Sheffield Utd. v. Fulham

The battle to stay away from the bottom (literally and figuratively). No relief on the injury front for Tete, Tosin or Traore (Jeez, don’t have your name begin with a “t”). Neither squad has a penchant for scoring so far this season so the opening goal is probably worth double for the psyche on Saturday. Paulinha needs to show up and deliver a customary performance- I think if he’s cooking, that can be enough to propel a victory versus the Blades. Hope to see Awobi from the start and try to create an offensive spark from the onset. COYW

 

I'm going out on a limb here and say that for the first time this season Fulham will score two goals AND win a match. Only one team so far (Palace) has failed to score more than one goal against Sheffield United, so I think Fulham wins 2-1. Still too close for comfort. And Fulham will finish the day with seven players tied as the team's top scorer with one goal each.

I agree Iwobi should get the start. I think I'd start with him on the left with Pereira in the middle, but swap out Pereira if things aren't going well. The Raul experiment should come to a close too and instead Vinicius should be the striker - but I don't think he scores. I also think Bassey should start, but I've thought that a lot this season and it usually didn't happen.

This one will be on Peacock at 10am EDT.

 

Vini and Iwobi both starting and Ream with his 300th appearance.

 

Sitting in Seattle airport, great response from the lads. Can’t wait to see the replay; cue it James!!

 

I hope Diop's injury isn't a ruptured Achilles. I'm afraid it looked like that. Speaking of injuries, I wish they hadn't shown the replays of Basham's.

We would have had a clean sheet, too, if Diop hadn't pulled up. A very good reaction, as was mentioned, though we still don't have a striker who can score. Muniz showed some signs of life, though, and Vinicius did a decent job of bringing others into the game. Iwobi looks like a really nice signing for us.

 

Diop said he heard a crack - that literally doesn't sound good. I also didn't need to see multiple replay's of Basham's injury. I actually turned it off for a little while since it was clear the delay would be significant and I didn't want to see that any more. Credit to both teams for carrying on a good game after such a heartbreaking exit for one of the players.

I was pleased that Silva switched things up to make room for Iwobi. Putting Palhinha further back in the midfield gave him more attacking options and it paid off against Sheffield. I know it is "only" bottom of the table Sheffield, but Fulham did a much better job of generating attacking opportunities. They still had trouble finishing them off, but eventually it came. The commentator said that DeCordova-Reid had scored "only the second time this season" and I said "Hey! That's our leading scorer! Give him some respect!" Cairney's goal was one of the most bizarre ever, but I'll take it.

After a number of lackluster and frustrating performances, Fulham was clearly the better side and got their most deserved win of the season. The highlights which thankfully exclude Basham's injury:

 

I was coaching my kids team to an undeserved victory (the other team only had 6 boys yet gave us a game.) when it was live so I had to watch in the evening. A lot of bright spots as you all pointed out. It was a well rounded victory.