West Ham v. Fulham

I concur Mr. Hymel. I doubt we'll know anything about Mitro's and Jedi's fitness until Marco's pre-match presser which, given they don't play until Sunday, should be either Friday or Saturday. My guess would be Friday, but I don't know what the protocol is for Sunday away games. And, it's not an "away" away match...they're traveling 20 miles across town to Stratford, although it'll take at least an hour and a half by coach. Since that ain't Blackpool, I don't know if that plays a role in when league rules dictate a traveling side must hold their newser.
These and other worthless tomes will be discussed in my new book, "Who Gives A ___?"
Look for it on Amazon next month....

 

This one will be tough, but also an opportunity, both for Marco to show his managerial mettle, and for some of the fringe and academy players. It's very possible we won't have a nominal left back available. I'm curious if Silva will slide Ream over and put in Diop, or if he tests someone like Stefan Parkes, who was on the bench last week. If Mitro can't go, I think Vinicius can do well if given good enough service. Really hoping to see Harry Wilson back, at least for a few minutes.

So relieved Palhinha is back. He may be the most valuable player for this team.

Given the defensive injuries, it's possible that Marco may go with tree CBs and two wingbacks for this one, especially since we're playing in hostile territory, but I'm hoping to see the usual 4-2-3-1.

 

I really hope that Tete and Robinson are able to return. Along with Palhinha, that would make a huge difference on the likely outcome of this match. West Ham have had trouble scoring this season (just 5 goals) so if the Fulham defense has their best players on the pitch they could look to get a clean sheet combined with a win for the first time since the 7-0 win over Luton.

In years past it always seemed that teams struggling to score would find the cure against Fulham and post multiple goals - if that happens this time I'm going to start thinking back a little too much to the 2013-14 season when Fulham had 10 points after eight matches but then started slipping down the table. However, we all seem to be in agreement that this Fulham team is far superior to the others that were relegated from the Premier League so that shouldn't happen this time around.

Since Fulham will probably be without a couple key players I think a 1-1 draw is likely. And that would be okay for any away match with a team that isn't at 100%

 

Just in time for our visit, Spam have won two in a row: 2-nil last Saturday at home against Wolves and 1-nil Thursday night in Brussels versus Anderlecht in the Europa League.
As for fitness, Mitro, Jedi, Tete and Harry are probably game day decisions. Marco didn’t rule any of them out, so we’ll see.
As for the left back and overall thin defensive numbers, one answer might be putting out feelers about Matt Targett. It looks like Eddie Howe might be reducing his role at Toons. I say might…he was a sub today versus
Brentford, and hasn’t been pencilled in automatically so far this season.

https://www.fulhamfc.com//news/2022...ampaign=menu&utm_source=gc-app&utm_medium=ios

 

I liked @MicahMan scoreline of 1-1 so much I placed a ten dollar wager on a tie. I'll gladly lose that ten bucks for a Fulham win.

 

I'm not betting money on this match. For one, I don't have the money. But more importantly, this one seems suspended between so many different possibilities. Neither of the teams is an obvious favorite. I think @stlouisbrad will win his wager, but I would also not be shocked by a goal fest.

 

F#CKING BULLSHIT!!!! 1000% handball, what’s the point of having VAR??? It was a handball twice!! Even the dude knew it. Zero chance that goal stands against Citeh, Chelscum, etc…

PS: Can’t stand the color analyst, practically begging for that goal to stand. Same A-Hole that when doing the Brentford-Fulham said ‘no disrespect to Fulham or Brentford, but Toney and Mitrovic shouldn’t be playing for these 2 small clubs’..hmm, pretty disrespectful but carry on.

 

We were terrible, but so was the referee.

 

First game I missed this season. Sounds like I saved myself some nerves.
I saw Bobby started at RB. Is Mbabu injured?

Onwards to Bournemouth, which suddenly almost feels like a six-pointer.

 

Anybody besides me thinking we should have kept Muniz? No? OK. I gotta believe he would have done better than Vinicius. Frustrating to open the scoring on the road, then get pegged back by conceding 3. I’m getting that bad defense vibe from our previous two PL campaigns, and I don’t like it. Seven goals conceded in two matches. Yikes.

 

Sorry if anyone was waiting for the highlights. I kept myself sequestered until I could watch the replay.

Mbabu made the bench, I just think Silva thought DeCordova-Reid was his best option. Mbabu hasn't been good, except for one beautiful cross to Mitrovic, but BDR couldn't seem to do a forward pass to someone in white - or if he did it was almost impossible to control. The right wing is a mess without Tete.

I thought that Fulham did pretty well hanging with West Ham despite not having an ideal starting lineup. Pereira's goal was beautiful and was the result of good play from Vinicius and Kebano. That fantastic start was undone by just a few key moments. First was James's shot (not shown in the highlights) smashing into the crossbar rather than being just a few inches lower. A 2-0 lead would have changed things significantly. The second was Pereira's inability to listen to the ref and dial it back a little before gifting a PK. Third, was the previously mentioned ridiculous handball decision. Finally there was Cairney's shot (also not shown in the highlights for some reason) that was only saved by the incredibly well placed foot of a West Ham defender who deflected it out of the air just before it went in for a tying goal.

I was happy to see Wilson healthy enough to come on late although he had zero impact on the match. Meanwhile Onomah, who came on at the same time, impacted things in a negative way. He is just another sign of how steep the quality drop is from Fulham's starting players to their bench.

Leno needs to be recognized for another good performance, he had a couple of outstanding saves. He did give up three goals, but I have trouble finding fault with him on them.

Chin up Fulham fans, we're still above Liverpool!

 

Thank you, @MicahMan. I still believe that, unlike the last two times, now we have the right manager to give us the best possible chance to stay up. He's someone who will adjust. If we get to January in a decent shape, there is hope we can address some of the needs in the (difficult) winter market. Meanwhile, if the senior backups keep failing, I think there is little additional risk in giving the talented U21 youth a runout.