Antti Heinola returns with some quickfire reaction to this morning's draw at home to Fulham where Ryan Manning opened his account for the club.
I haven't seen loads of him, but I suspect this was probably his best performance. It was an enormous amount of work for he and Luongo to get through today in the middle of that midfield and neither of them shirked a tackle or stopped running for a second. Cairney and McDonald may have looked bigger, more dominating, and had more of the ball, but these two never left them alone.
Manning was never cowed by the challenge and I thought he battled extremely well. Again, he showed plenty of skill and a good eye for a pass and took his goal well. In fact, that goal came from he and Luongo hunting in a small pack, forcing Fulham into a mistake near their own goal.
It says a lot that he's been entrusted with our free kicks and corners for the most part and he must already feel like he belongs in this team. My only criticism is that sometimes he takes risks in dangerous situations - three or four times he was trying drag-backs and the like in dodgy areas and on another day it might have cost us dear. By way of comparison, you can see how the games out on loan have really helped Furlong - he plays when he can, but if he's under pressure he's not afraid to launch it to safety. That's not to say I'd like to see Manning curbed, because his youthful belief in himself is helping him and the team - to win games you must take risks. But he just needs to judge when a drag back is needed and when it might be better to get rid.
It was a slight change this week. Whereas at Reading Hall was playing as an anchorman, today he dropped right back between Onuoha and Lynch. That worked in some ways - one of the worst things about the game at Fulham was the amount of times they cut us open through the heart of our defence. That didn't happen today, we were very solid in that central area on the edge of our box. But it had the knock-on effect of us playing more of a 5-3-2. Wszolek was unable to have the impact he had against Reading because he had to tuck in and couldn't exploit the wide areas enough. It also left the tireless Manning and Luongo a bit short-handed in the centre, and a little stretched too. In the end, it sort of worked, because they worked so hard as a team, but hopefully we'll be able to return to more of a 4-3-3 in coming weeks.
For all the criticism of Ferdinand's transfers (which to my eyes have not been half bad in the circumstances) there have been some big successes, none more so than Smithies. He really is a very, very good keeper. When he made his last penalty save on TV against Villa, Sherwood ignorantly dismissed it as a bad penalty. I hate it when people say that. Any penalty save is a great save. But there could be no argument about today's. Right in the corner, low and hard. A very tough one to get to, but, like a cat, he did. A wonderful leap to get down to it and turn it round the post. I know Fulham's general penalty record this season is poor, but it must be a record, surely, for a team to miss three pens against one team in one season?
Just as impressive was moments later when a ball over the top caught us out and without hesitation Smithies was out in a dangerous situation to head clear. He didn't stand around congratulating himself on saving a penalty (I suppose, for him, it's more likely he won't, so he wasn't surprised), he was quick, alert and decisive. What a difference to certain previous keepers. Get that new contract signed - if we can hold onto him he could be our keeper for a decade. England really could do far worse than take him as third choice to the World Cup. We'll need him in the second round penalty shoot out.
I've never gone overboard about Hall. I agree he deserved player of the season last year, although I felt his form did tail off. But at the moment he is getting better and better. I can see Furlong or Cousins maturing into captains of this club, but Hall might beat both of them there. He's really stepped his game up since Ollie came in, and perhaps particularly since Fleming arrived. Great with his head in defence, a danger from set pieces, intelligent on the ball, clean, strong. I thought he was excellent today. Unflappable, made good, hard tackles, kept a lid on Martin along with Onuoha, and just gave us that solidity in the middle. And as he learns that midfield role his versatility is invaluable, like having an all-rounder in cricket. He can step back into defence if we need him to, or step forward into midfield and release Luongo or Manning or Wszolek to move higher up the pitch. Quite an exciting development.
Two games, two kicks. Hopefully we'll see a bit more of him against Burton.
I've read Clive's view and Punter's and have to say I come down on Clive's side here. I thought he was abysmal. After the unfortunate sending off of Onuoha it was hard to believe he wasn't hurt that we'd appealed it when he gave a free kick almost every time a Fulham player went down - and they went down a lot. The penalty decision was bad, but much worse was to follow. The yellow for a hard but fair challenge by Furlong was a joke and one later, I think for Manning, came after he checked to see how hurt the player was. Worst of all was the failure to send off Cairney. As fans, we've often come on here after our own players have gone for retaliation - Cisse, Barton - and thought them unlucky, but stupid. This was no different. It was retaliation for a foul on someone else. It was off the ball, it was without doubt violent conduct. You can bet that had it been the other way around, we'd have been down to ten men. You have to commend Furlong and Luongo for still playing well after their yellows because with Stroud you are on a knife edge.
This was a great London derby, really enjoyable, I love a bit of needle - but the needle came not from the players but from his poor management of the game. Too free with the bookings, too eager to award soft free kicks, too fussy over placement of free kicks sometimes, completely ignoring it at others. Even when the benches had their argy bargy he stood there and watched, deciding who he'd send off, rather than actually doing his job and settling it down.
A poor ref who needs to hang the whistle up.
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