Fulham v Swans | Vital Football

Fulham v Swans

keith margam

Vital Football Legend
It’s another of those three matches in a week time in the relentless match scheduling that is the Championship. Following our home match with Huddersfield we’re in London at Fulham on Wednesday night, then right the other end of the country in Lancashire at Blackburn on Saturday.
Steve Cooper will be tempted to rotate the players but after our fine win on Saturday maybe he’ll stick with the same players. Kalulu, Byers, Hoorn, Routledge, Dyer, are all injured which limits his selection.
 
Wed 26 Feb 19:45 Fulham v Swansea

Form Guide:

Fulham last 6 matches DWWDLD 9 points out of 18

Fulham last 6 home matches WWLWWL
21/12 Fulham 2 - Leeds 1
29/12 Fulham 1 - Stoke 0
1/1 Fulham 1 - Reading 2
17/1 Fulham 1 - Middlesboro 0
1/2 Fulham 3 - Huddersfield 2
15/2 Fulham 0 Barnsley 3

Swans last 6 matches LDLDDW 6 points out of 18

Swans last 6 away matches WLDLDD
21/12 Luton 0 - Swans 1
26/12 Brentford 3 - Swans 1
12/1 Cardiff 0 - Swans 0
25/1 Stoke 2 - Swans 0
1/2 Preston 1 - Swans 1
14/2 Hull 4 - Swans 4
 
Our last encounter with Fulham was a 1-2 home defeat on 29/11 and it was that man Mitrovic who scored a brace that day.
22’ Aboubakar Kamara volleyed Joe Bryan's inviting cross on to the crossbar, the rebound fell perfectly for Mitrovic to head home.
43’ Peterson was at fault, the Swansea winger gifting possession to Josh Onomah deep in his own half. He fed Ivan Cavaleiro, whose return pass was missed by Onomah but rolled into the path of Mitrovic. The former Newcastle frontman gobbled up his second opportunity of the night, lifting a shot beyond Freddie Woodman and into the roof of the net.
65’ Byers eventually got his reward for an all-action display from substitute Barrie McKay's cross, with Rodak finally beaten as he palmed Byers' header into the net.

Steve Cooper: “We know where we are at as a club. We came up against a team who could compete in the Premier League - certainly the investment that has gone into their squad is a Premier League budget - and we made them look ordinary on so many occasions. But we have not taken the chances and given away, particularly the second goal, a poor goal. It's a frustrating night, no doubt about that. I thought it was our best performance for a while and that's why we are frustrated not to get a draw."

Scott Parker: “They started the game pretty strongly and we had our keeper to thank in the first 10 minutes where he pulled off a couple of good saves.
But I felt from those early scares we dominated the game and controlled the game, we put the ball in the right areas and got our nose in front.
In the second half I felt we were the only team who were going to score and then the goal comes from nothing from Swansea, from that moment we decided to see the game out and we did that very well, which pleases me a lot."
 
Fulham’s last home game on 15/2 was a shock 0-3 defeat to Barnsley, second from bottom and five points adrift of safety.
Scott Parker: “There are no excuses. We were beaten by a better side today, a side that had more intensity and we were second best really. We didn't deserve anything out of the game."
Gerhard Struber: “Today we have the right feeling, the right attitude. In every second we had control, never gave the opponent space and time. In the end, it was a very clear victory."
 
Team line up unchanged:
Swansea City: Freddie Woodman; Kyle Naughton, Joe Rodon, Ben Cabango, Jake Bidwell; Jay Fulton, Matt Grimes (captain); Aldo Kalulu, Conor Gallagher, Andre Ayew; Rhian Brewster.
Substitutes: Erwin Mulder, Ben Wilmot, Connor Roberts, Yan Dhanda, Nathan Dyer, Jordon Garrick, Liam Cullen.
Subs: Celina out ill, Dyer replaces
 
I didn’t see the game but from the angry forum reports we had a very Fulham biased ref who was desperate to give Fulham the win.
He turned down three penalty shouts from the Swans and in the build up to the goal Gallagher was fouled but the ref waved play on.
Ayew was booked for protesting the penalty, it was Kabano fouling Roberts not the other way round apparently, and to cap it all the foul on Gallagher was not given which directly led to the goal.
Fulham 0 yellow cards
Swans 4 yellow cards.
I must say the standard of refereeing in the Championship is really bad, tonight it seems as if it hit a new low.
Let’s see what Cooper says.
 
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Here it is - Steve Cooper reaction:
"A last minute or last second goal is always a tough one to take but the nature of the decisions that went against us makes it even more frustrating.
"I've no disappointment or frustrations with the players, the opposite actually. They gave everything tonight and for four decisions to go their way and not ours is unacceptable really.

"To lose the game that way on those decisions is just unfair."
 
It’s been clear to me for years that we are not treated fairly by match officials. Throughout our PL days we suffered from biased refereeing from the likes of Madley, Dean, and Friend. I thought the Championship might be different but as well as being inept the officials are also biased.
The Fulham match officiating has been the worst our fans have ever seen according to other Swans forums and even the Fulham fans on their forums couldn’t believe how much of a homer the ref was. Remember the name of this ref, it’s Tim Robinson, like a bad penny he’ll turn up again.
 
Fulham fans sound pretty fair minded in their comments:

........but we did ride our luck last night. Swansea had two (if not three) stone wall penalties denied and Kebano's was a little soft in my opinion.
I thought Ayew was brought down in the box by Odoi and Rodek and how we got away with Joe's handball, I'll never know. Glad we did though.

.........also I think credit should be given to Swansea they defended very well last night and we had to work very hard to beat them.

.........Swansea have every right to protest about the referee. If the roles had been reversed we would have done the same -dreadful display!

.......entertaining game and Swansea played their part . We had more chances , but they missed three easy opportunities .
 
FT 1-0 (Mitrovic 94’)
Possession 64% - 36%
Shots 15-6
On target 6-2
Corners: 11-4
Fouls: 6-13
Cards 0Y-4Y
Att: 17,626
Ref: Tim Robinson 0/10