Fulham vs Leeds United

We beat them 1-nil in December on a 60th minute goal by Hugo. Mr. Sweatpants started, along with Grimmer, Bodurov, Hutchinson, Christensen, Fofana and Hyndman. My, how the times have changed. How in the heck did we keep a clean sheet with that lineup? It just goes to show how unpredictable this league is. Again,
I have no idea what to expect anymore. Feels pretty safe to say Matt Smith will start again, and Ross and Betts. After that, who knows? I'm sure Turner, too, since we didn't lose his first start. Theoretically, we should be able to beat a team that we beat on the road, right? Right? Maybe if we can keep them from scoring on set pieces, we can get three desperately needed points from this one. But I wouldn't bet on it. Just hope we don't concede 3+ goals again at home. That would almost certainly put more heat on Kit, and maybe even force Khan's hand to make another change. And that would really suck. But I'm hoping for the best. We're certainly due.

 

I don't foresee another 3-0 loss at home. Yes, we're bad. But Leeds are no better.

(**warning: fancy stats below**)

Like Sheffield Wednesday, their offense is abysmal. They have the 3rd least shots for total, and 2nd least shots on target total. That's probably why we won 1-0 back in December, jumpkutz.

But unlike Wednesday, their defense isn't that great. They've conceded as many total shots as we have (and we stink!), meaning their TSR (total shot ratio) is only better than Charlton and Blackpool.

So why/how are they 13th? Well, they've been quite lucky this season. Their PDO is 7th overall, about the same as Bournemouth, who are the best team in the league. And I believe at one point this season was in the top 2/3. That's absurd.

(**fancy stats over**)

Like Saturday, it's probably not going to be a great game. But 3pts are certainly there for the taking.

(ps hi again everyone!)

 

Me too. And I hope we find a lineup that works.

 

Whoa, little too much confidence & consensus on this one. We haven't done the double on anyone yet this season. Hopefully this will be the first. We've done well with the few teams that have sat back & allowed us to take the fight to them. Sounds like Leeds fit that bill. So I'll go with Fulham for the 3 pts & hope we all haven't jinxed it.

 

I'm trying to stay positive so Hatter won't run off again.

 

I can donate a leash. And a choke collar.

Anyone know the tv/online viewing status of this one? We're 1 of only 2 matches Wed in the league.

 

If you say that enough times it will happen.

Eventually.



I hope.

 

Nice opportunity mañana with most of teams right above and below getting favorable results today for Fulham supporters. 3 points and the good guys jump Brighton and get within 1 point of Bolton and Huddersfield, plus push 10 points clear from danger.

 

Watford went to the top of the table tonight with a 2-nil win at Wigan. Considering the 5-nil pasting they administered to us at the Cottage in December, it's a wonder it took them this long. They put on a passing clinic that day, and, to me at least, have been the most impressive opponent we've played this season.

 

Grinding out points is the pressing matter for Fulham be it 3 or 1.

 

That was very discouraging. Frankly I thought getting three points from our Derby, Watford, Bournemouth run was pretty good despite some discouraging results in the last two since they are all top of the table. But if we want to avoid relegation we need to be able to get points against teams like Leeds.
It isn't enough just to play well (it seemed like we did until another damn corner) but we need to win too. I don't know if that is just a matter of getting some lucky breaks or if bigger changes need to be made. Ruiz sounded off tonight, but we know how well things went without him before. I haven't been impressed with Tunnicliffe and tonight it often seemed like our attacks ended with him. Somehow we need to convert our opportunities into more goals - but I don't want to see moves done just because of a sense of panic either.

 

I tried to warn you.

Sounded like we outplayed them in almost every aspect except putting the gosh darn ball in the back of the gosh darn net.

Would have been nice to celebrate a win on the 5th anniversary of what was perhaps Fulham's greatest night.

 

Despite the result, I was encouraged by one thing. We're obviously more threatening with Matt Smith up top. I can't remember a game where we generated so many quality scoring chances. As is so often the case in this maddening game, it did not result in goals. And now, just as he and Ross start clicking again, it appears McCormack will be out for at least one match, maybe more. Couple that with our penchant for taking a handful of defensive plays off per match that cost us a goal, and you have a recipe for losing. I'd love to be positive, but I'm afraid I see relegation in our future. Again. I just don't see where the turnaround, and the points, are going to come from for these last eight matches. The schedule just doesn't matter anymore. We've got to man up and figure out some way, ANY way to get it done. And Stafylidis's display today was most un-Fulhamlike.

 

These highlights aren't so bad. It is just the final score that sucks. Even after going down to 10 men we were still making opportunities. Mid boggling that we couldn't get anything in the net.