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Feeling the blues
0 Playsin 4 hours
Gavin looks back on the West London derby as Fulham's hopes of a double over Chelsea were ended in dramatic fashion.
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Transcript
Fulham's Weekend Disappointment
00:00:01
Speaker
Every club. Every day. The Global Sports Podcast Network. Hello and welcome back to the Daily Fulham Podcast. We are brought to you by the Global Sports Podcast Network, the best place to find your fix of all things Premier League and women's football.
00:00:18
Speaker
My name is Gavin Ruffell and for 83 minutes on Sunday afternoon, it was looking like a very good Easter weekend for Fulham. They look destined to claim their first ever double over Chelsea.
00:00:29
Speaker
But this sport has got a funny way of biting you up the bum and that's precisely what happened here. As usual on a Monday I'm going to try my best to break it all down for you. Once again it was a bounce back mission for Fulham as they tried to keep up the sequence of winning one and losing one.
00:00:46
Speaker
Not the sort of sequence you do want, but probably the best game after that defeat on Monday to come into with the caveat of possibly inflicting the double over their West London and rivals.
Lineup Changes and Match Start
00:00:56
Speaker
There were changes for Fulham following that defeat on the South Coast. One I was particularly pleased to see, one I campaigned for in the preview, which was to see Kenny Tetty back at right back. We know he's been back for a couple of games now.
00:01:07
Speaker
Saw some minutes against Liverpool, didn't see any action against Bournemouth, but he is the best right back in the club. So he took his place in the start in 11. I'm sure everyone was delighted to see that. Less delight, however, was to see Rodrigo Muniz out of the squad.
00:01:20
Speaker
Took a bit of a knock in the Bournemouth game, so he wasn't available. Emile Smith-Rowe was the other player that dropped out. So going along with the Tete change for Castaño, we saw Jimenez coming in for Rodrigo Muniz straight swap. Also, we saw Harry Wilson for the first time in a matchday squad since the defeat to Manchester United.
00:01:38
Speaker
in January. Chelsea on other hand wanting to bounce back themselves after that disappointing defeat on Thursday in the Europa League despite getting through the tie.
00:01:49
Speaker
Booz at full time as they lost at home to Legia at Warsaw and they looked sluggish to begin with. Fulham made the better start out of the two sides for the first 10 minutes. It was a lot of Fulham pressure. There was an aggressive mindset, good intent.
00:02:04
Speaker
Passing was crisp and incisive. Fulham do have the ball in a net. After couple of minutes, it's bundled home from Andreas Pereira, but it is ruled out straight away for an offside as Ryan Sasson is found to have drifted beyond the last defender.
00:02:19
Speaker
In the build-up to the goal, Chelsea really struggled in that initial ten fifty minutes of the game, but They did start to find something of a foothold after weathering that early storm.
00:02:30
Speaker
couple of dangerous crosses coming in from either side but Nicholas Jackson wasn't quite able to get himself on the end of them. Maybe just indicative of the players lack of confidence and his lack of success in front of goal.
00:02:41
Speaker
But there was an open field to the game despite no clear cut chances in the first 15 minutes or so.
Fulham Takes the Lead
00:02:46
Speaker
He felt that the goals would come and that's exactly what happened. Fulham take the lead in the 20th minute. And it's what's interesting about this goal is that just prior to this, Awobi and Sessignon had switched flanks just for a couple of minutes.
00:02:58
Speaker
Not sure why Marco Silva decided to change it up, but that's what he does. And it looks a masterstroke as both players combine to score the opening goal. It comes from a turnover in the middle of Chelsea's half.
00:03:09
Speaker
Rhys James gets dispossessed by Sessegnon who just drives forward and then he plays a square ball into Iwobi. The other winger, his first touch he sets it outside to his left and he drills a low shot beyond Sanchez. 1-0 up and it was no more than Fulham deserved at that point.
00:03:25
Speaker
Despite not having any clear cut chances as I said before that, The way they had started the game, the pressure they put on Chelsea, the closing down, the pressing, it was a well-deserved goal.
00:03:36
Speaker
Great credit to Ryan Sessegnon for his involvement in it, not just being able to dispossess Rhys James, but having the wearable, getting his head up to see Iwobi to his right, playing ball inch perfectly for him.
00:03:48
Speaker
and Nwobi finishes it emphatically. And there was a lot to like throughout the first half from Fulham. The movement was good. They were zipping the ball around with a purpose. And you certainly felt that more goals would come if they could keep up that same level of intensity that they were showing.
00:04:03
Speaker
I think maybe the one blot on the copybook was maybe Raul Jimenez. Raul Jimenez back in the start in XI. He didn't quite look so sharp. Maybe things broke down a little bit when he had the ball. But everyone else around him were doing their jobs. The defence were doing their jobs.
00:04:18
Speaker
Andres Pereira was putting himself about, showing great enthusiasm. Just to pit up on that first half display from Fulham. Ryan Session on. When he had to do his defensive duties, he did them. And what was interesting after the goal is how Sessegnon and Iwobi immediately switched back. So it was just a three or four minute tactical change to put those players on the opposite side. And it and it and it worked. It had his desired effect, didn't it?
00:04:42
Speaker
Bernd Leno wasn't really troubled throughout that first half. There's a couple of half chances as a Rhys James free kick. Cole Palmer striked from distance, but they were straight at him. Nothing too troubling. And Fulham go into the interval with one-goal lead, of course, at that stage.
00:04:57
Speaker
The game's not done
Uncertainty as Chelsea Presses
00:04:58
Speaker
and dusted. It's still in the balance. You are aware of the Chelsea threat and the attacking players they have, even though they haven't necessarily been in top form lately. But you just feel if they can keep up that level of intensity, then it bodes well. The Omens are good for them to hopefully go on to maybe score more goals in the second half and get that win.
00:05:17
Speaker
And I'll talk you through the second half action shortly, but before then, just a quick word about our sponsors. Here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform.
00:05:29
Speaker
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00:05:42
Speaker
If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description to learn more about Zencastr. There's no doubt that Enzo Maresca would have wanted more, that he would have demanded more. Probably going in at half-time, he must have had stern words with his team because he made two changes.
00:05:57
Speaker
We saw Gusto and Sancho come on for Rhys James and Madweke. Jadon Sancho, of course, if you remember, he came on to rescue that point against Ipswich in the previous game. And Chelsea, they did start the second half with positivity.
00:06:11
Speaker
Whatever he said at half-time, it did seem to have some sort of effect on him because they really penned Fulham in for that first five or ten minutes or so. There was much more aggression from Chelsea. They were closing down better. They were first to loose balls.
00:06:23
Speaker
There was more of a crispness about their passing. And Fulham, they had to weather a bit of a storm early on. Although, having said that again, there weren't so many clear-cut chances. There was a chance for Neto.
00:06:34
Speaker
Comes from Nicholas Jackson, who's got his back to goal. He does look offside, but no flags given. He plays it into Neto and is a low strike, but Leno... He's equal to it. Again, a shot you would expect him to save.
00:06:45
Speaker
So having weather that early storm, Fulham were picking their moments and when they would attack, they didn't carry the same level of intensity in the second half because they'd given so much in the first half. So it's probably unsurprising that they couldn't quite match that level.
00:07:00
Speaker
Jimenez, I think the question was, as the half unfolded, was how long he would last and maybe the fact that he didn't have Rodrigo Munez The call upon influenced his decision in deciding to keep Raul Jimenez on for longer than he ordinarily would. But the first change does come around the 70 minute mark.
00:07:19
Speaker
After Ryan Sessignon's down for a couple of minutes, he's receiving treatment. And I think that came at a good time for Fulham just to have that little break in play. I feel they could really benefit from that. Get their breath back, reassess things and kind of take the sting out of the game.
00:07:34
Speaker
Sessignon to this point he had put in a ah really good shift so maybe he was just feeling the effects of that so the changes we did see initially was Tom Kearney coming on for Sassolukic. Sassolukic covered a lot of ground in the game and it was certainly one of the better performances we've seen from him recently so Ryan Sessignon did actually stay on momentarily after receiving treatment.
00:07:58
Speaker
So as the half kind of wore on, Chelsea weren't carrying that same threat as they did in the initial five or ten minutes after the restart. Fulham just had them at arm's length. Chelsea were dominating in terms of possession, in terms of territory, but nothing too threatening. They weren't peppering Fulham's goals, not like Bernd Leno was forcing to save after save.
00:08:17
Speaker
Meanwhile, if Fulham were to get that second goal, then surely you would feel that that would be the one that clinches it. Chelsea do make changes. Nicholas Jackson comes off and the youngster Tyreek George comes on. At the same time, Fulham also make changes, which sees Harry Wilson make a welcome return.
00:08:34
Speaker
Of course, if you remember back to this fixture at Stamford Bridge, he came on to score the equaliser then. So he came on replacing Sessignon and the other change saw Timothy Castagna come on for Kenny Tete.
00:08:47
Speaker
Instantly, Harry Wilson's involved, fouled straight away by Kukurea, wins a free kick high up for which Kukurea is booked. And it's just all about game management for Fulham.
00:08:58
Speaker
But... Whilst they had Chelsea at bay, they hadn't put the game to bed. And at 1-0, it's still a dangerous lead, isn't it? And Chelsea get their goal. And it comes from a mistake coming from Robinson again. He was at fault for the first goal, the costly goal against Bournemouth. And he's at fault here to a large degree.
00:09:17
Speaker
Ball chipped into the box, not with any great menace. I think it's Neto who controls it on his chest. But it doesn't look to be any great degree of danger. that is until robinson dangles a lazy foot out and in doing so just cushions it down for the substitute george to strike first time but you've got to tip your hat to the young lad it does fall to him nicely but it's still really well taken no hesitation just puts his laces through it very instinctive finish He's not dwelt on it.
00:09:44
Speaker
He just looks to make good contact. It's on target. Leno dives, but he's well beaten. Really good finish. Unfortunate for Robinson because up until that point, he had a really good game. Much better game than the one we saw on Monday. But one mistake, it makes all the difference.
00:09:59
Speaker
Chelsea level, and now all of a sudden they're sensing that they can turn things around and even possibly get the winner. And from that point on, you wonder what we're going to see from Fulham. Are they going to try themselves to go for the winner? Or are they going to say point...
00:10:12
Speaker
isn't the worst possible result we see further changes for both sides adama traire is brought on as well as the lesser seen carlos vinicius will be the goal scorers off and jimenez comes off and to be honest for the majority of the second half
Chelsea's Comeback and Fulham's Struggles
00:10:29
Speaker
jimenez was flagging so if it was rodrigo muniz on the bench instead of carlos vinicius then i'm sure that change would have been made a lot sooner earlier is a change for chelsea as well gusto who has already come on as a a substitute he has to go off with a hamstring injury and he's replaced by the returning toss in tossson who got the reception you would expect on his return to craven cottage this sort of like tweak of the bat which meant that chalabar slotted in right back
00:10:55
Speaker
Trollery, when he came on, his decision-making was quite frankly baffling at times because there was a couple of times where Fulham were breaking forward, bearing in mind after 1-1 Chelsea with a team in the ascendancy, you would say. But Fulham did have a couple of counter-attacking moments.
00:11:11
Speaker
With the ball presented to Adama Trollery, there's one occasion where instead of running into space, he just runs into a cul-de-sac of players through the middle of the pitch. And then there was another occasion as well where he's running again through the middle and then he just runs offside. So he doesn't make himself available for an Andreas Pereira pass.
00:11:30
Speaker
So questionable decision making from him. It looks like the game's heading towards that draw as we go into stoppage time. Six minutes added on. But oh no.
00:11:41
Speaker
In the game at Stamford Bridge, it was Fulham who struck late to break Chelsea Hearts. This time it's Chelsea who strike late to break Fulham hearts.
00:11:52
Speaker
And it's a brilliant goal from Pedro Neto. But Fulham will be very disappointed with themselves in the build up to the goal. And Tom Kearney especially. He didn't cover himself in any glory.
00:12:03
Speaker
Initially he's done by a little bit of piece of skill. Just inside his own half. Then he allows Cole Palmer to twist and turn as he tries to make up for that error. Gives him time to pick out pass to Enzo Fernandes.
00:12:16
Speaker
who's just to the right of the penalty area. And then he fizzes one across for Pedro Neto. First touch gets it out to the side, swivels, and then bang, unleashes a ferocious shot. And it's past Ben Leno before he has any time to react. It's an absolute bullet smashing goal from a Chelsea perspective, but from a Fulham perspective, absolutely deflating. The game's been absolutely turned on its head.
00:12:40
Speaker
Massive goal for Chelsea and they are able to see the game out. And, uh, Who knows how important a goal that could be for them come the end of the season. Who knows how important a goal that could be from a Fulham perspective. And I will give my closing thoughts after this quick message.
00:12:56
Speaker
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00:13:16
Speaker
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00:13:27
Speaker
Don't settle for off-the-shelf solutions made for just anybody. Get what's right for you right now. Well, that brings an end to the win-lose, win-lose, win-lose, win-lose sequence. And at the end of the game, you're kind of wondering how on earth it's come to that. Because for 83 minutes, Fulham had performed really well, particularly in that first half. There was a lot of aggression and intent.
00:13:48
Speaker
They tried to impose themselves on Chelsea. They were closing down well. There was an incisiveness to their play. And they went into the interval with the deserved half-time lead. And as you would expect, Chelsea came out. There was a reaction from them. Fulham couldn't quite maintain that level. They had obviously spent a lot of energy into that first half. So it's understandable that they couldn't quite match that in the second half. But then it's all about game management, isn't it? And having to do the fundamentals well and defend really well, which I felt they did. Chelsea, granted, they did have dominance in terms of possession and territory in that second half.
00:14:22
Speaker
But it's not like they were peppering Bernd Leno's goal. And the back four in front of him gave him great protection. as did the two in midfield it was a really good display from Pereira as well with his closing down and general enthusiasm so every one of those players was performing putting a shift in the one that was maybe struggling a little bit looked like he was fatigued quite early on in the second half was Raul Jimenez and maybe that had something of an impact on the game that Fulham couldn't necessarily keep the ball didn't really have a focal point in the second half so they couldn't keep sustained pressure on Chelsea.
00:14:55
Speaker
I was a little bit surprised the change didn't come earlier, but i think that's because of Marco Silva's doubt in the substitute he did have. If if he had Moniz available, if he had him at his disposal, then I'm sure Jimenez would have come off a lot earlier, but he clearly doesn't have much trust in faith in Carlos Vinicius, which is why we saw Jimenez stay on for as long as he did.
00:15:16
Speaker
Having said that, i felt like Fulham managed the game pretty well and It's unfortunate the goal that Chelsea do score. It's another error
Analyzing Managerial Decisions
00:15:25
Speaker
from Anthony Robinson. And it proves fatal, doesn't it? It's a good finish from the young lad, George.
00:15:30
Speaker
And at that stage, 1-0, to be honest. With the balance of play, it was probably fair. I don't think you could have begrudged Chelsea that equalising goal. But at that moment, that's where you need to keep your heads, remain calm.
00:15:42
Speaker
And I feel at that stage, you've just got to take your medicine and say, you know what? A point's not a bad result here. Some of the other results over the weekend have gone our way. With Brighton losing, with Bournemouth unable to defeat a 10-man Crystal Palace, you come out of this game with a point, and at the same time that means Chelsea haven't defeated you this season. You can take the positives from that, along with the performance that we have seen for 83 minutes prior to that goal, but they end up losing the game, and Tom Kearney, I'm sure...
00:16:11
Speaker
he'll be majorly disappointed with the role he has to play in the second goal. there was a lot of talk about the substitutions and what impact they had and a lot of blame going on to Marco Silva for those substitutions.
00:16:21
Speaker
I fully understand the Castagne one for Kenny Tetty. I think what we saw from Kenny Tetty was what we were seeing before his injury. It was just a dependable, solid performance for him. One that we were getting week in, week out, seven, eight out ten every week.
00:16:36
Speaker
And on the evidence of what we had seen... It's clear that he is a better option than Timothy Castagne. So I can't attribute blame for that substitution. I think the other one that people are discussing and maybe less certain about is Tom Kearney coming on to replace Sasa Lukic. I would tend to agree with that.
00:16:55
Speaker
Marco Silva's kind of hinted at the reasons for bringing on Kearney in the second half he said it was to impose their game a little bit more on Chelsea to help build attacks and provide a bit of composure on the ball where they may have been lacking but ultimately it didn't prove to work out did it?
00:17:10
Speaker
It seemed a little bit of a strange one because Sasolukic, this was one of his better performances we've seen in recent times. Along with Sanderberger in that middle of the park, they were putting out fires and they covered a lot of ground throughout the game. So if you were going to take Sasolukic off, probably the one that was more like for like would be to bring Harrison Reid on. So to bring Keane on seemed a little bit of an odd one.
00:17:32
Speaker
Obviously, as a manager, you get judged on those decisions, don't you? And it it didn't work out in in Marco Silva's favour and Fulham made to suffer as Chelsea get that 93rd minute goal, which is it's a body blow, isn't it? And look, as I said, for 83 minutes, very positive performance, but everyone leaves that ground or whether they're watching on from afar.
00:17:51
Speaker
with just a ah sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, don't you? Because you've lost a game there that you feel like you had control of in terms of comfortability, not necessarily playing so well in the second half, but managing the game.
00:18:05
Speaker
And then it's just got out of hand, hasn't it? and And you can see the expression on Marco Silva's face at full time.
Chelsea's Resilience and Fulham's European Hopes
00:18:10
Speaker
He just looks a bit dumbfounded as to how the game has gotten away from them at the end. Afterwards, he did say a draw would have been a fair result, which I tend to agree with.
00:18:19
Speaker
He did say that a 1-1, perhaps the players got a little too emotional. However, there were some positives for him. he He spoke about how happy he was with the first half, but he felt that maybe they should have created more clear-cut chances.
00:18:31
Speaker
With regards to the second half, Found it quite interesting that he mentioned a lack of mobility which pushed them back and that it was difficult to maintain the same intensity that we saw in the opening 45 minutes.
00:18:43
Speaker
It's a big win for Chelsea at the same time, isn't it? Because if they had dropped points then then that could have been catastrophic for them. as far as their bid for Champions League football next season goes. so But you do have to give them some credit. In the last two games, they've overcome adversity coming from two goals down against Ipswich to rescue a point and coming from a goal down late on against Fulham to turn that around and get three points. So they've rescued four points from the last two games when it could have been zero.
00:19:07
Speaker
And that might have major consequences come the end of the season because it is so tight in that race for the last couple of Champions League spaces. For Fulham... It is a body blow in what is becoming now a tricky end to the season because that's now their fourth defeat in five in all competitions.
00:19:26
Speaker
And it almost seems in that little battle for Europe, that last remaining Europa Conference League spot, that nobody wants it because Brighton's form has really taken a nosedive. Bournemouth aside from that Fulham win they haven't done a lot recently and the team you probably have to be wary of now unfortunately coming from behind is Brentford Brentford still to play for them of course at the GTEC stadium so they all have vo ambitions of qualifying for Europe just on the basis of what they're seeing from the teams in front of them but Yeah, very disappointing afternoon. I do take the positives from this game in terms of the performance, but obviously that's not what people want to hear, is that people would rather grind out a 1-0 victory, one shot on goal, the opposition have battered you, but you've you've done a smash and grab and you've gone away with the three points, because that's the only thing that matters at the end of the day, isn't it? It's getting the points on the board, and it's another one that's got away from Fulham.
00:20:17
Speaker
where they were very close to securing that elusive double over Chelsea and getting past the 50-point mark, closing in on their record points tally, but it wasn't to be. We'll have to wait for them to secure that record points tally.
00:20:30
Speaker
Hopefully they do manage to achieve it, because if they don't manage to achieve it, then they'll almost certainly miss out on Europe. It would end the season on a bit of a bummer after what's been a really successful campaign for 75% of it. The players are going to be hurt and they're going to be down in the dumps.
00:20:43
Speaker
You always are when you lose a derby game, but particularly in that manner, it was roles reversed. What we saw at Stamford Bridge was Fulham come from behind to score two goals in the last 10 minutes, one in the 95th minute. And then Chelsea, they've done it themselves here, scoring that 83rd minute goal. And then Pedro Neto in the 93rd minute himself. and It was an emphatic finish for him, nothing that Bernd Leno could do.
00:21:03
Speaker
And yeah, I mean, who knows who knows how crucial that could be. For them, for Fulham, they go again next week against the basement side, Southampton. So they won't want to lose that one, will they?
00:21:14
Speaker
But yeah, not the result everyone would have been hoping for. Not the double everyone would have been hoping for. But you pick yourself up and you go again. Ready for that Southampton game next up.
00:21:28
Speaker
That'll do it for today's recap of the game at Craven Cottage Fulham going down to one to their West London rivals. Thank you all once again for listening and I'll catch you all very soon.
00:21:41
Speaker
Every club. Every day. The Global Sports Podcast Network.