Fulham vs. Sheffield Wednesday

Fulham's penultimate match of the regular season and penultimate home match take place Saturday as Sheffield Wednesday comes to Craven Cottage. The match is only available on FFCTV.

The first match between these two teams was one of those frustrating matches where Fulham had over 70% possession, but fewer shots. Fulham did manage to have a lead until the 93rd minute when the tying goal came in and it ended 1-1.

At the time in late September, Wednesday was actually above Fulham in the table. Once the holiday fixtures came Sheffield Wednesday's form took a turn for the worse and they've only seen four wins in the second half of the season. Wednesday is mathematically safe from relegation and Fulham is headed to the playoffs, so neither team has much to play for.

Fulham will be without Cavaleiro who is waiting on the results of a scan. Kamara is still out as well. Cairney is not expected to play, but they are waiting to see how training goes today before making a final decision.

 

Should we be giving guys like Mitro, Cairney, Hector and even Ream a blow to get ready for the playoff? Just a reminder: we won three straight without AM and TC. With a one and done playoff looming, I can see doing that, perhaps even more so than what otherwise might be the case. We're gonna need our best offensive players rested and 100% for whomever we face in the post season.

 

I don't think Fulham has any control over who they play. Fulham cannot drop below their current position of 4th place and it is unlikely they could make up the 4 point gap with 3rd place - so 4th place is a near lock. The 4th place team plays the 5th place team - most likely Nottingham Forest, but possibly Cardiff or Millwall.

 

So the consideration of how to play has changed slightly with Huddersfield's shocking late win over West Brom. Brentford now has control over second place - get at least a win and a draw in the next two matches then second place is theirs. Brentford plays an early game against Stoke tomorrow. If Brentford should also suffer a shocking loss then Fulham should probably give this match their all to have shot at a second if West Brom and Brentford suffer additionally shocking final matches. Sadly, Fulham's crappy goal differential limits the options for promotion to those filled with shocking results.

 

Got up to watch the Brentford game. Glad I did.

 

Stoke beats Brentford 1-0. Fulham can keep themselves in the automatic promotion race with a win. Here's the lineup that will go for it.

Rodak
Christie, Hector, Ream, Le Marchand ...ah, nevermind, no way we're winning
Arter, Johansen
Knockaert, Onomah, Kebano
Mitrovic

Subs: Bettinelli, Odoi, Mawson, Sessegnon, Reed, Cairney, De Cordova-Reid

Even with a win, Fulham would still need a lot of magic to happen on the final day to get promoted, but the door has not been shut yet.

 

Well, nearly screwed the pooch on that one, but, a win is a win, right ladies and germs? Kinda glad I didn’t subject my blood pressure to that one. I’ll be content with the highlights which, with EIGHT FREAKIN’ GOALS, should be lengthy and entertaining. Until then:

 

Highlights from Fulham:


The first half was absolutely dominated by Fulham. Fulham played well, but Wednesday also looked really bad - especially their goal keeper. I loved the first goal - Hector gets an assist playing from the defensive right side all the way over to the winger on the left side deep in the other team's half. Hector had a number of really good balls in the first half that generated other opportunities for Fulham. GJ said "Things are going so well, what are people going to complain about this week?" Indeed! It couldn't have been going better!

But we're Fulham fans so apparently we can't have nice things like easy wins, so Fulham looked far worse in the second half. The first goal was classic Le Marchand - just kick the ball away dude. I thought the penalty was a little harsh, but it was an aggressive tackle from Rodak. I think the last goal for Wednesday was set up because Hector came outside the box to force Wednesday back. Unfortunately they put the ball back in so quick Hector didn't have time to get fully set to defend Nuhiu.

The worst part of the second half came at the very end when Reed, on a yellow, stupidly tackled a Wednesday player when Fulham had a two goal lead and just a few minutes to play. He gets a second yellow and is sent off. Now Fulham won't have Reed available for the final regular season match.

So Fulham needs beat Wigan, one of the hottest teams in the league right now, have West Brom to lose to QPR and Brentford lose or draw against Barnsley. Don, get your Woodrow jersey out of mothballs.

 

Nutso, wacko, but a win. Crazy second half. Would have liked to see us close the deal up 3-nil at halftime, but, hey, can't complain about five goals. Wish we could put two halves together like the first one, but maybe that's a pipe dream. Too much has to happen for us to pip West Brom and Brentford for automatic promotion but, heck, aren't we due a break from the footy gods? I say yes. The best part about our club since the restart is that a lot of guys have gotten some time on the pitch and, for the most part, taken advantage of it. Nice to see Neeskens have a game today. Kid's been with us for four years. Really wish Reed hadn't had such a huge brain fart at the end. Won't he miss more games than just the regular season finale at Wigan? I'm not well versed on the red card rules. Except for injury or illness, it's going to be interesting to see who ends up starting when the playoffs...wherever and against whomever...occurs. Buckle up sports fans.

 

I think that a red from a double yellow is a single match suspension while a straight red is three. So he should be back in time for the playoffs.

 

When you said tackle, I thought you meant fútbol tackle, not football tackle!

 

The original highlights didn't show the full build-up on the second goal, but this post from Twitter does. And make sure you turn on GJ's comments.


THIS is how things should work when building up from the back. Fulham almost got caught in possession but then Tim Ream finds Johansen who moved into space, then he finds Onomah, who moved into space. At that point the Huddersfield defense is all twisted around and decides to block Onomah while leaving Mitro open for the pass and goal. Too often it seems like Fulham doesn't have guys moving into the space that should be available when the high pressure comes. If they can't find those guys then just boot it up-field.