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Match review Monday: More late drama to round off the year
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Gavin recaps all the key events of Fulham's final game of the year which saw them play out an entertaining 2-2 draw with high-flying Bournemouth.
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Transcript
Introduction and Match Overview
00:00:05
Speaker
sports podcast network Welcome back, welcome along to the Daily Fulham Podcast. We're drawing 2024 to a close with a look back at Fulham's final outing of the year as they hosted Bournemouth. My name is Gavin Ruffell and I'm on hand to take you through all the key events of an entertaining afternoon at the Cottage.
Challenges in Match Preparation
00:00:25
Speaker
No preview to this game as some of you may have noticed, apologies if you were expecting that. Due to the quick turnaround from the Chelsea game and the fact that I've been on a diet of Lemcip and cough sweets over the last couple of days, it was a bit of a non-starter. But hey, I'm back again.
00:00:40
Speaker
and they didn't want to miss out on this one. Just some context and a tale of the take before we get into the finer details of the match itself.
Pre-Match Expectations and Form
00:00:49
Speaker
Both sides came into this game in good form. They were both unbeaten in the last six games in the league, enjoying successful seasons. Bournemouth start in this game just to point the head of Fulham.
00:01:02
Speaker
fullham obviously coming into this game buoyant jubilant after the late winner at stanford bridge for their first win there in the last 45 years during that run of six and beaten bournemouth have had the slightly better time of it just in the fact that they have they've won more games than for bournemouth winning four of their last six with two draws and they've been good defensively in that period of time as well having just conceded the four goals and they are they are a very good side away from home as well as their last few results have indicated they've got the fact that they came into this game having won the last three away from home and scoring nine goals in the process they were missing their top scorer Justin Clyvert going into this game and they did actually bring the changes four changes for them including David Brooks Welsh international who got a rare start for them
00:01:51
Speaker
Fulham we saw them operate with that back five for the first time against Chelsea with the three centre halves the question is would he do the same again just a few days later in ah in a game at home well the answer to that is yes and it's interesting why he's decided to go this way is it because Sanderberg is out injured or is it because he can't make his mind that Marco Silva that is who to play in defence whether that's Anderson or Diop so he and he's gone for the three years he sent the house because it's just made his life a bit easier in terms of team selection there not quite too sure Rodrigo Moniz despite scoring the winner coming off the bench he had to settle for a place back on the bench for this game
00:02:33
Speaker
and other bits of team use Emil Smith wrote was back fit and available to take his place on the bench having missed the last couple of games just with a minor leg injury and the focus coming into this game was for Fulham to make sure that they can back up good results and performances against some of the bigger teams, some of the more established top six clubs against some of the other teams. Not that I'm saying Bournemouth are one of the weaker teams in the league, but they're not one of the glamorous names and maybe it's easier not to get up for a game like this.
00:03:06
Speaker
So just looking at the recent home performance against Southampton where they were lacking intensity, urgency and energy. If Fulham weren't at it in those departments then they would get beat. They would get beat against a team like Bournemouth who come into this game with good form, good feeling and scoring quite a lot of goals away from home.
First Half Highlights: Fulham Takes Lead
00:03:24
Speaker
and actually it was Bournemouth who made the better start. There was a bit of a scare, Raul Jimenez tries to pass the ball back to Leno, gets intercepted by Evan Nielsen, Leno's on hand to pour it out for um for a corner. Bournemouth had a few corners early on the game, it was pretty evident what their tactic was, they were swinging it in quite deep to the back post so their centre-half Heisen was there to attack it, so they looked quite dangerous from those situations. They were forced into a change at full back with Hill, James Hill, he was making a rare start for them. It was only the second start he's had in the Premier League in his career so maybe that was an area Fulham could look to target in this game. But the first clear cut chance comes to David Brooks. It comes from a cross from Kurekes. Anderson miskicks it and it falls straight to Brooks. He makes good connection but it's straight at Leno and then straight up the other end. The other Welshman, banging for him, Harry Wilson, he has Fulham's first real sighting of goal but it's a tame effort. No real problem for Kepper.
00:04:22
Speaker
and Brooks was actually seeing a fair bit of the ball early on for Bournemouth he had another chance as well an audacious chip which just goes inches over the bar and certainly for the first 20 minutes Bournemouth were the team on top they were bright they were lively they were in the ascendancy If any team looked like scoring it was going to be them. Semenyo had a good chance as well, he's played in by Billing, but Leno's there to close down the angle. Any second balls it seemed like it was being picked up on by a Bournemouth player. Him and Ezzin was a bit of a struggle, he looked off the pace, he didn't look quite sharp. So what happens next, he pops up with the goal to put Fulham in the lead. And it comes from a corner.
00:05:02
Speaker
Fulham have scored a proper goal from a corner. I know technically they did score their first goal from a corner against Brighton but that was off of Brighton players backside so they will be delighted that after so long they've actually managed to score from a corner direct through one of their own players. It's a good delivery into the box from Adres Pereira. It's not a great defender from Bournemouth, they just allow Raul him as a free run onto the ball and what he does, he just gets he makes good contact and uses the pace on the delivery to guide the ball into the bottom corner. Fulham take the lead again which we've seen on so many occasions this season. It was against the runner play, it was a sucker punch to Bournemouth because they were the team pushing and they could probably feel hard done by the the fact that they went 1-0 down on that particular time of the game. um So good for Ralph Jimenez to get on the score sheet in what was his 50th Fulham game. Also milestone appearances for Timothy Kostanya and Calvin Bassett playing their 50th Fulham games respectively as well.
00:06:01
Speaker
And there was a big melee towards the end of half which came about due to a Ryan Christie challenge. Poor challenge on Anthony Robinson, Fulham players, Marco Silva not too happy about the challenge. It was deemed a yellow card, VAR check for that. And on a bit of closer inspection I think it was probably the correct decision. One final chance for Fulham came as Alex Iwobi.
00:06:26
Speaker
who has been in great form of late. He killed well over from range after a good play from Timothy Castagna. so at this point the game was still well and truly alive we know that because of Fulham's record of giving up leads especially at home and also the fact that Bournemouth were coming into this game on a hot streak scoring a number of goals away from home and the fact that they had fashion opportunities of their own and had looked quite lively going forward so whilst you always cling on to the hope that you can keep a clean sheet
00:06:59
Speaker
I certainly felt that Fulham would have needed a second goal ah to have a chance of giving them all three points in this game. And the other thing too to note as well is there has been a tendency for Fulham to just drop off for whatever reason I'm not quite sure but they have conceded a lot of goals between the 45th minute and the 60th minute. What they haven't managed to achieve this season which they'll be disappointed about is It's not been very often when they've converted a 1-0 lead and made it a 2-0 lead to give them that extra bit of comfort. A lot of the time after the halftime break they are prone to conceding. And before we come on to the second half action, just want to say a few words about our sponsors.
00:07:43
Speaker
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00:08:08
Speaker
I'm not sure what the team talk would have been from Areola at half time. It's probably one of those things where you just say you're playing well, just keep doing what you're doing, the chances will come and you'll score that goal because they didn't really deserve to go in behind at the at the break.
Second Half Highlights: Bournemouth's Equalizer
00:08:23
Speaker
It was a sucker punch at the time that Fulham scored the goal and if Bohm continued to play at that level which they showed then I feel the goal was going to come and immediately in the second half They had chances, Bernd Leno was forced into action straight away, having to make a couple of saves in the first two or three minutes. And Bournemouth did get their goal to no surprise. So the goal comes five minutes after half time. Hill, he dinks the ball forward. Evan Nielsen, he times his run to perfection and he lifts the ball past Bernd Leno.
00:08:54
Speaker
And from that point on, it seemed to give Bournemouth that impetus. They were the team that was looking the most likely to possibly go on and get a second goal, not necessarily ah a winner, but they were the team that were applying pressure.
00:09:07
Speaker
but a big chance did come for Fulham in that meantime, where Wobi gets across from the left hand side, Jimenez gets ahead to it, but Kepa manages to save, he follows up the rebound but that's cleared off the line by I think Hyson, and then moments after that it looked like Evan Nielsen was clean through on goal with Leno, but Leno just about manages to thwart him in his path.
00:09:30
Speaker
Some changes from Fulham to try and bring the game in their favour, and we know how effective some of their substitutes have been this season. Coming into this game, they held the record for most goals from subs, so we saw the typical changes you would expect to see, which was Pereira going off and Tom Caine coming on, and Rodrigo Moniz, who of course got that.
Fulham Regains Lead
00:09:53
Speaker
Famous winner at Stamford Bridge E came on in search of another winner in this game he replaced the goal scorer Raul Jimenez and the game was in the balance there was a good flow to it it was end to end whilst I thought Fulham was a little bit sloppy in the first half I thought their play picked up in the second half but it looked like it could go either way you wouldn't want to call this you felt a 1-1 there would be more goals in the game which way you weren't quite sure there was a big opportunity for Bournemouth to take the lead as Philip Billing is played in but it's a tame shot Leno is able to save and it's not long after that that Fulham actually go into a 2-1 lead which at the time just like the first goal was against the run of play because of any team that stage were looking like they were going to say it probably you probably would have just edged it towards Bournemouth
00:10:42
Speaker
but Before them get the goal, it's good play from Rodrigo Moniz on the right hand side to keep the ball alive. Ball gets recycled, comes out to Anthony Robinson, he digs across in with his right foot and there's Harry Wilson in the box, takes up a good position and he gets ahead on it.
00:10:57
Speaker
And this isn't an easy header. this is ah This is a much more difficult header than the Raul Jimenez one in the first half because Jimenez uses the pace on the ball. He only needs to get a glancing header on it and direct it towards goal. With this one, Harry Wilson, not he's not a tall man, not renowned for his heading, although this is the second header he scored in successive games. This was a lot more difficult than the chance at Stamford Bridge because he has to instill some power on it.
00:11:22
Speaker
for it to go into the goal and he manages to do that and he's in a rich vein of form isn't he this season certainly in the last few weeks and it's amazing to think what a turnaround it's been because at the start of the season people will start to write write him off during the first half a dozen games he wasn't playing much at all he wasn't even coming off the bench to try and impact games Now I'm sure he'll be pleased. you don't You don't want to hear that start about being a Super Sub and scoring a lot of goals off the bench because you want to be starting games on a regular basis. So he got the chance to start this game and he'll be absolutely delighted. He managed to get his first goal this season from the start. Good header. And from that point on Fulham actually... They were looking for the third goal to kill things off, probably because they know they have been in similar positions to this season, and and ultimately they haven't killed the game off. They've been hit by a sucker-punch later on late on and conceded equalisers that have been maybe against the Run of Play, so they didn't want any of that to happen. and They were the more likely team to score at this point than Bournemouth were. Awobe and Kostania put in a delightful balls into the box, and fortunately no-one was on hand to get on the end of it, to convert.
00:12:29
Speaker
But this was the period after the Harry Wilson goal that Fulham were looking at their best in the game and were playing some lovely football. Kane who had come on a substitute was effective as well and they were really pushing hard for that third goal.
Late Drama: Bournemouth's Late Equalizer
00:12:43
Speaker
But you know with Bournemouth they have had late goals in them recently both against West Ham and Ipswich um to give them points so you've got to play to the whistle, you've got to play to 95, 96 minutes however long the game goes on and unfortunately Bournemouth scored their equalising goal in the 18th minute, another late goal that Bournemouth have scored, another late goal that Fulham have conceded. You know down well in Fulham matches, you don't want to be leaving early because that something's bound to happen. We saw that against Chelsea, we've seen that again here. and This is a really poor goal to give Roy.
00:13:19
Speaker
I've praised Isidiopp a lot recently because he's been really solid, he's come into the team, he's attracted a lot of criticism in the past for his performances for Fulham probably last season but with Jockimanderson out through injury he's been called upon and he's done an absolutely commendable job coming in in difficult circumstances against really difficult teams, difficult opposition to play against and he hasn't put a foot wrong.
00:13:42
Speaker
ah So it's disappointing here because he's ah under no real pressure at all and then he just passes the ball straight to Semenyo. I don't know what he's thinking. I don't know who he's looking for. Semenyo drives forward and then somehow the ball goes out wide. I think it comes off either Isid the Op or Anderson. It might even come off both of them. Finds its way to Utara and he to his credit manages a lovely death finish.
00:14:06
Speaker
Over Leno and into the net for 2-2 and it was disappointing. it Again, it was a goal that was against a run play which seemed to be a theme in this game. I can't say 2-2 was undeserved at that moment of time, but it was just strange, the dynamic of the game, how it played out. The goals seemed to come at the time they weren't expected. Fulham were doing everything to try and get that free one ah to kill the game off, but yeah, just a lapse here for Dioc. We've seen this before, haven't we? We've seen this ah last season a few times. We haven't seen it recently. and
00:14:38
Speaker
you know he's the reason Fulham are playing a back five because he hasn't wanted to drop him and there's been no reason to drop his city up on the back of his performances oh so I'm sure he'll be disappointed himself at that moment in time but ultimately he's given the ball away to lead to Fulham getting their second goal and ah that's how the game finished it was a good game between two good sides having two very good seasons both very tough to beat at the minute it I mean that's that extends the unbeaten streak for both sides to seven Fulham that's won defeat in 11 and it's been a very busy month hasn't it a lot of games in a short space of time they can be very proud of their efforts in this game I think a draw was fair on reflection if you look back at it Bournemouth they did have more shots more shots on target a better xg it's just the circumstances but hey it swings around the bounces and you score a 95th minute goal to win at Chelsea and you have an 89th minute goal against you here against Bournemouth
00:15:36
Speaker
I don't want to be wise after the event but if I was going to give a prediction before the game started I was i was actually going to give a 2-2. Yeah, i think I think both teams can be happy and this I think Bournemouth will be happier probably with the with the point.
00:15:53
Speaker
after the final whistle just because they scored their goal late on, but I think in terms of the overall reflection, the balance of play, I don't think you can begrudge Bournemouth at that point. Yes, you want to be holding on to the leads. This does seem to be a bit of a habit, losing leads and allowing other other teams back back into the game, but Bournemouth, their lead position, it's not a fluke, is it?
00:16:16
Speaker
We're halfway through the season and both of these sides are ah voying vying for European places and Iraiola continues to do a fantastic job at Bournemouth after a little bit of a shaky start. Initially in his tenure day, it's crazy to think isn't it? It was only 15 months ago.
00:16:34
Speaker
and that he was under pressure for his job after not making the best start but ah he's he's doing fantastic in the minute and these two managers. If Nuno wasn't doing what he's doing at Nottingham Forest then these two managers would be yeah up there with an hour and a slot for for what they're doing doing this season. and what they hope to continue to do um for the second half of the season. and I'll wrap things up shortly but before I do that let me draw your attention to GSPN. The Global Sports Podcast Network is changing the face of football podcasts.
00:17:06
Speaker
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Marco Silva's Post-Match Insights
00:17:23
Speaker
Marco Silva, after the game, he stressed Fulham's need to be more ruthless and more concentrated until the last minutes of the games. He recognises that they've given up good positions in games this season and ultimately not collected the points hold that they probably should have should have had based on the performance based on some of the dominance in games not that this was one of those games because i think it was a fair point but again you're in an advantageous position late on in the game and it's disappointing the manner of that goal because if it's a well crafted ball with goal or a 30 yard strike it goes in top corner you hold your hands up and say you know fair play but
00:18:01
Speaker
The fact that it's come from Fulham's own doing and he said the upper man who's been in really good form was not put forth wrong and the fact that he's made the mistake at a crucial time. And in this league you get punished don't you against good opposition and Bournemouth certainly are good opposition. They're not basement dwellers down there towards the bottom end. They were very impressive Very impressive on that afternoon and you can see why they've been successful why they're on an an unbeaten streak of their own Why they've been successful away from home as well They went into the game with a positive mindset and then a positive approach ah To take full them on and get on the front foot and you've got to commend them for that Yeah, they're doing they're doing brilliant things at the minute. So full credit to them
00:18:42
Speaker
He was a bit angered about the decision with the red card. He felt the Ryan Christie challenge should have been a red card. He mentioned the Tom Kay and he sent enough recently against Spurs and maybe noted the similarities and was less than happy that Ryan Christie stayed on the pitch. But I've seen it back. It is a forceful challenge. If the referee gives it, you're not going to see it overturned.
00:19:05
Speaker
but I don't have a real issue with it. I think it was borderline, but I think the yellow card was was fair enough. The frustration is probably more so the fact that he's seen his team let go of another lead, which I'm sure he's ah he's trying his best to eradicate these these things from happening, but they seem to keep rearing their ugly head. but ah you can't You can't quibble with the result at the end of the day and it's been it's been a really busy month with those seven games and if you were said to any full and fan that at the start of December with the fixtures they had you'll be unbeaten from those games. They've been in disbelief with some of the games they've had playing title challenges, the three main title challenges they find at the top of the league. Yeah, maybe you'd like to convert some of these draws into a few more wins
00:19:53
Speaker
But I'm sure we'll see him nominated for management month. He's not going to win it. But um the fact that he's being nominated for management month shows what what kind of job he's doing at Fulham and what what sort of team Fulham are.
Fulham's Strong Season Position
00:20:05
Speaker
And you look at the halfway stage of the season now, they've only lost four games. They've lost less games than Manchester City. Drawn a lot, as I said, they've drawn eight games, but 29 points from 19 games.
00:20:18
Speaker
They're in a fantastic position to collect their record points all in the Premier League. You'd be disappointed now if they weren't able to do that and certainly certainly the bare minimum is ah you want to finish on the top half and it's ah it's very close between a number of teams there.
00:20:32
Speaker
If you keep pushing in the right direction then Europe, it can't be out of the question. It's one of those games where, are you glass half full, are you glass half empty, but overall looking in the bigger picture, looking out well at Bournemouth during the season, I don't think a point is too bad.
00:20:50
Speaker
Onto the next game, 2025, they kicked that off with a home game against Ips, which is probably another one of those games where you look at on paper, you think you should be getting three points there, and maybe your concerns come from the games where they've played against those teams, where they haven't quite turned up, they haven't played with that level of intensity, that urgency, energy required in the Premier League to get you three points, because they're not handed out, they are they are ruined, but they've got a little bit of time off now for the first time in a little while. There is the a gap between games now, so that one's on Sunday, so they have ah six or seven days in the meantime to recuperate.
00:21:24
Speaker
But that's for another day, that's for another year. That'll draw things to a close as far as the daily full and podcasting is concerned in 2024. I will be back in a couple of days time as we have reached the halfway stage of the season just to assess the overall picture of the Premier League. I might give my team of the season as well and also look ahead to 2025 what we may be able to expect, what predictions I might have in store for that.
00:21:52
Speaker
So, that'll do it for today. We'll catch you all on the next one.
00:22:02
Speaker
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