August's final eight days produced four meaningful Fulham results starting with the Manchester United 1-1 draw and ending with the Women maintaining their unbeaten run, having defeated Norwich 4-2 at the Cottage.
The game that will live longest in the collective memory is the mid-day Saturday visit to Stamford Bridge. It should have been remembered for a superb first Premier League goal by Josh King. Instead the afternoon was ruined by interfering officialdom.
Marco Silva had retained the opening line-up from the Manchester draw but the Whites started much more positively than in the two previous League games. In one early instance defender Joachim Andersen won the ball and moved forward exchanging passes with Timothy Castagne before shooting wide. Chelsea looked shocked. Then came the controversy.
In midfield Rodrigo Muniz performed what TNT commentator Darren Fletcher termed 'a lovely turn' to shield the ball from Trevoh Chalobah before passing to Sander Berge. The Norwegian sent Josh King haring towards goal, unperturbed by his former clubmate Tosin. Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was powerless against Josh's calm finish.
Fulham joy knew no bounds until the dreaded announcement came that VAR was getting involved. Urged on by Michael Salisbury, the referee Robert Jones trotted over to the screen to examine Muniz's manoeuvre, which had left Chalobah on the turf. After a tedious delay Jones came out with the extraordinary statement that Muniz had been guilty of 'a careless challenge', extraordinary because it was not careless and it was not a challenge. That already hackneyed phrase 'a coming together' describes exactly what happened between Rodrigo and Trevoh. The bureaucrats of VAR were once again spoiling the occasion.
Condemnation was immediate and almost universal. Joe Cole (yes Joe Cole) put it succinctly: 'If you love football you can't be stopping football for things like that on the halfway line.' The former referee Peter Walton reminded his former colleagues of the promise that there would be a higher bar for intervention this season and that physical contact should not result in a foul every time.
The time wasted on this nonsense was added to the regulation 45 minutes and during this extended period Chelsea produced a flurry of attacks. Leno made a fine save from Tyrique George but a second corner led to a headed goal from Joao Pedro. The Whites have benefited in the past from Fergie time and the marking in the area should have been better but it was still a cruel ending to the first half.
The second period had lasted barely five minutes before VAR intruded once more. The ball flew at Ryan Sessegnon, who half turned protecting his face with his elbow. An appallingly long scrutiny by VAR gave Chelsea a penalty and thus a second goal. The officials saw nothing amiss in Pedro's own accidental handling of the ball before the Sessegnon incident so it is hard to see what caused the delay. Fulham supporters chorused '2-0 to the referee' and their bitterness was valid. A match to remember had become a match one would rather forget.
Comfortable Carabao win
For technical reasons my blog did not appear last week either on the Council website or in the Weekly Bulletin. I will summarise what I wrote because it relates to how this season may unfold. The Carabao Cup campaign began comfortably with a straightforward home win over Bristol City. Benjamin Lecomte, the new back-up for Leno, must have had few easier matches in his lengthy career. The Whites will host Cambridge United in mid-September.
All even against Man Utd
On Sunday the 24th August a packed Craven Cottage enjoyed a thrilling encounter between Fulham and Manchester United. Here too controversy arose from a belated intervention by VAR.
I nearly did not get in. Like dozens of other supporters I discovered that my brand-new season ticket did not work at the turnstile and I had to join a zig-zag queue of bewildered fans outside the ticket office. Happily the line was moving forward even though random people were being permitted to jump the queue.
After fifteen minutes or so I found myself inside the office where the quietly efficient agent took my ticket away and swiftly printed a new one – which worked. But why wasn't the system properly tested before the tickets were sent out?
The delay caused me to miss two dangerous strikes in the first two minutes by Matheus Cunha, one of which hit the post, but I was in time to witness a bold run by Josh King (of course) and then a dazzling save by Bernd Leno (Cunha again).
A United corner had come to nothing and play had switched to the visitors' end before referee Chris Kavanagh paused to consider a VAR claim of 'holding'. Certainly, as the corner was taken, three pairs were grappling and at least four players landed on the turf. The referee and his assistant presumably saw all this as 50-50, impossible to penalise. VAR on the other hand picked out Calvin Bassey alone because he had performed a kind of wrestling throw. Three long minutes after the incident Kavanagh awarded a penalty. Anyway Bruno Fernandes was well off target with his penalty kick. The half thus ended with no score.
Josh King surged forward again after the interval but fell to a last-ditch challenge. United responded by taking the lead when Leny Yoro's header from another corner bounced off Rodrigo Muniz into the net. The three presenters of BBC's Match of the Day2 agreed with Marco Silva's claim that Calvin Bassey had been fouled in the process. Somehow a two-handed push in the back did not bother the VAR team. It is the inconsistency that infuriates.
Once again Silva's substitutions saved the day. In the 73rd minute Antonee Robinson released Alex Iwobi to deliver a tempting low cross that Emile Smith Rowe (having just taken the field) toed into the net earning the Whites a richly deserved point. Unfortunately the subsequent events at Stamford Bridge were to leave Fulham at 18th going into the international break.
The club likes to shop just before closing time. We know now that we are losing Andreas Pereira and Martial Godo but not Muniz or Harry Wilson and gaining Samuel Chukwueze on loan from AC Milan, the Brazilian winger Kevin from Shakhtar Donetz and the lanky Jonah Kusi-Asare on loan from Bayern Munich. Good luck to all seven of them.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
