Fulham vs. Brentford - 2019/20 Championship Playoff Final

Denis Odoi re-climbing the crossbar on the Fulham end goal from 2018. Love it.

 

WOW. That was exciting.

 

Back in the Prem boys!!!! What a day!!!! Joe Bryan is now a legend and I'll hear no arguments

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Incredible game but on balance, a fair result (FYI even if it wasn't fair, I doubt I would care!). Nice to have a few folks in the chat room, should have advertised it. All , celebrate for a bit and lets see what the Prem has in store for us next season.

My profile pic was taken the last day of our last Premiership season vs. Newcastle. I took my daughter over as I feared it could be a while until we got back up. Glad that fear was wrong and swiftly dispelled. Let's hope I don't feel the need to do that again this next season!!!! COYWs!

 

I never looked at when the Premier League start date was so that I wouldn't jinx us, holy shit we get 5 weeks? September 12, I hope our boys are up to the task because I can't see many additions being made and bedded into the squad by then. Gonna be a very hard season but I think we're up for it.

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Not sure if this has been posted before. Scott Parker in a McDonalds advertisement:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/w...ds-Ad-World-Cup-94-Starring-Scott-Parker.html

 

Watching the replays, that second goal by Bryan is damn near as impressive as the first given the way he handled the first touch from Mitro and slotting it in with his right foot. Stuff you expect from a forward. Chills!

 

What an amazing afternoon! I was so sad at in the middle of a work meeting at 2:45 knowing that the whole rest of the day was booked with more meetings and I'd miss the game live. But then lo, my 4pm meeting was cancelled and the 3:30 meeting ended just as the second half started! My son had been watching the whole thing and told me I'd missed nothing (was he telling the truth? at least it was 0-0).

As the game wore on I felt like Brentford were getting an edge on Fulham - it seemed like a matter of time before some silly back-pass ruined everything. I was even more upset when in extra time Hector, who was on a yellow, started to get in a shoving match and Mitro knocked a guy in the throat for no apparent reason. I told my son "They are playing too stupid right now to win." I felt it was over for Fulham at that point. Head in my hands I watched Joe Bryan send a wasted free kick into the side netting - wait! - It wasn't side netting!!! IT WAS A GOAL!!! Suddenly the clouds parted and I thought of that stat, only 5 tying goals all season. Fulham could actually win this! Then a SECOND goal from Joe Bryan?! He scored one goal in the 3,414 minutes he played during the regular season and now he gets a double. In the post game interview with Bryan and Mitrovic, Mitrovic said he was only at about 50% and it seemed like he couldn't do much more than jog. So on that second goal Mitro did about all he could do, post up and feed a beautiful ball back to Bryan.

If you had told me back in August of 2019 that Fulham was going to have Mitrovic, Knockaert, and Cavaleiro on the bench in the Championship playoff final, I would have thought they'd have almost no chance of winning. Credit to the coaches that when they got to the end of the season, they found a way to get the business done. Kebano came out of nowhere to carry the team past Cardiff, then Bryan made an even more shocking contribution in the final. Both Kebano and Bryan are great guys who have always given their all for the team and I'm so happy both of them could have their moments of glory as this season finished.

Some of you may remember my lucky jacket that I wore regularly as Fulham went on their winning streak in 2018. The jacket had no luck for Fulham this year. However on morning of June 30th I responded to a request from my coworkers to put some whiteboard art back up since I had erased a previous drawing. After losing their first two matches coming back and seeing automatic promotion slip away, things were a bit down for Fulham, so I put the FFC shield up on the board before they faced QPR. And they won. And I kept it there and they kept winning! So now introduce you to the 36 day old lucky whiteboard art:


Now I feel like Fulham is a bit like the dog that caught the car. I hate to say it, but I don't think this team is as good as the one that won promotion in 2018. Hopefully the club learned some lessons and will make smarter moves this time around. There isn't much time to adjust either with just 5 weeks to go. But those are worries to think about more in other posts at a later date. For now, I'm going to savor the memories of Joe Bryan scoring, Joe Bryan scoring (again), Scott Parker fighting back tears when time expired, a cup lifted in a shower of champagne, and Dennis Odoi once again riding the crossbar.

 

Gentleman Jim's call of Joe Bryan's first goal:


I think that GJ and Jamie were sitting on the opposite side of the field from the cameras so from their position they saw it going in the whole way and called it early as a goal.

Twelve minutes of game highlights from the EFL:

 

Holy moly.

Let me eat crow: I thought we may as well can Parker after the Leeds debacle. I just didn't see us doing much in the playoffs. However, I was completely wrong.

He turned it after those first two matches, and lost just 1 of his final 10 matches. He managed his best, tactically sound match for the final. It was not a particularly pretty affair, but we completely neutralized Brentford's front 3, while managing to outshoot them for a majority of the match.

Considering the past 6 months, and facing the prospect of another 6 months of this (*gestures at window*), it feels so great and strange to experience joy.

 

Well said and it's a communal feeling, my man. I listened to the BBC call and it sounded as if fortune shined on Fulham's backside to avoid not one, but two red cards (Reed / Cairney)...maybe the worm has finally turned?? COYW

EDIT - The Gentleman's call is hair-stand-on-end brilliant!

 

I think any other player than Cairney, it's a straight red. I think being the captain might have helped there. I'll take it.

 

Because you can't get enough of Gentleman Jim losing his mind. This one makes me a bit verklempt, I'm not teary eyed, just allergies!


GJ's call at the final whistle (GJ is not a graceful victor ):

 

After further review...taking a quick peek back, I gotta say this. Michael Hector was the difference in us making it to where we ended up. I, too, was really nervous when he started getting into a shoving match after Mitro decked the Brentford guy. I'm yelling "NO, NO, NO, YOU'RE ON A YELLOW DUDE!" But, just going back and looking at the little plays that turned into big plays on defense, well, he's earned that nickname: Virgil Van MIKE! I hope we find a way to keep him, because scum don't seem to want him. The tackles he makes, the aerials he gets a head to, the positioning...the guy's REALLY good. Whether he can be as effective at the next level, of course, remains to be seen. But without him, we're definitely right back in the Championship.

 

Forgot to mention this in my other post, but did anyone else catch Paul Konchesky opine why Knockaert had to run back to the dressing room before coming on?

"Probably had a nervous wee"

 

Hector came in on a transfer. He's signed through 2022. Scum can't have him back!

 

Well now, that’s very different! Never mind....
No, seriously, I thought he was a loan.
Yay!