Fulham USA: US Supporters club of Fulham FC

With a strong run since defeating Sheffield United in December, Fulham has put themselves in excellent position to qualify for the playoffs and they have an outside chance at earning automatic promotion. In this post we’ll look at what Fulham needs to do to accomplish either option. In the coming weeks we’ll monitor their progress and provide updates. But before we get to that, let’s take a moment to put the season into context.

2017-18 vs. 2016-17
Fulham has managed to exceed last season’s performance to-date, despite facing injury challenges in 2017/18 that were avoided last season. With 31 matches completed Fulham is 3 points ahead of last year’s total and 3 spots higher on the table. We were 6 points outside of the playoffs and 16 points outside of automatic promotion at this point last year. This year we are in the middle of the playoff spots and 7 points outside of automatic promotion.

Last year’s bid for the playoffs required a scintillating...

... uh, it ain't gonna happen. I loved the match, the way we played -- the width of attack, the pressure on the ball, the way we disrupted the flow of a very good side. But, ... well, I had to put all my focus on a stage performance Friday evening and another Saturday afternoon of a new project. By the time I got back late Saturday afternoon, I realized that I couldn't recall enough detail to do a serious evaluation.

Crap! Who knows when there'll be another televised match? Hopefully, when and if that happens, I'll have enough mojo to do a quality job. Sorry.

on the other hand, I killed on stage, so there was that.

Mama Told Me Not to Bother ...

... watching the replay of Fulham v. Birmingham City, but I just couldn’t resist the temptation to see the players we’ve acquired and fielded after the Newcastle match.

When I listened to the match on Saturday, I noted that Fulham dominated possession throughout – 67% of the first 45 minutes plus and 64% overall. Imagine my surprise then when I actually watched the match. By the first five minutes, City had established the pace of the match, gained control of it, and never really relinquished that control. With the exception of Cairney and McDonald, I thought each of our starters was outplayed by his opposite number. As a matter of fact, considering what I saw this afternoon [stateside afternoon], the most amazing thing is that we lost only 0-1.

Many of my fellow Fulham supporters will hate to hear this, but we really missed two players on Saturday – Scott Parker in the starting XI and Lasse Vigan Christensen off the bench. Parker’s absence...