Championship 2017-18

Comincia oggi col Norwich, subito un impegno duro, il campionato del Fulham.

www.skysports.com/football/fulham-vs-norwich/preview/374623

Lo scorso anno ha regalato una squadra competitiva e spettacolare ma anche tanti problemi irrisolti, come la mancanza di un attaccante di peso e le tensioni tra l'amatissimo manager Jovanovic e il board; tensioni che non sono state smorzate da un mercato pressochè inesistente dove le uniche buone notizie sono state la conferma dei pezzi migliori Sessegnon, Aluko, Cairney e Fredericks.
Speriamo ovviamente di sbagliarci ma non sembra essere stato compiuto il salto di qualità.

Se il buongiorno si vede dal mattino allora comincia in modo promettente la stagione dei cottagers che giocano un bellissimo calcio anche se alla fine vengono raggiunti (non del tutto immeritatamente xchè anche i canaries hanno giocato una buona partita) dal Norwich con un'azione in sospetto fuorigioco.

Oggi col Reading vedremo come si preannuncia la stagione, se oltre che bello il Fulham sa essere anche un pò concreto.

Reading hope to have striker Jon Dadi Bodvarsson (ankle) available.

Captain Paul McShane has completed a three-game ban after his red card in their play-off semi-final last season.

Fulham are without goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli (hamstring), but midfielder Kevin McDonald is available having returned to training this week.

Tom Cairney, Tomas Kalas, David Button, Oliver Norwood and Stefan Johansen should start after being rested in Tuesday's 2-0 EFL Cup win over Wycombe.

Reading manager Jaap Stam told BBC Radio Berkshire:

"I know my squad, I know my players, everyone knows what we did last season. We did very well, we ended up third in the league and went to the play-off final, but I think we still need to grow as a club.

"We still need to grow as a team. To say are we a contender for going up this season and winning the league, I don't think we're there yet. We need to be realistic as a club.

"Eventually we want to get to a certain stage like Fulham, you can keep your own squad, you can keep your best players.

"Every season you can add one or two players to make the team stronger, and then you can say we're ready to get promotion."

SAM's prediction
Home win - 24% Draw - 25% Away win - 51%
SAM (Sports Analytics Machine) is a super-computer created by @ProfIanMcHale that is used to predict the outcome of football matches.

Match facts

Reading are unbeaten in their past four home league encounters with Fulham (W2 D2), their longest unbeaten run against the Cottagers.
Fulham have only lost one of their past five Championship contests against the Royals (W3 D1), although that loss came in their most recent encounter at the Madejski Stadium.
Reading have not lost their opening two league games of a season since 1998-99 whilst in the third tier.
Fulham have failed to keep a clean sheet in nine of their past 10 meetings with Reading in all competitions.
Since the start of last season, no Championship side has scored more league goals (excluding play-offs) than Fulham (86).
Since August 2016, Reading have received six red cards in the Championship (including play-offs) - only Nottingham Forest (9), Sheffield Wednesday (7) and Norwich (7) have seen red more often.

Dopo essere rimasto in 10 dopo 39 secondi (un record penso) il pari in rimonta del fuhlam al Madjiesky stadium va archiviato con soddisfazione.
Momento straordinario per Piazon, ancora in gol.

Oggi fascinosa sfida di ferragosto col Leeds.

Goalkeeper Rob Green has recovered from a knee injury and is available for selection against Fulham on Tuesday.

The ex-England international's return is the only change following Saturday's draw against Preston as Gaetano Berardi and Matthew Pennington remain out.

Fulham will be without suspended defender Tomas Kalas, who was sent off after 39 seconds in the draw at Reading on Saturday.

Tom Cairney is a doubt after pulling up in the warm up before the Royals game.

Leeds United head coach Thomas Christiansen told BBC Radio Leeds:

"Everyone is disappointed after that last game. I'm happy they are disappointed, that means they wanted to win. That is not a problem for me.

"To lift them up, I believe knowing who we are playing next will lift them because we will face one of the best teams in the league - one that plays the best football. That is extra motivation for them.

"They have a lot of quality. They like to have possession of the ball and move well.

"We need to be very focused and concentrate during the game to make sure we don't give them too much space."

Match facts

Leeds and Fulham have drawn each of their last four league games by a 1-1 scoreline. Only four times in Football League history has there been a sequence of five successive 1-1 draws between two clubs.
Leeds have failed to win any of their last three league games (D2 L1) against Fulham at Elland Road, this is after seven wins in their previous nine (D1 L1).
Tom Cairney has scored in his last four league matches against Leeds (four goals) - three for Fulham and one for Blackburn.
Chris Wood scored in every league match played at Elland Road on a Tuesday last season for Leeds, netting five goals in five games, including one against Fulham last August.
The Whites have kept 11 clean sheets in their last 15 home league games.

Anche se è stato un match piacevole, il pareggio col Leeds sarà ricordato per la rottura della gamba del brasiliano Piazon, il prestito del Chelsea era l'uomo + in forma del Fulham.

Jokanovic è molto arrabbiato x i commenti di uno degli arbitri che ha detto che il durissimo intervento del giocatore del Leeds dal nome impronunciabile era xfettamente legale.

www.bbc.com/sport/football/40943788

Finora il Fulham ha cominciato bene la stagione ma contro lo Sheffield di Mercoledi è già un'occasione x saggiare le ambizioni contro una rivale diretta.

Fulham
27Button
2Fredericks
26Kalas
13Ream
4Odoi
8Johansen
6McDonald
24Aluko
10Cairney
3Sessegnon
9Da Rocha Fonte
Substitutes
1Bettinelli
7Kebano
16Norwood
19Ojo
23Djalo
44Cissé
47Kamara


Sheff Wed
1Westwood
2Hunt
15Lees
36Pudil
6Fox
21Boyd
3Jones
10Bannan
20Reach
14Hooper
9Fletcher
Substitutes
7Rhodes
16Palmer
17Nuhiu
28Wildsmith
33Wallace
41Abdi
45Forestieri
Referee:
Stuart Attwell
Sheyi Ojo could make his Fulham debut after joining on a season-long loan from Liverpool.

The Cottagers will be without Lucas Piazon after he broke his leg in their midweek draw at Leeds, while Tomas Kalas returns from a one-match ban.

Glenn Loovens could return from a back injury for Wednesday, although Frederico Venancio may deputise.

The Owls must decide whether to recall forward Fernando Forestieri after a reported training ground bust-up.

SAM's prediction
Home win - 56% Draw - 25% Away win - 19%
SAM (Sports Analytics Machine) is a super-computer created by @ProfIanMcHale that is used to predict the outcome of football matches.

Match facts

Fulham have kept just one clean sheet in their last 16 matches against Sheffield Wednesday in all competitions (4-0 in Dec 2014), with Marcus Bettinelli keeping net in that clash.
The Owls won all three matches vs Fulham in 2015-16 but failed to win either Championship fixture against the Lilywhites in 2016-17 (D1 L1).
Fulham have drawn their opening three league games to a season - they've never opened the campaign with four draws.
Including play-offs, Sheffield Wednesday have lost just one of their last six Championship away games (W3 D2), though it was their season opener against Preston.
Sam Winnall has scored in three of his last five league appearances for Sheffield Wednesday, this after netting in one of his first 11.

Sì, in effetti il Fulham ha attaccato moltissimo, la sconfitta è immeritata.

I gol di Kebano e Rui Fonte (tiro da posizione angolatissima) regalano al fulham che aveva cominciato così e così una vittoria scaccia crisi contro una delle 2 capoliste a sorpresa del torneo.

Domani il Fulham chiarirà definitivamente di che pasta è fatto.
Sinora una sola sconfitta ma troppi pareggi hanno relegato i cottagers al 14° posto ma la vittoria contro l'ex capolista Ipswich potrebbe essere di buon auspicio per la gara contro l'altra capolsita a punteggio pieno Cardiff City.

https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news/2017/...y-on-09-sep-17/

Ottima settimana per il fulham che prima tiene a freno la capolsita Cardiff dopo averla strapazzata x bene e poi ottiene la prima vittoria casalinga contro le tigers di Hull.

E oggi ci sarebbe (col fulham il condizionale è d'obbligo) la possibilità di fare un balzo in classifica contro i birrai del figlio sfigato del grande Brian Clough.

www.skysports.com/football/burton-a.../preview/374707