Fulham 1 Manchester City 1: Away Day Nightmares Softened In Fulham Stalemate

The fixture can hardly be regarded as the most alluring of the weekend ties in the Premiership, let alone on the season’s calendar but this encounter was fascinating beyond the apparent face of just another top-flight contest. Here we are presented with two entirely contrasting football clubs that, forgetting their respective histories, have endured an indifferent 2008/2009 season that would leave any well-respected pundit gawping at in disbelief. Even Mystic Meg would have failed to suitably predict the Hollywood-esque storylines of both clubs over the previous 12 months. The jaw-dropping headliners of Manchester City met the Houdini escapologists of Fulham in an early Saturday kick-off.

Roy Hodgson pulled off an unlikely coup in salvaging Fulham’s top-flight status with six victories out of the eighteen he was in charge of in 2007/2008. One of those wins was, yes you guessed correctly, Manchester City – remember, that 3-2 surrender in spite of the two-goal advantage? It would be fitting for the result to be permanently erased from our memories but for sakes I’ll have to settle for the famous quote made by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche - "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger." It would be safe to claim that Hodgson has built an unforeseen consistency in the wake of City’s vast expenditure, which still looks to be miles away from the final destination.

Bookmakers across the country pinned Fulham down as one of the favourites to suffer relegation while the odds stacked City as favourites to dislodge the top four. Fortunately for them if you were ‘dim-witted’ enough to back either of these odds, no matter how tempting they looked for a welcome payout come the concluding round of fixtures in May, then the likes of Paddy Power will be enjoying the metaphoric last laugh. Given the pure erratic nature of the season so far for all teams concerned though, the outcome of two or three matches could indefinitely alter the attitude of a club from a relegation-mentality to one of optimism, buoyancy and desire. Look no further than Arsenal’s infuriatingly disjointed campaign as the perfect example to the topsy-turvy form guide – victories over Manchester United and Chelsea were met confoundedly with losses to Bolton, Fulham and Stoke.

So where do Manchester City stand in this bewilderness? The lasting impression has been that of a team stood deep in the depths of ‘Work In Progress’ having scuffled between the obscure individual calamities to the collective glories of a team capable of free-glowing elegance. A draw at Craven Cottage therefore hardly sends the adrenaline pumping into overdrive, but neither will it cause an angry mob to be unleashed in the direction of Mark Hughes – the mood really is dependent on whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist. Points have been a scarce sighting for any visitors to Fulham this season so a rational mind would conclude that it is a solid, stable but unspectacular point away from home.

Offensive play was almost non-existent in the absence of Robinho and opting to start with the services of two defensive midfielders pretty much summed up the lack of attacking personality. Roy Hodgson will have been less happy than his opposing counterpart with the sole point as Fulham demonstrated a more frequent threat. Sure enough the opening stint unfolded exactly to plan and some even dared to believe in a victory, which would have been the second away triumph under Hughes. Pablo Zabaleta was an awe of inspiration throughout the morning and acted as the catalyst of creativity on more than one occasion. It was the accuracy of his pin-point cross which enabled Benjani, edging out Aaron Hughes and Brede Hangeland, to head gracefully past Mark Schwarzer in the sixth minute. The foremost period of the match came courtesy of chances from Manchester City but the see-saw then restored its balance as Fulham gained the upper hand.

Jimmy Bullard thumped home the equaliser when Zamora played him in and the former Wigan midfielder could have left Manchester City facing up to the prospect of leaving London with zero points. A fine 30 yard free-kick was impulsively saved by Joe Hart to thwart any possibility of Fulham clinching a winner. Zabaleta was also denied twice but clinical opportunities were far and few between and we can all harmonise with the wise words of Dietmar Hamann in a post-match summary. “We didn't keep the ball well enough or create enough chances to win. It's a good point but with a bit more patience we could have won. It was one of those days when we gave the ball away too easily and too often, without pressure.”

Failing to shrug off an injury forced Robinho to watch only from the sidelines but as ever the points of discussion centred on the Brazilian marvel – this time the focus on Mark Hughes’ team selection in his absence. One criticism has been that Robinho has failed to ‘light up the pitch’ in away ties so, in the face injuries to numerous first-team players, those brought in were given the green light to up the ante for competition of places. Generally Manchester City’s performance resembled that of a familiar mid-table team content with stints of mediocrity – echoing Robinho’s concerns of the present second-rate team mentality. Michael Ball made his first league start in almost three months in the wake of Javier Garrido’s injury and was pushed to the boundaries by Fulham and they made several inlands to the goal via the left-hand side. By and large it was a decent showing but the visitors lacked the same support down the left-flank which Garrido so often provides and the insistence of Ball and Dunne launching long balls to the frontline failed in every attempt. The long-ball merchant style is unsightly at the best of times and such decisions wasted the more imaginative options in midfield.

The 4-2-3-1 formation saw both Shaun Wright-Phillips and Stephen Ireland in unfamiliar positions to those they have performed most productively in, with the largely ineffective Darius Vassell accommodated on the right. With Robinho and Elano stuck in the treatment room through respective injuries, Hughes could not have implemented much of a different starting eleven as he was restricted by the personnel available. Further injuries to Garrido, Sturridge, Johnson, Bojinov, Petrov, Richards, Fernandes and Johnson meant the problems had accumulated for Mark Hughes and the squad is far from a healthy state. The Craven Cottage stalemate could have been overcome without the European hangover and the January window should act as a tonic for City’s ailing squad and faltering domestic campaign. Optimism might be riding sky-high on their European voyage but better fortunes are expected for the second-half of the Premiership campaign.

All-in-all the point was very welcome as memories of the away failings at Bolton, Wigan and Middlesbrough were still afresh. The result at ‘stronghold’ Craven Cottage will barely wet the appetite of ambitious owners hellbent on worldwide domination but as Hughes stated after the draw, "We had 12 or so senior players out and played in midweek but I think that's the first point after a European date so we are reasonably happy.” Next month witnesses the return of agent propaganda, big-money hype and the fateful false dawns – with an unlimited treasure chest at his disposal, now is the time Mark Hughes must act and seal his name in the City hierarchy.