Fulham vs. Manchester United

There is always drama when it is Fulham vs. Manchester United, so what can we expect this Sunday when the two face off at Craven Cottage? The match will be on USA with kickoff at 11:30am EDT.

Everyone is saying that Manchester United look much better this season and may finally have something to be excited about. Their new signings have a lot of people excited about what they can do going forward. I'm still skeptical. We've heard this before - some talented player was going to finally give United what they needed to return to past glory and then... pffttt. I'm not going to be surprised if it happens again.

After watching the replay of last week's match, I thought Fulham looked pretty good on defense, especially since it was an unusual setup with Bassey on the wing. Cuenca did well as the LB and Bassey played strong defensively. I also thought there were some good signs going forward despite the lack of production. Berge seemed more willing to look, pass, and move forward rather than making his default to always go back. Fulham's problem at Brighton seemed to revolve around sloppy passing. When Traore came on it was like he had a magic field around him that prevented anyone from delivering a pass. Since a lot of those struggles come back to Iwobi, I wouldn't mind if Smith-Rowe got the start on the left. It seems clear Muniz should start too.

Unfortunately it is still unclear if Robinson or Sessegnon will be available on Sunday. Both are training, but Silva won't say if they will play. They both would be welcome additions to Fulham's attack.

Side note on TV coverage. Last week the game was on USA, this week it is on USA, next week it is on USA, then there is the international break. Finally on September 13, Fulham might have a match live on Peacock. The following week they play Brentford on NBC so at least then those of us who don't have cable can finally watch Fulham on the tube at home! This run of early matches on USA has really been a bummer for the start of the season.

 

I'm trying to be careful about my excitement about Josh King since he's young and will have the inevitable ups and downs, but his combination of smoothness on the ball, vision, and combativeness are something I haven't seen at Fulham in a while. He's still growing and bulking up, but in a year or two, if he's coached correctly, he'll be a standout player in the Prem. I hope we get to enjoy him for longer than we did Carvalho. All that is to say that I look forward to seeing what he can do against ManU.

Iwobi had an off game at Brighton, but I think that's in part due to the loss of balance on the left with neither Jedi nor Sess available. I hope one of the two is good to go this weekend. If not, then it could be a weaker point for us again.

ManU does have some good new players, but they haven't had the time to gel. I think if we can avoid mental mistakes like causing unnecessary PKs or turning the ball over on defense, we have a shot at a good result.

 

HT 0-0, couple
Observations:
• Hate the white shorts
• Justice that Bruno skied the PK into Row Z, terrible call (Mount grabs Bassey first, but got the worst of it. Luke Shaw makes a simultaneous takedown that was worse right behind the play).

 

I saw @SoCalJoe left a comment at half-time and I told my wife "When someone leaves a comment at halftime, it is usually something along the lines of 'WTF?!' Things don't look good." So I watched the highlights with great trepidation...


Well they certainly had the drama again! Based on the highlights Fulham seemed doomed in the opening minutes. Everything was going Manchester United's way. I also loved that Frenandes sent that ball deep into the Hammersmith End (although I don't mind the white shorts Joe!). Despite being pinned back early, Fulham seemed to get back into the game, but with that really unfortunate own goal I thought this would be another undeserved United win at Craven Cottage. Not this time! What a great build-up, cross, and finish to get the goal! After all the ridiculousness that had already happened in this match, that felt really good. I still thought for sure that Manchester United would get another late winner, and they had their chances, it just wouldn't be a storybook ending for them this time.

It was good to see Robinson out there. I'm eager to hear from others about how he looked after he came on. It seemed like the Robinson we often see - great at getting space, but sometimes those crosses are not so great.

 

I don’t know what it is, but the subs always seem to make the difference. Muniz and Smith-Rowe last week. Raul, Wilson and Smith-Rowe (again) this week. I was also pleased to see Silva make the substitutions before the 80th minute.

The starting lineup was interesting in that Castagne was played as the right winger in front of Tete. Not Wilson. Not Traore. It worked okay but most all of Fulham’s attack came from the left.

Robinson looked good. A bit rusty but, yes, typical Jedi getting into the attack and being the first one back defending when necessary.

@MicahMan You have to watch the replay (or at least watch this part) as the highlights omitted the lead up to Fernandes penalty. He set the ball and was starting his walk back when the ref bumped him. I was laughing so hard at the absurdity of it all. (But also mainly at the [IMO] incompetence of the ref and obvious favoritism of VAR.)

Speaking of VAR, I have no idea how they decide what is “worthy” of VAR intervention. According to the ESPN VAR review (https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_...e-crystal-palace-marcos-sensei-dogso-red-card), the foul on King last week was not “worthy” (or impactful enough) of VAR intervention and therefore was not recommended for the on field ref to review. Even though it would have probably stayed a penalty had it been initially awarded as one. So fast forward to today, apparently the tussle between Bassey and Mount was significant enough to warrant a second look? The VAR evidently thought that Mount’s intentional effort to take Bassey out of the play (in which Man U didn’t even get a clear attempt on goal) was impactful enough to stop the match a full 2 minutes after it occurred (and apparently more impactful than a defender kicking King in the back of the leg as he tried to control the ball in the box). The VAR also didn’t think that Yoro pushing Bassey out of position and off-balance didn’t have any impact on the Man U goal. Seriously?!? Okay, I’m done with that for now. But if Fulham somehow end up four or less points short of something at the end of the season….

In the end, a good performance from the team and a second result coming from behind. Now the Khans just need to bring in some reinforcements to keep the momentum going and turn some of these draws into wins.