Given – The Irish international was sharp off his line to take the ball off Kamara, then finished off with a late save from Zamora. 7
Richards – Started brightly, but then a few passes went astray. Needed to be tighter on his opponents in the second half. 6
Fulham return to Eastlands a month after their defeat in the Carling Cup, but this time we’ll be facing Roy Hodgson’s first choice side. City made hard work of the extra-time win with a jaded performance coming a few days after the defeat at Old Trafford.
This time Fulham could be tired ones, after playing on Monday night, then entertaining Roma in the Europa League on Thursday. It would be a mistake to consider them a pushover though. Hodgson did his best to rotate the team against Roma with the likes of Zamora and Duff only playing a portion of the game. A bit of tiredness won’t affect their organisation, and breaking down Fulham is no easy task these days.
In the Fulham pre-match press conference, Mark Hughes said Robinho’s stress fracture has still not healed sufficiently and he wouldn’t be ready for 10-14 days. Transfer speculation surrounding the Brazilian was once again rebuffed, along with that around Michah Richards, who “has a big future here”.
Hughes on Robinho:
“Robi is 10-14 days away because his stress fracture has not healed as anticipated.
“Any rumours linking him with a move away are a non-story. He will be back soon and I expect him …
At Maine Road, they used to sing:
“I’ll walk a million miles for one of your smiles… Summerbee!”
Check out this picture from last night’s match, courtesy of The Sun, and try:
“I’ll walk a million miles for one of your smiles… Bellamy!”
Click here for the picture.
It ought to be a caption competition for our lovable hero, who was in fine berating form last night. Maybe he’d just seen the fourth official put up the Additional Time board.
(Warning: the page with the picture …
Given – Shay looked as stunned as the rest of us with the Fulham goal. Thereafter it was most about organising those in front of him at set pieces. 6
Zabaleta – His big chance and he looked… rusty. Never really appeared on the same wavelength as those around him, which was a pity as he was outstanding in his last game against Celtic. 6
Toure – The captain bagged his first goal, and kept the defence focussed in a determined effort …
Set piece City strike again! Despite a laboured performance, two headed goals from corners by Gareth Barry and Kolo Toure respectively, were enough to see off a well organised second-string Fulham side.
Following the high octane games against Arsenal and United, this was a gentler affair as was widely predicted. They’ll be no need for the FA to look again at any incidents in this match, although Zoltan Gera’s stunning strike to give Fulham the lead was perhaps worthy of a …
The last two visits of Fulham have been rather painful and tonight provides a perfect opportunity to redress that a little. Last season we looked exhausted from our Uefa Cup campaign and suffered a tired 1-3 defeat. The previous season was even worse.
Our last home match of the season had Thaksin in attendance hoping for a bit of adulation in an end of season party. City duly swept to a two goal lead, and were playing ole football. Fulham were …
City have been drawn against fellow Premier League side Fulham in the third round of the Carling Cup. The tie is due to take place in the week beginning 21 September. This lies between the Old Trafford derby on Sunday 18 September and the home game against West Ham on Monday 28 September.
Whilst not the easiest draw we could have hoped for, at least we are at home. Fulham are also competing in the group stages of the Europa League, …
