Fulham vs. Southampton

Our heroes host the Saints Saturday, which also happens to be Boxing Day, at 3 p.m. BST, 10:00 a.m. EST. The match telecast will be available on Peacock Premium for American viewers.
Ralph Hasenhuttl has the Saints (who, it seems, are always marching in) in seventh place after 7 wins and 4 draws in 14 contests, much to the surprise of, I’m certain, practically everyone, save for their hardiest of die hard supporters. They gave Citeh a good tussle before succumbing 1-nil at Saint Mary’s on Saturday. They’ve mostly beaten who they’re supposed to beat (Burnley, West Brom, Newcastle, Brighton, Sheff U and Villa), and surprised surprising Everton in October 2-1. Palace beat them in the season opener, but ManUre and, as mentioned, Citeh account for the losses, so they’ve lost, albeit grudgingly, to teams you would reasonably expect them to.
How are they doing it?
For one thing, they’re getting very good, consistent performances from their key players, James Ward-Prowse, Danny Ings and Stuart Armstrong. Ings has been injury
prone, and went off with a hammy against Citeh. He may miss our match, which is good, because when he’s been fit this season, he’s been a force. The defending has been the pleasant surprise. Keeper Alex McCarthy, CB’s Jannik Vestergaard and Jan Bednarek have, it’s safe to say, exceeded expectations. Former stars at big clubs have been up and down, but the talent still breaks through enough from Theo Walcott and Kyle Walker-Peters to keep them employed. Che Adams can be spectacular in attack, but he can also be a spectator. Nathan Redmond is still serviceable as a speedy, quick passer and shooter, the kind that can give us fits. But such players have found it tougher sledding against the likes of Robinson, Aina, Tosin and Andersen who, by the way, has successfully appealed the iffy red card from Andre Marriner against Brighton and should be back in black...and white, and on the pitch when the whistle blows.
We need to play better than we did against the Seagulls, and I think we will. They can see what we can see, that Southampton are for real and deserve their lofty perch at the moment. We should know now that you can’t play down to the level of your competition in this league, or you’ll pay a steep price, dropping points that could prove critical come summer time. I have no clue what to expect from us, but I do know our chances of nabbing all the points are better without Danny Ings leading their line.

 

Fulham will not have Scott Parker at Craven Cottage on Saturday. He is in isolation after a member of his household tested positive for coronavirus. Parker has not tested positive himself. If he continues to have negative tests he could return in time for Tottenham.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...olating-after-household-member-tests-positive

 

Sorry to hear about SP’s situation. Will be up to the leaders in that locker room to get the focus right. Have seen Southampton twice, a very organized professional bunch, that capitalizes and punishes mistakes. That said, there is no reason to be afraid or intimidated. COYW!!

EDIT: Lacking cutting edge in final third, but another clean sheet, and another point to the good.

 

Another solid effort, a clean sheet (thanks to two VAR overturns) and a point earned. But where are the goals going to come from?

 

That is the question isn’t it. Turning draws into wins is going to require scoring goals and Fulham need some help in that area.

 

Robinson was excellent. My MOTM. Anguissa bossed the midfield, but whiffed in a bit of slapstick comedy when he should have scored. Lookman had an off game -- usual energy, but not as productive. A really good team effort, and I wish RLC, Lookman, etc. would decide to shoot more often when 22 yards out and with time, instead of trying to thread that one more low-probability pass.

 

Here are the highlights for Fulham's fourth draw in a row (first time they've done that since 2008):

That is the question that has no good answer so far. Fulham played well today, but didn't create a lot of chances. When those chances came, they didn't convert. Cavaleiro should have converted. Anguissa should have converted. The two overturned goals were clear offsides with no wiff of controversy. There were two handballs (one for each team) that were just as egregious as Kamara's a few weeks ago, but were reviewed and passed over. At least Fulham wasn't screwed by VAR this week (although Bobby Reid was given a ridiculous yellow card).

Totally agree. He had a fantastic game. He seemed to be everywhere up and down the left side. My only complaint was that just before the second offside goal he had moved upfield too far and left Fulham exposed. Fortunately the offside prevented there from being any negative consequences. He linked up well with Lookman, he delivered great crosses, and he kept anything too dangerous from coming in on the left side. Harrison Reed put in a good showing against his former club since Lemina couldn't play against his current club. Anguissa was also dominant in the midfield again.

Although Parker wasn't on the grounds, it felt like he was right there managing the team - for good and bad! The team was organized well, but also waited too long to bring on subs. In the last couple minutes Fulham generated a couple of good chances with Mitrovic and then Kebano on the pitch. I would have liked to have seen them earlier. There were a couple of counter attacks that died when Bobby Reid or Loftus-Cheek made a bad pass and others on the bench deserved a chance to do better.

A point does nothing to move Fulham out of relegation. Hopefully Brighton and Burnley can come away with zero points against West Ham and Leeds respectively. Although, I don't know, Leeds has looked terrible recently. Maybe Fulham would have a better shot at catching them.

Hopefully Fulham is looking for someone in the winter transfer window that can produce some more scoring. That seems to be the one missing piece right now.

EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention is that the announcers said that Fulham has only given up three goals from set-pieces this season. I stopped listening carefully at that point as I replayed the season in my head thinking "Is that right?", but I think they said that is the lowest in the league. Thankfully Ward-Prowse hit the upright and Adams over-ran the return ball in order to keep it that way.

 

The goals drying up has been weird. I guess you got to put Mitro out there and hope it doesn't mess up the rest of the team chemistry.

 

One thing I think will help a lot is whenever we get to a point where we can get "some" supporters back in the home stands. They were brilliant during the Liverpool match, and a well spaced, boisterous crowd in such a relatively small ground CAN make a difference. I heard and felt them that day through the screen, and I know the players did the same.

 

And Robinson has been one of several pleasant surprises. He makes youthful, green mistakes, but his speed, quickness and soccer IQ more than make up for them. He's going to be tough to dislodge from the right back spot. He's just fun to watch. And very, very good.