FA Cup - Fulham at Cardiff

Fulham faces Cardiff City on Sunday in the 3rd round of the FA Cup - Fulham's first match in the FA cup this season. In the Championship, Cardiff currently sits 9 points behind us. We have a +11 GD while they have -11. We escaped with a 2-2 draw after a McDonald goal in the 86th minute when we played them earlier this season.

The main question is who will play. My guess is that since neither team has another match until next weekend we'll see a relatively typical first-team lineup from both.

 

I don't see major lineup changes, but I wouldn't be surprised if the bench and starters were flipped. Though Micah's comment is in line with Joka's.

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2017/january/06/team-news

 

Safe to say I'll be waking up to the result..The match is at 3:30 AM my time

 

Wake up 5 minutes after kickoff to see this line-up with one significant surprise and a couple minor ones:

Bettinelli (!)
Sessegnon, Ream, Sigurdsson, Odoi
McDonald, Johansen
Piazon, Cairney, Fredericks
Aluko

I'm glad Bettinelli has gotten the chance to play, however unfortunately in the time it has taken me to write this Cardiff is already up by a goal (ha, but as I finish writing that it is now 1-1 COYW!!). I hope he plays well enough to get another chance at starting.

Malone and Fredericks have been a good pairing as fullbacks, but Malone is on the bench and Fredericks has been moved up. Fortunately both of their replacements are pretty capable too. Moving Fredericks up allows Aluko to play up top while Smith sits on the bench.

Jokanovic is clearly trying some new approaches, but he's still fielded a strong team.

 

And a 2-1 victory.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jan/08/cardiff-city-fulham-fa-cup-match-report

 

Highlights:

 

These are pretty much the same, MIGHT be a hair less fuzzy. I EFFIN' LOVE WINNIN'!

http://www.soccerhighlightstoday.com/2017/01/video-cardiff-1-2-fulham-fa-cup-highlights.html

 

So Fredericks was playing on the wing? I wasn't sure if it were him or Sessegnon.

Great result. Still would like to see us sign a striker. I'm not sure how long we can keep scoring from the back.

Anyone know offhand when the fourth round draw is?

 

We'll find out who we play in the fourth round on Monday evening (UK Time). They don't wait for the replay games, so it is possible we won't know our opponent until those are wrapped up on January 17.

 

Official FA, non-fuzzy, legal in the US, highlights (complete with slightly snarky commentary):

 

Looks like we'll host Hull City. Call me optimistic, but I feel that's a winnable match.

http://www.thefa.com/news/2017/jan/06/the-emirates-fa-cup-fourth-round-proper-draw-090117

 

That IS a winnable game, and if Joka puts the same 11 out that he did at Cardiff, we WILL win it. You won't see too many more dominating 2-1 wins like that one. And if Piazon's noggin hadn't gotten in the way, Betts and the D would have had a clean sheet. Most impressive win this season? Very well could be.

 

I need to clarify my 'like' on HD's above post. Total agreement on the Wembley sentiment, not the toes curling up part

 

I thought HatterMom already made your toes curl up. Whatevs.

 

Our makeup match at Reading is January 24, which means in the 15 days covering January 21 through February 4 Fulham will play 5 matches - 4 of them away:

• January 21 at QPR
• January 24 at Reading
• January 27, 28, 29, or 30 vs Hull
• January 31 at Burton Albion
• February 4 at Birmingham

For that reason, I'm not confident we'll field a strong side against Hull. Can our reserves beat Hull's? I think we'll find out.