Fulham v ManU

After getting thrashed up at Old Trafford last week without Robin Van Persie playing it's hard to think that the Whites will get anything out of this match, but after a vital 3 points earned Wed. I think the lads will play much better and looser. Looks like Berba will be sitting, and perhaps we will see some of the young signings who will play with the kind of energy needed to stay in the match. Hopefully after last'week's mauling ManUre will come in flat. Fulham has had some success over the last few years against the Red Devils at home (2 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss) in league play, so anything is possible.

 

I can definitely tell you that of the new signings Manolev is out of the game too because of work visa. He will definitely get the visa and will play next game after this one as well as Berbatov.

 

:clap: Good call on Manolev Emi, you had his name a week before any of the English websites i.e Sky Sports, BBC, etc. His issue getting on the pitch is that his main position is RB. If the voting for Fulham's Player of the Year happened today I think that Sascha Riether would win it easily, he's been fantastic.

 

According to Skysports.com

My thoughts are a bit scattered on this match. Fulham have just picked up a bit of momentum on the pitch with the win over West Ham and with the fans with at least an OK transfer window and a truly poor showing here could do a lot of damage to the psyche. I am not saying Fulham need to win this match as that would be a monumental task but a good showing would go a long way in keeping the good-will train rolling. That leads me to believe Jol has a two-fold tactical conundrum for this match. First, with Berbatov unavailable his best option for holding the ball and drawing teammates out of the defensive end will not be on the pitch so playing a slow methodical offense seems a poor choice come the morning. Second, I am not sure Fulham have the defensive fortitude to just park the bus and play for the counter-attack against United especially with Sidwell unavailable. Either side of the coin looks pretty tarnished to me. After the transfer window dealings I anticipate Jol will be setting out two defensive midfielders in front of the back four in a 4-2-3-1 formation more often and it might as well start tomorrow.

No matter the formation I will be quite interested to see what starting midfield Jol will roll out with both Sidwell and Enoh unavailable for the match. All logic tells me we will see a pairing of Karagounis and Frimpong anchoring the center. With such limited choices I will question the value of the Arsenal loanee for the stretch run if he does not feature tomorrow. All of the press today seems to center of the effervescent Urby Emanuelson who seems to be destined to slot in on one side of the pitch but whether we get Duff or Dejagah on the other is anyone's guess. Both had an excellent match against West Ham and either could make a good argument for the starting role. I am looking forward to hopefully watching Urby zip about the pitch causing defenders to fall all over themselves but feel the wingers contribution will be limited if we can't keep the ball so a ball winning Frimpong is high on my wish list for tomorrow's match.

As for the rest of the squad, up top I expect to see Rodallega get another opportunity to throw himself around the pitch in hopes of finding another goal and Ruiz wandering around the field in behind him doing his best to hold onto and distribute the ball. I have read rumblings that Richardson may not return for this match and if that is true I expect to see Riether, Senderos, Hangeland and Riise standing far too close for my comfort to Mark Schwarzer in goal.

Here is to a Fulhamish surprise come tomorrow, COYW's!

 

Just hoping the effort continues from West Ham, even if we don't get a result. With Berba out, that becomes an even taller order. Rooney's been killing us lately, would almost settle for him NOT getting any goals or assists, but with RVP back, that's also highly unlikely. Still, we handled Van Persie well last season with gunners, so.....1-2 Whites!

 

That is completely true and as his true position is right winger.

 

I don't think we're a good bet to get anything from this match. I just want to see us play the same way we did v West Ham and not revert back to Jol's ineffective neutered, slow down offense. Let's let ManU know they've been in a scrap. If we can then carry it on against our other upcoming opponents, we've got a good chance to really separate ourselves from the bottom.

 

Can never complain when the squad gives that like kind of effort. I thought we gave them all they wanted and we were unlucky not to get a deserved point. Typical ManU, they just have a knack of securing those key extra 2 points late in tied matches that win league titles. Have to give the lads a big :clap: for that performance.

 

Ran their socks off today. Feel bad we didn't get a point from this one. We play like that for the rest of the season and we will finish in the top ten.

 

Quality match all around. Fun to watch.

Did anyone else notice that Rooney looked like he was wearing make-up? He looked like a porcelain doll.

 

Two good efforts coupled with a good strategy on the bounce. Hopefully it continues. Still haven't turned the corner on Jol, but starting to on our chances of staying above the relegation scrap.

My one criticism would be free kicks. It's no secret United, and their gk in particular, have been weak on aerial balls played into the box. We have a pretty poor track record of scoring direct from free kicks, so playing to their weakness would have been the much higher percentage play. To that point, we'd just scored in the previous match on a fk that Duff chipped in and someone (Berba?) headed home. No clue why Rodallega took that last one with a result on the line. I could be wrong, but pretty sure that was his first for us.