In today's press conference the Gaffer confirmed that Ayite is out and Cairney is doubtful Looking at the pics on the official site of yesterday's training session, Tom was there but to be honest he didn't appear to be participating. Maybe just precautionary not to put strain on that knee but suspect he 'aint going to make it. Our results against Burton haven't been brilliant - one win in four. And their recent away form has been good; based on a 'park the bus' 4-5-1 formation. Patient, passing, possession football won't break them down easily, we need to use pace to get round and behind them. Despite the defensive tactics, Burton do have one real threat however - left sided midfielder Lloyd Dyer, who is quick to break through the middle if they catch us napping. Because of the need for pace, I'm starting with Sessegnon at LB. Not as contrary as it it sounds; he'll get plenty of room to bomb down the left. Apart from that, Odoi isn't all that good at overlapping so playing both is like wasting a position. The other move is not to play Norwood. Simply because he'll slow things down and play right into their hands. So I'm going for: ..........................Bettinelli............. .....................Kalas........Ream....... ...Fredericks.............................Sessegnon.. ..........................McDonald...... ....Ojo.....Johansen....Kebano...Piazon.. .........................Kamara....
I guess C58's line up is the most stable line up we have at the moment, but will he leave out Norwood. The trick in this game is to stop Burton going in front and having something to defend, which they have done against a few teams away. Try to go 2-0 up before half time, might be the answer to demoralising them. I'd like to see us kick towards the Hammersmith End in the first half just to mix things up a bit.
The man in the middle today is Tim Robinson. please log in to view this image The last time we saw him was back in September and the 2-1 win at the Cottage over Hull, when Robinson called an absolute barrow load of fouls; mostly against Hull. So far this season the West Sussex whistler has dished out 93 yellows and a whopping 9 reds in his 29 games. So it's kind of surprising in that Hull game he chose not to show even one card of either colour. Time before that was last season. Another home game and, by coincidence, against Burton. He booked six that day, two of ours; Sigurdsson for dissent and Jozabed for arguing. However, doubt if anyone forgets the frustration at Robinson's inability to stop Burton's time wasting. Seems he treats a trip to the Cottage as a casual day out, when travelling miscreants are to be tolerated.
In the summer, I was really excited about Piazon and Fonte playing together. It's taken a long while, but after today I feel my optimism was justified. Burton were poor, but not really worse than last season. We were just better than them today and put them to the sword.
Well, it all started as ordered by SuperBri and us kicking towards the Hammy End. That pair were superb in the first half and between them could have (deserved maybe) more than our 3 by half time. How young Ryan gets himself in the right place at the right time is uncanny and he also could have added to his second half tally of 2. But surely the last was the pick of the bunch - Plenty of grand performances all round. Over the full 90 odd minutes though, SuperMac was immaculate.
Courtesy of Sky http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/fulham/11215858/fulham-6-0-burton
Do you think Slav studies the tactics we chat about on here. It was nice to get the goal difference in a more healthy state. Good to see us scoring the tap ins from the 6-yard box. I'd go for Piazon as being my MOTM. It was a bit strange not to see Ojo not even on the subs bench when there was no injury reported. But also good to see that some of the youngsters were getting rewarded with a seat on the bench, (something we've talked about should happen instead of loaning them out).
Good comprehensive win and great performance all round. Rui scores 2 and I thought had a very good game. Brought a tear to my eye when we received a standing ovation on his substitution. Scoring the first goal so early made the difference today though we came out from the start confident and playing extremely well. Who ever we were playing today would have got a hiding. Frederics was immense, it was such a joy to watch. Piazon, Sess, Norwood were great. Momentum is building ...
After a few days to reflect on the Burton game, I thought I'd expand on my thoughts from Saturday: - There is something likeable about Piazon that seems to cause the team to gel around him and bring the best out of some players who have been quiet in recent months (Fonte, Fredericks) - Fonte's attacking run to the near post for the 3rd goal was a true strikers goal. Fredericks has been putting that ball in all year without anyone attacking it, so that run really had me purring. - On a related note, Fredericks mixing it up with the crosses (such as pulling it back for Piazon's goal) was great to see. It really feels like Fredericks enjoyed playing with Piazon in a way that he doesn't enjoy playing with Ojo. If he keeps playing like that, he'll be back in the Premier League next year. - Sessegnon will be with us for the rest of the season and quite possibly next season, but I fully expect someone to make a bid to buy and loan back. He is so accomplished (especially in that LW position) that it's so easy to forget he's 17. - Norwood's through ball for the opeing goal was brilliant. That was the kind of play I was expecting from him when we signed him, so hopefully we'll see a bit more of that if TC continues to suffer knee trouble. - Ream is just so calm on the ball. It's like he's taken the best attributes from Kalas and folded them into his game. He and McDonald form the rock that allows our attacking players to run riot and we don't really have cover for either... - AK's speed and power were shown to great effect with his goal and his finish was great. In an ideal world, I think he'd come off the bench to do that on a semi-regular basis. He doesn't bring players into the game like Fonte, but I do like having a physical striker in the squad. - Quick mention for Bettinelli's header, which snuffed out one of the two half-chances Burton had. It's easy to get carried away after a performance like that and every game from here on out will be a challenge. But we've put ourselves in position to make a run, so can't complain too much!
