Fulham visit Manchester United on Sunday. Kickoff will be at 9am EST on Peacock.
This is an exciting time for both Fulham and Manchester United. Fulham has been on a great run recently, Harry Wilson has been on fire, the Nigerian trio is back from AFCON, and now Oscar Bobb has joined the team. Meanwhile Manchester United has shaken off the Amorim era with two shocking wins against Manchester City and Arsenal. Both teams will be looking to keep the good times going.
Fulham should have Tete in the lineup again, although I won't be surprised if he comes on as a sub early in the second half. Muniz and Lukic are not yet available, although Muniz could be back soon. Sadly, Chukwueze lost his mother earlier this week and it is unknown if he will be part of the squad on Sunday. Bobb now wears number 14 for Fulham, but I doubt we'll see him on Sunday. Silva is famous for getting players through a few training sessions before giving them a start - remember when he kept Leno on the bench for a few games after his arrival!
Manchester United got two wins against top tier teams, so they are clearly going to be a tough matchup, but playing against Fulham will be entirely different than City or Arsenal. It will be interesting to see how the two teams line up against each other and it could be a true test of Carrick's managerial skills if Fulham gives a much more defensive look than what he has dealt with so far. If Carrick does get a win, he will equal Amorim's longest wins streak in his tenure with the club.
Fulham vs Manchester United is almost always exciting, so I have high expectations for this match. The two teams are very different from when they played to a 1-1 draw back in August. The outcome of this match will have a huge impact on where the respective fan bases see their squad headed. A win for Fulham and they'll be just a point behind United and we might start to talk more about something beyond a mid-table finish.
This Man U run has to end so why not us. I can see us grabbing at least a point.
We tend to be up against bad officiating at Manure. Despite that, I'm optimistic. I suspect Marco will set us up with 3 CBs and wingbacks, which helps manage Castagne's defensive fragility and Jedi's post-injury shakiness. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the same setup as against Chelsea recently, with a possible exception of King in for ESR, but that's probably unlikely at this point.
I was wrong. We’re in the usual 4231. Chukwueze is starting, and my heart goes out to him after the death of his mother.
I’m glad Marco has stuck with Cuenca. He deserves to keep his job until Bassey can prove otherwise. On the other hand, I expect to see Tete come in later in the match and then reclaim his starting position for Everton.
Go Fulham!
I’ll be happy to ignore my snow shoveling duties to watch this match. I haven’t paid much attention to the circus that Manchester United has been recently but, looking at the table, it seems like the trouble has a bit overhyped. I guess I thought it would be similar to Tottenham’s situation last year. But here they are in the top six.
The match should be good and tight. I imagine it will also be a bit more free-flowing without the typical Berge/Lukic pairing. I like both players but it always seems to be slow and overly possession based when they start together. Not enough direct attacks. I also love it when the wingers and number 10 have free range to rotate and move around to throw off the defense.
Silva sticks with Castagne and Cuenca and a 4-2-3-1 formation. No Bobb on the roster, but Tete is on the bench, and Chukwueze is able to play.
The staring XI:
Leno
Castagne, Andersen, Cuenca, Robinson
Berge, Iwobi
Wilson, Smith-Rowe, Chukwueze
Raul
Subs: Tete, Bassey, Reed, Cairney, Kusi-Asare, Kevin, King, Sessegnon, Lecomte
Knew there was too much time left after Kevin’s brilliant goal. Deserved a point, but not to be.
We played well, but in fairness the other side did a better job taking advantage of their chances. Cuenca did not cover himself in glory on the Casemiro goal, but he couldn’t have done more on the Cuhna one. Might have opened the door to the 11 for Bassey. But Bassey should have fouled in the buildup to their third. Disappointing to give up such a hard-earned point in the very end.
I thought Berge showed his good side today and controlled the midfield well. Needed to mention this since I tend to be critical of him.
We played well, but in fairness the other side did a better job taking advantage of their chances.
My thoughts exactly. Fulham had enough chances to get a result, but they didn't make the most of them.
As promised it was an exciting match as usual in the Silva era of Fulham/Manchester United matchups. I was surprised Tete never came on which made me wonder about his actual fitness. Castagne was fine, but some fresh legs going down the right would have been appreciated. I agree with @Daddude7 that the door might be open for Bassey again at CB, but I also have to think the same could be said for Sessegnon at LB. Robinson looked terrible out there. Diallo got around him at will, his poor clearance set up the second United goal, and he couldn't even get his throw-ins right.
Enough about the disappointments, there were some bright spots. Raul now has the record for the most PK's without a miss! Also, Berge played really well and that pass from him to set up Raul was delicious - remember when I complained last season about how he never produced a through-ball?! Chukwueze played really well despite some the loss of his mom. Kevin's goal was spectacular! That finish is what we have been looking from him and hopefully we'll get to see more like that. There were a number of positives that I hope the team can build on.
Hated that we pissed away a clutch, stoppage time goal from Josh King. You’ve just gotta see this one out for a critical away point. Conceding like that kind of spoils a lot of the good things we did today. I agree, they did more good things better and probably deserved the result. But in this game at this level it’s as much about getting results you don’t deserve when you earn the opportunity to get them, which we did.
