LEEDS AWAY PREVIEW

Who would have thought it, three games in and we are 100% win perfect. But, it is not time to get carried away. The Championship is notoriously unpredictable, and we can look forwards to some upsets for and against. Slavisa still has, by his own admission, much squad building left to do, and although at times we look excellent, there are still periods where it is obvious we are not quite gelling. A great win at Preston, is followed closely by this second trip up north in 4 days. How the fixture computer manages to give us two long away trips in such a short of time is beyond me, but it is what it is. Whatever we think of professionals having to make two long journeys, it is still taxing. The hope is that so early in the season, the travelling will have little or no effect. Leeds is always a difficult place to go, and with their hostile fans it is important to silence them early on. These are volatile times at Elland Road, and the fans could quite easily turn on the team and the board. I am certain Slav and the team know this, and will look to deny them space and attacking opportunities.

Leeds United- 
Difficult to predict what to expect from them, as Garry Monk seems to be trying to build his own side. I,personally, have doubts about Monk's managerial quality. He took over at Swansea, using the team that Martinez built, and Swansea seemed to go backwards. He was a Swansea man through and through, and I have to wonder whether he will not be a carbon copy of Tim Sherwood. Only time will tell whether he can show his managerial quality away from the Liberty Stadium. There are rumours that their main striker Chris Wood may be dropped, but these are only rumours. They are likely to try and use width with Sako and Roofe both capable of causing problems. There aren't many household names in the rest of the Leeds team, and I , for one, will be glad if Stuart Dallas does not play as is predicted. Rob Green in goal is probably past his best and has always been prone to the odd calamity. I would expect to see Leeds start on the front foot, but we can hit them on the break with the pace of Aluko and Ayite.

Fulham-
Slav is likely to name an almost unchanged team, but don't be surprised to see Tunnicliffe start instead of Scotty Parker. He will probably stick with Smith up front, and depending on how the game pans out, Jozabed may get a debut from the bench. Don't be surprised to see the gaffer go with the same tactics as in the first two league games, playing 5 in midfield to take control allowing Aluko to join in upfront when he can. 

Prediction-
Leeds will probably come at us early on, but if we can take control of the midfield we can silence the crowd and instill some doubt in the Leeds players, who may be short on confidence after two straight league defeats. Leeds need a win, and even a draw may not be enough to please their fans. That can play into the whites' hands, as long as we stay calm and stick to our game. An early goal and we may see the Leeds team fall apart. The longer they go without scoring will only make them more nervous. If we play like we did in the first half at Preston, then I don't see Leeds winning this one. 

Score- 1-1, but with an early goal, 3-0 to Fulham.

In Slavisa we trust. COYWs. 

© Nic Smith

Gary's view- Preston trip August 13th

Match day 2, our first away game in the championship this season and it's Preston another ground to tick off my list  ive not done before, met up with Richard breeze at Euston  a proper legend fan he finished his night shift at  5am and off to the football  with me, loads of fulhamfc fans  on the 08:30 train going up was really hoping we put in a performance as good as last friday when we beat the geordies, had a chat with some Blackpool fans on the train believe it or not they travel from Kent and Portsmouth to follow their club.

So onto Preston and into the Old Vic pub opposite the station for a few beers where we met up with Sam whatley we then walked through Preston town centre to Deepdale the home of Preston North End and into the St Gregorys  Catholic social club  were we met Kevin Eston who had been there before you put a pound in the pot and they make you more than welcome was a great crack in there with the locals.

Let's get onto the game now  the gaffer picked the same team as per the Newcastle game other than bringing in  Super Scottty  Parker for Tunicliife which I personally think was a good shout, it's fair to say we dominated play and looked sharp and also solid at the back, and deservedly went into the lead just after the half hour with a scrambled effort from Aluko but who cares they all count, we almost doubled our lead just before half time with a Matt Smith header which was disallowed for a push.

Preston came out  in the second half on the front foot and for the first fifteen minutes gave our back four a lot to contend with , having said that we were coping well and in the 67th minute Tom  Cairney went on a mazy run and Matt Smith finished the move off with our second goal  2 nil Fulham, Preston did get a goal back just a few minutes later and  had a goal disallowed near the end but we deservedly held on for the points.

My man of the match for us would be between Kalas and Cairney both were standout in my opinion, we got back to Preston station for our  train back and it was a bonus to see the team were also on it for the journey back to London, all in all was a very enjoyable day out finishing the day level top of the championship on 6 points and looking much more organised than last season. ...onwards and upwards COYW.

© Gary Ware

UP NEXT: PRESTON. PREVIEW

Another Saturday, two wins, and the Fulham faithful beginning to believe in Slavisa. It all sounds positive and optimistic, but let's not get carried away yet. These are the bread and butter games of the Championship, games against mid table sides, where anything can happen. Preston showed last season that they are not just cannon fodder and nothing suggests that they will be cannon fodder this time round. Jozabed has finally signed for the whites, and all in all he appears to be the type of player Slavisa needs. Creative, energetic and ambitious, he will definitely give 110% for us.

Preston North End-
Grayson is a wily old coach and knows his way around this league. Don't expect tiki taka football from a Grayson team however. Preston are likely to have a high work rate in a team that will be defensively and midfieldwise well organized. Last season they were difficult to beat, and this season should be more of the same. The only household names are Beckford, Pringle and Lindergard. Beckford is the nearly man, after a brilliant early career he didn't cut it in the Prem., and now finds himself as not much more than an average Championship striker. But, we shouldn't be fooled by that, as he is still capable of being in the right place at the right time, and he is still an excellent finisher. FFC fans will hope that Pringle does not show his best form otherwise we may be ruing selling him. Overall, i would expect Preston to try and wear us down with their organization, and we will need to be wary of set pieces as this is how many of their goals arrive.

Fulham-
Slavisa knows how he wants us to play, and the players seem to understand his system. It is unlikely that new signing Jozabed will start, but with Slavisa anything is possible. Realistically, we can expect to see the same team who turned out against Newcastle, with the only possible change coming up front. Preston's back four is not the quickest, so I would expect Woodrow or Aluko to be used to test their lack of pace at some time. Whether Slavisa starts with Smith or Woodrow is the only possible surprise, in my opinion. I doubt Slavisa will ask the team to be too cautious as it won't suit his style of play. I expect the same ratio of caution and adventure that we showed against Newcastle. 

Prediction-
This is not going to be a very high scoring game, and I expect a midfield battle in the first half. If Fulham score early on, then I can see the boys playing on the break and going on to win the game. If Preston score early on, then they will defend and it will be up to Fulham to break them down. If Preston have not scored in the first half, I can't see them winning the game, as it is not natural for them to press forward and leave gaps at the back for Ayite and Aluko to exploit with their pace.
Predicted score: 1-1, or a possible 2-0 win for Fulham if they score in the first half. 

In Slavisa we trust. COYWs.

© Nic Smith

SLAV'S PROJECT, OR NECESSITY?

Two games into the season and the FFC faithful are buzzing. But what can we all make of this start to the season? Friday's excellent win over the Geordies, saw a solid and composed performance from the team. There are so many positives to take from that performance against what is essentially a team full of Premier league players. And last night a totally different team beating Orient, to take us into the next round of the League Cup. This writer was not at last night's game and had to listen to the radio commentary. But, by all accounts it was a good first 65 minutes from the youngsters, helped by 3 or 4 senior players. If you look on social media there are still some moaners,  saying things like "same old Fulham, letting in goals near the end" etc. I, for one, can't agree with that, as we should remember that these days this competition is not important for teams from the top two divisions. The money on offer in the Prem. is too big a carrot, for clubs with the ambition of FFC, and risking first team players in this cup, is a risk not worth taking. We should also remember that in pre season Slavisa used many of these youngsters to blood them. Slav, clearly, has a system that he wants to instil right throughout the club, and watching these youngsters in a competitive match, will not only help him, but it will help the youngsters to learn the system. Some of these youngsters will break through at some stage, so for Sessegnon, Edun, Adeniran, and even Woodrow, it is good to give them much needed game time. They were bound to tire near the end, and the experience of having to hold out for a win, should be a good lesson to be learned. Strolling, impressively, into a 3-0 lead, against one of the favourites for the 2nd division title, should be the positive to take from this game.
Back to social media, and we see fans bemoaning the lack of signings, despite Slavisa's assurances that players are lined up, and signings are very close. I very much doubt that such a meticulous coach as Slavisa, is going to sign players for the sake of it. He will place strict criteria on the type of player he wants, and that takes time. We should also realize that just because we think a certain player should be at FFC, that player may choose another option. The perfectionist Serbian says he needs 4 or 5 players to make his side competitive in the marathon of the Championship, and we should be in no doubt that come the end of August he will get what he wants. At the moment we have 15 or 16 players who have the experience, plus some very promising youngsters, so we can probably afford to be a little patient until the season really kicks in. Slavisa has his project and I have total faith in this man to take us forward. Don't be surprised to see some signings in the next couple of weeks, don't be surprised if we haven't heard of them, and don't be surprised if they are very shrewd acquisitions who will become our favourites. After all, many of us were saying "Ayite, who?", "Odoi, who?". 
In Slavisa we trust.

© Nic Smith

FFC 1 NUFC 0. PERFECT

You can feel the adrenaline inside your body as match day arrives at the start of the season. Especially when you are playing the favourites and nobody gives you a  cat in hell's chance. We all share the same thoughts "will the defence hold strong?", "what about the new boys? how will they adapt?", "was pre-season a false dawn?, and so on, and so on. That is the feeling us long suffering Fulham fans feel, and for all of that, it brings us closer together, as a family. 
Jumping off the bus in Putney, I see the black and white striped clad Geordies, walking around like they own the place. So what if there are 7000 of them, and so what if they think it is going to be a walk in the park? 
First stop is the Railway, a couple of beers and chats with a few strangers wearing our badge with pride. Sadly, a few arrogant Geordies ruin the atmosphere with their tuneless, monotonous singing. So, time to leave and head to the Golden Lion where I know there will be no Geordies. One beer later, and mood improved, time to get to the Cottage. Wonderful to see the masses again, reminding us of the Prem. era. You could feel the sense of anticipation in the air, and even some optimism as "Slavisa's black and white army" took to the field. The FFC faithful were magnificent, getting behind the lads from the off. To be fair, it was a cagey affair to begin with, with typical Rafa tactics of trying to play keep ball. But, that was all it was, keep ball without really going anywhere. But, let's not take away anything from our boys, they kept their shape, and fought for everything. McDonald and Tunners protecting the back four, and McDonald looking to turn defence into attack at every opportunity. "Big Kev" looked impressive and composed, whilst Tunners did the donkey work getting everywhere. Newcastle's only outlet seemed to be, to play over the top and use the pace of Gayle and Perez. The imperious Kalas and Madl were too solid and apart from Odoi getting caught out of position, a couple of times, there was no real threat. A penalty appeal against Tunners, for handball, was debatable, but hey, luck evens itself out, and we were due some luck. At the other end we looked sharp moving the ball quickly and using width. Cairney, Ayite and Aluko were given the freedom to roam and it looks like with a few more games we are going to cause big problems in that area. Cairney as always was phenomenal with Ayite not far behind. The goal came at the end of the first half, and what an expertly placed header it was from Smith when a lot of players would have gone for power. The fact that Newcastle's defence may have well as been in the dressing room shouldn't detract from Smith's technique. 
The second half was much of the same, until the last 25 minutes when Benitez decided to be a bit more positive. Ritchie came more into the game, but one shot which Button judged well, as the ball swerved wickedly, was the only real open chance they had. At the other end Fulham were still rotating and Cairney seemed to be everywhere. It looked like we were getting arrogant, as perfectly epitomized by Odoi with his audacious piece of skill, turning his back on the ball to flick it over the defender with his shoulder. With a little bit of luck, we may have nicked another, but when the final whistle blew, a well deserved standing ovation greeted our heroes.
MOM- Cairney, but only just from 10 others.
Moment of the match- Odoi's audacious flick.

So that was it, as we left the ground on a high, and we headed off back to the Fox and Hounds for a couple of celebratory drinks. Strange now that the Geordies were silent and it was the FFC faithful who were displaying a little arrogance, and why not? And just to top the evening off we were asked to leave the Railway, by the "Big Bad Wolves" (bouncers) for singing "We are top of the league". A brilliant start to the new season. COYWs.

© Nic Smith

FULHAM V NEWCASTLE UTD. PREVIEW

Finally the much awaited first game of the season has arrived. So what can we expect? The favourites coming to the Cottage expecting to romp through the Championship, steamrollering all in their path? I, for one, don't think so. So, let's look at Newcastle. Granted, they have kept many of their squad from last season, but so did Hull and they sneaked into the automatic promotion spot. It should be remembered that for most of last season, they were awful, with many critics saying that they had too many good players to go down. But, the plain fact is that they did go down. There was some improvement when Benitez came in, but they still went down. Whether Benitez knows enough about the Championship is open to debate, but nobody can deny his acumen as a coach. His main problem may be in how he adapts his style of football to the rough and tumble of this league. 
Newcastle United-
Most pundits suggest that there may be some defensive problems with Newcastle, although the acquisition of Kieran Clarke may alleviate some of those frailties. Whether Clarke plays tonight, or not, we should remember that he was part of an awful Aston Villa side last season. Janmaat is probably their most experienced defender, and he likes to get forward, so it may be a case of keeping him busy defensively which should be the job of Ayite. Midfield is where the Geordies look strongest, with Anita and Shelvey expected to do much of the hard work. Shelvey has undoubted quality on his day, but Liverpool didn't fancy him, and he hardly set the world alight at Swansea. Ahead of these two are likely to be Perez, Ritchie and Aarons. Perez is a conundrum, as he can either be brilliant or totally anonymous, but he could be the game changer tonight. Ritchie signed from Bournemouth, could also be a game changer, but I always worry about players who overachieved under one manager, as he did with Bournemouth. My point here is, that Howe built a team at Bournemouth and did so excellently, but are some of those players as good when taken out of that team? Time will tell, if Ritchie has the quality to transfer his quality to a new system. Up front will be Gayle, who has undoubted talent. My worry, if I was Toon fan, would be the amount of playing time he got last season under Pardew at Palace. Talent doesn't disappear, but it may take him some time to get up and running. Although the Geordie fans will expect their team to go flying forward, i would expect a more cautious approach from Benitez, as can be seen from his time at Liverpool. 

Fulham-
If Button is recovered we should expect him to start in goal, especially with Betts injured. The defence will likely be Odoi, Madl, Kalas, and Sessignon, but Jokanovic may just go with Stearman above Sessegnon, purely for experience. This defence looks much better, and more positionally aware than last season, so I would not expect too much Keystone Kops' defending. Midfield is where the battle needs to be won, so we can probably expect Parker and McDonald to sit, with McDonald's passing ability running the midfield. Cairney, Ayite and Aluko will be expected to join the attack where possible with Aluko becoming an occasional striker. Whether Jokanovic goes with Smith or Woodrow, could be decisive. I would go with Smith to bully the defence allowing Aluko, Cairney and Ayite to pick up the scraps. Although, there is talk that Slavia may go with both Cauley and Smith, I think he will prefer to win the midfield with 5 men in it. Fulham need to start of the front foot and hustle the Magpies, disrupting any game plan Benitez has put in place.

Prediciton-
I think we are likely to see a tactical first half, almost like a game of chess, as Benitez is not known for throwing caution to the wind. This is where Fulham need to keep their shape, win the midfield, and push on when opportunities arrive. Kalas and Madl will need to keep a close eye on Gayle, as if we push to far forward, Newcastle are likely to look to use Gayle's pace. If it is 0-0 at half time, I would expect much of the same in the first 15 minutes of the second half. Much will depend on whether Benitez is going to be happy coming away with a draw or whether he goes for it in the last half hour. Slavisa knows what he expects and may just be a little more adventurous, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him go two up front in the second half. If Fulham get an early goal we are likely to see an open game, but if Newcastle score early on, we can expect them to try and hit us on the counter attack. Playing Newcastle early on is a godsend for Fulham and we may just surprise the bookies, and the pundits. Probably 1-1 is the best bet, but 2-1 to the Whites is also likely, in my opinion.
Whatever happens the Whites' fans need to get behind the team, as this is only one of 46 games. COYWs. IN SLAVISA WE TRUST.

© Nic Smith

CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW- FULHAM

With the season only one day away, it is time to have an objective look at where FFC are. What can the long suffering Fulham fans expect this coming season? With Ross McC finally sold, the pessimism amongst some fans has already surfaced. How long before some of our fans turn on Slavisa? I don't think that Slavisa will get too much criticism from the average fan, but there will always be that small minority who would moan if we didn't win the Champions League every year. The bigger reality is that the fans will start blaming Khan and the board, but that will be mainly on social media, as for all the rebellious talk our fans don't do protests in the manner of Leeds fans. 
So, what can we expect? Slavisa is the man for this club and given the right backing he will take the club forward. In the summer there had to be a clear out, and with 10 or 11 players gone, we should have expected to see a minimum of 12 replacements. So far there has been 7, but, with a month left in the transfer window, expect at least 4 new arrivals. The late arrivals will need time to bed in, so for the start of the season we can expect the current squad to make up team selection. The defence looks much more solid with Madl being clearly a class act, and Kalas guaranteed to be a Premier league star in the future. In front of the defence there is likely to be two holding midfield players and I would expect that to be McDonald and one of Parker or Tunnicliffe. Ayite will give us pace and width, with Cairney and Aluko alternating in the number 10 role although I would expect Aluko to be further forward. The problem lies up front with Smith being a target man at best. Surely it must be time for Woodrow to be given a decent run of games, and the high regard with which he is thought of in the England set up suggests that his day will come. Humphries is one for the future and may get some game time this season. The next week will let us know if we have a new CF in place, so guessing who will be our main striker is a lottery.
In three weeks time we will know where FFC stand with regards to the coming season. A tough 4 opening games means that we will either be fearing another relegation battle, or getting carried away. Newcastle are the favourites and getting this game out of the way nice and early may just be a blessing in disguise. They may not be in their full stride and we may just get a win. Preston away is always difficult and their improvement last term means they will be difficult to beat. Then comes the conundrum that is Leeds. We don't know what we will get, and Gary Monk may have been a Swan through and through, but he could be another Tim Sherwood, who has the passion for his own club but cannot transfer coaching skills to another club. Cardiff at home completes this sequence, and their ambition means they will be tough to beat. Much will depend on these 4 games as far as confidence goes. 
Pre-season showed that FFC were preparing for life without Ross McC, and there were many positives to take from those games. At home against a near full strength Palace showed that there is much more organization and shape to the team, so we should not see the amount of goals conceded being anywhere near as high as last year. Goals for may be a bigger problem, however Middlesborough showed last season that you don't need to have the leading scorer to do well in the Championship. I expect Aluko to be the star, and depending on who we sign, expect goals from midfielders. Realistically a mid table finish will be what we should be expecting, but I have a funny feeling that Slavisa will take us to just outside the play-offs.

© Nic Smith