Fulham vs. Everton

We’re the late Saturday match this week, which means we’ll be on the FREE network flagship channel, NBC (gitcher rabbit ears out people).
I think we should win this one. In a “normal” season this would be home team wins split. But Everton haven’t exactly set the league on fire under Frankie L. They were willed over the finish line into safety by their insane traveling support last season, but that may have been a temporary stay of execution. They’re 12th at the moment, but that’s flattering….12 points, 3 wins, 4 draws, 5 losses, with -1 goal difference. They didn’t help themselves that much during the summer, and they lost Richarlison to Spuds. We should beat them at our place, and I’m fancying our chances of doing the double. Don’t see Lampard surviving the season on the touchline.
Only three more league matches before the bastard Qatar World Cup break…after the Toffees we travel to Citeh and host ManUre, so this one is kind of big.
And we’re playing our best footy of the season right now. 3 from Everton and, maybe, 1 from either Manchester match would be OK. Anything more than 4 points would be gravy. We just might pull off a surprise or two before the month off. But, we gotta take care of business at home against Everton first.

 

I'm inclined to give Everton a little more credit for their performances to date. Of their four losses, three were against teams currently in the top six. I can't stand Pickford, but their defense has kept the ball out of the net. They have allowed ten fewer goals than Fulham and they held Liverpool, West Ham, and Crystal Palace scoreless. Their recent form is also equivalent to Fulham's. Where they have struggled is scoring goals with half as many as Fulham and only two matches with more than one goal scored. However, they are coming off of their biggest win of the season - a commanding 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace. Given all that, I'm not going to be surprised if Fulham's win streak is cut short.

 

I can’t stand Pickford either. And I’m truly puzzled about why tha’ Anglish can’t come up with a better option for their #1. I ain’t gonna lose any sleep over it, that’s for sure. I hope he’s in “a mood” when we line up against them on Nov. 25th at 2:30 in Al Kohr. He’s capable of brilliant play, but he’s equally capable of boneheaded play. He’s matured just a bit at age 28, but he’s still prone to allowing his emotions to get the better of him….perhaps something we can exploit. It’s hard to say what we’ll need to get from the match. The opener against Wales is gonna be bigger than normal in determining our odds of advancing past the group stage. I do know this: as long as Gareth Bale is on the pitch the Dragons are a dangerous opponent for anyone, as long as they stay close on the scoreboard. We shouldn’t fear either side but, given our relative youth and dearth of international experience, there is the danger of getting our asses handed to us but either in very short order.
But…back to this weekend. I think we can score on them, despite their predilection for defense over offense. We could really use another clean sheet, a la Villa. May make for an ugly match, but I don’t care, as long as we win.

 

Guess who's back! Tete's Back! (Isn't that how the Eminem song goes?)

I don't know if he'll be healthy enough to start, but Silva says he'll be back on the squad.

 

Fast paced, entertaining first half. Would be more entertaining had we put one in. Fairly even at this point.

Have not posted in so long, took a few minutes to figure out my login and password.

 

Pereira and Palhinha have been largely invisible for most of the match. Other than that, it’s been very even and very entertaining for a nil-nil affair. It’s gonna come down to one or two key plays, either exceptional or not. Let’s hope exceptional by one of the good guys.

 

Not too disappointed with a point from this one. High quality performances from both sides. The TV pundits were fair in their assessment of one thing: they had slightly the better of it in the first half, we definitely did in the 2nd. I thought Pickford’s 1st half finger tip save of, I believe, Bobby’s point blank scramble shot, was the biggest play of the game. Even though they had the better of it in the first half, it seemed that and a couple of the other shots on goal we had were our best scoring chances. A very solid outing that portends no negative vibes going into the last two before the WC break.

 

That was a decent game to watch. We played really well. I do feel we should have gotten a W.

 

Off night for Mitro. They happen. Very good performances, though. We’re back to 7tb. Great time to be a Fulham fan.

 

The highlights if you haven't seen them already:


I agree with just about all that has been said. @HatterDon you are right, Pickford was the best player out there today - and that drives me a little crazy! He did seem to dial back the ridiculous remonstrations today and I'm thankful for that at least.

@daddude7 I said to my son while watching the match that "We've got Bad Mitro out there today." Some days he just seems to be in a mood. His passing was off, his finishing was even worse, and he made some bad decisions (on a different day that yellow card might have been a red). Sometimes even Bad Mitro can win a game, so I never want to write him off, but he wasn't at his best today.

I love watching Robinson and Willian develop their relationship. They are playing so well together and give Fulham so much on the left side. It is a bit of an odd couple with the young American and the old Brazilian, but they are making it work. That shot from Willian in the 9th minute forced one of the best saves I've seen all season in the Premier League. Hopefully after the WC break Wilson and Tete will be healthy enough to provide the same kind of threat on the right.

 

Bad Mitro in terms of final touch, but he put himself about for the full 90. We complain when we get hosed, but as Micah alluded to we got a huge break Mitro didn’t get a straight red and the automatic 3 game suspension.

• Willian; thought he was an excellent signing..but as a 20 min sub. He oozes class.
• Jedi; he appears as thou he has really hit the weights (he doesn’t look skinny anymore) and his ankle is feeling good.

 

Yep, and we haven't even really seen Solomon, yet. He'll be like a new signing. I'd be more or less happy with our roster if we had real competition for Mitro. Neither of the Brazilians we've brought provided that. Stansfield showed more promise in limited minutes at the beginning of the season that Muniz and Vinicius have combined (though I'm higher on Muniz than Vinicius). I hope we recall Stansfield in the winter window. I feel like we could be doing more with our academy boys before they're poached by Liverpool or Tottenham.