Jack and Loz Not at Selhurst Park - Blog 233

Date: 26th December 2022

Opposition: Crystal Palace

Score: 0-3

Goal scorers: Bobby de Cordova Reid, Tim Ream, 🔥

MOTM: we don’t want to be like those pundits who give the award to the biggest name on the pitch because he’s the only one they’ve heard of, but what can you do? Yes, Pereira was joyous, tireless and exquisitely skilful; yes, Diop both played and read the game exceptionally well, but when your striker returns from the World Cup only 80% fit but desperate to play for his Club and not only races around creating chances and rescuing the defence, but makes 2 assists and scores a goal, he has to be MOTM. So it’s Mitro. Again.

Selection boxes: Jack - Milk Tray; Loz - Quality Street

It’s been a sad week for Fulham Football Club with the passing of George Cohen, one of our own, and England’s greatest footballers. We never saw George play but he seems to us to represent everything which makes Fulham special - loyal, hard-working, understated and classy. With the Premier League finally back after the interminable World Cup break, the current cohort of players had the chance to pay tribute to George in a way he would have appreciated - with a battling, attacking performance in a London derby.

And they did him proud.

Christmas is a time for surprises and we had a very pleasant one when the starting lineup was announced and included Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic, as he is known in international commentary.

We had an even better surprise after kick-off to find there was no sign of any World Cup or Christmas hangovers. Fulham didn’t just carry on where we left off before the break, we looked stronger, better organised and - and we don’t use this word lightly - more dangerous. In case we forget to say it later, thanks to the players and coaches for all the hard work at home (and in Portugal) while the eyes of the world were on Qatar.

Fulham started the match as we meant to go with a hard, high press, lots of attacking intent, lots of shots and lots of missed opportunities. In fact, despite keeping most of the possession with an intricate tapestry of smooth, silky passes, the team tended to get tangled in the box and the closest we came to scoring in the first 20 minutes (and, admittedly it was very close) was a swooping free kick from Andreas.

Shortly afterwards, Palace hit the bar after some alarming defending and we were worried that this was going to be One of Those Matches where Fulham have all the possession, all the chances and all the shots and end up losing 1-0 to an unbelievable worldie/freak own goal/flukey 95th minute deflected bicycle kick [delete as applicable].

But that was Palace’s best, and pretty much last, attacking move of the afternoon. Fulham were about to take the game in a vice-like grip and slowly but surely tighten the screw.

The first goal was brilliant. Mitro was as unselfish as ever all match and his link-up play superb. He received the ball on the edge of the box, flicked it on and Bobby did the rest - leaping high and directing the ball down into the goal. We’re so used to thinking of him as our industrious utility player that it’s easy to forget that he’s a striker at heart.

Things rapidly went from bad to worse for Palace when one of their players tried to snap Kenny Tete in half and was rightly shown a straight red card.

So much possession followed that Fulham fans were singing Olés like the chorus of a lesser known carol but as the first half drew to a close and there were more mishaps and miscommunication in front of goal we began to wonder if this would be One of Those Other Matches where Fulham draw 1-1 thanks to a dubious last minute penalty/moment of madness by a defender/Should’ve Gone to Specsavers moment from the ref [delete as applicable].

But the best was yet to come.

Despite this confident pronouncement, Fulham started the second half with plenty of fluid passing, lots more possession and lots more wasted chances, most of them from Andreas Pereria whose highlights were many (geddit?) but didn’t include his shooting. Even after another Palace player was sent off, the Fulham team looked like they might still be in gifting mode, getting in each other’s way, hitting the post, making life easy for the goalie and allowing the afternoon to degenerate into Fulhamish frustration.

But, in the words of the noted football pundit Frank Sinatra, “When I was 35, it was a very good year….”

….and what a year Tim Ream is having! In fact, what a month! Excelling at the World Cup then his first Premier League goal, all in the midst of a display of consumate leadership and composed defending.

By the time Mitro capped his sensational performance with the third goal, Marco had decided to let all the subs join in the fun and the game ended in a flurry of attacking chaos which Palace just about survived.

The match was fast, furious and what Boxing Day football is all about. People will point to the sendings off and say we had a easy ride but we were dominant even before Palace started to self-destruct. However, it would be fair to say that we should have punished 9 men more thoroughly than we did; Fulham have become ambitious but not ruthless.

Random musings:-

- The Cohen 2 walk out jackets and the minutes applause, during which fans sang, “George Cohen, he’s one of our own,” were very touching

- The Palace fans classily paid their own respects to Maxi Jazz in the 65th minute

- Is this the best Boxing Day game since we beat Ipswich 10-1???

- Our London derby record is improving and our goal difference is going in the right direction….

- …..and Mitro’s scored 10 goals in 13 matches.

- Ah, Joachim Andersen. What might have been…..

- Please can we have Roy Hodgson in Conversation with Marco Silva every week?

- Did anyone else think Roy’s question was going to be, “You’re going to go one better than I did, aren’t you?”

To go back to where we began, this Fulham side looks dangerous. They can turn up at a Premier League ground and know that if they play their graceful and gritty best they can walk away with a result. It’s a long time since we’ve felt that. Not since Roy was in charge, in fact…..

What a season this is turning out to be. We’re not even half way through yet but Christmas is still a useful staging post. To be on 22 points and see a realistic route to safety is remarkable; but even more amazing is the fact that we can allow ourselves to imagine that it’s not only safety that might be within our sights.

To misquote another classy crooner, “We’re Reaming of a Whites Christmas,” and this year, in South West London, it happened.