A Tale Of Two Halves – Fulham 5, Newcastle United 2
Posted on January 21st, 2012 | 37 Comments |
Date: Sat 21st Jan, 2011.
Kick-Off: 3:00 pm.
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancs).
If ever you want to see a textbook example of “a game of two halves”, get the DVD of this game. though personally, it’s a video horror show I’ll be steering clear of.
United went into this game sitting in sixth place on merit, and with a chance of leapfrogging Arsenal and moving into fifth. It was a nice sunny day down in London, the pitch looked in good condition and there was black and white in evidence everywhere – even down to Newcastle’s all black strip contrasting with Fulham in all white. What could possibly go wrong?
First Half
The opening pattern of the game was one we’ve become accustomed to this season, a scrappy first 15 mins with Newcastle gradually settling into our possession and passing game. A foul by Ben Arfa on Hangeland after 7 minutes was also a good sign that our latest right winger was going to put his foot in. Best optimistically put a ball through for Ameobi on 8 minutes expecting him to run after it – you’d think he’d know by now. The first bit of real excitement came with a Senderos mistake after 11 minutes when he almost put the ball into his own net. United were starting to exert some good pressure now and were definitely looking the more likely team to score. Ben Arfa hit a good left-foot shot from outside the area which the keeper just got to, diving to his left.
As ever, it was the Newcastle fans making all of the noise, a fact that was commented on by the ESPN commentators I was watching. After 20 minutes a good cross from Jonas saw Ameobi rise above his defender at the far post, but he headed wide. Sidwell was yellow-carded after 25 mins and shortly afterwards Senderos again looked shaky as he headed the ball in front of goal taking it away from his keeper who had it covered.
United were starting to win the midfield battle as Fulham looked decidedly subdued. Our organisation looked better and we were playing most of the game in Fulham’s half. Zamora, playing up front on his own for Fulham could have gone for a pint and no-one would have noticed as he’d seen so little of the ball. Ex-United player Damien Duff also wasn’t seeing much of the ball, but on the odd occasion he did, the visiting fans were “saying hello”.
Santon won a corner on the left which was taken short by Cabaye, it was worked through to Coloccini in the area who fired straight at the keeper. After 36 minutes Sidwell was taken off with a dead leg and Andrew Johnson came on. The immediate impact of this was that United’s dominance of the midfield got even stronger, and Fulham were starting to look for half-time. On 40 minutes Ameobi ran at the Fulham defence and hit a good low shot which was curling away from the keeper, who diving to his left just managed to get a hand on it and turn it away for a corner.
Two minutes later and Newcastle deservedly went a goal up with a Danny Guthrie left foot screamer from just outside the semi-circle. What a goal! Apparently his first since March 2010 according to ESPN but well worth the wait! Fulham 0 Newcastle United 1
Just before half time, Santon tangled twice with Johnson just inside the United half. The Fulham fans were shouting for a red card and claiming Johnson would have been clean through on goal but the referee decided it was far enough away from goal to merit only a yellow.
Second Half
At the beginning of the second half, Fulham replaced Ruiz with Baird, who took up a defensive position to protect the back four. Ruiz had been poor and was at least partly responsible for Guthrie’s goal towards the end of the first half, good as it was. Fulham had now changed to a 4-4-2 with Johnson pushed up front alongside Zamora. This was to prove the decisive change of the game.
On 50 minutes Santon was again involved in some controversy, pushing Duff over just outside the United area. The referee saw the incident differently however and awarded a penalty. Murphy sent Krul left then put the ball right. Fulham 1 Newcastle United 1
Three minutes later Best hit a long-range shot hoping for some assistance from the wind, but it flew to the left of the Fulham goal. In contrast with the first half, Fulham were getting much more possession and beginning to look dangerous. On 54 minutes a good through ball by Simpson saw Ameobi “arriving late”.
After 54 minutes Fulham got their first corner of the game. Initially there was a great save by Krul and Baird put it over the bar.
The Fulham crowd had finally woken up by now and their team were starting to carve out a few chances. On 58 minutes they went further ahead when Johnson ran through the middle of midfield and played it to Zamora on the right. Zamora’s shot was saved by Krul but Dempsey was on hand to fire home. Fulham 2 Newcastle United 1
On 62 minutes Guthrie received a yellow card for a tackle on Dempsey. Simpson was also booked for arguing about it. Two minutes later and things went from bad to worse. A long ball to Johnson, who knocked it down for Zamora who put Dempsey through to score. Fulham 3 Newcastle United 1
Coloccini won the ball in the Fulham half and burst through to fire a long shot which just went over the bar. Then the worst happened as Fulham scored again. A bad kick out by Krul went straight to Johnson who ran into the area and was brought down by the United keeper. The good news, if you can call it that, was that Krul only received a yellow card. The bad news was that Zamora fired the resultant penalty straight into the net. Fulham 4 Newcastle United 1
Newcastle did get the ball into the net on 72 minutes but Ameobi was offside. On 75 minutes Guthrie was replaced by Perch, for some reason I haven’t figured out yet. Was Pardew trying to keep the score down perhaps? Seven minutes later Cabaye was spared any more exertion in what was clearly a lost cause and was replaced by Gosling.
United pulled one back on 84 minutes when Ben Arfa skipped past Riise befor scoring inside the nearside post. Fulham 4 Newcastle United 2
Alan Pardew decided it was time to pull off Leon Best and send on Ryan Taylor. Unfortunately Fulham weren’t finished yet. Dempsey was found by a long ball from Zamora and hit a right-foot shot past Krul from just inside the area to finish off a memorable hat-trick, memorable for him at least. Dempsey was taken off on 90 minutes to allow the Fulham crowd to show their appreciation for his efforts. Frei came on as his replacement.
A day best forgotten. But it does leave a lingering question about our defence, and whether we can continue to pick up points whilst our defensive midfielder, our scoring machine and his best pal are in africa (potentially until late in February).
Teams / Stats
Fulham (4-5-1): David Stockdale; Stephen Kelly, Brede Hangeland, Philippe Senderos, John Arne Riise; Steve Sidwell (Andy Johnson 37), Danny Murphy (c), Clint Dempsey (Kerim Frei 90+1); Damien Duff, Bobby Zamora, Bryan Ruiz (Chris Baird half time).
Substitutes: Neil Etheridge, Matthew Briggs, Chris Baird, Aaron Hughes, Kerim Frei, Marcel Gecov, Andrew Johnson
Newcastle United (4-4-2): Tim Krul (G), Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini (C), Davide Santon; Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye (Dan Gosling 84), Danny Guthrie (James Perch 76), Jonas Gutierrez, Leon Best (Ryan Taylor 87), Shola Ameobi.
Substitutes: Rob Elliot (G), Shane Ferguson, James Perch, Ryan Taylor, Dan Gosling, Gabriel Obertan, Peter Lovenkrands.
Goals: Danny Guthrie (43), Danny Murphy (52), Clint Dempsey (59, 65, 89), Bobby Zamora (Pen, 68), Hatem Ben Arfa (85).
Yellow Cards: Steve Sidwell, Davide Santon, Danny Guthrie, Tim Krul, Danny Simpson.
Red Cards: None.
Match highlights and post match interviews.
NUFCBlog Author: UTD111
UTD111 has written 59 articles on this blog.
Missed opportunity with Chelsea only getting a point and Bindippers losing. Very dissapointing but gotta look at the next game.