The Tanner Report/ QPR 1 Fulham 1
There are three good reasons why Fulham may fail to make the play-offs: 1) we cannot translate possession and supremacy into goals; 2) we make silly defensive errors virtually every game 3) our keeper is not good enough.
QPR boss Ian Holloway set out his stall (commentary cliche c. 1998) to frustrate Fulham with a pressing game and a physical approach. The tactic served QPR well. If you play this way against Fulham you have the added advantage that sooner rather than later we will make a defensive error. After we were gifted a fortunate penalty for the most slight of hands on the back of Aluko, we missed it – our sixth such miss this season. This time the culprit was the prodigal son Chris Martin. For me there are 2 ways of scoring a penalty, wait to see which way the keeper moves or blasting the ball in the corner. Given too that we live in the era of specialist coaches surely it’s worthwhile enrolling a specialist penalty taker? Matt Le Tissier rarely missed one for example. Sure enough the defensive blooper came when Kevin MacDonald ‘s back pass was straight into the path of Ryan Manning who put the hoops in the lead.
In an increasingly febrile and tense atmosphere not helped by some inconsistent referreing Fulham finally got their equaliser when Tom Cairney’s shot from outside the box was diverted past the keeper by Chris Martin. This was clever striking – his position obscured the vision line of the keeper and he could divert the flight of the ball.
A dropped point and wins by Derby and Barnsley puts Fulham in 9th position, some 6 points behind Sheffield Wednesday in 6th place. True, we have a game in hand but that is on Tuesday against fifth placed Reading.
Speaking to Ivan after the game I raised my three concerns about Fulham. He said that Brighton often get 3 points from games they did not dominate, two such games were against us, that he could not recall a defensive mistake all season and that Stockdale had – as he was on Friday night- been their saviour. That may well be why Brighton are 17 points ahead of us.
Finally my contribution to the Great Rust Debate of tv watching v attendance . I watched the game on SKY. The presenter was Kelly Caites. She has two things going for her – she is a woman and therefore far less vulnerable to criticism and she is the daughter of Kenny Dalglish. Against this she is a hopeless broadcaster – wooden, shrill and apart from the odd stat, under-informed. Her two analysts – David Prutton and Peter Beagrie – know the Championship and Don Goodman is an acute match analyst. You also have to suffer innumerable betting ads. I never understand how it is that alcohol and smoking ads are banned but betting ones are not. The custodians of our game, the FA, even have a betting partner. I have seen betting reek havoc as the victim agonisingly thinks he can fuel a lifestyle through a system or simply cannot control his addiction. These people need help not stimulus. All in all I would have much rather have been at Loftus Road, or even followed the game with the unashamedly-biased commentary on Fulham radio of Gentleman Jim McGullion.
