Fulham at Brentford

Of the remaining three matches, this is the one I care about the most. I'd really like to see Fulham beat Brentford. The loss to Brentford at Craven Cottage back in August was Fulham's worst home defeat of the season. It was a disaster. Diop turned the ball over to gift Brentford a goal, then they got a penalty on a flop that somehow was given by VAR, and then they got to close out the game with a man advantage after Ream got a second yellow. Justice is needed!

Other than that, this game is meaningless. Its biggest value is probably to see if Diop can be relied on at CB. He started badly last week, but got better as the match went on. I still don't have a lot of trust in him and won't be surprised if he puts Fulham in a bad spot again. On the plus side, Fulham is much more dangerous offensively now than back in August. This time Fulham should score.

The match kicks off at 10am on Peacock.

 

Yep, I always want to win the derbies. At least it's highly unlikely that Brentford will end the season above Fulham in the table even if Fulham tank again. The big concern for me is Fulham's away form - only 14 points from 17 matches.

Fulham are definitely a better team than they were in the first match and will certainly put forth a stronger squad this weekend. I'll be soaking up all of Palhinha's minutes these last few matches. Even though he signed an extension, I'm not sure he'll be wearing white in August.

Diop is frustrating. I really hope he's not the long term solution. His mental lapses are pretty severe at times and put Fulham in really bad situations (like down a goal). This makes me think that bringing in two center backs should be the plan.

I'm hoping Willian is healthy and gets the start. He's also another player that I'm trying to maximize the enjoyment of while I can.

All said, the match will probably frustratingly end in a draw.

 

Blah. Should have got the W. How did Jimenez miss that shot so badly? Rough day for Willian. Probably the worst I've seen him play in a Fulham shirt.

 

Toward the end of this match I was going to be okay with a draw. Why??? Because I wanted the main highlight from this match to be Traore and Robinson chasing down Damsgard! I was worried for a moment when he broke free, but it was clear quickly that he wasn't going to get anywhere. Glad that Traore played it smart and didn't give anything that could have been a last-man foul.

But! What I thought was the best moment of the game didn't make NBC's highlights! Sometimes the good stuff doesn't involve a shot on goal.

Agree on the Jimenez and Willian critiques. Oof. There must have been some "Freaky Friday" type switching going on between Willian and Diop, because Diop looked pretty solid. I'm also disappointed that Iwobi didn't do better in the final third. He could get some things going, but often didn't make the right choices at the end of a move. The draw means that Fulham will finish below last season's point total.

On the plus side Palhinha and Lukic looked pretty good today. Palhinha had some great tackles and managed to get out of the G-Tech without a yellow.