Our first “away” game of the season see’s us travel to Elland Road to take on Leeds United.
This should be an interesting game. We both lost our opening games, both conceded 3 goals, fair enough Leeds scored 2 and we didn’t, both teams have added to their squads and I’m certain both teams will have marked this fixture as a winnable one. Wednesday’s Carabao Cup game saw our new signings get a run out, all had good games but probably the stand out performance was Kenny Tete who could well get to play against Leeds.
Last season each team won their home games and recent games have been fairly even with 3 wins, 2 lost and 5 draws.
COYW’s
Games of Interest…
Saturday 19th Everton v West Brom Leeds v Fulham Man Utd v Palace Arsenal v West Ham
Sunday 20th Southampton v Spurs Newcastle v Brighton Chelsea v Liverpool Leicester v Burnley
Monday 21st Villa v Sheff Utd
come on over to the forum and join in the discussion… https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0
We’re back in the Premiership!, and for our first game we welcome Arsenal to the Cottage for a 12:30 kick off.
My very first Fulham game was against Arsenal, New Years Day 1966, we won that 1-0 and I was hooked! Now we’re back in the Premiership, let’s hope that we’ve learned some of the lessons from last time?, and this season we prove to be more of a contest, 80+ goals against can’t be repeated. So far we’ve not gone overboard with the spending, the “window” remains open until October so there’s still time? It’ll be interesting to see if any of the “new” players will either start or even be on the team sheet, Antonee Robinson, Mario Lemina, Harrison Reed, so glad he signed, and who they’ll replace? I wonder if Anguissa will get a game now that he’s returned from loan?, there’s been no mention of Seri returning. With little time “pre-season” I just hope that they’ll have had enough time to adapt to Fulham. If we do sign anyone else before the end of the week I can’t see them starting against Arsenal.
Our record against Arsenal isn’t too good, 8 wins, 10 draws and 39 losses, Arsenal have won the last 5 scoring 15 and conceding only 3… time to put that right!
COYW’s
Games of Interest…
Saturday 12th Crystal Palace v Southampton Fulham v Arsenal Liverpool v Leeds Spurs v Everton West Ham v Newcastle
Monday 14th Brighton v Chelsea
come on over to the forum and join in the discussion… https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0
In this Special Fulham FC Podcast, we are once again joined by Owen Smith and Gerry Pimm, as we discuss the 2-1 Playoff Final win over Brentford. The show covers the following topics:
Scott Parker’s Tactics – spot on?
First half breakdown v Brentford
Second half breakdown v Brentford
Extra time breakdown v Brentford
Were Brentford to overconfident?
A look into the Fulham Brentford rivalry
Man of the match v Brentford
Thoughts on Parker after Promotion?
Who will stay and who will go?
Anguissa & Seri, do we bring them back?
What Backing does Parker Need now?
Premier League thoughts and predictions.
A message from Shahid Kahn.
This show is about an hour and 11 mins long, but some really good stuff is covered, and well worth the listen. As well as covering the 2-1 win over Brentford, we go into other important stuff that is required for promotion, and our assault on the Premier League – Happy listening
Fulham face Brentford at Wembley on Tuesday evening to decide who gets to play in the Premiership next Season.
I’m guessing that it’s the final that most of us would have predicted from the four teams contesting the semi-finals? Swansea certainly gave Brentford a scare and Cardiff very nearly fought back against Fulham, but both of the London teams triumphed in the end.
Brentford appear to have the upper-hand, as far as playing Fulham is concerned, with 5 wins, 2 losses and 3 draws, they won both of this season’s league games 1-0 & 0-2, so I’m sure they’ll be going into this full of confidence. However, both teams finished the season on 81 points, Brentford had a superior goal difference, also both teams won one and lost one of their semi-finals both going through 3-2 on aggregate. So I’m sure that it’ll be a tighter game despite what some “pundits” are predicting? 26 goals gave Mitro the golden boot for this season, Brentford’s Ollie Watkins wasn’t too far behind although he played 540 more minutes than Mitro, due to injuries and suspension, so I imagine that both of them will want to add to their tally for this season, lets just hope Mitro comes out on top and that he gets on the pitch after his recent injury.
Experience of the “big day” will definitely be in Fulham’s favour with most of our current squad taking part in the final a couple of seasons ago. Fulham players who took part in the 2018 final include Bettinelli, Odoi, Christie, Ream, Cairney, McDonald, Johansen, Kamara(AK47) and Mitrovic, all of these can rightly say…
“been there, done that, WON IT!”
Beating us twice, being the “more attacking” team will probably make Brentford the favourites however with Fulham’s recent experience don’t write us off too soon.
Playing in an empty Wembley Stadium will be different for everyone, we can only provide a ‘virtual white-wall’ and listen to Gentleman Jim and Jamie with our fingers crossed and hope for revenge for the two games earlier in the season.
Whatever happens on Tuesday evening, whichever league we’re playing in next season, doesn’t matter all that much to me, we are FULHAM the oldest team in London and will be wearing the famous ‘black and white’ with pride whoever the opposition.
COYWs
come on over to the forum and join in the discussion… https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0
So we now know that Brentford have made it through to the play-off final.
Going into the game with a 2-0 aggregate lead surely make us favourites to face Brentford in the final? apparently no team has ever overcome a 2 goal deficit in the 2nd leg, sounds far too Fulhamish to me. There’s good news with both Mitro’ and Cavaleiro joining in training, decisions on if they’re in the match day squad will be made later today. If we play like we did in the first leg then it shouldn’t really matter if one or both of them are rested with a view to keeping them fully fit for a potential appearance in the final? Another good omen is Neil Harris’ managerial record against us…
won
0
drawn
0
lost
6
goals scored
1
goals conceded
15
…so on paper we’ve got this in the bag, however being Fulham…
come on over to the forum and join in the discussion… https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0
So after Swansea’s win in the first round they must be looking forward to Wednesday’s game. Brentford will be encouraged with getting Rico Henry’s red card rescinded and being “at home” should give them some advantage? Having lost 3 on the bounce Brentford will have something to prove and will be looking to recapture their form from after lock-down. They’ve not lost 3 in a row all season, the last time they lost 2 in a row was at the start of the season, both away games, to Leeds and Charlton.
Brentford’s form since restart WWWWWWWLLL Swansea’s form, since restart WLDWWLDWWW
(Agg 2-0)
Fulham played some of the best football they’ve played all season against Cardiff in the first leg. There was a danger of Fulham being all out of sorts for the first leg after missing out on automatic promotion, although it was a ‘slim chance’ as we needed West Brom to loose (they didn’t), Brentford to loose or draw (they lost) and we needed to win, we drew. Then we got the news that Mitro’, winner of this season’s Golden Boot, had been injured in training and would miss the game however, he could be back for the game Thursday evening, or will he be rested/protected again? keeping him safe with a potential final in the offing. Cardiff will surly be looking for revenge, they’ve been on a really good run since the re-start added to the possibility of a Wembley final against their South Wales rivals, I’m certain they’ll make a game of it Thursday.
Cardiff have only lost 2 in a row once this season in February against Stoke and Forest.
Fulham’s form since restart LLWWWWDWDW Cardiff’s form since restart WWDWLWWWWL
COYWs
Play-off Semi-finals 2nd leg…
Wednesday 29th Brentford v Swansea
Thursday 30th Fulham v Cardiff
come on over to the forum and join in the discussion… https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0
A lot has been mentioned about who has the better form going into the playoffs, it tends to go out the window as the playoffs start, but is also the only concrete thing people can try and base judgements on, rightly so. Brentford could be completely galvanised by their two recent losses, or they may feel like they let it slip and were found wanting, something which can deeply impact a clubs mentality.
That said, going into the final run of games, a lot was also said about how we had the hardest run in and in many ways, predictions for how the end of the season would go saw some having us down as 5th or 6th, or simply not having the results we’ve had.
Context therefore counts as everything.
So 9 game form since restart needs to be taken into account
Cardiff’s games were
(position of opposition)
(form position)
Leeds (2-0 win to Cardiff)
(1st)
(1st in previous six games)
Preston (3-1 win)
(7th)
(20th)
Charlton (0-0 draw)
(18th)
(16th)
Bristol City (1-0 win)
(12th)
(24th)
Blackburn Rovers (3-2 loss)
(11th)
(20th)
Fulham (2-0 loss)
(4th)
(6th)
Derby (2-1 win)
(10th)
(5th to Cardiff’s 4th at time)
Middlesbrough (3-1 win)
(19th)
(12th)
Hull City (3-0 win)
(23rd)
(23rd)
WWDWLLWWW (19 points) (median position of opposition 12th) (median form of teams faced – 14th)
16 goals for – 8 goals against. Leeds, Bristol, Charlton and Hull are the teams they kept clean sheets against.
44.6% possession on average over the season 65.5% passing accuracy over season.
A lot of Cardiff’s goals in their last six games have come early (around the 20 min mark), between 35 mins half time/just after or around the 80th minute.
in first 10 minutes – 1 goal, 10 – 20 minutes – 3 goals, 20-30 mins – 0 goals, 30-40 mins – 2 goals, 40-50 mins – 4 goals, 50-60mins – 1 goal, 60 – 70 mins – 1 goal, 70-80 mins – 1 goal, 80- end of match – 5 goals
over half of their 16 goals come in two periods of the game, the final 10 minutes and the 10 minutes either side of half time.
On a half by half split 10 goals of their 16 are scored in the second half equalling 63% with 3/4 coming from 40 minutes onwards, which suggests they tend to go for it at the beginning, settle into the game based on that and then push on around the times that count most.
They played without two of their more dangerous players when we last played in Glatzel and Tomlin, who both have 8 goals apiece scored this season (joint top), although both players came off the bench. Seven of their players have 7-8 goals this season.
If they play with their usual format and strongest team it will be 4-2-3-1 and they’ll line up with (crosses denote players who played in the game against us 7-11 – indicating a strong squad and a manager who has been rotating his players a bit either due to demand of games or strategy.
Smithies in goal x
Jo Bennett x Sean Morrison x Aden Flint Curtis Nelson x
Leandro Bacuna x Marlon Pack
Junior Hoillet x Lee Tomlin Nathaniel Mendez Laing x
Robert Glatzel
That said, that’d leave out Josh Murphy (who’s on a similar number of games as Tomlin, Glatzel and Mendez-Laing). They also against us with Jo Ralls (a CM) in the middle of the 3 and will Vaulks a CB as one of the two DM’s.. which suggests Neil Harris feels we’re a strong attacking side that needs to have a more defensive-minded team play us. According to sky and google, they played with a defender up front against us too?
Just seen Callum Patterson (25 yr old), started career as a RB, normally plays in midfield but sometimes also plays as a striker. Impressive versatility.
Fulham results
Fulham’s games
(position of opposition)
(form position)
Brentford (2-0 loss)
(4th)
(10th – on previous six games)
Leeds (3-0 loss)
(1st)
(1st)
QPR (2-1 win)
(13th)
(9th)
Birmingham (1-0 win)
(16th)
(21st)
Nottingham Forest (1-0 win)
(5th)
(7th)
Cardiff city (2-0 win)
(6th)
(5th to our 6th at the time of this game)
West Brom (0-0 draw)
(2nd)
(7th)
Sheffield Wednesday (5-3 win)
(14th)
(16th)
Wigan (1-1 draw)
(13th)
(wigan form 4th)
LLWWWWDWD (17 points) (Median position of opposition – 8th in league) – Median position in form table (9th)
12 goals for and 10 goals against. in our last six games we’ve kept 4 clean sheets against Cardiff, West Brom, Nottingham Forest and Birmingham.
Average Possession stats 58.3 passing accuracy 83.2
Hope that gives clarity to people in some ways… appreciate it’s not the most conclusive. Looks like we’re the stronger side, but it’ll be a close game with everyone at full strength. If we weather their storms and take our chances we could do well.
come on over to the forum and join in the discussion… https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0
By Alex Bowmer | Twitter: @AlexJamesBowmer | Web: alexanderjamesbowmer.contently.com
The dust has now settled on another regular season in the Championship. While the football was often underwhelming, Fulham finish the campaign on a seven-match unbeaten run, with four of those performances yielding clean sheets. Here, Friends of Fulham casts an eye over some of the key statistics from Scott Parker’s first full season in charge and compares them to the last two years the Whites enjoyed in the second tier under Slaviša Jokanović.
Over-reliance on Mitro
An obvious point, but the statistics are stark. The prolific Serbian bagged 26 league goals in 2019/20 to claim the Championship Golden Boot. This tally represented a mammoth 41% of Fulham’s goals during the campaign.
To put this in context, Ryan Sessegnon was our top scorer in the league back in 2017/18, netting 15 goals. However, this made up only 19% of Fulham’s total, as the team netted 79 times over the course of the campaign compared to 64 occasions this season.
The previous season saw Tom Cairney, Stefan Johansen and Chris Martin make it to double figures, with Floyd Ayité and Sone Aluko not far behind. Cairney was our top marksman with 12 league goals, just 14% of our 85 goals that campaign.
Cairney was the next-highest goalscorer this term after Mitrović with eight goals, while new signings Ivan Cavaleiro and Bobby Decordova-Reid each scored six times. A new striker or two (if Mitrović leaves) is a must, whether we go up or not.
“The prolific Serbian bagged 26 league goals in 2019/20 to claim the Championship Golden Boot“
Poor form against struggling sides
This has been a theme under both Jokanović and Parker. Simply put, our record against teams lower than us in the table at the time we played them has stopped us getting promoted.
Our results in 2016/17 – 14 wins, 11 draws and seven defeats – meant average of just 1.66 points against these opponents. Disappointing single-goal losses against Birmingham and just one point against QPR in two encounters illustrate our struggles.
We actually fared against teams above us in the league that season, with the highlights coming in thumping wins over Huddersfield, as well as a 5-0 thrashing of Reading and a dominant display against Newcastle at St. James’ Park, where Ryan Sessegnon announced himself with a stunning double.
Overall, we finished the campaign with eight wins, three draws and three losses against these better-placed sides, with an average points tally of 1.93.
Our record in matches where we were the favourites certainly improved in 2017/18, as we upped our points average against these sides to 1.93. Nevertheless, disappointing defeats to Burton and Sunderland impeded our progress. Our record against ‘better’ sides produced an average points tally of 1.88.
This season has seen our record in matches we should win drop back slightly, with an average points total of 1.82. Shock three-goal home defeats against Barnsley and Hull spring to mind, along with a disappointing loss against Reading at the Cottage and a humiliation at Stoke in October. Our record against higher-placed teams this season was our worst of the three campaigns, producing an average of 1.50 points.
It should be achievable to break the two points-per-game barrier when playing sides lower down the league. If we had hit that mark in the last two Championship campaigns, we would have avoided the excruciating play-off tension.
“Fulham lose 3-0 to Barnsley at home back in February”
Powers of recovery
One of the things you get used to if you’ve watched Fulham long enough is the squandering of leads and conceding late goals.
This season was refreshing in this respect, with just two late goals seeing us drop points – against West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday on successive September weekends. The only other time we ended up dropping points after leading was away at Millwall in February, and that came courtesy of an incorrect offside call.
We have also managed two turnarounds against QPR, as well as gritty draws at Derby and Bristol City.
In total, we lost only six points after taking the lead, but gained 12 points after letting in first. Our football under Jokanović was much more expansive, and this is reflected in the unpredictability of matches.
In 2016/17, we lost 16 points after scoring first, but gained 23 points when the opposition drew first blood. Comeback wins over Barnsley, Rotherham, Nottingham Forest, Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday saw us score 15 goals.
Despite 2017/18 seeing us achieve our highest points total of the three seasons (88), we were very susceptible to dropping leads, especially during a patchy first half of the season. In total, we lost 19 points after scoring the first goal. Brentford were our nemesis, as we dropped five points against the Bees, while also conceding late against Norwich, Middlesbrough and Cardiff and throwing away a two-goal lead against QPR.
By contrast, we gained 16 points after going 1-0 down, most notably during wins over Ipswich (4-1), Sheffield United (4-5) and Barnsley (1-3).
While we did not gain as many points from losing positions compared to the season before, this can be explained by the fact that during our 23-game unbeaten run, we took the lead in 20 of those matches, going on to win 16 of those games and draw four.
“Cyrus Christie with a wonder strike against QPR, as we come back to win 2-1 at Loftus Road”
Conclusion
Parker’s Fulham have certainly not thrilled the fans in the same way Jokanović’s teams did and the current crop don’t play with the sort of dominance exhibited a few years ago.
Clearly, at least one new goalscorer needs to be found and the defence needs to tighten up, as we have conceded 48 goals this league campaign, marginally higher than 2017/18 (46).
However, we are in a good run of form and the class of 2019/20 have taken all three points in 22 of the 25 games in which they’ve broken the deadlock.
This Fulham side has gone under the radar, but they can replicate the heroics of two years ago and emerge victorious at Wembley.
“Fulham celebrate at Wembley, after beating Aston Villa in the 2018 Championship Playoff final”
Big thank you to Alex Bowmer for taking the time to write this article for Friends of Fulham, and make sure you give him a follow on Twitter @AlexJamesBowmer
Please also visit the Friends of Fulham Forum, where you can read more interesting topics on Fulham
Sunday and Monday see’s the first games of the play-off semi-finals.
The first of the play-off semi’s is Swansea v Brentford, Swansea gatecrashed the top six replacing Forest on the final day so they’ve got to be full of confidence especially as Brentford lost their last game?
Monday evening we get to travel to South Wales and take on Cardiff. Our two previous games against Cardiff earlier this season were 1-1 at their place last August and a 2-0 win at the Cottage earlier this month.
COYWs
Play-off Semi-finals 1st leg…
Sunday 26th Swansea v Brentford
Monday 27th Cardiff v Fulham
come on over to the forum and join in the discussion… https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0
