Shefki Kuqi + other notes

I've included some videos of Shefki Kuqi that are on YouTube (you can find them by scrolling down and looking on the left hand side of the page) so you can see the potential of our new loan signing. Based on how he performed for Ipswich Town, he could be a very useful addition to the squad.

Separately, we're still trying to establish whether actor Patrick Mower is a Fulham fan, but if you want a list of celebrities that are official followers of the black and white army check out the definitive list compiled by Chopper at the Hammy End Chronicle.

Finally, i've had to officially retire my "Cookie's black and white army" scarf, although, in fairness, it lasted longer than the Junichi Inamoto one i bought just before he headed off! Anyway, I went to the club shop to buy a replacement and was very disappointed with what was on offer. One looked like the test card that my printer spits out when i install a new cartridge. Come on Fulham, get some decent designs in!

Fulham v Spurs: Media Reaction

Here is a rundown of how the Sunday and Monday papers saw our draw with Spurs, along with web links to the relevant articles where possible.

Thankfully most papers were more concerned with speculating about Martin Jol’s future and reporting on the robust defence of his tactics in the post-match press conference than reflecting on what was a fairly woeful performance from us.

When Jol emerged from the tunnel before kick-off he was serenaded with a “now familiar outpouring of love” from the Tottenham supporters, noted David Ornstein in The Guardian. By the time he departed, such affection was “conspicuous by its absence”. A fact that will be noted by chairman Daniel Levy.

The Spurs boss knows time is rapidly running out, agreed Mark Irwin in The Sun, but yet he is not losing any sleep over the prospect of his “back-stabbing board stepping up their search” for a successor. “I don’t feel vulnerable because I’m a strong f*****,” the big Dutchman said afterwards, while denying charges of “tactical suicide”.

For almost the entire duration of an “unequal contest”, it was solely in Tottenham’s gift to sacrifice victory, so emphatic was their superiority, thought Nick Townsend in the Independent on Sunday. “It was only in the final, frantic few moments when an overhead kick from Fulham’s Diomansy Kamara eluded the goalkeeper Paul Robinson that this represented the six-goal thriller the scoreline may suggest”.

In fact, Tottenham should have gone in at half time three or four goals to the good, said Daniel King in the Mail on Sunday, such was the embarrassing ease with which they “repeatedly exposed Fulham’s chaotic, error-prone defence”.

Antti Niemi was restored to the home starting XI, he added, but using three goalies in your opening six games – and a different one for each of three games in a week – is “hardly conducive to defensive harmony and Fulham soon paid the price”.

Stuart Barnes, writing in The Observer, said the former Finnish international was “all at sea” when Keane delivered an inswinging corner and was fortunate to see it scrambled behind. “Unfortunately, he was not so lucky when Gareth Bale curled in a second one, from the opposite flank,” he added. “Again, Niemi failed to make any contact with the ball, which, this time, dropped for Younes Kaboul to stab it over the line, from no more than a yard out, to open his Tottenham account”.

The home defence was certainly in disarray from the start, agreed Jim Holden in the Sunday Express, and relied on the offside trap even though Dejan Stefanovic was in the side - just 24 hours after signing from Pompey. “He couldn’t possibly be attuned to the Fulham system and the result was Spurs had a string of first half chances.”

As it happens, they took only one of them, he added, when Keane’s smart flick forward sent Dimitar Berbatov striding clear on goal. “The Bulgarian shot fiercely and unstoppably into the net to put Tottenham 2-0 up within half an hour”.

Yet Fulham managed to reduce the leeway, pointed out Patrick Barclay in The Sunday Telegraph. “Davies flighted a corner and Clint Dempsey, inadequately marked by Chimbonda, rammed a solid header under the crossbar”.

Tottenham soon regained the initiative, said the Mail on Sunday’s King, with Jenas drawing an impressive save from Niemi and Steed Malbranque hitting a post, before Bale scored just after the hour. “Tom Huddlestone touched the ball on but it was Keane who played the killer ball behind Chris Baird which allowed the teenager to race clear and use Berbatov as a decoy before shooting past Niemi”.

The turning point of the match came in the 68th minute, said Rob Shepherd in the News of The World, when Jol replaced skipper Robbie Keane – who, together with Berbatov had been “running Fulham ragged” - with Jermaine Defoe. “As Keane lamely shook Jol’s hand on the touchline he raised his eyebrows,” he wrote. “The expression said it all, along the lines of ‘What the hell are you doing?’”

After Smertin’s drive deflected off the challenging Rocha and dropped behind Robinson, the game changed, agreed Barclay in The Sunday Telegraph. “Fulham’s direct approach – which had hitherto cried out for the absent Brian McBride – induced worried expressions on the visitors’ faces”.

Those fears were realised in the final minute, said Holden in The Sunday Express, when a throw-in caused panic in the Spurs defence and Kamara “went for a spectacular overhead kick that again looped over the head of Robinson”.

It was a comeback that saw Lawrie Sanchez liken his Fulham team to James Bond films when the villains fail to finish 007 off for good, according to the website Football365. “It’s a similar story in life,” it reported him saying. “You never give people a chance and they gave us a chance to get back in it”.

Even though Spurs clearly threw away the three points, Duncan Castles of The Sunday Times touched on the views of many home fans when he wrote: “As a team that had suffered three last-minute defeats already this season, there was more than an element of payback for Fulham yesterday”.

Unfortunately, that’s little consolation to Martin Jol, pointed out Steve Stammers in the Sunday Mirror. The look of disbelief on his face as he trooped across the Craven Cottage pitch said it all. “Just how his Tottenham team conspired to twice surrender a two-goal lead was beyond him,” he wrote. “Now his job at White Hart Lane may depend on a win against a rejuvenated Arsenal in two weeks’ time – and that is not a scenario to be relished”.

Celebrities at The Cottage + other notes

A few final thoughts from yesterday...

Never say that we don't attract A-listers to The Cottage. Did anyone else spot Patrick Mower (aka Rodney Blackstock) going back into the ground after the match yesterday? Those of you typing his name into Google now are clearly not fans of the TV soaps, so i'll put you out of your misery...he is in Emmerdale.

Overheard as Niemi was signing autographs: "Don't give him your pen, he'll probably drop it."

Mike Riley is human! After years of hurling abuse at that particular man in black I spoke to him briefly (and, er, had my picture taken with him as well) outside and he was a really smashing fella. Was signing lots of autographs for the youngsters too.

Amusing to see Chimbonda sitting in the driver's seat of the coach signing autographs and chatting to fans for the best part of half an hour.

Fulham v Spurs: Player rankings

My player rankings

Niemi – 3/10
Very poor handling, stubbornly refused to come off his goal line, bad punching and no command of his backline. Two good saves in the second half from Berbatov and Jenas showed what he can do, but a dreadful overall display. Bring back Warner...or Billy the Badger.

Baird – 5/10
Not a bad display but nothing to write home about. Feel that he would be far more comfortable in a centre back position with Volz taking over his position. Still has an annoying tendency to stand off players and he will get punished for this.

Stefanovic – 7/10
Good, solid display and, on this showing, a good signing by Sanchez. Clearly hasn’t got the pace to keep up with livewire strikers, as was proved by Berbatov sprinting clear of him to bag the second goal of the match, but still worthy of a place in the team.

Bocanegra – 5/10
Was caught napping a couple of times – particularly by Jenas on one occasion in the first half – and almost gifted Spurs a golden opportunity in the second by heading the ball up in the air on the edge of the area.

Konchesky – 8/10
Very good display from a player who is clearly growing in confidence. For me, he is one of the star signings of the season so far. Assured, confident and rarely put a foot wrong. Got back to delay Jenas enough to save us from further humiliation in the first half. Great player; great game.

Simon Davies – 6/10
A usual, spirited performance by Davies. His exciting, surging runs are a joy to watch and he is by far our best crosser of a ball. Arguably got ‘muscled out of it’ at times, but you couldn’t question his commitment.

Steven Davis – 7/10
Worked tirelessly in midfield against a very physical, aggressive Spurs side and looked absolutely shattered at the end of 90 minutes. A tough competitor, despite his fairly wiry frame, but should feel pleased with his performance.

Alexey Smertin – 6/10
Another good game from our Russian dynamo. Being as light as a balet dancer meant he was knocked off the ball quite easily at times, but he has proved – on two occasions so far this season – that it’s worth trying shots from range because you never know what could happen. Fat Frank does this to very good effect at Chelsea.

Hameur Bouazza – 6/10
I like this lad. He’s full of running and can take on players, although needs the confidence to try it more often. He faded later on in the match and was rightly replaced but has the skills to be a menace to defences.

Clint Dempsey – 7/10
A good performance. As well as thumping in a header against the run of play to get us back into it at the end of the first half, he also helped set up Smertin’s deflected goal. His physical presence was needed against man-mountains such as Huddlestone.

Dimansy Kamara – 7/10
What can you say about that finish? Absolutely top drawer. His skills, turn of speed and ball play were also outstanding. If he can get a partnership going with, perhaps, Healy then I think he’ll bag a hatful of goals this season.

Subs:

Healy 6/10. Difficult to rate as he didn’t have time to do much apart from play a few passes around. Can’t understand why he was left on the bench. Surely his is the first name that should be on the team sheet?

John 6/10. Again, not easy to judge as he wasn’t given long to perform, but didn’t do anything of real note.

My man of the match: Paul Konchesky

Fulham v Spurs: An opinion

Phew! Along with a clutch of new signings, it seems that Sanchez has also bought a handful of 'Get out of Jail Free' cards if yesterday is anything to go by. But while it was a fantastic, pulsating, thrilling end to a rollercoaster ride of match that left us all on a high, it's important not to let that colour our judgement of the overall performance.

For large parts of the game we were simply played off the park.

Our midfield and defence were ripped apart in the first half and, to be honest, we were fortunate not to concede more than two. The first 20 minutes had echoes of last year's nightmare cup final exit to the North Londoners last year and the Cottage resounded to boos. If Spurs hadn’t squandered a couple of golden opportunities we’d have been dead and buried.

Niemi - our third goalkeeper in five league games - was simply awful; particularly in the first half. Fumbling a cross and then dropping the subsequent corner at the foot of Kaboul who rattled in number one was the first sign that all was not quite right with the man at the back.

His litany of disasters included failing to command his defenders; sticking rigidly on his goal line when he should have been closing strikers down and smothering their shots, and punching the ball like a toddler. Quite frankly, it looked as if he would concede every time someone took a shot. Although he did redeem himself to a certain degree in the second half with a couple of fine saves, the damage had already been done.

In midfield we lost the physical battle, but then again it wasn’t one we were ever likely to win without the likes of Diop and Brown in the fight. In fact, it looked like a scene out of Gulliver’s Travels when the waif-like Smertin was going up against Kaboul, Huddlestone, etc, etc.

It was also bizarre to see David 'God' Healy sitting on the bench when the lad can't stop scoring for club or country. I agree we needed Dempsey on the park, for his physical presence if nothing else, but Healy should have been accommodated in the formation as well.

However, there was one overwhelming positive to be taken away from the Cottage yesterday: team spirit. For a group of players to fight back from twice being two goals behind to salvage a goal was simply fantastic. Not knowing when they were beaten and defying the odds was the trademark of the Wimbledon team in the 1980s that Sanchez was part of and he seems to have instilled that same sense of belief in this crop of players. Chucking on two extra strikers in the last part of the game was also an inspired move so hats off to Lawrie on that one.

No-one could argue that we were very fortunate to get anything from yesterday, but even Alan Hansen on Match of the Day said it was time things turned in our favour: “If you have watched the first four or five games of the season; if any side deserved a bit of luck it was Fulham.”

* I will be back on later with my player rankings and a round-up of how the media saw our match

Spurs are going to be tough opposition

Make no mistake everyone; Spurs are going to be a real handful today. Despite their patchy start to the season I truly believe they will be there or thereabouts come May, especially as Man U and Chelsea don't look quite so infallible this year.

Personally, I'm feeling very nervous today. We shall be leaving for the match in about two hours - we normally drive up - and savour the whole match day experience...is there a better way to spend a Saturday then at the Cottage? I really can't think of one.

Let's keep our fingers crossed for the right result and i'll be back on tonight with my thoughts on the game.

Prediction: 3-1 defeat.

Well, it's all over...

A very frantic last hour for Lawrie and the gang but this evening has seen Diop and Liam leave for Pompey and Reading, respectively, while Danny Murphy has arrived from Spurs, Seol Ki-Hyeon from Reading and Shefki Kuqi has come over from Crystal Palace....Personally i feel a bit underwhelmed by tonight's activities. I was hoping for a star striker to arrive and am not sure Kuqi fits the bill in that regard although i'll be happy to be proved wrong...If you've got any comments or views then please feel free to post them....