It wasn't pretty, and with a trip to the theatre coming up three days later we could have done without the extra time, but we're in the semi's, that's the main thing. Gerard paid Fulham an extraordinary amount of respect, and simply allowed them as much possession as they wanted in their own half. When Fulham had the ball, our players simply retreated into their own half and kept their shape. Was this a trial run for Sunday? Possibly. Anyway, the first ninety minutes were pretty dire, and it wasn't until extra time that the game livened up. Actually, the last ten minutes of normal time weren't too bad, as the match became spread out a little and chances started to come. Our defence were pretty much untroubled throughout, with Henchoz in magnificent form again, and Sami, Carra and Babbel also looking pretty solid. Aside from that one careless backpass from Sami, there wasn't too much for Fulham to get excited about really.
Mind you, we weren't exactly threatening much ourselves either, with Murphy's free kick the closest we came. Danny also hit the woodwork on Sunday as well, but no doubt when Hamann comes back he'll take over again and continue to scuff them into the bottom of the wall. Aside from Paddy, Murphy is the best dead ball exponent we've got, and he should be allowed the responsibility in future.
I thought Murphy was one of our better players on the night, although a gang of tosspots sitting behind me weren't impressed with his efforts. Games such as this tend to bring out the gobshites unfortunately. These scallies had taken advantage of the reduced admission costs to bring their birds with them, and seemed determined to try and impress them by slaughtering Murphy, Smicer and Carra at every possible opportunity. The girls had no interest in the game whatsoever, and were obviously bored shitless, but they still probably knew more than their arsehole fella's. That's the downside of lower ticket prices I'm afraid.
For almost the entire game, one idiot would only refer to Danny as 'that little wanker.' When Danny hits the post with a free kick, and followed that up a couple of minutes later with a delightful back heeled turn down the line, this same gimp is on his feet screaming "Go on Danny lad." Fucking hypocrite.
From about ten minutes into the game, one of them was calling for Carragher to be subbed. Now if he wanted him to be replaced by Vignal, then okay, I wouldn't have agreed but I could have understood his thinking. Still, I daresay this prick had never even heard of Vignal. No, he wanted Carragher to be replaced by Michael Owen! If he said it once, he said it a hundred times.
Vlad was also on the receiving end of some over the top abuse too. Now everyone has their own opinion on Smicer, and I know a lot of people are still to be convinced (I am myself up to a point, although I do have a lot of time for Vladi), but the fact is he had a damned good game against Fulham, and anyone who was critical of him for that performance obviously wasn't paying attention. The cross for the first goal was a thing of beauty. He looked up just before delivering it to make sure where Owen was, and it was delivered with pinpoint precision. Just like the one he produced for Heskey against Charlton actually.
The thing is though, had he not managed to get his name on the scoresheeet, that cross would have counted for nothing oin many people's eyes, so I was made up for him when he finally broke his Anfield duck. He just needs confidence now, and then we'll see the best of Smicer.
The star man though was unquestionably Gerrard. He was absolutely immense, and I lost count of the amount of brilliant tackles he prouced to stop Fulham attacks before they'd even really started. No wonder he was so shattered when he went off. I also thought his midfield partner Biscan had a steady game, and he can be pleased with his contribution. He tired as it went on, but did enough early on to suggest he'll become a fixture in the side over the coming months.
The only real downside was the reaction of Fowler to being subbed. It was so obvious that he was pissed off, but as the captain he should be setting a better example than that. I had some sympathy, as I thought he'd worked really hard and was regularly found in his own half tackling back. As I said in the Ipswich report, he's being asked to do a different role these days, and it's certainly reducing his goal threat. However, when Gerard decided to bring Owen on, there was only ever one player who was coming off, and he should have accepted it a little better. When extra time came, as captain he should have been out there geeing up his troops, but he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he was getting showered and changed, or maybe he was sulking, I don't know, but for me a captain should set a better example.
It's Sunderland or Palace next then, and I hope it's Palace. For one thing, it will be an easier game than facing Quinn and Phillips & co, and the other thing is I want to see how Razor Ruddock fares trying to stop Emile! As for the final, I'll take City, just so we can put one over on BFJ.
TEAM: Sander Westerveld; Markus Babbel, Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz, Jamie Carragher; Vladimir Smicer, Steven Gerrard (Gary McAllister), Igor Biscan; Danny Murphy; Robbie Fowler (Michael Owen) Emile Heskey (Nick Barmby):
