Fulham Alumni Report

Club Brugge have earned three straight wins in their opening Champions League matches against Porto, Leverkusen, and Atletico. Not only that, but they have not conceded a single goal. A remarkable accomplishment that is even more remarkable when you realize Denis Odoi has played all 270 minutes at right back for Brugge.

 

Technically this doesn’t belong here since Jay Stansfield is only out on loan, but HD loved this thread and most certainly would’ve loved this amazing game winner from the 20 year old in his home debut for Birmingham. Forward to approx 6:15 mark. Great first touch and then a cracker.

 

Historic Europa Final, and Ademola Lookman scores a hat trick and Atalanta deals Bayern Leverkusen their first loss of the entire season. Lookman bounced around England Charlton, Everton, Fulham, and Leicester amongst others, but has found a home in Italy, and will forever be a club legend.

 

Except for his embarrassing PK attempt, I have fond memories of Lookman. Although it would have been fun to have seen Leverkusen go undefeated, I was really happy that Lookman put in a legendary performance. Just stunning that they hadn't let a team score three goals all season and then he manages a hat trick.

 

I'm off for the MLK Holiday. While flipping channels I came across some Saudi football. I had no idea anyone was broadcasting it. Rodak and Dembele are in the lineup.

 

Dan Burn achieved "Legendary" status among Newcastle players today. His header at the end of the first half gave Newcastle the lead against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final. Then he was awarded Player of the Match for leading is home team to their first domestic cup title in 70 years. This may have been the best week of his life since he also got his first call-up to the England squad too. Despite being a bit of a gangly oddball, I was disappointed he didn't stick with Fulham after relegation in 2014, but he's shown he can play with the best and I'm glad he's become a hero for the Toon Army.

 

The Championship kicked off this season and some former Fulham players made notable contributions.

Stansfield was Johnny-on-the-spot and scored the first goal in the Championship this season:


Meanwhile Benda's poor distribution gave Josh Sargent the opportunity to score with his butt:


Millwall still won despite the butt goal.

 

So Palhinha - described by The Athletic’s Tim Spiers as “the best hairy-arsed tackler in the Premier League” - has been loaned to Spurs. I guess he couldn’t replicate his Premier League success in the Bundesliga. He’ll probably still get some European exposure with Spurs but I’m curious to see if he returns to his Fulham form or not.

 

REEEEEAAAAAAMMMMMMM!

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/65...c_newsletter&campaign=14519270&userId=7534015

 

That was a great article, but they missed one aspect of Ream's game that I really appreciated when he was in his prime. He would know when to take the space given to him if the opposition dropped off and then as they moved to close him down he would send a ball forward to a midfielder who was now unmarked. Bassey shows moments of that awareness, but often holds the ball too long and tries to do more on his own. Ream could do just enough to knock the opposing defense off balance and unlock things for the Fulham offense.

 

@astroevan, thanks for posting ^^. What an interesting inside look at Ream’s thought process during plays. Didn’t think he had a snowball’s chance to be on next year’s WC squad the second he came back home. I’d say it’s better than 50/50 now.

 

Indeed. You always hear about partnerships on teams (esp related to center backs) but I’ve never delved into it before. It’s really interesting to see that some decisions are not made with regard to the ball carrier, but solely based on the positioning and actions of teammates.

 

Cameron Burgess (from Fulham's Magath era that we don't talk about) had a very special night for Swansea against Forest in the Carabao Cup:

 

What a strike.

 

Haha. Put some cheese on it!

 

Palhinha saves the day for Spurs and breaks Wolverhampton hearts with an injury time goal to get a draw. Unlike most Palhinha goals this was not smashed, but expertly placed into the corner. I wish he was still playing for Fulham, but I'm glad he's been finding success at Tottenham.