Fulham at Aston Villa

Fulham travel to Villa Park on Sunday to take on Aston Villa. Kick off is at 9am EDT on, sigh, USA Network.

Villa has been terrible. They've scored one goal in the league so far this season and that came from a defender last week against Sunderland. A 10-man Sunderland that Villa still couldn't find a way to defeat. Watkins and Rogers have both been on poor and they really stunk on Thursday when Aston Villa played Bologna in the Europa League. Watkins showed absolutely no confidence when we took a PK that he drove straight at the keeper and Rogers seemed to forget what a ball was used for in the game. Still they got their first win of the season and I think the poor performances from Watkins and Rogers could actually be bad for Fulham because a bad showing in a mid-week match gives Emery plenty of cover to make changes. That would likely include starting Harvey Elliott, one of Fulham's favorite villains (villain like a "bad guy", not villain as in "from Aston Villa"). Aston Villa will probably get better if Watkins and Rogers are pulled and that makes this matchup one that could be the start of a Villa turnaround. Of course, Fulham has a habit of helping goal scorers who've gone cold turn things around, so I won't be surprised if Watkins ends up with a hat trick too.

Fulham will probably bring out the same lineup that we saw against Brentford since they won, the alternate 11 didn't shine against Cambridge United, and Silva is reluctant to make changes generally. I hope that the new signings are given some significant time to come on as subs, since I don't think the Cambridge match was the best venue for them.

Emery has had Fulham's number with a perfect record of seven wins between his time at Arsenal and Aston Villa. However I think this time it could be different! But not in an exciting way. Given how both teams can struggle to score I feel like the most likely outcome is a turgid 0-0 result.

 

One interesting side note to keep an eye on for this one is that Aston Villa will be prohibited from using the multiball system as a result of violations last season. I’m not sure how this will play out (or how it did for their first two home matches) but it could be interesting. Especially for Fulham who won’t have already played two matches this way.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/aston-villa-premier-league-statement-35736583

I’d like to see Jedi regain his spot in the first eleven, but otherwise expect more of the same from the Brentford match. I’d also like to see more shots… on target and not from 35+ yards out.

 

I presume Muniz was hurt. Kusi-Asare must really not be ready for this level, which makes me think it wasn’t Marco’s idea to get him. So do we suddenly have no strikers?

We were very good in the first half, just incredibly wasteful. In the second, we were awful, especially Berge, Traore, and Iwobi. But everyone was subpar. They’ll have to pick themselves up and try to forget this weekend.

 

A promising start, but a whole lot of questions (as @daddude7 described) after Jimenez went down. However that has nothing to do with how the defense collapsed. Three goals to a team that scored one all season, including two for players in scoring droughts - how Fulhamish.

I was surprised Fulham didn't get a PK for the handball, but at least the officiating was consistent since Newcastle wasn't awarded a similar PK today.

 

Fulham were simply too slow to react and did not pressure Aston Villa enough when defending. Traore did his best but could not hold on to the ball and continually coughed it up with his back to goal. McGinn was given all the space he wanted before his goal. Also no idea what any of the Fulham defenders were doing on their first goal.

I think it would have been overly harsh to award a PK for that handball and I certainly would've been angry had the teams been flipped and it was Fulham that was penalized. So I'm fine with the no call decision.

It's a short week for the team. Let's hope Raul's knock is not serious.

Edit: I didn't really notice the lack of extra balls on cones or the attendants that tend to them except for a couple occasions. Apparently, it takes just as long to fetch a ball off a cone as it does to fetch the one that was in play.

 

Based on Marco's post-match reaction, Muniz will be out for "weeks." (Tete is also hurt, though he didn't say for how long.) If Raul's abdominal injury--seemed like a muscle-related thing--keeps him out, then we're down to Kusi-Asare, Loupalo-Bi, or playing a winger as a striker (please, no Traore. Iwobi? Wilson?). Or Silva will need to change the formation and go to something like a false nine without a post-up striker. We'll find out by Friday.

Marco had a lot to say to the press about what he thought should have been two PKs for us. I don't think King deserved a yellow, but he also didn't deserve a PK. As for the handball, as @astroevan said, had the teams been flipped, I would have been unhappy with a PK call, and Marco would probably have complained, too. But I also no longer know what a handball is in the Prem. It has become too subjective. And I do think that if a hand prevents a shot on target--even if it's otherwise not classifiable as a handball--the rules should favor the attacking team and require a PK.

 

From watching Fulham's highlights it seems apparent that Raul was injured in the celebration of his goal. Likely when Sessegnon jumped on top while his torso was slightly askew. Even more Fulhamish. Please no more jumping on players when celebrating!

 

This is my only argument for a PK as it looked to me like King’s shot was dialed into sneaking inside the near post. But these explanations make too much sense for *any* league to adopt them.