Fuller red carded after trying to beat up team mate ...lol

[Sir X]

The hieght of RUXNESS! ...lol

[Sir X]

West Ham 2-1 Stoke


By Julian Shea



Carlton Cole (right) scored for the second game running


West Ham snatched a late win over a Stoke side that was reduced to 10 men after striker Ricardo Fuller was sent off for fighting with a team-mate.
Abdoulaye Faye's free header to put Stoke ahead was the highlight of a scrappy first half.
Carlton Cole turned Andy Griffin to level for West Ham and some fiery Stoke recriminations saw Fuller dismissed.
Stoke looked to be heading for a draw until Cole's shot was deflected off Diego Tristan into the net.
The first half was a disjointed affair, characterised by Stoke defending in numbers, West Ham piling forward to little clear purpose and over-officious refereeing.
Stoke's hopes of a first away win of the season received an early boost when they went ahead from the first corner of the match.
Faye was left totally unmarked at the far post to head in Danny Pugh's corner from the right-hand side.
Most of West Ham's threats were inspired by Julien Faubert on the right, with Cole usually his intended target.
But for all the problems his physical presence caused the Stoke defence, he rarely managed to create any serious chances.
Having taken an early lead, Stoke seemed happy to soak up the West Ham punches and they were lucky to get away with it when Herita Ilunga found a way through on the left wing and laid the ball back into a crowded box, somehow missing all his team-mates.
Stoke's main attacking threats came from Pugh, Fuller's counter-attacks and inevitably Rory Delap's long throws, but neither keeper was overly tested in the first half.
Just after the restart, the game was turned on its head in memorable fashion.
Cole finally found a way through the defence, controlling Scott Parker's long pass and turning an unfit-looking Griffin to curl in an equaliser.
And before Stoke could even restart, they were reduced to 10 men as Fuller was shown a straight red card for slapping his captain in the face.
West Ham made the most of their one-man advantage as they piled on the pressure, and only a superbly timed goal-line clearance by Danny Higginbotham prevented Luis Boa Morte putting the home side ahead with a mi**************** shot.
Delap's long-range shot tested Robert Green but it was a rare second half attack for the visitors.
Their stout defensive display looked to have earned them a draw until Cole's shot took a touch off substitute Tristan and was deflected past the helpless Thomas Sorensen for the winner.

BBC Sport Player Rater man of the match: Stoke's Abdoulaye Faye 7.29 (on 90 minutes).
Please note that you can still give the players marks out of 10 on BBC Sport's Player Rater after the match has finished. Player Rater


West Ham: Green, Faubert, Collins, Upson, Ilunga, Behrami, Parker, Collison, Boa Morte, Di Michele, Cole. Subs: Lastuvka, Mullins, Spector, Tristan, Bowyer, Sears, Ngala.
Stoke: Sorensen, Griffin, Abdoulaye Faye, Shawcross,Higginbotham, Delap, Olofinjana, Whelan, Pugh, Cresswell, Fuller. Subs: Simonsen, Lawrence, Soares, Pericard, Davies, Tonge, Sonko.



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[Westman]

I remember seeing Goodison wanting to spank Claude Davis at half time of a match at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Davis had made a mistake which led to a goal. However, that was not a good reason to want to spank a team mate.

[Sir X]

Fuller has a temper problem for years, Fullerites have been in denial of this for years.

They can use it as another excuse as to why he isnt a prolific .

[Sir X]

1523: Stoke boss Tony Pulis opts to take off Andy Griffin - which should make for an interesting dressing-room conversation, with Ricardo Fuller already in there. Andrew Davies comes off.
1519: Pompey keeper David James misses his punch from Denilson's cross, but Emmanuel Adebayor can only volley into the side netting.
1517: Wigan's Wilson Palacios heads the ball off his line and into the arms of goalkeeper Mike Pollitt. Bolton appeal for a goal, claiming the ball had crossed the line but referee Phil Dowd is not interested.
1517: "I don't know what the ... happened," Stoke boss Tony Pulis appears to be saying as his team fall apart on the pitch. Not the behaviour of a team hoping to stay in the Premier League, you have to say. As Stoke waited to kick off after the goal, Fuller had some strong words with Griffin and then had to be restrained by a team-mate as he went to hit him.
1514: Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes pulls off a quite brilliant save, diving to his left to tip over Chris Brunt's curling left-footed free-kick from the edge of the box. However, it's the sublime to the just plain silly as the Brazilian decides to go walkabout to claim the resulting corner, getting absolutely nowhere near the ball. 1514: RED CARD Stoke
Extraordinary. Ricardo Fuller is sent off for attempting to hit team-mate and captain Andy Griffin, who was turned by Cole for the equaliser.

[Westman]

Bangarang maybe?

[Peter R]

Fi real! even tho' I have been in his corner in the "Fuller nuh good" debate. Him need a reality check...

[Raggs]

he needs a big fine & time-out.....wha' de hell is dat about ?!?*

[Warlord]

The hieght of RUXNESS! ...lol

LOL.. And to think Sass was saying that Adebayor is a head case!

[Warlord]

[quote=Peter R;145593]Him need a reality check...[/quote]


So does his supporters.

[Lazie]

X and Warlord .. ease off a di youth name. Okay ... he did something silly .. don't we all? But to claim "hieght of RUXNESS!" is simply hypocritical. Were there similiar comments when Adebayor pulled the same stunt on Bendtner?

X .. yuh can roll and laff all yuh want ... Onandi Lowe is the past.

[Peter R]

At least some of us are NOT afraid to be objective and are NOT blind to reality... I said it not you...it mussi sweet yuh fi see de man get a red card. What he needs is for his management to nip this thing and he should concentrate on playing his game...

[Peter R]

Many player do silly things as you say...this is no excuse for him...but I wish that he will get time to reflect and come out playing as he can. At this point learning from his mistake is what I would ask of him.

[Sir X]

Pulis comments on Fuller , political support.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid958992159/bctid5920535001

[Sir X]

Ricardo Fuller joins embarrassing hall of shame

West Ham United 2 Stoke City 1


(Christopher Lee/Getty Images)



Moment of madness: Fuller is sent off after his spat with Griffin, his Stoke team-mate






Times Online


div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited {color:#06c;}Stoke City's miserable Christmas continued with a late defeat at West Ham United which saw Ricardo Fuller sent off for fighting with team-mate Andy Griffin.
Abdoulaye Faye scored an early header to put the visitors ahead at the Boleyn Ground. But Carlton Cole scored his second goal in three days in the 51st minute to equalise, and then had a hand in the winner, his shot going in courtesy of a deflection off Diego Tristan.
It gave manager Gianfranco Zola his second win in three days and propels West Ham up the league table, but in contrast Stoke have not won in six games and have slipped worringly close to the relegation zone.
"I think it tells you a lot about the attitude of the players and the willingness to succeed," Zola said. "It was a well-deserved victory.
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"It was very difficult because confidence here at our ground was low and we went down after a few minutes against a team notoriously difficult to break down.
"This is a big, big turning point for us. The crowd was a bit nervous but after the early goal they reacted perfectly. We had six or seven chances to score and at half-time I told them we were going to win if we kept playing like this."
Zola paid tribute to striker Cole for scoring one goal and setting up another and is pleased his extra one-to-one tuition on finishing is paying off.
"It's not down to me, it's all him," Zola said. "He kept working and having belief and he's getting the rewards he deserves. Even if he doesn't score he gives something important to the team."
Shorn of the suspended Craig Bellamy, who scored twice in the 4-1 Boxing Day win at Portsmouth, West Ham's attack initially lacked sharpness.
Zola also had to make three other changes because of injury, with Julien Faubert, David Di Michele and James Collins replacing Calum Davenport, Mark Noble and Lucas Neill.
Stoke made two changes to the team which lost to Manchester United, with Griffin back after an ankle injury to replace the suspended Andy Wilkinson and Seyi Olofinjana brought in for Amdy Faye.
West Ham have taken just one point from their last six home games, and their poor run at the Boleyn Ground looked set to continue when Stoke scored after four minutes.
div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited {color:#06c;}Fuller tested goalkeeper Robert Green after capitalising on a sloppy pass from Luis Boa Morte, and from the resulting corner an unmarked Faye headed home at the far post.
Cole had a glorious chance to equalise immediately after the restart but sidefooted Jack Collison's left-wing cross wide, and Matthew Upson also headed wide in the opening exchanges.
Green had to stretch to catch Richard Cresswell's lobbed shot and at the other end Thomas Sorensen made his first save when he got down to comfortably stop Collison's low effort.
West Ham spent long spells camped in and around Stoke's penalty area but a combination of inaccuracy and Sorensen's athleticism kept them at bay.
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He did well to claw Herita Ilunga's teasing left-wing cross away from the lurking Cole, who minutes earlier had volleyed way over the bar from just inside the box.
The striker then wasted the Hammers' best chance of the half when he headed over following excellent work on the right from the diminutive Di Michele.
As half-time approached, Boa Morte and Ilunga combined brilliantly on the left but the latter's cross blazed across goal, somehow evading a number of team-mates.
Olofinjana had the first chance of the second half when he dragged a shot wide from distance, but West Ham resumed their domination soon after and scored a deserved equaliser in the 51st minute.
There was an element of fortune as Cole controlled Scott Parker's chip into the box, the ball bouncing off a defender, but there was nothing lucky about the finish.
Too often criticised for his profligacy in front of goal, Cole swivelled on the loose ball to curl a shot past Sorensen into the far corner.
A moment of madness then followed as Stoke went back for the restart. Fuller and Griffin became embroiled in a heated exchange which descended into pushing and shoving and resulted in Fuller being sent off by referee Michael Jones for throwing a punch at his team-mate.
"There's no condoning what [Fuller's] done," Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager, said. "He's walked up to [Griffin] and clipped him on the chin and it's disappointing. I'll talk to them both and deal with it on Monday.
"Ric is a volatile player and a volatile person and what he's done will be dealt with. The pair get on well together but I've said to the lads we'll have a meeting on Monday to sort it out.
"There are always incidents on the pitch and in training. The game is passionate and it's nothing I haven't seen before.
"Ric was already on the bus when we came in and he's very disappointed with what he did and his reaction."
Pulis criticised the fact West Ham's 86th-minute was allowed to stand, claiming Tristan was offside as he deflected in Cole's shot.
"I've seen it on TV and the lad's offside for the second goal so it's disappointing," he added.
"I don't think [Thomas] Sorensen had a save to make in the second half. "We are also disappointed with the two challenges from Luis Boa Morte in the first half. The second one particularly was very poor and he didn't get booked.
"There were challenges today that our players have got booked for and their players haven't. I'm just asking for fairness, nothing more."
Galvanised by their goal and unexpected numerical advantage, West Ham poured forward and could have gone ahead but Cole volleyed wide and Parker and Di Michele both fired over.
West Ham continued to pressurise with Boa Morte's scuffed shot cleared off the line by Danny Higginbotham and Parker screwing a shot wide from outside the box.
In a rare foray forward, Delap tested Green with a low shot, but a minute later West Ham finally breached the defence-minded Stoke when substitute Diego Tristan deflected in Cole's shot for the winner.