View From The Shelf

Can Hodgson make the critics eat their words?

I really can’t decide whether this is one of the more exciting final days in recent times or not. As much as I find it interesting to speculate on, if push came to shove then I wouldn’t swap m ticket to Spurs-Liverpool tomorrow to watch any of the three threatened teams. As close as undoubtedly nail-biting the situation if for fans of the clubs, to an outsider the teams involved are just too bland to become passionate about. Birmingham City are the possible exception but with their fixture away at Swansea next season seemingly a formality there is not a lot of intrigue on that front either. Fulham and Reading are just *there* to many fans even their own it sometimes seems. Who would really miss the visit of either team to your club next season? What do they offer the Premiership that could not easily be replaced by a West Brom, if not improved upon.

The key game tomorrow is obviously Fulham away at Portsmouth because if Hodgson’s men win then everything else is academic. A lot of people have written this off as a mere formality because of Portsmouth seemingly focusing on next weekend’s FA cup final. There is certainly some logic to this statement.

At the same time though, Pompey will not want to go to Wembley on a losing run and their recent form has been patchy at best. they’ve rested several players in each of the last few games and as you would expect their results have been poor. However tomorrow seems like the perfect opportunity for them to spring a surprise. It’s their final home game of the season and so that is an instant motivator as nobody wants to lose that. Plus you get the impression that Redkapp will have to give his first eleven a run out before the cup final just to keep fitness levels up and remind them of each others faces. Sure they will not be throwing themselves into 40/60 tackles with the same enthusiasm as they surely will against Cardiff next week, but their team has more quality than Fulham and may be able to make it count.

Another factor to consider is the possibility that Fulham will go into the game over-confident. They’ve on three of the last four games and could fall into the trap of thinking that the hard work has now been done. Portsmouth have players to the quality of Muntari, Krancjar and Defoe who are just too good to assume that you’re automatically going to beat them just because you need a result more.

Whatever happens I think an apology of sorts is owed to Roy Hodgson. I wrote him off some games ago but according to all reports he’s stuck to his principles and made Fulham try to play their way out of trouble. The double-pivot of Bullard and Murphy are pulling the strings and the return from injury of the inspiration Brian McBride has played a massive factor in them even being in with a shout of staying up. I do think however their resurgence has been overplayed in the media somewhat and there would be a certain karma if they were to peril after being gifted survival last season by Rafa Benitez.

The real kicker for their fans must be that it is unlikely they would even be in this situation if their board hadn’t appointed the disaster-waiting-to-happen that was Lawrie Sanchez. He was brought in at the end of last season to do his firefighting act and keep them up and the fact they are still playing in the Premiership had extremely little to do with him. In most other seasons they would have been certainties for the drop with 35 points. He bought poorly in the summer and then (and this comes from someone inside the club – as well as from watching the games) simply instructed them to launch long diagonal balls at big centre forwards although were often intercepted by just as big but cleverer central defenders.

The symbol of Sanchez’s reign was the signing of Steven Davis. Obviously known to the manager from their Northern Ireland time together, he was bought for £4m. Davis was a talented player but patently unsuitable for a team that was going to play direct, aggressive football. He was subsequently deemed superfluous and loaned to Rangers where he is now fighting for four trophies this season and attracting interest from a number of clubs much higher in stature than Fulham.

From an objective point of view it could be argued that none of these clubs deserve to stay up in they can’t manage more than 36 points in a season and the same goes for Bolton. If it was not for the de-stabilising effect of the takeover bid then I don’t think Birmingham would be in the mire and our fallen three would already be secured. However with Reading apparent formalities to beat Derby (despite their truly woeful away form) then it appears Birmingham’s fate is already written. Therefore just to avoid another season of Steve Coppell interviews I won’t be too upset if Fulham overcome a Lawrie Sanchez-sized hurdle and achieve the most unlikely of escape acts.