The rise of Fulham

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View attachment 277181West Brom! Goddammit! After ruining our wonderful unbeaten run with a defeat in the Premier League, West Brom beat us again. This time in the Capital One Cup. And a late goal does it again. So disappointing.

West Brom made a very fast paced start to the game, high on confidence after beating us and took the lead in under 7 mins. However, the lads showed some passion this time around and played much better, giving us a 2-1 lead before half time.

But minutes after restart, a bad decision by Burn resulted in a penalty for WBA. Campbell shot into the bottom corner, giving Preece no chance. More drama followed as Berahino's goal to give West Brom the lead was immediately cancelled by Raul Jiminez.

At this point, I was happy with a draw as I had the confidence that we could win the game at home. But WBA had other plans - plans to spoil the night for us. With 5 mins left on the clock, Joel Campbell dribbled past Stafylidis to beat Preece at his far post. We've conceded a lot of goals this season in the last 10 minutes of the game but this one could prove costly.

Atleast, we have 3 away goals, which is good. Now, we have to beat WBA in front of our home fans. I think we can do it. But 2 losses in 2 after a great run is quite demoralizing. Everyone's morale went from 'Superb' to 'Okay/Fairly good'.
Our next game is against Newcastle (away) in the FA Cup fourth round, followed by the second leg of the League Cup vs. WBA. Not the best of times to lose our form.
 
The last thing I needed at this point was more bad news. And given my View attachment 277179luck, there was one.

I came to the training session a bit late after a night of heavy drinking and little did I know that a terrible news was waiting for me.

I visited the training ground and I saw players huddled up. It could mean two things - either they are getting some instructions from the coaches or some one is injured. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the latter.

Cauley Woodrow suffered a back strain and it will keep him out for around a month. Mark Taylor assured me that he'll be doing his best to speed up his recovery but a back injury will take atleast 3 weeks to fully heal.

Woodrow, as most of you know is one of my biggest goal scoring threats and this is not a good news as we enter into a crucial part of the stage. He may miss the first leg of the Champions League first knockout round.

Thankfully, Raul Jiminez is in great form. So, I don't have to worry all that much about goals.
 
FA Cup 2018-19: Fourth Round

Another game where we failed to win and the ref. proved to be the center of attention. After two away losses, I told the players to play without pressure.

We dominated proceedings and got an early goal through Jiminez. Newcastle equalized against the run of play 30 minutes later. My centerbacks were trying to play the offside trap but Cabella was clever to beat it and scored. 1-1 and it was game on.
View attachment 276630Soon after restart, referee gave a dubious penalty decision against us. Even the commentators and pundits felt it was a harsh one. Cabella converted it and gave Newcastle the lead.
View attachment 276628 View attachment 276627
Despite our dominance, we found ourselves 2-1 behind. But Jiminez made sure our dominance wasn't in vain as his clever step-over was too much for Newcastle to handle and they clattered him. Ref gave a penalty. Jiminez stepped up and converted it.

In the closing minutes, we pushed Newcastle hard but couldn't find a way past. Finnbogason and Baselli missed a couple of decent chances. And this forces the game into a replay. At home, I believe we can beat Newcastle.
 
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Team talk

Our next game is against West Brom, the second leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final. After 16 games unbeaten, we lost 2, drew 1 in our last 3. Injuries to key players like Lustig, Woodrow aren't helping us either. I just wanted to have a quick chat with the players before they started their training routines.

I wasn't exactly sure whether to tell them they haven't been doing well or to encourage them to do much better. Referees played a huge part in our Premier League loss to WBA and our FA Cup draw at Newcastle. I thought encouraging the players to push on would be the better idea.

"Alright, our recent performances haven't been the best but I still feel we have been doing okay barring the poor performance against West Brom in the League. We were unlucky in that game with the red card. And we were unlucky again, in the game vs. Newcastle. Let's put on some good performances now," I said.

There were some nods from the players.

I added, "Lets start putting on a good run with a win against West Brom and progress to the League Cup final."

The entire team responded positively.
 
Home, sweet home.

That pretty much sums it up. Raul Jiminez simply was unstoppable. View attachment 276616

He won the penalty which resulted in Craig Dawson getting sent off. A long ball beat the West Brom defense and Jiminez was caught from behind by Dawson inside the box, who happened to be the last man. Once Jiminez converted the penalty, it was one-way traffic. Jiminez completed his hat-trick in the first half and put the game well and truly beyond West Brom.

Fantastic win. We maintain our unbeaten record at home this season. Now we take on Liverpool in the final.
 
Our next game is against Arsenal at The Emirates. When we played WBA in the League Cup semi-final, Chelsea drew against Tottenham in the London derby. Currently, Chelsea are 3 points ahead in the league having played a game more than us. So, the Arsenal game is very crucial.

I was going through some video footage of recent Arsenal home games. My cell phone chimed, and I read the message from Alistair Harris (fitness coach), which said
Can you come to the gym?
Click to expand...

I rushed downstairs as quickly as I can. I saw Dan Burn holding his left hand by the elbow. "****, ****, ****, ****," I said to myself.

Mark Taylor was there too. And he gave me the update on the situation. Dan Burn strained his wrist while lifting weights. He'll be out for a week or so. That means he'd miss the Arsenal game. And then I started to utter every single word in my swear dictionary.

And moments after I started to calm down, Roberts went into the physio room holding his face. '"Oh f***ing ****! What the **** happened to Pat?"

"Facial injury, T. He tried to challenge for an aerial ball and got injured in the process," Patrick Vieira said. Vieira was tasked with tactical training for the upcoming game.

I went back to my office to work on the tactics for the Arsenal game. With a CB (Burn) and RB (Lustig) injured, we were really weak defensively for the big clash. And things got worse when I received this message from Taylor.
Pat's injury is not bad, but he'll need treatment. He will be available for the Arsenal game but he won't be at his best. And it would be a huge risk as well.
Click to expand...
 
View attachment 276611We needed something special from someone to get point(s) from this game and out of form striker Finnbogason put on a show. With 2 of my first choice back four injured, Elijah Adebayo got his first ever start and he was terrible. He let Arsenal strikers in far too easily. Thankfully, Burn will be back soon.
View attachment 276610
 
Another injury!

I simply cannot catch a break at the moment. Raul Jiminez took a knock View attachment 276609during the Arsenal game and had to be taken off. I thought it was going to be a mild injury but unfortunately, my physios think otherwise.

I had two choices - give him an injection and keep him fit for the Newcastle FA Cup replay and run the risk of him being out for 5-6 weeks if things don't go well, or leave him to the physios for a quicker recovery in 3 weeks time.

I chose the latter, mainly because of the Champions League. We face Juventus in the first knock-out round in about 3 weeks. If I had to choose between the FA Cup and the Champions League, the latter takes the priority. Furthermore, I think we have enough quality to beat Newcastle at home without having to resort to such risky measures.
So, Jiminez will be out for 3 weeks and joins a pretty long list of injured first team players - Woodrow, Burn, Lustig, Roberts.

Please send some flowers and get well soon cards to these players. This is really getting irritating. So many injuries at such a crucial juncture. :'(
 
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FA Cup 2018-19: Fourth round replay

View attachment 276482This was a drab game, to be honest. With Burn and Lustig still out of View attachment 276481contention, I was forced to start with Adebayo despite his calamitous performance against Arsenal. I wasn't very confident in his abilities, so I started a bit defensively with Kranevitter in the defensive midfield role (a position I don't often use).

Newcastle set-up defensively too as this was an away game for them. And the game ended up being bogged down in midfield for the most part. Vilhena scored the only goal of the game in the 14th minute as Pedro's cross into the box found him unmarked inside the box. A cool finish into the corner from the Dutch international.

We were drawn against Liverpool in the fifth round, and the game will be played at Anfield.
 
Injury update

Adebayo, who has been filling in for Burn in the center of defense has been rather scratchy, with an average rating of 6.4 in two games. We look quite shaky defensively with Adebayo in defense and I want either Burn or Lustig back from injury.

Roberts' is back from injury but he wasn't fully fit to play in the Newcastle game. I asked Head Physio Mark Taylor for an injury update:
View attachment 276473
We play Burnley at home in 3 days. Burn doesn't look like he would be available for that game. Hope Adebayo doesn't screw up!
 
You've got to be joking, surely?

The players and coaches were heavily involved in the training in the View attachment 276453build-up for the Burnley game while I was discussing a few tactical matters with my assistant Baresi.

And in the corner, I see Finnbogason packing his stuff and ready to leave. 'What? He's my only first team striker and he is leaving. There seems nothing wrong with him. WTF.' I ran towards Finny to see what was going on.

The closer I went, the more I realized he doesn't look well. His nose was red, face was shrunk. OK, this doesn't look good. I was informed that Finny had contracted flu and is in desperate need of medication and rest.

"So.....he'll be out for 4-5 days?," a nervous me asked the medical team.

And they confirmed my suspsicions. He'll be out for 2-4 days and will miss tomorrow's game against Burnley. As things stand, I'll be without any of my first team strikers. Woodrow, Jiminez and Finnbogason will all miss the game.

20 yr old Artur will have to step up to the task now. He is quite talented but hasn't had much playing time in the first team this season. Pedro and Roberts can fill the striker role if needed. This is getting really frustrating.
 
Finally caught up with this! Incredible what you've done with Fulham, long may it continue! :)
 
We went into this game without any of my first team strikers, and View attachment 276331young Brazilian Artur started for us. Burn wasn't fully fit and Adebayo started his third game in a row. We didn't have enough incisiveness in the first half and struggled to break Burnley down. Despite his immense talent, Artur was struggling to keep up with the action, clearly indicating his lack of first team football.

Baselli gave us the lead just before the hour mark from the spot. I hate to pick on young Adebayo but he did struggle once again and left our defense a bit weak by making bad challenges. Artur scored a header in the 77th minute from a Stafylidis cross to give us some breathing space.

But a late goal conceded by us meant that we ended the game with a bit of nervousness. Late goals are really becoming a threat to us this season.

But with several key players out injured, I am happy with the result.
 
Dan Burn returns!

View attachment 276324
The big news is that Dan Burn is back to full fitness. Lustig's still out and View attachment 276316Amorebieta, a natural centerhalf is still subbing in for him. Artur got a start once again as the strikers are still out. With Burn-Balanta partnership back, the defense looked a lot more stable. The players put two past Norwich in a rather one-sided first half. Roberts gave us the lead with a lovely goal. Amorebieta doubled the lead with a header from a corner.

But the second half was a completely different story. I think someone put sleeping pills in the players' energy bars!

The players completely switched off and let Norwich create a lot of options. Norwich pulled one back in a bizarre fashion. Burn's block on a long shot left Bettinelli wrong footed and the ball tamely fell to Josh Murphy, who virtually had an open goal with Bettinelli still on the ground. The last few minutes were yet again nervous, a worrying characteristic of this season for us. But we hung on to the 3 points.
[video=dailymotion;x2obvz5]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2obvz5_fm-15-roberts-goal-vs-norwich-a_videogames[/video]​
 
League Table

View attachment 276185
Chelsea are 3 points ahead of us having played a game more. But they have much superior goal difference, if it ever comes to that.

Chelsea, Liverpool, QPR and ourselves are yet to lose at home this season. We have a negative G.D. away from home (primarily due to the 6-1 battering we got at Southampton). That's gotta change, gotta get positive.
 
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