by marlowuk »
03 Dec 2016 20:57
My first away game of the season and sitting with my Fulham-supporting mate in with the Fulham fans!! A thoroughly miserable experience but born out of a thoroughly miserable performance by Reading. 'I hate to say this', my mate said after the game, 'but, to be honest, you are the worst side we have played at The Cottage this season!'. And, being honest myself, Fulham were the best Championship side I have seen all season!!
From the kick off we were not at the races. Fulham pressed us high and chased every ball and every lost cause and we had no answer. My mate had warned me that his team were making plenty of chances but couldn't hit the target and he was - thankfully - right! It needed one of our own players to put them one up at half-time when they should have been 3 or 4 to the good!! We had no rhythm, no fluency and, unforgivably, no fight!! Simple passes were going to the opposition; we were second to every 50-50 ball and badly losing the mid-field battle.
In contrast, Fulham were quick, clever and up for the game. The slick passes and flick-ons were working for them and they looked several classes above us. I didn't see the incident that led to Williams being sent off but, with 10 men, we actually looked more up for the fight until they scored the 3rd goal! Then the heads went down and I was grateful we kept the scoreline to 5-0!! This was only thanks to some wayward shooting and some good AAH saves.
Can we recover from this? Is it just a blip? I hope so. But it was this fixture that ended our season last year and that was only 4-2!! Next game we welcome Moore back but lose Williams for 3 games. No signs of Swift returning and Kermorgant and Rackels are also out of action. Sheffield Wednesday are on a good run of form and will severely test our depleted squad next Saturday. It is up to Stam to raise that squad's spirits and get them back to form. At least we are still 3rd in the table!!
