Jack and Loz Not at the Den - Blog 184

Date: 17th August 2021

Opposition: Millwall

Score: 1-2

Fulham Goal Scorers: 🔥,Carvalho

MOTM (football): in a match in which many Fulham players demonstrated their mastery of the skills of football one still managed to stand out. Whether assisting, scoring, running forward to pick the perfect pass or racing back to calmly defend, Fabio Carvalho didn’t put a foot wrong. Comparisons with Ryan Sessengnon (now 21) are easy and indeed unavoidable when Fabio cupped his ears to the crowd in a tribute to our former favourite, but Fab is his own man and he will Carve(alho) his own path through life and football

MOTM (non-football): Tim Ream has taken charge of Fulham Twitter and we’re all for it

Dinner: Loz – prawn curry and Cabernet Sauvignon; Jack – veggie pasta and accidentally appropriate Porta 6

Even before Tuesday night, Fulham fans had the feeling that this season could be a bit special. We were already top of the league. We had just smashed 5 goals past Huddersfield, 2 of them when we had only 10 men on the pitch. Marco, Boa and Co have not only revitalised Tim Ream and Ivan Cavaleiro (which we perhaps expected in the Championship anyway) but they have reignited Mitro and possibly reincarnated Frank and Seri as permanent Fulham players.

However, no one expected tough and tenacious Millwall to be as generous as Huddersfield. No one should therefore have been disappointed with the result, but such was Fulham’s dominance for 80 minutes of the match that the narrow victory feels like a travesty.

In the first half, Millwall didn’t know what had hit them. Our two quick fire goals left them punch drunk and scrabbling to gain any sort of hold on the match.

Nothing says “Mitro is back” like a shot snatched out of chaos in the box which hits the back of the net via the flailing limbs of confounded defenders. That goal was made by the speed and grace of Fabio. His own goal was better and neater and owes much to the vision and touch of Neeskens Kebano who was already having a superb game.

“There’s so many of them,” cried the appalling commentator. No, there were only 11 but they were so fast and so good that it always looked like we had a spare man. We already knew how good Josh Onomah is at this level but during the first half he and Kebano were in complete control – Millwall couldn’t deal with their pace or intent, even by desperate shirt tugging and ruthless tackles.

Robinson has been one of the weaker links so far this season but on Tuesday he proved invaluable – racing all over the pitch, flinging in crosses and making sure Millwall could never clear the ball further than the halfway line. On the other wing Kenny Tete (or “Tater” as he is ridiculously known at Sky) was so slick he was untouchable.

Which brings us to Jean Michel Seri, first among equals in a whole team of players who looked like a computer error had produced a Championship opponent for them. For Seri, the game was effortless. He bossed the midfield without even seeming to be in it. Although it is worth noting that he could only do this due to the strength of Onomah, the pace of Kebano and the willingness of Carvalho around him.

But, of course, there is always a But with Fulham. Football is a game about scoring goals not dominating games. We should have been out of sight by half time and over the horizon by 90 minutes. But the third goal just wouldn’t come. To their credit, the Millwall defence rallied and dug in. To their debit neither Mitro nor Carvalho could repeat their clinical finishing and the less said about Cav’s waywardness the better.

In the second half the disparity between the sides was made even more obvious with the introduction of Frank who is surely the Championship’s most expensive player. But whilst the supremacy continued so did the fruitless search for a goal with Fulham wasting all our chances (or “shances” as Marco rather charmingly calls them). The attacking intent was still there and the fast, accurate passes and the fluid movement which could open up acres of space, but our shooters had lost their sharpness and Millwall were looking more dangerous.

Millwall’s goal was fluky but not unexpected to the Fulham faithful. The commentator however was astonished by both the goal and the way we unravelled. After 80 minutes of looking a class apart we ended up clinging on to a one goal lead with Mitro and Joe Bryan fighting (literally in Mitro’s case) to keep the ball in the corner.

“Welcome to the championship” the commentator roared at Marco. But no, its welcome to Fulham, Marco, where anything can go wrong, and something certainly will.

Random musings:-

- We’re not often swayed by sponsorship but we might just have to check out Huski chocolate

- Marco’s choice of the black crewneck jumper was interesting. Will we see this more casual look at all evening games?

- Its always a pleasure to see Matt Smith, but even more so when he puts a good shance over the bar

- As for Scott Malone, what has he done to his hair? It matched his yellow card!

- Alfie Mawson was Marco’s first Fulham defensive sub. We were understandably worried but he didn’t get injured or assist a Millwall goal which was refreshing

- In our excellent team, Ream and Cav looked a little off the pace, but was that simply because everyone else was so good?

It’s too early in the season to start a detailed analysis of the contrasts with the last one but one obvious difference has emerged already: while Scott Parker was overly cautious, Marco Silva is a risk taker. That may turn out to be a mixed blessing but the positive effect he’s had on the players in only 5 weeks cannot be denied. They look happy, purposeful and united. Yes, this is a different league but the improvement in their play is astronomical.

But all out attack may come at a price. That match was brilliant to watch for 80 minutes then terrifying for the last 10. We are top of the league but we will only stay there if we start collecting some clean sheets. This is a minor gripe however. It Tuesday night has set the standard for the football we will be watching this season then we’re in for a treat.

Bloggers note: when we started Jack and Loz at the Cottage we blogged only about matches we had actually attended, either at or Away From the Cottage. All that changed during lockdown and although blogging about matches we’ve watched on TV is a lot less fun and lacks a unique perspective it had to be done. Our intention this season is to add televised matches to our usual match reports from the Cottage and any other grounds we go to.