Fulham v. Wigan

@HatterDon, is the BBC page different then the espnfc commentary?

Some teams are excellent at closing up shop, it’s obvious Fulham is not. Let’s impose our will on this inferior team for 90 minutes, and step on the throat when the opportunity arises.

 

Sorry, Don. Even if you leave now you still can't drive to Lancaster, PA in time to watch the game with me on FFCTV. Maybe next time?

I didn't even know ESPN FC did commentary. I do know that at the Championship level the BBC commentary is the same as what is on FulhamFC.com. After the first few posts, the FulhamFC.com feed is more timely than the BBC feed. I usually monitor from the Fulham site and supplement with the Fulham Twitter feed (often the first to report goals), but I'll have to check out ESPN. I've clearly spent too much time thinking about game text feeds already!

If Fulham doesn't win this one, they are going to have some serious explaining to do! Wigan has one point on the road this season - a draw at Hull in week 2. Wigan also gives up about twice as many goals as Fulham. Fulham should score early and often. If Fulham only scores early and forgets to score often, then things could get ugly.

 

Friday night lights!

I will also have to do my best to follow online and wait for highlights (if they become available).

It doesn’t seem as if there are any injury concerns so Fulham should be able to field a strong team and take it to the Latics.

 

The Fulham Twitter feed shows today's lineup as a 4-2-3-1 rather than the 4-3-3 that we've seen recently - not sure if that is meaningful or not. Johansen gets the start over Reid or Arter:

Bettinelli
Sessegnon, Mawson, Ream, Bryan
Johansen, Reed
Knockaert, Cairney, Cavaleiro
Mitrovic

Subs: Rodak, Odoi, Le Marchand, Arter, Onomah, Reid, Kamara

 

Checked the score in the 63rd minute, then was afraid to 45 minutes later, but happy to see the captain put it away.

@jumpkutz, been too long, but if you would....

 

I'll gladly take the three points at this stage of the season, but why would the powers that be think that we'd rather watch Stoke and N'ham Forest than us and Wigan? Puzzling.

 

For the record, the Stoke-Forest match was actually selected for TV by Sky (hence why its on espn+); our game got quietly moved to a Friday because Chelsea also had a home match tomorrow at 3pm local time. Annoying, but...

Anyway what an, eh, interesting match. Yet again I'd say we dominated the game without ever really finishing it -- like a boxer who just cant connect that TKO or even KO blow -- until the very end. Wigan are really bad: they have nearly 3x as many fouls as shots. During one of their corners in the 2nd half, *four* of their players converged on and simultaneously fouled Bettinelli. Pretty functional win.

 

Highlights from the match:


Fulham just couldn't get anything going in the first half. Wigan was terrible on the attacking end, but they did do a good job of limiting Fulham's chances. I loved Bryan trying first with his left and then with his right for the goal - not too shabby for a defender! And it is always a joy to watch Cairney curl one in with his left foot.

 

Meh, I have to disagree with their assessment in this case. He had one good save, but not much beyond that. Goalkeeping is a lot about positioning, so I have to give him credit for being at the right place at the right time, but generally Fulham was shooting right at him in the first half. I thought the Wigan back line did a pretty good job of putting off our guys when they had opportunities in the box and they disrupted a number of crosses.