Fulham vs. Newcastle United

The swan song of the 2020-21 season kicks off at 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning with supporters present at Craven Cottage. Those fortunate enough to attend the only other match where fans were allowed, the December 13th draw with Scousers, were brilliant. I hope those planning to go Sunday are just as lively and loud as that bunch, because it was probably our best performance of the season that didn't result in a victory. I think the players will respond in a similar fashion, despite the obvious reality of relegation to threaten motivation. They were better in that regard today at Old Trafford than they were at Saint Mary's versus the Saints, I thought. We played well enough to win December 19th at Saint James's Park, despite being a man down for the final half hour. I think we match up well with Toons, and hopefully we'll end an otherwise dismal season on a positive note...and a win for the folks in the seats. And we should enjoy it while we can. You never know how long a club is going to spend in the lower divisions.

 

The match will be available on Peacock, only the matches impacting European spots will be on cable networks.

Some level of ignominy awaits Fulham at the end of this season. At a minimum, Fulham or West Brom will set the record for the most points between the 18th place team and the 17th place team, it is just a matter of if it is 8 points or as bad as 14 points. On average the distance has only been 2.6 points, so this is a shockingly large gap.

If Fulham fails to win, it will be the first time in the Premier League that all three relegated teams fell short of 30 points. If Fulham, West Brom, and Sheffield United can't cobble together two points they will set the record for the lowest combined point total of the bottom three teams. Fulham currently holds that record with Cardiff and Huddersfield for achieving only 76 points total in 2018-19.

It is kind of crazy to think that after the Liverpool match in March, Fulham was just one point behind Newcastle and the teams seemed destined for a relegation-avoiding clash in May. Sadly the teams went in opposite directions. Fulham has earned two points since then while Newcastle got 15. Fulham is in their worst form of the season and has the worst record of any team in the Premier League over the last eight matches.

Fulham seems likely to exit the Premier League with a whimper, but hopefully the fans will give players the drive to exit on a high note.

 

We'll have to pay some extra attention to midfielder Joe Willock. All he's done since coming in on loan from Gooners in January is help them get those 15 points Micah referred to by scoring in their last six matches, including the lone tally in their Wednesday victory over Sheff U. Their attack has brightened in recent months with improved play from Allan Saint-Maximin, Callum Wilson, Miguel Almiron and Willock. We'll have our hands full again, no doubt, but they're fifth in goals conceded with 62 (we're 7th with 53 allowed...yeah, seems more than that to me too). So they're not an impenetrable, defensive juggernaut. Of course, we're next to last in goals scored (Sheffield United have 19, we've got 27), so any abnormally improved performance by an opposing defense is bad news for us. Since we've been relegated, I've seen some guys take some offensive chances and shots that I hadn't seen for most of the season. Some were good, some were bad, but it was good to see...finally. Perhaps some of those forays will pay off, finally, in the finale and we can get a feel good "W" to end it.

 

Interesting side...no Andersen, Rodak in goal and Tyrese Francois and Sylvester Jasper from the under 23’s on the bench.

 

...whimper...

A fitting end to an unremarkable season. Feels like 0-2 was a standard for the least quarter of the season.

 

Zero shots on target for Fulham. A loss at home with no goals. What an appropriate way to close out the season. The highlights of Fulham sending their shots wide:


Fulham had lots of possession and more shots, but when you never trouble the opposing goalkeeper it is going to be hard to win. The most threatening ball came from Newcastle's Longstaff that he sent straight to the middle of the net. Despite demonstrating for Fulham where the ball is supposed to go, they could not follow his lead.

I thought the penalty was soft, it looked like a dive to me. Fulham was also unlucky that the ball bounced off of Ream's heal so kindly for Willock. But none of that matters if you can't score.

Fulham finishes in 18th place, 11 points behind 17th Burnley. This smashes the previous record of a six point gap. As mentioned before, Fulham is the first 18th place team to not reach 30 points. Fulham scored just 12 goals over the 19 games in the second half of the season. Hopefully Tony can find someone to put the ball on target next season.

 

@MicahMan - this was a great season summary!

“But none of that matters if you can’t score.”

 

Well, that ended.

This should be a summer not of healing like the most recent relegation, but one of tough decisions. Not one of rallying around the standard, but of cold planning. The core of players first brought in the summer of 2015 and again in 2016 are aging out, and proven to not be EPL quality. The short-term loan or high profile purchasing policy used to boost or supplant this core has not kept us in the top flight. Our quasi-DoF simply cannot remain a part time gig. Our current manager has proven he cannot coach an offense, nor get along with our only offensive option.

We do not need to jam the reset button and blow everything up. The actions to bring positive change are pretty obvious and attainable. But they need to be taken, otherwise this dissonance and isolation weaving through the fanbase will not subside. Things will get ugly and then, worse, indifferent.

If Brentford go up, the Championship will be wide open next season. I hope management on the field, and in the front office, and in the boardroom, use this fact not as opportunity to just repeat recent history, but as freedom to make smart and strategic decisions.

 

I'd be more optimistic if baby Khan weren't in charge.

 

I'm hoping that a man as smart as Shahid Khan can see by now that this isn't working, "this" being his son as director of football, i.e., the general manager (in American sports terms). My concern is that he is smart enough to see it but chooses to maintain the status quo because it's family. When he writes things about Fulham, be it in the program notes or elsewhere, he says all the right things and expresses the appropriate supporter sentiments about the football club. But as long as he allows his son to decide who's going to be on the first team and who isn't, nothing else really matters. Not the manager. Not the (considerable) stadium improvements. Not the words. Until he convinces Tony to step away from the club say, to concentrate on wrestling or whatever else he's into, and hires a proper GM, this is what we'll have: a mixed bag of great things on the periphery, but inconsistent players and teams with corresponding results.

 

What Khan senior is doing with the Jaguars, where he has his son in charge of strategy, makes me skeptical that he'd be willing to give Tony a shove at Fulham. Also, Tony is running a sports analytics firm; if his dad signals that their product is worthless, which it appears to be, what happens with TruMedia? Ideally, I'd love to see them sell the club to someone who would bring professional management into it, but I haven't even heard any rumors that they'd consider it. We will likely be stuck with Tony for years to come.