True but if a player loses balance he should not then appeal to the referee for a penalty. Johnson did it twice. The FA can take cases on an individual basis and at least warn players that they are under watch and if a player is seen to be diving on a regular basis then he can be fined/banned.Originally Posted by Bandit
Sometimes the referee blows for the penalty regardless of the appeals of the player or teammates. Not all referee's are under Sir Alex's charm
if we never gifted them the first two goals, i think citeh were there for at least a draw, how many saves did mark make, not to dis heartened, i suppose when he dropped riise many people were pleased, it never paid off, cant have a go at baird he plays all over the place. must be stoke next game by no means a gimme
I thought Keegan summed it up well on ESPN. Fulham needed a bit of luck to get something out of the game, and we had two massive slices of bad luck in the first 20 minutes to put us 2-0 down. But City were clearly the better team (which the league table could have told us anyway).
Jol's explanation of wanting a right-footer at left back to deal with the winger cutting inside (from his post-match comments, I think he was expecting Silva on that side) makes sense. I don't think you can entirely blame Bairdinho for either of those goals, but he didn't have a great game even if you ignore the goals.
The stats show we had plenty of possession and at one point were outpassing City. All that was missing was a proper striker to provide an attacking focus. I think we have to dismiss this game - it was always one where anything we got was going to be a welcome bonus - and wait to see how the new Russian feller settles in. Shame he wasn't available. I suppose some people will lay the blame for that at Jol's door, despite always giving credit for good work re: transfers to Ali Mac.
The game never really went our way.
We seemed lost of ideas. Nothing new. Wednesday was the same.
Come on Fulham
Despite my mild pre-match optimism all a bit predictable and agree with CM that anything would have been a bonus. The main worry going into the next few games is where the goals are going to come from. Take Dempsey out of the team yesterday, and the other ten who started have managed a grand total of four between them all season (Murphy 2, Duff and Dembele 1 each). Hope the new guy's available by next week - we'll need a 6ft 2 centre forward against Stoke! No need to panic, though, no one else has come away from the Etihad with anything this season in the league so we were always going there on a wing and a prayer.
Sorry for Chris Baird: the penalty was a soft one (admittedly we've also benefitted this season); the own goal was pure bad luck. As for dropping Riise for Baird, I cannot complain.
Having gone 2-0 down, but then again given results this season, we must have done reasonably well to only concede one more - it could have beeen 5 or more. However, we were a bit clueless and, as already said, we need to get a striker on the pitch to give Clint the space he needs to ghost through.
Edwin Van Der Sar, Simon Morgan, Terry Angus, Brede Hangeland, Chris Baird, Moritz Volz, Zoltan Gera, Johnny Haynes, Clint Dempsey, Brian McBride, Barry Hayles
Think everyone is in agreement here we obviously needed a striker. On the whole the passing was good and we had plenty of possesion.
Had a great day out in Manchester, despite the result and a very late return home. Man City supports wished us all a safe journey home through the snow which was much appreciated. They are a good side and we shouldn't be too disappointed. I don't think many of expected much in our predicament at the moment.
Stoke will be a different game and I'm optimistic that we can win this one.
Well done on your travel. Man City are getting a good time. They are better gelled together than 2 years ago.
I am remaining positive for the game on Sat.
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