Fulham vs. Arsenal

Unless we see some major improvements in play from a lot of guys (and an off day for gooners), I don't see a happy outcome here. I'd be thrilled with a point.

 

Our best hope is that while Arsenal was in Azerbaijan to play Qarabag in the Europa Cup that they had some poorly cooked lavangi and will still be suffering the ill effects of food poisoning. Sadly, when asked if they had the steak or the fish, the team said they had the lasagna, so the chances of food poisoning don't look good.


Be warned: don't get your hopes up if it is a draw at halftime. With the exception of their opening day loss to Manchester City, Arsenal have been even with all of their opponents at the half. Then the ball starts finding the goal in the second half. Out of Arsenal's 14 goals, 10 have been scored in the second half.

Three Fulham players will be safe from the expected second half torrent of goals. Bryan and Fosu-Mensah will be out due to injury and on-loan Calum Chambers can't play against his parent team.

Sad stat of the week from the BBC: a loss will equal Fulham's worst start ever in the Premier League. Yet somehow I still feel like this team is way better than some earlier Premier League iterations of Fulham. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45696345

Don't forget the game is early on Sunday - 7am EDT, 4am PDT. The match will be on NBC Sports.

 

@MicahMan, thanks for the Airplane clip, Classic. I’m with you, we will turn it around, but I’m doubting it’s tomorrow.

 

According to FulhamFC.com Jokanovic is going with a 4-2-3-1. The starting XI:

Bettinelli
Christie, Odoi, Ream, LeMarchand
Seri, Anguissa
Vietto, Schurrle, Sessegnon
Mitrovic

Subs: Rico, Mawson, S. Sessegnon, McDonald, Johansen, Ayite, Kamara

I appreciate finding a way to get Sessegnon up front. It is very concerning that Cairney is no where to be seen. He hadn't been listed as someone dealing with an injury, but it seems like there must be some issue to be entirely out of the squad.

I'm not expecting any points, I'd like to get through the match without feeling like our defense isn't up the job of stopping Premier League squads.

 

I'll second that. HD you have my sympathy because I had recorded the game (no intention of getting up at 4 am) so I could fast forward from 80 minutes on.

 

There’s not much to say right now. This is hard to watch. I don’t have any answers other than we need to find some....quickly, starting with the defense. I don’t care what your “style” is, or approach to the game, you can’t allow teams in this league that much time and space with the ball. They’ll kill you. Gotta stop shipping goals. Period.

 

Holy moly.

Now, since the September international break, our schedule has been brutal: away to City (lol), home to Watford (were top 4 at the time), away to Everton (never won there), home to Arsenal (who have won like 10 straight). But, that still doesn't excuse the 1 point and especially pathetic -10 GD (with 2 GF).

Add in to this our entire backline has practically either just returned from injury, or got injured. Oh, and our talismanic captain is dealing with yet another short-term-turn-long-term injury.

Slav and the coaching staff need to rethink everything. Don't blow things up because there's a lot of talent on this team, but the current configuration is not working. If anything, it's hurting. A high-tempo 4-3-3/4-3-2-1 is suicide at this level when you have so many new parts, and other teams can do it better than you.

Schurrle and Vietto are great going forward but are defensive liabilities, and at this point should never be on the field at the same time. Zambo (who had a great hockey assist today) should have a long chat with Dickson Etuhu about how to play within your means and "stay home". Christie needs to be given some confidence about crossing the ball or see the bench.

Personally I'd draw things back a bit and go 4-4-1-1, or a more defensive 4-2-3-1. We should still strive to be a possession team, but we've got to clean up the helter-skelter nature that is causing holes across our midfield and letting teams counter attack with glee.

 

The offal may have put out the lineup as a 4-2-3-1 but neither Christie nor Sessegnon were playing along the back line. Christie and Odoi got ransacked down that right side and Ream looked like the slowest player on the pitch. I'm quite surprised that both Ream and Le Marchand got posted up and scored on so easily.

Fulham need to figure a way to get the ball to Mitrovic. I'm not sure if their opponents are doing a better job of shutting him off or if Fulham are failing their mission, but that guy is a scorer. They also need to figure out something better than attempting 30 yard shots.

Ramsey's goal was crazy. I'm still not sure if it was luck or skill (probably some combination of both) that allowed them to string together 6-7 one touch passes - nearly all of which looked out of control - to set up the goal.

I'm still not expecting drastic changes, but I am getting worried about the skill level of some (most?) Fulham players and the rising goal differential. Management now have plenty of time to get it together before Cardiff (away), Bournemouth (home), and Huddersfield (away) after the break. I'm leaving out the Manchester City Carabao Cup match as I am not concerned with that trophy anymore.