The rise of Fulham

  • Thread starter Thread starter mask0991
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 1K
  • Views Views 286K
Horror show. We just gave away possession so cheaply that it was embarrassing to watch. And when they had the ball, our defense was just stand-still. No desire to win the ball back, no passion whatsoever. I am surprised that it was only 6-1. Our keeper Bettinelli got better rating than 11 players of the remaining 13. So, I am fully justified in saying that we got away with it.

And not to mention our strike force. A blind man would've finished better going solely on the basis of his auditory senses. Misses from 6 yards, shots from 20 yards nearly going out for a throw-in, giving the opposition keeper a simple catching practice. Absolutely ridiculous.

I kept my cool after the game and said nothing in the team talk. But you bet there will be some major disciplinary actions taken once these pathetic bunch of goons return to training. I am asking Rigg, our director of football to compile seven reports of players being fined. Yes, SEVEN! Six of those got ratings of less than 5.9.

If they are disappointed, which they have no right to be, they are going straight onto the transfer list.
 
Did not see that coming! :O I wonder if any players complained?
Pleased to see Saints have a good team at least :P
 
PatrickLFC said:
Did not see that coming! :O I wonder if any players complained?
Click to expand...

Neither did I. :(

Well, I haven't fined them yet. Of course, they will come complaining but I have a response to each of them.
 
Last edited:
Monday, 22nd October 2018: Major disciplinary action

The players returned to training after taking the Sunday off. Six players received their formal letter informing them of a fine amounting to a week's pay. As expected, they all came crying into my office.

I am not going to name the players who got their fines as there are some rather big names there. My first question to all of them was the same.

Pointing to the video footage of the Southampton game, I asked "Do you really want to know why I fined you? Do you really?" I was so annoyed with that performance that there was more anger than disappointment in my tone.

And before they could answer my rhetorical question, I started giving reasons. In fact, I pulled out my notebook and started reading out their mistakes like an arresting police officer would read to a felon their list of crimes.

All the players were embarrassed. Then now realized that my criticism and the fine were justified. After pointing out the mistakes they made, I awaited a response from them.

Different players took different approaches to saying that I was right and they deserved a punishment.

One common sentence among the several the players said was:
View attachment 278762
 
Last edited:
ECC Group Stage 2018/19: vs. Stromsgodset

Atleast we are playing at home for this one and we are yet to lose at home this season. Despite our loss to Southampton, the fans are still behind us and I hoped their support will see us through. Since Stromsgodset are a team we are expected to coast past, I thought this was a perfect opportunity to show my disciplinary stance.

Six players were fined after The Saints' game and none of them were in the starting XI for this game. Four started as substitutes and two were not even listed among the subs (there is one big name here - anyone care to guess? :P)
Good victory. Despite the scoreline indicating a narrow win, we absolutely dominated the game frView attachment 278754om start to finish). Baselli and Kranevitter (neither of whom played the Southampton game due to injuries) did a commendable job in the midfield. Artur, who got a rare start ahead of the three first team strikers put in a good shift as well on his debut. He probably should've scored but their keeper was in fine form today.

We scored rather late through Roberts, but it was a long time coming. Honestly, I wasn't worried about the deadlock even when the game went into its final 15 minutes. Kranevitter, who was fantastic the entire night made a silly tackle in the dying moments while already on a yellow card. A needless red card but oh well.
ECC Group:
View attachment 278753
 
hey mate I also like to read your topic

myself also played two seasons with Fulham

won Championship then instantly Premiership very strong club with alot of money for transfers
 
vujevic said:
hey mate I also like to read your topic

myself also played two seasons with Fulham

won Championship then instantly Premiership very strong club with alot of money for transfers
Click to expand...

Nice!

Fulham are rather good financially, and one can splash the cash on quality players - way more than what I did. :)
 
Third 1-0 at The Fulham stadium

View attachment 278736This is our third game at the new Fulham Stadium and a third 1-0 victory. Once again, despite our dominance, it took us a while to break through the Hammers defense. And just like against Stromgodset in the Champions League, it was Pat Roberts who scored the solitary goal of the game. Roberts dribbled past two players before slipping one through Asmir Begovic's legs.

Walker handled the ball inside the box soon after our goal and was sent off for a second booking. Finny came on for Woodrow a few minutes ago and had the chance to give us the 2-0 lead but he shot straight at Begovic from the spot. If only that was Woodrow, if only...

Finny missed another golden opportunity to give us the two goal lead but he shot wide off goal after being released through on goal by Vilhena. Vilhena's pass, much like his performance today was superb but Finnbogason's finish was bad - shades of his nightmare outing against Southampton.
League Table:
View attachment 278735
 
Still earlyish days and you're only 6 points off first. I have faith you can still make a run at top 4 at least.
 
Yeti01 said:
Still earlyish days and you're only 6 points off first. I have faith you can still make a run at top 4 at least.
Click to expand...

Thanks mate. I am hopeful of a top four finish too. But that 6-1 loss stung hard...really hard. :(
 
Capital One Cup 2018-19: Fourth round

View attachment 278589Fourth 1-0 victory in a row at The Fulham Stadium. We've actually been rather good at home, all things considered with 8 wins and 1 draw in 9 home games this season. I rested some key names like Baselli and Vilhena as we face Chelsea 3 days after this game. Woodrow was substituted at half time as well.
Our only goal came from the penalty spot when Kacaniklic was tripped inside the box after he was released goalwards by the excellent Pat Roberts. Woodrow stepped up and scored.

Towards the end, we were a touch lucky though as Hyndman's push on Townsend inside our box was not deemed a penalty by the referee. It was a soft foul but I have seen penalties given for those kind of tackles. Barring that chance, Villa were hardly in the game.
 
Upcoming games

Not the best of times to face Chelsea. Our away form has been terrible with 2 draws and 4 losses in 6 games across all competitions. A win would give us a chance to close the gap to the top. A loss is not good. It'd widen the gap between ourselves and the top of the table.

After the Chelsea game, we have a relatively easy trip to Norway. We should be winning against Stromsgodset. Then we face Man City, Real Madrid and Liverpool in a space of 4 games. Tough, but atleast all of those are at home and we haven't lost at home yet this season.

Our home form and away form are quite contrasting - yet to lose at home, and yet to win away. We also face Aston Villa and Tottenham during this period. We beat both of them convincingly at home in the League Cup this season and I am hoping to pick up maximum points in those games.
 
View attachment 278452A game where the second half changed the result. We went into the break at 0-0 and the possession and shots nearly equal. I asked the players to be disciplined and play a low tempo to break Chelsea's coordination in attack that had scary names like Hazard, Oscar and Willian.

In the second half, I asked the players to try and push Chelsea a bit. This had a slightly negative impact on our shape and let Carlos Vela in rather easily to score. Probably a tactical mistake as Chelsea couldn't break us through in the first half.

Once Vela scored, Chelsea grew in confidence and as we tried to go for the equalizer, they kept opening us at the back rather easily. We were lucky to not concede another as the game approached its final moments.
League:
Chelsea are now 8 points ahead of us after 10 games. We are sitting 11th in the League. Our away performance this season looks horrible. We only lost 4 away League games last season, and we've already lost 3 this season.

 
ECC Group Stage 2018/19: vs. Stromsgodset (Away)

Given Woodrow's recent poor form, I decided to start with Finnbogason and leave Cauley (Woodrow) on the bench. Also, we were without our fullbacks for this game. Lustig, Amorebieta and Stafylidis are all injured. Lustig and Stafylidis only have slight knocks and I could risk them but I chose not to. Instead, wingers Pat Roberts and Kacaniklic will play as full backs. An interesting experiment that could prove fatal. But luckily it didn't.

We put four past Stromsgodset. All in the first half. The first one was an own goal when Balanta's header off a corner by Baselli was poorly defended by the Norwegian club. In seven minutes around the half hour mark, Finnbogason and Baselli put three more past a shaky Stronsgodset defense.

Finnbogason's two goals were proper poacher efforts. Where as Baselli scored from 20 yards with a lovely placed finish into the top corner.

During the break, I took off Baselli and Vilhena to keep them fresh for the Man City game. Stromsgodset defender a whole lot better in the second half and didn't concede anymore. This was our first away victory in this season. It's a shame that it took us this long, but better late than never.
ECC Group D:
Real Madrid needed a 92nd minute goal from Fernando Llorente to win against Zenit, and guarantee qualification to the knockout phases.
 
EPL: Man City come to The Fulham Stadium

This was a big game for us - for many reasons. We are yet to lose at home this season and given our rather poor start to the League this season, we have to get some wins under our belt to turn things around. I told the lads to play to their full potential and show everyone else what they've got.

Aaaand they did...Our new signing Raul Jiminez played for Man City for a couple of years recently, and he came back to haunt his former employer. Jiminez got the start ahead of Woodrow due to the latter's poor form. Jiminez scored the first from a Kacaniklic's cross to beat Hart at his near post. His movement puzzled the City defense and they lost track of him when he decided to drop a little bit deeper. He then played in Roberts, who gave us 2-0 lead.

City finally hit us back just after the restart through Higuain. My players always seem to lose focus a little bit soon after the break. Not the first time we conceded straight after the break due to lapse in concentration. Roberts restored our 2 goal lead minutes later with a superb volley (see goal below). Pat has been in top form this season and that goal summed up his confidence and form.

We seemed to be heading for a 3-1 win until Milner gave City a way back into the game in the 88th minute. It was a well worked goal by The Citizens and all that pressure finally paid off for them. "Tighten up!", I yelloed from the sidelines. We can't lose this game. We need the 3 points. And we kept the ball rather well for the last few minutes and kept our good form at home. 3 vital points!

View attachment 278306 [video=dailymotion;x2nsw1p]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2nsw1p_fm-15-pat-roberts-volley-vs-man-city_videogames[/video]
 
To all readers:

I have access to the in-game editor now, and I can edit the name of my stadium. The Fulham Stadium sounds very uninspired and I'd like to change it.

And I'd welcome suggestions for better stadium names. :)

Thank you.
 
Comeback Kings!

Oh boy! What a game, and what a glorious comeback. Balanta was injured and out of the game, and both keepers were still not fully fit. I took a risk and started Preece despite his slight injury. We went 2-0 down in 32 minutes and our performance was sloppy. It looked like we were heading for yet another away loss this season. I got mad..absolutely mad at half time and yelled at the players. Every single player got a telling off.

I switched from a 4231 to 433 at half time and took off Kacaniklic for Woodrow. Jiminez, Woodrow and Roberts were the 3 man strikeforce. View attachment 278266

Soon after the restart, Woodrow scored to give us a way back into the game. Hyndman's through ball was well picked up by Woodrow and smashed one past Sampson, their GK. Following that goal, Villa were compact and didn't allow much space for our midfielders. I brought on Williams on the left flank and switche
d to a 4222 with wide offensive inside forwards. It was a 424 in a 442 disguise, sort of.

And it paid off. We put three past Sampson in 5 mins around the 70 minute mark. Woodrow and Roberts (x2) were the goal scorers. 4-2 ahead after being 2-0 down at half time. Great comeback.

But Emeghara scored a 79th minute goal and made the last 10 minutes very nervous for me. I was sweating on the touchline. Villa kept pumping long balls into our box trying to score. But we managed to hold on to our first away win in the league.
League Table:
Just seven points separate Chelsea (1st) and West Brom (10th).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

FMBase

Beta

Resources

Back
Top