Fulham v. Aston Villa

Fulham host Villa on Monday and I hope the squad that played 20 minutes of football (that I failed to watch) at Leeds and produced a fightback makes an appearance for 90. Odoi at CB leaves me shuddering but there's no demonstrably better option at the moment...is there? I do enjoy reading "None" in the injured column for Fulham...(with a guttural) COYW!!!!!!!!

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/26/fulham-v-aston-villa-match-preview




A must-win game for Fulham? Not that drastic, according to Scott Parker, but the consequences of a long early run of losses need little spelling out. Defeat at Leeds was far from ideal but the manner of their recovery, pulling back to 4-3 and coming close to completing the job, ensured they did not depart with confidence sapped. Villa have seen their new expensive new signings – Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Martínez and Bertrand Traoré – all make immediate impacts and will be confident of a different outcome from a skeleton side’s 2-1 reverse in the FA Cup third round nine months ago. Nick Ames

Monday 5.45pm Sky Sports Premier League

Venue Craven Cottage

Last season n/a

Referee Stuart Attwell

This season G1 Y4 R0 4 cards/game

Odds H 2-1 A 8-5 D 2-1

FULHAM
Subs from Rodak, Fabri, Ream, Aina, Christie, Robinson, Le Marchand, McDonald, Kebano, Knockaert, Johansen, Lemina, Cairney, Seri, Kamara

Doubtful None

Injured None

Suspended None

Discipline Y4 R0

Form LL

Leading scorer Mitrovic 2

ASTON VILLA
Subs from Kalinic, Nyland, Steer, Taylor, Lansbury, Traoré, Nakamba, Samatta, El Ghazi, Jota, Guilbert, Elmohamady, Hause, Davis, Ramsey

Doubtful None

Injured Heaton (knee, 17 Oct), Engles (thigh, unknown), Wesley (knee, unknown)

Suspended None

Discipline Y3 R0

Form W

Leading scorer Konsa 1

Injured None

Suspended None

Discipline Y4 R0

Form LL

Leading scorer Mitrovic 2

ASTON VILLA
Subs from Kalinic, Nyland, Steer, Taylor, Lansbury, Traoré, Nakamba, Samatta, El Ghazi, Jota, Guilbert, Elmohamady, Hause, Davis, Ramsey

Doubtful None

Injured Heaton (knee, 17 Oct), Engles (thigh, unknown), Wesley (knee, unknown)

Suspended None

Discipline Y3 R0

Form W

Leading scorer Konsa 1

 

I think either Knockaert or Kebano will start. We'll see. Is Ola Aina not match-fit?

 

Well, I was wrong. Are we going with 5 in the back?

 

I'd like to see the formation for this starting XI:


Possibly back 3 with Tete and Bryan playing as wing backs? Surprised to see Harrison Reed isn't on the squad. I'm not sure why Cavaleiro is getting the start.

Feeling very gloomy about this. Not even looking forward to the match to be honest because I'm worried it will be a horror show. Hopefully my fears are misplaced.

 

@MicahMan Head up Micah, ‘Fulhamish’ was created for this exact scenario. Didn’t realize this match starts within the hour and not the usual Monday start time.

 

At the risk of restating the obvious, we need to a) play better defensively and b) get something out of this one, point wise. Villa barely escaped relegation last season, and they don’t appear to be that much stronger, if at all, to me for this campaign. Need to see some progress from our Premier League efforts soon, especially against an opponent somewhat equal to us in terms of budget and talent.

 

The earlier start surprised me and, from the looks of it, the entire Fulham starting eleven as well. Down 0-2 in the 15th minute at home to a potential relegation side.

I guess we're destined to repeat 2018-2019. (I know it's early, but I'm already bummed.)

 

Doesn’t look good. We need two new CBs. Cairney is a liability. Curious what changes Parker makes at the half. Hopefully we’re not 4 down by then.

 

Ouch.

 

okie dokie I dont think its an overreaction to state the following if Fulham want anything out of this season before its too far gone:

Sell Cairney. There's a lot to discuss about what you do with a player like Tom on the field, but this goes beyond that. Pivot the team to an entirely different leader on/off field. Make a statement it's a clean break from the 2018-19 disaster which still clearly lingers. Yes the circumstances were entirely different but my mind goes back to when Roy sold Bullard and made it Danny Murphy's team.

Parker needs to go, now. Harsh? Too soon? This isn't a case of suicidal (Joka) or completely ill-suited (Ranieri) tactics. We're conceding goals at the start of each half from both open play and set pieces. It's too easy for opponents to score at will. Has anything in the first 3 matches shown you this staff can turn any of this around?

 

HD, stay away. However, I've seen bad some awful play from Fulham over the years, but this recent stretch is a finalist for the most abysmal. 35 more to go!!! COYW

 

I took off of work to catch this live. Won’t be doing that again. I’ve made myself man of the match because I endured the whole thing.

 

No, Parker is doing what he can with what he has. He ain’t got much that’s up to the Prem standards. If anyone can get some fight into this team, Parker can, but he needs to start by demoting Cairney to the reserves as a signal to the rest that laziness and lack of tracking on defense won’t be tolerated.

I’d be lying if I said that our transfers being in the hands of Tony K. gives me any confidence. He’s a navel-gazing moron. If there is one person whose firing would make the team work better it’s Khan Jr.

 

Highlights:


Sadly it was the horror show I was worried about. Fulham doesn't have good enough players for the Premier League and that isn't likely to change in the remaining week of the transfer window. The blame for this falls mostly at the feet of Tony Khan. It has been clear for three seasons that Fulham needed a stronger defense and only one move of note was made in three transfer windows - bringing in Hector. And even he looks overwhelmed.

Despite it not being Parker's fault he needs to go and go quickly. Fulham can't change the squad but they can change the manager. It probably won't make a difference, but it is clear Parker can't find success with this squad. There is an outside chance someone else could and that unknown entity needs to be given as much time as possible. The other teams that came up with us have had similar challenges, but they have managed to show signs of life. Meanwhile Fulham looks like a team that could compete for the fewest points ever in the Premier League.

During halftime the "Robbies" on NBC did a great job of diagramming just how bad Fulham's defense was. They focused in particular on Odoi, who did all the wrong things (despite a warning from Tete) on the first goal and Cairney who decided to stop playing defense once he got to the box and allowed his man to score the second goal. In the post-match commentary they said "These goals look easy because they are easy against Fulham's terrible defense."

The only positive I took from the match is that there were a fair number of crosses coming in to Mitrovic from Bryan and Tete. That felt like something that could be positive. The rest is pretty bad and doesn't show much hope of improvement.

 

Lawd. We knew it would be bad at the beginning, but THIS bad? Don’t think so.
Whatever changes need to be made, there’s one that most definitely will not be: Tony Khan ain’t going anywhere... unless Shad sells the team.
Standing pat isn’t an option.

 

Khan might fire Parker to deflect responsibility, but that would be a mistake. We just don't have the right playing personnel, and even a Ranieri (we tried that before) wouldn't do any better. Parker is a talented young coach and, unlike many before him, he shows tactical flexibility, and that will be key if we're to survive in the Prem with a Championship team.

I'll say this though: I'd rather see someone from U23 get a chance to show what he can do than have Le Marchand start with Ream or Odoi against Brentford on Thursday. I hope Hector comes back soon.

 

Sure, you’ve got too many players who aren’t good enough but there’s no structure. And there may be a lack of effort. That could just be confusion from the complete absence of structure though. But it’s probably a little of both based on watching the midfield not defend.

I don’t buy that this isn’t on Parker. There are a number of things he can do. The key at this point is to just stop the bleeding and then build out from there.

You guys still do that music thread? Watching Fulham, I keep hearing the end of Love in an Elevator in my head.

 

One of the few bright spots this season is that Fulham have been posting more to YouTube rather than exclusively to FFCTV. So if you'd like to hear some glum Gentleman Jim you can check out these highlights: