Monday Fulham Stuff - 30/09/24...

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Results

Sunday 29/09
Ipswich	2-2	Villa
Man Utd	0-3	Spurs

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Match of the Day pundits in total agreement about Nottingham Forest decision vs Fulham
Nottingham Forest can count themselves unlucky once again as the match officials stole the show during yesterday's defeat to Fulham.

Marco Silva saw his team thrashed 3-1 at the City Ground last season and he was in no mood to make the same mistake here.

His team weren't great in truth and were handed a 1-0 win when Raul Jimenez converted a spot-kick after a VAR check deemed Murillo fouled Andreas Pereira.

Forest weren't given a penalty kick of their own in the second half when Anthony Elanga was quite clearly fouled by Calvin Bassey.

Still, Forest have made a pretty decent start to the 2024/24 campaign in the Premier League and have nine points from the first six games of the season.

Micah Richards, Theo Walcott and Gary Lineker discuss Taiwo Awoniyi penalty appeal
An incident in the first half saw Joachim Anderson attempt to kick the ball but seemingly catch Awoniyi instead.

The referee nor the VAR were overly interested and play continued to make the score goalless at the interval.

On Match of the day, the three pundits all discussed the incident and Forest fans perhaps won't be surprised to hear that they believe the officials got things spot on.

The conversation went as follows:

Richards: "That's not a penalty."

Lineker: "You know what, though, in Europe, they give that forever."

Richards: "It's not enough to give that."

Lineker: "I agree that it shouldn't be, but the state of things nowadays."

Richards: "Andersen there on Awoniyi, I don't think that's a penalty."

Theo Walcott: "I would be disappointed if they were giving these penalties in the Premier League. That's for sure."

Forest have to get better for Chelsea test next week
Cole Palmer scored four times for the Blues in 45 minutes yesterday and Forest have to be ready for threat he will cause.

The Reds can't be as passive and lacklustre in possession of the football as they were against Fulham when they visit West London next weekend.

Forest also can't become that team that constantly bemoans match officials – although they didn't help things yesterday.

Nuno Espirito Santo was very diplomatic in his post-match press conference regarding the men in black and he was right to do so.

The challenge on Awoniyi probably wasn't a penalty but Forest were definitely aggrieved not to get a penalty for a challenge in the second half on Elanga.

Forest have to wise up quickly and avoid a bad run after a maiden defeat of the 2024/25 campaign.



https://www.nottinghamforest.news/2024/09/29/match-of-the-day-pundits-in-total-agreement-about-nottingham-forest-decision-vs-fulham/

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Nottingham Forest claim poor officiating is 'destroying the Premier League' after Fulham defeat - following last season's furious statement on VAR

    Nottingham Forest have blasted Premier League officiating once again
    The club have a history of outbursts after their extraordinary statement in April

Nottingham Forest have again blasted the standard of refereeing in the top flight, claiming it is 'destroying the Premier League' after their 1-0 loss to Fulham.

Forest are reportedly aggrieved that Fulham were awarded their winning penalty by VAR while they were denied two spot-kicks by reviews in Stockley Park.

It comes after their extraordinary statement in April when they blasted 'three extremely poor decisions' regarding penalty calls that went against them in a 2-0 loss to Everton.

The FA charged Nuno Espirito Santo and Neco Williams for improper conduct over comments made after the game while Mark Clattenburg left his role as the club's referee advisor with a warning.

As per The Telegraph, owner Evangelos Marinakis was 'angered' on Saturday while a senior source said: 'The standard of refereeing is destroying the status of the Premier League and damaging its clubs.

'There appears to be no consistency of decision-making from VAR.

'There still isn't sufficient transparency in the VAR process. It's the fans who suffer too.

'VAR was intended to improve the game for clubs and supporters alike, but it's failing them at the moment.'

Mail Sport has contacted the PGMOL for comment.

Raul Jimenez converted the second-half penalty which ended Forest's unbeaten start to the season. The contentious penalty was awarded after referee Josh Smith went to his VAR monitor, as advised by VAR official John Brooks.

Forest also had two disappointments concerning calls not to award them a spot-kick. In the first half, VAR judged that Joachim Andersen had not fouled Taiwo Awoniyi. In the second, VAR upheld the decision not to award Anthony Elanga a chance from 12 yards after a challenge from Calvin Bassey.

The club's latest outburst, while not released in official form yet, follows their extraordinary statement after the Everton defeat in April.

The Midlands club - in the heart of a relegation battle at the bottom of the Premier League - claimed they warned PGMOL over bias from VAR official Stuart Attwell, a supporter of then-relegation rivals Luton Town.

On X, the club wrote: 'Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept.

'We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn't change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.'

This week, Nuno Espirito Santo, captain Morgan Gibbs-White and Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler were all charged by the FA aftert their red cards in the 2-2 draw last Sunday.

Nuno and Hurzeler were charged with acting in an improper manner, with the Forest boss also accused of using abusive and/or insulting words towards a match official. He could yet face a touchline ban.

'We all want peace and for things to continue well, to not have to speak about the referees. But it was bad, wasn't it?' he said after the game. 'We don't want to talk about it [referee decisions]. Nobody wants to talk about it.

'When we come to the game, we don't think about the referee, we just want to compete and play the game and hope the referee gets things right.'



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13904293/Nottingham-Forest-officiating-Premier-League-Fullham-VAR-Evangelos-Marinakis-Everton.html

[WhiteJC]

Player ratings: Nottingham Forest 0-1 Fulham

Fulham propelled themselves into the Premier League's top six with a win at the City Ground on Saturday afternoon. In a game lacking quality or many chances in front of goal, Fulham took their biggest chance from the penalty spot to leapfrog opponents Forest in the table. A win by three or more goals at the Etihad next week would put the Whites above Manchester City in the table...just saying.

Bernd Leno

I mean look, Leno had very little to do in this game. Forest had a single shot on target in the whole game and it says a lot that I can't particularly remember that happening. To Leno's credit, he did appear to make a wonder save from a close range Chris Wood effort, but VAR suggested that despite Wood being offside, it did indeed cross the line. Also thought Leno looked better than normal in regard to claiming crosses from opposition crosses into our box. 6.5/10.

Kenny Tete

The way Tete is playing at the moment, if he stays fit you just don't see a way back into the side for Castagne any time soon. Although his passing looked slightly ropey in the first half he put that right and defensively he was outstanding once again. Eight clearances from the right side of defence showed just effective he was defensively when Forest put us under pressure out wide when Elanga and Hudson-Odoi came on. 7.5/10.

Joachim Andersen

A genuinely monstrous defensive display from the Great Dane. Andersen was vital in both boxes, proving to be both our biggest threat from set pieces whilst also repelling anything that came into Fulham's box for the complete 90 minutes. 11 clearances alone is a ridiculous statistics and points to his focused, faultless performances at the City Ground. We knew it was a fairly safe move to bring Andersen home this summer, but he's proving that the money spent on him was worth it with the quality he has bought to the side in replacing, and ultimately upgrading on Tosin. 9/10 – Man of the match.

Calvin Bassey

I love that whilst Bassey builds a brilliant partnership with Andersen, you can see the differences in their game that work so well. Andersen is calm and distributes from deep with long diagonals, whilst Bassey looks to bring the ball forward himself, emphasised by his run into Forest's half in the second half which resulted in a long-range effort at goal. Defensively sound again and overall a quality showing from Bassey, who made an outstanding late challenge from Elanga who was on the verge of striking from a dangerous position. 8/10.

Antonee Robinson

Definitely offered the bigger offensive outlet out of the two full backs. Especially in the second half when Forest looked more exposed on their right hand side after making their substitutes, Robinson was constantly bombing forward and either creating chances himself or giving Iwobi the space to. Multiple tackles, interceptions and clearances in the game show that he is simply up there as one of the best all-round full backs in Europe right now. 8/10.

Sasa Lukic

Honestly might be the first name on the teamsheet at the moment, which is quite some going after a struggle to make his mark on this side in his first 18 months at the club. While Forest looked to pack the midfield with four central midfielders effectively in Dominguez, Ward-Prowse, Yates and Anderson, Lukic was clearly better than all four of them, marshalling our midfield, breaking up play superbly and keeping things calm when the game ever looked to be getting a bit frantic. 7/10.

Andreas Pereira

Just very meh. The least passes of any of our midfield and the lowest completed passing percentage of any of the midfield too. Very little work defensively which is an aspect of his game that simply must improve if he is going to continue being shoehorned into the number eight position. Had very few touches in general, only Jimenez had less, and was just relatively anonymous in all aspects of the game. Winning our penalty was the only real highlight of his day. 6/10.

Emile Smith Rowe

Probably having to come back a bit too often to collect the ball from deep than he'd like but with Pereira's lack of positional discipline, Smith Rowe is losing the ability to roam a bit further forward. As suggested previously I believe he may be better off on the left but that's a discussion for another day. Three key passes and two efforts on goal show that when he's given that freedom offensively he can be vital for us in the final third. 6.5/10.

Adama Traore

A lot has been made of Traore's final ball and decision making in the past but it is something that clearly has been improved under Silva and has led to the Spanish winger being a mainstay on the right this year. Even if this performance was slightly quieter than others, Adama produced Fulham's most dribbles, was our most fouled player and had the best pass completion percentage of any Fulham player, showing how effective had can be in the opposition half on any given day. 7.5/10.

Alex Iwobi

One of Iwobi's best showings this season in my opinion. I still think there's a possibility that he should operate more centrally this season but this was a big improvement in terms of his performance out wide. His link-up with Robinson, especially in the second half, was particularly effective for Fulham going forward. Iwobi attempted more passes than anyone else in Fulham's front six as a result of our dominance on that side of the pitch late on in the game and on another  day would have created or scored a goal himself. 7/10.

Raul Jimenez

I'm quite a strong believer that in terms of an all-round game, Muniz probably offers us more over 90 minutes than Raul. However, Jimenez is proving un-droppable with his current goalscoring form as he became just the second Mexican to score 50 Premier League goals with his calmly-placed penalty here. Tidy performance in general but didn't contribute too much bar the goal. 6.5/10.

Substitutes

Reiss Nelson (68' for Adama)

Cut inside nicely a few times to show his obvious ability in terms of ball manipulation but didn't really create anything to show for it. Maybe would have had more joy had Fulham not focused their attacks down the opposite flank. 6/10

Sander Berge (68' for Andreas)

Another steady cameo, although the Norweigan is yet to really stake his place for a starting spot to be honest. In a team that maybe lacks balance in midfield, you would like Berge to kick on considering the money spent on his signing. 6/10.

Rodrigo Muniz (83' for Jimenez), Harrison Reed (83' for Lukic) and Issa Diop (87' for Smith Rowe) all came on too late to be fairly assessed but well done to them for helping us see out eight gruelling minutes of additional time late on to secure the three points.



https://www.fulhamish.co.uk/post/2024-09-29-player-ratings-nottingham-forest-0-1-fulham/

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Man of the Match Result: Nottingham Forest
Joachim Andersen has been named Man of the Match from Fulham's 1-0 victory at Nottingham Forest.

In what was another imperious display, the centre-back was crucial in earning the side's first Premier League clean sheet of the season.

Joa has now been named Man of the Match twice this season, having also won the accolade for the 1-1 draw against West Ham United.

Andersen won 29.1% of the vote, with Saša Lukić winning 22.8% and Raûl Jiménez 14.7%.

https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2024/september/29/man-of-the-match-result--nottingham-forest/

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Positives and negatives: Forest 0 – 1 Fulham

An away day at an unbeaten Nottingham Forest would prove to be a very interesting test, but our in-form Whites managed to get the job done and pick up our first three points on the road this season, let's delve into what went well, and what could have been better.

Positives

A solid clean sheet

We have looked defensively strong so far this season, but there always seems to be something that gets in the way of our clean sheet. After conceding exactly one goal in all of our previous league games this season, we finally managed to leave our net untouched.

If you haven't wiped your brain of the calamitous performance at The City Ground last season, you will remember the three goals we managed to concede in the first half of that game. However, a contrast in defensive performance can be seen as a major improvement, in particular for Kenny Tete who struggled significantly in the previous encounter, but continued his fantastic start to the season in this game as he once again proved why he deserves to keep starting in this team.

The centre-back partnership has worked wonders already but I believe today was the best we've seen yet between Calvin Bassey and Joachim Andersen, it felt like almost every ball they whipped in had the cranium of the Great Dane leaping to head it clear, and he put his body on the line brilliantly when blocking Forest's attempts. Bassey alongside him also had a great performance with a crucial tackle towards the end of the game to deny Anthony Elanga a good chance. Only Liverpool have conceded fewer than us so far this season, so we can be very excited of what's to come with this back line.

With uncertainty around Issa Diop's distribution at the start of the season, it is clear that Andersen brings just that, but Diop also managed to get himself some minutes as he came on towards the end of the game to shore up that defensive line, and give ourselves extra protection from Forest's flurries forward. He performed well when he was needed in the earlier games, and it's good to see him coming on when we need to hold on. We all saw what happened at West Ham when he wasn't brought on, so this looks to be Marco's new way of dealing with the pressure in the dying moments.

50 not out for Raul

Raul Jimenez scored his 50th Premier League goal and his third in three Premier League starts this season, as his form looks to be returning he continues to solidify his place in the starting XI. This will boost his confidence once again and hopefully we only see more and more goals from him.

It was a finish from the penalty spot this time for Raul, as he became only the second Mexican to reach 50 Premier League goals. Whilst his stuttering run-up scared me the outcome did not, as he finished past a diving Sels who was quite close to denying him, and celebrated in front of the travelling Whites who were delighted to see us take the lead away from home. There was some worry about whether Rodrigo Muniz could continue his form from last season, but whilst he has had a slow start Jimenez has taken this chance to step up to the plate and he has certainly delivered. We can only hope that this time he won't get any silly reds to knock him back.

It was about time we got a penalty in the Premier League, with our last one coming exactly 10 months and one day prior in that 3-2 win over Wolves. Although it's fair to say we certainly had enough practice after that shootout at Deepdale. Raul scored two penalties in that and also scored one away at Birmingham this season in the previous round. His penalty record is fantastic and we'll get onto the topic of who should take it later on, what matters in the end is that the penalty is converted and he did just that.

A first win on the road

We were yet to win a game away from the Cottage and with our home form of late being so spectacular, it was a slight concern whether we'd be able to replicate the performance levels on the road, particularly after a fairly lacklustre second half performance at Portman Road a few weeks ago, follow by the disappointing cup performance in Preston.

Thankfully on this occasion we gave the travelling fans three points to take home and finally a feeling of satisfaction on the journey back. With Manchester City up next at The Etihad, it was really important for us to get our first win on the road here, and hopefully we take some of this confidence to make it a tough game for City. We all know how capable we are at the Cottage so a good run away from home could really bolster our chances of a high finish in the league this season.

Sixth place is a brilliant position to be at this stage, particularly with a couple of tough fixtures in the next few weeks. Add to this the fact that we've matched our highest ever points tally in the opening six games of a Premier League season and Fulham fans can hope for a promising season ahead. We seem to struggle away quite often, with only four wins away from home in the league last season, so we have to aim to improve on that, with this game potentially being the kickstart.

Negatives

Pereira penalty strop?

Andreas Pereira did very well to win us a penalty in the second half of the game, which ended up being the winner, but he wasn't so happy. Raul took the penalty off him and scored, but Pereira was nowhere to be seen in the celebrations.

When Raul took the ball to take the penalty, Pereira seemed furious as he wanted to take it. From what I've heard, Andreas was the designated penalty taker, despite Raul's incredible record from the spot. Did Pereira have the right to be annoyed at the penalty being taken from him? Arguably, yes. But not to the extent that he was. He just won a penalty which in the end won us the game, also garnering him an assist. To not celebrate with your teammates because you wanted the goal yourself is frankly, quite childish. Some might say he hasn't done enough to warrant himself taking a penalty, and it would be very difficult to argue against Raul's 36 goals from 38 penalties, in fact the last one he missed came in the 2019/20 season, so it's clear to see why he wanted to take it.

Andreas was then subbed off in the 69th minute, and he strolled off like a kid with his head down, clearly aggravated, despite the fact that his team are 1-0 up in a tough game and he contributed to the only goal. I don't think there was enough reason to be animated about it, I'm sure Marco will have spoken to him and any issues would be sorted by now but winning the penalty was the only real highlight of his game and this puts a negative tint on that.

Chance creation struggles

With the clean sheet helping massively, the lack of chance creation from open play thankfully didn't affect the result, but it could be something we need to improve on, particularly away from home.

We had a measly 0.38 expected goals from open play, which somehow managed to top Forest's 0.27, in a bit of a snooze-fest game for a neutral. Only two shots on target (one being the penalty) causes concern. This may be down partly to the nature of the game yesterday but if we want to improve our away form then we need to create more as well. It seemed like at Ipswich we didn't create enough in the second half either so this is my main worry at this moment in time.

However, with the strength of the defence as mentioned earlier, if we can continue to concede fewer goals the reliance on the attacking players to create won't be as high, again we're yet to concede more than a single goal in a match this season so one or two goals is more likely to get us three points than it was in previous seasons, as seen in this game. The win is what matters and that's exactly what we got so let's keep moving forward after this great start to the season.



https://www.fulhamish.co.uk/post/2024-09-29-positives-and-negatives-forest-0-1-fulham/

[WhiteJC]

Raul Jimenez scored his 50th Premier League goal against Nottingham Forest... but Fulham boss Marco Silva says the striker should NOT have been given the chance to score as the pair have words after full-time

    Jimenez scored his 50th Premier League goal against Nottingham Forest
    But Fulham boss Silva said Jimenez shouldn't have had the chance to score it

Raul Jimenez brought up his 50th Premier League goal as Fulham ended Nottingham Forest's unbeaten start to the season with a 1-0 victory at the City Ground — but the Mexican should not have been given the chance to score, revealed boss Marco Silva.

The 33-year-old has endured a long road to get to the milestone. Most notably, he was told by doctors that it was a miracle he was alive after requiring emergency surgery following a horror head clash with then-Arsenal defender David Luiz in a match at the Emirates four years ago.

Coincidentally, he scored his landmark goal on Saturday against a Forest side managed by Nuno Espirito Santo, for whom he starred when the pair were together at Wolves.

However, Fulham manager Silva revealed he had words later with Jimenez after he decided to take the ball away from Andreas Pereira, who is the team's designated penalty-taker.

'It's already sorted and it will not happen again, for sure,' said Silva.

'That type of situation is clear, it's decided before the match. Raul knew that moment was for Andreas Pereira, not for him. They spoke and it is decided it will not happen again. The players know the rules we have to have as a team and as a squad.'

Despite his reprimand, Silva reserved a sliver of praise for Jimenez, who also made it three goals in three matches to keep up Fulham's best start to a season since 2003.

'He is in a very good moment, it's nice to see him back,' added Silva. 'It's nice for him to score and be decisive again after a big injury last season.

'He deserves all the praise because he has been working really hard from the first day of pre-season and didn't stop after not being picked.'



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13904961/Marco-Silva-says-Raul-Jimenez-not-scored-50th-Premier-League-goal.html

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So,the referee suffered strong criticism from the Forrest manager.

Poor refs, how often do you hear of a winning manager being unhappy with the ref's performance.