Steed Malbranque was supposed to make his Fulham debut at Crystal Palace this evening as the French midfielder’s protracted move from Lyon to Fulham still has not officially gone through. But the little playmaker appeared on the teamsheet anyway, thinly disguised as ‘a trialist’ and delivered a delicious display full of energy and creativity, to whet the appetite in anticipation of what he might produce when the Whites return to England’s top flight for the first time in 33 years in two weeks time.
Edwin van der Sar watched from the directors’ box as Maik Taylor, who had kept a club record number of clean sheets as Fulham cruised to the First Division title last season, was largely untroubled by a Palace outfit still adjusting to life under Steve Bruce. When the Northern Ireland international was beaten by a free header at a corner eight minutes in, the reliable Rufus Brevett was on hand to hook the ball off the line.
Abdes Ouaddoh, making his first start since signing from Nancy for £2m, almost made the perfect first impression but sent a header off target from Malbranque’s outswinging corner. The first 45 minutes were played at a frenetic pace for a pre-season friendly but produced little in the way of clear cut chances for either side from open play. Ouaddoh, operating in a defensive midfield role in front of a centre back pairing of Alain Goma and Andy Melville, broke up the play effectively as the visitors dominated both possession and territory.
Fulham could easily have had a penalty in the last minute of normal time at the end of the first half when Barry Hayles barrelled his way into the Palace box, beat a couple of defenders and appeared to have been brought down as he looked to shoot at goal but the referee waved away the visitors’ appeals – much to the consternation of a sizeable travelling support. Palace finished the half in conservative fashion, perhaps relieved to still be level after an act of generosity from the match officials.
Tigana replaced Lee Clark with Luis Boa Morte at the start of the second half and the Portuguese winger wasted little time in getting involved in the action. He won a corner which Malbranque whipped in and Goma glanced goalwards, only for the French defender’s header to be scrambled away to safety by the Palace defence. Malbranque almost laid on the opener for Louis Saha five minutes after the interval but the usually deadly forward dragged his shot wide of goal having attempted to surprise Aleks Kolinko by pulling the trigger from long-range.
The hosts didn’t heed that warning and Fulham went in front five minutes later. Malbranque found space in front of the Eagles’ defence and lifted another ball through for Saha. This time, Fulham’s potent centre forward controlled the pass perfectly on his chest and rifled an unstoppable finish beyond Palace’s helpless Finnish goalkeeper in the same manner that he had breached almost every Division One defence last season.
The goal galvanised Fulham with Boa Morte and John Collins going close to adding a second after a couple of flowing passing moves. Ouaddoh was forced off with a twisted knee with a quarter of an hour remaining and academy graduate Zat Knight, normally a defender like Tigana’s new signing, filled in flawlessly in central midfield. Palace did offer a threat on the counter attack, with Dougie Freedman looking particularly dangerous up front, but this was a successful night’s work for that renowned perfectionist, Tigana.
FULHAM (4-4-2): Taylor; Finnan, Brevett, Melville, Goma; Ouaddoh (Knight 75), J. Collins, Malbranque, Clark (Boa Morte 45); Hayles, Saha. Subs (not used): Hahnemann, Symons, Trollope, Betsy, Stolcers.
GOAL: Saha (55).
