Fulham vs Birmingham City

I watched a bit of the BC-Wolves match yesterday. Birmingham are dreadful. 10 league goals TOTAL for this season, the lowest in the entire English Football League. Not just the Championship. The entire football league. They got Jota from Brentford, but he hasn't scored and was subbed off at the half. If we don't win this one....

 

I've been out of the Fulham loop lately - but a good run in the holiday season is needed to cut the 9 points off-sixth and bolster playoff expectations (thank you, mr. obvious).
COYW

 

I don't care if he's my arch rival's new football coach, I'd let Herm Edwards talk to my team anytime. Only 1 goal tomorrow..HELLO:



COYW!!!

 

Did a double take when I saw this: Bettinelli!

The rest of the XI:
McDonald, Kalas, Ream
Fredericks, Cairney, Norwood, Johansen, Sessegnon
Ojo, Kebano

Subs: Button, Djalo, de la Torre, Graham, Mollo, Kamara, Fonte

Looks like we are going with a 3-5-2. I didn't think Bettinelli would get a shot until the FA Cup matches. I hope he does well today and keeps the starting spot. It will be interesting to see what happens with this lineup too.

 

Well, we won. That’s all I have to say about that.

 

There's not much more to say.

 

Well I have more to say! First, I was wrong about the lineup. I had based the lineup on what was initially shown on the website, but it was later changed to a more traditional 4-3-3 formation on the site that better reflected what was going on.

Highlights from Birmingham City:


Birmingham didn't threaten much so I don't think we've yet seen if Bettinelli will make a difference. A clean sheet isn't a bad start though (even if it did need a really bad PK to get there).

The Fulham 1879 Fan TV channel on YouTube caught an interesting interaction after the match. Some disgruntled Birmingham fans had lined up outside the Birmingham buses to get autographs from players and coaches - and to tell them they stink (an interesting juxtaposition). Then Steve Cotterill, the Birmingham manager, comes out and they tell him what they think. Cotterill gets defensive, but then takes the fans aside and talks with them for 10 minutes. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that. If I'd been the manager I'd have just told them to stuff it and go home, but he seemed to actually defuse things - at least until their next loss.

 

Joka's explanation for starting Bettinelli...
http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/spor...isa-jokanovic-explains-decision-drop-14019008

I wholeheartedly agree and have mentioned cringing each time Button plays the ball out of the back no matter if it's with his feet or his hands.

 

A couple of things I noticed from these highlights. StefJo and Cairney appear to be almost back to the form we were used to seeing from them last season. Cairney's reception of a hot, lengthy pass from Sess and almost immediate deft slide out to Kebano was vintage #10. Neesken's pass and Ojo's equally deft move to lose his marker and stab home the goal was also very good. Johansen had a few decent shots that missed the mark, but they weren't too far off, and he looked more likely to find the net than at any time previously this season. We need those two to start scoring if we have any chance of getting back into the playoff hunt. The second thing I noticed was how much space they were giving us. Way, way too much at this level. That we couldn't take more advantage and score more goals is concerning, but it really appears we're close to breaking out. I certainly hope so.