EPL 2022 / 2023

@KiwiPie He picked up an injury against Sweden and played with his calf and ankle heavily strapped against Norway (but still scored the winning goal his 50th for Serbia). He limped off on Saturday and there has been no real news from Fulham since.

The club have been pretty open about injuries to the likes of Wilson and Salomon this season so I am hopeful his substitution was preventative. Writing was on the wall by that stage. Newcastle were going to win so why run the risk. October is crucial for Fulham as we have a run of winnable games that could see us go a long way towards securing our place in the Premiership. Despite what some say we are not a one man team but we still wouldn't want to lose a guy that has been banging in goals at just under one a match for the last 18 months.

It is amusing how quickly the conversation has pivoted from Mitrovic can't score in the EPL to Fulham are nothing without his goals.

Current goals scored table

Arsenal 20
Tottenham 19
Liverpool 18
Rest of Man City 15
Brentford 15
Erling Haaland 14
Brighton 14
Fulham 13
Newcastle 12
Man U 11

Fucking cheat code. And also awesome to watch. I sorta want him to just run rough-shod all over the comp and set records galore

@mariner4life I first remember seeing Haaland at the 2019 U20 WC, where he won the golden boot with 9 goals (all scored against Honduras). He didn't score against NZ, who won 2-0. Take that Erling!

Haaland has been incredibly well managed. Could probably have gone to a big club from Molde, but chose Salzburg. Could then have gone to a massive club but chose Dortmund. Contrast that with countryman Ødegaard who went to Real Madrid at 15.

Makes me feel old though. I remember when his dad was assaulted by Roy Keane. That was nasty.

@mariner4life said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@Rancid-Schnitzel said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

That was nasty

struggling to think of a worse act on a sports field. Especially from someone of that profile. Especially when he fully admitted it was intentional.

New thread challenge accepted.

As I know all of you care about Tier 5 of English football - Notts County beat Wrexham 1-0 to go top of the table in front of over 10,000. Another goal for Langstaff who now has 16 in 12 games.

@KiwiPie i at least can confirm i'm interested, all aspects, Wimbledon were there not long ago...chance we'll be there again (although we did get our second win of 2022 on the weekend) plus all the aspects of the fan ownership stuff

currently the fact they cant buy their way out of that league easily is one of the only things stopping more people wanting to sell out....but then the fact they cant get out also mean we'll do anything to stop going back there

@Kiwiwomble said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@KiwiPie i at least can confirm i'm interested, all aspects, Wimbledon were there not long ago...chance we'll be there again (although we did get our second win of 2022 on the weekend) plus all the aspects of the fan ownership stuff

currently the fact they cant buy their way out of that league easily is one of the only things stopping more people wanting to sell out....but then the fact they cant get out also mean we'll do anything to stop going back there

Turn your ground back into the venue for the car boot sale and you might make some money.

@Crucial it was a great market! we probably still could in the areas around the ground

@Kiwiwomble said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@Crucial it was a great market! we probably still could in the areas around the ground

I “rented “ old bikes from there for a while. I say rented as every now and then I would have to repurchase it after it got flogged from outside Tescos. £20 every couple of months was a reasonable price

@Crucial :cat_face_with_tears_of_joy:

was going to say the last time i went was the early nineties and maybe it was more reputable then....but i also remember dad talking about geezers selling stuff out the back of the truck....so i might not

@Kiwiwomble said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@KiwiPie i at least can confirm i'm interested, all aspects, Wimbledon were there not long ago...chance we'll be there again (although we did get our second win of 2022 on the weekend) plus all the aspects of the fan ownership stuff

currently the fact they cant buy their way out of that league easily is one of the only things stopping more people wanting to sell out....but then the fact they cant get out also mean we'll do anything to stop going back there

I wonder if it would be better for all teams if it was 4 up, 4 down between League 2 and the National League. One disastrous season and you can fall out of L2 and it is a really hard division to get out of given the number of ex-league clubs fighting each other every season.

@KiwiPie Would that help though as you would still have just as many clubs coming down so effectively it would still be as much of a shit fight.

Looking at the teams that are currently in the National League there are a lot who have played in the Football League but most briefly.

I guess you all want to emulate Luton or Rotherham. At least there is automatic promotion. There were some decent non-league teams prior to 1986 who never got the chance to go up.

@Rancid-Schnitzel so good

look, i'm just happy someone on a sports show actually had a strong opinion

but holy shit that was an awful take. The price alone meant 15 goals would have been an amazing season

the fact he's got 14 after 8...

that guy should be shown that clip every single week.

Impressive.

@Bovidae Pretty good - Swiss education system is very good hence his English is superb as well.

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@Bovidae Pretty good - Swiss education system is very good hence his English is superb as well.

Born in the same village as my wife. He’s a keeper that one

@Billy-Tell said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@Bovidae Pretty good - Swiss education system is very good hence his English is superb as well.

Born in the same village as my wife. He’s a keeper that one

i thought he was a defender?

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@Bovidae Pretty good - Swiss education system is very good hence his English is superb as well.

Cue Harry Kane joke.

@KiwiPie Obviously concentrating on the league!

@Higgins We did have our best 2 players on the bench but that is an embarrassing result! Comes to something when even non league teams don't take the cup seriously.

Big win for Liverpool this morning which benefits both the North London clubs.

@KiwiPie They're only two tiers below you, aren't they?

Not like; say - a Premier League Team losing to Crawley Town ...

A lucky win for Arsenal at Leeds, which had plenty of drama. First there was a 40 min delay to the game shortly after kickoff due to a local power cut. Arsenal had the better of the 1st half so deserved to be leading due to Saka's goal. But the 2nd half was all Leeds. They dominated possession and had numerous chances to equalise, none more so than the penalty. Then Gabriel gets sent off for a kick on Bamford, which VAR rightly overturned as Bamford pushed him over leading to the clumsy contact. Ramsdale was huge.

These are the tricky away fixtures you need to win if you want to make the top 4.

@Bovidae

Combined with Liverpool tipping over city and Arsenal are four points clear at the top.

City still clearly the favourites, but I'm curious about how far behind a team has got and remained the favourites to win the league.

@Cyclops Man City are still the team to beat. There are a lot of games to be squeezed in before the WC, and squad depth will be so important. They can rotate players without losing quality.

@Bovidae said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@Cyclops Man City are still the team to beat. There are a lot of games to be squeezed in before the WC, and squad depth will be so important. They can rotate players without losing quality.

Agree.

If the goal was allowed to stand I think they would have won 2-0.

Fine margins in football.

As of today ....

Since Bournemouth lost 9-0 to Liverpool the only unbeaten side in the EPL is .... Bournemouth.

The current leader of the Championship has lost more games than the team at the bottom.

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

As of today ....

Since Bournemouth lost 9-0 to Liverpool the only unbeaten side in the EPL is .... Bournemouth.

The current leader of the Championship has lost more games than the team at the bottom.

And 5 hours later both of these statistical nuggets are no longer true.

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

As of today ....

Since Bournemouth lost 9-0 to Liverpool the only unbeaten side in the EPL is .... Bournemouth.

The current leader of the Championship has lost more games than the team at the bottom.

And 5 hours later both of these statistical nuggets are no longer true.

you did that on purpose ..evil I say!

@bayimports said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

As of today ....

Since Bournemouth lost 9-0 to Liverpool the only unbeaten side in the EPL is .... Bournemouth.

The current leader of the Championship has lost more games than the team at the bottom.

And 5 hours later both of these statistical nuggets are no longer true.

you did that on purpose ..evil I say!

I was surprised you hadn't talked them up during this run.

Yesterday I watched most of Brighton v Forest. Forest were seriously clueless about how to progress the ball up the field. Not a single attempt in the first half, not much of note in the 2nd but still got away with a point. I watch the Bundesliga highlights every week and difference seems to be that lower teams there go for it so you seem to often have 4 attackers against 5 defenders. Too many EPL games are tedious because both teams keep so many players back that there is no space for the attackers.

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@bayimports said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

As of today ....

Since Bournemouth lost 9-0 to Liverpool the only unbeaten side in the EPL is .... Bournemouth.

The current leader of the Championship has lost more games than the team at the bottom.

And 5 hours later both of these statistical nuggets are no longer true.

you did that on purpose ..evil I say!

I was surprised you hadn't talked them up during this run.

Yesterday I watched most of Brighton v Forest. Forest were seriously clueless about how to progress the ball up the field. Not a single attempt in the first half, not much of note in the 2nd but still got away with a point. I watch the Bundesliga highlights every week and difference seems to be that lower teams there go for it so you seem to often have 4 attackers against 5 defenders. Too many EPL games are tedious because both teams keep so many players back that there is no space for the attackers.

Didn't want to curse our mini run and we weren't playing any big teams since that point. This would have been seen as a must win game though, I would have thought, so not happy with the result. Still with new owner about to come onboard should come deeper pockets and we are still mid table so cant be too upset at this stage

@bayimports You're doing incredibly well.

Shows what happens if you ditch a manager who is tactically naive and promotes boring football. Have you joined the Parker is a Prat bandwagon yet?

Gary O'Neil has them playing to a system and you can see that the players have bought into it. It's still pretty defensive - Solanke was almost a central defender against Fulham a lot of the time, but it makes the most of what the Cherries have to offer.

They have become a hard to team to beat, today's mis-step against Saints notwithstanding.

It's turning into even more of a dogfight than usual. At this stage one week you could be looking at an ECL place and a fortnight later in the bottom 3

@dogmeat said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@bayimports You're doing incredibly well.

Shows what happens if you ditch a manager who is tactically naive and promotes boring football. Have you joined the Parker is a Prat bandwagon yet?

Apart from those early resounding thumpings the squad has had in my mind had the talent to compete, just no confidence or depth. No question with any injuries we are burnt toast.

Look I don't hate Parker like yourself. He did a job and got us to the prem. He highlighted the lack of squad depth to the owners who didn't really do much about it as he was looking at packaging it up for sale..but the way he went about it was poor. So I am not hater but I am very happy with what O'Neil has done since

@dogmeat said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

It's turning into even more of a dogfight than usual

is it what

Liverpool in 7th are as close to last as they are to first.

Surely Rodgers is next manager out the door? Though Mr Gerrard must also be watching his inbox nervously

@bayimports I don't hate Parker. I would have given him the chance to get us out of the Championship last year - but he didn't want it. My dislike stems from the way he did tha.

I think he wears a nice cardy but his limitations as a Manager have been shown up by his successor at both our clubs

I think squad depth is going to be even more crucial than normal in avoiding relegation this season

Certainly injuries are hurting Fulham, particularly when this period of 5-6 games against fellow strugglers was where I was hoping to pick up points

@dogmeat new owner will hopefully have deep pockets, just being ratified this month, hopefully next window we splurge ha ha

Wouldn't be at all surprised to see two managerial casualties before the weekend.

Surely Gerard has to go after Villa were taken to the cleaners by Fulham. Yes, there was a red card, but really there was only one team in it; and the Villa players didn't seem to be interested.

I reckon Jesse Marsch might only have 45 minutes more, in which Leeds have to score 3, in order for him to avoid also getting his P45.

@dogmeat said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

I reckon Jesse Marsch might only have 45 minutes more, in which Leeds have to score 3, in order for him to avoid also getting his P45

fair

i think which ever manager lost that match was on the way out.

Steven Gerrard goooorn