Seriously, Fulham have (counting backwards) gone from Rome to Wigan, London (Roma home) to Manchester City, London (Basle home) to West Ham, Sofia to Wolves and Perm to Aston Villa. Granted trips from London to ManCity and from SW6 to Upton Park aren’t that bad, it still doesn’t do much for preparation.

Tom writes,

Why would the Premier League schedule makers do this? Why was Fulham’s Europa League inclusions not taken into consideration when the schedule came out back in June? Was it a belief among the schedule makers that the Cottagers were not going to get out of the qualifying rounds? It is hard not to think something was up in trying to make Fulham travel so much when returning from their European adventure.

If Manchester United had a similar schedule, would we hear Sir Alex moaning about it? You bet.

Fredrik Stoor started and played 90 minutes in Derby County’s 2-1 win over Coventry City on friday.

Adam Watts did not dress in Lincoln City’s 3-1 win over Blue Square North side AFC Telford United in the first round of the FA Cup. According to Lincoln City’s website, Watts’ loan deal would not let him play. Assistant Manager and Fulham alum Ian Pearce did dress though, and came off the bench in the 85th minute. Huzzah!

Elliot Omozusi started and played 90 minutes in Charlton’s 1-0 loss at Blue Square North side Northwich Victoria in the first round of the FA Cup.

Everywhere. Unavoidable. Undefeatable.

So its no surprise they demolish Fulham 4-0 in the FA Cup right?

Honestly, I think otherwise.

Fulham played quite possibly their worst game all season, second to, well, that first affair against Manchester United.

Coincidental? Most likely. But I’m not going to give a club like United the credit they “deserve” because they don’t deserve anything in my mind. Any club can be good, or I could probably be a good manager, if it/I was able to acquire any player it/I wanted (through mainly illegitimate means). But thats a rant/conspiracy theory for another day.

Trying to work the ball through the center, United closed down all gaps in our midfield. Which didn’t help because they seemed more than content to hang out just outside the center circle when we were attacking, and the passing overall was just atrocious. Dickson Ethuhu had another howler of a match, having a hand in half of United goals — falling down to allow Tevez to score his second, and his terrible first touch allowing Rooney to slot home United’s third.

Some may say the lads didn’t give up, but it was evident after the 50th minute or so they did. They were tired. Overwhelmed. Outclassed. Frustrated. Substitutes Gera, Kamara, and Dacourt were each equally as useless against the tide.

When I was a senior in high school, the lacrosse team I captained was terrible: combination of bad coaching and ‘rebuilding’. We won two games all season, against a first year varsity team. And whenever we had to play the “big boys” that were light years ahead of us that year, it was essentially pointless. We tried, we hustled, we harried. But in the end nothing was different.

And I felt the same way about this match, watching as each pass was sloppily turned over or a step behind, and the defense buckled when first pressured.

It was over before it began.

In case us fans, or this blog, didn’t need another reason to love the Aussie, turns out he wrote a childrens book (which evidently isn’t new news), replete with it’s own website, and teaching tools therein.

The book, the first of three, is about Edward ‘Megs’ Morrison who moves to Australia from England, but finds commonality through the game of soccer. Or something. The flash website almost crashed my browser.

Sadly, none of the three are available stateside, but can be ordered through the UK Amazon.

Nice to hear the family man has a positive hobby and is looking out for the next generation.

After all, we all need to give back to society. Like when Clint rapped. Oh, wait, he might again?

Clint Dempsey has promised to record an FA Cup final song if Fulham reach the Wembley final. The American midfielder goes by the alias ‘Deuce’ and says his rapping will eclipse the efforts of Liverpool players in the 1990s. “I’ve heard about FA Cup final songs – especially that Anfield Rap,” he said. “I was thinking about hanging up my mic and retiring, but if we get to Wembley I can do better than that.”

Crap.

Thanks to Brad from Denver for calling in. And just pretend that we talk at length about the great performance on Saturday…

I was just finishing my deadline and had a reporters meeting during most of this match (I work for a newspaper), so needless to say I paid attention for all of about 5 minutes.

But what about Bobby Zamora, eh?

He goes almost 6 months without scoring, then nets two in consecutive matches. And the two are match winners. In case you want to see the first one, the official has some highlights up. Still searching high and low for the second, though…

The result and Bobby’s (hopeful) return to form comes at a great time. Including today, Fulham have 6 games in three weeks. But they also don’t have to leave London until March 14. Arsenal away, Hull home, ManU home [FA Cup], Blackburn home, Bolton away.

Could be worse, no?

Eddie Johnson did not dress in Cardiff City’s 2-2 draw with Wolves on Sunday. He was an unused sub in Cardiff’s 4-0 defeat at Arsenal in the FA Cup on Monday.

Andranik Teymourian started and played 90 minutes in Barnsley’s 0-0 draw with Charlton Athletic on Saturday. He started and played 80 minutes in Barnsley’s 1-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday, on Tuesday.

Adrian Leijer did not dress in Norwich City’s 1-1 draw with Burnley on Saturday.

Hameur Bouazza came off the bench and played 63 minutes in the Brummies 1-0 loss at Coventry City on Saturday.

Moritz Volz did not dress for Ipswich’s 3-1 win at QPR on Satuday nor for Ipswich’s 2-1 win against Notts Forest on Wednesday.

Leon Andreasen started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96’s 3-2 loss at Borussia M. on Saturday. No, I’m not spelling out the rest of the team’s name.

Collins John did not dress in NEC Nijmegen’s 2-0 win at Utrecht on Saturday, nor for their 3-0 UEFA Cup loss to Hamburg on Thursday.

And Seol Hi-Kyeon is doing something in Saudi Arabia. Al-Hilal’s website is impossible to navigate, so just rest assure he’s alive.

Well, we all knew it was going to be a tough match, and kudos to Swansea for playing so well. Add in the internationals and evident lack of practice and preparation this week, and fixture congestion next week, then its a recipe for the display we saw today.

Or was it?

In a game of countless “what-could-have-beens” on both sides, was in actuality a draw. And this is the cup, where its all about not losing. Which Fulham did not do. Swansea played better than most premiership sides, but at no point did they play Fulham off the park — they were doing that themselves.

The defense was woeful, but most of all unorganized — which for a Woy team in inexplicable. The passing was bleh. The offense, never-mind. Overall result, lucky. But predictable.

Stoor seemed out of his depth, which for an international such as himself is telling. Konchesky had good runs forward, but was mediocre in the back. Hughes was unnoticeable per usual (which is a good thing for him) until his momentary lapse that allowed Scotland to look like Rooney.

Gera was everywhere and nowhere. Dacourt playing well one moment, on the turf the next. Murphy, solid. Davies was a bit too hectic for my liking, but who knows how the result would have gone had he been passive.

Nevland was present, but his flick-ons were always a yard too far for little AJ.

And it seems Roy had the same thoughts as I:

“It was a jaded performance from us and a good performance from Swansea. Our players have been away this week and it showed. The players in our team have hardly missed a game and it would be nice to have the ability to give them a rest.

“It’s important to dig in and work hard and that’s what we did today. I think it will be another tough encounter at the Cottage but the important thing was to earn the replay as we weren’t at our best today.

“Swansea’s attacking play was good and they tested us to the full. We could have done better on our counter attacking situations but as I say, I congratulate Swansea on a good performance and I’m pleased we worked so hard. Hopefully we’ll give them a better game in the replay.”

Be back Wednesday after the hiding to nothing ManU match.

Well, thankfully that was avoided. Or at least I think so.

Some are considering it a dangerous proposition, but all things considered Swansea City away was probably one of the best draws we could have gotten.

Honestly, anyone wanting to face Man United? Chelsea? Or even Burnley again??

The Swans ran away with League One last year, and are currently just outside a playoff position having not lost since before Thanksgiving. Former White Matty Collins is a fringe player for them, but Jason Scotland has netted 12 goals.

With the match three weeks away, I won’t speculate too much on it.

But the three away games have brought three interesting notes on this journey: visiting and memorializing Hillsborough, standing on a concrete terrace in Kettering, and now the closest opportunity to an ‘international’ fixture the club has had in years.

Here’s hoping the run continues.

Although, in theory, Fulham should have walked all over the K-Town minnows, it was anything but a walk in the park, even at 4-2. K-Town came out to play, and even got lucky on their two goals: one off a silly Gera deflection and another on a soft penalty call. A proper cup football match.

Hats off to Roy for subbing when he did, because the beginning of the second half was dreadful. And speaking of, Gera and Etuhu are *officially* not ready for prime-time. You could tell Roy was playing both Etuhu and Andreasen to see which dog would become the alpha, and it was clearly evident Leon was up for the task. Expect him to start Tuesday.

And Gera, well, you have until Feb.2 to make a move and find a Bullard-esque replacement Roy. Get busy.

Other shout-outs must include Dempsey, who even late in the second half was playing at 110-percent; Stoor, whose crosses were quite accurate; Zamora, for changing the game on its head when stepping onto the pitch; and the club for scoring four goals away from home!

When was the last time we did that you may ask? November 10, 2004 against Nottingham Forest in the Carling Cup. When Bush just got re-elected president.

When, or if, the offal uploads extended highlights I’ll be sure to post them up.

Today was the draw for the fourth round, and Fulham drew non-league side Kettering Town Football Club. Some interesting tidbits about the club: their chairman is from Kenya (only in England?), are huge proponents of the “humanitarian” (what that means exactly is unclear) issue in Palestine and wear it on their kits, and had Paul Gascoigne as a manager — for 39 days.

Considering all the other clubs we could have faced, this is probably one of if not the easiest. But it also has a HUGE “banana peel” potential and could redefine “Fulhamish” for a generation. We’ll wait and see, but I like our chances.

I’m really hoping for a good cup run.