Jack and Loz at the Cottage - Blog 287

Date: 19th October 2024

Opposition: Aston Villa

Score: 1-3

Fulham goal scorer: Raúl Jimenez

Weather: One Sunny Day

Atmosphere: Hard Feelings

MOTM: recently, we’ve found it difficult to pick an outstanding player from a crowded field. Not so on Saturday. On an afternoon when Heroes Were Hard to Find only one man delivered. From his expertly taken goal, through holding the ball up while holding off 6 Villa players to sprinting after a half chance in the closing Moments, Raúl Jimenez played his best game in a Fulham shirt. With 5 goals already this season and a hungry look in his smouldering Brown Eyes, are we watching Raúl getting back to his best?

Pre-match: Pret

Post-match: We were delighted to take part in the Fulhamish Live show at the Half Moon Putney which was way more fun than the match. Fulhamish were followed on stage by Fleetwood Bac.

It’s been three weeks since the Fulham Family were last at Craven Cottage. Weeks in which Adama Traore nearly got the better of Manchester City several times, Raúl scored a screamer for Mexico, Andreas a scissor kick for Brazil and Harry Wilson made Welsh football fans question Marco Silva’s judgment.

But all these events were overshadowed by another - the injury to Saša Lukić, recently and consistently Fulham’s best player. We were happy to be back Where We Belong on Saturday afternoon but, despite our good start to the season, we were wary of facing high-flying Villa without our new favourite Serbian.

Often, a football match is a game of two halves. The Villa match, however, was a game of the first ten minutes and the other eighty.

Fulham created our first chance to score shortly after the game got Under Way. We looked fast, fit, full of ideas and in total control. That chance wasn’t taken but the one Bernd Leno created for Raúl a few minutes later was snatched from the sky, wrestled past a defender and slammed into the back of the net. While Raúl roistered with the attackers and Bernd group hugged with the defenders, in the stands it felt like it was our day, like our Dreams of Europe could start to take shape….

Then Aston Villa woke up.

That might have been ok had Fulham played at their best - at the level we’ve seen from them over the last couple of matches when we trounced Newcastle and gave Man City the best game they’ll have all season. But that didn’t happen. Instead, Fulham shot themselves in the foot and kept on doing so until they had no feet left.

First there was the deflected goal, then there was the missed penalty, then there was the sending off and finally the own goal. And those were just the big mistakes. It could only be Fulham, making life hard for ourselves since 1879. All match, we gave the ball away Over and Over; if we managed to win it we gave it Straight Back to Villa. Playing out from the back felt suicidal, passing through midfield was a lost cause and whilst both fullbacks were efficient (and Man of Action Kenny Tete was our second best player) all Villa had to do was mark Raúl and we were Never Going to Score Again [that sounds like a Fleetwood Mac hit but actually isn’t].

Whilst, of course, It Takes Time to become acquainted with Marco’s system, certain players looked like they were barely acquainted with football at all. Emile Smith Rowe has got better and better every game until this one when it looked like football was something he normally plays on a computer. We want to like Sander Berge but he looks ungainly on the ball and awkward off it. We do like Iwobi but this wasn’t one of his more effective games, and we love Adama but he seemed to run out of steam and ideas very quickly.

Which brings us to everyone’s favourite scapegoat, Andreas Pereia. If it wasn’t for the penalty, Andreas’ performance would have been a bad day at the office perhaps due to a hangover from international duty. But we can’t ignore the fact that Billy the Badger could have taken a better penalty or that Andreas’ miss, more than anything else in an incident-packed match, was the turning point. 2-1 at half time and we might have had a Landslide.

As it was, we were holding on until the break and instead of starting for the Second Time with the intent and determination with which we started the first, we carried on looking like Villa had Hypnotised us and there was no doubt that, Sooner or Later, Villa were going to score again.

If this was a Blow by Blow account we’d describe that goal and the sending off and the own goal but it’s all too raw so let’s fast forward to the point where, somewhat later than everyone else in the ground, Marco Silva realised the midfield Trinity wasn’t working and subbed them all off.

Saša Lukić spent most of last season as an understudy. He was a useful back-up, neat and tidy on the ball and capable of the odd goal or assist. This time last year you would never have convinced any Fulham fan that we would end up missing him more than Joao Pahlinha, more even than our previous favourite Serbian. But such has been Saša’s understated but essential influence in every game this season, that the team looks unbalanced without him.

However, the balance was redressed by the introduction of Tom Cairney who staked a good claim to start against Everton next week, Harry Wilson who acquitted himself well and Reiss Lightning who looked more threatening in 10 minutes than anyone other than Raúl did in 90.

This would have been an entertaining game for a neutral but it was hugely frustrating for Fulham fans, partly because of the inconsistent refereeing which Marco “Blahblahblah” Silva rightly complained about, but mainly because of the disappointing performance of some of our players. Villa are a good side, but we made them look better than they are.

For Future Games, we need to cut out the errors, find some more determination and, most importantly, start playing like a joined-up team again. We need a new penalty taker (obviously Raúl but we wouldn’t rule out Issa Diop given that he’ll be on the pitch replacing Andersen anyway), a midfield shake-up and players Everywhere to be as good as Raúl.

Random musings:-

- We know we said we weren’t going to mention it but that shouldn’t have been a red card

- And how did Diop score an own goal when there were no Villa players anywhere near him???

- Mr Bishop was back!

- Billy the Badger looked very smart in his Dracula cloak

- On the subject of Vampires, Unai Emry is a very good manager

- On a more serious note, Andreas should not have been booed when he left the pitch. That’s not how to treat someone when they’ve messed up at work.

- But Andreas showed he’s not a Bad Loser by a lengthy circuit of the pitch applauding the crowd….

- (having taken his shirt off)

- Wonder which Marco prefers out of Silva Springs and Silva Heels?

This was Marco Silva’s 150th game in charge of Fulham. It’s one he’ll want to forget but that is a substantial milestone for any manager, especially one who’s never lingered anywhere for long after his Nights in Estoril. Before the match, Marco spoke of his passion and his ambition for Fulham, feelings we all share but which are magnified by his wholehearted commitment to the Club and the thrilling journey he’s taking us on.

We want to say to Marco: Don’t Go, Please Stay. But we don’t think he’s going anywhere soon. After a series of largely successful transfer windows, he’s got the players he wants and they’re leaving everything on the pitch for him. It feels like We’re Never Going Back Again to the bottom half of the table; it feels like this is the season we’ve been waiting for. Marco has made us believe again.