Fulham disappointment in trio of home fixtures

Fulham 0-0 Everton
Fulham 0-2 Newcastle

Three home matches in one week gave Fulham the chance to make history but ultimately produced a trio of disappointments.

Even without a goal advantage, Liverpool would have been hard to dislodge from the Carabao Cup whereas Newcastle looked more vulnerable. The Whites succumbed too easily in what has become a bad FA Cup year for London.

Everton stalemate

The visit of Everton completed the trio. Sean Dyche’s team had done well to overcome the 10 league points deduction, but Fulham had already defeated them twice this season. Surely Tuesday evening’s matches would give the fans something to cheer?

We had plenty of entertainment and witnessed a few moments of class.

Unusually Fulham attacked the Hammersmith End in the first half and it was fascinating to watch how effectively Jordan Pickford moved the ball forward, prompting his side to attack as well as repelling a lively if wayward Fulham.

Antonee Robinson, eager to make up for recent performances, gave the Everton keeper some early exercise and Joao Palhinha should have done likewise instead of heading over the bar.

Down the Putney End, Bernd Leno pushed out Ashley Young’s free kick only as far as James Tarkowski, whose shot sheared off a defender and hit the bar. Timothy Castagne effected a timely clearance  - but Everton made two appeals. 

First, that the ball had crossed the goal line (it hadn’t entirely), and second that it had hit Robinson’s hand (the officials judged it accidental). Both sides were profligate, Raul Jimenez fluffing a really simple opportunity. He was replaced after the interval by Rodrigo Muniz.

The second half maintained the hectic pace. Dominic Calvert-Lewin headed against the bar from close range and Bobby DeCordova-Reid passed when he should thumped the ball goalwards.

Muniz showed welcome determination with three efforts in close succession, Timothy Castagne came close to scoring, Pereira embarrassed himself missing an open goal and Tosin’s header was spectacularly saved by Pickford.

Everton nearly stole the points in the closing moments, substitute Beto wasting two chances. Each side had 15 fruitless attempts inside the area. It was that sort of game though we did see some gallant defending.

FA Cup woes

For Saturday evening’s cup-tie Marco Silva made seven changes from the team that started against Liverpool. Of the incomers it was Harry Wilson, Muniz and Marek Rodak who made the initial impact.

The goalkeeper, enjoying a rare first-team appearance, dealt competently with the likes of Jacob Murphy and Fabian Schar. After an early and wild attempt Muniz really tested Martin Dubravka and then had a shot deflected by Sven Botman.

This promising start was followed by a double set-back. Harry Wilson suffered a shoulder injury, and then in the 39th minute Newcastle took a fortuitous lead from a corner that was unnecessarily conceded by a jittery defence.

Lewis Miley’s pass struck the hand of Bruno Guimaraes before Sean Longstaff found the net. Referee Jarred Gillett saw no infringement and the VAR Rob Jones concurred. The handball though accidental had unlawfully facilitated the goal so if the officials were correct the guidelines need further modification.

After the interval Fulham continued to press with Willian replacing Wilson but the tie was slipping away. On the hour mark, Rodak after an impressive save from Alexander Isak parried Botman’s header only for Burn to net the rebound.

Silva sent on Tom Cairney, Joao Palhinha, Tosin and Raul Jimenez but to no avail. Raul headed just over the crossbar and in added time Cairney had an incredible miss.

Fulham tamely departed the FA Cup and as Silva admitted: ‘We lost and it was our fault.’

The attendance was down mainly because of the weird timing (Saturday 7pm) and the proximity to the Liverpool tie. Issues over ticket prices and equitable distribution still need to be addressed as does Wednesday night’s chaos in Stevenage Road.