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Match review Monday: The curious case of Andreas Pereira & Captain Tom's mixed bag
38 Plays21 days ago
Gavin looks back on an eventful afternoon at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium as Fulham came from behind to earn a point and extend their unbeaten run in London derbies.
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Transcript
Introduction and Match Preview
00:00:05
Speaker
sports podcast network work Welcome back everybody to the Daily Fulham Podcast, your home of all things Fulham. It's Monday and you all know what that means. Yes, it's Match Review Monday where we look back on the weekend's action. My name is Gavin Riffle and I will be talking you through Fulham's encounter with Spurs which ended on us even And both teams came into this particular game with different fortunes after the international break. Fulham, disappointing, losing that home game, coming into it against Wolves with fuller confidence to come into a full-on defeat. Compare and contrast that with Spurs, they went to the Etihad and absolutely blew them away.
00:00:43
Speaker
4-0 but despite that many Spurs fans I'm sure would have gone into this fixture with a bit of news a bit of doubt just based on some of the results they've had in past because they've shown that they can perform and get results against the teams higher in the league but maybe games against Fulham where their fans will have a feeling that they have an expectation for them to win where it doesn't necessarily go to plan and Sunday afternoon kickoff may be a bit of a flatter atmosphere quite early for people on a Sunday so maybe not quite as up for it as they would be some other games. Fulham, we knew they had some problems coming into this game. Joachim Anderson is going to be out for a period of time when he's back. We don't know, but we saw him limp often. We played the last 15 minutes against Wolves with 10 men. So it was pretty clear and evident that that was going to be a serious injury.
Team News and Rumors
00:01:33
Speaker
Marco Silva confirmed that in his pre-match press conference.
00:01:37
Speaker
so we knew that Isid Diot was going to come into deputise for him. The other interesting piece of teen news was that Andres Pereira was left out of the 18 altogether. There has been some talk about Andres Pereira in the last few days, speculation about what might or might not have happened in the summer, about rumours, links with a move to Marseille and some of the wording, the quotes that came out didn't put Andreas Pereira in a great light and he's not in a great light at the minute with Fulham fans anyway with some of his performances on the pitch so this didn't go to help matters really did it. um So it led to speculation about whether the fact that he was out of the 18 was there was it an injury or was it
00:02:19
Speaker
directly related to the to the news that had come out about him possibly wanting a way and Marco Silva later on in his post-match press conference, the yeah yeah he didn't really put that rumor to bed. It was a bit ah bit of a confusion there because initially he had said something about his fitness and that there was a k knock which wasn't allowing him to play and then later on He said he wasn't in the right condition. So, you know, that's just going to lead to more and more speculation. We will come on to that a little bit later on.
First Half Highlights
00:02:49
Speaker
Spurs came into this game, as I said, with that great win against Manchester City. A draw, a late equalizer going in against them from Roma in the Europa League. A couple of changes for them.
00:03:02
Speaker
We knew about the situation with Vicaro and that's a big blow for them for throughout the season now that he's going to be out for a several months. So Fraser Forster came into the team as we were all expecting. The big surprise was Don Solanke who had spoken about in the preview and on our crossover as well and how important a player he is and how integral he's going to be for Spurs this season ah but he wasn't involved in the match today squad either, he was out.
00:03:27
Speaker
With an illness, Dejan Kulesevsky, who's also been a key player for them, he was rested, he was on the bench. We saw a bit of him, but only later on in the game. And for Fulham, another thing was Sandeberg, who also missed the game against Wolves. He came back into the team to partner Sassa Lukic in midfield. It's only the second time this season that we've seen those duo play alongside each other.
00:03:51
Speaker
And yeah, Fulham's form in London Derby has been really impressive of late as as has been previously noted coming into this game seven undefeated in those London Derby.
00:04:02
Speaker
buoyed by that. And there was and also also another surprise, certainly was kept in the wraps that Anthony Robinson, it was only when I saw the captains doing the handshake that I saw Anthony Robinson. Oh, that's interesting. Anthony Robinson's captain with Ben Leno being in the team. So whether that's a permanent change or not, I guess we'll help we'll find out in the next game. But yeah, interesting that Fulham opted for a change in captaincy there.
00:04:26
Speaker
And let's come on to the game itself and it was Spurs who got out of the traps. Quick, as you probably would expect. Almost a goal. Almost the worst possible start for Fulham. Going a goal down inside the opening minute. Chance coming for Son, who was operating in that more central role with the absence of Don Solanke. Comes from a Fulham mistake. Calvin Bassi. Hospital pass into midfield. Comes to Timo Werner. He slips in Son. And Leno makes a save. Low down with his feet.
00:04:54
Speaker
probably full and benefiting from the fact that the chance came so early for Son if it was if it was later on in the game where he'd been more warmed up and got a feel for the game then it might have been a different story but an escape there and Spurs started the stronger of the two the two sides but Fulham grew into it and they were pouring forward Nelson and Robinson were dovetailing well down the left hand side and they got several set pieces and it was another interesting facet of this game with Pereira's absence was who's going to who's going to take the set pieces, who's going to take the corners and my guess would have been Emil Smith-Rowe but it wasn't to be, it was actually Sassa Lukic, he had a free kick outside the box from about 25 yards, he was who stood over that and I think Rhys Nelson took the first corner but then after that he was left to Sassa Lukic for set piece duty which we know Fulham has struggled with this season, the only team in the Premier League that hasn't scored from a free kick
00:05:44
Speaker
or a corner so yeah bright spells for Fulham going forward looking lively and against Spurs you know what they're going to do with their high press so it's important to have the players capable of beating that press and having the attacking players that can cause cause problems and make those full backs defend and a big chance came for Raul Jimenez but he was thwarted by Fraser forced he was unable to get his shot away it will be collects the ball in a central position lofted cross up to Jimenez who's in the box chest it down it's just a bit of a heavy touch and then he can't get his shot away before he knows it forced us there to close him down
00:06:27
Speaker
and then Uwobi and Jimenez combined moments later his get again, but Jimenez, as was probably the story in this match for him and maybe the way it's gone in the last couple of weeks as as the goals have started to drop. He was just a bit guilty of maybe taking too much too many touches, thinking he had too much time on the ball. It wasn't quite his afternoon, but Fulham looked lively after that initial bright start from Spurs, as you would expect.
00:06:49
Speaker
top quality side like them but we're not over all that.
Injuries and Missed Opportunities
00:06:53
Speaker
They come into these games now with a feeling that yeah we can we can attack these teams to go to the at the head the gun to talk about the stadium now and there's no inferiority complex. I mentioned that many times about them scoring and every game is apart from the first one and was evident again they very bright and busy and bubbly going forward.
00:07:10
Speaker
A little bit of course was concerned around the half hour mark as Calvin Bassi went down. It wasn't quite clear which part of the body he had injured but he each stretched for the ball making an interception. Managed to clear it but he went down subsequently. You start start panicking if you mark oh so you're thinking oh my god what's going on here because they they didn't have any defensive cover on the bench really no one had any great experience anyway because you know Quentz has been out injured, Jukim Anderson is going to be out for a period of time now so that would have been a massive cause of a concern if Calvin Bassi was forced to go off injured you weren't quite sure how they were going to reshape reshape there and Ted they went down injured as well moments later so yeah a bit of a a scary five minutes but thankfully those
00:07:55
Speaker
two were able to continue. There was a massive chance for Fulham again as they were able to beat the press. Tetley crosses into him and theres this is a sort of a similar position for his initial chance.
00:08:08
Speaker
ah which he was able but unable to get the shot off on goal. Tete crosses into him, Jimenez hits a first-time volley with its side of his foot, not clean enough contact, gives Fraser Forster the opportunity to make the save. Big let-off there for Tottenham, Jimenez maybe not quite at it, not quite feeling as confident as he was several weeks ago. If you'd got those two chances a month ago, then you probably would have seen the ball nestling the net, but not quite happening for him at the minute.
00:08:37
Speaker
Spurs, they did have a chance as well, come from a short corner ball into the back stick. Dragison, who's obviously in the team, deputizing for the injured, Romero and van der Van, he climbs well, but Leno is forced to tip over. And then Forster, who we've spoken about, is Yeah, he's he's not Vicario, is he? There is a drop-off there and he isn't quite as assured with the feat. So here's a giveaway from Forster. If you're Fulham, you just want to close him down at every opportunity. And there's another great chance with Fulham. This is great. it Great interplay. This is would have been a fantastic
00:09:12
Speaker
fantastic goal which culminates in a woebe smacking the crossbar. I'm not sure if there was a touch from Fraser Forster here but it's fantastic interplay between the all X Arsenal players, ah well one current Arsenal player as well who's on known the on the film, ending a woebe. Shot on goal with his right foot, I thought when he hit it this this was destined for the back of the net but no it smacks the bar.
00:09:32
Speaker
I went out for another corner, again Fullham Corners, not a match made in heaven so no surprise that ah they didn't come to anything. And then the last real opportunity in the half came for Spurs, Verner's in space, crowded out by Fullham defenders. I think it's Lukic who actually brings him down, Matherson's got a free kick just outside the edge of the box. It's a clever one this because Fullham didn't have that draft excluded which you you so often see see these days. It's very rare you see a war without that guy just lying down behind the wall. So Madison, he's got the free kick. Everyone's expecting him to go high, ah but he goes low. hego He tries to go under the wall.
00:10:12
Speaker
And without that draft excluded, it nearly finds its way in the net. It takes a deflection off one of the Fulham players and clips the post. It was a lively first half, not totally surprising because I i fully expect Fulham to go to these grounds now and to try and take it to the opposition, impose their style style play onto the game. And it's up to the opposition to counter
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00:10:30
Speaker
that. And I thought Fulham were very good in that first half and were unlucky.
00:10:35
Speaker
You're kind of thinking, yeah, more of the same in a second half, but it doesn't necessarily work out like that. I'm going to come on to the second half in just a moment, but allow me to take a quick pause while I tell you about our sponsors.
00:10:49
Speaker
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00:11:14
Speaker
So yeah after half time you were expecting a bit of a reaction from Spurs if you're being honest.
Second Half Highlights
00:11:19
Speaker
I think after the first 10 minutes where they did start brightly Fulham were the better team and starting to impose their game ah and yeah you were expecting that reaction but they were quite sloppy actually that in the start of the second half certainly for the first 10 minutes and there was a bit of anxiety some nervousness ah some groans from the crowd they were giving the ball away giving chances away to Fulham. As a full supporter watching on you just think you need to take advantage you need to grasp this moment because if you don't score here you know what can happen. and Teams with the quality of players they have going forward like Spurs do, you can get punished at any any given opportunity. woeby Again there was another acrobatic effort which was smothered by Fraser Forster and then the Spurs goal comes against the runner player and it leaves you feeling deflated because you've seen another game here where for them ah
00:12:06
Speaker
dominated the play. I think it's fair to say they dominated the play after the first 10 minutes. But Spurs, they do have the players to hurt you and Brennan Johnson, who's been in good goal scoring form for Spurs and for Wales recently, he actually finds himself free in space as Werner has the ball over on the left side.
00:12:24
Speaker
He thinks it to the back stick and then Brennan Johnson unmarked, has the chance to finish, which he volleys into the net from close range. And it's a real sucker punch because because Spurs, after that son chance and the Madison free kick, they didn't really have many opportunities. So for Fulham to go behind there was really deflating. And then it's how you can react after that, isn't it? Luke Kitsch got himself another booking no surprise he's back in the team he's back getting booked that's going to put him out of the Brighton game now which is a blow and that's becoming a bit of a problem area we'll come on to in just just a moment but so yeah was it wasn't long after that he may have been slightly lucky to stay on the pitch because he goes in ah slides in with Son there's not much contact ah but I think there is some contact on another day
00:13:18
Speaker
Another referee, they could have said, that's the second yellow card, you're off. But I think he's actually been lucky by the fact that he got booked moments before that. So if you got booked in the first 10 minutes, the referee may have been more obliged just to deem that as a second yellow card.
00:13:34
Speaker
i think Marco Silva recognised that and he hooked him off soon after just for his own protection so he didn't get sent off. Tom Cairny was the man that came on and it's Tom Cairny who scores a super goal. It's well worked again between Robinson and the Wobi It will be he's on the sort of byline inside the box. He pulls it back to Tom Cairney. It's on his left foot. It's a sweet strike past Forster in a flash before he has time to rack. I think it takes a Nick off Dragison and full them a back on level terms no more than they deserve. And from this point on you're thinking can they come from behind to win this game?
00:14:15
Speaker
take that momentum with them for the final 25 minutes of the game. So at this point that 1-1 with the way the game's going, Fulham looking lively and attack, got the feel of an end-to-end game, one on a knife edge that could go either way and then Fulham had dealt a massive blow in the 83rd minute as Tom Cairny has shown, a red card Referee didn't give it initially, I think Kay and he was protesting about the foul in the first place, but VAR check and then it's just, when you when you know it's a VAR check and they're calling them the referee over to the monitor, you just, you feel the words, you know what's going to happen. They're not going to stick with their original decision because you don't see that. You you see that warning like a thousand times and it just makes it, it makes matters worse. You'd almost just rather him show the red car straight away because then it's ah it's a quick it's a quick painless death rather than just have to go through the motions of
00:15:08
Speaker
a VR check and you you know what's going to happen and he brandishes the red card. I think he can't have any real complaints. Kulesevsky didn't make a big fuss about it. The way he catches him, tackle foot tackle from behind, it's high enough that I think it's probably rightly deemed ascended off, which is a big blow because it kills any sort of feeling of going on to get a winning goal because it would have been interesting because at this moment in time I was looking at probably for them I was surprised actually that they hadn't made the substitution to Adama Truari before this because I thought with the game at 1-0 and Spurs having to pull bodies forward to get that winner to chase that winner that would have been an ideal moment to get him on so Kearney going off he had to change change things up even even going down to 10 men I thought
00:15:56
Speaker
bringing on a damn a Troy would have been a good move because he's somewhere there that can just release that bit of pressure if you give him the ball he can carry it 30 40 yards up the field which is a tremendous asset to have when you've got man a man less so yeah it was just ah a bit of a dampener really because it would have made for an exciting 10 15 minutes of end to end action where you feel like both teams can can go on to win the game, certainly for them the way they were playing, it was just finding that clinical edge at the right time, ah that right moment in the final
Match Conclusion and Analysis
00:16:25
Speaker
food. So Castanha came on for Owobi and Sesignon, came on as well making a return to Spurs.
00:16:32
Speaker
and then it was just survival mode as much as possible with 10-15 minutes to go large amount of stoppage time that your backs are going to be against the wall. I suppose they're going to have the line share of possession and then it's just being that defensive unit making blocks and just making it as difficult as possible for them to create clear cut chances but actually for them almost managed to get themselves into the lead and come from behind as Harry Wilson went on a great run, a doggy loses control of the ball and whispers committing so many players up forward, Harry Wilson just direct, goes through the middle, takes on Ben Davis for pace who you'll know well from his time together at Wales, squares the ball back, no one's there to get on the end of it, Dragison clears up, sweeps it out for a corner and
00:17:23
Speaker
In all honesty, Fulham were pretty comfortable despite having one less man. You always feel the worst as a football fan, having seen late goals going against your team in the 94 for 95 minute respectively against Everton and West Ham. So this kind of reaped of a late Spurs winner. We know Spurs have got history for for that as well in recent times.
00:17:45
Speaker
but no Fulham managed to hold on for a point and it was the least they deserved up until the send and our Fulham were the better team Spurs fans will naturally be disappointed at how the fact that you can go to Manchester City and win 4-0 and then the next game you're a little bit off the pace and you don't just don't look that same same team for Fulham Great to bounce back after that disappointment of last weekend. And I'm going to wrap things up in just a moment. But before I do that, let me tell you all about GSPN.
00:18:19
Speaker
The Global Sports Podcast Network is changing the face of football podcasts. With dedicated daily content for every Premier League team, women's football, fantasy football and a daily Premier League wrap-up broadcast in five different languages, it's your one-stop shop for your daily football fix. Find GSPN wherever you find your usual podcasts. So I think you can take a lot of positives from this game. First, I want to give a special mention to ACD Open.
00:18:44
Speaker
I feel I don't give him the credit he deserves, actually. ah Whenever he's come into place, replaced Jockimandus, and I always say, oh, it's a bit of a concern. It's a bit of a worry that he said the ops coming into this game. Maybe that's been me being too harsh, because whenever he has been called upon this season, he's he's done a really admirable job. And I thought he had another really good game here.
00:19:06
Speaker
After that initial shaky start from Bassey, where he gave the ball away, I thought him and Diop were absolutely fine, absolutely outstanding, as were the whole of the back four. Kenny Tetley, again, superb, consistent. and Anthony Robinson, I don't know what his running stats would have been in this game, but he must have must have covered every blade of grass on that pitch again. and Fantastic performance with the with the captain's armband.
00:19:30
Speaker
what he had the captain's armband relinquished it to k and he when he came on and one k and he he he he had the captain's armband again but uh yes it's superb display and uh i think it's difficult to single out one or two individual public players because they all performed really well it was it was another good full and full on performance and It's ah the start of a tough run of fixtures. With Spurs, now they've got to go against Brighton, who are in the top four, absolutely flying at the minute. Arsenal, who seem rejuvenated, they play them in the next next Sunday as well, and then before going to Anfield. So, yeah, the next few games are tough on paper, but I think that's something that's exciting you can look look forward to, and to see Fulham going toe-to-toe with a team like Spurs, not feel overall going to these stadiums and think,
00:20:18
Speaker
You know, let's keep it tight. Let's keep it tight for 20 minutes. I'm focusing first on being resolute and defensive. Their first focus is how can we affect this game? How can we influence this game from an attacking standpoint and give ourselves the best possible chance of winning it. And ah they created a new Premier League record as well. That's 12 consecutive Premier League games they've scored in, which they had never done before. So that's another a great Philip for Marco Silva.
00:20:44
Speaker
and the only criticism really is they weren't more clinical. Jimenez could have had a couple of goals in that first half, maybe just wasn't quite sharp enough and that'll reopen the debate about whether Fulham needed striker in January because Muniz did come on. Okay, it was difficult for him in the last 10 minutes because Fulham were playing 10 men, but he didn't make much of an impression when he did come on. Yeah, it wasn't the best out in Feral, Jimenez. But, you know, Fulham create, create in chances and You'd be more concerned of ah as a manager if you're not creating the chances, they just need to make sure they're able to take advantage when they're playing these sort of teams when they're on top because in it in a split second, like was the case on this afternoon that you're one nil down and you're
00:21:28
Speaker
it's easy It's easy to feel sorry for yourself at that point, you're thinking, we've done everything everything but score, we've been the better team and now we find ourselves a gold pine, but credit to them, they reacted to that. They got the equalizer and then they dug in when they had 10 men. They did what they needed to do. A little bit of a problem for the next game now, which I'll come on to as we talk a little bit about tactics in the next episode, but midfield is going to be interesting now because Luke Hitch picking up that book and he's now out of the Brighton game and Tom Caine,
00:21:57
Speaker
probably would have started that game you feel I mean especially coming on to score ah he's now up for the next three games after that straight red so Andreas Pereira yeah we haven't heard the last on on this particular story is there an injury i I don't know. it's it's ah it's hard It's hard to gauge Michael Silver after the game. It was questioned about the Andreas Pereira saga and he says he doesn't read newspapers, he doesn't read social media, why he was left out of the team. We'll find out in due course if he's not involved against Brighton. It's going to be an interesting team selection because they don't have many players in that area with Harrison Reed already out injured. It's not a case where you can just chuck ah Calvin Bassi in there or something because you don't have another centre out of the play. so
00:22:42
Speaker
A bit of a dilemma having spent the first few months of the season without having too many selection headaches. The only selection headaches being who to leave out because there's probably 15 or 16 guys that could feel that they should be starting. Now you've got a couple of injury suspensions, you've got tough games to come. So, yeah, Marco Silva is going to earn every penny in the next few weeks with the fixtures he's got and the dealing with those absentees. But yeah, as I said, start of a tricky run, but I think you take the positive out at this point.
00:23:10
Speaker
If you're being nitpicking, you can say stats will tell you they had more chances, more shots on goal. Fraser Forster was the busy of the two keepers. Ultimately, they weren't clinical enough. But before the game, after being beaten by Wolves, if you would ask Fulham fans, would you take a point at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium? I'm sure 99% of the fans would have bitten your hand off.
00:23:34
Speaker
Something to build on now, busy week, busy period coming up, brighten an arsenal in the next seven days, two teams that are flying, going on a good run at the minute, but Fulham have nothing to fear. they They go into these games, not overawed, no inferiority complex, and they'll have a go. And it's it's it's enter it's entertaining to watch. You don't go into Fulham games thinking, this is going to be this is going to be pretty cagey, pretty boring. You know, I can see defenses up fences on top here.
00:24:03
Speaker
You know, they'll give as good as they get against whoever. We've seen that at the Yeti Had, we've seen that at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They'll have a go, that is for sure. So games to look forward to. A point on this occasion. Yeah, you take it and move on. In the top half of the table, another point on the board. Brighton on Thursday. We'll look ahead to that before you know it.
00:24:26
Speaker
Thanks everyone for listening to our match review Monday. Be sure to catch us on the next one. We'll see you then.
00:24:38
Speaker
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