Not going to jump the gun just yet, but it's encouraging to see Tomas Kalas out there with the lads in today's training stint at the Cottage today. FulhamTV version which hopefully people are able to view http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2016/october/27/training-at-the-cottage [Never sure whether these FTV links work if you don't subscribe. Can you let me know please.]
Cottager, I always have to copy and paste the link to make it work. Otherwise it has some not606 at the start of the address and you only get a blank. Not an issue for me and your links are very welcome. you've been busy on here of late, so I'm considering changing my bookmark to this site to "Cottagre606"
In his press conference today the Gaffer said, "my team is completely fit". Quick word then about Huddersfield first. The key man for them is Aaron Mooy; you can't give him any time or space, he runs their midfield and starts most attacks That said, they don't have many shots but they are clinical. And defensively they are very, very good. So cutting staight to the chase - attack, attack, attack ....................Button.............. ..Odoi......Kalas...Madl....Sessegnon... .......................Parker.... .............Johansen.... ....Kebano......Aluko......Ayite... ................Martin.... Bring on Fredericks for an extra threat if we're not well ahead in the second half. Bring on McDonald to shore up if we are. As an aside, the Villa game illustrates why Parker and McDonald shouldn't start together: both defensive minded and don't bridge the gap between defensive mid and forwards quickly enough.
According to media Kalas is still out with hamstring problem ....................Button.............. ..Odoi......Kalas...Madl....Sessegnon... ...Aluko...McDonald..Johansen.....Ayite... ............Woodrow....Martin.... Huddersfield will be a test as they play their football on the ground, be interesting to see if they play slow build up. It will be who ever gets the end product right and hits the back of the net from chances created.
Today we have David Coote looking after things. Mr Coote is well known to us. We saw him in three away games in our first season down here; two defeats and a draw. Last season he was in charge of the 2-2 draw at home to Brentford, booking four players (Fredericks and Stearman for us) and this year in the 2-1 EFL Cup win at home to 'Boro. Again four players went in his book, three of ours (Stearman, Adeniran and Kavanagh). All told this season, in his 12 games he's brandished 38 yellows and 1 red. Like his compatriot Mr Linington, not bad considering 7 yellows and the 1 red were in the Barnsley v Reading game. He only managed 30 games the year before, handing out 111 yellows and 5 reds. A cricketer in his youth, and by all accounts not a bad one - turning out for Notts County youth teams - he strangely gave that up at the tender age of 16 to ply his trade as a ref. By 2010 he'd reached the heady heights of the Championship and like so many went full time this summer, joining the Select Group 2 lot. Not wishing to tempt fate but have a recollection of attaching "buffoon" to his CV in the past. And since it's almost Halloween, his uncanny resemblence to Khan Jnr is quite spooky.
Our worst possession ratio all season (53%) yet we score 5 and keep a clean sheet to boot. Must be a message in there somewhere! The first message is undoubtedly the way we were set up: 4-1-4-1. Both Cairney and Johansen were given freedom to mix it where they do thngs best, playing high midfield, with McDonald more comfortable sweeping/linking on his own behind them. In the first half we were sharp and direct - making Huddersfield look decidely average. Not even Mr Coote's consistently stopping the game put us off our stride which kind of leads to the second message; an early goal and the confidence soars. The third goal demonstrated that and has to be the best scored at the Cottage in many a long time. After a silly five minutes at the start of the second half, the next thirty turned into the "Cairney and Aluko Show". Wonderful mesmerising stuff - how we managed only another two goals .. frankly it was too enjoyable to be bothered. Ayite when he came on for the final fifteen in place of Aluko was almost, but not quite, a mirror image. All in all a great team display, with the midfield interchanging positions as if it was second nature. And that "team" comment in no small part leads to the third message - Thomas Kalas. He was magnificent throughout before going off with a touch of cramp in the final minutes. Can't give him MOTM though. I'd like to give it to Johansen, tempted with Cairney - who really came into his own in the second half in particular - but it has to go to Sone Aluko. Wish he had got the goal he so badly deserved. PS Malone was rubbish. Come on it wouldn't be Fulhamish if there wasn't a complaint of some sort and his defending was truly horrible.
Good crowd today as well. Just under 20,000 and both ends of the Riverside filled for the first time since the Newcastle game. Fair play too to the Huddersfield fans who stayed right to the death, giving their team a drumming salute when they left the field. Just for them, a clip of that stunning third goal
That went well, didn't it? My eldest lad and I were there for once, celebrating his 13th birthday and bringing one of his AFC Bournemouth-supporting friends along. Suffice to say his mate was impressed (and we've told him he can come again, as long as he prompts another five goal landslide!). My lad, a true Fulham fan, responded to the 4th goal by saying that he still didn't feel sure of the win. The players that his Bournemouth mate wanted to steal away from us were McDonald and Kalas (he thought Aluko was MOM, but Bournemouth aren't short of good wingers so don't really need another). I agree with all the comments above (nearly all - I thought Malone was all right). Aluko definitely man of the match, with his skill creating the third goal probably the best moment of the whole game. I liked Cairney in a deeper central role - it seemed to me that the 4-1-4-1 was at times more of a 4-2-3-1 with Cairney and Johansen sharing the responsibility of dropping beside McDonald, but both with license to push on as well. Cairney's ability to keep possession when crowded and under pressure in midfield reminded me of Moussa Dembele (the first) at times, although Moussa relied more on his physique where twinkle toes Cairney was all about the footwork. Fredericks was very good at right back and much as I like Odoi, I'd be quite happy for Fredericks to get a run in the team now. His pace made several overhit passes into space into great attacking balls, and I thought that, like Aluko, when he got the ball in advanced wide positions, he picked out his passes well rather than just lumping it across. As Cottager says above, Kalas was excellent, definitely the pick of the defenders. I thought the much-maligned Button was good too, doing everything that was asked of him today. For me it was a first sighting of Sigurdssen, Martin, Johansen and Piazon. Johansen looked a good creative partner to Cairney, Martin linked up well with the midfield and looked sharp in front of goal, Sigurdssen seemed dependable at the back and Piazon looked good, even if he was rather outshone by his fellow midfielders. All in all, it was a great team performance with no weak links and several outstanding individual displays. This was probably the best I've seen us play since the days of Martin Jol (before the start of our steady, dismal decline). Of course, what we need now is to build on this excellent performance with a string of good results. I'm not expecting fireworks like this every match, but when we play like this we can beat anyone. If we find some consistency there's no reason we can't be right in amongst the promotion contenders by Christmas. Onwards and upwards, starting with Brentford on Friday night.
Didn't get to the game but what a great result and sounds like a top performance, to be honest There have been a few signs of us beating a top team lately, I'm not saying we have been amazing but we definately haven't got the points we probably deserved. We need to try a out two to three results together now that's how you get up the championship table, a win at Brentford would do the trick. Being 3 points off the play offs still means that QPR day light robbery irks me how did we not win that game.
C58 and Captain get it about right..... 5 goals and a clean sheet. Seems to be a matter of confidence, with a good back line bolstered by Sigurdssen and with Ryan Fredericks back - I agree about Odoi.. Midfield was key, with everyone working hard and being effective - The bonus being able to see Tom Cairney's close skill touches taking opposition players out play. Upfront, Chris Martin looks a different player now that he's started scoring. Sone Aluko MOM, but there were a few candidates. While people gripe at not getting a penalty, far more important was a key decision was Mr Cooke stopping advantage and bringing back for a DFK for our goal in the first half - It's goals that breed confidence. Despite Fulham having only 53% possession, Hudderfield let us play and could not cope with our wing play. And a word for the Huddersfield fans: despite being thrashed on an off-day being they kept up their support. Credit to them! Looking forward to Friday against Brentford - both teams will will be up-for-it. COYW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As everyone has said I don't think you could fault anyone's performance yesterday. Less of the possession in our own half and Aluko on fire down the wings getting in behind their defence with some good crosses. As I said above before the game I thought Huddersfield were a team we could have a good game against if we took our chances, so I'm not getting carried away, not many teams will be as open in defence as they were. Both teams are very similar and yesterday Huddersfield didn't take their chances when they should ( a bit like we've been doing ) and our confidence grew. We also had a Ref who allowed strong tackles but brought play back if no advantage was gained.
A link to the Sone Aluko Show, including a better view of that third goal http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2016/november/01/man-of-the-match-result
