I know, I know not really a catchy title, but the fourth attempt of any franchise is grasping around for any fresh ideas to keep the drones entertained. Not that I'm calling anyone a drone, but, well I'm sure you know what I mean. Notable examples include Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol and American Pie 4: Band Camp and it is usually hard enough to attract original cast members back. Usually characters are invented who have tenuous links to familiar favourites, but are actually pale imitations in comparison.
At least this fourth blog in the continuing tales of Fulham includes all original cast members and welcomes back from suspension perennial crowd pleaser Andrew 'AJ' Johnson, the hardest working shortman in show business (show business being Premier League football). Further, after a two week go slow in footballing terms due to international week, the average football fan has been left comatosed by the repetitive banalities of what is wrong with the Englan team. Except nothing has been wrong as new manager 'Don' Fabio Capello has led his side to four consecutive world cup qualifying victories. This interupption to normal programming has seen the most boring fortnight in football news, with the media forced to focus on news such as the spiralling debt of Premier Leauge clubs, estimated to be in excess of 3 billion pounds, news clearly of no interest to anybody.
So it was against this international backdrop that the return of the Premier League was highly anticipated by all . . . . . . . well all but my wife of course, who still refuses to acknowledge the greatness of all things football. Despite two weeks off, Fulham contrived to play like . . . . um, a stale movie franchise whose run out of ideas, ok enough with the comparisons, let's just say they weren't great. Having not won a game for a month, Fulham were in need of a result against Sunderland who boast former Manchester United great Roy Keane as their manager and a host of Tottenham cast-offs as players. Fulham had been on a 3 game losing streak and had lost in a scrappy game at West Bromich Albion with a late goal, this after a similar result in a away game at Blackburn. This game was again scrappy, but there would be no late goal, in fact there were no goals at all, in a manner of speaking.
Despite several bright periods of play, Fulham struggled to create meaningful chances and were lucky not to concede to Sunderland on at least two occasions. The first, a Kieron Richardson free kick managed to bounce off the right post, ricochet off to the left post, bounce back across the goal and rebound off the goalie, hit the post again before landing in the grateful arms of Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer. A second half free kick went even better from Richardson, slamming into the top left hand corner. Fortunately the referee saw some interference from Sunderland players in the wall and disallowed the goal. From then on the game was destined for a draw and did not disappoint in this regard finishing 0-0.
At least this fourth blog in the continuing tales of Fulham includes all original cast members and welcomes back from suspension perennial crowd pleaser Andrew 'AJ' Johnson, the hardest working shortman in show business (show business being Premier League football). Further, after a two week go slow in footballing terms due to international week, the average football fan has been left comatosed by the repetitive banalities of what is wrong with the Englan team. Except nothing has been wrong as new manager 'Don' Fabio Capello has led his side to four consecutive world cup qualifying victories. This interupption to normal programming has seen the most boring fortnight in football news, with the media forced to focus on news such as the spiralling debt of Premier Leauge clubs, estimated to be in excess of 3 billion pounds, news clearly of no interest to anybody.
So it was against this international backdrop that the return of the Premier League was highly anticipated by all . . . . . . . well all but my wife of course, who still refuses to acknowledge the greatness of all things football. Despite two weeks off, Fulham contrived to play like . . . . um, a stale movie franchise whose run out of ideas, ok enough with the comparisons, let's just say they weren't great. Having not won a game for a month, Fulham were in need of a result against Sunderland who boast former Manchester United great Roy Keane as their manager and a host of Tottenham cast-offs as players. Fulham had been on a 3 game losing streak and had lost in a scrappy game at West Bromich Albion with a late goal, this after a similar result in a away game at Blackburn. This game was again scrappy, but there would be no late goal, in fact there were no goals at all, in a manner of speaking.
Despite several bright periods of play, Fulham struggled to create meaningful chances and were lucky not to concede to Sunderland on at least two occasions. The first, a Kieron Richardson free kick managed to bounce off the right post, ricochet off to the left post, bounce back across the goal and rebound off the goalie, hit the post again before landing in the grateful arms of Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer. A second half free kick went even better from Richardson, slamming into the top left hand corner. Fortunately the referee saw some interference from Sunderland players in the wall and disallowed the goal. From then on the game was destined for a draw and did not disappoint in this regard finishing 0-0.
The players warm up on the pitch before the game . . .
. . . . . . while the crowd waits patiently. They say a picture tells a thousand words and these pictures certainly do that, mainly reminding you to replace your batteries before going out or you'll end up with fairly pointless pictures!
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