Fulham v ManU

Got a text from a ManUre loving buddy of mine wanting to get together for coffee and the match. I checked, it’s the dang 4:30 am game! After asking him if he was aware that it’s that early and was he of sound mind, he came back with ‘It might be the last visit to the Cottage for awhile’. Good point. Expecting to lose badly, but what the Hell, will be up with the hope that Fulhamish Happens.

 

I’ll be up, too, but I’m expecting a beat down. They’ve started to regress a bit lately, but the fact is they’ve taken off under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He’s proven that “The Special One” may not be so special anymore. Except for a slight hiccup at home against Burnley, where they rescued a 2-2 result, they’ve won the other 9 since the change. Several players who struggled under Jose are flourishing and smiling again, notably, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford. David de Gea almost single handedly beat Spurs at Wembley last month. It would be a miracle if we got something out of this one.
But....
I’ll be looking for OUR countenance. Will we show some of the gumption we showed in the 2nd half against Brighton? Or will we perform like we did at Palace? And will we start to see some discouraging postures and efforts from some players? Will The Tinkerman keep tinkering? Hard to see him NOT doing what he does. In short, I’ll be looking for character from our club. We’ve seen some, but not consistently. And, from the optimistic point of view, shown more at home.

 

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2019/february/06/man-u-flashback

I’m hoping the 3-0 follow up is later this week on the offal. Spot on about the Captain HD

 

I’ve found myself wishing Roy was still our manager.

 

Which begs the question: Why isn’t he? We’ve got more money than Palace. And we’re sure as hell a bigger, better known club than they are. Can’t we just “acquire” him? Wait. We’re already going down. And Tony’s still in charge of player acquisition. Never mind.

 

Roy is the definition of a journeyman manager. With the exception of a brief return to Inter 20 years ago, he's never gone back to a club he once managed; and doesn't usually stick around with a team for more than 2-3 seasons (provided he wasn't fired by them).

Back to thread: what voodoo doth Ole possess? Not only did he win his first 9(?) games in charge, they were never even trailing in any of those! This coming from a guy who was quite bad with a bad Cardiff team, and wasn't exactly pulling up trees in Norway. For United, it's funny what happens when you remove poison from a talented team. For us, surely United will regress to some semblance of the mean, no?

I expect the same 5 at the back/play not to lose crap that we've seen since Ranieri took over. It was a nice reprieve in November; now it's our undoing. 2-1 victory to our guests.

 

I expect a loss but I can’t read this team at all.

 

17-0. and i'll watch the first 16 and then turn it off.

 

When discussing weekend plans the other night, I told my wife that Fulham will be losing the 0730 match so I'll be ready for the day by 0930.

Maybe the new guys will get some time and give the squad a boost.

 

According to Ranieri, the new guys won't see much action if any at all. Markovic seems like he will not be ready, but Nordtveit may be available as a sub.

Christie will be back, which I guess is good since Fosu-Mensah is unavailable to play against his parent club. Part of me feels like forcing someone else to try out that spot might be beneficial.

Schurrle should be available again too.

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2019/february/07/team-news

I forgot to post this earlier, but it seems that Bettinelli is out for the season. He's having knee surgery and hopes to be back for the start of next season: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...rcus-Bettinelli-set-undergo-knee-surgery.html

 

The team leader in assists still doesn't get a start. Neither of the two new signings make the bench. The formation is different than recent weeks with a back four and Christie out of the starting lineup, but overall this lineup does not give me much hope.

Rico
Odoi, LeMarchand, Ream, Bryan
Seri, Chambers
Schurrle, Babel, Vietto
Mitrovic

Subs: Fabri, Christie, Anguissa, Cairney, Kebano, Sessegnon, Ayite

 

Expectations met

 

Its like 11 random blokes show up for a kick about. At least they all came with the right white kit. First 10 minutes or so I was hopeful....how stupid was that.

 

I watched the second half and for long stretches therein, the gulf in class was so wide it appeared as if Fulham were not giving their best effort.
Expectations met, indeed.
COYW

 

I dragged myself out of bed a little before 6 determined to get some donuts for the household before the match. As I ate my 2nd donut, I thought this will probably be the best thing I'll experience for the next two hours. Sadly I was right. If you're ever in St. Louis, donut drive-in doesn't disappoint, unlike Fulham this season.

 

The players, God love 'em, were trying. Didn't really notice too much head hanging until they got the third. Heads dropped a bit then, but they kept at it pretty well. Not faulting the players for this one. They were rubbish against Palace, but they seemed to fight the good fight against these guys. The gulf in talent was just too wide. That, and Ranieri's player selection, formations and tactics are, at best, questionable. Cairney cut a rather forlorn figure, bundled up against the weather on the bench in the first half. When CR finally put him and Sess in, he had TC on the wing (again) and Ryan back in his old spot defending. And yet another indelible image of Denis Odoi trying to mark a striker far bigger than he, this time Romelu Lukaku, on a corner. I'm kind of in agreement with many others in Fulham Planet though. It's more amazing, and puzzling, than ever that Claudio Ranieri won the Premier League once upon a time at Leicester City. I don't see us turning things around under him. The sooner we make another change, the better.

 

Ranieri wisely decided to ditch the 5-at-the-back. However in going 4 at the back he rehashed old mistakes by starting Odoi at RB and Schurrle at RM. They've now both been in these positions 3 games this season: home to United, home to West Ham, away to United. Those were 3 losses, 9 goals conceded, 1 scored.

Yesterday our defense look like it did under Slav because the midfield doesn't track back, and opponents can literally create odd man breaks on their own half of the field. When Ranieri subbed in Christie and went 5 defenders, any offensive shape/outlet was gone. United had such complete control they were literally walking around our 18 yard box with the ball.

Schurrle, and Vietto have been quite bad this season. Neither should be starting. However Sess and Cairney have not been that much better. You could argue that Babel was brought in as a temporary replacement for Sess.

It's become clear that this team as composed isn't good enough. We have no RB. We have one actual striker, and 4-5 "wingers". Ranieri however isn't doing himself any favors. He’s not the problem, but he’s quickly becoming an easily replaceable problem. He should be fired.

Not that it matters at this point, but as I've said too many times, we need to go 4-1-4-1. Trying a 4-2-3-1 is suicide, but we dont have the personnel to go 3-4-3/5-2-1 despite Ranieri's attempts. Despite their struggles, get Cairney with Seri as the CMs. Play Sess and Babel out wide. Keep the fullbacks tight. Put Chambers back at CB because the trifecta of Ream and Marchand and Odoi aren't cutting it. Get Frank or Cisse or heck even McDonald to play that CDM role to stop any easy counters.