Fulham 1 - West Bromwich Albion 1

Summary:

Albion earned a draw thanks to a late strike by Gareth McAuley to double their points tally - both for the season so far and from the last 12 years at Craven Cottage. New signings Morgan Amalfitano and Victor Anichebe made their first starts for the club as Steve Clarke adopted a 4-4-2 formation with Chris Brunt recalled to the lineup. Bizarrely, Stephane Sessegnon was unable to play due to an as-yet unresolved work permit issue.

Fulham took the lead when ex-seal Steve Sidwell volleyed home from a corner in the 22nd minute and Albion went in one goal down at half time. Substitutes James Morrison and Scott Sinclair replaced Claudio Yacob and Amalfitano just after the hour and Saido Berahino replaced Anichebe with six minutes of full time to play, and in the second minute of added time McAuley earned Albion the point when he headed home from Brunt's corner.

oshawabaggie:

A disjointed and disappointing first half. We looked like a bunch of out of form players supplemented by some new bits trying to find a role (which is what we are). Second half was much better, although we could have been two or three down. Amalfitano showed a lot of effort and put in some good crosses. Morrison much better than Yacob (what's happened to him?). Brunt did well. Front men Anichebe and Anelka didn't really gel. The former beefy, but slow. The latter off the pace (can he pick it up?). Berehino may yet be our saviour. Sinclair disappointing. Thank god for McAuley. At least they could go home feeling better about themselves.

Huge game next week. Sessegnon hat-trick!!

Paul Gainham:

Thinking we have turned a corner or that things will suddenly get better after getting a point against an AVERAGE Fulham side is like turning the sound of the radio up in the car to cover a worrying engine noise.

How long will we bury our head in the sands before we wake up, smell the coffee and fire Clarke.

Today for 60 minutes we were utterly woeful. No structure, no game plan, slow and ponderous on the ball and no punch up front. After that we showed more fight and Fulham sat back meaning we had greater control of the game albeit never really troubling their keeper. In contrast, this average Fulham team had the ball in our net 4 times.

Bringing Morrison and Sinclair on was the catalyst for a comeback and even then clueless Clarke plays Sinclair out on the right for the first 15 mins where he is ineffective. Eventually he switches him out to the left and he becomes much more effective. Berahino comes on late and in fairness to him, shows the youthful vigour you would expect and it?s his hassling that forced the corner from which we scored a late equaliser.

So we probably did deserve a point and did not succumb to the heavy defeat i thought we would, albeit my 4-0 forecast was nearly accurate as they did have the ball in our net 4 times.....

The worst thing about today is how Clarke is constantly fiddling with the formation and personnel ? its as bad as it was under Robson, another clueless idiot who never figured out what formation worked and what players were best where. I counted 5 formation / personnel moves today not counting the substitutions. With that approach the writing really is on the wall and I would urge Peace to act now before it?s too late and he causes us permanent damage.

As for the newcomers today, Anichebe looks no better than MAF, had one weak shot on goal all game, played one good pass through to Anelka and then was completely played out of the game by Hangeland and Senderos. What I remember of him at Everton ? not particularly fast, poor touch and poor in front of goal were all in evidence today. ?6m well spent??

Amalfitano the jury is out on, he looked off the pace and did not exhibit and trickery or bursts of pace that made him stand out. He tracked back well but did nothing to excite.

Sinclair as I have said came on the right and was ineffective, moved to the left and looked much, much better.

Anelka was awful.

Player Marks

• Myhill 6 Not sure he could do much with their goal, did not have that much else to do, but did what he had to do well
• Jones 6 Pretty solid today, better performance than same fixture last year
• Olsson 6 Solid
• McCauley 6 Solid, great goal in extra time
• Ridgewell 3 MUST be clarkes love child, another really poor game
• Mulumbu 7 My MOM, showed energy, passion and was always trying to raise the tempo.
• Yacob 4 Another poor game, slow, no tempo, caught in possession too often
• Amalfitano 5 Will give him the benefit of the doubt but did not excite, another journeyman?
• Brunt 5 Good game by his standards, tried to move the ball forwards
• Anelka 2 Awful. Slow, tried to do too much, often caught in possession. A poor mans Berbatov
• Anichebe 4 Is he REALLY any better than MAF. Everything I thought he would be. He is NOT the goal answer.

Subs

• Sinclair 6 Did well on the left but only had 15 mins there
• Morrison 6 Tried to inject some tempo late on
• Berahino 6 Full of youthful vigour, showed some good touches.

Manager 1 He really is making it up as he goes along. Utterly clueless

Didcot Baggie:

I dare say Steve Clarke will say that we deserved a point, but in reality we were lucky, although a late second half rally gave hope for future performances. First half was the now traditional dire effort, second half was better and my take was that it was late sub Berahino who gave us some oomph. Will SC have the nerve to pick him regularly?? Negative points: Myhill never looks confident. Jonas distribution out of defence poor. Yacob looks jaded. Brunt another poor performance. Plus points: Anelka played about 100% better than in previous league games. Some nice touches and should have scored. Anichebe burly but slow, but got some chances and should have scored. Amalfitano looked useful in the second half before being subbed. Berahino was lively when he came on and of course we have to thank Gareth for a well taken goal.

Would like to see Popov given a chance instead of workman-like Ridgewell and hope that Sessegnon replaces Brunt in attacking midfield. I think the jury is still out on our best forward pairing but at least we have options.

Bring on the Black Cats!

Paul Collins:

Brunt made a big difference today accurately playing the ball forward out of defence and some threatening long range shooting. Steve Clark is not clueless, this is the man who in his first season in charge took Albion to their highest ever Premiership placing. Also the new boys should be given more than one game before being written off. Amalfitano looks a good addition to me.

Fair play to the officials today, three disallowed Fulham strikes all correct decisions and the second particularly difficult to get right at full speed. I remember Italy suffering twice at a World Cup from similar situations got wrong both times by the officials, perhaps things are improving.

Up against a very tough Fulham midfield with Scott Parker and a Swiss hard man Kasami my Albion MoM was Mulumbu.