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Forecast Friday: Getting back on track
30 Plays23 days ago
Gavin previews the weekend's game as Fulham make the short trip across London to take on Spurs.
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Transcript
Introduction & Spurs vs Fulham Preview
00:00:10
Speaker
Hello, welcome along. Welcome back to the Daily Fulham Podcast, your home of all things Fulham. My name is Gavin Ruffle and today is Forecast Friday.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Experience
00:00:19
Speaker
I will be bringing you the preview for Spurs v Fulham on Sunday, which takes place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
00:00:26
Speaker
Just a quick word, by the way, on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. For me, it is one of the most impressive stadiums in the league, if not Europe. I've not actually been there for a football game. I was lucky enough to go to the Anthony Joshua fight against Alexander Usyk there a few years ago, and I was just blown away by the state of the art, the modernist, the facilities.
00:00:47
Speaker
It was just really in keeping with modern times and for me I've been lucky enough to go to a lot of stadiums for different sports and it's certainly right at the very top if not number one. Also has a convertible pitch used for NFL games so if you do have the opportunity to go to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for a football game, a concert, a big boxing fight i would say take that opportunity because you will you will be impressed i'm sure just like me but we will come on to this game this fixture well before we come on to this game we must have a slight look back i know we don't want to dwell too much on the walls in character last week i already touched upon it in our review episode but it didn't go to plans did it and i think what we've seen is after the international breaks
00:01:34
Speaker
full and maybe haven't quite
Fulham's Post-International Break Struggles
00:01:36
Speaker
been at it. The two worst performances this season arguably have been the the home defeats against Aston and Ditherine Wall, certainly the two games where they've lost um heavily, 3-1 and 4-1 respectively, so that's something that Marco Silva might need to address in future, is just getting getting his players at it.
00:01:51
Speaker
when they have that two-week break for internationals. I know they don't have an international break and until March, thank God for that. But yeah, that's something that might need to be addressed in the future because he is, during that two-week spell, he has limited time with his players. A lot of the players he does have there aren't necessarily stars, so you just want to make sure they're at it every week because, as I've touched on before, if you're not at it in the Premier League, you get whacked for one at home to Wolves and Wolves were for full value for that three points on the day.
Success in London Derbys
00:02:21
Speaker
And now it's an opportunity to look forward for Fulham going it into another London Derby where they have had some success recently, haven't they? Seven unbeaten in London Derbys, which makes a nice change because it was only a few seasons back. They couldn't seem to buy a win in a London Derby and they've just had two back-to-back Brentford and Crystal Palace. This probably does, well, there's no doubt it does represent the much tougher test Tottenham Hotspur. There'll be
00:02:47
Speaker
feeling good after last week's result against Manchester City, that resounding win, but also being Spurs. You do know there's a bump in the road not too far away and we've seen that a few stages a few times this season as well. So you can't get too carried away with one-off results like that. So let's look at this fixture in
Historical Matches: Spurs vs Fulham 2013
00:03:08
Speaker
a bit more detail. Then they actually played each other three times last season in the league meetings, the home side one on both occasions. I think Fulham's 3-0 win at the cottage was probably, possibly,
00:03:21
Speaker
maybe for a lot of you it it would have been the performance of the season resounding 3-0 winners on that on that occasion Spurs won the corresponding fixture 2-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium I don't know if you remember there was a couple of ah errors from Calvin Bassi in that particular game he was playing on the right side of the fence and I don't think we've seen him there since because of because of that outing. As you would expect, it's been ah a bit of a tough fixture for them going to Spurs over the years. They've only managed one win there in the last 21 years. Can you remember that?
00:03:52
Speaker
Well, it was actually a win in 2013, thanks to a Spurs all-boy and that all-boy being Demeter Beers of some of the Spurs players involved that day, Gareth Bale, but um connections with Fulham, Moussa Dembele, and Scott Parker starting in midfield, and you had Clint Dempsey coming off the bench. So yeah, just the one win in the twenty one last 21 years. So hopefully this weekend, Fulham can make it two.
00:04:17
Speaker
We will come on to Spurs in a bit greater detail, but before that, time for a brief message about our sponsors. Here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform, Zencaster came out the clear winner.
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00:04:34
Speaker
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Spurs' Inconsistent Performances
00:04:50
Speaker
So what should we make of Spurs' a start to the season?
00:04:55
Speaker
It's been up and down, hasn't it? They're going well in Europe, they're progressing in the Carabao Cup, they also beat Manchester City in that, so in their court finals they've got a tight against Manchester United to look forward to.
00:05:06
Speaker
and They are very jekyll and high. though I don't want to use the typical term spursy because I think that's more associated with their inability to win trophies and stay the course, stay the distance, which I'm sure Hans Posterkogel will be hoping to change their fortunes. and They're also progressing well in Europe as well, so there's got every chance of progressing in that competition where it is on his list of priorities. Not quite too sure, but It's certainly not been dull for Spurs fans and just it's just typified, it isn't it, before the international break they lost that game at home to Ipswich, which is Ipswich's first win of the campaign, their only win of the campaign so far and they followed that up by a resounding performance against Manchester City winning their 4-0. I know Manchester City have got their problems at the moment, bit of a blip.
00:05:49
Speaker
but You don't expect from Manchester City, I know you expect them to come good January time towards the end of the season, but this is a prolonged period of struggle for them, comparatively. But still, Spurs to go there and score four goals and win emphatically was an outstanding performance and probably sent a message to the rest of the league what they're capable of on the day. And we've seen that across multiple games this season. I think they scored four goals in four separate games.
00:06:14
Speaker
They won up Man United, convincingly as well. Again, Man United, a team that have had their problems. But the fact that they've gone to ultra-after than the A had and won by a combined aggregate of seven goals to nil, I mean, that could and should strike fear into a lot of lot of opposition sides. But then they have had the the odd flat performance, the the result against Ipswich. The Brighton one was probably the biggest I was going to say another word there, but I'll ah keep it PC. It was the biggest disaster of the season for them going into ah a two goal lead and then coming out free too with a 3-2 loss at the end of things. So you're never quite sure where you are as a Spurs fan. You probably go into this game, a home game against Fulham off the back of that Manchester City win. A bit like Fulham, you were thinking maybe against Wolves where you've gone off the back of two resounding wins and you're thinking,
00:07:05
Speaker
feel good factors there, home game against a team that we're probably expected to be. And it doesn't always work out like that, is it? It just shows in the Premier, you have to be on guard, you have to be at it every Premier League game, because if you're not, if you're caught slacking, then you will come out second best. But yeah, you look at the the statistics, they've won six and they've lost five. So are you glass half full? Are you glass half empty? Because in all of those wins they've been pretty resounding as I've mentioned scoring four goals in fact it wins against good sides and then their defeats have only been by one one goal the odd goal in games where they feel they probably should have taken the points being the Brighton game being the game against Newcastle as well early on in the season where they dominated but it was a bit of a sucker punch and they end up losing that game 2-1
00:07:54
Speaker
But it's it's also testament to them that they can react and overcome that disappointment. And going into this game, it's going to be it's going to be a tough ask for Fulham because Spurs, they do have some outstanding individual players.
Brennan Johnson: On Form & Criticism
00:08:07
Speaker
I'm pleased to see Brennan Johnson being in the goals lately. He's their joint top scorer along with James Madison. ah But for Brennan Johnson, this is certainly an uprising after taking a lot of flack, a lot of criticism. and We've seen the dark side of social media there with a player like Brennan Johnson. um Some nasty, vicious comments from his own fans towards him. And you don't like to see that. He deleted his account. I think he's back active now on at least his Instagram. And he's scoring that he scorering the goals for them. He scored as well for Wales recently.
00:08:37
Speaker
I think he got that goal against Coventry Denny Brennan Johnson, it started the streak for him and he scored off the bench in the last game against Manchester City, so it's good to see him firing, confident. but hopefully for Fulham fans he doesn't get on the score sheet this weekend. James Madison as well coming back into the team, whose's bit he's been out in and out of the team quite recently but we know what talent a talented footballer he is and he scored two, took his goals really well against Manchester City. Dominic Solanke is another player I just want to focus on because it's difficult isn't it when you're stepping into the shoes of Harry Kane
00:09:11
Speaker
went for a big big fee. ah Last season at Bournemouth was the only real season he's had in the top flight where he scored a decent number of goals and shown that he can be a top marksman in this division. He's got his opportunity for England. I'm sure Bournemouth fans will probably feel frustrated with that, the the fact that it's taken him to go to Spurs to get to get an England cap when he was banging in the goals last season that he couldn't get a look in.
00:09:33
Speaker
But it's more it's more than just goals, isn't it? You don't want to be compared to Harry Kane because Harry Kane's an all-time great, he's an all-time Spurs great, he's an all-time England great. You look at his goals for one record, what he's done, what he's gone to by Munich. So it's difficult to compare Dom Solanke to a player of that calibre who will go on for years to be remembered what a great player Harry Kane was so I think he's doing an adequate job he's scoring here and there but he's contributing his link of play has been very good from the games I've seen and his high press as well so he's an important focal point for them in that team and what I do like about Spurs is they offer a threat from multiple positions multiple areas
00:10:13
Speaker
their fallbacks are very good they are getting forward certainly we saw Poirot getting the score sheet as well he's a great asset for someone in in fantasy football because he's always contributing i think for Fulmore you want to see is them testing him defensively this weekend this weekend see what he's capable of doing there and of course when you talk about Spurs you can't not talk about Son who just continues to do it season after season consistent and you look at it 300 More than 300 Premier League appearances for one club for a foreign player. That's just something you don't really see. And we talk about Harry Kane being an icon, being a club legend. Well, Son Hyung Min is certainly in that category, in that ballpark as well. What a fantastic servant. What a fantastic player. He's been for that football club over the years and continues to do so.
00:11:06
Speaker
And for Anj Poster Koglu, what's the aim for Spurs? There's always the talk, isn't there? what What's the priority getting in the top four or winning a trophy? Ideally you want to do both, don't you? If they can win the Europa League, then they automatically get qualification from the Champions League and naturally you want to finish as high up in the league as as you can. and I think for him,
00:11:27
Speaker
It's been 2008 or 2009, the last time Spurs won a trophy, which was the league cup, they got a good chance in that competition. It's about time, isn't it? If you put in Spurs in in the talk of big six, those those clubs around them, what what do those over clubs do? They win trophies. some with Some win them a lot more than others, a lot more frequently, but Spurs, they haven't won that trophy and in in a long time for a club that's competing.
00:11:54
Speaker
you know We're not talking about a club that's looking at surviving each each season and maybe going on a good cup run. This is a team that's expected to do well, expected to be competing for the Champions League every season, expecting to go far in European competition. So it is about time, and they do have the squad assembled that they can, I feel, deliver a trophy. But now now is the time. It's all I'm good talking about. It's time to deliver out on that football pitch.
00:12:20
Speaker
But 27 goals scored in the league this season, which is the highest, and defensively they've been good as well. It was only that one aberration against Brighton, that second half collapse, which was the big red mark against ah their copybook this season, that I feel. I know they lost lost the derby, and they're going to look back at that that result thinking, that's their big result, but blowing a two goal against was...
00:12:45
Speaker
obviously not not something to look back on in a great light, is it? But sir yeah, I guess for Spurs, it's carrying on that momentum. I mean, momentum's a buzzword in football, isn't it? Is it or or any sport, does it even exist? There's probably many people have different different ideas, different feelings of that, but they just want to kick on now and just make sure that they're in a position to challenge for so four spot if that is indeed their their goal this season because apart from Liverpool there's opportunities there for everyone else we've seen Manchester City they're having their worst we'll start through season in in a long time and Arsenal maybe not quite at the levels and they have been in in the last couple of campaigns so
00:13:30
Speaker
After Liverpool there's an opportunity for a number of clubs there. I'm going to look ahead to this game, some team use, some individual battles that we can maybe
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00:13:41
Speaker
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00:13:48
Speaker
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Fulham's Tactical Approach vs Spurs
00:14:09
Speaker
So some definite team news we do know about is that Vicario, he's going to have a spell on the sidelines. He's out injured for a few months. I know Andrew was questioning about the goalkeeper situation, but he said that ah Fraser Forster will be his goalkeeper for the time being to deputise in Vicario. He's someone he'll know well from his time at Celtic.
00:14:30
Speaker
And he is ah he is an experienced goalkeeper, Fraser Forster. Is there a drop-off going from Vicario to Forster? Well, yeah, sure, no doubt. I mean, as there should be from a number one to a number two, you you want that number one to to be the rightful guy in that position. It was like an arsenal a couple of seasons ago when they had Ramsdale and, or even last season when they had Ramsdale and Roy, I didn't think that was a healthy situation to have because you and then you're wondering from one week to the next who's going to be your number one goalkeeper because Roy was making a couple of mistakes early on and then you got cameras panning to Ramsdale on the side of the pitch or clapping a save that Ryan makes. it It's not a healthy position to be in. I think you do want that number one, that decisive number one at your football club. So that is going to be a bit of a blow for them going to Fraser Forster, but he is he is a big goal. He's a big guy, isn't he? ah He fills the goal. I think he's about six for eight. But for Fulham, you want to test him. You want to test him whether that's from set pieces, which we know Fulham don't do very well at today. They don't score from corners. We don't score from free kicks.
00:15:27
Speaker
um And Spurs have looked vulnerable at times from crosses, even Vicaros are vulnerable at times from from crosses flapping from corners. But you want to test them even if it's getting shots away from 25, 30 yards. Test phrase are forced to be because Spurs fans are going to this game, not quite sure, bit worried, bit concerned. So make them feel concerned. Give them cause for ah negativity.
00:15:52
Speaker
we know We know what Spurs are about. They'll press high defending from the front. They got a high turnover in possession. Their possession stats are good and they play they play with that high line. So it's important that when Fulham are in possession of the ball, they use the ball wisely. They don't give it away needlessly. They don't give it away in dangerous areas.
00:16:14
Speaker
And if they can beat the press, play through the press, then they've got the opportunities, they've got the players that I feel can hurt Spurs, the players that can use the ball well, that can drive forward with the ball well. And you want to you want to ask questions of their full backs. You know what?
00:16:30
Speaker
You don't know what Pedro Porro can do going forward. You don't want to ask questions of them going the other way. I feel it's important for the Fulham in those wide areas. Which is why I would actually be keen to see Adama Troi come in for that particular reason. We saw what he could do at the end. He didn't have the end product.
00:16:51
Speaker
and he's been restricted to substitute appearances in the last few games, but I would like to see Adamatrari start this game probably in place of Reece Nelson. Do I see it happening? No, I don't really, despite that fall under feet against Wolves, he you don't You just don't see it. You don't see Michael Silver make bucket loads of changes. It's not going to make bucket loads of changes. There's there's no need for that. But I would like to see Adama Troira come into the fold for this game. Probably revert Alex Woebe back to the left-hand side because he's equally comfortable. We've seen Alex Woebe, he's been a standout performer this season.
00:17:26
Speaker
and play left can play right does a very good job scored last week so no problem for me put him over to the left side a damage throw over to right and calls have it when when fun get that ball and it's probably an opportunity you haven't said that for for someone like Smithrow or if Reece Nelson if he does start for those Those Arsenal boys, Rhys Nelson still an Arsenal player, maybe to put a spanner in the works and upset their North London rivals. But yeah, from a full-on point of view, I feel like they have the players, they play in a way that they're going to cause problems. And I go into every full-on game now, confident they will score a goal. They've scored in every single game since the first day of the season against Manchester United.
00:18:07
Speaker
So again, going into this game, I feel like they will score, but it's it's about keeping out the opposition and Spurs have threats from many areas. We've spoken about Saan and Solanki and Madison. Trulisevski has been a ah great creator, great source for goals this season as well. So yeah, there's there's no doubt they present problems themselves going forward.
00:18:30
Speaker
Injury news, well at this time of recording, I'm not too sure, I mean this is before Marco Silva's press conference, so I don't know the state of play as far as Yuchen Anderson and and Sander Berger are concerned. Anderson having to go off for the last 15 minutes against Wolves, so.
00:18:47
Speaker
if i'm gonna If I'm going to make a prediction at this stage, this could fire back at me, bearing in mind, it's a few days into the game. I don't think Joachim Anderson will play. So that means ECD up will have to deputise. And this could be a really tricky game for him to come into because I've spoken about Spurs' tendency to high press and put pressure on those defenders. So ah when we saw that in Fulham's outing against Ipswich earlier on in the season, it was a real struggle for Calvin Bassi in that game. That was probably his worst game of the season.
00:19:15
Speaker
East of the Op maybe is not as as comfortable on the ball as someone like Joachim Anderson. So that would be a blow with Joachim Anderson not being not being part of this team for this weekend's game because you think he he has more attributes that can cope with that press than someone like East of the Op. And Sander Berger, who's been a ah revelation in recent games, he came back from international duty with a not we don't know his ah he current fitness at this stage.
00:19:43
Speaker
Hopefully it's there's nothing nothing too serious because he was starting to grow into his role in the Fulham shirt. Luckily for Fulham, Sassalou Kitsch came back and he was putting a decent-ish shift against Wolves. Now he's had a good season up until his injury. Harrison reads out as well. so as As I kind of said before, you don't want Sanderburger being out for a lengthy period of time because that's a lot of illness, a lot of pressure then on Sassa Lucic, who is just returning from injury. How do I expect this game to go? I think it'll be a fascinating tactical match between the two sides. They're actually the two sides that ranked highest for crosses, crosses into the box this season.
00:20:26
Speaker
despite that Fulmer only have one heady goal and it's probably an important game as well for Raul Jimenez to get back on the score sheet. He's had a few games now where he hasn't had that goal and we're at that stage of the season where transfer talk is starting slowly to intensify with heard reports and links with certain various other players. I'm not going to mention at this stage because it's just paper talk and you don't take that seriously until maybe the start of January but you would like to see him get on the score sheet sooner sooner or later. and Hopefully he's given the service to do that and we know the players behind him, he will get that service. I can see there being a lot of goals in this game actually and for Spurs it's what I said about Fulham.
Match Prediction: Spurs vs Fulham (Q&A)
00:21:12
Speaker
going into the walls game. I think that applies here for Spurs. It's not being complacent after that win at the Etihad, just thinking we can tell you can turn it on and off like a tap. We don't we can be at 50% and crews pass for them. It doesn't work like that. They've got to play to a similar level of standard to ensure that they can get three points or at least give themselves the best opportunity to do that. I can see this being a back and forth game. I see there definitely being goals in it. Unfortunately, I think Spurs will come out with a 3-2 win when it when it's all said and done. but hopeful Hopefully I'm wrong, hopefully it's in an an entertaining game and Fulham are able to come out the right side of it, but so I'm going to go for back-to-back losses, unfortunately, for Fulham. This is a start of a difficult spell for them now, isn't it? It's a real tough week. If you look at the fixtures, they've got Spurs away and then they've got back-to-back home games, but home games against Brighton and Arsenal, who but were
00:22:09
Speaker
above them. So they got three of the top six here in the next week and then after that Liverpool. So they got four of four of the top six in the in the next four games. So it's a tricky run. It's a real test for Fulham.
Upcoming Challenges for Fulham
00:22:20
Speaker
We'll see what they're capable of. Hopefully the injuries don't start to pile up in a busy period of time around the sort of Christmas coming up to Christmas new year that time. But there's games to look forward to. They're in a position in the league where you're not worried about being dragged into a relegation ah dog fight.
00:22:39
Speaker
um So a positive result on the weekend. the get Once again, you're looking you're looking up rather than you know looking at the teams behind you. But yeah, I just feel Spurs might come out 3-2, Victor's on this occasion. Maintain that ah longish unbeaten run they've had against Fulham dating back to 2013 and ending Fulham's run in London Darby's.
00:23:02
Speaker
There we have it. That'll do it for today's preview episode. For all things Spurs against Fulham, we'll catch you all on the next one.