Jack and Loz Not at the Cottage - Blog 150

Date: 22nd November 2020

Opposition: Everton

Score: 2-3

Fulham Goal Scorers: BBR, RLC

MOTM: the best performers on Sunday were subs Frank and RLC but Antoneeee Robinson was consistently good for 90 minutes - always driving forwards, looking to cross, expecting the return ball and constantly working hard

Lunch: Loz - rigatoni with veggie sausage, Jack - garlic bread and Stilton

Everton have a very good motto: nil satis nisi optimum which roughly translates as Nothing But the Best. Fulham don’t have a motto but if we did it would probably be nam nos vita difficile faciens quira MDCCCLXXIX which roughly translates as Making Life Difficult for Ourselves Since 1879.

The most frustrating thing about Frustrating Fulham at the moment is that we are so near but so far. Two weeks ago we proved we are as good as mid table West Ham but lost to them by one goal. On Sunday we conceded a goal on 42 seconds, missed a p*****y, didn’t bring our best player on until the 69th minute and had top 6 contenders Everton hanging on by a combination of fingernails and time wasting.......but still lost to them by one goal.

It was an exceptionally poor start, even for a team which excels at starting badly. The first minute goal came from a defensive mix up worse than anything the Triangle of Doom could have conjured up and things didn’t improve at the back during the rest of the first half leading us to wonder if Alfie Mawson is now acting as defence coach.

Even the midfield started the game jittery and nervous with the normally reliable Harrison Reid giving the ball away as much as everyone else. Up front things were better and, despite a wasted free kick and a pointless short corner we played our way into the game with some pin point passes, clever ideas and well used pace.

After a weak sighter, Bobby-Bobby Reid showed his speed, skill and neat finishing ability with an excellent goal. Fulham were level and looking confident. It wasn’t enough though. Everton were strong, well organised and determined. They seemed to win every 50/50 ball and even some weighted in our favour. Both their second and third goals were fantastic but easier than they should have been. Our midfield and defence melted away like butter every time Everton attacked and, had it not been for Areola who played well as usual, we would have conceded a lot more than 3.

It didn’t help that we seemed to be playing with 9 men: in the first half Lemina did nothing and Cav less (and it might have been better if he’d done nothing in the second half either......) Aina has been criticised for some poor play but at least he was actually playing.

Football is, of course, a game of two cliches and one of the other frustrations about Frustrating Fulham is our ability to play well in only one half. We would have subbed Lemina and Cav at half time but because Scott didn’t it meant that the second half didn’t really start until the 57th minute and even then whilst bringing on RLC and Mitro was the right thing to do we wouldn’t have taken off Tom and Bobby.

As we all know, last season Fulham started many games without Aleksandar Mitrović and it was a strategy which always paid off, particularly at Wembley. Mitro has been out of sorts lately, misfiring on the pitch, jeglagged from European travels and no doubt heartbroken by yet another p*****y miss so not starting him made sense and meant he could throw himself into the attack in the frantic final third of the match.

We have been waiting for some time to see what RLC can do and, at last, he didn’t disappoint. He won the p*****y, scored a goal and was a big part of the attacking threat. A word here on Lookman: he owed us a big performance. He didn’t quite deliver but his work for the goal was superb and if our two loanees can keep combining like that then that’s another source of goals which can rely on.

Right. We can’t put it off any longer. A few of seasons ago, we used to talk about Fulham’s p*****y curse when we just couldn’t score them no matter who stepped up to take them. But then Olly Norwood came along and cured the curse and all was right with the world for a while. This season, however, the p*****y curse has become the p*****y joke. Mitro. Lookman.Cav. Do they ever practise the things? More importantly, if you are awarded a p*****y, do you actually have to take it? Can you say to the ref, “nah, mate, you’re all right, we’ll just play on”? In all seriousness, this has got to be a better option than taking them and missing every time.

As so often (and this is, as much as anything else, another source of frustration) Fulham finished the game strongly. Lemina played well for his last 10 minutes so well done to him for that. He was replaced by Frank who grabbed the game but the scruff of the neck and made sure the last 20 minutes was all about Fulham’s attack, an endeavour in which he was ably assisted by Antoneeee, Andersen and a much improved Harrison Reed. No one was afraid to shoot, everyone wanted the ball and Everton needed 10 men back to hold us off - and 4 of those were for Mitro alone. We have to praise the players for their never say die spirit - once again they fought to the end. But, once again, it wasn’t enough.

This was an action packed, end to end game in which we finally began to see more answers than questions. Scott has this group of players not just playing for him but eating out of his hand. But he needs to find his best 11 and stick with them. That 11 has to include Frank, Reed, TC, Lookman and probably RLC and BBR as well. He needs to eliminate the mistakes (starting slowly, giving the ball away, naivety at the back) and convert playing well but losing by one goal into winning points. And he needs to do all that very quickly.

Random musings:-

- the winter ball looked good in the winter sunshine

- Craven Cottage looked AMAZING in the winter sunshine!

- the new Riverside stand is going to be the envy of the league.....

- ......but which league?

- on the law of averages, Mitro would have scored the p*n

- Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a good player but it’s disappointing to concede two goals to someone with such a poor man bun.

- 80% of the goals were scored by people with double barrelled names.

Everton are a very good team with a brilliant manager and we had them on the ropes but we lack that final edge which would put us on equal terms. And unfortunately there are even harder games to come. This Fulham Premier League team, unlike the last one, is good enough to stay up but we have many more frustrating afternoons to endure before we find out if they will.

It is going to be a long hard winter for everyone. And especially for Fulham fans.