Pope John XXIII
Vital Football Legend
There are many reasons why we want and need a new main stand; and surely when we do build one an entire room can be dedicated to the plethora of PGMOL apology letter we have recieved. I'm not sure if we received one this week, with the panel deciding 3-2 that MGW should not be sitting this one out; but sit it out he will thanks for the intervention of Anthony Taylor.
Fulham are a side I have next to no opinions on. I can't say I'd ever heard of them until Al Fayed took them over (and I was once stalked online by a Fulham fan telling me about all the alleged misdeeds of Mr Marinakis- a guy who seems to have gone quiet right now). They then spent their way to the Premier League and stayed there. They came down and were shit enough for us to beat them, then they weren't, then yo-yo'd and then stayed up with us.
They have a settled manager and a very good team. We caught them on a bad day last year, and it remains the last time I saw Forest win a game live.
We are a good side too; but our good start needs a home win; defeat tomorrow and people will be talking about our "home form".
The City Ground has been no fortress under Nuno. And while the improvement away is welcome, he needs to start sending the home fans happy more often if we are to genuinely progress.
Fulham Style
Fulham are not that dissimilar to us in some ways. The have a bit more possession (48% to 40%) with more skills in midfield. They have similar shots per game to us. Their passing is a little more accurate than ours, and they are about as good as us in the air.
They are not high pressing side. They are highly effective at doing their defending in midfield and on the wings, then using the skills of Traore and Smith-Rowe to hit teams
Fulham formation
They run a standard 4-2-3-1, which coverts to more of a 5-3-2 when they are defending. Their two DCM's are excellent and the wide players expected to perform defensive duties , leaving Smith-Rowe up front with Jimenez.
Fulham players
A bit like Wolves, it feels like Fulham have hardly any British players, but in fact their number is not really any different to ours.
Up front they have a choice between Raul Jimenez and Rodrigo Muniz. Jimenez they signed from Wolves as the non scoring replacement for Mitrovic- he has 2 goals in the PL this season from two starts, having managed just 7 last season. Muniz came up with them and was sent out on loan to Boro he is a young player at 23 and managed an impressive 9 goals last season. We particularly need to watch out for him in the air.
Emile Smith-Rowe will be behind them in the middle. No getting away from it- he is a really good player. He is great at finishing, running with the ball and long shots. His fitness may be questionable; but not right now. He is a big threat.
Big, powerful and physical Adama Traore will be a big threat on the right. He doesn't score many *against sides other than Forest* (no popisms here) but I fear his strength. If Moreno is out and we have to play Williams, I expect Silva to put Traore against Neco, who will have his first yellow card probably on their first duel.
Other side is Alex Iwobi, who I always selected at Everton. He managed 5 goals last season on the left and is a great passer.
However, Silva may well give the nod to the very threatening Reiss Nelson, on loan from Arsenal. He is being eased in slowly so not starting, scoring one from the bench. I would not be surprised to see Nelson get his first start against us.
The heart of Fulham was with the midfield, with João Palhinha who was incredible and made more tackles than almost anyone in the Premier league. Andreas Pereira is not that level. He is deadly with free kicks and set pieces, but his tackling is not at that level. Sasa Lukic alongside him is likewise- decent, but not outstanding. It is not the strength for Fulham that it was.
Their American left back, Antonee Robinson (daft American spelling) is a really good fullback. He has two assists already and is great at interceptions and then launching attacks. Kenny Tete on the other side is similar, though less effective.
They have a couple of good centre backs in Joachim Anderson and Calvin Bassey. Anderson was signed from Palace for £25m to replace the excellent Adarabioyo. He is tall, but not as physical as the guy he replaced.
Form
A similar start to us; they lost at Old Trafford on the first day and are unbeaten since then. No really difficult games; they beat an awful Leicester, couldn't put Ipswich away, conceded a late equaliser to West Ham and then got a good win against Newcastle.
Head to head
I hadn't realised how bobbins our recent record against Fulham was
We have been outclassed a few times here. I remember the 4-0 at home, under Hughton. To be fair, I didn't think the balance of play was anything like a 4-0 game- £80k-a-week-in-the-Championship-Mitrovic was the difference.
Who's the ****** in the black?
Referee is Josh Smith . This will his sixth game officiating us, and bizarrely it will be the third against Fulham.
He was in charge when we lost 5-0 at their place last year; the only PL game he has reffed us. He also reffed when we beat them at their place in 21/22. That was his fourth game reffing us that season. I don't recall any issues and he is a Peterborough fan.
VAR is Peter Brooks of Melton Mowbray, who is not allowed to officiate Leicester games. A bit more dodgy there, but let's optimistically say we are not relegation rivals.
Weather
Its getting quite Autumnal but it will actually be quite nice tomorrow
Fulham are a side I have next to no opinions on. I can't say I'd ever heard of them until Al Fayed took them over (and I was once stalked online by a Fulham fan telling me about all the alleged misdeeds of Mr Marinakis- a guy who seems to have gone quiet right now). They then spent their way to the Premier League and stayed there. They came down and were shit enough for us to beat them, then they weren't, then yo-yo'd and then stayed up with us.
They have a settled manager and a very good team. We caught them on a bad day last year, and it remains the last time I saw Forest win a game live.
We are a good side too; but our good start needs a home win; defeat tomorrow and people will be talking about our "home form".
The City Ground has been no fortress under Nuno. And while the improvement away is welcome, he needs to start sending the home fans happy more often if we are to genuinely progress.
Fulham Style
Fulham are not that dissimilar to us in some ways. The have a bit more possession (48% to 40%) with more skills in midfield. They have similar shots per game to us. Their passing is a little more accurate than ours, and they are about as good as us in the air.
They are not high pressing side. They are highly effective at doing their defending in midfield and on the wings, then using the skills of Traore and Smith-Rowe to hit teams
Fulham formation
They run a standard 4-2-3-1, which coverts to more of a 5-3-2 when they are defending. Their two DCM's are excellent and the wide players expected to perform defensive duties , leaving Smith-Rowe up front with Jimenez.
Fulham players
A bit like Wolves, it feels like Fulham have hardly any British players, but in fact their number is not really any different to ours.
Up front they have a choice between Raul Jimenez and Rodrigo Muniz. Jimenez they signed from Wolves as the non scoring replacement for Mitrovic- he has 2 goals in the PL this season from two starts, having managed just 7 last season. Muniz came up with them and was sent out on loan to Boro he is a young player at 23 and managed an impressive 9 goals last season. We particularly need to watch out for him in the air.
Emile Smith-Rowe will be behind them in the middle. No getting away from it- he is a really good player. He is great at finishing, running with the ball and long shots. His fitness may be questionable; but not right now. He is a big threat.
Big, powerful and physical Adama Traore will be a big threat on the right. He doesn't score many *against sides other than Forest* (no popisms here) but I fear his strength. If Moreno is out and we have to play Williams, I expect Silva to put Traore against Neco, who will have his first yellow card probably on their first duel.
Other side is Alex Iwobi, who I always selected at Everton. He managed 5 goals last season on the left and is a great passer.
However, Silva may well give the nod to the very threatening Reiss Nelson, on loan from Arsenal. He is being eased in slowly so not starting, scoring one from the bench. I would not be surprised to see Nelson get his first start against us.
The heart of Fulham was with the midfield, with João Palhinha who was incredible and made more tackles than almost anyone in the Premier league. Andreas Pereira is not that level. He is deadly with free kicks and set pieces, but his tackling is not at that level. Sasa Lukic alongside him is likewise- decent, but not outstanding. It is not the strength for Fulham that it was.
Their American left back, Antonee Robinson (daft American spelling) is a really good fullback. He has two assists already and is great at interceptions and then launching attacks. Kenny Tete on the other side is similar, though less effective.
They have a couple of good centre backs in Joachim Anderson and Calvin Bassey. Anderson was signed from Palace for £25m to replace the excellent Adarabioyo. He is tall, but not as physical as the guy he replaced.
Form
A similar start to us; they lost at Old Trafford on the first day and are unbeaten since then. No really difficult games; they beat an awful Leicester, couldn't put Ipswich away, conceded a late equaliser to West Ham and then got a good win against Newcastle.
Head to head
I hadn't realised how bobbins our recent record against Fulham was
We have been outclassed a few times here. I remember the 4-0 at home, under Hughton. To be fair, I didn't think the balance of play was anything like a 4-0 game- £80k-a-week-in-the-Championship-Mitrovic was the difference.
Who's the ****** in the black?
Referee is Josh Smith . This will his sixth game officiating us, and bizarrely it will be the third against Fulham.
He was in charge when we lost 5-0 at their place last year; the only PL game he has reffed us. He also reffed when we beat them at their place in 21/22. That was his fourth game reffing us that season. I don't recall any issues and he is a Peterborough fan.
VAR is Peter Brooks of Melton Mowbray, who is not allowed to officiate Leicester games. A bit more dodgy there, but let's optimistically say we are not relegation rivals.
Weather
Its getting quite Autumnal but it will actually be quite nice tomorrow
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