Fulham 4 Bolton 1
Fulham, at last,
have found the way to score. Last Tuesday, in Bologna,
they surpassed themselves by scoring twice against a
team full of experienced, resourceful players. This,
after the aridity of their dreary home matches in the
Intertoto Cup which had gone before.
Yesterday at Loftus Road, however, in hot sunshine
tempered by a lively breeze, they simply brushed a
feeble Bolton Wanderers aside.
Bolton’s manager, Sam Allardyce, once an
uncompromising centre-half himself, was predictably
horrified by his team’s wretched defending. The result,
he hoped, would give the team “a kick up the backside”,
which it manifestly needed.
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Fulham Boss Jean Tigana happy
with the
4-1 win against Bolton
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Jean Tigana, Fulham’s manager, was at one with
Allardyce in believing that the series of Intertoto
matches had sharpened Fulham for the ensuing Premiership
opening.
But this hardly excuses the ineptitude of Bolton’s
performance. As Allardyce proclaimed, they simply cannot
go on giving away goals like that, of which he singled
out three in particular, two of them from the penalty
spot.
For Fulham, the Japanese World Cup player, Junichi
Inamoto, was once more used as a substitute. He said: “I
think I can show my play better in 90 minutes.” Tigana
hinted that it would not be very long before he had the
opportunity to do so.
Tigana was happy rather than euphoric about his
team’s performance and emphasised, as well he might,
that all the goals were “the big difference today”.
“When we win, we get confidence,” Tigana said.
Allardyce, meanwhile, was left to ponder over the
negative performances of the two players who have come
to Bolton from Paris St Germain, both of whom were
substituted at half-time.
The manager thought that Bernard Mendy, the
right-back, was lucky not to be sent off for the penalty
he gave away, while Jay Jay Okocha “got a knock on the
knee and didn’t show enough.” Both players, said
Allardyce, would “get some chances, but they’ll have to
make sure they take them, otherwise their places are in
jeopardy”.
These two players, however, were hardly the only
disappointments in this flaccid Bolton team, which might
have profited more from their early penalty had Fulham
themselves not been given one so soon afterwards. That
fourth-minute spot-kick for Bolton came when Ricardo
Gardner sent the experienced Frenchman Youri Djorkaeff
through, and Alain Goma brought him down. Michael
Ricketts struck the penalty confidently into the
right-hand corner, then largely disappeared from view.
If Bolton really have resisted an offer of £8m for
the centre-forward, who had not previously scored since
last February, they may well live to regret it, on this
form at least.
In the 11th minute, Fulham were level from another
penalty. Another of the many Frenchmen on the field,
Steed Malbranque found Louis Saha, who was fouled by
Gudni Bergsson. Saha converted the penalty himself.
From that moment on, Fulham were rampant, Bolton
inexorably on the back foot.
Sylvain Legwinski, who had a lively game on the right
flank, got in a header from Rufus Brevett’s cross, which
was saved by Jussi Jaaskelainen.
But the Finnish goalkeeper could do nothing in the
33rd minute when, after receiving the ball from Sean
Davis, Legwinski beat him with some dazzling footwork.
Five minutes later came another Fulham goal, this
time when Mendy fouled Luis Boa Morte. It was Steve
Marlet’s turn to finish from the penalty spot.
In the second half, perhaps thanks to the close
conditions, the game largely fell away. Allardyce
thought that Bolton, having made a couple of
substitutions, had their chances, but to be frank they
were invisible to the naked eye.
Hardly had Inamoto come on in the 68th minute than he
took a corner from the left, with Marlet sending his
header whistling not far above the crossbar.
It was another 11 minutes before Fulham roused
themselves to score their fourth. Inamoto’s cross was
sloppily cleared, and Legwinski pounced on the ball to
send it whistling past Jaaskelainen.
Fulham even brought on Facundo Sava, the Argentine
striker who cost them £2m during the summer.
| Match Stats |
Fulham |
Bolton |
| Goal attempts |
12 |
3 |
| On Target |
5 |
2 |
| Fouls |
16 |
12 |
| Corners |
7 |
4 |
| Yellows |
1 |
2 |
| Reds |
0 |
0 |
| source: www.sportinglife.com |
To give Sava his due, he neatly set up a late
chance with a pass to his left to the unmarked Boa
Morte, who thumped the ball wastefully high and wide.
For Fulham, the importance of the game, as in
Bologna, surely lay in the fact that their attackers,
and not only they, as Tigana insisted, have found their
range and are no longer firing blanks.
Those three infinitely tedious home games in the
Intertoto now lie in the past.
Any team, including Bologna, that comes to Loftus
Road will have to defend a great deal better than
Bolton.
After the poor attendance at Fulham’s Intertoto match
against Sochaux, this healthy crowd suggested that when
it comes to the real thing, the supporters will come.
Fulham:
Van der Sar, Finnan, Goma,
Brevett, Melville, Davis, Malbranque (Inamoto 68min),
Legwinski, Boa Morte, Marlet, Saha (Sava 77min)
Bolton:
Jaaskelainen, Mendy (Whitlow
h-t), Charlton, N’Gotty, Bergsson, Okocha (Pedersen
h-t), Nolan (Warhurst 69min), Frandsen, Gardner,
Djorkaeff, Ricketts
Scorers: Fulham: Saha 11 pen,
Legwinski 33, 79, Marlet 38 pen: Bolton: Ricketts 4 pen
Referee: A Wiley
Attendance:
16,338