Ok pressure back on to get back to winning ways vs our neighbour's.

 

So after this our next game is Monday.

Last time we had a PL match in midweek, away at Southampton, Maresca rotated.

Will he do the same here, or rotate vs Ipswich on Monday?

 

We know the players he does not like to ask to play twice a week. Colwill, Sanchez, Gusto, Sancho, Neto, Jackson. Might be others.

So could we see something like this on boxing day?

 

Jorgensen 

 

Acheampong 

Disasi

Tosin

Cucurella

 

Caicedo

Enzo

 

Madueke

Palmer

Felix

 

Nkunku  

 

?

This one will be available live on Amazon Prime, for those of you that have a subscription.

Need a response here from the attackers. 
 

 

Fulham are a good all around side.

A good attack, a good defence, a good manager. All around a good, solid opponent who make it difficult for you, as shown with their draws vs Arsenal and Pool.

Another banana skin, especially after Christmas when, I think, there is a chance several of our players are feeling the after affects of the holiday season.

The confidence of our forwards is àlso key here. I think some are at risk of suffering a blow to that confidence if they fail again here.

It might be wise for Maresca to pull Sancho and Nico out of the firing line for this one. He has options. He has Nkunku, Felix and Madueke ready to play who barley got any minutes, or none in Felix case, vs Everton.

My preference would be a message sent to the attackers that, what they produced vs Everton, was not good enough and all 4 get dropped, with Guiu coming in up top.

Not going to happen, but I think they all need that message, including Neto. He was the best of the bunch today but he was still average at best, and once again we saw him cut in on his left foot only to miss hit it straight a Pickford when, at that range, it should be a top save or a goal. Not as bad as Nicos misses, but still very good.

 

So the front 4 we won't see, and likely plenty will say we should not see as you don't drop Palmer in the PL, I would like are:

 

Madueke

Nkunku

Felix

 

Guiu

4 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Need a response here from the attackers. 
 

 

 

Jackson will hit the bar not the post from 3 yards out....needs to be dropped..

We just need to keep winning ..

4 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Fulham are a good all around side.

A good attack, a good defence, a good manager. All around a good, solid opponent who make it difficult for you, as shown with their draws vs Arsenal and Pool.

Another banana skin, especially after Christmas when, I think, there is a chance several of our players are feeling the after affects of the holiday season.

The confidence of our forwards is àlso key here. I think some are at risk of suffering a blow to that confidence if they fail again here.

It might be wise for Maresca to pull Sancho and Nico out of the firing line for this one. He has options. He has Nkunku, Felix and Madueke ready to play who barley got any minutes, or none in Felix case, vs Everton.

My preference would be a message sent to the attackers that, what they produced vs Everton, was not good enough and all 4 get dropped, with Guiu coming in up top.

Not going to happen, but I think they all need that message, including Neto. He was the best of the bunch today but he was still average at best, and once again we saw him cut in on his left foot only to miss hit it straight a Pickford when, at that range, it should be a top save or a goal. Not as bad as Nicos misses, but still very good.

 

So the front 4 we won't see, and likely plenty will say we should not see as you don't drop Palmer in the PL, I would like are:

 

Madueke

Nkunku

Felix

 

Guiu

Madueke was half arsed today...why bother...I'd definitely include Felix in the line up and Nkunku

 

You forgot about their fantastic 0-0 draw at home  against Southampton today 😉

19 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

Jackson will hit the bar 

Thats what @nonotnowjimdoes when he sees Nico starts a match

17 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

You forgot about their fantastic 0-0 draw at home  against Southampton today 😉

No, I deliberately left that out. They came up with different game plans for Arsenal and Pool than their normal style. 

They can drops some silly points but also raise and adjust their game for the "bigger sides", as they did pool and Arsenal.

 

Won't be so much consideration for the next couple of League games after this. Will be more they are rubbish, no excuses you better win.

Pool have the night game at home to Leicester, Arsenal play on Friday night at home to Ipswich.

First time a Prem game during medweek against a decent side (Southampton is Southampton...)

Interesting how many changes we will make.

Could actually play both Felix & Nkunku here given how Fulham defend. 

Tricky game, Fulham are playing very well. It's going to be a good game as both teams will be looking to play offensive.

----------- Sanchez --------------

Caicedo -- Tosin -- Colwill -- Cucu

-------- Lavia ---- Enzo ------

Madueke --- Palmer --- Felix ---

--------- Nkunku ------

If Lavia still isn't fit, then Gusto RB and Caicedo in the midfield.

COME ON CHELS!!!

8 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Could actually play both Felix & Nkunku here given how Fulham defend. 

Would like to see it.

On 22/12/2024 at 22:51, CFCCAN said:

Jackson will hit the bar not the post from 3 yards out....needs to be dropped..

We just need to keep winning ..

I would rather Guiu started a few games in a row, I'm fed up with all the sitters Jackson misses. Cost us 2 points last game

8 hours ago, IliyaKrostin said:

Tricky game, Fulham are playing very well. It's going to be a good game as both teams will be looking to play offensive.

Fulham have been a bit below their best in recent times. The draws against Arsenal and Liverpool were good results, but they got very lucky. They were really poor against 10 man Liverpool, they were getting dominated.

32 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Fulham have been a bit below their best in recent times. The draws against Arsenal and Liverpool were good results, but they got very lucky. They were really poor against 10 man Liverpool, they were getting dominated.

It is a game we should win, and we have several should win games coming up, with Bournemouth at home and Villa away being large banana skins in January.

Not excuses here though. Fulham are good, but we are better in every department so if we don't win it most likely means we did not apply ourselves properly.

Everton was an exception for me. Horrid ground, terrible record there, them being well drilled defensively and the wind was awful. 

Point there was a good result. This one? Anything less than 3 points and we have failed massively.

We need to hold the team to a higher standard but, more importantly, they do as well. Get a run going again, top sides deliver in games like this more often than not.

Ok guess Marescas team selection time for me. Did pretty good for Everton, and I think he will rotate and leave out players he does not like using 3 times within a week (or 8 days in this case). 

He will have to use Colwill as I don't think he will use Acheampong and has nobody else unless he plays Gusto instead:

 

Sanchez

 

Disasi

Tosin

Colwill

Cucurella

 

Caicedo

Enzo

 

Madueke

Palmer 

Felix

 

Jackson

 

Biggest question mark for me is Felix, but he did play Sancho for 90 on Sunday and I don't he risks Neto given his injury record.

On 22/12/2024 at 16:18, axman2526 said:

So after this our next game is Monday.

Last time we had a PL match in midweek, away at Southampton, Maresca rotated.

Will he do the same here, or rotate vs Ipswich on Monday?

 

We know the players he does not like to ask to play twice a week. Colwill, Sanchez, Gusto, Sancho, Neto, Jackson. Might be others.

So could we see something like this on boxing day?

 

Jorgensen 

 

Acheampong 

Disasi

Tosin

Cucurella

 

Caicedo

Enzo

 

Madueke

Palmer

Felix

 

Nkunku  

 

?

I hope you're wrong tbh Ax. Whilst i don't think we played poorly our attackers were largely nullified and it blunted our run. They deserve the opportunity to get back out there and put us back on track.

I would possibly stay the same but put Gusto back to RB, to cover Robinson's pace and bring Cucu back in.

Maybe rotate some of your in for Ipswich

6 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

I hope you're wrong tbh Ax. Whilst i don't think we played poorly our attackers were largely nullified and it blunted our run. They deserve the opportunity to get back out there and put us back on track.

I would possibly stay the same but put Gusto back to RB, to cover Robinson's pace and bring Cucu back in.

Maybe rotate some of your in for Ipswich

That team I put forward would be rotating out all the players Maresca has flagged as being possible injury magnets if they play too many games in a short space of time.

I don't think he will pick that side, my last post before this one is my guess who he will pick, and why. 

I don't think it will be the same attack, nor Gusto against Robinson, as Neto and Gusto are two players very high up on the too many games list. I could see the other 3 attackers starting that played vs Everton, but would be surprised if Neto starts and Noni does not.

Lavia out. 

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Lavia out. 

Not a surprise, so I will ask this. Should we recall Santos in January?

Some will say Lesley. However for me he should either stay at Saints, if the new manager wants to use him, or go to Strasbourg as Santos replacement.

Lavia is injury prone, we need cover, and KDH is not it. 

Merry Christmas  to all the regulars on here!😀

Its a boxing day London derby against Fulham... The 3 points have to be ours unless the boys have eaten too much yesterday. 

Match Day!

Come On Chelsea!!

Playing Chelsea is the equivalent of a Champions League final to their fans. It's always been the same. It's the one game they want to win more than any other.