Fulham play Stoke City in the 4th Round of the FA Cup. Kickoff is at 9am EST Sunday on ESPN+
Fulham was fortunate to get a Championship squad in this round, rather than having a situation like Villa and Newcastle who will play each other. Fulham is even more fortunate since Stoke's squad is dealing with a rash of injuries which has caused them to drop from playoff contention down to mid-table. Even if Stoke puts out their best starting XI available, it won't be an optimal lineup for them. Meanwhile, Fulham could start a number of players who have been on the bench recently and still have a very strong lineup. Fulham should win this one comfortably, but comfortable wins don't seem to be something Silva's Fulham is capable of. We are generally on the edge of our seats regardless of the competition! One way or another Fulham should win and advance to the next round.
Play to the level of the competition! That's Fulham's motto, right?
Play to the level of the competition! That's Fulham's motto, right?
I hope that won't be true tomorrow, but past experience makes that hope naive. I'm afraid we'll see a turgid spectacle regardless of who starts. At the very least, we should rest the guys who have played insane minutes or who are carrying knocks. I'd want to see a whole different back five, including the GK. Castagne, Diop, Cuenca, and Robinson, with Lecomte behind them, are on paper good enough for the Premiership, let alone a depleted Stoke team. Though, given Kenny's recent return, he may need these minutes, so perhaps retain him. King and Reed have to get starts. Ditto Kevin, and it's time to let Bobb sink or swim. ESR in AM. If Rodrigo is healthy enough, we should give poor Raul the weekend off entirely and travel with Kusi-Asare (who's been tearing it up at the u21s level) on the bench. If things are going better than I expect, I hope we have an academy talent on the bench ready to make a senior debut; someone like Seth Ridgeon, Matt Dibley-Dias or Brodie Dair.
Fulham makes it exciting again, but gets the win! What a week for Harrison Reed - GOTM, captain today, gets the winner.
I can't say much since I only saw the highlights, but it seems like Fulham dominated the match and made chances, they just couldn't finish a lot of them - but they finished enough.
It was frustrating how wasteful we were, and our ineptness at corners is comical. But I loved watching a match without all that VAR BS, complete with the standard refereeing errors. I'd rather have no VAR and the mistakes than VAR and even more frustrating mistakes.
Some players made a case for themselves. Kevin (MOTM) and Reed (except his corner deliveries and being late covering for Castagne on the Stoke goal) did well, as did Jedi, Diop, and Cuenca. Though Kevin should have had at least two goals, I loved seeing him take on defenders at speed with more confidence. Bobb was a livewire but without much end product. Lecomte had little to do, but his last save, right before Reed's goal, was world class, and his distribution was clean.
On the other hand, Muniz was rusty. Castagne defended ok but got caught out on the Stoke goal and gave little going forward. King was a mixed bag, which was disappointing seeing as I've been screaming for him to start. I'll reserve a special negative mention for Iwobi. He worked hard but constantly made the wrong decision, usually opting for a safe pass when a more creative option was available. Of his 68 passes, only 7 were into the final third. He also lost more 50/50 balls than he won. I would have preferred to see him with a lower passing accuracy but willing to take an occasional calculated risk. I actually don't blame Marco for keeping Iwobi out there for the whole game--he needs to play to get his form back.
Reed needs to start at Sunderland. Watching the ball bounce off Berge was such a contrast with Reed's skills. Not sure about Iwobi; I think it's more mental than physical and that once he gets over this hump, he will be ok. I'd love to see King from the start again (I know, I know) or at least given significant minutes. He's unique on the team in his skillset and vision, even if he missed so many chances today.
Reedy to the rescue again!
Fulham definitely had a slow start. It was almost as if they were a team full of second stringers that haven't played a match together in quite a while (or ever). I half laughed when Stoke scored... "here we go again".
I agree that Muniz was rusty. Either that or all the crosses were just a bit off. Bobb has promise, but we'll see if he fades for a while (ala Kevin and ESR) before truly cementing himself into the team.
On to round 5!
Fulham get to host Southampton in the 5th round. In an interesting PL draw, Newcastle will host Manchester City.
Woo hoo!!!
Just as Palace were the beneficiary of the FA's grand conspiracy of 2025, I'm hoping Fulham receive this year's windfall of conspiratorial graft in the form of the FA Cup. Instead of a malevolent conspiracy theory, I'm going the benign route in 2026.
COYW!!!
Seconding nevzter. Let's get through Southampton and play Port Vale at home in the quarterfinal. 🙂
Round 5:
Fulham v Southampton
Port Vale or Bristol City v Sunderland
Newcastle United v Manchester City
Leeds United v Norwich City
Mansfield Town v Arsenal
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Liverpool
Wrexham v Chelsea
West Ham United v Brentford
