Written by Brian Gower
If it was the shame of last week’s humiliation from a Division Two team motivated the Fulham players, it seemed to be working – for the first ten minutes. Each and every one of them were working hard, marking their men and not giving Burnley any time on the ball. It paid dividends with an early cracking goal by Andre Schurrle.
This was the work rate needed by ALL the players for 90 minutes every game. How quick it changed.
After the excellent start, it was soon back to normal, as the players seemed to have run out of energy. It is a tough ask to man mark your player for a whole 90 minutes. This is however, the English Premier League. The minute youstop the running, and allow the opposition time and room to play the ball around, they will take over and control the game.
It didn’t take long for Burnley to take over and within 23 minutes were two goals ahead, both scored by Fulham’s own defenders. It was a comedy of errors, but who’s laughing? Certainly not the loyal Fulham fans who made yet another long trip up the country to witness another defensive calamity once again.
Six defenders on, including Chambers, yet 2 goals conceded to a Burnley team that quite honestly are not a lot better than Fulham.
The second half started much the same as the first with Fulham on the front foot. It wasn’t due to their style of play why they had more possession in the second half, but Burnley’s lack of willingness or need to attack. They felt comfortable enough to sit back and allow Fulham space, almost saying, “let’s see if you can score again”.
Well, Fulham never really looked like getting an equaliser. When the chances came they were once again spurned. A Chambers header hit the bar and Vietto had a great opportunity cleared off the line.
That was that. Another 3 points down the drain. Another week wasted in the transfer window, while we pussy-foot around trying to find another ‘bargain’ overseas player or two that are supposedly going to save us from the seemly inevitable drop back down to the Championship.
If the Khan’s really wanted Fulham to survive this season in the EPL, Cahill, Drinkwater & Moses should have all been begged to come to the Cottage, and with another tried and tested attacker joining, it would have been our only opportunity of climbing out of the bottom three.
As per the season start, too little in quality and too late.
Roll on the SPURS next week. How many 1000’s to 1 for a clean sheet?