The rise of Fulham

  • Thread starter Thread starter mask0991
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 1K
  • Views Views 286K
January 11th 2020
View attachment 271419​
Revenge!! Newcastle are one of the only 2 teams to beat us this season and we got revenge at home. Woodrow played a good 1-2 with Roberts and passed the ball to Jiminez when he got it back, and Jiminez scored. A well worked team goal. Jiminez scored his second after Williams set-him up. It was a mirror image of the first goal, with the goals being set-up in similar ways, but from the opposite flanks.

Woodrow who set-up the first one finished the scoring for the game with a lovely power-packed shot from the edge of the box. True Woodrow style - powerful shot that the keeper had no time to react.


January 14th 2020
View attachment 271418​
A disappointing draw. Woodrow gave us the lead just after the half an hour mark, but Cardiff's youngster Jasmin Jogan cancelled it before the hour mark. With this game coming only 3 days after the previous one, I had to rest a few key players and it didn't really work for us.

This draw allows Chelsea to close the gap on us. Note that this was a mid-week fixture and Chelsea didn't play during the mid-week. So, we are 5 points ahead of Chelsea but they have a game in hand.
 
December 19th 2020
View attachment 271416​
Four first half goals sealed the victory for us in a game, which was actually closer than it seems. West Ham gave it everything they got, but ended up short. Woodrow was phenomenal in the first 20 minutes as he set us Williams and Vilhena with a long and a short pass respecitvely. Really good vision from the center forward.

Mane pulled one back for West Ham, and it gave me a bit of a scare because West Ham were pushing hard and high up the pitch, despite going behind. Roberts restored out 2 goal lead with an exquisite free kick from near the edge of the area. Kacaniklic's cross in the 38th minute was an absolute beauty. It beat every one in the West Ham backline, incl. the GK and Roberts got himself at the end of it and scored.

All four were fantastic goals. Roberts continued his brilliant form and Woodrow's return has definitely improved the quality of the gameplay. He is the closest to a 'complete forward' we've got as Jiminez and Artur are poachers. Top player!

Here are our four goals:
[video=dailymotion;x2q08da]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2q08da_fm-15-fulham-goals-vs-west-ham_videogames[/video]
 
February 1st 2020
View attachment 270860​
After a quiet transfer window for us, we went into this game as overwhelming favourites. Everton were on a poor run of form prior to this game, and I thought we would have it easy. I was wrong. We had our goalkeeper Bettinelli returning from injury to thank for. After Vilhena gave us an early lead, Bettinelli pulled off a series of impressive saves to deny Everton, with the most important one in the 85th minute that denied Embolo from 3 yards. Mindboggling reflex from the Englishman!

Vilhena's goal was a result of quick passing on the edge of their box, and the midfielder's foray into the box was rewarded with a goal to his name. We maintain our impressive home form, having dropped only 2 points in the Arsenal draw at home.

Full League table:
Chelsea drew 2-2 against Tottenham, allowing us to extend our lead over them. I am pleased with our defending this season, having let in only 17 - the least in the League.
View attachment 270859
 
February 8th 2020
View attachment 270198​
Shambolic defending, and we lose our 23 game unbeaten streak. Roberts gave us the lead bur a quick Drmic brace put us behind. With Woodrow out due to injury, Jiminez got the start and he left me crying. He missed two one-on-one opportunities and really let the team down.

Balanta equalized after half time but we lost to a late goal. Once again, terrible marking. Having played so well against Man United, the players defended like idiots. The defense was so horrible that I almost cried watching it.

At the full time, they got an absolute bollocking. I pulled Jiminez to the center of the room and blurted expletives at him. The idiot is not even going to be in the team for the next game. It takes something special for a striker to end up with a rating of 5.6.
 
Last edited:
A talk with Raul Jiminez

Jiminez's ratings in the last 3 games were 6.5, 6.4 and 5.7. I expect higher standards at Fulham F.C., and so I decided to have a chat with him.

I told Baresi to send Jiminez to meet me after the training session ahead of the Tottenham game.

I brought up the topic of his poor form. I saved certain highlights of his gameplay from the previous matches and pointed out his mistakes. Missing one-on-ones, failing to shrug off one defender etc. are not good qualities of a striker.

He took my criticism well and said he wanted to improve.

However, I wasn't done. I told him, "I want to give you a game or two off. Practice harder in training, and may be watching the game from the stands is a good idea."

Surprisingly, he didn't retaliate, much. "I am willing to go ahead with it, but how will I prove myself?"

"Our next game is vs. Spurs, and I'll start with Artur. We play Ipswich in the FA Cup after that. Prove yourself to me in training, and you'll start that game. We play Atletico (ECC) and Chelsea (BPL) after that and your selection there will depend on your performance in the FA Cup. OK?," I said calmly.

He took a few seconds to think about it, and finally agreed.

Sweet. I was afraid this would turn into a huge mess but thankfully, it didn't.
 
February 12th 2020
View attachment 269967​
Artur started this game, and Jiminez didn't even make the subs list. We won the game and it took a late goal to secure 3 points. But it was a one-sided affair for the most part.View attachment 269966
Pratto gave Spurs an early lead but Roberts equalized with our very next kick-off. Spurs were really struggling with the creativity and movement of Baselli and Vilhena in midfield. They were hanging by the end of a thread till half-time. I told them to keep going and that the goal will come.

The second half kicked off similarly. We attacked Spurs' end with no mercy and Vilhena gave us the lead in the 63rd minute. It was a fully deserved goal for the midfielder who was bamboozling the Spurs' defense. But then, Christian Eriksen produced a moment of brilliance. A 25 yard freekick that whistled into the net after Burn gave away a cheap foul. Despite our dominance, we found ourselves at 2-2.

The players continued to attack relentlessly and the winning goal finally came in the 85th minute. It was Tonny Vilhena who scored the goal. A dominant performance after a bad day against WBA.
 
Thoughts on the League table

View attachment 269965
Our blip against The Baggies meant that Chelsea can cut the gap between us and them to 1 point, if they win their game in hand.

Having conceded 5 goals in our last 2 games, we are not the stingiest defense anymore. Because Chelsea are so close to us in the table, we need to maintain a good goal difference.
 
FA Cup 2019-20: Fifth Round

February 15th 2020
View attachment 269961​
As promised, I gave a start to View attachment 269960Raul Jiminez and he justified my faith in him. He scored four, yes, four goals! This was a home game against a lower league side, so I decided to give a chance to subs and a few youngsters.

Sonny Jackman (17) got a start in the central defense, and Kenny Walters (17) started on the bench and he came onto play in the second half, after we were 3-0 up.

Baselli, Vilhena, Bettinelli, Stafylidis and Kranevitter all got a bit of rest ahead of our next game against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

Anyway, it was Jimiez show today. He was impressive and lethal in front of goal. His finishing would've beaten any goal keeper. It was top quality.

Walters came on as right back in the second half to give Lustig a rest and our defense was a bit weak. Ipswich put two past our weak defense, but that's alright. We won and go through to the next round.
 
ECC 2019/20: Round of 16 (Leg 1) vs. Atletico Madrid

Cauley Woodrow is still out injured and I had to choose between Artur and Jiminez. Jiminez proved himself in the FA Cup game after being out for one game, and I think he deserves a start.

I told the players to press very high and let them have possession but mostly in their own half or the middle of the park. We set-up to win the ball high up the pitch, with all the midfielders and attackers instructed to close down a lot more, and put in strong tackles, if needed.
3 away goals, and a 2 goal win! Atletico played right into our hands. They pumped balls into Marko Mandzukic, who held up play and brought wingers into action, just as expected. And our plan worked perfectly.

Jiminez gave us the lead with a header off a Baselli corner. Atletico defense partially cleared the first corner but Jiminez headed the clearance back towards goal, and he scored from about 15 yards. Griezmann equalized from a cleverly taken corner as we were caught a bit napping by Atletico's short corner.

Atletico saw most of the ball in the first half, but never threatened us. Just after the hour mark, Roberts did brilliantly to set-up Kacaniklic for our second goal. Patrick Roberts, who has been excellent this season showed his quality once again as he made Atletico defenders look foolish with his movement and dribbling. He set-up our third with a brilliant pass to Jiminez that released him and he slipped one through Oblak's legs from a 1-on-1 chance.

A 3-1 away win is an excellent result. Now Atletico need to score atleast 3 at Fulham stadium, and I think we can prevent them from doing so!

Pat Roberts' assists:
[video=dailymotion;x2qf5ui]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2qf5ui_fm-15-roberts-assists-vs-atletico-madrid_videogames[/video]
 
Derby win!

February 24th 2020
View attachment 269768​
A comfortable London derby win over Brentford where we had 58% possession and had 27 attempts as opposed to Brentford's 2 (none of which were on target).View attachment 269764

Roberts' scored the only goal from a Williams' cross from the left flank. I don't think we played so brilliantly to make this game as comfortable as it was; it was Brentford's lack of determination and ambition that made this so easy for us. The two worries during the game were Woodrow and Amorebieta coming off due to injuries. Woodrow's ankle injury seems bad but Amorebieta's knock seems manageable.

League table:
Chelsea could close down the gap to 1 point if they win their game in hand. Our next game is against Chelsea at home. As long as we don't let them win, I'll be content.
View attachment 269765
 
A potential title-decider? - Fulham vs. Chelsea

A bit of preview: After the Brentford game, we went 4 points clear of Chelsea but they had a game in hand. Chelsea played their game in hand against Liverpool during the mid-week. Thanks to a brilliant hat-trick by Daniel Ankersen, Chelsea only managed a draw against Liverpool at Zola Park. This was great news for us.
View attachment 269710
Heading into this game vs. Chelsea, we were 3 points ahead of Chelsea having played the same number of games (28).​
February 29th 2020
View attachment 269713
​
We go six points clear! What a victory. For the first time in my managerial career, I played two defensive wingers. George Williams and Pat Roberts played as defensive wingers to keep the Chelsea full backs in check and close down the dangerous Eden Hazard and Willian.

I knew Williams and Roberts and naturally attacking but both have great stamina, and quite decent work rate as well. We kept the attacking force of Chelsea very quiet through out the game, which was huge!

In the 17th minute, Roberts latched onto a 40 yard long ball from Lustig, who in turn crossed for Jiminez. Jiminez continued his recent good form by giving us the lead early on. Chelsea couldn't break us open and our defending was really solid.

Artur, who came on for Jiminez scored a late goal and sealed the door shut on a Chelsea comeback with a fierce volley off a Williams cross.

I simply couldn't have asked for a better result. A clean sheet and 3 points!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

FMBase

Beta

Resources

Back
Top