Hello! It's a Preview up a day earlier than usual- this is because I'm up in Blackpool for the weekend, and when I should be writing up a Preview tomorrow I'll be headed up to Blackpool, hence this being up a day earlier; and Saturday's game is definitely a must-win. Millwall's game in-hand is the major thing for us with regard to the doubts over our security in this division, and once they play their game in-hand against Blackburn the picture will become a lot clearer. However we can truly take it out of their hands if we win on Saturday and at the very least maintain the 7 Point Gap with Millwall having 3 games to make up said gap- and while stranger things have happened the chances of them not losing to any of Blackburn (A), Derby (H) and Wolves (A) are pretty slim.
This isn't intended to be disrespectful to Blackpool, but we should win on Saturday- Blackpool are already down and out; and while they've put in a few improved performances against Ipswich & Reading since said Relegation they've still only picked up 1 Point from those two games, and provided we show up (which we didn't yesterday, especially in the First Half) we're in with a good shout of winning and from my point of view we just need 1 win to guarantee safety. After Saturday we've got two very difficult games to end this horrendous season against Boro and Norwich, which makes Saturday our most likely source of getting said Win; mind you Fulham logic is we lose on Saturday and then thrash Boro and screw up their Promotion Party a week later.
I said it in my Review last night and I'll say it again now- we were shocking last night, and Rotherham deserved to win; second half we were better, but we were still poor and if the Ref/Linesman had his eye in and caught the McCormack Handball we would've lost- as such I'd make a few changes both with Rotherham in mind, and the Blackpool pitch in mind.
One player who definitely won't be changing is Bettinelli- even if he could have done better for the Derbyshire goal (which in my opinion he couldn't, yet again), he more than made up for it with some of the saves, specifically the ones in the First Half against Derbyshire when he had a 1 on 1 and I think Broadfoot when he pushed the ball onto the post. While there is still some time left, our player of the season- or Least Worse Player of the Season is a shootout between Bettinelli and McCormack this year, with Christensen being third because of injury problems as much as anything else; and on balance I'd go for Bettinelli at this stage, because McCormack has (likely) kept us in the Division with his goals- his goals would have meant nothing in some games if Bettinelli hadn't have kept us in the game.
With that in mind I'm going to present a theory of sorts which I'm hoping to hell isn't true and is entirely from my own mind. If you weren't already away Jose Mourinho was at the Cottage Last Night (obviously sizing us up before he takes over in the Summer), and after some discussion with someone I sit with (and he reads these, so Hi!) one theory as to why Mourinho was there won't be pleasant reading for us Fulham Fans. Chelsea are more than likely to lose Petr Cech this Summer- because he's way too good to be a #2 and with the homegrown quota being something Chelsea need to fulfill Bettinelli may well be a considered option to be #2 to Courtois. As I said this isn't an ITK type thing, It's just an opinion- and one I hope remains just that.
Jazz Richards grew into the game last night, but there's no way he'll be fit for the game on Saturday given yesterday was his first game since Huddersfield- as such I'd be bringing Jack Grimmer back into the team, who I thought was really harshly dropped for yesterdays game because I thought he was our best player against Wigan and put in the best Full-Back performance I've seen since Riether's first season with us. I said it last night and I'll say it again, I'm hoping we're playing Richards with some view to buying him in the Summer- because if we aren't it's ridiculously short-term thinking from Kit because all it's doing if this is just a short-term fix then it's just hurting Grimmer's development. The rest of the defence should stay the same, I'm still not really sold on Burn & Turner-and the game on Saturday will hardly be a game where Burn & Turner are pushed to their limits (or at least it shouldn't be), which is why I'm still not going to be sold on Burn until he comes up against what I'd label quality Championship opposition such as Boro & Norwich, and if he performs well against them I'll happily get on the Burn bandwagon.
The Midfield is where we need to see vast improvement, and if we get it right on Saturday we'll win the game without a shadow of a doubt. I think we should use the two games so close together excuse in order to save face and drop Parker, because he was truly dreadful last night- I'm pretty sure he forgot how to play Football. I also think we need to go for a lot more width than we have in recent games to really spread the Blackpool team and create spaces for the players who'll make something happen. To the best of my knowledge (it isn't helped Kit hasn't had a Presser) Kacaniklic isn't injured as such he'd be first name on the team sheet for Saturday in my book. Kaca has been played on the right more often than not since he's come back in, as such the Left sided Midfield spot is still open, and I'd give it to Stafylidis (no really), he has his flaws, but I do rate him to an extent from an attacking perspective and his pace will cause problems. The other two midfield spots would be more central and I'd give them to Hoogland and Tunnicliffe, Hoogland would take up the Parker role of sitting in front of the Back Four- and he'd be the one player who's got a proper defensive head on for Saturday and sitting back allowing the rest of the Midfield and the Full-Backs to attack, Tunnicliffe was fuming when he came off yesterday-and while I didn't see it apparently he kicked the hell out of the dugout post and threw a right tantrum, which I don't mind one bit because it shows he actually cares- and with the exception of McCormack particularly (and a sprinkling of others) people showing passion in a White (with Grey Stripes and Orange Bits) shirt has been few and far between. I would be putting Tunnicliffe back in the fold for Saturday though because his energy in the Midfield could well be our driving force on Saturday.
I was debating having Bryan Ruiz playing just off McCormack up front on Saturday, however with the pitch in mind I can't see it being a game for Bryan- and with the reasoning behind him not playing against Sheff. Wednesday I can't see him going even further north for Blackpool. As such we'll be going with the Smith and McCormack partnership, with the pitch in mind Smith could be a useful weapon for us on Saturday- I'm just hoping given the opposition we don't completely go Long-Ball because Smith is far from useless with the ball at his feet- and unless I'm mistaken all of his goals with Fulham have been with his feet.
Team for Blackpool
Bettinelli
Grimmer, Turner, Burn, Husband
Kacaniklic, Hoogland, Tunnicliffe, Stafylidis
McCormack, Smith
I hope this hasn't come off as disrespectful to Blackpool, but we should be beating Blackpool- however similar to Reading a few years ago, an already down team has nothing to lose and'll play with freedom; so we can't afford to take Blackpool lightly. However we still need a win to make sure of our safety in my opinion and Blackpool is by far and a way the most likely game in which we'll get such a win.
Thanks for reading as always, I know this up a day earlier than usual- but I hope you understand why, the Review will still be up on Saturday after the game so stay tuned for that; I know this has come fresh off the heels of the Rotherham Blogs but that's the nature of the beast- anyway thanks again for reading and let's hope we get that much needed win.
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