FFC at Sheffield Wednesday

Impossible to say what will happen. Our 4-0 result at home in December might as well have been a millennium ago. I don't have a clue as to who should start, or even be named, so I won't even go there. Whoever goes out there, I hope they at least bloody well defend. Tired of seeing Betts get roasted by shots he has no chance on. Would like to see more of Matt Smith. I think a more direct approach is called for, even if it means less time for Cauley, although I hate that trade off. We haven't fared well in rematches it seems (see Wolves), but we have played somewhat better on the road this season. Just hoping for a good effort and a chance to nick an away point. Kit's right about at least one thing: we need all the points we can get from now on.

 

While I really don't think either will catch us, both Millwall & Wigan (what the heck happened to them this year?!?) have winnable matches. It would be nice if we could get something from this match to keep a comfortable gap between us.

 

I'm sure Millwall would point to Saturday, the 16th of August, as an example. Hopefully they don't get any "new manager" bounce.

Wigan is strange. They looked so good last year & less than 12 mos later, Rosler has been sacked & they're looking certain for the drop to League 1. There's probably an obvious explanation if I could be troubled to look.

 

Although I wasn't a Matt Smith fan, he's been just about the only positive from the two most recent losses. He looked consistently threatening while playing, so I'd expect him to get a start. We'll be without Fred Hickey (that's 'Merican for Fernando Amorebieta, he can have his beautiful Italian name back when he plays like one) so I expect to see Stafylidis. Other than those two changes I bet we see the same team that we had from the 5-1 nightmare. Personally I'd like to see Kacaniklic playing rather than Tunnicliffe or Kavanagh, but he seems to be out of Kit's favor right now. The Kacaniklic cross to Smith's forehead sounds like a winning combination to me!

 

If he wasn't retired, I'd suggest pairing Fred Hickey with Charlie Blackmouth. Actually, that's not a particularly pleasant image.

 

The performance will undoubtedly be better, but will it be enough to get a result? No such thing as an away trip in this division that's impossible not to get a point at, so would happily take a draw and press on.

 

Got enough negatives packed in there Joe? Wait a minute...so you're the one that almost drove HatterDon into exile.

 

So we've brought in Michael Turner for a ten match loan.
http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2015/march/12/turner-joins-on-loan

I guess that spells the end of Dan Burn - not that he was seeing any pitch time anyway - and may relegate Hutchinson to the bench.

Like MicahMan, I was not one screaming for Smith's recall two months ago but I have been impressed with what he has brought to the pitch the last couple of matches. Drop Hugo, pair Smith and McCormack, and start Fofana. That's what I'd do.

 

Lol, guilty as charged. Somewhere in Tucson my former English professor is shaking her head and saying it's not her fault.

 

I truly hope this isn't the end for young Burn. Despite his weaknesses, I like him and his style of play. Is he the most gifted athletically? No. But he has a head for the game and, more often than not, acquits himself well against faster, quicker opponents. If he ends up moving on, I wish him nothing but the best. But I hope he stays. I have a soft place in my heart for towering center backs. I'll allow myself a small grin if he's named to the bench today.

 

Smith starts. Richards returns. Turner debuts. No Ruiz.

Bettinelli
Richards, Turner, Hutchinson, Stafylidis
Hoogland, Parker, Tunnicliffe, Kavanagh
Smith, McCormack

I'm wondering what formation we are going to see with this lineup. We've got 6 (!) guys who normally play on the back line. Looks like we are going with a different approach today. (Update: Match Centre is showing a 3-5-2, personally I would have gone with a 3-1-4-2 to honor Pi day)

Subs: Kiraly, Bodurov, Grimmer, Fofana, Roberts, Woodrow, Rodallega

 

Lineup. New guy in, and Smith, Stafy, Hoogland moved up, no Burn.
We'll see.

 

Holy crap, you're right, no Ruiz. Wonder what's going on? A knock, or just tired of his act? Gonna be an interesting post match presser, regardless of outcome.

 

I'm rarely one to complain about a point on the road, but I just can't help but wonder if we hadn't started with 6 defenders if we might have gotten more from this one. Credit to Kit for recognizing it wasn't working & switching off of it with enough time to turn the result. Sounded like the pitch was a mess and young Mr Woodrow was the game changer (along with Fofana).

I was also a little surprised that Bodurov was the one that was dropped in favor of Turner & not Senderos 2.0, Hutchinson. I make the big Phil reference tongue in cheek b/c I think a lot of our fans were overly harsh on him. Course, if Hutch really is Phil2, he'll be off playing Europa League football for some top flight club next year and some of our lot will think we're better off for it. Back to Turner, in Kit's post match comments he specifically emphasized communication, which I found interesting.

So it's 1 pt gained but our cushion is cut to 6 pts. Took a closer look at Wigan & I'm more worried. They've only conceded an impressive 49 goals. If they start finding the back of the net (2 goals today), they can make a run. Our upcoming match with them is going to be huge. Hopefully Rotherham continue to slide & take the fall should Wigan escape.

On a completely unrelated note, I didn't realize Schwarzer was playing for Leicester until today. That and watching Burnley beat City reminded me of Fulham back in the Woy era. I also stumbled across my old "Journey of a Lifetime" booklet from our Europa run while spring cleaning, which led to me watching Clint's chip v Juve & Simon's sublime goal v Hamburg on YouTube. So it's been a reminiscing type of morning and was a nice reminder of how it felt during that amazing run. And how it felt feeling good about Fulham.

 

The highlights. And that field is actually worse than I imagined. GJ was not exaggerating.

 

Thanks for posting Micah. Wow, that pitch was terrible. Satisfying point and looking forward to grabbing 3 points v Leeds.