What's the best way to start any weekend especially a damp Bank Holiday weekend?
Three points away from home against decent opposition in a London derby in a lunchtime kick off. Only thing better than that is sex! We took the game to Fulham from the start and they gave a bit back, certainly more than Villa last week.
Giroud took the opening goal well and is my preferred option up front. He had an excellent game, some real nice touches. Ramsey had another good match (never thought i would say that after he irritated so much last season) and won Man Of The Match. I would have given it to Cazorla who cut the Fulham midfield into thin slices and held the ball well but i won't argue the point too strongly. Our second goal was against the run of play and Podolski was anon on the left hand side until he smashed in a difficult chance dead centre.
When we didn't have the ball we closed down really well, good workrate all round. We won the midfield from the start.
Defensively, Sagna played at left centre back and did very well. Mertesacker had a very good game as did Jenkinson who was also tasty going forward, many excellent crosses that deserved bullet headers into the back of the net.
Referee Howard Webb had a good match.
Bent came on at 58 mins and soon got a goal. I think that is 5 against us playing for 5 different clubs and his 7th in 9 games against us. I don't rate him as a player be we clearly can't stop this goal hanger.
Szczesny could do nothing to stop Bent scoring having saved well from Berbatov. He made some good saves in difficult conditions.
I thought Fulham's best players were Taarabt, Riether and Parker. Fulham kept playing even at 0-3 down but got only what they deserved which was a consolation goal. They are a decent team. A few nerves set in after conceding but we soon regained control.
Our only new signing, Yaya Sanogo got a 10 minute debut, i don't recall him touching the ball. early days yet!
Two good performances away from home in the space of a few days. Crisis! What crisis?