Fulham’s Midfield Revival

Giorgos Karagounis and the rest of the Fulham midfield have, despite age, revitalized a seemingly dire situation into a reliable unit.

It wasn’t long ago that Fulham fans were bemoaning a midfield which to describe as “thin” would be generous beyond recognition. Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey were no longer an asset on the Fulham FC books, Mahamadou Diarra’s injury left a gaping hole in front of the back 4, and Danny Murphy’s ability to dictate the pace and direction of play in the center of the pitch was a role left unfulfilled.

Fast forward to now. The club has picked up 7 points in their last 4 matches, and while there is still an obvious gap in the creativity department, Martin Jol has figured out how to position his players to utilize each one’s best attributes and scrape by despite the missing cog between midfield and striker.

More importantly, he’s taken rusty old parts and shined them up like new to revitalize careers.

It’s already been mentioned numerous times here how Steve Sidwell’s career has flourished once again now that the Dutchman has moved Ginger Iniesta a touch further back and charged him with running the defensive midfield department. Since Diarra’s transfer to the physio room, Sidwell has performed admirably, and one could argue the knee injury to the Malian is one of the better things to happen to Sidwell’s career. Sidwell’s made 76 tackles this season, which is up there for most of anyone at any position in the Premier League.

Speaking of rusty old parts, Martin Jol plucked Giorgos Karagounis off the free transfer market from Panathinaikos and has turned the 35 year old into Danny Murphy 2.0. Even Jol admitted, “Giorgos is not the youngest at 35 but I miss him every game I play the other players.” In a sense, Jol admits Karagounis has played his way into the starting lineup, not just by what he brings when he plays, but what the team misses when he sits. More gaffer on the Greek, “against Stoke I knew that we needed someone, who could play and make us tick in midfield and I think he did that.” Seriously think to yourself, when was the last time Fulham fans have been able to say that about a midfielder? Hasn’t been since Danny Murphy.

Karagounis’s performance in the Stoke match was fantastic. 67/71 passing (94%!), and not only was he spot on, he distributed his passes in a way that kept the Stoke defenders completely off guard. 22 forward passes, 26 backwards passes, and 23 square passes. With that kind of distribution, it’s obvious Karagounis was running the offense, deciding where the next attack would come from. Check out his dashboard:

The Greek’s heart, desire, and most of all work rate are second to none, and it’s obvious by this dash. Look how all over the pitch he was! He was concentrated a bit on the left simply because that’s the side of the midfield he played on (Sidwell was on the other) but he ended up just about everywhere. In fact, Karagounis was involved in 3 of the top 4 highest passing combinations in the match. He sent it to John Arne Riise 17 times, to Ruiz 13 times, and got the ball from Hangeland on 11 occasions.

And when needed, Chris Baird has filled in admirably, using his skills as a defender in conglomeration with pinpoint passing, which is the theme under Martin Jol’s possession scheme. Passing success this season as a whole: Baird: 84%, Sidwell: 85%, Karagounis: 91%, Diarra: 90%, Frimpong: 90%, Richardson: 86%. For the type of game Jol likes to play, those numbers are perfect fits.

The wing play has been fantastic as well recently. Damien Duff just got his new contract (and deservedly so) and once again has shown quality on touch. His 7 assists are his highest single-season total since his Chelsea days, and we’re only in February. In addition, 4 of those assists have come in his last 9 matches, which shows he didn’t pad his assist stats early in the season when Fulham were banging in goals left and right. They have come more so since the goals have somewhat dried up for the team.

On the other end, Ashkan Dejagah has impressed in his last few starts. The Iranian has struggled to stand out in his first season in the Premier League, but most recently against Stoke, he was fantastic on the offensive end. He created 5 chances, and completed 91% of his passes (40/44), including 22/26 in the attacking third. He provided linkup play on the right side, noted by the fact that Sascha Riether passed to Dejagah 14 times, good for the 2nd most effective passing combination in the match.

While the situation isn’t ideal, and there’s still a long way to go, the overall state of Fulham’s midfield isn’t as dire as was once thought. Though reinforcements have been brought in in the forms of Emmanuel Frimpong and Urby Emanuelson, just about the time they’ve gotten here the players already in place have stepped things up. Once Diarra returns, Martin Jol is going to have a real selection situation on his hands. Against the next 4 opponents Sunderland, Chelsea, Tottenham, and QPR, the midfield will become even more important, hopefully these guys can keep up their good form or it could be even more of a tough stretch than it already looks.

Fulham vs. West Ham Preview: Back To The League

Kieran Richardson and Fulham will be looking to put not only their recent form aside, but erase their 3-0 defeat from Upton Park earlier this year.

Well, as disappointing and uninspiring the performance, as difficult as it was to watch, it may be a blessing in disguise that Fulham have come crashing out of the FA Cup, as the rest of their fixtures this season will be league matches.  It’s all about the league now.  The road doesn’t get any easier, but before their third match in Manchester in 2 weeks, a midweek fixture at home requires our attention.  West Ham, currently 12th in the league, have been an inconsistent bunch this season, albeit at their best they’ve looked quite deadly.  Fulham fans only have to look back to their crushing 3-0 defeat from Upton Park back in September to see that best-case-scenario West Ham side.

There’s a possibility we could see a debutant take the ground at Craven Cottage on Wednesday, with Martin Jol’s first first-team signing of the January transfer window looking at a fitness test ahead of the tie.

State of Fulham:

It’s been rough going recently.  I could give you all the numbers about how Fulham have won just 6 of their 23 league matches this season.  I could tell you they haven’t won a match since December 10th against Newcastle at home.  I could tell you how Fulham are just 6 points above the drop.  But you don’t need all those numbers if you watched the Cup match against United.  It was ugly.  It was troubling.  I don’t want to get too worked up over it, since it’s the FA Cup and that’s not what’s important right now, and the players/manager probably realize that as well.  HOWEVER, I tried to stay positive after the match on Twitter, and was bombarded with tweets telling me how it’s not the scoreline or the opponent that matters, it’s how we looked, and that has a lot of fans worried sick.

We could see a bright spot in this match, as it’s possible Emmanuel Frimpong could see game action in light of his loan move to Craven Cottage.  However, Martin Jol first wants to test Frimpong’s fitness, and knowing the Dutchman’s previous actions, it’s not like him to toss new guys out there right away.

On the injury front, it’s pretty much the same as this weekend from Old Trafford.  Mahamadou Diarra’s out for another 3-4 weeks (whose health Andy Glockner, a fantastic writer for Sports Illustrated and also an avid Fulham fan, wrote at the start of the season was a key for Fulham this year – oops).  Kerim Frei is also out, and although Simon Davies is close to returning, this match may be just a touch too quick for him.

State of West Ham:

West Ham isn’t having a fantastic run of form in the recent going either.  You can pick any arbitrary period of recent games for West Ham and it doesn’t look too good.  2 points from their last 6 matches.  1 win in last 11 matches.  3 wins in their last 18 matches.  Last win was New Years Day at Upton Park against Norwich.  For West Ham, their next few matches are crucial to their season.  Sitting in 12th at the moment in a position of mid-table obscurity that Fulham are very familiar with, March (plus the weeks before and after) sees the Hammers face 6 clubs in a row all in the top 10, so they’ll be looking to get as many points before that as possible in order to weather the storm of March.

They’ll be looking to get Andy Carroll’s help during this important stretch.  The Liverpool loanee has been out since the middle of November with a bum knee, and it’s up in the air whether he’ll be ready to go for the trip to Craven Cottage, but early reports seem to indicate there’s a good chance of him playing.  In other Hammers injury news, young defender Daniel Potts is out after getting popped by Bacaray Sagna against Arsenal (he was knocked unconscious).

EA Sports Stats of the Match:

-West Ham have lost 5 of their last 6 away league matches and have managed just 6 goals in their last 11 away matches
-West Ham are undefeated in 12 of their last 13 matches against Fulham in all competitions
-Fulham have just 2 points in 5 matches against London opponents this season
-Steve Sidwell is tied for second in the Premier League with 62 successful tackles, according to the EA Sports Player Performance Index.  He’s contributed defensively (tackle, interception, block, clearance) every 10 1/2 minutes, best of any midfielder in the league.
-West Ham’s Joey O’Brien has attempted 45 tackles this season, but has been successful on just 22 of them (48.9%)

888sport.com Lines of the Week:

–West Ham to score 2 goals: 10/3; West Ham to score 3 goals: 15/2
West Ham have banged in 2 or more goals in 6 of their last 7 matches, and given the aging/struggling Fulham defense, this is a pretty good bet.

–Total goals over/under 2.5 OVER: 4/5
With the stat I gave you above, and the overall poor defense of these two clubs, you have to imagine this will almost be a lock.

-First goalscorers: Damien Duff 11/1, Bryan Ruiz 15/2
This for whatever reason feels like a Damien Duff game, does it not? And Ruiz seems to be one of the only Fulham players in form right now.  I’d bank on those two, especially since Berbatov’s pretty much stopped caring (or at least, it looks that way).

Prediction:

I think this will be an exciting match with goals.  Both defenses have been poor recently, and both are coming off games where they were leaky at the back to say the least.  I think at this point whoever’s home gets the three points, and since it’s at Craven Cottage, Fulham get the edge in my mind.  I’ll give it 2-1 Fulham, although even more goals finishing around 2-2 wouldn’t surprise me at all.  This is about as much of a must-win as you can get at this point in the season, and a vital 3 points.  Fulham lose this match, or even draw, and Martin Jol’s job status would seem even more in jeopardy.

QPR vs. Fulham: West London Derby With Turning Point Implications

Harry Redknapp has accepted the heavy challenge of turning around QPR’s season.

Both teams come into this matchup with something on the line.  Both teams could potentially look back on this game as the end of a slide or the continuation of one.  But whoever comes out of this game will know they have confidence on their side.  They just have to get there first.

QPR are still searching for win number 1 on the campaign, but many are pointing to subtle improvements, especially under ‘Arry Redknapp.  How dubious would it be for Fulham to allow Rangers their first win of the season? Whoever gives it up will surely have the joke on them.

Side note before I get into the preview: what a great job Harry Redknapp has found for himself.  It’s a win-win for him! Consider both extreme outcomes for QPR this season:

1) He somehow, miraculously, saves QPR from relegation thanks to finally a run of good form, and he’s a hero, keeping them up in the Premiership despite inheriting the worst run of form to start a season ever.  He’s a hero, everyone involved in that team loves him, and it could potentially push him back to bigger jobs (Arsenal once Wenger is done? Etc).

2) They continue to flounder, finish bottom of the table, and all the blame goes on Mark Hughes for sending that team into oblivion and sticking them with a massive wage bill.  You have to think that team will do very well in the Championship given its roster, and he would have the opportunity to lead them back to the promised land.  It’s not Harry’s fault, because he inherited such an awful situation.

How can you top that? Plus he probably has a ton of money to work with still. Heck of a find by Mr. Redknapp. Ok, back to the topic at hand.

State of Fulham:

The win at Craven Cottage over a Newcastle squad in dire straits was great, but the momentum needs to be continued.  There are some very winnable fixtures in the near future, including last week and this week, and Fulham would do well to begin a run of good form now to make us forget about the poor run prior to Monday.

Win convincingly Saturday, and the road to recovery begins.  Sliding right into the January transfer window with 4 wins in 5 matches is a very real possibility.  Fulham currently sit alone at 13th, a mere 6 points from 4th.  4 wins in 5 matches (already beat Newcastle, QPR Saturday, then Liverpool away, Southampton home, and Swansea home) would rocket the Whites up the table.  Isn’t 8th place heading into January a very real possibility? After August’s deadline, if I told you Fulham would be in 8th with a chance to buy more players, wouldn’t you have hugged me teary-eyed? I think yes. Not counting my chickens, just setting goals and expectations.

Also, being QPR’s first win of the season in December is not an option. So don’t even think about it.  That outcome is out of the question.

On the injury front, three players will probably miss out.  Mahamadou Diarra was injured against Spurs, and while he was on the bench Monday (Jol said he could have played 20-30 minutes if needed), he received 2 injections Thursday and probably will sit out.  Simon Davies is still “not nearly fit” according to the manager, and Bryan Ruiz is halfway through his recovery without issues but still needs 2-3 more weeks.

State of QPR:

Yikes.  Good ol’ Harry is back at it, handed the defibrillator and asked to shock Rangers until it heart begins beating again.  Whether he can give the club a pulse again remains to be seen, but some analysts say they see marketable improvement.  Hasn’t turned into viable points yet though.

Martin Jol sees it, and isn’t taking Rangers lightly:

“I can remember from even before Harry was there when they were quite close to winning. They’ve had seven draws and could have had wins, because I saw a couple of games where they were very unlucky. They are in a difficult situation, but there are a lot of games to go where they can get a lot of points on the board so you can never write them off.”

Injury news for QPR sees Ji-Sung Park off with a knee injury for a few weeks, where he joins Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora, who are both long term absentees.  They will get Julio Cesar back from injury, although Robert Green has impressed in his absence, so it remains to be seen who will be put in front of net.

888sport.com Lines of the Week:

Result is a draw: 12/5

Somehow, the favored result is a QPR win.  That boggles my mind.  Fulham are also a decent bet at 13/6 to win.  Let’s be honest, betting on a team without a win in 17 tries just isn’t smart, no matter what the opposition’s away form is, who their new manager is, or what your gut is telling you. So take advantage of the fact the other two options are pretty good bets.

QPR to score no goals: 2/1
QPR to score 1 goal: 13/8

Pick 1, they’re both decent bets, considering Queens Park Rangers have been kept to 1 goal or fewer in every single league match this season except 2. That’s an astonishing number.  They scored 2 at home against Reading, and grabbed 2 on the road at West Brom.  That’s it.  They’ve been kept to a clean sheet 5 times, and have scored a whopping 7 goals at home this year.  Bet against them scoring in whatever way you can. QPR also haven’t scored against Fulham in 6 matches dating back to 1983. So there’s that.

For more prices, head over to 888sport.com and check out the odds for the match and others!

EA Sports Stats:

-The last English top-flight club to not record a win in its first 17 league matches: Bolton in the 1902-1903 season (over 100 years ago!).

-QPR has 7 goals in their last 9 home games.

-The last 6 meetings between these two clubs have ended in 5 Fulham wins and 1 draw.

-The club really needed Brede Hangeland back.  While he hasn’t been in best form, and some people (some people = me) have been calling for his sale before he completely loses value, he’s been vital at the back statistically.  The EA Sports Player Performance Index has Hangeland at a whopping 77 interceptions on the season.

-Steve Sidwell’s transformation to a defensive midfielder has gone brilliantly.  The EA Sports Player Performance Index has Sidwell at 51 tackles won at a 60% success rate.  That’s a solid rate for someone who’s put to work so much.  He traveled 6.71 miles (or 10.8 km) against Newcastle.

Prediction:

This has to be a victory for Fulham, and nothing else will satisfy.  In fact, a draw will no doubt leave both clubs highly disappointed, with quite a lot at stake.  I’ll give this a 2-0 victory to Fulham, as there’s really no indication that Rangers will get their first win, until they prove they can……well……win. And prove they can score too.

Fulham vs. Newcastle: 2012’s Roller Coaster Continues

A very intriguing matchup in the Premiership will be taking place in primetime on Monday.  One club mired in a horrible run of bad form faces another club which was mired in terrible form until a quality win last week.  A result in either direction could drastically alter each one’s season.  A win for Newcastle would signal their return to where they belong; consequently, a win for Fulham would provide a massively-needed boost to their goal of reaching the next transfer window unscathed.

Without further ado, I present to you a very exciting match preview here on Fulham’s Finest:

State of Fulham:

One word best describes the current situation the Cottagers find themselves in: yuck. They’ve lost 3 of 4, and haven’t won since a boring 1-0 home victory over Aston Villa on October 20, a run of 7 matches without a win.  While that stretch does include relatively impressive draws against Everton, Arsenal, and Chelsea, those don’t do enough to cancel out horrible losses to Sunderland and Stoke at home, as well as their most recent result, an incredibly uninspiring loss against Dempsey- and Dembele-led Spurs.  This slide has seen the club drop from 6th to 13th, and almost more troubling, seen a club near the top of the league in scoring net just 2 goals in their last 4 matches.

Injuries have struck Fulham, although this season that’s nothing new.  Bryan Ruiz has had a major setback to his hamstring injury, something that will keep him out until January, an unfortunate turn of events given he was so close to returning.  Sascha Riether is also dealing with a knee injury he picked up last in the last match, and is a doubt. Thankfully, the club will be applauding the return of both Brede Hangeland from suspension and Alex Kacaniklic from his hamstring injury.

State of Newcastle:

The Magpies have also had a disasterous run of form both in the Premier League and the Europa League prior to last week’s 3-0 victory against a quality Wigan side.  They had been winless in 5 matches before that, and had just 1 win in their prior 9 matches.  Even with the win against Wigan, in all competitions, their previous 16 matches have seen just 4 wins (2 PL, 2 Europa League) as opposed to 7 losses and 5 draws. This isn’t the Newcastle we had imagined at the start of the season when Alan Pardew was signed to a silly long contract extension.

Newcastle are also dealing with injury shuffles of their own, although most of them are returning players.  Hatem Ben Arfa looks set to return, a big gain for the club, along with Jonas Gutierrez, Demba Ba, and Chiek Tiote, 3 other key figures.

888sport.com Lines of the Match:

I’m unveiling some very exciting new segments for Fulham’s Finest. From now on, I will be presenting you with prices from 888sport.com involving Fulham matches to help guide us through a match preview, and so it gives me another angle to discuss talking points.  They’ll be sending me their favorite lines, and I’ll pick 2-3 each match.  For more prices than what I have here, feel free to visit 888sport.com.  Let’s begin with Fulham/Newcastle!

Dimitar Berbatov to score anytime – 5/4
This line was a lot bigger (9/4) when it was sent to me, but has shrunk recently, and rightly so.  If Fulham can get Dimitar the ball (which is a big “if” without Ruiz) he’s shown plenty of times what he’s capable of doing.  It’s not much reward here, but there’s no safer bet than Berbatov to score.

Hatem Ben Arfa to score anytime – 4/1
A great price for a guy coming off injury, Ben Arfa has 7 goals in 38 matches for Newcastle and sill certainly be at the center or at least up front of the attack if he’s indeed able to come back. The only down side to this bet is Demba Ba is returning as well, and he’s been a Newcastle goal machine, so it may cause Alan Pardew to play Ben Arfa on the wing feeding Ba the ball.  Still, a decent risk/reward with how poorly the Fulham defense has looked recently.

Half with most goals: 2nd half – evens
This is going to tie into a statistic I have in my section below, so without further ado, I present to you…

EA Sports Stats of the Match

EA Sports was also kind enough to offer up a sponsorship for this section, and are kind enough to send me in-depth statistics.  The reason I like the 2nd half to have more goals, even at even money, is…

There have been 11 goals in the final 10 minutes of games involving Fulham this season.  They’ve all provided drama right until the end, and I don’t see this match as being anything out of the ordinary.

Steve Sidwell has completed the most successful tackles in the Premier League with 47.  Sidwell has been incredibly busy in the midfield, with the central midfielders teaming up in a Danny Murphy-esque role.  He’s transformed his career with the switch to a more traditional enforcing defensive midfielder, and it’s shown with quality matches in the recent going.  Look for him to continue this role alongside Mahamadou Diarra.

Dimitar Berbatov has contributed more defensive work than any other striker in the EA Sports Player Performance Index, including 12 clearances and 34 interceptions. Who says he’s lazy? Think again. Berbatov has meant even more to this club than people give him credit for, which is a lot!

Prediction: This match seems to me to have draw written all over it.  I think the goalscoring will continue in Fulham matches, with a 1-1 or 2-2 scoreline a fair assessment, but I’ll go with 2-2.  The key for Fulham will be finding creativity in the slot behind Berbatov or Petric without Bryan Ruiz.

Fulham to Receive Lineup Boost as Injured Players Return

I’m alive, I promise! Sorry it’s been a little bit, life’s been getting the better of me recently. But no longer! We here at Fulham’s Finest will persevere.

But I digress.

In Martin Jol’s weekly video previewing matches, he was clearly happy to see many players returning from injury for this weekend’s clash with Aston Villa at home.  The international break couldn’t have come at a better time for Fulham, who had grinded out some important points on the road, but after Southampton before the break couldn’t help but feel disappointed after letting a late lead slip to a draw.

Jol mentioned the following players during his interview:

-Jol said Berbatov is back from injury, fit, and ready to start.  He’s the obvious start in this bunch, and will be ready to lead the attack.

-The manager will have many options on the left, and it will be interesting to see who he picks to play.  He mentioned obviously Kacaniklic has been playing well, but Kerim Frei has finally returned from injury after having been missing since the opening of the season, and will play into the mix.  He also said Kieran Richardson has been playing well and will be considered, but I disagree that he’s been playing well and I think it’s just Martin Jol playing up his squad.  Expect Kacaniklic to start with Frei possibly making it to the bench and maybe a late run out.

-Ashkan Dejagah is set to finally make his Fulham debut, as he is back from a knee injury he picked up just before transferring to Fulham at the end of the window.  With the international break having given Damien Duff on the right some time off, expect Duff to start this weekend.  However, don’t be surprised to see Dejegah get some chances every few weeks on the right with Duff reaching higher and higher on the age chart, giving the Duffer some time off.

-Jol talked at length about who he wants to play beside Berbatov up front.  Mladen Petric has also returned from injury, but because of his knock’s timing, he hasn’t gotten to show what he can do next to the Serbian.  If I’m extrapolating from what Jol said, I’d expect to see Petric start this weekend because he wants to see Mladen and Berbatov play together, and he talked much higher of the Yugoslavian than he did Rodallega.  Hugo will no doubt make the bench though.

-In a shock announcement, Jol said Mahamadou Diarra is a possibility for this match, although I would highly doubt it.  However, just the fact that Diarra is in the mix at this stage is, as Jol put it, “a medical miracle.” Just coming off knee surgery, they even showed video of Diarra training with the squad.  When it was announced he would be out, it said 3-4 weeks, possibly the season with knee ligament damage and surgery.  Obviously that’s vague, as it could mean anything from an MCL sprain to an ACL tear and everything in between.  If I had to venture a guess, having some experience with knee injuries over the years, I would say he probably had a meniscus and/or MCL tear that required surgery and it was unknown if there was more damage.  Those usually take 6-8 weeks to recover from, which is why Jol described it as such. Great to have him back in the near future! But don’t expect Diarra to play this weekend.

-Finally, the one bit of downer news, Bryan Ruiz is also a doubt for this match, but it doesn’t at all sound serious, and Jol did leave the possibility on the table that he could play.

Fulham 5-0 Wolves: Who Needs Zamora When We’ve Got The Pog?

This picture just about sums up the day

So, my first question, who wants to pay for me to live in London? Because clearly I have some power, some effect on the club. What a match.  Let’s get right into it.

The good:

-The instincts: It seemed everyone knew where everyone else was at all times.  It seemed like every time someone wanted to put the ball into an attacking position, there was always someone there to receive it.  What a wonderful display of attacking.  I can’t really praise the ball movement enough.  While the accuracy wasn’t always the best, the setup and player movement was outstanding.

-Pavel Pogrebnyak: Hat trick. 5 goals in 3 matches with Fulham.  Need I say more?

-Clint Dempsey’s 2^nd half: While it took him a while to get warmed up, and he was somewhat invisible in the 1^st half, he hit some kind of switch at halftime in the locker room because when he came back out he was on fire.  He made run after run down the middle, and someone found him every time.

-The middle men: Damien Duff, Moussa Dembele, Danny Murphy, John Arne Riise, and even debut man Mahamadou Diarra, this means you. When someone was in a good attacking position, you were always there to put a good ball to them and find your way through the Wolverhampton midfield and first line of defense.  Whether it was on the wings or in the middle of the field, the work to get the ball up front was brilliant.

The bad:

-Aaron Hughes: The poor guy looked lost on the right hand side.  As much as the whole team played well, and even Hughesy looked much better in the 2^nd half than in the 1^st, I still feel like he had moments where he was clueless.  He’s much better in the middle, and it’s unfortunate that Philippe Senderos is playing so well in the middle.  There’s a logjam in the middle and not enough guys who can play the edges.  That makes Riise so valuable.

-Wolverhampton: Boy were they awful.  As much as Fulham played so well, they handed the Whites so many chances with sloppy ball handling, terrible passing, and a lack of physicality they’re generally known for.  Maybe that’s a product of Karl Henry getting injured early, but they were downright terrible.  After watching that, I would not be the least bit surprised if they ended up relegated.  What a poor showing.  I actually feel sorry for Wolves fans.

Man of the Match: Pavel Pogrebnyak of course.  Who else? Well Clint Dempsey, Moussa Dembele, and even Damien Duff probably could somewhat be considered.  But Dempsey only really played one good half, Dembele faded at the end and didn’t have the sharpest passing, and Pog had a hat trick.  He now has 5 goals in 3 matches with Fulham.

My trip to the Cottage:

Figured I’d share some of this with you as well. From the Hammy End. Despite the rain and the cold, I had a wonderful time.