Fulham

Every season, it seems like there is one newly-promoted team that makes a solid case for staying afloat right from the first match.

In 2005, it was Wigan keeping Chelsea at bay until the 92nd minute of their opener, and then going to second in the table by November.

Reading won their first match in spectacular fashion during the 2006-2007 season, coming from two goals down to beat Middlesbrough. The Royals also held Manchester United and Chelsea to draws, making many believe in their chance for survival.

Sunderland opened their 2007-2008 campaign with a 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur. Though they didn't secure survival until late April, the early season result made them seem a favorite to survive.

This year, Hull City AFC got off to the torrid start. Well, torrid by newly promoted Championship club standards. Hull currently sits with four points from three games, a very respectable haul. It's currently good enough for 12th place in the English Premier League, six spots above the relegation zone.

Hull started the season with a 2-1 home win against Fulham. Next week, they went on the road to Ewood Park and took home a 1-1 draw against Blackburn. There has also been a 2-1 victory in the Carling Cup against Swansea.

So with those results, there isn't any cause for concern, right?

Wrong.

Wigan absolutely thumped Hull over the weekend, recording a 5-0 win. To make it worse, Wigan manager Steve Bruce was quoted as saying, "That's probably the worst we've played this season." So if Wigan was clicking on all cylinders, they might have pushed across seven or eight goals, which would not have been pretty for Hull. Not least of all because they were at home.

So what happened?

Basically, everything that could have gone wrong for Hull went wrong. They started ten players who played in the Championship last season. George Boateng and Marlon king were absent through injury and 'loan-tie', respectively. Hull out-shot and out-possessed Wigan, yet had nothing to show for it. And then there was the defending.

Wigan's first goal came via a huge mental mistake by Hull defender Sam Ricketts. He left the post on a corner kick, opening up space for Wigan to score. There's no excuse for that. Players learn how to defend corners at a very early age. A mistake like this should be as rare as a botched throw-in at this level of football.

The goalkeeping was sub-par as well. According the match report on ESPNsoccernet, Wigan only managed four official shots on goal. Where was the keeper during all of this?

That said, things could potentially be looking up yet again for Hull. They just completed the signing of former Rangers striker Daniel Cousin. He has had experience in the French top flight as well, and arrives in Yorkshire fresh from scoring in the Old Firm match.

Will adding another piece with top flight experience be enough for Hull, or were the first two results of the season a fluke?

I think it might just be enough to keep them in the Premier League for one more season. This is not by virtue of the talent at their club, it's because of a lack of talent in so many other places. Their only win of the season was against Fulham, a team who had to pull off a miraculous escape at the end of last season to survive. They then drew with Blackburn, who isn't top of the table material, either.

But...Fulham is defintely weak enough to make the drop. So is Bolton, Stoke and West Brom. Sunderland is also not a solidly mid-table Premier League team yet either, so they can't be considered safe. There is not room for all of these teams to make the drop, so Hull may be able to do just enough to survive.

Like the famous joke goes, if you're in the water with a shark, you don't have to out-swim the shark. You just have to swim faster than Fulham.

I've given my thoughts on Hull. Let's hear some of your predictions.

With the start of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers fast approaching, England have found themselves ravaged by injury. By far the worst area hit is midfield.

Normally, England have an abundance of top quality central midfielders. However, three of them (Steven Gerrard, Michael Carrick, and Owen Hargreaves) have now been ruled out through injury.

This has opened a rare window of opportunity for someone to come in and make a name for themselves. The man who has been given this chance is Fulham's Jimmy Bullard. And may I say, bravo Mr. Capello—I think this is genius.

I hadn't even considered Bullard for England, but I really can't see why not. He is a quality player, loved by almost every football fan, and almost single handedly saved Fulham from relegation last season after returning from a potential career-threatening injury.

Personally, I think he is too good to be playing for Fulham, no disrespect to them (I also think Danny Murphy deserves to be at a higher profile team). But, credit to Fulham, they stuck with Bullard through his injury, and have developed him into an England squad member.

At 29, it is the first time Bullard has been included in an England squad. Interestingly, he is also eligible to play for Germany.

It's still hard to see where Bullard will fit in in an England line-up. I can't see him making a debut ahead of Frank Lampard or Gareth Barry. But, if he does play, even as a sub, I think he will make a big difference.

He will give 100 percent, you can be sure of that, and he will do so with a smile on his face. Bullard loves playing football and his attitude will hopefully become infectious to the England squad.

Coincidentally, Michael Owen and Peter Crouch are notorious by their absence from the squad. This will especially hurt Crouch, as one of the major reasons for him joining Portsmouth was to play regular football, and so prove himself to Fabio Capello.

Matthew Upson is the only other somewhat surprising inclusion.

It will be interesting to see how Capello gets on with this squad. I really do want him to play Bullard in at least one of the games, because I think he could be our new, unlikely hero.

Arsenal once again failed to hit their peak form this Saturday in a 1-0 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage. The goal came from Fulham's unmarked Brede Hangeland who slipped through and poked home a corner from Jimmy Bullard, half way through the first half.

Minutes later Arsenal and Emmanuel Adebayor almost replied but his header smashed against the post. But all in all it was a seriously disappointing first half performance by the Gunners.

The second half wasn't any different either. Although Arsene Wenger's men had Fulham on the ropes for most of the last half hour they really didn't put Fulham's summer signing goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer to the test.

In the dying minutes of the second half Arsenal threw as many bodies forward as possible. Adebayor missed a header and substitute Alexander Song missed a good chance. As much as Arsenal pushed, Fulham defended as if they're lives were at stake.

The game was a disappointing and an un-entertaining one, but no one will be more disappointed and un-entertained as Arsene Wenger. Who rightly let rip at the squad after the game claiming they had let themselves and the fans down.

After the match many Arsenal critics claimed the loss was due to the lack of cash injection into bringing star players to the club. Leaving Wenger to reply defending his decision to once again not spend the big cash, or bring big names to the club.

Arsene has always sworn by trusting his backroom staff in raising Arenal's youth players to be title winning pedigree. Too many times he has proved his critics wrong but this year he has a lot to prove.

When he does buy players they are usually unheard of and the transfer fee's are tiny compared to the likes of Arsenals rivals in the so called top four.

Some examples of this are Thierry Henry, Patrick Viera, Kolo Toure and also Chelsea player Nicolas Anelka. All bought for next to nothing, all turned into world class players.

However it is clear to see that the current Arsenal squad is lacking something in the way of an experienced player in the middle. Wenger is known however to be searching for that player but with time running out in the transfer market, he must hurry to make the signing.

Only time will tell if this result was a one off. In any case if and when Arsenal pick their form up, it is best to have the bad patch of the season at the beginning just as Manchester United had last season before becoming winners of the Premier League and Champions League.

In Arsene We Trust? I certainly do!

-Lyle Shepherd

Very uninspiring, pedestrian stuff it was by an Arsenal side at Craven Cottage yesterday. Fulham managed to get a goal and held on for all three points. And we can have no complaints about the result.

It was a very dull game overall and as about as insipid a performance as I can remember in recent times. It was Denilson and Eboue again in the heart of midfield, and that in itself sums up our inadequacies in that part of the pitch.

Everywhere else we were almost full strength, but our inability here showed. We had to resort to long balls and crosses, which is not how we have played in recent years. Just goes to show you how much we miss Fabregas in the engine room, dishing out stuff to the front men.

That clearly wasn't happening yesterday, and Ade and RVP were fed on scraps. We did have the odd chance though, Ade hit the post in the first half, RVP had a shot whistle wide in the second, and he also had three free kicks in decent positions, but failed to capitalise.

All game long we looked as dangerous as the opposition did, and that's not saying much. I've never seen this many passes going astray in one game. No one in the team took it upon himself to lead the team by example and drive the rest forward.

Eboue looked bright in patches in the second half, and I think Ade had a good game, Nasri as well looked good, but overall as the result states we lacked cutting edge.

I'm too depressed to read any of the papers or reports today, quite sure they will be full of doom and gloom. We've got to realise though that Cescy is such an integral part of our game. We need him there.

That said Denilson who played in his stead yesterday will have to step it up a bit if he's going to cut it, or we just might be in for a bad season if Cescy goes away injured.

Of course we can't attribute the result yesterday completely to Cescy's absence. Maybe it was the midweek internationals or whatever, but we clearly lacked sharpness yesterday. We didn't push for it, till maybe the 80th minute or so.

We will have to rise from this one quickly coz Twente come a visiting soon. Still, as bad as it is to lose, it's much better to have a wake up call such as this early in the season, when it can be heeded to and the situation rectified. And it definitely can.

Heads up, Gooners!

There is a word we use over at fulhamusa.com to explain why some things happen when they shouldn't—fulhamish. Yesterday's game against Arsenal was truly fulhamish.

No one really expected Arsenal to walk away from the Cottage with anything but a win. I, too, was one of those people. Anyone who could have predicted the outcome knew something the rest of us did not.

Saturday's game was ugly, there is no doubting that. But anyone who watched couldn't think Fulham didn't deserve the win. The Cottagers did everything they needed to do to win, with the help of some poor play from the Gunners.

In my pre-match article, I said the keys for Fulahm were Danny Murphy controlling the midfield and the back four to step up their game. They must have read my article, because that is exactly what they did.

Danny Murphy put in a MOTM performance. He put a stop to Arsenal's passing game in the middle of the field and made the right passes he need to. Simon Davies also had some great defensive plays disrupting passes.

To say Fulham's defense stepped up and was prepared for the game would be an understatement. Brede Hangeland's striker-like stab at Jimmy Bullard's corner kick gave Fulham only their second win over Arsenal—ever. The tall Norwegian kept the back line tight and made key defensive plays as needed. Summer transfers Toni Kallio and John Paintsil had good performances, as well.

I believe enough has been said about Arsenal's lackluster performance. They looked flat and made way too many mistakes. It wasn't until the 70th minute that the Gunners stepped up their game and realized this was no friendly.

Arsenal did show some moments of their usual brilliance, though. Emmanuel Eboue made some VERY dangerous runs up the middle of the field. His runs led Fulham's defense to make bad fouls and give Arsenal hope.

But it was not to be, as Robin van Persie's left foot could not produce the majic he is known for from dead ball situations.

The back four of Arsenal had a good game. Toure, Clichy and Sagna put in admirable performances. They were able to snub out most forward passes to Bobby Zamora and Seol Ki-Hyeon.

Both teams will look at this game and take a lot out of it. Fulham will want to continue their passing game and strong defense, and Arsenal will be looking to get their offense off on the right foot.

The Gunners will need their forwards and midfielders to really step up their games if they are going to be a true title contender this season.

Arsenal will next play Twente Aschende in a UEFA Champion's League match up on Wednesday, and Fulham will suit up against Leicester City for their first Carling Cup match of the season. Good luck to both teams in their upcoming games.

The summer can be a bit too long for some football fans. Their expectations seem to build over the off season and somehow, they expect their team to come out all guns blazing. When that doesn't happen, somehow, conclusions are made rather hastily.

That's exactly what seems to be happening with Arsenal's fans after yesterday's shock defeat at Fulham.

Yes, it was an abysmal performance. Denilson played very poorly and Emmanuel Eboue shouldn't have even started. Samir Nasri looked a completely different player from the one we saw last weekend and William Gallas committed a schoolboy error on the corner. Up front, Robin van Persie was profligate and wasted four free-kicks.

But people seem to overlook the fact that this was just the second game of the season. Fans seem to forget that there was no Cesc Fabregas in midfield. Last season, Fabregas missed a game at Middlesbrough, when we lost 2-1 at the Riverside. He was sorely missed yesterday as well because Arsenal seemed to give the ball away far too cheaply in the middle of the park.

To suggest that Alex Hleb and Mathieu Flamini's departures were the reasons for the defeat yesterday are simply daft. That is what a six year old, with little reasoning ability, would say.

The real problem with yesterday's performance was that Arsenal underestimated Fulham from the first minute. The players seemed to be playing within themselves throughout the game. This was a very poor Arsenal, compared to a superb Fulham, on the day.

Fulham identified Arsenal's strength. They prevented Denilson, Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna from getting forward. By pegging Arsenal back so far, there was no midfield to support the forwards and the ball was lumped up from the back to Emmanuel Adebayor and van Persie.

Sagna got forward on a few occasions, but there was never anyone there to meet his crosses. There was far too much panic after Arsenal conceded the goal and after that, it was a very flat performance.

I don't think that many of us would have seen Arsenal play so badly for a considerable amount of time. There was no cohesion, and a complete lack of conviction in the game.

William Gallas was at fault for the goal, as he backed out of the challenge against Brede Hangeland, who went on to poke the ball into the net. It was a very costly mistake and I hope that Arsene Wenger gave him an earful about it at the end of the game. It certainly wasn't something that the club's captain should have been doing.

But, let's put things in perspective. The season has just started. I've seen in an article here and a few on the Internet about how Arsenal's title challenge may have already faded. Such delusional opinions should be ignored.

The season is just two games old. There are 36 more to go. With so much football left to be played, how on Earth can anyone count Arsenal out? Granted, it was an important three points dropped—but Manchester United lost to Manchester City in their second game of last season and went on to win the league.

I think that like Arsenal yesterday, many fans are panicking. There absolutely no need to do so. We've only lost one game and have the whole season ahead of us. Let's not write our team off so soon.

There will be a midfielder signing before the end of the transfer window. Even though Wenger seems to try and deflect attention off the topic, I'm sure he recognizes that Cesc Fabregas needs support in the middle of the park.

Let's show some faith in our team. That's the least that we, as fans can do.

Just as Arsenal fans finished having a good laugh at the Spurs, laughter turned to disbelief as Arsenal went crashing down 1-0 to Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Under a new and experienced manager in Roy Hogdson, Fulham looked much better and more organized than the side that barely survived relegation last season.

With 10.5 million pounds signing Andrew Johnson looking on from the stands, Fulham still possessed the necessary firepower to beat Arsenal.

Arsenal were simply awful. After struggling to beat W.B.A at home, Arsenal's fallacies were all exposed in this away game.

Somehow, Samir Nasri failed to impose the similar style of dominance against Fulham. For large parts of this match, he was invisible as Arsenal move forward in attack.

With the commentator mentioning that Arsenal were not going through Walcott in their attacks, it signified the poor game that Walcott had again on Arsenal's right wing.

Perhaps the biggest culprit of the night was Robin Van Persie. He was lacklustre in all departments of his game. After being left out of the starting line up last week against W.B.A, Van Persie showed exactly why he deserved a spot on the bench with a woeful display against Fulham.

Van Persie looked like a shadow of his former self last night. His once potent freekicks were now reduced to harmless rugby conversions that will have a higher chance of injuring a Fulham fan than finding the back of the net.

If he didn't score a conversion, he was hitting the backside of Fulham players with his freekicks.

After dropping behind to fit a Bendtner and Adebayor strike partnership, his performance still did not improve.

Van Persie is either rusty or just having a really bad day in office.

More importantly, Arsenal's display against Fulham today exposed the lack of experience players in the Arsenal line up. With no such player to summon from the bench, Wenger resorted to bringing in Alexandre Song and Nicklaus Bendtner to rescue the game. It was evident that these two were not going to be effective in doing so.

I remembered writing that Arsenal needs one more quality midfielder to complete the team this season. And after last night's performance, my view is increasingly reinforced. Arsenal simply doesn't have a player that can control the midfield.

With Cesc Fabregas out, Arsenal really looked short of ideas. As an Arsenal fan, I really hope that his return will spell positive things.

If not, Wenger has to sign another midfielder.

With last night's defeat, he has to do so in a hurry.

Arsenal has been dealt a severe blow to their title ambitions on their visit to Craven Cottage. The Gunners lost their first game of the season to hard-working Fulham by 1-0. The only goal was scored by defender Brede Hangeland in the 21th minute.

Here comes the analysis of the performances of Arsenal players in the second round of the English Premier League.

GK: Manuel Almunia. As in his last match, he did not have a lot to do. He saved a couple of weak shots from the Fulham attackers. He could have done something in the 21th minute when Hangeland scored but he remained paralysed while the ball slid into the net.

LB: Gael Clichy. He was determined and vigorous as usual. Clichy battled for every ball, made very few mistakes, and ran on the left creating some dangerous chances. He was one of the main players for Arsenal today. A big part of the attacks went through his side and he did well. He combined well with Samir Nasri, although Nasri was not at his best.

CB: William Gallas. Again, doubts crept into my mind as to how this player has been selected as captain of Arsenal. Once again, he did not show that he has the sufficient qualities to be the Gunners captain. Gallas was the reason why Fulham scored their only goal. He could not stay with his man when the whites were taking a corner, and did nothing to stop him from scoring. It was a bad day for Arsenal’s skipper.

CB: Kolo Toure. He played his own game and was stable until he was substituted in the 77th minute. He played good with his head and did not take any chances. Kolo made a terrific tackle to stop Zamora from getting one-on-one with Almunia. He proved to be the right choice today and was the backbone of Arsenal’s defence. That’s why his replacement by Alexandre Song in the 77th minute was a surprise to me.

RB: Bakary Sagna. The simple fact that the wings were used in almost every attack the Gunners made reveals Sagna’s role in this match. He stormed down the right and made it as difficult as possible to the opposition’s wingers. He passed the ball successfully and was a rock on the right side of defence.

LM: Samir Nasri. His first half was terrible. He struggled to make a good pass and was out of the game for most of the time. He looked miles away from what he was against West Bromich Albion. However, after the break he reminded us of his skills, improving his game dramatically. Unfortunately, that could not help the sinking ship which was Arsenal today.

CM: Denilson. A really bad day for the lad. It was like the Brazilian wonder-kid was in a world of his own. His passing rate was awful and made a lot of wrong decisions, resulting in him losing the ball. Every player has a day like this one but what I can’t understand is why Arsene Wenger did not replace him.

CM: Emmanuel Eboue. Like Nasri, he remained practically unnoticed in the first half of the game. He applied little pressure to Fulham midfielders and as a result they easily overplayed Arsenal’s midfield in the first half. He improved in the second half and started to get more involved in Arsenal’s attacks.

RM: Theo Walcott. He was also not on his best. Once again, Theo could not find the space to use his speed and had an average game. Nicklas Bendtner replaced him in the 65th minute.

ST: Emmanuel Adebayor. He was the only real threat for Fulham. He had to work hard to create his chances as there were not enough good passes coming from the midfield. The team relied on his headers to decide the match, but he could not find the net on this day. He hit the bar once and made a couple of dangerous shots. The reason for this defeat was not with him.

ST: Robin van Persie.  The Dutch striker had a terrific chance when he received a pass form Nasri but wasted it, his shot passing inches away from the right-hand post of Mark Schwarzer. He took all of Arsenal’s free kicks but all his shots were unsuccessful.

Subs

ST: Nicklas Bendtner. He had a few touches of the ball but got them all wrong.

DM: Alexandre Song. He came in to replace Toure and took a position in midfield which refreshed Arsenal’s game. He made a couple of good passes, one of which was particularly good.

Unused Substitutes:

Lukasz Fabianski, Kieran Gibbs, Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Johan Djourou

Many Fulham fans would love to forget about the opening weekend to the 2008-2009 EPL season. While they came out strong with an early lead at KC Stadium, the "80th Minute Curse" from last season reared its ugly head again, as they eventually lost to new boys Hull City.

Sadly, things aren't going to get much better for the Cottagers this weekend, as Fulham welcome Arsenal FC to Craven Cottage.

This will be Fulham's home opener, so the Whites will be looking forward to the helpful support of their local fans. Last season, Craven Cottage was always a flurry of support—it seemed all of Hammersmith and Fulham was behind the team.

Both teams are going into the game with some key injuries, even this early in the season. Those injuries could be deciding factors for either side.

Fulham will be missing Andy Johnson, who has yet to play for the club since finalizing his move from Everton a few weeks ago. A knock he suffered in the summer is still nagging him, so Fulham manager Roy Hodgson is being cautious and protective of his investment.

Also missing from the home team will be Finnish goalkeeper, Antti Niemi and usual centre back starter, Aaron Hughes.

Arsenal, however, are missing players as well. Cesc Fabregas has an injured hamstring, as does Senderos. Also missing from the squad are Diaby, Eduardo, and Rosicky.

Fulham will have the tougher game, there is no doubt about that. Hopefully they can put aside some atrocious defending last week and stop Arsenal's passing game. They will need better performances from almost the entire squad.

Jimmy Bullard and Danny Murphy will need to control the midfield the best they can, and make quick accurate passes to Bobby Zamora and whoever else Hodgson puts up front.

Having said that, I expect Zamora to be the lone striker as Fulham will probably go with a defensively minded 4-5-1. A tie is not out of their reach.

Arsenal just need to do what they do best. Samir Nasri had a great EPL opener last weekend, and will be looking to build on his form with Arsenal. He will be the key player to watch, as will forwards Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin Van Persie.

The Gunners will most likely feel they are going into an easy game, and not be too concerned about injuries, due to their depth of the rest of their squad.

All in all, I am expecting Roy Hodgson and Fulham to play with some heart in front of the home crowd. Unfortunately, that might not be enough to stop the offensive firepower of Arsenal. Strong defensive play and maybe some luck could get the Cottagers a win at home, but a loss is far more likely.

Though with Arsenal playing a European Champions League match midweek, Arsene Wenger may field a slightly weaker squad giving Fulham the possibility to snatch a point.

My Prediction: Fulham 1 - Arsenal 2, with the 80th minute being the Cottager's bane once again.

There is a formula at work for the teams that are set to struggle in the Premier League this season and it involves a magic points total of 40 points from 38 games.

In the past three seasons any team that has reached this magic number has comfortably avoided the drop and ensured their survival for another season.

Hull City started out in a game that would have slipped beneath the radar of a lot of the English Premier League's international audience as the newcomer to the league put one over one of its more established rivals.

Fulham would obviously have been looking to start their seventh consecutive season in the top tier with a victory at the expense of the newly promoted Tigers at Hull's Kingston Comms stadium, but it was not be.

Despite a flying start in going ahead in only the eighth minute courtesy of a Ki-Hyeon header they were unable to capitilise on early chances and Hull new boy Geovanni, signed on a free transfer from Manchester City, equalised with a well taken goal in the 22 minute.

While the eventual victory was absolutely the best possible start that Hull could have hoped for it was this equaliser and the belief that it instilled in the side that became the key moment in the match.

After conceding an early goal in the manner they had, it could have gone horribly wrong for them and very nearly did. Fulham went up a notch after the goal and looked to apply the screws with some pressure that almost led to the Londoners extending their lead.

The defence of the homeside was steadfast though and when the Brazilian who last season scored the winner in the Manchester derby equalised it was a match again.

Veteran Nick Barmby in a triumphant return to the top flight went close with a header before the break.

Barmby turns out for his home town club in a season that could be his last at this level as he approaches his 35th birthday. He gives the team a much needed boost in the experience he has had at this level most notably with Tottenham, Everton and Liverpool.

In the second half the home side continued to make chances and were unlucky not to score a few times before Phil Brown played his trump cards with the introduction of two players who combined to create the matchwinner.

Craig Fagan and Caleb Folan came on and within minutes Fagan robbed a dithering Konchesky on the byline and he squared to Folan who scored easily into the empty net.

With strong games from several of the side and a manager that appears to know when a change is needed they will no doubt give some other sides a scare.

This is the formula from here on in for the Premier League new boys. It involves 38 matches with an even number of home and away fixtures. In these fixtures it is necessary to win at least ten and draw ten giving a side at least 40 points.

40 points in all games looks to be a conservative approach from a total of 38 games but it is no easy task in a league where the dispersal of talent is in the favour of established clubs and big European players.

But looking at the last few seasons of the Premier league a trend is seen in that any club that does not reach this magic points total is struggling severely and is very lucky if they avoid the drop.

With three points on the opening day the Tigers have definitely started things off on the right note and as a survival total now are looking at 37 points from 37 games.

As we all know the easy way to accumulate is with wins, but with the quality of opposition that they will face this season being the highest this club has seen on a week to week basis anytime in its history it is obvious that draws will become as vital as wins for this team in the coming months.

Can they build on this and avoid the plunge back to the championship? I, like a mad catholic in the time of Henry the Eighth, will put my neck on the chopping block and say, yes.