Fulham vs Leeds

I'm starting this thread early because I hope for a good return to the Cottage for us. Leeds seems to be in freefall, especially defensively, and if we're aggressive in the final third, we will score goals. Leeds may stay up because Southampton, Leicester, Forest, and Everton have been even worse.

This is the early Saturday game. 7:30 EST, USA Network. Set your alarms. Leave Friday night parties early.

We will still be without Mitro Kurzawa, and likely Kebano. I do hope Keba gets a few minutes before the season's end. James likely ineligible to play his parent team. Does this mean Vinicius comes back in? I hope not. I'd prefer Bobby Multitool Decordova-Reid in the false 9.

 

I'd swap Solomon for James and leave the rest pat. I believe that BDR was tried as the lead attacker earlier in the season and didn't do much (for whatever the reasons on the day), so I'd go with Solomon and try to catch lightening in a bottle two weeks on the bounce (which keeps Vinicus as the change-up attacker). COYW!

 

I have to wait for the Sunday replay on Peacock so I will be partying all night on Friday!! Whoo hoo! Eh, who am I kidding. I'll probably be in bed by 9:30.

I'm not sure who should go up top since the Dan James Experiment will have to wait at least another week. I'm with @nevzter and think that Solomon should be slotted in, however I expect that Vinicius will actually get the start. You'd hope that Fulham could score against a team that has given up 16 goals in four matches, but goals have been hard to come by in 2023. Since January, Fulham as only scored one goal per match while in the 2022 portion of the Premier League season Fulham was getting 1.7 goals per match. When Fulham played Bournemouth three weeks ago they had the worst defensive record at the time and Fulham only managed one goal and lost. Leeds now has the worst defensive record, hopefully Fulham does better this time.

 

Me too. The boy has track meet and it's an all day affair.

 

Kebano has recovered from his exploded achilles and may be in the match day squad. Not a bad time to add another body. COYW
https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2023/...-website&utm_campaign=website&utm_medium=link

 

Cue It James…
@jumpkutz How did you beat me?? Lol

 

I like this lineup and these tactics! Might be too late to mount a charge for Europe, but stranger things have happened.

 

How did Leno pick up that back pass and how did everyone, including all the Leeds players, miss it? I’m not complaining. It was just funny.

I’m glad Marco has given the false 9 concept a shot. It’s working, and it’s a good alternative for the team to have in our back pocket even when Mitro is available. I hope it’s nothing serious with Willian. And it was awesome to see Kebanoooo back in action.

45 points. And we’re above both Brentford and Chelsea, and it’s so much fun to look at the league table.

On the other side, while Aaronson made an effort, McKennie was totally invisible, except for one moment when he fouled and got a yellow. They both need to move on. Terrible fit for them.

 

I’m told there was a deflection on that back pass. I did not see that.

 

Loved, loved, LOVED Wilson’s thumper for the opener. He hit that ball with extreme prejudice! Rodrigo’s planting of Willian into the Hammersmith End boards should have been a straight red card. Unlucky not to get the clean sheet. Better stuff from our guys. Let’s keep it going.

 

Finally got to watch the replay. It was a pretty solid performance against Leeds, probably Fulham's best out of the three this season. Over the past two weeks I've appreciated the team mixing things up more on the offensive end - they are doing more than just driving down the wing and sending in a cross. There are more dangerous drives to the D looking for outlet passes. Having said that, both goals still came as a result of crosses from the left wing, but I still appreciate mixing things up more because it makes those crosses hard to predict and defend. My hope is these weeks without Mitrovic may end up making Fulham a more well rounded team. This span without the top scorer could force the development of some new tactics.

Side note on Mitrovic - the FA lost their appeal to add more time to his ban so Mitrovic is halfway through his eight game suspension.

And if anyone still needed them, the highlights!

 

We’re at 45 points with 7 matches to go. We need 8 more points to equal 53, our best ever result in the Premier League. Can we get two wins and two ties out of 7? Perhaps more? Even 53 likely wouldn’t be enough for the 7th place and a European spot this season, but I wont be heartbroken if we don’t get to Europe. This season has been so much fun.