Fulham at Cardiff City

The Bluebirds haven't won yet this season in the Premier League, and they'll certainly fancy a result against us at home. They lost to Burnley, the only club we've beaten so far, but that means nothing now. They're at home, we're allowing goals in droves, and I'm sure they'll be favored. Just gotta hope the defense gets squared away and some of the injured can return after the extra recuperation time from the international break. Mitro's cooled a little bit, we need to get him back on the scoresheet, ASAP. But defending has got to be priority number one. You're not going to outscore teams in this league, they're too good. With our style of play, we are always vulnerable to counterattacks and have been cut open too easily, allowing our opponents far too much room to operate too close to Betts. Got to clamp down.

 

6 pointer in October? Hyperbole w/30 matches to go, but we need a decent performance against a club that is rock bottom. Oh and Warnock is a Royal #%£*¥.

 

Jokanovic says Fosu-Mensah is not 100%, but still might be able to play against Cardiff. Cairney and Bryan are still out.

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2018/october/18/team-news

 

Can it get uglier than Arsenal? I feel complete with a rush of Cottager pessimism.

COYW

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/oct/19/cardiff-city-fulham-match-preview

At the risk of putting a curse on this game, surely it cannot end goalless. Cardiff and Fulham have conceded 38 goals between them this season and the incentive is there for both of them to inflict a bit more damage on the other in what feels like an early relegation six-pointer. Cardiff would move level on points with Fulham if they can collect a morale-boosting first victory of the season. Fulham, on the other hand, badly need to improve their own position after making such a disappointing start. Stuart James

Saturday 3pm

Venue Cardiff City Stadium

Last season (Championship) Cardiff 2 Fulham 4

Referee Kevin Friend

This season G5 Y11 R0 2.20 cards/game

Odds H 6-4 A 2-1 D 5-2

CARDIFF
Subs from B Murphy, Smithies, Richards, Hoilett, Paterson, Madine, Cunningham, Harris, Connolly, Damour, Coxe, Brown

Doubtful Madine (ill)

Injured Mendez-Laing (knee, Dec), Peltier (shoulder, Dec)

Suspended Ralls (first of three)

Discipline Y10 R1

Form DLLLLL

Leading scorers Bamba, Camarasa, Murphy, Ward 1

FULHAM
Subs from Fabri, Rico, McDonald, Fonte, Kamara, Cissé, Ayité, Christie, Ream, Chambers

Doubtful Fosu-Mensah (shoulder)

Injured Bryan (hamstring, 27 Oct), Cairney (ankle, 27 Oct)

Suspended None

Discipline Y13 R0

Form WDLDLL

Leading scorer Mitrovic 5

 

I don't know where Odoi's mojo went, but he needs to be off the pitch until he finds it.

 

Cardiff scored 4 goals in previous 8 matches...4 today. 3 letters sums up this putrid display, W T F ?!?!!!!!!

 

Total team loss. Honestly, it’s a miracle we were square at halftime. Plenty of blame to go around, but it’s time to start questioning whether Jokanovic is up to the challenge of this league. It’s fine to say you’re gonna dance with who brought you, i.e., stick to your style, but it ain’t working. An approach works only when you’ve got the athletes to execute it, and we don’t have them right now. All season we’ve looked a step slower and a play behind our opponents. We can’t play the ball out of the back like we did in the Championship last season because these players are good enough to force you into playing faster...much faster. And it shows. We’ve got to play much, much faster, now, or we’re going to be back in the second tier by Christmas. The chorus to sack Joka is rising, and I’d be lying if I said I’m starting to see more reason to. I still think it’s too soon, but we’re trending downward at the moment, and the angle is steep. He’s got to be flexible enough to consider changing, or at least modifying, our approach to this league, or we’re in deep doo-doo. But none of this explains what we saw today. Hideous defending, inexcusable marking and head shaking possession and giveaways. Granted, some were poorer than others, but it was like a team slump, spreading like a Cali wildfire. And after a international break, when you’d think such fundamentals would be sorted out. The question now is: how much more time do you give Slavisa? It’s a cruel truth, but it certainly seems to apply: What have you done for me lately? What we saw today was unacceptable.

 

If it's March, I'm really worried. Now, I'm not.

 

Wholeheartedly agree with @jumpkutz. I was thinking going into the international break that our defense was the only issue (as they have been caught grossly out of position on numerous occasions), but after watching this match I'm going to say our midfield is just as culpable. They were overrun and extremely careless with the ball. We didn't just look a step slow, we looked mentally slow and, as the gentleman from Louisville so eloquently said, we need to play much faster. Granted, Cairney was out, but I'm not sure why Zambo isn't being rated by the gaffer (oh wait, that's right, careless with the ball) because as much as I love KMac, he's out of his element in the Prem. Seri looks the part, but without someone at his mental level and without continuity, his passes go astray. I could talk about the defense now, but I'm way too frustrated after that match. You know it's bad when I tell my daughter to watch the way Cardiff takes advantage of the wide open spaces, and not the other way around.

 

I'm officially worried. As I wrote last time out, we need to ditch the 4-3-3. So what does Slav roll out? A 4-3-3, that yet again gets wildly exposed. Adding to this: playing 4 center backs so there's also no width.

Cardiff are a terrible football team. What makes this result even harder to swallow is that we're officially worse than them. Next week's match versus Bournemouth may well be Slavisa's curtain call.

 

I've been of two minds about Jokanovic. Part of me is sympathetic because the team has faced a number of injuries on the defensive side. When people say "He can't even figure out his starting 11!" I don't think anyone could have found a consistent starting 11 because of injuries. However, the less sympathetic side of me says that he needs to recognize that the game plan has to be adjusted for the players he has available. Hopefully what we've seen the past few matches isn't the best possible outcome for these players.

I also don't know how much control Jokanovic had over our summer signings. We all worried at the time that when Fulham didn't keep Targett or Fredericks that we didn't get adequate replacements (although they might not have been that great if we had kept them - Fredericks has been on the bench after West Ham opened with 3 losses and Targett hasn't even played 90 minutes for Southampton, so maybe they aren't Premier League quality either). Then we had the odd addition of two keepers who didn't seem to be an upgrade over the one we had. Our big ticket signing, Anguissa, has looked useless. Was Jokanovic behind those decisions? If so that would make me more likely to want new management.

As Jump said this was a team loss. Chambers seemed to have no idea how to play at right back, and apparently Jokanovic came to the same conclusion since Odoi and he eventually switched. Ream's fall that gave Cardiff the ball prior to the fourth goal was something we might have seen him do three years ago, but that was not the Ream we saw comfortable with the ball the past two seasons. Bettinelli was in a position to save the first three goals, but couldn't stop any of them (his positioning and lack of movement on the third goal was particularly bad). I love Schurrle, but more than once he's made critical mistakes in the defensive half that have led to goals, including the second one yesterday. It was a horror show all around. A German supervisor once used a phrase to describe some work I did for him that feels appropriate for Fulham: "You continue to surprise me - in a negative way."

That is not normal. I've watched a couple replays through Gold without issue.

"Highlights" if you dare:

 

For me the issue is less the injuries (which yes have wrecked us on the defensive side), but more the continual attempts at plugging in various players in the same system to see what sticks, when its clear the system isn't working. Things were going to take time to gel considering all the new additions, but we've regressed mightily since the season began just 2 months ago.

Since HT at the Amex in September we've been outscored 18 to 5; with most of those goals coming in the 2nd half. Our defense is allowing a lot of shots, a lot of shots on target, and a lot of those shots are going in the net.

 

Micah, I'm glad you brought up the summer signings. Schurrle's scored a couple of nice long distance goals, Seri has had flashes of brilliance, but both have been just as culpable on the downside. The rest? A disaster. Chambers, Fosu-Mensah, Anguissa, Rico, Fabri, Bryan, Mawson, Le Marchand and Vietto. Have any of them been worth what we paid? No. Like you, I'm wondering how much say Joka had in player decisions. Kline is gone, but did Tony just go on a mad spending spree with Dad's money? That's what it looks like from here at the moment. Haven't been impressed and wouldn't take any of the new guys over the side we had suited up for Villa in May at Wembley.