Fulham away to Birmingham City

Never had much success up there, they are 12th at the moment. Best thing about this division is every match is up for grabs. They’ll likely follow the script (invite us in, let us pass it about fruitlessly, then hit us on the counter), but do we have a manager willing to adjust to it? Have no idea what to expect and there isn’t a result (good or bad) I’d be surprised by.

 

I'm expecting an ugly depressing draw. More questions and fewer answers.

I thought that Bettinelli would be certain to keep his starting spot after Rodak's red card suspension, but after a 3-0 loss I won't be surprised if Rodak is back in. I don't put the blame on Bettinelli, but giving up 3 goals is never good for a keeper.

The media says that Joe Bryan will not be available, but the Fulham website doesn't have him listed as a "doubt" - only Arter - and Parker didn't mention Bryan in his match preview. If Parker puts in Le Marchand for Bryan I'd say that Fulham is more likely to lose than get a draw.

 

LeMarchand did start in place of Bryan, but was relieved by Christie in the 35th minute due to injury, fortunately before he could cock it up and concede.

 

That’s a BIG win, 0-1 away victories are a beautiful thing!

 

Needed that one BADLY. Road win and a clean sheet. Only negative is Mitro missing QPR due to yellow card accumulation, but that’s a fair trade for this result. Also noteworthy: getting a result w/o Betts and Cairney. Perhaps this will light a fire under their keisters to fight for their previously lock cinch starting spots. That, plus Cyrus Christie and Aboubakar Kamara sightings.
Time to start climbing that table!

 

Highlights via Birmingham:

Glad to be wrong about that one.

I wouldn't say I was happy when Le Marchand went down, but I was relieved. His first touch of the ball was a dangerous turnover deep in Fulham's half and I don't even think 30 seconds had passed. I had hoped to see Sessegnon, but he wasn't in the squad today. Christie came in on the right, Odoi moved to the left, and all was well. Christie deserved to be awarded an assist for his dangerous cross that eventually fell to Mitrovic for the goal after the keeper bumbled it.

Rodak had to make a number of good saves today to keep the clean sheet and I don't recall a time when it felt like Birmingham opened Fulham up down the middle the way some teams recently did. It was a nice way to come back after the disaster vs. Hull.

Mitrovic's attitude does need some adjustment. He had a chance to get another goal but instead decided to go down after a light challenge looking for a penalty. Then he got his yellow away from the ball when he decided to get into an argument with a Birmingham player. It stinks that he'll miss the QPR match because he got upset over someone's nasty words. He's still the league's top scorer, I guess that isn't enough for me!

I did not expect Fulham to get three points today given that Bryan and Cairney were both unable to play. However, the guys that were there kept fighting in terrible conditions and got a well deserved win.

 

I checked the score in the 81st minute. My first thought was not that victory was so close, but how much time until Fulham coughs up the equalizer. Thankfully that never materialized.

Back in 6th place (though Bristol City has a game in hand)