On a rainy day in the Midlands, Fulham slumped to a disappointing defeat at Birmingham earlier in the season. One slick passing move from the Blues sealed the game and Lee Bowyer was at the sharp end of it. Bowyer, who seems to specialise in scoring against clubs from the capital this season, will need to be watched very carefully this afternoon.
We lost the reverse fixture in central midfield as we allowed the former West Ham midfielder and Barry Ferguson too much time and space to dictate the game. The chalkboards don’t show the same level of passing as from Fulham’s midfield pairing, for example, but their work rate and tackling was very impressive.
The Whites will need to shut them down in order to earn the right to play their usual pretty football. Dickson Etuhu has to step up from a disappointing performance on Thursday.
If Birmingham press and pass like Shakhtar then Dickson’s in trouble. Luckily they won’t, so I think he’ll be fine.
Fairly sure that B’ham have just done a Fulham, got organised and got a bit lucky. They have a hard-working defence and a good goalkeeper, and have taken their chances when it matters and benefitted from the confidence that brings.
It was never going to last and I think they’re finally feeling gravity’s pull, and we should beat them today.
However, the laws of post-European hangover mean that I’m sure we won’t.
Honestly thought Dickson was poor again today.
yes, agree. He seemed to stop with about 20 minutes left. Iffy performance.