Will Carragher join F365 in wiping Fulham egg from his face?
“Fulham are going down. I’ve never been so certain of anything in my life.”
After three consecutive defeats to start the season, Jamie Carragher was already putting the final nail in a coffin that had been cut and joined before the season even started. Without quite the same assuredness, we all predicted they would be relegated. Before kick-off, Carragher admitted he may have been a little “hasty”. Indeed he was, and he may just join us in wiping egg from our faces come the end of the season.
In defense of us and Mr Carragher, our decisions were made before Ademola Lookman, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Tosin Adarabioyo and Joachim Andersen had joined the club at the end of the transfer window. And only four of the starting XI that lost 3-0 to Aston Villa in that third game of the season began the game on Monday evening.
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One of those that did start the defeat to Villa – Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa – was quite brilliant in this 2-1 win over Leicester. And he is evidence of a change in Fulham that goes beyond pure personnel. Scott Parker – when explaining Anguissa and Loftus-Cheek’s inclusion in the starting lineup – spoke of the energy and desire they brought to proceedings as they came on to change the game against Everton.
Anguissa’s driving, rangey run from halfway and the perfectly weighted through ball for Lookman’s opener at the King Power Stadium was truly magnificent. And it was the combination of his ability to press, win and then run with the ball from deep that was key to Parker’s perfect game plan.
The Fulham manager resisted the temptation to play his main goalscorer in favour of counter-attacking menace – this was not a game for Aleksandar Mitrovic. The front four of Loftus-Cheek, Bobby Decordova-Reid, Ivan Cavaleiro and Ademola Lookman is full of the pace and zeal the big Serbian is far from famed for.
But it wasn’t just a case of throwing energetic players on the pitch and hoping for the best. Fulham targeted the obvious weak spots in Leicester’s back five to cause them huge problems, in the first half in particular. Avoiding the channel Wesly Fofana was patrolling, they preyed on the ageing legs of Jonny Evans and Christian Fuchs.
And it was Fuchs who was hurried into a mistake to concede a dreaded penalty for Fulham. The Austrian was too slow as Decordova-Reid nicked the ball away from him. “That’s how you take a penalty,” Andy Hinchcliffe declared as Cavaleiro – who missed one the week before against Everton – scored in what in other circumstances might have been described as ‘a good height for a goalkeeper’. Hey-ho, he scored, so who cares.
Leicester looked remarkably unthreatening in a game they were losing 2-0. It was Fulham who looked more like adding to their advantage despite having far less of the ball in the second half. Harvey Barnes did score late on, smashing the ball brilliantly into the top corner after a Jamie Vardy knockdown. But that was the sum of Vardy and Leicester’s efforts: a late consolation they didn’t deserve.
In Fulham’s other win this season – the 2-0 victory over West Brom – the “identity” was clear but the sceptics pointed to the opponents and shrugged their shoulders. This victory not only proves they can do the business against quality Premier League opposition but illustrates that they can mould that identity according to the team they’re playing, maintaining their quick-passing style through a completely different method of attack.
We and Carragher may well ultimately be proved right, but Fulham are far from the relegation fodder their early season showings suggested.
Will Ford is on Twitter
