Fulham at Everton

Fulham gets the primo NBC matchup slot on Saturday for what will probably be their last visit to Goodison Park. Everton are feeling pretty good about things right now having not lost in four matches after losing their first four. They are clear of the relegation zone by 5 points and a win for Everton will put them even on points with Fulham.

Fulham comes into this match having shown some fight in the two previous loses, but a string of missed opportunities and critical errors have kept Fulham from making some serious waves in the Premier League. Fulham will be without Lukic until sometime in November and Andersen will be serving his one game ban. I think those two absences will make the difference in this match. With them in the squad I think Fulham wins this game, but without them I'll be happy if Fulham can manage a draw.

 

Always happy w/a pt away..:unless it’s a freaking stoppage time goal in a match we thoroughly deserved the 3 pts…ugh

 

Dammit Fulham!

 

curse word. another curse word.

 

I put this missed three points on Silva. For me, changing your back-line formation feels a bit like the prevent defense, and we know what Buddy Ryan thought about that. When Cuenca came on, in place of Iwobi who had been the day's star player, a tying goal felt inevitable. I also don't think that ball finds its way through to Beto's head if Andersen is in the box. Once again Fulham outplays their opposition, and once again they come away with less than they should have. These are getting harder to brush off as "tough luck", this feels systematic.

On the plus side, the team played better than I expected without Lukic and Andersen - until injury time.

Amazingly, out of the five matches played today FOUR were decided by injury time goals. Only Manchester City managed to escape injury time with an unchallenged one goal lead.

 

NBC did a nice job of breaking down the two goals from Fulham's match (after they dissected Vardy's goal) to show how both ended up coming when defensive lines dropped back too far:

 

That one hurt yesterday.

 

That one still smarts. It will, hopefully, balance out in the spring as, even for the most strident devotees of the gospel of Fulhamish, this season has been unique.
COYW