sheets. That's the best we have
defended as a back four. But the whole team defended well and we had
to. The back four and Mark Crossley were outstanding. We can't keep
going 1-0 down and climbing mountains. We know we've got players who
can score goals so, if we keep clean sheets, we win games. It's as
simple as that.” Source: fulhamfc.com
Jonathan Greening makes his 50th start for the club.
The
attendance is the lowest in the league at The Hawthorns so far this
season. |
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