Jack and Loz at the Cottage - Blog 13

Date: 29th September 2015

Opposition: Wolves

Score: 0-3 Ouch

Weather: Pleasant

Atmosphere: Flat

Overheard in H7: "Wolverhampton - that's the nice part of Birmingham isn't it?"

MOTM (football): A return to form for last season's frequent winner of this award - Errrrrrr......

MOTM (non football): Jamie O'Hara for keeping up the fight when all hope was lost

Pub: The Temperance

In the life of a Fulham fan there are many false dawns: the 4-1 victory at Crystal Palace, for example, the signing of Kostas Mitroglou, the advent of Martin Jol. And now it appears there is another to add to the list: Friday night's destruction of QPR.

In comparison, Tuesday's match was the sublime to the ridiculous, a Tempest unleashed to a Comedy of Errors - even before Tom Cairney's incomprehensible decision to make a two footed tackle in Wolves' own half there had been some near calamitous defending and some uncharacteristically wayward clearances from the usually reliable Andy Lonergan.

What happened after the sending off was as inevitable as a bad Fulham half following a good one. On a slightly positive note at least the players didn't give up even as the straits got more and more dire. As well as O'Hara, mentioned above, who is a man you simply must have on your side in any back to the wall situation whether involving wolves, other dangerous animals or anything else, credit must go to Dembele for trying to make something out of nothing as lone striker and Ross McCormack trying to do his best in the unfamiliar role of defensive midfielder (although it would have been better if he'd left trying to direct the defence to Richard Stearman who is rather better at it).

As always when a dismal result follows a sending off one wonders what might have been. But here credit has to be given to Wolves for their fast passing and attacking intent. Auditioning as they were, X Factor style, for a new owner they were the better side even before Cairney lost control of his feet. We also have to wonder about the effects of Friday's game. Did tiredness and the pressure of success outweigh the confidence boost of the resounding victory?

One way or another the team which played on Tuesday was a different side to the one which we cheered so exultantly on Friday night and this simply isn't good enough. You don't need to win 4-0 every week to do well in the Championship but you do need to be consistent and we're failing miserably at that at the moment. But we're still at the start of a very long season, one which we're better equipped to survive and prosper in than some of our rivals. Let's hope the players are training hard this week on defending set pieces, safe tackling and finding some equilibrium. Starting at Charlton on Sunday.