Cottage Cheese (A match Thread)

OOOF!

Well the exploits at Exeter certainly brought us all crashing down to earth. Usually though when faced with a set back we bounce back. The question is in this run of tough games are Foolham going to be there to be eaten.

They are a decent team and all over the place when it comes to performances. We were robbed in the first game with a dodgy penalty and our claims completely ignored.

In the words of Michael Palin: "Revenge! Revenge!".

But, we had a tough cup game and burnt out our midfield somewhat. CHO should be backj. Are we starting him in place of Danilo or are we going with the Brighton line up.

Aina, Murillo and mIlenkovic back with Elanga still rested. I am hoping for a comprehensive win. I think 1-1. Would be delighted with the three points though considering Citeh host the Geordies.

Chicago: Fingers crossed.

The full ham joke was right there.

It's how you pronounce it....

Anyway as you were....

Chicago: Peckish.

Unchanged from Brighton, I expect. Unless Danilo starting midweek was a reflection of CHO being fit and Nuno playing MGW and Anderson as the midfield two.

It's pronounced 'Flum'. As any foo noe.

I'd go with Fullum, but noone(except it seems in Chicago) says Foolham.

Who was seriously “brought crashing back down to Earth” by a cobbled-together reserve side not playing very well (but still going through, unlike Liverpool a few miles down the road a couple of days before)?

It was the Cup, on a pudding pitch (deliberately over-watered, or so it looked), under lights, against a side with absolutely nothing to lose. Were you expecting a free-flowing exhibition of one-touch football? Fair play to them; they made it a niggly, stop-start scrap in exactly the way they needed to (helped significantly by a full-on howler by our giant second keeper).

It also has almost no relevance to Saturday’s game.

We’ll play the same side as vs Brighton, or very close. I doubt he’ll risk starting with CHO, but he could easily come off the bench.

Fulham’s home League record in the last 2 months:

0-0 draw vs Southampton
2-2 draw vs Muff
2-2 draw vs Ipswich
0-1 defeat vs Man Utd

By all accounts (or so a work friend who is a Fulham fan tells me) they can struggle with breaking down teams who defend solidly & attack with pace.

They won at the CG thanks to a dubious penalty. Anyone would think they’d played us off the park.

Seriously, all this schizophrenic lurching from “we’re world-beaters” to “we’re shite” from week to week is exhausting to read, Chic, so God know how much worse it must be to live.

Relax, man. It’s a football match. We’re third in the League with a 4-point gap to 4th; this really is not a crisis..

[So that’s a repeat of last season’s Cooper-killing 0-5, then.]

As we get further from Tuesday, my revisionist rose-tinted nostalgia kicks in, and I think that a fully-changed team does none of the players any favours*. Bringing in one or two to a settled side is much better for integration and performance. There were positives, especially in the first half, and if Taiwo is "just" a broken nose, then there are worse outcomes overall.

So it's back to the usual team with few concerns about subs unless we need to change the game. Let's hope we don't need to.

*I still don't rate attitude+niggle above talent though. Sorry Jota.

I think coming fresh off the bench he's a nightmare for an already tired defence that has spent the afternoon chasing Elanga and CHO and Morgan, he's annoying and physical and constantly looking to take advantage of a mistimed leg or shoulder and suddenly they have to start doing things completely differently.

His style is exactly what a League One defence used to spending an afternoon battling want to see from the first minute, it wasn't a huge shock that he wasn't great against Exeter. He's what in baseball is called a changeup - get the batter dialed into 95mph fastballs and then suddenly give them one inside at 70mph. I like Jota in the role he's mostly used for.

What the fuck are you talking about? Who is all doom and schizophrenic? I am certainly not. If you actually read my text rather than come to a conclusion before actually dissecting it then you wouldn't talk such bollocks. I started with OOF as Tuesday was tough on our midfield and I was happy for us to use our second team against Exeter. Foolham (and yes that is a reference to the first match thread between the sides), beat us at the City Ground by a dodgy penatly which I also wrote about. We could be tired from the cup game and slightly beaten up but I also pointed out that when we don't play well we usually have a reaction. I also said we wouldn't lose and who said anything about a crisis? Oh yeah you did... Tit.

Chicago: Gibber Jabbering.

I wasn't bothered by Tuesday. A chance for the b team to run out and recovering players get some more match fitness. Those that did have to come on played half a match and that could be a bonus in terms of match fitness as well. We learned a lot.
Sangarre has vision and can pass
Silva is a headless chicken
Sosa gets into nice positions to score.
We need a new keeper
Awoniyi is looking sharper, shame about the broken nose.
The Spartans needed 300 at Thermopylae. All we need is Mat Sels

In a previous life, we would have fucked this up. We didn't. Penalties were calm as you like and we got through.

I can see this being a 2-2 as Fulham have one of those teams that work hard and some decent players. Not spectacular but worthy of respect

I think this is a bit harsh. He was poor on the night, sure, but on another day the handling error either falls to a Forest player or he just picks it up (see Sels drop at Anfield) and he was not much at fault for the second.

If he's fit, I'd still play him against Ipswich.

It was his third game and he also made a howler in the first 20 seconds of his debut. They are plenty who have written him off as another Matt Turner (ignoring the fact Turner made barely any handling errors, it's just his kicking that was abysmal).
It is a concern - is there something about his concentration early on in games?
More of a concern is the current alternative to big Carlos is Hennessey, who is 38 and has looked error-prone every time he has played for Forest.
Thankfully Sels has shown a remarkable ability to avoid injury and cards so far, but I do wonder if we'll be looking for another keeper in the summer now.

One thing that stood out for me on Tuesday was Abbott not getting a start. It seemed an ideal opportunity to play him as we chose not to loan him out.