It has been a stormy off-season. And while the dust (or sand) has not entirely settled, it was comforting to see the supposed Saudi targets Marco Silva, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Willian all participating in last Saturday’s friendly at the Cottage.
But will they be here for the duration of the season?
Freshly returned from the United States, Fulham faced TSG 1899 Hoffenheim last Saturday (5 August), who dominated the early stages of the game.
The Germans should have profited from an Issa Diop error, but the experienced Andrej Kramaric shot feebly. In response our new striker Raul Jiminez came close to scoring from Willian’s well-placed corner. Grischa Promel and Marius Bulter wasted further chances. Otherwise, the first half was short of excitement.
As so often happens, the match improved after the interval. A classy passing movement allowed Bobby deCordova-Reid to release the effervescent Antonee Robinson, whose precise centre was converted by Jimenez. The visitors retaliated with a fine headed goal by an unmarked Promel.
With less than half an hour left, Silva sent on Mitrovic and Andreas Pereira. Mitro was soon hitting the turf in a vain attempt to win a penalty – but goalkeeper Oliver Baumann hauled him up.
More constructively, the Serb provided a good chance for Harrison Reed, but it was the other substitute Pereira who supplied the winner. His corner was met by an exuberant Calvin Bassey. Both of the newcomers Jimenez and Bassey had scored, and Calvin’s headed goal helped him win the to Man of the Match award.
Land of dreams
Fulham’s American campaign was unimpressive – although they did defeat Brentford FC in Philadelphia.
With Mitrovic sulking, Silva tried two alternative leaders in Rodrigo Muniz in the first half, Carlos Vinicius the second. The latter made the greater impact, scoring the final goal in the Whites’ 3-2 victory after Harry Wilson and Bobby deCordova-Reid had opened their accounts. The satisfaction of beating the Bees was tempered by the sight of Joao Paulinha leaving the pitch with a dislocated shoulder.
Aston Villa provided the next opposition over at Orlando. The only unfamiliar name in the Whites’ starting line-up was Luc de Fugerolles, who had the misfortune to stumble in the area and bring down Villa’s Cameron Archer. Diving to his right Bernd Leno athletically diverted Archer’s penalty strike. The Midlanders persisted and Jaden Philogene all too easily lost his markers to flick home a cross from the left, giving his team a first-half lead.
Carlos Vinicius strove for an equaliser, but accuracy was not a feature of this match. In 90 minutes, Fulham hit the target just twice. Villa were not much better, but they did secure a second goal. Outpacing the Whites’ defence Moussa Diaby slipped the ball past Marek Rodak, who had taken over from Leno. There was no further scoring.
The Fulham-Chelsea tussle proved more stimulating even if played in Washington DC not London SW6.
The Whites started badly. First Tom Cairney was injured and had to leave the pitch, then Thiago Silva headed Ben Chilwell’s swirling corner past Leno, having easily beaten Diop to the ball. The keeper repelled further strikes from Chilwell and Enzo Fernandez. Enzo’s follow-up was weak as was Fulham’s defence in general. Christopher Nkunka exploited its fragility to score just before the interval.
Comfortably in the lead, Chelsea began the second half with eight substitutions. Marco Silva gave an outing to his new signings Jimenez and Beatty: the latter enjoyed the better debut.
The DC spectators saw no further scoring and the Whites’ accuracy proved even worse than against Villa. At least the fans had the satisfaction of seeing Andreas Pereira back in action after breaking his ankle back in April.
Crystal ball
As regular readers will know, I don’t go in for predictions. I should have known better than to involve myself with a group of fans predicting each of Fulham’s 2022-23 matches. Having won the wooden spoon I will restrict myself to a simple hope that the Whites go on to have their best season yet.
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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