Fulham at Burton Albion

First things first, Cairney and Rui Fonte are still out.

http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/fulham-duo-set-miss-trip-13621007

The Brewers are coming off a nil-nil result at Carrow Road. They're 1-2 and 4, 21st in the table, with a -10 goal difference, the latter matching bottom dwelling Bolton. Their lone victory was at home a month ago against Birmingham City. No player has more than one goal out of the nine they have scored this season in both league and cup play.

We should win this match.

Which probably means we'll struggle. But I believe we'll win because Joka hasn't lost these kind of matches since his arrival.

 

I'm guessing it won't exactly be an example of the 'beautiful game', but here's hoping for the 3 points in any fashion possible.

 

Burton is only 8 years removed from non league football. Their ground holds just over 6000 total and only seats a little over 2000. They're simply out of their depth at this level as evidenced by their barely surviving last year (on the last day) and their poor start this year. We beat them 2-0 in their barn last year. Anything short of 3 points is unacceptable.

 

Same starting XI as the mid-week match against Hull. Rui Fonte makes it back as a sub.

Button
Fredericks, Kalas, Ream, Sessegnon
Norwood, McDonald, Johansen
Ojo, Ayite, Kebano

Subs: Bettinelli, Odoi, Djalo, Cisse, Graham, Mollo, Fonte

On a side note that I didn't really know where to put, the tube bombing in London yesterday happened in Fulham just to the east of the stop for Putney Bridge where many Fulham fans from other parts of London arrive from. It was fortunate no one was killed, but I'm sure this was incredibly unnerving for the good people of Fulham and I hope they are able to keep calm and carry on.

 

Grrr. Back to the drawing board. Shouldn't lose to a team like this. Ever.

 

Ugh, when it comes to shooting, we can't hit water if we fell out of a boat.

 

Meanwhile, Hatter's boy was on the mark today...for one of our competitors. Leveled against Derby Co. before storming to 3 more and a 4-1 win. Anybody want him and Chris Martin back?

 

Prior to today's match:

• Fulham hadn't ever lost to Burton
• Fulham hadn't lost an away match this season
  
• Fulham hadn't given up a first half goal in league play this season
  
• Fulham hadn't given up more than 1 goal in a league match this season
• Fulham hadn't given up a penalty kick this season

So it is fair to say that the end result wasn't expected, but that Fulhamish feeling was familiar.

 

I looked at it half a dozen times. Didn't see a penalty. Doesn't matter. You've got to expect bad officiating these days.

http://livetv141.net/enx/showvideo/501096_burton_albion_fulham/

 

Highlights below from Burton's YouTube channel. I watched in slow-motion and like Jump, I couldn't see anything approaching a penalty. No one had a hand on him. No one kicked his feet. No one was leaning on him. No one hit the ball with their hand.



I watched the Fulham highlights and it is even more frustrating after seeing the yellow that Ojo was given for diving when his feet were clipped by the goalie. Then this guy for Burton falls in a light breeze and gets a PK.

Fulham still deserves a good share of blame for a poor showing. They have got to get better at putting shots on target.

 

These are the results that separate the auto-promotion contenders from the playoff contenders and everyone else. It's still very early and can be overcome, but the fact that we keep seeing these gives me little confidence of FFC in the top 2.

 

We've got issues right now, no question. And the league has figured Slav out. We're about to find out how good he really is. Can he make the adjustments necessary to counter? It would also be helpful if we could get Cairney fit. Oh, and maybe we ought to give Stevie Humphrys a chance?

 

With 38 matches to go, I'm with this guy:
http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/spor...ams-performance-against-burton-wasnt-13635721

Though I also agree with Matt, that unless things turn around quickly and long-term, promotion will more likely be attained via playoff than automatically.

 

To be fair though, we really haven't had a good look at Fonte. He's only been with the team for a month (during which there was an international break) and has only featured in 3 matches (2 starts).

I am not too hopeful of the addition of Kamara. He hasn't been used much and I'm getting the feeling that Joka doesn't consider him a good fit for the intended style of play.