Fulham at West Bromwich Albion

Fulham travels to the Hawthorns to face West Brom on Tuesday. Please note the unusual kickoff time of 4pm EDT since the US is in Daylight Savings Time while England still won't spring forward for a few more weeks. I think the match will be on ESPN+, but their schedule currently says West Brom vs Huddersfield - a game that is impossible since Huddersfield doesn't play on Tuesday and even if they could they wouldn't play West Brom who they have already faced twice this year.

It is amazing how much has changed since Fulham and West Brom faced off in October. At that time the Baggies were just one point behind Fulham and the winner would get second place in the league. After Fulham's 3-0 win Fulham has earned 55 points while West Brom has gotten 22. Fulham is in control of first place while West Brom is struggling in 14th to even get a shot at the playoffs. Since the Fulham loss, West Brom has only beaten Hull (twice), Reading, Peterborough, and Coventry. They lost to many of the teams they are competing against for a playoff spot such as QPR, Luton, Sheffield United, and Middlesbrough. Since Steve Bruce took over only Peterborough and Stoke have earned fewer points. In other words, they've been a disaster.

Hopefully Fulham goes into this one and puts West Brom to the sword after a disappointing outing against Barnsley. I haven't heard if Ream will be in shape to play after his gruesome head injury at the end of the last match. I also haven't heard if Kebano is available, but I'd say he's probably less likely than Ream since he apparently has a sore hamstring that Fulham wouldn't want to aggravate.

Fulham is almost there and just needs to keep earning points.

 

No time to dwell on Saturday’s match. Time to turn around, lace up the boots, and get back to work.

Then rest.

 

I agree and hope we respond accordingly. We can ill afford to think we've got promotion locked up, which is how we played against Barnsley. I suspect Ream's gonna get a day off, even though it's likely he's able to suit up. Kebano is likely out. Hammy's don't get well that quickly. Some guys who were milk carton candidates at Oakwell need to do a 180 today, big time. Yeah, I'm looking at you BDCR. And Seri. And, later in the proceedings, Mitro. And, to a lesser extent, Reed. I look for improvement from everybody in a Fulham kit today.

 

How does Steve Bruce keep getting jobs???? Look up the word ‘retread’ and a pic of him must pop up. 23rd year of managing and he is on his 12th job….

 

Halftime thought...
I'm getting really tired of yelling at my TV "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

 

Well l that was a big steaming pile of something. I can’t believe I cut out of work early to watch that.

 

Not sure why you'd want to watch these, but here are the highlights:


Well I didn't stop yelling "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" in the second half either. Ream and Rodak were the only Fulham players that didn't piss me off tonight. What a terrible performance made even harder to shake off coming on the heals of the poor performance against Barnsley. Fulham will still probably get promoted even playing like this, but I'd rather not be devoid of confidence at the end of the season! This is a test for Silva to see if he can get things back on track.

Thanks @HatterDon for pointing out the bright side!

 

This was a shit show. Spent all day looking forward to watching this. What a mistake.

 

Had a feeling this would be a doozy once I saw the starting lineup. This might be first time all season I'm quite vexed with Silva, particularly for not rotating at least 3-4 players. Not sure how you can live the first 2 paragraphs in this story and order more of the same. I guess he thought he could squeeze one last ounce of juice out of them, but after 10 whole minutes it was clear the squad was totally gassed, and for good reason.

We should be pointing our ire at the manager. Hate to say it but this one is mostly on him.

 

Oy, that was bad. As poor as I've seen Fulham this season. The passing and ball control were the most frustrating part, and not only Robinson's. Someone needs a new contacts prescription. Or a few someone's. When the fundamentals fail, no strategy is going to help. On the bright side, we get two weeks to regroup and rest the tired legs.

 

Just when you think Fulham has found a level of consistency this game has a way smacking you in the mouth and telling you to think again!

 

There's only one way to describe this outing. Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant Massacree comes to mind. After the first audience participation stanza, a less than impressed Guthrie deadpans, "that was horrible...."

 

AND YET!

 

I like that graph! And it may get even better before we play again since Huddersfield and Bournemouth are playing each other this weekend.