By: Alan
Soccer City FC Contributor
In the chase for occupying 6th place for an Intertoto Cup spot, Manchester City welcomed Fulham in what was surely going to be a gritty and resolute battle. On previous occasions, the two teams have had similar fortunes by persistently being involved in relegation battles and finishing in the Premiership lower half, just grateful for finishing above the bottom three trap door. It has largely been a season of contrasts though, with City all-but securing safety by January and galloping up the table for their highest finish in years, whilst Fulham’s top flight status has become seriously under-threat. The visitors had to win to fight off their Championship fate for another week at the very least but City had the perfect opportunity to round off an extremely positive season with the last home game of the season.
City’s old terror returned to haunt them on Saturday after managing to quite literally give up a 2-0 winning lead. Conceding in the dying minutes of any game is painful enough, but to do so on the last home game of the season and to lose at the hands of Fulham in the manner that it did piled on the sting. The old terror was the ‘typical City’ tag we believed had been finally banished as it was really the first big disappointing result at home. It is always difficult to predict results and performances when on the road in away matches, but our home record has been impressive. The Fulham result does unfortunately stain the record, a home defeat to the team positioned 19th can never be accepted and the home season ended on a particular bitter note.
The opening 45 minutes suggested the season at Eastlands would end in a similar fashion as to how it began all the way back in August. The ten match unbeaten run was destined to come to an end, but winning the last three home games of the season seemed more than a realistic target. Tottenham and Portsmouth, competitive and talented sides who may both win silverware this season, were overcome in style and turning Fulham over seemed like an easier job. City started confidently and were winning 1-0 when Petrov’s precise backheel allowed Stephen Ireland to place his wonder goal in the top corner. The advantage was doubled when Benjani scored following Vassell’s cutback pass, cutting open the defective Fulham defence. Hart made several wonderful saves to keep the scoreline at 2-0.
Half time came and went, Fulham were edging closer to the Championship unless they could somehow come up with an unlikely comeback. Did I just say unlikely? More like predictable. There could not have been a bigger contrast in the emotions of the home fans at half-time than to those felt at the final whistle. The second half saw the floodgates in City’s defence fly open to the advantage to the visitors. The defence was exposed for its makeshift nature - the back four consisted of an attacking midfielder on the right, two full-backs in the middle and a right-back at left-back. Fulham knew that they had to make changes shortly into the second 45 minutes, after all they weren’t going to lose out on anything if they did - throwing on Diomansy Kamara was the last throw of the dice, thankfully for them they landed a six. The injection of pace did the trick and a combination of spirit from Fulham and City’s defensive frailties served up a miserable 20 minutes.
A long ball from Murphy allowed Kamara to turn and somehow get beyond Corluka before slotting in under the legs of Hart on 70 minutes. There was life in the game yet, but to most it appeared to be only a consolation goal. Jihai then pulled down Nevland in the box to present the almost down-and-out Fulham with a lifeline. Danny Murphy turned goalscorer by tapping in the rebound after Hart saved, the reactions of the former Liverpool midfielder being considerably quicker than the surrounding City players. It was inevitable by this stage that the comeback would be complete, it was on the mind of every City fan and their fears were realised when Kamara doubled his tally to finish the rout deep into extra time. Disbelief was evident in the stadium, a case of amazement that such a comeback had taken place for a team considered as second favourite in the majority of matches this season.
It is understandable why the home fans were angry, they had seen the most successful City side in years collapse to Fulham in a second half that was nothing short of embarrassing and way below par. It was unfair to end the season on such a negative note as it was unrepresentative of the home form this campaign, a standout result not to be witnessed again - but as its City, it is probable that another disappointment will occur sooner rather than later. The end of season parade lap by the players could not have come at much of a worse time and the feelings of the fans were similar to those of the players.
The result was a timely reminder that City cannot sit comfortably in any match and that the squad does not have the personnel to compete against every Premiership team - City’s Achilles heel has been the struggle against teams battling to stay up. It was not a massive surprise given the back-four only had Corluka as a natural centre-back, the depth of the squad is lacking and injuries have taken their toll. Elano will never be a convincing right-back due to his defensive limitations, but it wasn’t his natural position and credit to him for doing a respectable job and demonstrating his attacking brilliance. Questions were asked of the decision to take off Ireland and Vassell - who arguably played their best games for City - and bringing on underperforming players. However, there were enough chances to kill the game off in the last 15 minutes and on another day it could have easily been different. City are guaranteed 9th place, but just when excitement was building at the prospect of reviving their fight for the European places it hit a dead end in a game you would expect three points from.
The match will be mostly renowned for the fallout that was to follow behind the scenes as Sven-Goran Eriksson’s position as manager has bizarrely come under question by owner Thaksin Shinawatra. It looks like the game versus Fulham may have been his last home game in charge of the club. Rumours are circulating around aplenty and as ever it is hard to distinguish between the poor journalism and the truth, but the support of Sven from the fans, the players and the City board cannot be questioned and he will forever be held in the highest of affections.
Post Match Comments
Sven-Goran Eriksson:
"I am very disappointed by the way the game went. It was bad for the fans who were fantastic before, during and after the game. We had a good attitude for more than an hour then we stopped - at one point we had five players forward who were not even walking back - and that's when we lost the points. That is not acceptable."
Michael Ball:
“Fulham had nothing to lose, then they made a change up front and just went for it. We’ve only got ourselves to blame, we had our chances to kill them off and maybe we thought it was too easy. Maybe we thought we could get away without doing the dirty work and Fulham punished us for it."
Match Statistics
Shots On Target:
City 5 Fulham 10
Shots Off Target:
City 8 Fulham 6
Fouls:
City 13 Fulham 8
Tackles:
City 21 Fulham 13
Passing Success:
City 77.5% Fulham 81.3%
Possession:
City 48.3% Fulham 51.7%
Territorial Advantage:
Soccer City FC’s Key Men of the Match
Manchester City
Joe Hart
- Arguably City’s most consistent performer of the season and kept the score line from being even more.
Stephen Ireland & Darius Vassell
- Proving their worth in the squad at both ends of the pitch.
Fulham
Diomansy Kamara
- Changed the game for Fulham and a vital player for them when on-form by scoring two goals.
Danny Murphy
- An inspirational figure and one of the reasons behind Fulham’s comeback.
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