Fulham at Leicester

Fulham travels up to play Leicester on Saturday. The Foxes, although comfortably mid-table at 11th and 10 points outside of relegation, have the second worst record in the Premier League over the past 8 matches with only 4 points (you get one guess for who has the worst record over the past 8 matches ). If Scott Parker wants to manage the squad next year in the Championship, three points tomorrow would be a good follow-up to a narrow defeat against Chelsea. A win is certainly in the realm of possibility but I won't so far to say it is likely.

Schurrle is still out with a virus, which makes this a multiple week illness now. Everyone else should be available. I don't see any reason to change the lineup we saw last week.

When Fulham hosted Leicester back in early December, Ranieri's first time facing his former team, it ended in a 1-1 draw after Fulham lost a first half lead provided by Kamara. Who would have thought 3 months ago that neither Kamara or Ranieri would be with Fulham for the rematch?

 

I would love to be optimistic about getting a result, but Jamie Vardy and co. have got to be salivating at the opportunity to have a go at our defense. One of the biggest issues with a porous back wall is the psychological effect it has on one’s opponents. Even the most challenged of goal scoring sides fancy their chances of getting well against a club hemorrhaging them. The beauty of sports is that such bad habits can inexplicably change without rhyme, reason or notice. Granted, it’s more likely if there’s an unrealized measure of talent available to tap into, but it would seem it would have surfaced at some point during the previous 29 matches. But...there’s a new sheriff in town, and his name is Reggie Hammond...er, Scott Parker.

 

It’s hard to expect anything when a good defensive match is “only” conceding 2 goals. However, I think we’ll score a couple also, 2-2.

 

Zero shots in the first half. Ugh.

 

My prediction of a final tally of 25-26 points a few weeks ago is a pipe dream. I thought the year we were relegated w/32 points was a nightmare. Now all but guaranteed to start April w/17 since the final 2 March fixtures are Pool & Citeh.

 

So much focus is on our terrible defense but what stood out today: our offense is diabolical. xG today was 2.13 to .15. Thats zero point one five.

The only goal we scored was from 3 dumb mistakes by Leicester defenders, and a wildly fortunate deflection.

Stepping back, we've scored >1 goal in a game just once this calendar year (when we scored 4 in a half). In total its but 5 times all season, and two came in the first 30 days of the campaign.

Just end it.

 

Rico had that one nice save. I’m struggling to find any other positive moments in that match.

 

Ugh. That was a regression from Chelsea last weekend. Even when Ayité managed to get a suspect equalizer, you never really got the feeling that we were back in it. For the untrained eye like mine, it’s hard to determine if we were in over our head, every Fulham player just sucked today, or didn’t come close to rising to their energy level. I was afraid we wouldn’t have an answer for Jamie Vardy today. Hate being right sometimes. I’ll agree with Brad about the one Rico save that did keep us in it. I’ll add Ayite’s dogged perseverance in getting our goal, though Leicester’s indifference certainly contributed. The midfield mistakes today were hideous. How can we be this deep into the season and not be able to get the ball out of our own half? Thirty games in and we still can’t deal with an opponent playing a high line and pressing. That’s just sad. And any progress Parker made from his first match in charge is gone. After today, we MIGHT beat Cardiff and/or Newcastle at home, but that would be it. No reason to believe we’ll win any of the others remaining in this wretched season.

 

I’ll agree with the right honorable gentleman and opine that distribution forward from out of the back, from both the keeper and the backs, has been equally to blame. The midfielders haven’t been strong enough with the ball when we do manage to get it to them.
They’ve been too easily disposessed by physical challenges that they apparently thought to be fouls. They probably were in the Championship, but not in the big boy league. In all such instances, the result is a devastating counterattack promulgated by the best offensive soccer players on the planet. And that’s why we’re in the position we’re in.

 

I don't usually offer a detailed technical analysis after matches, because there are others on this site who do it much better than I can. I thought I would make an exception in this case:

Barf