Match Reports for City and Fulham (and Kane equalising Greaves’s record)
Match Reports for City and Fulham (and Kane equalising Greaves’s record)
Spurs 2 City 4
It was a cold night when we faced City, but our first-half performance quickly warmed us up. That was in the first half, the second half, we expected more of the first, but we were abused promptly by that thought. We quickly adapted to our Spursy form and capitalised to a powerful City second-half.
Manchester City overpowered us with a stunning comeback at Etihad Stadium to narrow the gap on Premier League leaders Arse-Stooges to five points. We looked to be doing our bitter north London rivals a huge favour when we scored twice in the closing moments of the first half to leave City staring at a third successive loss.
Dejan Kulusevski gave us the lead seconds before the break after Rodrigo Bentancur robbed Rodri following Ederson’s poor clearance. Emerson Royal then headed a second after the City keeper could only push out Harry Kane’s shot. Inspired by the outstanding Riyad Mahrez, City flew out after the interval to turn the game on its head with three goals in 12 minutes.
Julian Alvarez scored from close range after Lloris could not claim Mahrez’s cross in the 51st minute, then Erling Haaland headed in from close range two minutes later to draw City level.
We almost regained the lead when Ivan Perisic’s shot was deflected onto the woodwork by Rico Lewis before Mahrez completed City’s comeback, winning a challenge before beating Lloris at his near post.
Lloris was at fault once again after his own goal set the Gooners on their way to victory in the North London derby on Sunday.
Mahrez completed an individual display when he raced clear in stoppage time to lift a clever finish over the Lloris for City’s fourth.
What we thought was our day quickly turned into humiliation.
How do you think the team talk started before the City match?
Kane to Conte: “Please, boss, I think we should try something different.”
The team got behind their captain and applauded (with nervousness).
Conte to Kane: “Like what?”
Kane: “Well, instead of being shit in the first half, why can’t we change it around and be shit in the second, thus fooling our opponents? They won’t know what hit them… and we come away victorious.”
Another nervous cry of joy comes from the others….
Conte: “Well, we could try that, however, we can’t afford to concede with our shitty second-half display… we must end it in the first half.”
A cheer goes up, and they all leave to go out onto the pitch, and the rest is mockery by the press and fans alike.
Mel and I travelled up to Manchester with Mel’s daughter (Laura) and her boyfriend, Casey. A very cold evening, but we were well wrapped up.
Fulham 0 Spurs 1
Another bloody freezing day and low hopes as Fulham have been doing well lately. Was this going to be another humiliation and another step downwards?
Harry Kane said a team meeting helped them get back on track with a narrow win at Fulham. Really! Then they better have such a team meeting before every match… and what were they doing when they played City and the Gooners and all the other ones we lost to? Having a laugh and pissing around! They are professional footballers, they don’t or shouldn’t need team meetings to tell them what they should already know or are paid to do.
Kane scored the only goal with a good strike into the bottom corner from just outside the box to equal Jimmy Greaves’ record as our all-time top scorer with 266 goals. That game was our only second Premier League win in six games and came after back-to-back losses against the North London Stooges and Manchester City.
Kane could have broken the record in the second half, but his close-range header was tipped over well by Fulham’s goalkeeper, Bernd Leno.
Fulham had plenty of chances to score before Kane’s opener, with Lloris keeping out Bobby Decordova-Reid’s long-range drive and Harrison Reed’s snap-shot. But this is now a second defeat for Fulham in a row and a missed chance to go above us into fifth place.
The game had kicked off 18 minutes late following travel problems for fans in the area and then issues with referee Paul Tierney’s communication devices. We were lucky as we parked on the other side of the Fulham road, where parking was free after 5pm (that is, if you were lucky to find free parking, but we did). I had to pick Mel up in Gloucestershire as his car was out of commission. I finally got home – to Cheltenham – at 12 am. The next day (actually, the same day), I got up to go back to Newbury. It was a long all-around day on Monday.
COYS!
Glenn