Fulham at Wolverhampton

Well it has been a fun week looking back fondly at possibly the most rewarding draw ever for Fulham, but the season continues and now Fulham has their first match on the road this season at Wolverhampton. The match will be available on Peacock at 10am EDT.

It is likely to be very hot on Saturday with temperatures in the 90's at game time. In response the Premier League has mandated water breaks, but this will still be a tough game for the players especially with Fulham already facing two key injuries in Wilson and Solomon. Fulham had a great work ethic against Liverpool, but it may be difficult to maintain that press. Of course, Wolverhampton will have to deal with the same conditions, but I worry about what a late substitution of their new signing Guedes could do as players are starting to drag.

It will be interesting to see if the same squad starts this Saturday for Fulham or do Rodak or Ream or even Tosin drop to the bench. I think Rodak will be the only change, although he certainly played well enough against Liverpool to warrant another start. Leno was brought in to be the starting keeper and I think he gets that chance this week.

Fulham has a terrible record in their first away match in the Premier League getting a win just twice and they have a terrible recent record against Wolves with three straight 1-0 losses. I think Fulham bucks that recent trend, but I think they only come away with an exhausting 1-1 draw.

 

Watched a great deal of the Leeds-Wolves match, They were very dynamic going forward, but gave up plenty of good chances as well. It’s their home opener, combined w/no points last week, and overlooking us after our performance went out the window makes this a tough task to get anything.

 

The optimist is back. I agree with HatterDon. 0 - 2. Hoping Mitro snags one, and would love to see Reed get one as a reward for the hard work. I'm thinking Silva will go with the same starting 11, and the expected heat likely means he'll use all 5 subs. Season debuts for 2 or 3.

I'm curious what Joe Bryan could do as an emergency winger, but don't want us to have to find out.

 

I just want to win the matches that, on paper, we have a reasonable to clear chance of winning. This one qualifies, even on the road. And despite our dreary recent record at Molineux, I prefer to remember this fabulous FA Cup tie from January 15th, 2015. For once, we Fulhamished somebody instead of getting Fulhamished. We had first half leads of 0-1 and 1-2, thanks to a brace from Cauley Woodrow. Then the snow came in the second half, just enough of a coating to turn the pitch white and make footing treacherous. They got a go ahead goal in the 109th minute in OT, but Seko Fofana earned a free kick just outside the 18 with minutes, maybe seconds to go. Ross McCormack's effort struck Richard Stearman's arm, and the Scot buried the spot kick to force kicks from the spot. Hugo Rodallega put Fulham into the 4th round after Matt Doherty shanked his penalty horribly, sending it well wide right outside the post. Marcus Bettinelli, wearing #40, made some stupid saves, and the small, mid-week contingent of Fulham supporters who made the trek to the West Midlands were rewarded with lots of players' jerseys in the dark, cold, snowy corner. Lazarus would have raised an eyebrow.

 

First of all, what awful news about Manor Solomon, especially after all the drama to acquire him. Hope he recovers quickly and fully. As for the lineup, Rodak keeps his place in goal for another week. I agree with most of you that Bernd Leno was signed to be the #1 keeper this season but, for now at least, it’s Rodak’s job to lose. We did well on the road out of the gate last season. Let’s hope that continues. This is the big boy league, but Wolves don’t have any above average goal scoring threats. We do. 2-nil good guys.

 

I have no idea what to expect or predict yet. The result last week was obviously very promising, but it’s only one result.

As jump stated, Silva trots out the same lineup from last week. I think we’ll see some of the new guys come on to get some minutes but that also depends on how the match goes up to that point.

 

Poor 1st half. Wolves ran circles around us and should be ahead. Rodak has kept us in it. The only field player playing hard and smart is Mitro. Everybody else looks asleep. Don’t know if a change of personnel, tactics, or both are in order after HT, but something’s got to change.

 

Stansfield for Kebano? No. Neeskens was OK, better in the second half.

 

Pereira was invisible today.

 

Didn’t deserve a point, and could have stolen three, but, as Boris Johnson says, them’s the breaks. Gotta match the opponents’ energy in any league, but especially this one. I’ll take an undeserved point in this league any day. Each one is like gold if we expect to stay up this time. Onward.

 

That left a lot to be desired. Questionable defending early. Not much creativity going forward. Struggling to think who my man of the match would be. Glad to get a point given that performance.

 

I'm tempted to criticize individual players and Silva, but won't. It was a good point to take. Yes, cold have been 3, but taking a point away, especially from a team that has been reliably mid-table the last couple of seasons, is a good result.

I will single out Rodak, Ream. and Robinson for being rock-solid today. We're seeing a Reamnaissance!

Getting Brentford at home next, and they are 4-0 over ManU after 38 minutes!!! Is this real?

 

Here are the highlights if you couldn't catch the match:


I agree with the general sentiments on this one - should have lost, could have won, will take the point. I think the heat was a factor in the different display well saw from Fulham today and having a rather thin roster didn't help either.

 

Oof what a miserable spectacle of a game. Wolves dont have a true number 9, so offered no real goal scoring threat despite the various openings their wingers carved open (and absolutely missed). We have a number 9, but no EPL-level speed on the wings to link up with and feed Mitro, so he was often completely isolated.

Take the point and hope everyone did something productive with the rest of their day!

 

I wonder if folks will agree or disagree. As an avid consumer of MLS (lots of time wasted every weekend), I am struck by how poor so far all of the Prem managers I've seen have been at managing having 5 instead of 3 subs. Some basically ignore it, and others leave 2 or three until the end when they can do little good. If Marco learns to make the most of it before the others, it will be an advantage even with a short bench.

 

Managers can only make 3 different substitution intervals, so its not surprising to see 2 come in at the same time. That said I'm not that surprised managers havent figured it out yet; been watching Serie A past few seasons that had the 5 sub rule and what inevitably happens is managers put on all their attackers, or defenders, and the game flow sorta devolves. Always felt the old 3 subs/5 on the bench rule was a bit too limiting, but it certainly put a premium on each substitute.