When Fulham owner Mohamed al-Fayed approached Eric Cantona last
season to inquire whether the Frenchman would be interested in bringing his
esoteric skills to the coaching ranks, he could have had little idea of where
the conversation would lead.
Cantona, having declined the invitation, recommended Jean Tigana for the task.
Nine games and nine victories into the new season, Cantona is looking as prescient
in the art of managerial appointment as he ever was on a football field.
A contest that was billed as pitting Sam Allardyce's Lancashire hotpot against
Tigana's haute cuisine did not disappoint, and while promotion contests are
not traditionally settled in early autumn, the manner of the success against
a previously unbeaten Bolton carried with it an ominous air. It was, admitted
Allardyce, all but over after Bolton gifted the visitors a bizarre lead after
10 seconds and would have been far more emphatic but for some mediocre finishing
and a brilliant display by Bolton's Finnish keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.
'It hasn't been a problem so far, keeping the players' feet on the ground,'
said Fulham midfielder-coach John Collins. 'They're a good bunch of lads, level-headed,
no big dreamers. The manager wouldn't let anybody get carried away. Everybody
knows we have set high standards and we've got to maintain them or there will
be changes.'
One change was forced upon Tigana, a start for Portuguese striker Luis Boa
Morte for injured top scorer Louis Saha, a change that would prove, directly
from kick-off, the strength in depth Tigana has at his disposal.
That the goal came from a Bolton kick-off merely added to the state of shock
at the Reebok Stadium as Anthony Barness's attempted clearance was charged down
by Barry Hayles and set in motion a disastrous chain of events for the home
team. The ball broke kindly for Lee Clark and his mistimed shot was half blocked
by Mark Fish into the path of Boa Morte who reacted ahead of defender and goalkeeper
to force the ball in.
'It's difficult to say how good they are because of what we gave them,' said
Allardyce. 'We gave them something they didn't expect and they took full advantage
of it.'
Perhaps. But the goal undoubtedly set the pattern for an excellent performance
in which Bolton struggled to come to terms with Fulham's pace and movement on
the counterattack, visiting forwards frequently finding themselves goal-side
of the opposition back-line.
Thankfully for the game as a competition, if not for Kevin Keegan who leads
England against him in a World Cup qualifier in 10 days, Jaaskelainen was inspired.
Clark helped Maik Taylor's long throw directly into the path of the unmarked
Boa Morte who lost his one-on-one confrontation with the Finn. So, too, Clark
with an unopposed 15-yard drive and, as the game progressed, Fabrice Ferandez,
Clark and Boa Morte, again, would all find Jaaskelainen on top of his game.
Bolton's best first-half chance came from the veteran Dean Holdsworth, a clever
lob well saved, one-handed, by Taylor but, that aside, Wanderers could not make
superior possession tell.
Symbolically, as if to prove the gulf in class, after almost conceding an equaliser
off a scrambled long throw-in in the 84th minute, Fulham finally decided to
convert one of their plethora of chances. Yet another long throw forward by
Taylor was collected by Boa Morte, who sped half the length of the field, drew
a fine save from Jaaskelainen and then calmly converted the rebound.