When James Milner re-joined Villa from Newcastle our side was so conditioned to channel the ball down the left in search of Ashley Young that Milner struggled to get involved and spent far too much time as a spectator. That soon began to change, bit by bit, and it wasn’t long before we were finally achieving the balance we’d missed for so long.
I was reminded of this while watching the 0-0 opening day draw at Craven Cottage. This time is
Neither side were able to break the deadlock at Craven Cottage in a game that failed to ever spark into life. As the visiting manager, Alex McLeish will rightly be happier with his point, but will have Shay Given to thank for a number of important saves and might be concerned about the lack of any real threat at the opposite end today.
McLeish opted to use essentially the same 4-4-1-1 system as in the final warm-up game against Braga, except
The new 2011/12 Premier League season is finally here! It’s the battle of the new managers at Craven Cottage today, although Martin Jol does have several competitive games under his belt in the Europa League.
Here are the confirmed line-ups for both sides:
Fulham
Aston Villa
1
Mark Schwarzer
1
Shay Given
18
Aaron Hughes
2
Luke Young
14
Philippe Senderos
6
James Collins
5
Brede Hangeland
5
Richard Dunne
7
John Arne Riise
3
Stephen Warnock
16
Damien Duff
10
Charles N’Zogbia
20
Dickson Etuhu
16
Fabian Delph
13
Danny Murphy
19
Stiliyan Petrov
23
Clint Dempsey
18
Emile Heskey
8
Andrew Johnson
11
Gabriel Agbonlahor
25
Bobby Zamora
9
Darren Bent
Subs
Subs
38
Neil Etheridge
22
Brad Guzan
2
Stephen Kelly
21
Ciaran Clark
6
Chris Baird
7
Stephen Ireland
28
Matthew Briggs
17
Jean II Makoun
4
Steve Sidwell
12
Marc Albrighton
10
Pajtim Kasami
25
Barry Bannan
30
Moussa Dembele
14
Nathan
Fulham weren’t anything close to spectacular, yet the stats show that their point wasn’t undeserved, contrary to what a lot of Villa fans felt at the final whistle, which begs the question of why we should find much to be encouraged by.
Well, four academy graduates in the side and all did well, Bannan’s superb pass and Albrighton’s take down and shot set those two apart. The chalkboards will reveal exactly why Houllier didn’t want the ball in the air
Brede Hangeland grabbed a point for Fulham at Craven Cottage with what was literally the last touch of what has been christened the “FxPro Derby”, nodding in a free kick at the far post in the 4th minute of injury time. That threatens to overshadow an awful lot of positives from a Villa side featuring two youngsters making their first starts in the Premier League.
Let’s address those positives first. Nathan Delfouneso, getting his first start thanks to being
Fulham
1
Mark Schwarzer
3
Carlos Salcido
18
Aaron Hughes
6
Chris Baird
5
Brede Hangeland
13
Danny Murphy
23
Clint Dempsey
27
Jonathan Greening
29
Simon Davies
30
Moussa Dembele
11
Zoltan Gera
Subs
12
David Stockdale
2
Stephen Kelly
4
John Pantsil
8
Andrew Johnson
16
Damien Duff
20
Dickson Etuhu
21
Eddie Johnson
Aston Villa
1
Brad Friedel
2
Luke Young
3
Stephen Warnock
29
James Collins
5
Richard Dunne
6
Stewart Downing
12
Marc Albrighton
20
Nigel Reo-Coker
25
Barry Bannan
7
Ashley Young
14
Nathan Delfouneso
Subs
22
Brad Guzan
4
Steve Sidwell
9
Stephen Ireland
21
Ciaran Clark
24
Carlos Cuellar
30
Eric Lichaj
50
Jonathan Hogg
Great to see both Nathan Delfouneso and Barry Bannan getting starts.
And the hits just keep on coming. The breaking news is that John Carew is the latest name on the casualty list with a torn calf that will keep him out for three weeks.
Curiously, the Birmingham Mail, in an exclusive, say that the injury occurred “during a challenge with Brad Friedel during a training ground practice match yesterday afternoon”. What’s odd about that is the official site published an article this morning entitled “Houllier looking for Carew to
You’ve probably already seen that Emile Heskey tore the medial meniscus in his right knee in training and will require an operation, keeping him out for three to four weeks.
With Gabby still on the come back trail after his own operation, John Carew always susceptible to a sudden injury, if this is not Nathan Delfouneso’s chance to get some time on the pitch, I don’t know when is.
With so many of the youngsters getting a look in so
If you hadn’t seen this game and just saw the statistics below, you might think that Fulham had a good chance in this game and were unlucky not to get something. They weren’t and they weren’t.
The possession finished 55/45 in Fulham’s favour, but midway through the first half it was 43/57. I know this because I was poking fun of the official Fulham Twitter account when they were claiming it was “pretty even stuff”. No, it wasn’t.
However, we