Despite the onrush of Covid, the Whites managed to stage their home match against Sheffield United on the Monday before Christmas.
Regardless of the result it seemed wrong to expect the players and administrators of the Yorkshire club to visit the epicentre of the Omicron variant at this time. That goes for their supporters too, though for them it was a matter of choice. There must have been over two dozen Sheffield Santas among the 17,000 spectators.
The evening match, completing the first half of Marco Silva’s inaugural season, ended in a 1-0 defeat for the Championship leaders. This was not entirely unexpected. Since the victory over Barnsley, which took Fulham to the top, the team have been visibly under par.
For once, I felt sorry for anyone arriving late as the game’s only significant action took place in the third minute. Iliman Ndiaye gathered the ball in his own half, threw off Jean-Michael Seri and powered towards the Hammersmith End, watched in wonder by Tosin and Tim Ream. The Frenchman eventually let fly and found the bottom corner of the net with a perfectly placed drive, Marek Rodak reacting no more smartly than his defenders. It was all too reminiscent of Bournemouth’s goal a fortnight ago.
With Neeskens Kebano still off target and Harry Wilson too easily muscled off, Aleksandar Mitrovic offered the best hope for an equaliser.
After the interval Silva sent on Tom Cairney, Bobby DeCordova-Reid and ultimately Rodrigo Muniz but they effected scant improvement. Mitro’s desultory 75th minute effort, comfortably saved by Wes Foderingham, proved to be the home side’s only effort on target in the whole match. The customary late onslaught saw the Serb hit the bar and Wilson squander the rebound.
A good start
This drab performance must not distract from Marco Silva’s achievements, for which he is already being compared with two noteworthy predecessors – Keegan and Tigana.
When Mohamed Al Fayed bought Fulham in 1997, the club had just risen from the Football League’s bottom tier. An uncertain start was followed by the glorious season of 1998-99 when the team under the management of Kevin Keegan broke or matched more than a dozen club records.
By the end of December 1998, Chris Coleman and his team-mates had won 16 games (out of 23) in the third tier, drawn 4 and lost 3, scoring 39 and conceding 20. Two years later and at the next level Jean Tigana’s team fared slightly better: 16 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses with the almost incredible total of 55 goals scored, 16 conceded. In each season Fulham finished top with 101 points, considerably more than the club immediately behind. In 2001 Blackburn Rovers were runners-up – could history repeat itself?
Keegan and Tigana had access to millions of pounds for the creation of their winning teams. By comparison, Marco Silva’s squad is full of players who hardly distinguished themselves in the Premier League last season.
Yet at the season’s halfway mark, Silva’s record of 13 victories and 6 draws is no small beer – and 51 goals scored, 19 conceded is almost up to French standards. Let’s hope this season ends with the club occupying one of the two top spots.
I wish the merriest Christmas and the happiest New Year to the club and its resilient supporters.
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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