Newspaper round-up: Fulham v Portsmouth

If you can bear to read any more about our miserable defeat, here is a summary of how the major news outlets saw the game, along with links to the relevant articles.

Lawrie Sanchez likes to affect an immunity from pressure, but the skies were darkening over Craven Cottage last night as Fulham, filleted by a resurgent Portsmouth, slipped into the bottom three, reflected Oliver Brown in the Daily Telegraph. "For such a shrewd financier as (Mohamed Al) Fayed, the mathematics of his move to appoint Sanchez make discouraging reading - around £27 million was lavished on Fulham during the summer, yet the man charged with realising that investment has won only three of his first 15 games."

The visitors couldn't manage seven goals this week but two deflected strikes early in the second half at Craven Cottage were more than enough to send Harry Redknapp's team up to fifth in the Premier League, wrote Nick Szczepanik in The Times. "Apart from a first-half effort from David Healy, which was straight at David James, the goalkeeper, Fulham hardly troubled a Portsmouth defence that was unrecognisable as the rearguard that was shaky in last weekend's 7-4 victory over Reading."

It had started off so well for the Cottagers, pointed out Football365, which meant Pompey's two-minute double was "as dramatic as it was unexpected". Fulham had "taken charge" in the first 45 minutes and were threatening a rare win. "With Clint Dempsey leading the attack in swashbuckling style and Simon Davies and Hameur Bouazza providing pace on the wings, Fulham were clearly the better side in the first half."

All that was to change early in the second 45 minutes, wrote Glenn Moore in The Independent. "Four minutes after the interval Benjani took a pass from Sean Davis on the edge of the Fulham area, half-turned Bocanegra and beat Keller with a shot which skidded off the sole of the defender's boot."

Keller was picking the ball out of his net again two minutes latter, pointed out Matt Barlow in the Daily Mail. "Hreidarsson won the ball on the Pompey left, exchanged passes with Kranjcar and stormed into the penalty area for a shot which again took a crucial deflection, this time off Chris Baird. Fulham had little to offer as they sank into the relegation zone and were jeered off by their fans."

His free-scoring team-mates will get the credit, pointed out Darren Lewis in the Mirror, but James was the "platform for this fabulous win" as he put on a "superb display" to enhance his claims on the England shirt for the next round of Euro 2008 qualifiers. "It was his series of saves and stops from David Healy, Clint Dempsey and Diomansy Kamara that took the wind out of Fulham's sails and inspired Pompey to tear the home side apart."

So where does this leave us? Well, early in April Fulham sat four points clear of the relegation zone, having gone seven games without a win, and Al Fayed claimed he was left with no alternative but to sack Chris Coleman, pointed out David Ornstein in The Guardian. "Six months on and Al Fayed's club find themselves inside the bottom three and have again not tasted victory for seven games. Lawrie Sanchez, Coleman's replacement, should be a worried man." Indeed he should.