Fulham at Newcastle United

Fulham makes the trip up northeast to face Newcastle United on Saturday. The game will be at 3pm EST on Peacock.

Newcastle has had their worst start to a Premier League season since 2014, but they are still 8 points and four places above Fulham with a game in hand. The Magpies are coming off a disappointing 5-2 loss against Leeds. They were dealing with the impacts of a coronavirus outbreak within the club and despite Leeds dominating play they were still tied at 2-2 late in the second half. Leeds went on to score three goals in 10 minutes to secure the win. Newcastle lives off of counter-attacks, but they were opened up by Leeds counter-attacks once they started pushing forward harder late in the game.

I expect to see a number of changes for Fulham for this match. Some of the guys who have been starting need a break and this probably is a good chance to switch up the tactics. I'd like to see Mitrovic and Cairney starting - maybe even throw in Joe Bryan to give him and Mitrovic a chance to pair up again.

Fulham is coming off of getting points in back-to-back matches for the first time this season. Unfortunately Burnley got a draw with Aston Villa so Fulham is back in the relegation zone. Three points would do a lot to help tighten things up in the race for safety.

 

We need a win.

 

It would be nice to start clawing up closer to other teams above us.

 

Gutted

 

Looking forward to the highlights, sounds like we got absolutely porked by ref/var. Well done to the lads for overcoming adversity and earning a point.

 

And here are the highlights:


Once again Fulham deserved to win and once again they were denied that opportunity by the officiating.

After the match the commentators both agreed that there was no way a penalty should have been awarded. There was contact but Andersen stopped any contact before getting to the box. They were on the fence if he deserved a second yellow or the straight red that he received, but the penalty was clearly not deserved. Then Fulham somehow didn't get a penalty awarded at the end when there was a clear handball. If you watch you can see the ref making fun of Lemina by parroting how Lemina was grabbing his head. Asshole. My son (a Villa fan) said this game was more Fulham vs. the Ref than Fulham vs. Newcastle.

Fulham had opportunities to build a bigger lead and given how the match ended it was unfortunate that they didn't convert those chances. In particular, Lemina's ball to DeCordova-Reid was perfect, but the finish was not. Sadly, Mitrovic and Cairney did not bring the spark that I had hoped for - the both underwhelmed. It was all a bit uninspired like the Brighton game, but when Newcastle started pushing harder in the second half I felt like Fulham would probably get a second if they could prevent Newcastle from evening things up. The penalty and score changed everything.

The lead up to the penalty felt like it went in slow motion, I was already worried that Fulham had too many players forward so when Aina slipped I let out an "Oh no" like when Ralphie almost shot his eye out. Then when Andersen started pulling back on Wilson I let out an "Oh no" like when Ralphie broke his glasses. Newcastle was just sitting around waiting to capitalize on a Fulham mistake and Aina's slip was all they needed. So frustrating after outplaying them for most of the match.

Going forward I hope Andersen can get his straight red reduced so that he only misses one match rather than three. Fulham needs him.

Another deserved three points that slipped away, but Fulham got results from a third straight matched and were so close to another clean sheet.

 

We didn’t win. It was there for the taking and we certainly deserved it. I was OK with the penalty, but not OK with the red card. We were the better team all day, but just couldn’t close the deal. Very frustrating. After getting four points from matches we figured to struggle to get any, we’ve now gotten two from two we figured to get four and possibly six from. We’re a lot better than we were, but not enough to feel as good as we did after the draw against pool. Gotta get over the hump of winning winnable games soon. Just being more competitive now ain’t gonna keep us up. Neither will strings of one pointers.

 

Three of the last four goals that Fulham have conceded have come from spot kicks. So the few mistakes that the defense are making are unfortunately big ones, but overall I’d say defense is holding up well. On the flip side, Fulham are averaging less than a goal per match. I’m not sure what the answer up front is, but I’m hoping someone figures it out soon.

I’m not sure what the referee saw in the Andersen foul yesterday but I wonder if there was some ego involved. Did the ref not want to change his ruling because it would effectively force him to admit he got it wrong?

The entire VAR protocol reminds me of all the issues and iterations that the NFL went through (and continue to tinker with) when implementing replay review.

 

There was a situation in the Manchester United/Leeds match today that was very similar to the penalty/red card yesterday - yet with an entirely different outcome:


James runs into the box, the defender Cooper pushes him outside the box, James runs into the box and flops. In this universe Cooper is NOT carded, a penalty is NOT awarded, and James gets a yellow for simulation. Sorry for whining, but this is further proof as to how ridiculous that call was against Fulham.

 

I don't know what else to say about the officiating, except to dredge up ol' conspiracy theories that the MAF bias lingers...

The woodwork has saved a few but the defense has been solid. Good enough to keep a club up. However,....

More troublesome is the lack of any bite up front. Now, allow me to armchair: Lookman tries to do it all, without the ability at this point to do it all, and misses folks making runs in this process, Cavaliero isn't a No. 9 (but busts his tail trying), the Championship edition of Mitrovic is MIA, Bobby D.R. is no Bobby Z, and jeebus help us if Cairney finds the ball in front of goal. The window opens soon.
COYW!!!!

 

Like most of you, I truly do not understand VAR. I do not understand its capriciousness, what protocols exist for a decision to be vetoed or overridden, nor its pedantic adherence to molecular biophysics in the context of offsides.

All us fans asked for was goal line technology. That's it; that's all. If whatever this is the acceptable norm, I'd rather follow a team in obscurity. I'm no Luddite, but Scott Parker is absolutely right.

Anyway, I am both annoyed with the result and delighted with the club's performance/trajectory. That said we absolutely need to find a forward in January. I've mentioned it before, but Mitro is a hell of a player--except at this league and at this time in particular.

 

Andersen's red card suspension is just one game since it was not a violent foul.

https://www.premierleague.com/news/1938772

 

Update to @MicahMan post. Andersen’s appeal has been granted. He will be available for Southampton.

https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2020/december/Andersen-Appeal-Successful/

 

I am very happy that Andersen's appeal has been granted but also a bit shocked. Too bad Fulham can't appeal to get the two points back as well.