September gave us no home matches at the Cottage, so the visit of Newcastle on Saturday (1 October) was an appetising prospect.
Travelling to the match however proved something of a nightmare for many supporters as a direct or indirect result of industrial action. Those who did manage to attend were rewarded by the Whites’ poorest League performance of the season.
In my previous blog, I expressed the hope that Aleksandar Mitrovic and the others would return unscathed from their international commitments.
Our top scorer was deemed to have recovered from an ankle injury, but Marco Silva still had to field a weakened team, which struggled from the start against the lively Geordies. Keeper Bernd Leno managed to frustrate our former player Dan Burn but Callum Wilson should really have netted in the follow-up.
Wild tackles
There has been some wild tackling this season. Somehow Andreas Pereira emerged from VAR scrutiny with just a yellow card after an aerial assault on a Forest player.
The habit seems to be catching.
Against Newcastle, Kevin Mbabu attempted something resembling a bicycle kick on Danny Willock – the resultant free kick nearly led to a Geordie goal – then Nicholas Chalobar, replacing the suspended Joao Paulhinha, effected a late and dubious lunge on Sean Longstaff that sent referee Darren England over to his monitor.
After an excessive delay Mr England brandished a red card.
Unsurprisingly Mario Silva dissented, putting the blame on VAR’s Mike Dean, but the officials’ only fault was the time taken to reach a decision. Fulham would play almost the entire match with 10 men.
In the 11th minute Kieran Trippier, who had made the early chance for Dan Burn, combined with Willock to present Callum Wilson with the opening goal. Miguel Almiron’s left-footed volley doubled the score. Whilst Alan Shearer was a trifle premature in dubbing it ‘the goal of the month, the goal of the season’ it was certainly a piece of Paraguayan magic.
Shortly afterwards, Mitrovic limped off – taking with him any chance of saving a point. Fulham conceded a third Newcastle goal from a corner kick (a weak point for our defence even when at full strength). Bernd saved a Sven Botman header only for Longstaff to crash home the rebound.
Changes
Silva made changes at the interval but to little effect.
Almiron scored again (though less spectacularly) prompting an exodus from the Fulham stands. Many of those leaving faced a difficult journey home but chose that rather than the misery of watching the rest of the match. Those of us who stayed had a crumb of cheer when substitute Neeskens Kebano created a goal for Bobby DeCordova-Reid. This hardly constituted a recovery. Newcastle, still eager to score, had two efforts ruled out for offside.
It is hard to draw positives from the match itself.
Despite the valiant efforts of Leno and Tim Ream the Fulham defence looked as suspect as the elastic on Tom Cairney’s shorts, the midfield constantly lost possession and there was no attack worthy of the name.
Fred Callaghan
Yet some moments from that afternoon are worth recalling, such as the minute’s applause for the late Fred Callaghan, a Fulham born defender of the late 1960s, whose strength, courage and reliability helped the club through a very dark period. My photo shows him in 1971 on his way to celebrate Fulham’s promotion.
Another man with the same qualities as Fred is Kevin McDonald, who began a five-year spell at the Cottage in 2016.
Very popular throughout his stay, he was afflicted by a chronic kidney disease that eventually necessitated a transplant from his brother Fraser. It was great to see Kevin on the pitch at half-time looking and sounding so fit.
Fulham Foundation is 20
The interval also featured the launch of Fulham Foundation’s 20th Year Appeal.
Football has always had its links with charity and for some years clubs large and small have increased their involvement with local communities. The Foundation is Fulham FC’s official charity dedicated to creating through spirt a healthy, inclusive and thriving environment.
More than 10,000 people benefit each year. Saturday at the Cottage wasn’t all bad.
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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