Fulham vs. Burton Albion

Fulham host Burton Albion on Tuesday night. Fulham will be without Madl due to Saturday's red-card so we'll likely see Sigurdsson for the first time. If Burton watched the film from Saturday they'll put our guys at the back under pressure when they are holding the ball. Hopefully they are ready. Parker is apparently unavailable for the match too. With so many matches in the next few weeks I suspect we'll see a number of changes from Saturday's lineup.

Newly promoted Burton started the season with two losses, but have had two draws and two wins since then. They are just three points behind us.

Fun fact: "Albion" is an old name for the island of Britain.

 

I'm hoping for a bounce-back performance. It would be nice to keep the fan goodwill flowing for a while.

 

We need to win this one to keep the good vibe from the good start alive. Not draw. Win. A newly promoted side. At home. Anything other than a win, and the flame from the bright start to the season is officially extinguished, and we start from scratch again. Haven't seen anything about Parker being unavailable. Anybody know why? We could've certainly used his experience Saturday. I'm also concerned about Tim Ream's future at the club. Wasn't even named to the bench Saturday. He's pretty decent with the ball under high pressure, so that's in his favor, but I fear his Fulham career is over. Joka doesn't seem to favor him at all. I'd like to see him get a chance with Madl out, but I'm sure SJ will pick Sigurdsson instead of Ream. Wouldn't be surprised to see Chris Martin eclipse Matt Smith up front tonight. Just wonder what other changes he'll make. You don't want to stray too far from the lineup we were winning with, but we're not winning now, so..... Might even see Betts instead of Button, despite the great penalty save on the first one against Clayton Donaldson. I'm sure they worked on back line offense under pressure this week, so let's see if it pays off.

 

Starting XI:
Button
Odoi, Kalas, Sigurdsson, Sessegnon
Parker, McDonald
Cairney, Aluko, Kebano
Martin

Subs: Bettinelli, Ream, Johansen, Jozabed, Piazon, Ayite, Smith

My apologies for saying Parker would be out. I saw that on the ESPN website, but I guess it wasn't right or things changed.

COYW!!

 

Lucky to get a point. Where have all the goals gone? To Celtic and Villa. Now the chickens are coming home to roost. We'd better hope Mr. Martin finds his form very soon. And (say it with me Don) where the hell is Woodrow?

 

Highlights (and the full match) have been posted: http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2016/september/14/match-action-burton

My favorite GJ quote of the season "Serves them right! Their attitude stinks!"

I'm of two minds about this match. If we are going to be a promotion contender these are the kinds of matches we should win confidently, if not easily. On the other hand this is the kind of match we usually would have let slip away as a loss the past two seasons. What should we call this? The soft disappointment of higher expectations?

I think Bettinelli needs to be in goal in the next match. Frankly I think Button should have done better on the one goal.

And it really all comes down to my Fulham jersey. I wore it again like all of the other matches. But it wasn't working and at 93 minutes in I tore it off in disgust. About 20 seconds later we scored, so CLEARLY I can't wear the jersey during matches now if we want to win.

 

Sometimes those mid-week matches sneak up and pass you. Judging by the highlights, it looked like the lads dominated for the most part and were just missing that little of bit of quality in the final third. Micah, I believe the solution is since you 'washed' away the magic of the jersey you must take a jog the morning of the next match and get that winning aroma back

 

Check out the goal cam view, not for the goal, but for Scott Parker's Wrestlemania-esque take-down of the Burton player holding the ball. Even a little tag team action as Matt Smith takes the ball while Parker holds him down.

 

The best takeaway from this otherwise disappointing outing is the fact that we showed some fight a man down. Ayite was off injured after we'd used all our subs. That wouldn't have happened under our previous managers since, or even before, relegation.

 

Jump stole the words right out of my mouth. Better than last year, but not good enough. Have to do better.