The Tanner Report
Despite a positive performance Alan Tanner is pessimistic
I have watched Fulham relegated five times and I predict this season will be my sixth. I, the Tannic Oracle, foresee this after a much better performance against Spurs last night. We had far more zip and zest, we had width, we had better defensive organisation but we lost. We lost against a shapeless Spurs side out of form whose manager was under the cosh. We did not deserve to lose but lose we did. And that is why I am pessimistic. You need luck to stay up.
After a well contested first half in which we were superior we took the lead from an angled drive from Dejegah. We looked well on top. However not only did Spurs equalise, they took the lead. They were the third team to beat us with a wonder strike – Cardiff and Swansea did the same. No defence could be blamed for the terrific drive from Holtby. Even after that Lloris, the Spurs keeper, was obliged to make a superb smothering save from Ruiz and Kasami hit the post. Bad luck. Bad luck equals relegation .
In the next few weeks we play Everton away and Manchester City away, neither of which are likely to yield points. This means we go on the cycle of winnable games, Norwich away, Hull away and West Ham at home, as likely as not in the bottom three. We may even start to be adrift with our poor goal difference. By then the new coach factor would have evaporated, Berba will be moody and want away. We will have a coach with no experience of relegation scrapping as that did not happen at Manchester United. The losing run has not ended. We have lost our last 6 games and 9 out of 11 of our home games. I have forgotten that feeling of waking and the first flood of consciousness is an uplifting home win.
We played much better, we have Brede Hangeland to return and we will probably buy in the January window. Will this kick start a charge up the league? I wish I could think so.
The Alan Tanner Report is sponsored by Tanner Crystal Clear Ltd, Window Cleaners to the Gentry.
Alan T
Strangely, I don’t feel quite as negative about our chances of survival as you do after last night’s performance but that said, I do agree we will need some better fortune.
When I heard the starting line up I was very depressed but the performance in terms of skill and effort proved me wrong. It would however have been good to have a youngster on the bench if only as a sign of things to come. However the real issue and the reason we didn’t get all three points was lack of fitness related largely to age. I thought we wilted badly in the second half allowing Spurs to get the bulk of possession. Though Riise was much, much better than Richardson, he really was reduced to walking pace as the second half progressed. Thought Georgios was sensational in the first half and caused lots of problems, but he was rightly subbed early in the second half though this severely reduced our potency. He is much better than Sidwell in terms of skill and warrior quality.
So good to have Reither back and thought his interplay with Trashcan in the first half caused havoc in the Spurs defence , but somehow this seemed to diminish in the second half. Kasami seemed strangely mooted but then he was playing a lot further back. Thought Hughes was masterful at left centre and Senderos had a fair game despite his ponderous style.
I also gain increasing confidence in Stecklenberg and though he made at least 3 world class saves, as did Lloris the other end. Sadly he was completely unsighted for their first goal despite his excellent positioning but their second goal was totally due to our tiring and our failure to close down on the edge of the box.
key question is whether we can play against Villa with the same verve and drive. If so, and our legs keep going, then I really do think we have a reasonable chance of survival. SL
Norwich will be key
Hull and West Ham too