A few quick thoughts before I rush out the door.
First, the news. We’re planning to offer Brede Hangeland a new contract, which is only sensible. He’s one of the main reasons we’re still playing Premier League football – and he’s only got better this year. There is an interesting parallel with the Bullard situation here, but I think we’ll save that for another day. Getting Brede scure on a long-term deal would be the best business of the season for me.
It’s no surprise that Chris Baird is out of contention. He battled bravely against injury at the Emirates on Saturday and we missed him once he had gone off, but that blow is softened somewhat by the return of John Pantsil.
One of my good friends (with a few links to Hull) tells me that Jimmy Bullard might be planning to come along and watch the game tonight. Not sure that’s the best idea but then he’s never struck me as the sharpest tool in the box. If he is in attendance, I’m sure he’ll here what the Fulham fans think of him.
Speaking of the fans, I’ve got a feeling this could be one of those nights where we’ll have to get behind the boys. Phil Brown’s already said that his gameplan is to frustrate the crowd and keep things tight. It’s never quiet where I sit/stand but the rest of the ground (I’m looking at you, Riverside) will need to be in good voice tonight. Hull will be difficult to break down so why not replace the moans and groans with a few rousing renditions of the old favourites? If you really want to, that ‘Dickson Etuhu/I wanna be like you’ ditty could do with an outing.
Finally, if you need something to while away your last hour at work try this thoughtful piece from Rich. Far be it for me to disagree with the man himself, but I just don’t think Rosenior and Queudrue were really up to it as full backs regardless of the tactics they were asked to play to. I’ve met Liam a couple of times and he’s a lovely bloke, but his distribution was woeful. Even some simple passes would go astray and put us under pressure. I don’t have too many good thanks to say about Lawrie Sanchez but replacing Quedrue with Konchesky was one of his better ideas. We certainly do seem to have full-backs who are now much more comfortable on the ball (even if PK’s mind sometimes runs away with itself and allows attackers to run away with the ball) and Pantsil looks to have the licence to get forward to good effect.
