Jack and Loz Not at Old Trafford - Blog 283

Date: 16th August 2024

Opposition: Manchester United

Venue: Same Old Trafford

Score: 1-0

MOTM: in a contest between Captain Bernd Leno and a rejuvenated Kenny Tete, Bernd just edges it with a series of super saves - one of which came from a point blank range shot which he created himself just to make sure he won the award

Dinner: Jack - prawn stir fry; Loz - aubergine parmigiana

145 years old. Like a giant tortoise or a cask of contraband, the best football club in the world celebrated its 145th anniversary on the opening day of the season.

Unfortunately, because Fulham’s birthday party was organised by the Premier League who only like big clubs the venue was Old Trafford, a place where Fulham fans don’t often get to celebrate. However, following the tantalising signing of Emile Smith Rowe and a pre-season which left Marco Silva so upbeat he substituted his usual black jumper for a bright, cheerful….er, grey one, we approached the league’s opening night with more excitement than trepidation. Football was back. Fulham were back. Normality was restored.

But just how normal was that normality going to be? Was Fulham’s last victorious trip to Old Trafford a blip or is 2024-25 going to be another season of successes against the big teams?

Fulham started the game well. The departure of Joao Palhinha (amongst many others) and the recruitment of Emile (amongst….some others) meant changes in personnel but no change to the familiar rigid but flexible structure of the team or the Never Stop Attacking game plan.

Adama looked fast and lively. Muniz looked….lively. Iwobi looked lively at times. Andreas, playing further back than last season, looked confused (although that might be something to do with his new hairstyle). Emile looked good on the ball but sometimes had to drop very deep to get it. Give or take a few terrifying moments when Bassey received the ball and didn’t have a clue what to do with it, the defence looked solid and Antonee was quick (obviously) to remind everyone why he is Fulham’s reigning Player of the Season.

We looked purposeful but no one could grab control of the game. Everyone (except the Fulham fans whose singing was as loud and polished as ever) looked rusty. More passes were misplaced than not, players looked surprised to find their teammates weren’t where they thought they would be and whilst the attacking intent was good the final ball was abysmal. Playing out from the back looked suicidal but long goal kicks weren’t fruitful either.

There were some promising Moments in the box thanks to Adama and Muniz but the best chance of the first half was created and taken by Kenny Tete, bursting forward and shooting accurately from range.

Unfortunately, this attempt woke up the United team who had previously been pressing well but doing little else and Fulham spent the rest of the first half defending, more or less effectively.

If the first half was organised chaos, the second was 45 minutes of living very dangerously and repeating mistakes. Adama couldn’t even pass the ball much less cross it and this was far from ideal when the main method of attack seemed to be Give it to Adama and Let Him Run With it. Muniz attempted a bicycle kick but failed, Antonee attempted a cross with his right foot but failed, but the biggest failure was Andreas messing up a sprint to the goal with no one but the keeper to beat when he got there. Ah well, we’ll put that one down to opening night nerves.

Meanwhile, Leno was making more frequent and ever better saves, Diop was growing into the game and - whisper it quietly - Lukić was doing that thing all good CDMs do where you don’t notice them but it’s precisely because you don’t notice them that you know they’re playing well.

Fulham had plenty of corners and a few good moves. The game was very open and could have gone either way until the subs came on. Eric The Bald brought on players who have played in the Champions League for clubs like Bayern Munich. Marco Silva brought on players who have played in the Championship for clubs like Birmingham City.

Emile, understandably, ran out steam quickly. We were pleased to see Tom but our pleasure evaporated when he started to play and did little except contribute to United’s goal. Raúl and Harry did less and Harrison and Jay had no time to do anything even if they’d wanted to.

The goal was annoying but not unexpected. Fulham had fought hard - and fought well at times - but couldn’t hold on any longer. For our as-yet-incomplete team to come out of a tricky fixture at an unhappy hunting ground with only a one goal deficit and easier games to come isn’t a disaster. But in order to capitalise on those easier games, improvements - and more recruits - are needed at Adama’s pace not Tom Cairney’s.

Random Musings:-

- on the subject of Tom, when he came on he didn’t take the armband from Bernd

- on the subject of recruits, Marco seems confident that they’re on their way

- On the subject of improvements….ok, let’s not go there

- that was Kenny’s 100th game for Fulham and he certainly played it in style

- There were lots of yellow cards but the ref was ok

- The design of the new Premier League ball is boring

- Did Andreas and Raúl get a 2 for 1 deal on the haircuts? Even if they did, they were robbed.

More than anything, this match showed the difference between pre-season where Fulham were flying and the Premier League where it looked like everyone had forgotten how to play football. But, as we know, this is a league which shows no mercy and a slow-starting club can get left behind very quickly.

So the normality which has been restored is Fulham losing at Old Trafford but dropping enough hints of better performances to come to suggest that this could be a very intriguing season.