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Match review Monday: Drab, dull and disappointing
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Gavin recaps a disappointing afternoon for Fulham as they were held at home by lowly Southampton.
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Transcript
Introduction and Festive Greetings
00:00:02
Speaker
Every club. Every day. The Global Sports Podcast Network. work Welcome back to the Daily Fulham Podcast. It's Monday and we're a couple of days out from Christmas, which is all very exciting stuff. But before we look forward, we must look
Analysis of Fulham vs Southampton: A Dull Affair
00:00:19
Speaker
back. My name is Gavin Ruffell and I'm here to look back on something that was far from exciting and that was Fulham's home draw against Southampton. How would I describe that Fulham display in three words? We'll go for lackluster, flat and insipid. If you weren't able to catch the game, well, weren't you very lucky because you didn't miss a lot at all.
00:00:40
Speaker
Not much action in either half. Pretty depressing game to be honest. Southampton can be pleased with getting a point because they've been feeling far between this season haven't they? Coming into this game of course with their new manager looking on from the stands as he awaits his work permit and and officially takes over probably for the next game.
00:00:59
Speaker
but they were two sides that came into this game with contrasting forms of Hampton having taken a couple of beatings recently at St Mary's whilst Fulmer and Beaton in the last four games playing against good opposition in that period but I did give some warning coming into this game about the fixture against Wolves which didn't quite go to plan the last time they played the team in a similar position to Southampton so I wasn't counting my chickens by any stretch thinking that three points were in the bag, although I did expect Fulham to win, but we'll come on to maybe some of the problems they face and what they need to do better when playing against this sort of opposition later on in this episode.
Team Changes and Debuts
00:01:34
Speaker
As far as team changes, well, there were a few for Fulham, weren't there? There were a five. Some of them were enforced, others maybe be rotation.
00:01:41
Speaker
It was probably a surprise to a lot of people to see Tom Caine and Josh King getting his first start. Josh King, the youngest debutant, well, youngest player to make a full league debut for Fulham in the Prem since Moussa Dembele. That Moussa Dembele being the French one, not the Belgian one. So great moment for him, great moment for his his family. A young boy coming through the ranks there at Fulham. Marco Silva showing a lot of faith in him to start him in the Premier League game.
00:02:07
Speaker
but he the reason he started is because Andres Pirro was out suspended and Emil Smith Rowe had taken a knock, not quite sure what's gone on there but don't think it's anything too serious and it's a shame because I talked about this game being important for Emil Smith Rowe when he can get back on track and do the sort of things we we want to see him do in the Fulham shirt so um yeah, a bit of a blow for him to not be available for this fixture. Kenny Tette, Kenny Tette,
00:02:30
Speaker
he sustained that injury against Liverpool, so it's an opportunity for Tim Fikastania to get a run of games in the team now for the next couple of months, clearly straight back in after his suspension, which may have been a bit of a surprise to some. I said it briefly, though I would have been interested to see what team they would have gone for in this game if everyone had been available, if Andres Pereira was available, if Anil Smith was available, what they would have done.
00:02:53
Speaker
because it's one of those games of Hampton home you probably do want to be a bit more positive in your team selection so the temptation would have been to just keep Sanderberger and Lukic here but do you think there's that a little bit defensive minded given the opposition so I was absolutely fine with Tom Cairny playing an egg guy who can get on the ball play progressive passes Josh King was the one surprise player so he he could have played Tom Cairny where Josh King was playing but and played Sassa Lukic but opted not to do that Of course it's ah it's a time of year where fixtures come thick and fast so there is some rotation and Raoul Jimenez was benched as well which he opted to do dinney before when Fulham had a few games in quick succession.
Southampton's Cautious Strategy
00:03:31
Speaker
The rest of them for the Brighton game, Rodrigo Muniz came in for that. Jimenez came back into the team and scored against Arsenal so you're probably looking at something similar there.
00:03:40
Speaker
And as for Southampton, as I said, this was an opportunity. They had the game in midweek in the Carabao Cup, which was better than what we've seen lately. I mean, it couldn't have been worse, that absolute debacle of a show and against Spurs when you're shipping five goals in the first half there. This was Simon Rusk, his second and probably his last gaming charges into him. And it was evident that their style was slightly different. You weren't quite seeing them take so many risks at the back. I noticed in this game that Rams there, whenever he got the ball, he tried to pump it long. so good on him that he's noticed the errors that have led to led to some of the goals and teams being able to cause them problems. He's identified that and not wanting to be so naive and i want I wonder if you're rich, the new manager, despite not being officially in charge, has even spoke to the players whether he had some impact, some communication there, ah getting his thoughts across to for what the team needed to do, needed to show in this particular game.
00:04:36
Speaker
I seem like I'm rambling on a bit here, but the reason I'm doing that is because nothing really happened. and Nothing really happened in the first 20 minutes of this game. It was very subdued, very quiet atmosphere, very flat. A couple of chances for Harry Wilson, half chances really come in quick succession where he he fired over the bar.
00:04:52
Speaker
It's quite a few misplaced passes and and a lot of eyes, a lot of focus would have been on Josh King. I'm not going to go overboard in hyperbole. I'll call a spade, a spade at the end of the day, whether he's a 17-year-old lad who's come through the academy or he's a 32-year-old guy who's played in the Premier League for 10 years. But what I liked about him was he was trying to do the positive thing, but it wasn't necessarily coming off.
00:05:13
Speaker
But it's a big moment for him, isn't it, making his debut in the Premier League, making his first start in the Premier League. So I'm not going to be too critical of the things that didn't quite come off. What he showed, he showed nice intent. But I think for Fulham's sake, they don't really want to have to put him in in this situation at the moment. It's just because of circumstances that players are out injured, suspended, that he got the opportunity here. He will be a star in the making star of the future as long as he can keep his feet on the ground, stay grounded. Hopefully those around him are advising him well.
Fulham's Lackluster Performance
00:05:43
Speaker
Well, we had the closest attempt as far as the first half went. He combined with Robinson a number of times, which is where we know Fulham liked to attack from. They did it with great success against Liverpool, ah but they weren't quite at it on this occasion. a bit A bit sloppy, a bit loose in the passing. Robinson not quite being so accurate with his passing, ah with his crossing, sorry.
00:06:06
Speaker
As far as Southampton were concerned, they had a nice shape to them but they weren't creating so much themselves. They were quite resolute and it was a it was a very poor half of football really. It had a bit of a feel of pre-season to it and just lacking intensity, lacking a bit ofve lacking energy of energy in the game and certainly from a Fulham standpoint you wanted to see a bit more urgency in the second half for them to get a positive result and it's a positive result being a win. Anything else, anything less than a win.
00:06:35
Speaker
um would have been extremely disappointing given Southampton's form and the fact that they've only taken one point away from home during the course of the whole season.
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00:06:44
Speaker
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00:06:58
Speaker
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00:07:16
Speaker
So another a player I had spoken about from a Southampton side of things on the crossover was Tyler Dibbling and he actually was replaced at half time coming on coming on was Cameron Archer in his place. Probably a protection thing more than his performance. He did have one or two runs at Calvin Barty. The first one he had some success going past him with with a bit of ease and he's a talented boy isn't he but they do need to look after him for With regards to the player of welfare, he's had a lot of minutes recently. he's He's already become an an important part of that first team, that first 11 for them. So they do need to look after him as well. So it was probably just the precaution, the fact that he was replaced at halftime rather than anything based on his performance. And it would have been interesting to see in the second half, what Southampton's game plan was because in the first half, they didn't really have a threat
Substitutions and Tactical Adjustments
00:08:02
Speaker
on goal. They didn't have any chances, ah but they need to start picking up points and they need to start winning games quickly now, don't they? Because a drift at the bottom of the league,
00:08:10
Speaker
one win all season the odd draw here and there look it's better than what they've been doing most weeks but ultimately they need to be collecting three points um stringing back-to-back wins to give themselves any hope so it'll be interesting to see what they're like in uh yurich's first game when he does officially take over it took them 55 minutes to have their first meaningful shot on goal and even that was a tame effort adam armstrong uh got away a shot on goal which lenna was able to save comfortably Couple of changes for Fulham around the L mark. The ex-Wolves duo, Raul Jimenez and Dharma Troyer, it came on for Rodrigo Muniz and Josh King. It was very poor outing from Rodrigo Muniz. He looked bright against Brighton, got the goal. I think he has been credited with that goal that put Fulham in front, the Anfield. But yeah, just he struggled to make any impact at all. Jimenez coming on for the last half an hour and Dharma Troyer was actually involved straight away, running at Carl Worther. Peter stands across up.
00:09:09
Speaker
but Woebe doesn't manage to get any power on his header and Ramsdale is able to save. ah The best chance of the game came to Harry Wilson. It came from the second of two corners. Ball comes out to Adama Troyer. He floats it into the back post. There's Harry Wilson arriving. Makes good contact on his favoured left side but Ramsdale makes a good stop from point blank. Range. Sanderberger. This is a bit of a worry because we know how important a play he's been for Fulham in recent weeks.
00:09:36
Speaker
He's gone down with an injury after about 70 minutes and this is a concern with, as I've mentioned, many games coming up in the short space of time. Full of dealing with a few setbacks with injuries at the minute, so they don't want one here particularly to a player that's been really important for them.
Challenges Ahead for Fulham
00:09:51
Speaker
yeah with Tete out long term, with Riese Nelson out long term, Smithrow although I don't I don't see that as a long term judging by what Marco Silva said that's probably just a niggle and he'll be back for if not the next game then probably the game after that good thing is that Joachim Anderson was back on the bench for this game as well probably fair enough that Marco Silva didn't start no need to rush him back for a game like this where he's probably not going to have to do too much defending especially when he said the ops putting in decent performances of late um so that was that was fair enough i didn't have a problem there it was a debut for marshall gaudo been out on loan hasn't he before to the likes of wiggin athletic so good to see him getting 20 minutes coming off the bench replacing tom karney
00:10:36
Speaker
and trial rate was evolved with Godo in another opportunity for Fulham. Trial rate driving through the middle, tries to play a ball to Godo, doesn't quite work out, but trial rate gets the ball and is a low drive inches past the post. Ramsdale probably would have had it covered and more changes for both sides. And believe it or not, Carlos Vanisius, he's alive. He's alive. We had a Carlos Vanisius sighting. He came on for the last few minutes and um We haven't seen him make a Fulham appearance in over a year. But the game ended nil-nil, and I've kept this short and sweet here. There was not a lot to talk about. A very, very boring game, if I'm being totally honest. And Fulham's scoring streak, Bear Run of Games, comes to an end at home to Southampton, because of course it does. Final thoughts on this game and where it leaves Fulham, what we've learned from it. To come,
00:11:30
Speaker
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00:11:52
Speaker
Well, let's start with positives. What positives can we take out of that game? Not many. I guess the biggest positive is they kept the clean sheet. I mean, they kept the clean sheet against a side that don't really score goals. So take from that what you will. But it is a clean sheet. Only their third of the season and their first at Craven Cottage since they beat Spurs 3-0 last season.
Complacency and European Aspirations
00:12:13
Speaker
But what we've learned on this evidence is that when they play against teams of a slightly lesser ability lower down in the table,
00:12:23
Speaker
They don't seem to play with that same energy that they do when they're playing in against the other teams. It's all well and good taking points off Arsenal and Liverpool, but if you can't back that up with have home games against Southampton, then it's going to cost you, isn't it, in the long run? Any talk of European aspirations are going to quickly dissipate if this becomes the norm now. and With the Wolves game where they lost 4-1, you can say that's a blip, that's a one-off, that can happen, that's football. But we've seen this again now, a game against a team that's not got a result away from home with the season, just the one draw, and they've not looked like scoring. They only had that one opportunity ah for Harry Wilson. Apart from that, Aaron Ramsdale had a really comfortable ah afternoon. and yeah He had a more comfortable afternoon here than he did doing in punditry when he was having to talk about his team getting battered 5-0.
00:13:16
Speaker
but Yeah it's disappointing isn't it cause you look at the fixtures on paper and I know they've got Chelsea next and it wouldn't surprise you if Fulham put in a good performance and got a result against Chelsea and then you look at the fixtures after that and they're not too bad but you've got to stop getting the ahead of yourselves now and it seems like anytime they're in a position to lift themselves in the table they don't quite take advantage of that and I think it was complacency.
00:13:41
Speaker
you know Marco Silva might say it wasn't complacency, but the fact of the matter is, they played in first or second gear, the entirety of that first half. They up did a little bit for the first 10-15 minutes of the second half, but they seem to be just playing to the level of their opposition. When they come up against the top sides, they can match them, but when they're playing against the bottom side, it's almost if they drag them down to their level.
00:14:02
Speaker
They just can't seem to lift themselves for games like this. The atmosphere was as you would expect. So it was up to the Fulham players to lift the Fulham crowd and they weren't able to do that. And you can't go into any Premier League game playing at walking pace, playing at walking pace football, where you're just playing at 40% of your maximum capability because even against teams like Southampton, you're not going to get a result. You can't expect to stroll through games and get three points.
00:14:31
Speaker
All wins are earned, they're never given to you. Southampton weren't in the mood to give them a Christmas gift this week as they were giving gifts all over the place last week. So it's frustrating, isn't it, how you can watch a team play so well at Anfield.
00:14:46
Speaker
caused them problems and also managed to grind out a result against Arsenal but when they're playing a team like Southampton at home they just can't seem to bring themselves up for it and it is concerning now it is concerning the squad is being a little bit stretched at the minute they were lucky in the first couple of months of the season and they didn't have many injuries or anything like that suspensions It has seemed recently they seem to be picking up quite a lot of suspensions and then long-term
Missed Opportunities and Reflections
00:15:11
Speaker
injuries as well. as As I mentioned to the likes of Tete and Reece Nelson, Andres Pereira will obviously be back for the next game against Chelsea. I don't imagine he'd probably go back and straight back into the starting 11, but overall it was a very disappointing afternoon. One way you would expect it more, but it delivered very little from a Southampton point of view. It notches them a point closer to Derby's record, breaking that 11 points, which would be their first aim.
00:15:36
Speaker
Do they look like a team that can survive? No. No, they ah they didn't they didn't offer anything going forward. and they would defensively They were more sound than what we've seen, but we'll see what this manager can do to turn things around for them. Can he can he work a miracle? I very much doubt it. I just don't think they have the players. But from a Fulham perspective,
00:15:57
Speaker
Very, very disappointing one. But ah the beauty about this period is the fixtures coming thick and fast. It's a big game. Next up on Boxing Day, local Derby. And if I think putting a good display there. Get a result, which we you wouldn't count them out. Look, Chelsea go into that game as favourites and Liverpool's closest challenges at this moment in time. But we've seen Fulham can raise their game for the better opposition. But no doubt a missed opportunity, considering some of the other results this weekend.
00:16:25
Speaker
and There was an opportunity for them to go level on points with Manchester City, Manchester City having an awful ton of things. and After 17 games, who would have thought Fulham could go level on points with them, but um they certainly need to be better against the teams at the bottom end of it, because if if they're not, then any chance, any prospect of ah playing European football is ah is just it going to disappear, isn't it?
Conclusion and Holiday Wishes
00:16:47
Speaker
That will do it for today's review. Not the greatest encounter to look back on, but we have been spoiled and blessed with some of the games we've seen recently. Full of them going through that long period, that long streak of scoring. It's hard to come to an end at some point. Look forward to the Chelsea game on Boxing Day. Before I go, I just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Hope you have a wonderful day and hopefully you can join us again as attention turns to Derby Day on Boxing Day. Take care. See you next time.
00:17:16
Speaker
Every club. Every day. The Global Sports Podcast Network. work