No doubts the Gaffer will follow last year's trend and play mostly youngsters in tomorrow night's game. Not that the average age of the first team squad is particularly old - the grandaddy at 29 being Tim Ream. Anyway, straight into the predicted line-up: .......................Rodak............... ...Odoi.....Madl......Djalo......Edun... ....................Adeniran..... ......de la Torre..........O'Riley.... ...Kebano......Woodrow....Piazon... Only uncertainty is whether Denis Adeniran is fit. If not, Cisse will probably get a run out.
I guess a game like this is a choice between getting the first team match fit and giving the bench players a chance to shine. My big disappointment is that George Williams isn't being given a chance, why he came back from MK Dons early is a question, he's not been given a squad number.
I'd like to see Kamara get a start in this one, if at least only to get him some game time but if he bagged a goal or two then its a nice early confidence boost for him.
Wycombe are a pretty physical team - the highlight of the evening should be their man mountain 102kg Adebayo Akinfenwa v our own heavyweight Marcelo Djalo. Think the Gaffer will be totally focused on the Reading game at the weekend and unlikely to risk any of his key players in the starting line-up tomorrow. Including Kamara.
Luca de la Torre is apparently injured, so we could see - Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson coming in on the left side with Lucas Piazon dropping back behind him OR Sean Kavanagh coming in at LB with Tayo Edun moving forward
The man in charge tonight is Gavin Ward. please log in to view this image Gavin spends his time in the lower Leagues - at the weekend he dished out 6 yellows in Luton's League 2 thrashing 8-2 of Yeovil. That gets him off to a great start towards last season's tally of 150 yellows and 6 reds in 41 games. Strangely (or maybe not!) Gavin ref'd the last match we had against Wycombe in the League Cup. We won that game, on 11th August 2015, 1-0 with an Alex Kacaniklic goal and our Gav booked not only Kaca but Jamie O'Hara. The only other time we've seen Gav was the FA Cup defeat 2-1 away to Sheffield Wednesday in January 2016. Moussa Dembele got our goal and it was the turn of Jazz Richards and Cauley Woodrow to see yellow.
Blast, another one that Sean Kavanagh misses. Great to see Steven Sess get his chance and well done everyone who backed a Kamara start. Looks a decent line-up if a tad unsure of the format - 4-4-2? PS There were hints that Dennis Adeniran is again injured and guessing this line-up confirms that. A real pity, since it could mean a lengthy lay off.
And great to see young Matt O'Riley get a first start. I can think of one 606er who will be very excited by that selection.
Some pub quiz questions created tonight: 1. Which other Football League teams have fielded twin brothers in the same match? 2. When did Fulham last score from a corner ? 3. .... Otherwise, impressive debut performances appear to getting the headlines.
Twins: I can remember Ron and Paul Futcher at Luton in the 70s/80s. They are the only Football League example I know of. Manchester United had the Da Silva twins, Fabio and Raphael, more recently, but that was in the Premier League. The only other example I know of was the de Boers for Ajax, Barcelona and Holland, though I'm sure there are more.
Can anyone provide a report on how the youngsters/new signings got on? I'd particularly like to hear how young Matt (he's one of our own and all that) and Kamara got on.
The gaffer picked out young Matt in his post match review: Fulham’s Head Coach made eleven changes to the side that faced Norwich in the season opener, including a debut for Matt O’Riley. “The boy is only 16-years-old and showed his quality,” said Jokanović. “It wasn’t easy for him in the beginning, but at the end he showed quality, style and good technique. I believe in the end, he enjoyed his night as a player of the Fulham first team." “He must continue working really hard for more important battles. It’s just one step for him.” These Sky highlights show some glimpses of Matt's cultured left foot Captain. And Piazon's cracker. http://www.skysports.com/football/wycombe-vs-fulham/373892 Get the impression from reports read that Kamara is a "project". Doubt if he'll find himself playing alongside/behind Woodrow much in the future mind you.
I just got back - ages to get out of the carpark. Quite enjoyed the game, especially as so many youngsters were playing - Rodack didn't do much wrong and pulled off a great save towards the end. For me the highlights was seeing some great play from Edun and O'Riley - good new too is that O'Riley can take a corner ! Odoi was our best player I thought though. Kamara looked lively but didn't threaten much, I still reserve judgement and Djalo was actually not too bad. I was shocked when he came out, he's so big - but he can run about, pass and keep a ball. S Sessegnon had a good few runs, showed he was skillful and of course it was great when his brother joined him towards the end. Piazon's goal was great - it was just what was needed. We were trying I thought for the perfect goal and he just belted it in. Odoi's goal was from a corner, a little head dink and in the back of the net. Woodrow did make some excellent passes, infact I think it was his pass to set up Piazon. He missed a really good opportunity, side footing it past the post. I thought he should have done better. Tonight was a perfect opportunity for him and it didn't quite happen for him. During the pre-match warm up one of his practice shots flew over the bar and hit a young 6 year old in the face. Woodrow at the end of the practice came up into the crowd to check he was ok and said to him and his dad to come down after the game to behind the goal and he would gie him his shirt - Good lad. Formation - looked like a 4231. Quite enjoyed myself and tuned into Berkshire radio on the way back to hear the Reading talk of Fulham coming to them on Saturday. They seem quite nervous ! I really hope we can get our revenge.
