Team & Predictions for Fulham

[Ian Royal]

So Ilori's in and looks good. But Obita's suspended and Blackett's suspect, so we've still got a big old problem for Fulham to exploit down our flank.

I think 1-3 Fulham
McCleary

I would play:

...................Al- Habsi
...........Ilori, McShane, Moore
Watson.........Evans.............Gunter
.................Kelly....Swift
..........McCleary, Kermorgant

Normally, I'd go with Blackett as the natural replacement, but Fulham cause particular problems.

Of course, Stam won't play this side. I'd expect Blackett to come in instead of Watson and Williams to retain his place over Evans. Maybe, just maybe, Kelly or Swift will get dropped for Evans.

[3points]

Fredericks went off on Saturday for Fulham. I'm hoping he's injured which would certainly help our let hand side being overloaded on a very frequent basis as has happened for 1.5 games.

[Hound]

Tough call. Would really like to get Evans in,but it's hard to drop Swift or Kelly. Williams has been k as well, and dropping him would leave a very inexperienced midfield. For me, Evans would be come in for probably Kelly

Blackett should be ok as LB in a 5.

One call I may just make is dropping Yann. I like him and appreciate the job he has done, but I don't think you need his height at set pieces so much with that back 5 and I'd like to give Yak a go with McCleary up tops.

Fulham didn't look all that against QPR to be honest. Good side, but they are where they are for a reason - we shouldn't be running scared.

Going for a 2-0 win to us. If Evans plays that is. Otherwise can see a 1-1

[Lower West]

At Fulham they doubled up down the wings to create the overlap. We simply didn't adapt our our formation to counter. Blackett in for Obita.

[LoyalRoyal22]

Tough call. Would really like to get Evans in,but it's hard to drop Swift or Kelly. Williams has been k as well, and dropping him would leave a very inexperienced midfield. For me, Evans would be come in for probably Kelly

Blackett should be ok as LB in a 5.

One call I may just make is dropping Yann. I like him and appreciate the job he has done, but I don't think you need his height at set pieces so much with that back 5 and I'd like to give Yak a go with McCleary up tops.

Fulham didn't look all that against QPR to be honest. Good side, but they are where they are for a reason - we shouldn't be running scared.

Going for a 2-0 win to us. If Evans plays that is. Otherwise can see a 1-1

Kelly was our best player on Saturday

[LoyalRoyal22]

score prediction 1-1

[Hound]

yeah get it about Kelly. Very loathe to drop him and to be fair would be 50/50 with him or Swift. But need that balance in midfield

[genome]

Evans in for Swift and Blackett in for suspended Obita, otherwise unchanged.

[genome]

Was Beerens injured on Saturday btw?

[RATM]

Fredericks went off on Saturday for Fulham. I'm hoping he's injured which would certainly help our let hand side being overloaded on a very frequent basis as has happened for 1.5 games.

It was tactical apparently(unfortunately)

[genome]

Yeah he was a walking red card in that match. Proper rattLOLed by the linesman.

[MoorgateRoyal]

Blackett will be a straight swap for Obita, and I think Evans should come in to the midfield three for one of the others, for a little balance. Perhaps Swift as he is still coming back from an injury and hasn't quite hit the heights of before his time out. I have a horrible feeling JvdB will come in with his cavalier brand of wild challenges and Cruyff turns on his own six yard line.

I'm hoping for a win and a clean sheet, although Chris Martin may well get a goal. I also predict I will freeze my nuts off.

[mambo3]

All I know is Fulham and every other Champ club already know how we are going to play the game, our strengths and weaknesses.
They will exploit are wings and stop Kelly from playing.

[The Royal Forester]

We will win the first half 2-0 and lose the second half 0-1. The Football League (on advice from the Ref), will then say "sorry, but you have already played the first 45 minutes before, so only the second half counts today".

[maffff]

Fredericks went off on Saturday for Fulham. I'm hoping he's injured which would certainly help our let hand side being overloaded on a very frequent basis as has happened for 1.5 games.

He wasn't injured, he was subbed off as he wasn't making an impact and having a poor game.

[maffff]

I'd like

...................Al- Habsi
...........McShane, Moore, Ilori
Gunter.........Evans.............Blackett
.................Kelly....Swift
..........McCleary, Kermorgant

The pace of Ilori should help counter Fredericks and provide some more support to Blackett - although Blackett I doubt would be as advanced as Obita.

I expect Williams to start. I'd probably drop Swift of the 3 for this game if I had to and keep Evans in, sounds like we missed having a DM. Hopefully Beerens and vdB get another evening off.

Hopefully we do get to see more of Watson in the near future. Meite must be pushing closer to starting too. Great to see that he finally got his goal at 3rd attempt (after the offside then the own goal...)

If Harriott was fit I wonder if he would be considered for the wing back role. I can't see Meite or Beerens being disciplined enough defensively to be able to do it.

If Gunter were out I wouldn't be shocked to see McCleary moved to that position, Kermorgant and either Samuel or Meite up top.

Liking the 5-3.2/3-5-2/3-3-4.

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

Think Gunter has looked quite good whenever he's gone to LB weirdly enough, against Plymouth in the cup he was dancing down the wing and cutting inside like his gr8 m8 McCleary. So sticking him on the other side and putting Watson in might seem a decent idea. Blackett at LB has always looked suspect, let alone LWB. Although maybe he'll be less inclined to go forward than Obita and won't leave us as exposed as we were against QPR

I can't help feel though for all the classy displays he's put on when called up this season Watson could have a bad game in him, only through lack of experience. I remember Cooper first coming into the team as a 19-year old, looking our best centre-half for a few games, and then getting absolutely torn to shreds by Birmingham in a 1-6 defeat. I know I've been banging the Academy drum for months but I can see why in a game like Fulham with P/Os potentially on the line you might not throw him in. Unless he goes all Julian Kelly vs Wolves 2009

Kelly got two assists Saturday, I know we're losing games now he's in the side but I wouldn't say it's his fault. Evans over Williams please. Please. Please.

Joey and Beerens being dropped was great but annoyingly we lost and now he's got an excuse to bring them back in, not sure we'd see Yak from the start, but he'd be first call from the bench in a time of need

Fredericks has been rubbish for years, just remember him being the fastest player on Football Manager during his Spurs days. Just cos we've made him look good a couple of times doesn't mean he's a threat. We just need to not give him the opportunity to charge down our wing unopposed, seems pretty obvious

I think we'll hang on and win, in a way that's good enough to solidify our playoff spot but not comfortable enough to silence the doubters who think we've frauded our way to the Top 6

[NewCorkSeth]

-----------------------Al-Habsi---------------------
----------Moore---McShane---Ilori-----------
Gunter-----------------------------------Blackett
------------------------Evans-----------------------
-------------Kelly---------------Swift---------------
-------------McCleary---Kermie-----------------

Attacking I would expect Kermie to stay central, close to his defender essentially being there for the aerial option and to pull a man out of defense.

McCleary should be given freedom to roam along the front, working channels created by Kermie and moving in and around the defense looking to receive a through ball.

Kelly and Swift would be our main play makers (obviously) giving options as we play our way out of defense and looking for options in the final third. Given almost total freedom of movement in attack I would suggest defensively they are given strict positional marking areas to track back into harrying opponents if encountered on the way. This would enable Evans to close down opponents in our own half whilst ensuring the pockets opened up between him and our CB 3 are "manned" so that our CBs dont have to move out of the defensive line to cover forward.

Speaking of Evans I think he should play as centrally as possible giving us in attack a "hub" where the "spokes" can always pass back to if the probing is unsuccessful. taking the analogy one step further he should also position himself as centrally (in relation to the position of both our attackers and defenders) as possible. If he moves up too much he leaves a hole for the counter attack if he stays too far back he leaves a gap for the opposition to slow down the tempo.

Our WBs have an obvious job. Hug the line and wait for their opposite number to get dragged in by either McCleary or Kermies movement. In defense they must force the attacker outside and be careful not to drift in centrally. There are 3 CBs, they wont be needed. if they stay out a bit wider they give a great option for a counter attack.

Of our CBs I would expect McShane to operate centrally playing shorter passes out to Moore and Ilori who I believe are more comfortable on the ball. He would also be in a great position to command by staying a bit further back and seeing more.

Ilori and Moore will be the main defensive duo. By having McShane defend zonally along with Swift and Kelly they have the freedom to close down any attacking players between those 2 zones. That should snuff out any movement centrally forcing the ball out to the flanks where our WBs harrying should force early crosses that McShane is well equipt to deal with.

I play too much FM..