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Forecast Friday: Can Fulham pile the pressure on Ruben's Red Devils?
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Gavin looks forward to the clash against Manchester United as Fulham hope to avenge the loss from the opening day of the season.
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Transcript
Introduction & Match Preview
00:00:01
Speaker
Every club. Every day. The Global Sports Podcast Network. work Hello and welcome back to the Daily Fulham Podcast, this is of course your home of all things Fulham. My name is Gavin Reffel and today is Forecast Friday where I will be looking ahead to another big game at Craven Cottage as Fulham welcome Manchester United. Fulham come into this one hoping to secure back to back, wins for the first time since early November when they managed to beat Brentford and Crystal Palace back to back.
00:00:33
Speaker
Strange kickoff time for this one. Sunday 7pm, not a great one for match going fans. But us at the request of Manchester United, obviously due to their Europa League commitments. I think there's ah been a bit of uproar as well, given the time of kickoff with the ticket prices being expensive. So I think that's something that probably needs to and needs to be spoken about and addressed.
00:00:54
Speaker
the ticket price situation at Fulham is something that's gone on for a few seasons now and Marco Silva spoke about the atmosphere of Fulham and Craven Cottage wanting to improve that, well support that's being priced out of tickets isn't going to help that at all is it? It's an easy solution isn't it just to lower you lower your prices.
Ticket Pricing Controversy
00:01:11
Speaker
Fulham fans generally have got a lot to be happy about with the team's progress at the minute but I think one area the club can look to improve certainly is making the tickets a little bit affordable for those match-going fans, which will obviously help with the atmosphere as Marco Silva wishes.
00:01:29
Speaker
So it is a big game on Sunday. They're always big games against Manchester United, and that's no different this season as it doesn't matter where they are in the league. We know they're having their problems, but they are such a massive football club regardless, aren't they? And they're always that club that you want to get one over as much as you want to win your local Darby's. Manchester United still have an aura to an extent, not necessarily in terms of their football, but as a club and and they they're standing in world football and their reputation and their history.
00:01:57
Speaker
it's always nice to get one over on them isn't it it is of course a repeat of the first Premier League game of the season who would have fought after that late defeat at Old Trafford that Fulham would come into the reverse fixture seven points ahead of Manchester United with an opportunity to put daylight between the two clubs and make it ten which could go a long way to Fulham finishing above Manchester United which they've never been able to do in a Premier League season so if we look back to that meeting at Old Trafford first game of the season it was it was certainly not a side of things to come from Manchester United's
Fulham's Season Performance
00:02:30
Speaker
standpoint because i felt in that game i thought both teams looked rusty they looked a bit like an extension of preseason both teams had players probably lacking in match fitness they were trying to get up to speed with that and paid probably lacking a bit of quality but i felt like watching that game Manchester United probably looked a bit better than what they had them towards the end of last season where they were very easy to play against
00:02:52
Speaker
They seemed more compact in the game, and they got that late winner through their new sign in Joshua Zirksi. I'm sure fans would have been hoping that would have been the first of many goals for Zirksi, but that hasn't been the case, has it? And of course, we look at that game from a full respect of the big moment. Andreas Pereira, former Manchester United player, was heavily involved in that, wasn't he? And and that was kind of ah a foreshadowing of what was to come for Andreas Pereira because there's a big moment in our game at 0-0 when he had the opportunity to play the ball in into a Wobi with no one anywhere near him and he wasted it and Manchester United as they've done so many times in the past go on to score a late winner and go after the best possible start
00:03:31
Speaker
but as I touched on they're a long way off the pace as we come into this one and yeah it's a big opportunity
Manchester United's Inconsistency
00:03:36
Speaker
this for Fulham. A game against one of those so-called bigger clubs which they have tended to do well in this season where they maybe haven't done so well against the weakest size but how would you look at it? Our Manchester United, one of those weaker size, they're one of the teams in the bottom half of the table, that's one thing you can say with certainty and obviously Fulham's results prior to last weekend haven't been so great so hopefully you know from from a full-on perspective they can make it back-to-back wins and start putting pressure on the teams above them obviously this is the this is the last game of the weekend so they'll know
00:04:08
Speaker
what everyone has done by then whether they're playing catch-up or whether they can take advantage of some slip-ups that have gone before them so it is a good opportunity this and Fulmer want to get back to winning games at Craven Cottage as well they actually haven't managed to win a league game at home since the the Brighton 3-1 and there's been some games in there where you would have expected them to win where they haven't managed to do so the likes of Southampton and Ipswich so ah this is an opportunity to put things right and yeah to to make it back-to-back wins United's form is clearly very indifferent, isn't it? Is it a good time to play them?
Transfer Rumors & Speculations
00:04:41
Speaker
Who knows, who knows? It seems to be like they're one step forward and and three steps back this season.
00:04:47
Speaker
You've got to be cautious with your mindset going into these games because I remember it was a similar situation last season where all the pressure was on Eric Tenharg and people were fancying for them to get a win at home which at that time would have been their first win over Manchester United in quite some time. Obviously they went on to beat them all traffic later on in the season but that didn't go to plan did it last season at Craven Cottage where another late goal secured a Manchester United win thanks to Bruno Fernandes. I think Anana actually had a really good game on that occasion and obviously he's been culpable for some errors recently in other news the transfer window remains open it remains open for the next eight or nine days i think and at this stage speculation rumors they start to hot up start to intensify it's been a pretty quiet window hasn't it by and large just for for every team i think likes of it switcher man city have done a bit of business but it's been very quiet
00:05:40
Speaker
on that front for all of the Premier League teams, but sure in the last week, 10 days of the window, things will start to hot up, we'll see a bit more movement and Fulham have been linked with certain players. One of those players being Emerson Royale, it seems clear that they are looking at a fallback, a right back specifically. Timothy Castanha is obviously deputising for Kenny Tettie at this moment, Kenny Tettie out with a long-term injury and maybe Castanha hasn't quite hit the heights of last season, his performance has maybe been a little blow-par,
00:06:07
Speaker
there's always reasons for things like that i mean can't underestimate how important he's building relationships on the football pitch and you've got to think when castana was in the team last season and predominantly he had alexa worldby in front of him now it's a bit different alexa worldby's playing on the other side and he's got harry wilson a dama trolley so maybe it's just getting used to things like that obviously to begin with you know maybe lack the sharpness but now he has had a good run in the side hopefully you'll start to get back to that form you saw last season obviously emerson royale familiar with london surroundings with his time at spurs a bit of an indifferent time at spurs now at ac melan so the links have emerged there which has been met with some derision and and negativity due to probably people remembering his time at
00:06:51
Speaker
Spurs not in the most favorable way got shipped off to AC Milan say shipped off I mean it's not a bad move is it for the player going to AC Milan but looks like AC Milan are getting the new right back in Kyle Walker but to end some role he did start the Champions League game for AC Milan in the week and he subsequently went off injured and looks like that's going to keep him out for some time so maybe that might put paid well I'm sure that will put pay to him making a move making a move to Fulham but given the fact that they are linked with right back stairs there's probably more to come in in terms of names coming up in the next few days.
Podcast Platform Highlight
00:07:26
Speaker
One thing I would say to fans is don't write players off before they've kicked the ball because we've seen with Fulham in the last few transfer windows and the signings they have made over the course of the last two three years when Fulham have been back in the Premier League under Marco Silva
00:07:42
Speaker
more of those signings have been successful than the ones that haven't and I remember talk about Willyann's signing and that was met with a lot of negativity and people were saying he's passed his best probably based on what they'd seen at Arsenal and ah he had a fantastic couple of seasons at Fulham and Marco Silva was able to get the best out of him so i would just say give the players a chance whoever does come in in the last few days of the window despite what you may have seen in the past and and not like yeah let's not start writing players off before they've kicked the ball because under marco silver he's shown that he can get a tune out of a lot of players so yeah as i said there's eight or nine days left in the window i'm sure fullum will do some business i don't think they'll do a lot i don't think there's a necessity to do a lot
00:08:27
Speaker
but it certainly looks like Fallback is one of the positions they are targeting.
Manchester United's Recent Form
00:08:33
Speaker
I'm going to come on to Manchester United in a little bit more depth in the next part, but before I do that, let me tell you a little bit 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. With 4K video recording from your phone and AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and ahs,
00:08:55
Speaker
It's super easy to start a podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently. If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description to learn more about Zencaster. Let's switch the focus of attention onto Manchester United, and they come into this game off of some success in Europe, beating Rangers late on thanks to Bruno Fernandez's goal after it looked like things had gone pear-shaped there, so that was a much-needed win for them in what's been a difficult time of the late, particularly in the league, at least in the Europa League. Things seem to be going
00:09:28
Speaker
a lot better but let's reflect on their last league meeting which was against Brighton. Another home defeat suffered at the hands of the seagulls and I think what grabbed a lot of headlines after the game was Amorin's comments about this possibly being and the worst Manchester United team in history and there's a lot of reaction to that and people gave their views and on where they stood with that and It's hard to know at the time of speaking what he was trying to achieve, what he was trying to get out of those comments. The way he said it, it almost seemed premeditated and that it was planned. It was not something that was said off the cuff. You do wonder what's going through his head when he says that because it it does undermine the players. And your job as a manager is to try and make the players feel 10 feet tall, even if you are bluffing. So comments like that aren't going to help and it's gonna it going to knock the confidence probably of of some of the players. and
00:10:21
Speaker
It was also picked up on these his reaction in the dressing room after and how much ye of a rage he was in after the game. Chairs were thrown, TVs were broken. I think there was even one or two tear sheds in the dressing room or so it was reported and that just shows the frustration.
00:10:38
Speaker
he's having at the moment and that's a good sign in a way because it shows what it means to him and that he doesn't accept the performances he doesn't accept the results he demands better he strives better as Manchester United as a football club should be striving for is it more of a difficult job than he signed up for don't think there's any doubt that it is obviously coming from Portugal when he's used to winning most weeks he's coming to what is still one of the biggest clubs in the world Manchester United so it was a hard job to turn down but he's gone in there and It hasn't been a swift fix, has it? Going from 10 hard, who was under pressure every week, and then going to Amorim, and it's been more of the same, if anything they've even been worse under him. If you look at his Premier League record, three wins, two draws, and six defeats, and it doesn't make for great reason. And the thing is, when you watch Manchester United,
00:11:23
Speaker
It's not like they're in a false position in the league. You watch their games, you can see why they're a bottom half team. They look like a bottom half team. They play like a bottom half team. I watched the game against Southampton and for an hour they got absolutely torn apart and were lucky to be 1-0 down. It was only thanks to Ahmad Diallo who managed to turn things around. They got three points from that game but you're talking there against Southampton against one of the worst teams in Premier League history and they made them look half decent.
00:11:48
Speaker
and the frustration will come from the fact in some of the games against the the bigger clubs, their rivals in the Manchester Derby going to Anfield or in the FA Cup against Arsenal when they were down to 10 men for an hour. They can put in performances going to these grounds in these big matches but it seems like it's one step forward, three steps back.
00:12:07
Speaker
They can't apply that same mentality, that same mindset to the games against your Brighton's and your Bournemouth's where they've been losing, where there is an expectation, an onus on them to win against these sort of clubs. But it's got to the point now where they're losing those games and it's sort of run of the mill. We're used to seeing them lose games against those sides. It's what's become common in the last couple of years. and It's worrying for your night fans, particularly the ones who who can remember the dominance they had under Sir Alex Ferguson, seeing them at such a low ebb. They're unable to get any momentum into their season. When they do have a ah good result, it's generally followed by a pull. And you just have to question the levels of commitment of the players at times. And they certainly have to have a long, hard look at themselves in the mirror and and ask themselves, are they giving their best
Player Impact & Rumors
00:12:56
Speaker
in every game? Because I personally don't feel like they are.
00:13:00
Speaker
One player that has been a shining star for them this season and has established himself in the first team is Amadiello and if it wasn't for him then they'd probably be much lower in the league because he single-handedly rescued them in a game against Southampton turned the Manchester Derby on its head and scored in the game Anfield didn't he so he's been a real bright spot for them this season and It takes time, doesn't it, for certain players to develop and come through and be that player that you expect them to be when they first sign for a club because he signed as a teenager from Atlanta for a lot of money and with that price tag comes a lot of expectation and some players are able to deal with that instantly whereas other players cower and maybe feel inhibited and feel the pressure, the weight of the world on their shoulders because of that money ah that often gets talked about when they sign so
00:13:49
Speaker
He had to find himself, didn't he, again. After a tough spell in Scotland with Rangers, he went to Sunderland in a championship and he seemed to get his career back on track and now he's firmly established himself into the Manchester United first team to the point where he's one of the most important, one of the most crucial players. And I think what's noticeable are the goals he has scored. They've all been important goals, haven't they? He's not scoring the third or fourth goal in a Manchester United route. He's often scoring the equalizer or the goal that ends up winning them the game. And that's the testament to his character.
00:14:17
Speaker
but yeah we don't see Manchester United routes do we even when they are winning games it's generally unconvincing and even in the Europa League game against Rangers it was a stoppage time winner and their first goal well it was more than a helping hand wasn't it from Jack Butler and so they're well below par aren't they they are still fighting in Europe they're still fighting in the FA Cup but seeing them where they are in a league, it is unacceptable for a club of that stature and they should be doing much better than they are. There's a lot of transfer talk involved in certain players at the club, whether we'll see them beyond this month, who knows. I know Alejandro Gannacho, he's one that's currently being rumoured, rumours surrounding him, moves possibly to Napoli or Chelsea. You've got Marcus Rashford, we don't know what his future holds there.
00:15:04
Speaker
It's a strange situation with Marcus Rashford because when Amorim first came, he seemed like he was back on track again. It was the kickstart to his career he needed under a new manager and he was going to start firing again. But then all of a sudden he's out of the team, he's out of the picture and now we don't quite know what's going to happen next.
00:15:23
Speaker
ah If I was advising the player, I would tell him to move. It's obviously difficult for a local lad, a guy who's grown up, he's been part of the furniture at Manchester United since he was a young boy, so it's probably tough tougher for him to move away than it is for someone who's not been in that setup for such a long time. He's 27 years of age now and he needs to get his career back on track.
00:15:44
Speaker
So I would advise him to look for a new adventure. There's others as well. Anthony looks like he's on the yeah the way out as well. Pound for pound in terms of Premier League signings, that's got to be the worst of all time. Which has kind of been the story with Manchester United and their recruitment and their signings when they've arrived. Many of them arriving for big money and just under delivering. It seems like it's a place where They struggle to flourish and it almost seems like it is a graveyard for new players. I was watching the Southampton game in Euro. I'm not going to write the player off because he is young and he can improve. As as I said with Ahmad Diallo, it didn't happen all at once. He has had an injury but
00:16:25
Speaker
on that evidence you'd be concerned absolutely if they do bring in new players in the last week 10 days then you hold your breath because given the past history the most recent history of what's gone on it's no guarantee that they're going to be an improvement going to be an upgrade on what they currently have 22 games gone and the fact that Fulham could go 10 points ahead of them after this weekend illustrates how far away they are from where they want to be and Yes they can win the FA Cup, yes they can win the Europa League but for me that just papers over
League vs Cup Performance
00:16:58
Speaker
the cracks. If they were to get into the Champions League via winning the Europa League I don't think everyone should be
00:17:05
Speaker
s singing and dancing at the end of the season. Yes, it's great to have a trophy, but if you finish 13th, 14th, 15th, you're so far away from the club that was winning titles season after season. However, despite the poor form and the inconsistencies we've seen, they have won trophies in the last couple of seasons. There's some other big clubs that would have loved to have done that, but there's no doubt in my mind, they're a long way away.
00:17:32
Speaker
From where they want to get to and there just seems underlying problems at that club Doesn't matter who the manager is or what players they bring in There just seems to be continual problems and it doesn't seem like it's a quick fix, does it? So I think for Manchester United fans, you're going to have to suffer a little bit more until the good times are well and truly back. But that's enough about Manchester United.
Match Expectations & Lineup Analysis
00:17:55
Speaker
In the final part, I'll be taking a closer look at this fixture and giving my prediction on where the match may be won or lost. But before then, let me draw your attention to the Global Sports Podcast Network.
00:18:08
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 rapid broadcast in five different languages, it's your one stop shop for your daily football fix. Find GSPN wherever you find your usual podcasts. Do Fulham come into this game as favourites?
00:18:33
Speaker
This is a question I asked the guys on the daily Manchester United podcast when I was doing the crossover episode and I feel like they gave me a reluctant yes. I think it is relevant because it probably would represent the first time Fulham have ever gone into a Premier League game against Manchester United as the favourites and they do look a better team than them. They are higher in the table than them and if you were to just look at both teams You would say Fulham are the better team right at this moment in time. Of course that doesn't necessarily the mean they're going to go on to win the game. Manchester United are a quicker team. They have shown in some of the games against the bigger teams they can raise the game for the occasion and they do have individual players that can produce moments of magic even if as a team they don't necessarily put in a great scintillating performance over the course of 90 minutes.
00:19:19
Speaker
What Fulham do have in their favour heading into this one is they do have an extra few days recovery with Manchester United playing late on Thursday, hence the late kick off here and a lot of the players that played in that game you would imagine would start this one as well.
00:19:34
Speaker
with that being said it's probably worth making a note of Manchester United's results after their European exertions and it's not actually as bad as you probably may think you could even say it's better than what their regular results are so after the European games they've won three drawn one and lost two so maybe that does dispel the theory about playing Thursday Sunday I always think when people say that about the Europa League you haven't to play Thursday Sunday I always think that's a ready-made excuse and it's a cop-out for players so if you do lose it it's just easy to say oh it was tiredness because we were playing in Europe and
00:20:07
Speaker
as players you shouldn't really buy into that. So yeah, read into that what you will. It's not necessarily a massive advantage that Fulham do have the extra few days recovery. If we look at the Fulham team and what they're likely to go in with for this game, I think what we saw in the last outing against Leicester is the blueprint for what we need to see in the coming games. And it was so great to see Sander Berger back in the team and back to his best. It was like he'd never been away. A war did man the match and rightfully so.
00:20:38
Speaker
he was just a reassuring presence back in the heart of midfield there and i said it after the game that he's one of those players i think he makes every player around him feel more comfortable and assured in their own performance we saw sasa lukage had a slightly different role he was given license to roam forward a bit more than he has been recently so i think from a full and point of view i would like to see them go in with the same team obviously alex awoe was forced off at half time Hopefully he's been on the mend, he's had his lemsip and he's been tucked up in beds and hopefully he's rarely raring to go for this one on the weekend. I also think it's relevant to bring up Emil Smith-Roe as well and can't underestimate the importance and impact of that goal it was for him against Leicester and
00:21:20
Speaker
credit to him as well because he was ah it was a brave header to get Fulham in front in that game and he's had a little bit of a difficult time recently has attracted some criticism but I think Marco Silva said that he hasn't felt so confident he's had a bit of an injury and maybe that's been playing on his mind what's gone on in the past the injuries that held him back at Arsenal so hopefully that goal will just give him that confidence that he needs and he can get and get back to the player we were seeing in the early weeks of the season.
00:21:48
Speaker
One of the fascinating duels in this game will centre around Fulham's left side, which is also probably Manchester United's strongest side at this moment with Amadiello being their foreign player, but hopefully, for a Fulham perspective, Robertson and the Willoughby can combine well as they have done for large parts of this season and they can limit Amadiello's attacks and his far-rays forward, ask him to defend more than he's allowed to attack.
00:22:16
Speaker
I feel like watching Manchester United games, you can certainly get at them. You know, i I've spoken about that game against Southampton where was it was eye-opening, we're talking about one of the worst teams in Premier League history and they ran them absolutely ragged for an hour and thanks to Ahmad Diallo, they you were able to get out of jail there and Fulham can take confidence and from games like that and just what we've seen for the for the whole course of the season and I think if Fulham are at it, then they can absolutely blow this Man United team away.
00:22:45
Speaker
but you do have to be wary. They do have players in their ranks that can produce moments of magic. Even though for 90 minutes they can seem a bit disjointed and you wonder what their set
Home Game Challenges
00:22:56
Speaker
patterns of play are. They seem to just play in sporadic moments and rely on inspirational moments maybe from Bruno Fernandes or an armour to win them the game.
00:23:07
Speaker
Fulham will be keen to arrest this mini slump at Craven Cottage. There's nothing been too dramatic. I think they've just been drawing a few too many games than they would have liked. They'll be eager not only to make it back to back wins, but to get that wheeling feeling back at home. United on the other hand, they've only won two games away all season, which illustrates the problems they've had because we know their home form hasn't been good either.
00:23:33
Speaker
and It's actually the last in a run of games where you look at it on paper you feel like full of them have got a good chance of getting points and I've said it a few times how they seem to have struggled against the teams in the bottom half of the table But I seem to raise the games for the teams in the top half of the table It's kind of strange now, isn't it? You talk about a game against Manchester United, it's one of those games you look at on paper and you think, we've got a great chance of getting points now. And in that run of games, they've had Ipswich at home, Bournemouth at home. Bournemouth obviously proved they're not an easy game for anyone, followed by West Ham away and Leicester away. And they are only able to manage to win the last one. So they can end this little five-game run.
00:24:09
Speaker
with another win then it'll give them confidence going into those tricky games at least on paper against the likes of Newcastle and not in the forest who obviously fly and then having ambitions of Champions League football. So what is my prediction for the game? As I said I think if Fulham are at it then they can absolutely blow this United team out of the water but sometimes their problem has been being clinical which Marco Silva has made reference to a lot of times however I haven't said that they have scored two goals in each of the last five games so that's nothing to be sniffed at and they always carry a threat going forward just the two blanks this season one of them against Manchester United but but it is cautious optimism going into this game I think
00:24:59
Speaker
Fulham fans, they've seen it before, haven't they? Going into games where the opposition are written off and you going as ah strong favourites and I almost feel like Fulham as a club enjoy the underdog tag a little bit more. So it is a different feeling going into a game against Manchester United when outsideers expect you to win. But you've got to be able to deal with that, haven't you? And I think the one thing playing against Manchester United compared to so many other clubs I don't think Manchester United would necessarily give them the respect that likes of Southampton and Ipswich have had where they've got men behind the ball and played with that low block and Fulham have sometimes at least from open play have found it difficult to score against those sides.
Match Predictions & Conclusion
00:25:38
Speaker
If Fulham's decision making is right and they can be clinical in front of the goal then
00:25:43
Speaker
I can see this being a successful night for Fulham and be able to claim that scalp of Manchester United which is probably not as big winning against Manchester United this season or last season just because they used to lose in a lot more games but they're still a massive club and any time you can get one over on them is always good for the fans and is always met with great pleasure so my prediction is 2-1 to Fulham And I'm going to go for Emil Smith row to carry on that form from last week, notch himself another goal here. And I think the other goal scorer will be Harry Wilson. Let's go for the Welsh wizard. So for them to win 2-1, make it back-to-back victories and head into that tough run of fixtures with a bit of confidence. And the belief that they can haul in so many other teams in front of them
00:26:34
Speaker
and maybe talk about Europe, which was a bit premature. Maybe that can become a bit more realistic. But as long as Fulham can cut out the silly stuff that we've seen, then I fancy them to get the three points here. That'll do it for today's forecast Friday episode. Thank you all once again for listening and I will be back for your match review Monday to recap all the events from this fixture. Hope to catch you all for that. See you then.
00:27:04
Speaker
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