Monday Fulham Stuff - 02/09/19...

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'Devastating' West Brom blitz Blackburn and look towards Fulham

A round up of BirminghamLive's coverage of Albion's 3-2 victory over Blackburn at The Hawthorns on Saturday - Fulham await on the other side of the international break

Mini match report

West Brom are finally off the mark at The Hawthorns this season after a hard fought 3-2 win over Blackburn Rovers, in a match where all five goals came in the first half.

Goals from Matt Phillips, Jake Livermore and Grady Diangana rounded off a wonderful 40 minutes or so in the first half, but their defensive inadequacies were regrettably on display once more.

Albion couldn't have got off to a worse start when Kyle Bartley's hospital pass across goal was cut out by Sam Gallagher and Bradley Dack curled the ball past Sam Johnstone - that was after 25 seconds.

From there, the Baggies took a little while to get going - but when they did, they wreaked havoc in the opposing defence.

Debutant Matheus Pereira scythed open the back-line with a through ball that Phillips out-muscled Cunningham to win, and the winger slipped the ball under Christian Walton to level the scores.

Albion took the lead just after the half hour mark, when excellent play from Darnell Furlong on the right found Phillips, and his cross-cum-shot clipped the bar. Pereira gathered the loose ball, teed up Livermore and his commanding drive was both well placed and powerful.

The Baggies didn't stop there; Diangana then eased past Darragh Lenihan on the left before racing into the box and dinking the ball delicately over Walton, but Albion's defensive frailties were on show in stoppage time when Bradley Johnson lashed the ball home.

Pereira himself might've added a fourth, Austin too, but Albion clung on and remain unbeaten after six games.

What Bilic said

"We can't even talk about slow start, we didn't even start, straight away it's a goal. Especially as home the crowd is expecting to win, it affects the team psychologically.

"They smelt it and were on top of us, in those moments you need something. We scored a great goal, great combination, from then until the end of the half it was top football in every aspect of the game, creating chances, defending well, pressed them well.

"We stopped them in our half. It's stupid to say, it sounds greedy, it should have been even more than 3-1, but 3-1 should be enough.

"That happened with our second goal, set piece. I had a feeling it was a small foul on our player, and a mistake from us.

"We knew they would come back fired up and they were, credit to them in the first 15 minutes we were playing like it was added time.

"I said at half time it's 0-0, play a normal game, but we were happy to waste time a little bit, we weren't active, we weren't on the front foot.

"They were in our half of the pitch but after 15 minutes we gained control and created chances to kill the game off but our shooting was not good enough.

"That's always a danger that you concede a goal, they have good players. We didn't survive, we managed the game well. So of course we are happy."

What Tony Mowbray said

"We have to be better with the ball, we have to be braver. We have to keep the ball off good teams because if you keep giving it to back to good teams they keep coming and they're going to score.

"I think that was what happened in the first half - we kept giving them the ball back, but we kept it better in the second.

"In the second half we took the sting out of them by keeping the ball, which didn't allow them to build up momentum.

"I think for half an hour in the first half, they were very good. I thought for long spells in the second half, especially the first 25 minutes we were on top but couldn't get the goal.

"Albion moved the ball well and they'll have a strong season."

What the fans said

Terry Smith: Diangana, Pereira & Sawyers look a level above, all three could easily play in the Prem IMO

Michael Whitehouse: Nice to see Livermore finally deliver the goods today. Obvious ability but needs to impact on games like Barry did last season. At this level he should be dominating games every week.

George Downes : Perreira, Diangana and Furlong all impressed today. Semi solid as always. Livermore, superb again today, been my player of the year so far

Smiffy : If we can just cut out silly mistakes we will be ok, but after the disappointment of last season Albion have responded fantastically well. Great signings, a top manager and playing good football with devastating pace. I'm happy

The player ratings

Johnstone 6

A busy first half - was left short for Dack's opener, but from there his decision making and - particularly - his kicking was spot on. Will have been really disappointed with his fumbling of the ball in the build up to Blackburn's second - that tarnished an otherwise excellent half.

Furlong 8

A chance at right-back because of Ferguson being needed at left-back duty, and he grabbed it with both hands. Much like Gibbs usually is on the left, Furlong spent plenty of time in the opposing half and made a number of key runs and beat his man on a number of occasions.

Put himself about and at one point even required treatment, such was his commitment to the cause.

What's up next?

Fulham (a) - Saturday 14 September 2019 (12:30pm)



https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/devastating-west-brom-blitz-blackburn-16847015

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Slaven Bilic has a big call at Fulham as West Brom's skipper plays a captain's knock

The Baggies beat Blackburn to make it six league matches unbeaten under Slaven Bilic - now it's Fulham up next after the international break

Matheus' marker

Matheus Pereira has landed in the Championship.

Albion fans had previously enjoyed only glimpses of the winger's talents, from cameos where he'd impacted matches - namely his penalty winning contribution at Derby County.

Finally, in the final match before the first international break of the season, Slaven Bilic saw fit to hand Pereira his full debut in the win over Blackburn Rovers.

He was excellent, effective too - it wasn't just fancy flicks and tricks from this Samba star, but assists to substantiate them.

One of the flurry of exciting signings that Albion made on deadline day last month, we already know just how intense the competition is in those particular areas where Pereira operates.

Filip Krovinovic, Grady Diangana, Matt Phillips and Kyle Edwards all want in on this exciting line-up that Bilic has assembled.

On this evidence, though, Pereira can surely count on a starting berth at Craven Cottage.

Home comforts

Like Pereira, Bilic is off the mark at The Hawthorns too.

Jimmy Shan managed to string six wins together on home soil last season, during his temporary tenure, but Bilic has been made to wait.

Millwall have frustrated the Baggies this season, and Reading too almost nicked a victory. When Rovers scored after 25 seconds, many in the Brummie Road End behind the goal probably rolled their eyes.

Here we go again.

Yet Albion, with a new look attack after Bilic changed it up after Derby, clicked in the final third and blitzed their visitors.

The bottom line was that Albion deserved this victory and that big fat '0' in the lost column looks mightily impressive as we enter September.

Familiar problems

Ctrl + C, ctrl + V.

It feels like a copy and paste job on this particular front each week at the moment. For all their good football during this unbeaten run, I'm sure former centre-back Bilic would love a clean sheet sometime soon.

As he said himself here, Albion didn't even start slowly before they were behind. They may as well have kicked off at 3pm at 0-1.

It's the fifth game in their first six fixtures where they've fallen behind, and something that until now they've coped with.

How more comfortable might they be in these kind of fixtures if they started getting themselves in front?

Fulham, two points and two places below them in the table, represent the next opportunity to do so and, against that front-line, it'd be well earned too.

Captain's knock

The final word on this weekend's match must go to Jake Livermore.

I must admit that, on reflection, I probably under-scored him in my player ratings at 8/10 - he was more likely a 9.

After another summer where he was linked with a return to the Premier League - Newcastle were mentioned briefly during Rafa Benitez's tenure - he has stayed put.

He looks lean, as fit as he ever did, and has taken on the captaincy with relish.

Here, Livermore was superb. He won everything, was intelligent with the ball and utterly dominated the midfield in the first half - to the point where Tony Mowbray took Bradley Johnson off at half time.

Then there's the goal, a cracking finish that left Christian Walton unmoved. He was the man of the match of many, on a day where there were four or five contenders.



https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/slaven-bilic-big-call-fulham-16848243

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Parker's Fulham begins to take shape

After six league games and a League Cup experiment, we've got a pretty good idea of what Scott Parker wants his Fulham team to be. Ahead of the most recent game in Cardiff, Scott hinted at the idea that there's no right or wrong way in football but he believes this controlling, possession-based style is not only how he wants to play but is what puts Fulham in the best position for winning games of football. The start of the season has been mixed with the Whites unable to cope with Barnsley's swarming pressing in the opening game and then producing the most dominant display in Championship history with a 4-0 decimation of Millwall after close-fought victories over Blackburn and Huddersfield. Nottingham Forest managed to overcome the starvation of the ball with Lewis Grabban clinically putting away their two only real chances of the game, whilst on Friday, a red card saw the trip to Cardiff transformed from Fulham pushing for a winner to battling for a good point in the end.

During this period, academy product Steven Sessegnon tied down the right-back position, thus eliminating one of the few question marks in the starting eleven. The older of the Sessegnon twins will admit he could have done better a few goals against this season but has shown a bite and confidence at full-back that hasn't really been seen since Ryan Fredericks. Steven has already made more interceptions than any other Fulham player so far this season and looks the part as he looks to follow his brother's path in establishing himself as a starter for a Fulham side that gets promoted back to the Premier League.

The goalkeeping position remains somewhat in flux. We've not been comfortable in our starting goalkeeper since Mark Schwarzer, who left Fulham in 2013. Marcus Bettinelli is a fine goalkeeper in the Championship but I'm still unsure on his potential to win us points and matches. In six fixtures, 'Betts' has conceded five goals, made five saves and has two clean sheets. I actually think that the defence has done a good job in reducing the volume of quality chances against our goalkeeper overall but where are the saves when we need it most? The moment we get caught on the transition, where is the goalkeeping equivalent of putting away that 1v1? I don't think we've seen it yet and after Marek Rodak's promising display at Craven Cottage against Southampton, the pressure is back on Bettinelli (and not for the first time in his Fulham career) to keep ahold of that starting goalkeeper position.

Back to the style of play, under Slavisa Jokanovic in the promotion season, four of Fulham's top five in terms of short passes completed was midfielders Tom Cairney, Stefan Johansen, Kevin McDonald and Oliver Norwood. So far this season under Scott Parker, three of the top five are Tim Ream, Alfie Mawson and Joe Bryan, with Steven Sessegnon on pace to take over Tom Cairney to enter the top five. In every league game this season, Fulham's most common passing combination has been Mawson either playing to or receiving from his centre back partner (Denis Odoi in the first game, Tim Ream in the subsequent matches). This does appear to show a far more passive and patient approach from Scott Parker's Fulham as opposed to Slavisa Jokanovic's midfield heavy approach.

Fulham visually may have somewhat of a creative problem, but only five teams are above the Whites for shots per game with Fulham level with Middlesbrough and only four teams have scored more with Fulham level with Leeds, Luton and West Bromwich Albion so the numbers don't quite back that up but it's perhaps arguable that Fulham have somewhat struggled to create clear-cut chances, a beauty from Tom Cairney, a couple of them from Ivan Cavaleiro and a Mitrovic penalty accounts for four of our ten scored whilst Mitrovic's header at Huddersfield was created by a moment of madness from Juninho Bacuna. It'll be interesting to see this progress after the international break with Scott Parker seemingly unsettled on the final piece to his midfield trio: Tom Cairney was partnered by Kevin McDonald and Stefan Johansen on the opening day before Harry Arter came in to tie down the holding role but most recently Harrison Reed came in for Johansen to take the holding role and Bobby Decordova-Reid has most frequently come into the midfield for his league cameos so far this season.

It's been a mixed start for Scott Parker's men with a style of play now very clear but the next step must be improving the link between defence and attack – in the five games we've conceded in this season, we've won just one of them. High possession is simply going to be how we play this season and once relationships continue to build, the teams settle and momentum comes into play, you hope Fulham can build upon a decent points return from the first six and really start to take a stranglehold on a side expected to compete for automatic promotion.



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2019/09/parkers-fulham-begins-to-take-shape/

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Sergio Rico: Paris St-Germain sign goalkeeper on season-long loan from Sevilla

Sergio Rico made 32 appearances for Fulham while on loan from Sevilla last season

Paris St-Germain have signed Spanish goalkeeper Sergio Rico on a season-long loan with an option to buy from La Liga side Sevilla.

Rico, 26, spent the 2018-19 season on loan at Fulham and made 29 Premier League appearances as the Cottagers were relegated to the Championship.

He made more than 160 appearances during a four-year spell at Sevilla.

French champions PSG are currently top of Ligue 1 with three wins and one defeat from their opening four games.

"I am very happy to have signed with Paris St-Germain. Everyone in Europe knows how big the club has grown in recent years," said Rico.

"It is an honour to be a member of this playing squad, that includes so many of my compatriots. I will give my maximum every day to help my new club achieve as much success as possible, in France and in Europe. This is a magnificent next chapter for my career that begins on the day of my 26th birthday."

French goalkeeper Alphonse Areola has made three appearances in goal - and Poland's Marcin Bulka one - for Thomas Tuchel's side this season following the departure of former Italy number one Gianluigi Buffon in July after one season at the club.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49546044

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Cottage Talk Post Match Show: Cardiff City vs. Fulham With Special Guest Benjamin Bloom

Take a listen to a podcast that focuses on Fulham Football Club.

In this post match show, Russ Goldman and Max Cohen analyzed the 1-1 draw for Fulham against Cardiff City. Also, to help us with this show, we were joined by special guest Benjamin Bloom, who has a popular YouTube Channel, and he posted a very interesting review of this match.

Ben shared his views from a neutral perspective, and we reacted to his commentary on this match. We also gave our own views on what we watched on Friday.


Lastly, you can also listen to the show by following this link...
https://cottagersconfidential.sbnation.com/2019/9/1/20843691/cottage-talk-post-match-show-cardiff-city-vs-fulham-with-special-guest-benjamin-bloom