By dixon9
January 3 2008

10 points out of 12 was achieved during the gruelling Christmas schedule at Craven Cottage. A remarkable feat considering this has been achieved with an almost 2nd string side. There was the usual dollop of controversy seen often before during this derby and as usual, the media machine did the best they could to side against us – Chelsea Football Club! The devil’s spawn of the Premier League!

The hypocrisy of the media slant against has been the norm for some time now.  All we can do is soldier on, hope that some of the plebeian masses have at least a half a brain and look beyond the shameful way in which the media try and condition them whilst making sure the old guard of clubs are favoured - and look at what REALLY is going on in modern top-flight football today. 

There were various “penalty” incidents and most predictably the focus was on the decision which favoured us rather than then decisions which could have easily gone our way. 

If we haven’t got used to this in the past then surely the last few weeks should have been enough to show us? (The Arsenal and Villa coverage’s being prime examples). 

Whilst the first incident appeared to be a penalty from first glance, there was a clever dive from Voltz after minimal contact from Joe Cole who had foolishly chased back at full speed, unable to brake before clipping the striker from behind.  To be honest, I’ve not too many complaints about this decision – it was the result of reckless defensive work from twinkle toes Cole despite the gamesmanship from the Fulham striker. 

Next up was a Fulham defender parrying down a Wright-Phillips cross from close range – how they got away with that I do not know!  

Then came what the media had been waiting for; a “foreign player dives in the box” headline! A 2^nd half free-kick floated over and Ballack was tugged back and simultaneously barged from behind by a combination of two Fulham defenders - The German fell and the referee raised his arm – then cue the predictable media insinuations! 

Anyway, onto other matters…. 

The first half wasn’t the best from Chelsea – we had more than enough chances to put the game out of Fulham’s reach despite our passing and rhythm not being up to it’s normal standard. 

Murphy shone brightly for the home side and he was pretty much the barometer of Fulham – as he faded in the 2^nd half his team mates began to lack belief and caved in.  Indeed, just before the whistle for half-time sounded, you couldn’t help but feel that Fulham were becoming rapidly spent and were there for the taking. 

The second half saw the unfortunate, without match practice Sidwell being changed for Mikel and Essien moved up higher in the midfield where he is allowed to maraud forward. "That was the owner's decision," joked Grant. 

Ballack had been the conductor of the blues second half performance with Essien an able time-keeper in the wings.

Ballack is rapidly getting match fit and beginning to look like a new signing. Alex was as threatening as ever in the opponent’s box and it was his header across goal bravely headed in by Kalou which sparked the revival.

“When the players are sleeping you need to wake them up," said Grant.

If I need to I can throw a tea cup or break a chair," Grant said. "Everything was wrong in that first half. We lost too many passes, we missed two great chances - one-on-ones - and we hadn't turned up. As a manager your job is to do the right thing to achieve a result. You don't have a lot of time [at the interval] but you have to use what time you have well. If the team is nervous, you have to be calm. But if people are too calm, you must be excited. We needed more control in midfield."

Hodgson: 

Fitness poor in his side?

"That's partly because of the players we have out injured at the moment but we have a lot of similar type players in the team,"

"We're quite a small team - Chelsea were quite a strong, aerobic side. But you won't hear from me that the team aren't good enough, even if January is going to be a very hectic month."

"We are missing a lot of first-team players, players who'll make the team stronger - Chelsea can argue the same thing but, frankly, they're in a much better situation than us to cover for their absentees."

"I didn't see anything today to surprise me. I didn't come into the job naively. I don't think I was appointed naively. We have to do what needs to be done."

Fulham: Niemi, Volz (Ki-Hyeon 68), Bocanegra, Stefanovic, Konchesky, Davis (Smertin 70), Davies, Murphy, Omozusi, Dempsey, Kamara (Healy 77).
Subs Not Used: Warner, Kuqi.

Booked: Stefanovic.

Goals: Murphy 10 pen.

Chelsea: Hilario, Belletti, Alex, Ben-Haim, Bridge, Wright-Phillips (Pizarro 88), Sidwell (Obi 46), Essien, Ballack, Joe Cole (Ferreira 90), Kalou.
Subs Not Used: Taylor, Sinclair.

Goals: Kalou 54, Ballack 62 pen.

Att: 25,357

Ref: Mark Halsey (Lancashire).