Fulham vs Cardiff City

The Bluebirds have started hot: five straight wins to begin the season under the well traveled Neil Warnock. Our old buddy Neil Etheridge, who's 27 now, has started in goal for all five victories. Jazz Richards has started two of them, subbed into one, and left out of two, including their last win at home against QPR before the break. The surprise has been 25 year old midfielder Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, who has 5 goals in 7 appearances (4 in 5 league games). Junior Hoilett, who always seems to pester us to death, is with them, as is Sol Bamba, both of whom scored against Rangers. They're riding high, but we've taken down such pretenders before, especially at home. Let's hope the good Fulham shows up Saturday at the Cottage, where we've been less than stellar so far, and begins playing like a home team should. Last season Reading came into our place in December off of five straight wins, and we beat 'em 5-nil. And Cardiff did "crash out" of the League Cup to Burton Albion, so they have been beaten this season. No reason to think we won't show up and play like we're capable of, as we did at Ipswich before the break. Hopefully the time off got our man Cairney's bum knee up to snuff, and we'll see a more lively offensive Fulham for the rest of the season. And, last I checked, Slava's still the gaffer. So we got that goin' for us...which is nice.

 

Dammit HD, beat me to it. May the football Gods see fit that the King of all Whiners leaves The Cottage w/no points all the while complaining about being undone by some referee's decision.

 

I can't remember being this happy to get back to club football after an international break. I'm not turning into a Eurosnob, am I?

 

OK, somebody help me out here. This story quotes team physio Marco Cesarini as saying "everybody came back fit from international duty." Then, in the VERY NEXT SENTENCE, he says "Ojo was subbed with an ankle problem" and Kebano "picked up a slight injury" (at least that's how I interpreted it). So which is it? I'm confused...

http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/spor...s/fulham-provide-injury-update-ahead-13588417

 

GetWestLondon left out a very important word in their quote of Cesarini: "basically"

I watched the video and this is what he said (after saying he was still waiting for Ream to return):

There's a big difference between "Everybody came back fit" and "Basically, everybody came back fit". Miracle Max would probably have some good insights on this kind if difference:

 

No DC, enduring those 180 minutes of the USMNT has everyone happy for the break to be over.

 

This isn't good news: Cairney, Fonte, Ojo, Kebano are all out for Saturday's match. Those were the guys who carried us to victory at Ipswich. If we are going to win vs. Cardiff a bunch of other guys will need to step up

https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2017/september/08/team-news

 

Time to figure out who works best with Kamara or just throw in the new guys and see who sticks.

I'm not sure what to predict here. Cardiff's victories have been against sides of varying strengths. They have yielded a single goal in their last two matches, so it seems that they may be breaking down a little (pure speculation on my part). We should maintain the bulk of the possession which would limit their chances. If we get a few creative sparks and defend set pieces, we'll likely get 3.

 

So, basically, Cairney took the international break to regain fitness...except he's not fit to play against Cardiff...AFTER the international break. Which means he probably wasn't fit to play BEFORE the international break...but did anyway. And the two guys who, basically, came back from international duty fit, are not fit to play against Cardiff. Perfect.

 

Yes, "basically" must be one of those British words that means something different here in the US - like chips, biscuits, or trainers. "Basically" must be a sign that what follows is totally sarcastic and/or complete bull.

The starting XI:
Button
Fredericks, Kalas, Ream, Odoi
McDonald, Johansen
Cisse, Mollo, Ayite, Sessegnon

Bench: Bettinelli, Madl, Djalo, Norwood, O'Riley, Graham, Kamara

Interesting that Sessegnon gets the start up front rather than Kamara. That makes me a little concerned about Kamara's long term prospects. We'll get our first look at Mollo and possibly Graham. O'Riley is just 16 and from the PL2 team. He played before in the EFL Cup matches.

 

Had to know Sessegnon would get the tally after you said that. This team needs to figure out how to get more than one though.

 

Although we could taste a win, I'm satisfied with a draw. Cardiff was unbeaten, we play our worst at home, and we were missing four potential starters. The odds were not in our favor but we still got a point. We're now in 12th (pending the night match) and just three points outside of the playoffs having now sullied the perfect records of the top two teams.

 

Would have been nice to snatch three points, but, given the circumstances, I guess we should be happy with the point. We do need to figure some things out offensively. Haven't gotten anywhere near as proficient as we were last season at generating and finishing scoring chances. But I'm confident we'll get there as long as Slava's in charge. Onward!

 

Highlights from our friends in Wales: