Fulham vs Aston Villa Pre-Match Thread

[St AustellAVFC]

3-1 Villa. Just about to set off after leaving the kids with my mom in Brum.  My Fulham supporting bro is pretty confident as they are at full strength.  He's pissed off at amount of Villa that will be there. Best away of season....

[Matt Collins]

Gregg Evans said that jack is the less likely to start

Mind you he’s not got a great track record with these calls

[Matt Collins]

Brassneck, agree with your comments that 2nd at the end of the season is our aim. Matt Collins, if Jack is injured, why are you going to get rid of Hogan who is in great form? Fulham is a great game for him as they like to play football and he will hassle them from the front. Grabbon can apparently play out wide, Onomah is a good player, don't drop your best option of a goal surely

I was thinking about the Sheffield United game. He hardly had a kick. It was only due to jack’s ability to take a pass in a tight area and to run with the ball that we could get up the pitch

I like hogan and he’s a threat. But even when he plays well he barely touches the ball.

It would be a risk I agree. And I may be wrong. Maybe we don’t need much possession to win. But with hogan and no jack I’m pretty confident we’ll cede a lot of the ball.

[TopDeck113]

1-1 and I'll consider that a good result.

[Clampy]

If Jack is out, another option is to play Snodgrass behind the striker which is where he's played before, put Adomah back on the right and play Green left. Maybe Barney behind the striker might work. He does tend to play further forward for Iceland so it could work.

[Ads]

Adomah and Grealish will start.

[Martin Carruthers]

Surely Wolves is our hardest remaining match?

[Brassneck]

Surely Wolves is our hardest remaining match?

We're at home against Wolves. IMO Fulham away is more difficult. Win your home games, draw your aways and you're on track for the 2 points per game ratio needed to go up.

[walsall villain]

Brassneck, agree with your comments that 2nd at the end of the season is our aim. Matt Collins, if Jack is injured, why are you going to get rid of Hogan who is in great form? Fulham is a great game for him as they like to play football and he will hassle them from the front. Grabbon can apparently play out wide, Onomah is a good player, don't drop your best option of a goal surely

I was thinking about the Sheffield United game. He hardly had a kick. It was only due to jack’s ability to take a pass in a tight area and to run with the ball that we could get up the pitch

I like hogan and he’s a threat. But even when he plays well he barely touches the ball.

It would be a risk I agree. And I may be wrong. Maybe we don’t need much possession to win. But with hogan and no jack I’m pretty confident we’ll cede a lot of the ball.

I was impressed with Fulham at Villa Park. They stuck to their patient football throughout and clearly like to build from the back. Hogan will be important today in helping to disrupt this. His tireless running last week kept the Blues defenders under pressure. He gets very close to catching the last man in possession, hopefully today.

[Martin Carruthers]

Surely Wolves is our hardest remaining match?

We're at home against Wolves. IMO Fulham away is more difficult. Win your home games, draw your aways and you're on track for the 2 points per game ratio needed to go up.

Usually I'd agree, but think they've been a cut above everyone else this season.

[Bad English]

At 3pm on a Saturday...?

It will be 4pm where I am.

[Brassneck]

Surely Wolves is our hardest remaining match?

We're at home against Wolves. IMO Fulham away is more difficult. Win your home games, draw your aways and you're on track for the 2 points per game ratio needed to go up.

Usually I'd agree, but think they've been a cut above everyone else this season.

We gave them an 8 point head start from the first 3 games. We've had to adjust after losing our main striker and number 10. Grealish has only been back in the side since Xmas. We also had our main defensive midfielder constantly out of the side until Christmas. We've been terribly unlucky with injuries in key positions.

I can never imagine playing for a draw in a home game whereas playing for a draw today is acceptable. Current form indicates that both Fulham and ourselves are in better shape than Wolves.

[TonyD]

Adomah and Grealish will start.

Is that gospel?

[MONCABA]

If we want promotion,  we need to be beating teams around us. Long may the winning sequence continue.  2-0 to the Villa.

[SoccerHQ]

Green won't start. He played v Posh in the cup and has since disappeared.

Bjarni will start I think, him and Jedinak infront of the back 4 and then push Hourihane, Snodgrass and maybe Grabban behind Hogan if Adomah and Jack don't make it.

Fuck me, I hope not. I only get nervous now when I start to think Bruce as a tactician. Great motivator or group manager he may be but he's lost when it comes to playing players in their best position, nevermind tactics. It's like Alex McCleish all over again but in a lower division. It's not rocket science. You got it right bringing back Jedi last week but it doesn't make you Pep. Please don't fuck it all up again.

Given his recent form Bjarni was very unlucky not to start last week.

Fulham have one of the best central midfields in the league. Tom Cairney is an excellent player and I like Johansen and McDonald aswell. Ryan Sessegnon will probably figure in that area aswell.

I don't think it's the worst tactical call in the world to go with two DMs today if we're lacking some of our best attackers, could be Whelan recalled aswell.

This will be a tough game regardless of who we've got out there, would be happy with a point.