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Team v Wigan

Discussion in 'Fulham' started by Cottager58, Feb 10, 2017.

  1. Cottager58

    Cottager58 Well-Known Member

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    Bad news from the Gaffer's press conference today - Tomas Kalas is out with a hip injury. Also, as we knew Ryan Federicks is ruled out thanks to his straight red last weekend but everyone else seems fine - good to see Dennis Adeniran working with the first team all week. With an unusual 'free' week the lads have had time to train, rest and get organised for what is a must win game.

    For Wigan we've already talked about Omar Bogle. For me the interesting thing will be whether Martin can better Dan Burn in the air; as Jordan Rhodes did last weekend.

    For us, the key question has to be who comes in for Kalas. Between Madl and Sigurdsson, Madl is the more accomplished footballer and Siggy hasn't been the flavour of the month for a while. But .. a Madl/Ream combination is not physically the strongest. Nonetheless that's probably the one he'll go for.

    Jokanovic talked about "needing to work out" how he can "use" Cyriac and Petsos. Bench at best for them then.

    Odoi will pretty obviously come in for Fredericks and I'd expect Malone to start instead of young Sessegnon, who struggled a bit against B'ham. Otherwise, the only other potential change is the Piazon v Ayite debate. Neither is brilliant in front of goal (ergo Ayite's horrible miss in the last minute against Brum) but both work hard and take up decent positions. My only divider is that Piazon can drift out of games and yet again will plump for Ayite.

    So the starting line-up:

    .......................Button.....
    .....Odoi....Madl....Ream..Malone..
    ...................McDonald....
    ..Aluko..Johansen..Cairney..Ayite......
    .....................Martin...
     
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  2. kunye

    kunye Well-Known Member

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    Predictions please ;; me a score draw BOGLE on score sheet
     
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  3. Cottager58

    Cottager58 Well-Known Member

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    Another one of Jokanovic's quotable quotes (the ones the Club don't print):

    On Sigurdsson's lack of minutes: "I can only play 11 players at any one time. If I could play 14, my tactics would be amazing."
     
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  4. Cottager58

    Cottager58 Well-Known Member

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    The man we've got today is David Coote. The ex-Nottingham youth cricketer has jotted around League 1, Championship and League Cup games this season but we've seen him twice. Last time out was the 5-0 thrashing of Huddersfield at the Cottage.

    upload_2017-2-11_11-55-56.jpeg


    He booked Ryan Fredericks that day for arguing. That was when Ryan got clattered by Palmer of Huddersfield, who ought to have been red carded. Before that match he took our 2-1 League Cup win over Middlesborough, when he booked 4; three of them being ours - Stearman, Adeniran and Kavanagh.

    The ambitious Coote who got his second tier full time job in the summer is determined to get Cat 1 and do the Premiership. His aims saw him dish out 111 yellows and 5 reds in a fairly paltry 30 games last season. This year Coote has seen more action, having gone 27 games aleady and well on track of his targets with with 101 yellows and 4 reds.
     
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  5. 2whitestripes

    2whitestripes Well-Known Member

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    A forlorn hope but is the photo of David Coote celebrating our fifth goal against Huddersfield?

    Today will be a tough one but a must win, COYW.
     
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  6. Fabulous Fabio

    Fabulous Fabio Well-Known Member

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    2-2 with 20 mins left.

    Come on boys lets get this win!!
     
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  7. Fabulous Fabio

    Fabulous Fabio Well-Known Member

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    GOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!

    Kebano wins it with what must've been the last kick of the ball. Gotta love a last minute winner.
     
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  8. Cottager58

    Cottager58 Well-Known Member

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    Ah, but was it 'Copa' Kebano or Dan Burn who scored? At the game I thought it was Danny Boy so will be interested to see the replays. There again, who cares - a mighty 3 points are what matter .
     
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  9. Fabulous Fabio

    Fabulous Fabio Well-Known Member

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    Didn't see it myself but Fulham twitter guys were crediting Kebano. Like you say, I didn't care who scored it at the time, just enjoyed the moment.

    Could prove to be an important 3 points as we were in danger of losing touch with the play offs but this win just about keeps us in there fighting. Another important game midweek and the return of a certain Mr McCormack.
     
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  10. Cottager58

    Cottager58 Well-Known Member

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    Indeed Fab. We started well but that only lasted 10 minutes and then we were all over the place. And not just at the back - everywhere! People running about and no shape to our play; resulting in the inevitable crab stuff. Only a touch of genius from Aluko to brighten up the first half. Why oh why didn't he stick out right the whole time though?

    The second half changed when the Gaffer had the insight to get rid of Martin. I'll leave it at that so far as our troublesome striker is concerned.

    And perhaps more so when he brought on Parker who at least showed some urgency. To be honest can't fault the lads for their effort, just that it was guiless at times with a few who as the Gaffer would say, "lost concentration when it mattered". And yes, I'll name the main culprits - Button and Malone - while letting a couple of others off the hook.

    Not all doom and gloom of course. Far from it and quite exhilarating in those final minutes.


    PS Bogle was a handfull all afternoon. Thankfully though he didn't kill us off, as he should have done with possibly the easiest chance all game, in the second half.
     
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  11. Fabulous Fabio

    Fabulous Fabio Well-Known Member

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    How did Cyriac do when he came on? Did he do enough to justify a start in midweek?
     
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  12. Surlyc

    Surlyc Well-Known Member

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    Hugely frustrating afternoon, thankfully with a good late twist.

    I thought yesterday was a poor performance from Johansen and he's become such an important part of the team that it caused everything else to stall. Aluko was a livewire (the first goal was all on him) and Ayite looked pretty good. Cairney was at his most frustrating: I watched him pinging in the goals in the warm up, but come gametime he refuses to shoot unless it is the perfect situation. Lots of sideways passes and the traditional meltdown defensively without Kalas.

    On the flip side of that, I thought Jokanovic made the right changes at the right time. Cyriac is much quicker than Martin and Kebano seemed far more prepared to run at players than Ayite (and I'm not sure Cairney has ever run at a player). Scott was a much needed calm head at the end and was a key reason we turned one point into three.

    On Bogle - when he gets fitter, he'll be a very good player. He was completely gassed for the last half hour and that was a key reason why we were able to build the pressure. But he is big and strong (although he goes down so, so easily) and happy to have a go. For £1m, he should be on our bench not at Wigan...
     
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  13. Super Brian McBride

    Super Brian McBride Well-Known Member

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    :biggrin:No one's mentioned it so far, we played the wrong way round, Hammersmith First half Putney Second half, didn't see them turn the sprinklers on !!!

    For me this match again showed the one touch too many in our possession and not enough end product from players such as Cairney.
    Without Kalas the defence seemed disjointed and Reams concentration failed again on a few occasions. Bogle gave the Centre Backs a hard time occupying both of them while his partners exploited the space, but for a big fella he goes down very easily. The Ref was poor.
    Our corners were really poor, normally Johansen puts in good corners, but he kept on whipping them in low, surely someone knows how to negate Burn, it's balls to the far post not near post.
     
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  14. Fulham COYW

    Fulham COYW Well-Known Member

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    We didn't really play to our potential yesterday but great that we did not give up. It's about time we got a last minute winner and it really cheered us all up. I thought Parker coming on at the end helped settle the team for us to give them a last good going at.

    After 10 minutes I thought we would cruise it but their goal changed everything. Their fighting to stay up and must be gutted after that. Good to see the crowd lay off Martin. We need him still so sensible to keep thoughts quiet on matchday.
     
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  15. Cottager58

    Cottager58 Well-Known Member

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    He got off lightly. His body language was awful; as it was in the previous two away games.

    Find it strange that for all our tick-tacky football, he's rarely involved. That said, Malone's futile attempts at crossing and Johansen's poor corner kicks meant that he got little service in the middle where maybe, just maybe he could have had an effect.
     
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  16. Cookie-6262

    Cookie-6262 Well-Known Member

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    Great to get the three points, two home wins from Wigan and Forest were a must to keep any playoff hopes alive! Sounds like Bogle did well I would have signed him and sent Martin back to Derby!!
    Did anyone go? How did Cyriac and Kebano play? I was very impressed with Kebano on his debut at Blackburn and he hasn't had a look in since.
    I noticed Forest had the captain sent off and keeper stretchered off.
     
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  17. Super Brian McBride

    Super Brian McBride Well-Known Member

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    Cyriac and Kebano coming on seemed very scatter gun to me when they both came on. Lots of running but midfield were still too content to knock the ball sideways instead of putting balls through them, but that could have been due to Wigan defending very deep in their own area, but the 3rd goal Kebano got in behind them.
     
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  18. Cottager58

    Cottager58 Well-Known Member

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    Agree SuperBri - for the first 20 minutes they were on. However, when Parker came on, the last 10 minutes were different. He went holding mid, allowing Johansen to be much more attacking mid and we had better shape - the old 4-1-2-3. Thought all three of our 'Africa front' then understood their roles better and started getting into spaces; as per Kebano's goal.

    [Seen the replay now and I'll give Dan Burn the benefit of a deflection. Well, mainly so that Kebano can be credited with his first for the Club.]

    Specifically on Cyric, he was full of running which pleased the crowd. But then most were judging him against the lumbering Martin.
     
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  19. Cookie-6262

    Cookie-6262 Well-Known Member

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    Watching the highlights watching Cyriacs reaction to Kebanos goal before then running of to celebrate with him showed a lot more enthusiasm than Martin.
     
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  20. Captain Morgan

    Captain Morgan Well-Known Member

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    This was one of my rare visits to the Cottage and I largely agree with the comments above. It was one of those games that seem more enjoyable in retrospect due to the late winner. I came away from the game without having formed much of an opinion on Cyriac. As others have said, he looks like he's pacey and we might have to wait to see him against a team that isn't defending as deeply as Wigan were when defending a lead (might we see him on Sunday against Spurs? Could be worth a try). Aluko, Ayite and Kabano all had their moments but I think the only player who really strengthened their claim for a first team starting spot was the absent Kalas.
     
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