A blog of two halves

Fulham get hit by a West Brom and Leicester 1-2 punch

In October 1976, four years before Whites’ manager Scott Parker was born, Fulham travelled to Bolton for a fractious League Cup tie.

4 February 2021
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Ruben Loftus-Cheek of Fulham looks dejected during the Premier League match with Leicester City. PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES

In October 1976, four years before Whites’ manager Scott Parker was born, Fulham travelled to Bolton for a fractious League Cup tie.

Fulham striker John Mitchell gave a post-match interview and said: “It was very physical. Their defender Allardyce hit me with a left hook, and I thought my jaw had been broken.”

Last Saturday, Big Sam delivered two further heavy punches (legitimately this time) when Fulham visited West Bromwich Albion.

It had all begun so well. With a fit-looking Aleksandar Mitrovic back in the starting XI and interacting with Ademola Lookman, the team attacked from the first minute and took the lead almost immediately.

Mitro and Lookman set up Bobby DeCordova, who scored with his usual flair. The duo then gave Ruben Loftus-Cheek a similar opportunity, which Sam Johnstone easily foiled. After DeCordova narrowly missed doubling the lead, Allardyce withdrew his centre back Dara O’Shea replacing him with Kyle Bartley. Despite this change Fulham still tore through the home defence.

For the second half Allardyce sent on the newly arrived Mbaye Diagne, instructing the team to ‘play to him and play off him as much as you possibly can’. The substitution inspired the Baggies to break though Fulham’s widely praised defence. Matheus Pereira’s cross, fortuitously deflected off Ola Aina, gave Bartley a simple goal. Then Pereira put his team ahead after Diagne exploited Tosin’s error.

Good TV?

This turnaround made good television, but it left Scott Parker and the Fulham fanbase utterly stunned. So far, the manager had had mixed success with his substitutions, and I wonder how many people expected Harrison Reed and Ivan Cavaleiro to provide an equaliser. Four minutes after their arrival the Portuguese forward dived low to meet Reed’s cunning centre and headed the ball beyond Johnstone’s reach.

The match produced no further goals. A point each was a fair reward and the managers must have appreciated the vast improvement in attack, but pundits still expect both teams to accompany Sheffield United back into the Championship at the end of the season. Results elsewhere did little to undermine that assumption.

No double with the Foxes

A rare highlight of Fulham’s season was the victory at Leicester City.

Anyone hoping for a similar triumph when the teams met on Wednesday at the Cottage will have been swiftly disillusioned by Kelechi Iheanacho’s 17th minute goal.

Standing in for Jamie Vardy he deftly headed James Maddison’s centre into the roof of the net. (This was Groundhog Day plus one, as two seasons ago the same combination had performed a similar trick early in the corresponding match, on that occasion being foiled by goalkeeper Sergio Rico.)

The Whites stayed calm and continued to play possession football even though the strategy had been partly responsible for the goal. Mitro’s confidence seemed to have evaporated once more, and it was Areola’s brilliance that kept the deficit from increasing. When he was eventually beaten by Caglar Soyuncu the officials rightly disallowed the point.

Just before halftime, Antonee Robinson led a raid that won Fulham a corner. Tosin’s powerful header was saved by Kasper Schmeichel and a City breakaway brought them a second goal, Maddison and Iheanacho providing James Justin this time. Defeat on home soil appeared inevitable.

Scott Parker brought on Cavaleiro and Mario Lemina after the break. They provided a brief flurry of activity, after which Fulham’s attack offered little threat. Tosin’s header remained the team’s only effort on target in the whole match.

With Brighton winning at Liverpool, it makes Parker’s mission look close to impossible.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

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Morgan Phillips

Morgan is our Fulham FC blogger.

Born in Fulham in 1939 Morgan has lived in the district ever since. His parents (both Fulham supporters) took him to Craven Cottage in 1948 and he was immediately smitten, though it was not until the mid-1960s that he became interested in the club's history.

Articles in the supporters' magazine Cottage Pie were followed in 1976 by Morgan's publication of the first complete history 'Fulham We Love You'.

In the 1980s he wrote occasional articles for the reconstituted Cottage Pie under his own name and under the pseudonym Henry Dubb.

As public interest grew in football history, Morgan compiled 'From St Andrew's to Craven Cottage' (2007) describing the evolution of a church team into a professional organisation with its own stadium.

This led to regular articles in Hammersmith & Fulham Council's h&f news and then to a blog on the council's website.

In 2012 he produced an illustrated history of St Andrew’s Church Fulham Fields and the following year he and the vicar (Canon Guy Wilkinson) persuaded Fulham FC to install a plaque in the church commemorating the origins of the football club.

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