Fulham travels to Wolverhampton on Saturday for the final away game of the season. Kickoff is at 10am EDT on Peacock. (EDIT: Whoops, the game is Sunday, not Saturday!)
For the fourth year in a row Fulham closes out the season comfortably mid-table, but on a downward trend of results. The trip to Wolverhampton is a clear reminder... it could be worse. Wolverhampton is headed back down to the Championship after eight seasons in the Premier League. The only match I ever saw at Craven Cottage was Fulham v. Wolverhampton in the Championship. It was the year before their promotion, but the teams were fairly even at that point. Unfortunately, things didn't go Fulham's way and Wolverhampton had an easy win. For years after that I looked at Wolverhampton and thought "Why can't Fulham do what Wolverhampton did?!"
Well, eventually Fulham did:
- Hired a Portuguese manager
- Got promoted in the first season under the Portuguese manager
- Had an amazing first season in the PL (Wolverhampton finished 7th and qualified for the Europa League)
- Got a little worse, but still mid-table after that first season.
Could Fulham possibly keep doing what Wolverhampton did?
- Get tired of meh results with the Portuguese manager and part ways
- Change managers every season after the original Portuguese manager leaves
- Keep sliding down the table each season
- Get relegated
It doesn't sound out of the question that Fulham could keep following the Wolverhampton arc.
But that's a ways off and down the road. What we do know for this match is that Fulham will be without Andersen, the villain from Fulham's loss last weekend. Diop will certainly get the start in his place. Kevin made an appearance off the bench against Bournemouth so hopefully he can get the start this week. I'd really like to see Kevin and Bobb start since that could be Fulham's wing pairing next season. I hope Berge and Raul will be available too after illnesses kept them out.
Mostly I want goals from Fulham! Those have been far too rare the past few months, so let's hope for a bunch in the Wolverhampton net on Saturday.
Mostly I want goals from Fulham! Those have been far too rare the past few months, so let's hope for a bunch in the Wolverhampton net on Saturday.
I’ll believe it when I see it. I’m fully pessimistic to end the season. I sense a utterly forgettable and frustrating nil-nil draw.
I hope the team proves me wrong!
Wow. That stunk. Fulham did score, but barely, thanks to a PK. It didn't look like Fulham were capable of scoring otherwise. It was a pretty poor performance from everyone going forward except for maybe Castagne? This was despite Silva putting every attacking player he could on the pitch. Loads of control, but absolutely no coordination when getting to the box. No concentration and minimal effort from a number of players. Even the kit man seemed to blow it with a number of Fulham players slipping at key moments - critically when Robinson hit the turf before Wolverhampton's goal. I'm exasperated. This team is under-performing and I'm at a loss as how to fix it. Maybe a new manager, but that could completely backfire (as pointed out in the Wolverhampton comparison). It is going to be a long summer and an inevitable sense of dread come August.
One positive thought - nice PK from Robinson. I was watching through my fingers, but that was well taken. And I guess one more positive thought unrelated to the play - it was nice to see the reception for Raul.