Roy “October Manager of the Month” sure caused many to scratch their heads by excluding Seol, EJ, Elm, or any other fit striker on the bench for Sunday’s match. If that isn’t waving the white flag of draw, I don’t know what is.

Additionally he started Erik Nevland who early on looked quite dangerous and had several chances just go wide or hit the post. Then disappeared until he was subbed off.

Taking his place was Zoltan Gera, which caused me to think that maybe Clint would be pushed up top and pair with Zamora? Nope; 4-5-1 to see out the last 15 or so minutes.

According to Elm’s blog he and EJ were training (and both late) on Sunday for today’s reserve game against Chelsea. So maybe Roy thought it better they play 90 on Monday against a good reserve opponent rather than 10 (if that) against a mediocre side?

YET AGAIN A FULHAM BEAT REPORTER WOULD BE NICE!

Questions aside Mark Schwarzer played out of this world as Fulham were out-shot 21 to 11. How did he fall on our laps on a free? Hallelujah.

And remember last week the chalkboards showed how well Fulham pushed Liverpool’s passing from back to front, to side to side? Well, rinse and repeat!

Okay, pardon my questioning of Woy. All hail indeed.

What was truly a tale of two halves saw the likes of Bobby Zamora and Bjorn Helge Riise dictate play and Brede Hangeland rise above and score a crucial header in the first 45 minutes. On the flip side, Okaka Chuka was completely absent as were Roma’s entire midfield.

In the second 45 minutes, Fulham were all too willing to give away possession to a team that either remembered they were supposed to be playing a game or had a livid half time talk. And adding the likes of Claudio Pizzaro and Mirko Vucinic helped too.

It was really only a matter of time before they tied it up or won it. We can look at the ridiculous penalty by and ejection of Steven Kelly — who is all but gone for the rest of the Group Stage — and thank Mark Schwarzer for saving our skins, but Roma deserved at least a point. Thankfully, they did not take all three.

Yet Fulham also deserved a point in this uneven but still crackling affair. According to Bill Simmons’ “13 Levels of Losing” I’d say this was a Level XII. Tough, but fair.

We can take away several positives from this match. First, Zamora clearly has the monkey off his back. Bjorn Riise should be challenging Gera on the depth chart (or maybe he was especially just up for it considering he played against his brother?) Greening can boot it from distance. We’re probably going to be seeing a lot of Chris Smalling on defense now that Kelly is suspended. And according to the comments in Chris’ The Offside–Roma blog, we have some new fans!

View, if you can stomach it:

Fulham 1 – Roma 1.

Moyes’ has yet to announce whether he’ll mail it in on Sunday, which makes me a bit worried. There’s all this talk about teams pulling a Liverpool and field reserve sides, and how unsporting that is. Look at all the (non)news with Fergie over the past week.

Yet I still don’t see what Moyes’ stands to gain by playing a full strength squad. I’m not saying he should throw the match (well, the fan in me is…) but why risk perhaps ruining an opportunity to win some silverware? And beat Chelsea!

But here were almost are: season’s end. I’m hoping to release two podcasts to commemorate this special season. And a season’s end award silliness.

But I’m still looking to define the club’s identity. Several pundits say its our lack of injuries this term, and others its because we have a settled squad. But to me there’s some missing link.

Club’s do well through their identity, be it tactical or ethos (Bolton, Blackburn and now Stoke’s direct, muscular football has guided them to safety each year; United are always the inevitable victor; Chelsea spending money).

And without an identity (Is City built on offense through Ireland, Robinho, and whatever 19 year old forward they have, or are they defensive with a bedrock of Bridge, Dunne, Richards, and Given?) or a major flaw to your identity (West Brom playing “nice” football but defending like a youth team) you cannot succeed.

So what are we? I wasn’t around for Tigana, but it seemed to buy high and underachieve on the field. Under Cookie, we did what Wigan currently are: buy low, sell high, get by. LS: Overpay for rubbish, struggle under the long ball.

Roy has obviously proven his transfer acumen, with the only “flops” (Litmanen and Barnes) being so because of injuries, not lack of skill. And the football is pretty, but also compact and defensive.

But I think there needs to be more. Suggestions? Or is this a fool’s errand, as compact, tidy, and organized footy is an identity in of itself?

And had it not been for Spurs being gifted 3 points, our ticket would already be punched thanks to today’s predictable (yet still anxious) 1-0 victory and West Ham losing.

Barrages came, the line held, Schwarzer saved, Kamara scored. Not too much else to say, really. Seeing AJ and Zamora start on the bench was odd, though.

We knew Newcastle would threaten, that they’d go after Gera and Pantsil, and that they couldn’t score — at least not have it count.

Look at this chalkboard, particularly the general locations of Steven Taylor’s and Danny Murphy’s passes.

Taylor was never allowed forward, and Murphy quickly passed in that denied space. Although Danny was 46/10 for successful/unsuccessful ratio, Taylor connected all 36. But it didn’t matter.

Newcastle appeared threatening, and almost scored several times, but they didn’t break us down. And, in my mind, that is what made the difference: we broke them down.

Looks like next weekend will be another stomach churner. A win — hopefully Moyes trots out the JV team — and we’re golden. A draw, and we have to hope Spurs don’t win by more than 6 goals. A loss, and we have to count on (the already vacationing) Liverpool side to win.

Thanks to Schwarzer the match may have gone the other way. Season MVP?

Or maybe if there was someone else up front to pass to, avoiding Huth and Wheater flying around like supermen, it could have been a rout in our favor. It seemed as soon as the ball penetrated the defensive perimeter, one of them threw themselves at the ball carrier and the ball was passed off, the other made a “brave challenge” to the receiver, yet there was no one else around wide open for that second “dump” pass — too many passes were intercepted or shots blocked. If that makes sense.

The clean-sheet keeps us tied for fourth-best overall defense (i.e. fewest goals conceded; 28), but the lack of goals also means we’re the worst offensive road team, with just 9 — tied with Boro coincidentally. But its two straight months without a road loss — a team record?

And whats up with Sanli? That man must purposefully drench himself in water before the match because there’s no way anyone can get that sweaty within the first 5 minutes. If anyone has photos of him with dry hair, I’d be interested to see them. Just to see if they exist.

Podcast should be out tomorrow evening. Stoke next weekend. Good days to be a Fulham fan.

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.

Here’s the breakdown of each month (record being in W-L-T format), beginning with August:

GP Pts Record GF GA
2 3 1-1-0 2 2
3 3 1-2-0 3 4
4 5 1-1-2 3 2
5 8 2-1-2 4 3
5 7 1-0-4 6 3
3 3 1-2-0 4 5
4 5 1-1-2 2 3

Looking at February’s stats, it seems Fulham pulled a Bristol City — acquiring points yet having a negative goal differential. It also marks the least amount of goals scored since opening month, but Fulham played twice as many games.

Beginning with Hull on Wednesday, the next series of matches concluding with Bolton away should, hopefully, reap results like November and December.

And lastly, just saw the extended highlights of the Arsenal match, and Mark Schwarzer is without a doubt MOTM. He was the only person I really credited in my post about the match, as he was the only standout from an overall quality performance, but he deserves a shout-out from the highest peaks.

Keep up the good work, ya Aussie.