Fulham vs. Nottingham Forest

Fulham hosts Nottingham Forest on Monday in the last match of the weekend. Kickoff is at 3pm EST on USA Network.

This will be Fulham's first league match without the Nigerian trio and if it goes poorly we'll all be worried about Fulham's prospects over the next month. Lukic was pulled not just because of his yellow in the League Cup but also out of precaution because of an issue with his groin. He could be available for this match.

I'd like to see Fulham go with the starting midfield I also suggested against Newcastle: Smith-Rowe, King, Berge. But again, I don't think that is likely. I'd also like to see Kusi-Asare get more playing time. Also not likely. So I don't think that Silva will be making the best possible choices for this team to win and to keep the existing squad fit over the coming weeks. Sorry I'm still whining about this, but I'm pretty disappointed in his decision making this season.

Fulham does have a good track record against Forest so even if I don't see the lineup I'd like, I'm still hopeful for a win.

 

I wish I had paid attention to the schedule for this match when I was planning and submitting my holiday leave request, because now I'm sitting here at the office trying to figure out if I should (could?) step out early or just record the match and use it as an excuse to take a break from the in-laws for a couple hours.

A win here would go a long way for Fulham. They're currently 7 points clear of the drop zone but sitting near the bottom of a clump of teams all within a few points of each other. A loss would see Forest jump Fulham in the table, so that's the worst-case scenario.

I think we're all questioning Silva to some extent - whether it's his team/substitute choices or his rigidity in his tactics - but this next month should force his hand given the player loss to AFCON. There will possibly be additional changes if... IF the team picks up some new talent in the transfer window.

 

That was messy and ugly, but the result is what we needed.

Ouch. Andersen’s finger made me squirm. It couldn’t have been pleasant. My heart stopped for a bit when at different times Raul and Harry were rolling around on the ground.

Kevin has no confidence. I think he’s the kind of player Silva can transform in the next few months into someone top-notch if he buys in.

Praying for January reinforcements. A striker, a quality defensive midfielder, at least one winger (but preferably two, so we can let Traore go)..

 

I thought for sure Fulham would give up a late goal in this one, but it never happened. Fulham's first PK of the season was enough to get the job done. Thank goodness since it was the only shot on target. Kevin really should have at least put that one ball on net, but at least his efforts in the box were instrumental in the win.

@daddude7 what happened with Andersen's finger? I couldn't watch the match live and whatever happened didn't make it to the highlights.

@astroevan how did you decide to play this one? Did it get you out of work or family time??

 

Not photoshopped

 

Gulp.

Uh, yeah, that's real bad! My one son had a finger that looked like that after an ex high school quarterback chucked one of those little plastic novelty footballs at him. Broke his finger right off the knuckle cap and required surgery! Hopefully that's _only_ a dislocated finger for Andersen