[theo_luddite]

 V  

Saturday 16th January 2016, 3:00pm

Old McGalphsmiths Pharm

Just off Leeds Road,

Huddersfield

HD1 6PG

A bit about Fulham

Games against them there teams from that there Larndan Tarn are like Larndan buses. None for ages then 3 turn up all at once. So after drawing at QPR over the Xmas period and stuffing Charlton 5-0 on Tuesday, our next guests are also from Wes'Larndan on Thames. (OK Charlton is a bit further East and South of the River but geographically Fulham's ground is further south than Charlton's - funny how the way the Thames weaves around plays havoc with the geography).

Like Town, Fulham have been up and down the divisions over the years, but unlike Town they have recently enjoyed 11 seasons in the Prem. This coincided with former Harrods owner, Wacko Jacko fan and Egyptian millionaire Mohamed Al Fayed owning the club and a succession of managers including 

 Jean Tigana 2000-2003

 Chris Coleman 2003- 2007

 Lawrie Sanchez 2007-2007

 Roy Hodgson 2007-2010

 Mark Hughes 2010-2011

 Martin Jol 2011-2013

 René Meulensteen 2013-2014

Since getting relegated none of - 

 Felix Magath 2014-2014

 Kit Symons 2014-2015

 Slaviša Jokanović 2015-current Head Coach

- have made any real impression in the division with regards to securing a promotion spot before the parachute payments run out.

It doesn't mean they didn't spend a few of Al Fayeds millions trying to stay up there (about £187 million of them according to Wiki, which Al Fayed turned to equity to remove the club's debt) or current owner Shahid Khan's millions trying to get back up but they aren't in Chelski's league of spending on players when it came to transfer fees. Tho £10+ million for McCormack certainly raised eyebrows in this division. Al Fayed sold the club for between £150-£200 million to Khan (according to Wiki) in 2013.

(All stats and screenshots below are from Statto.com)

Fulham Recent Results

Fulham hit the giddy heights of 10th place after an unbeaten run in October (2 wins, 3 draws) but since then they have only beaten Rotherham at home, 4-1 in late December. As a result they have slid down the league into 19th place on 27 points, 3 places and 4 points below Town.

Last season they finished 17th, one place and 3 points below Town.

The relegation and poor form is of course nothing to do with the players and the coaches. According to Wacko Al Fayed it is all down to the removal of his prized Wacko Jacko statue (current where-about's unknown).

Wacko Jacko impersonating Wacko Al Fayed at Craven Cottage

Of course it might have more to do with their porous defense as despite throwing £10 million + at Leeds for Ross McCormack last season, his goals have merely helped to keep them above the relegation scrap as these stats maybe show - 

Last Season

Town - For 58 Against 75

Fulham - For 62 Against 83

This Season

Town - For 35 Against 36

Fulham - For 42 Against 46

They have been down with us for a season and a half, and like with QPR, we haven't beaten them yet in recent times. Saturday possibly offer's us our best chance to date to do this. We've been far from out-played in the games so far, but we've definitely been outscored. Can Wagner weave his magic to reverse this trend?

A bit about Town

Since the start of the Xmas games we've broken that annoying habit of win-one-lose-one and replaced it with an equally annoying habit of win-one-draw-one. 

So we are due another draw - or are we?

Town Recent Results

This improvement in form has resulted in a gradually improving league position after finding ourselves in the bottom 3 early in the season and again at the end of November.

Saturdays match provides both teams with an opportunity to continue their good form against the clubs around us.

Results v Bottom Half Teams

For the most part, only the teams currently scrapping for promotion and play-off places are better than either of us. at playing bottom half clubs.

However when we look at our performance against top half teams - there's nobody worse than either of us.

Results v Top Half Teams

(The above are based on a points per game basis - CS =  Clean Sheets, FtS = Failed to Score).

So everyone else below us will continue to snap at our heels until we sort that out.

Head to Head

Historically, the results favour the home side, but as a above, Fulham can be a bogey side at the moment.

Form Table (6 League Games)

Town were rock bottom not long before the Christmas games, now we are only below Boro. More of the same please Herr Wagner.

Summary

Town need to make the most of the games in January and February against the teams around us and those seriously out of form like Brighton, then carry that form on into March when we have a run of games against promotion chasing sides. If we don't then those below will catch us up again.

Wolves fans local to me that were at the game on Tuesday said Fulham played all the football but Wolves caught them twice on the break then won with a 30 yarder that somehow went through everyone before nestling in the bottom corner of the net.

I don't do predictions, but if I were you I wouldn't waste my money betting on a 0-0 draw. It's more likely to finish 6-6. 

Wagner will make changes to the team again but who and how many is anyone's guess. He's not a coach that has a favourite starting 11, unlike some who don't know their best starting 11 even when they pick the same 11 week in week out.

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2nd attempt after half of my first attempt disappeared when making a small edit. Apologies to anyone that tried to post on the first attempt.

[WakeyTerrier]

Whilst it's nice to be 2nd in the form table I'm not getting carried away just yet. Our 4 wins have come against Charlton,Bolton,Preston and Rovrum...all games I would expect us to have a good chance of winning(even under Powell). However if we can claim another 9 points from the next 6 games then I'll start to believe the stats a little bit more.

For the time being I'm still looking over our shoulders and down the table but should we get a win on Saturday then I may start to look up the table rather than down.

What team do I think David 'tinkerman' Wagner will play...no idea. I'd expect changes of some sort but who knows, here's my predicted starting XI

Steer (definite starter)

Smith
Hudson(definite)
Lynch(definite)
Husband

Hogg
Huws

Scannell
Bunn
Lolley

Wells.

[theo_luddite]

Murphy signed up for another year.

[Jeebers]

Top thread Theo, reckon this'un'll be a bit more of a test for Town than Carlton the 11 doormen but still expect 3 points, like I said, a bit more of a struggle so I predict Town 4 & 1/2 - Fulham 0

[theo_luddite]

Brizzle City sacked Cotterill last night. They haven't won since they beat us (and could have been 4-0 up by half-time). Despite almost knocking The Baggies out of the Cup at the weekend, they only took a point off QPR and Charlton since beating us. There were rumours of Zak Clough going there from Bolton but that fell through due to not agreeing personal terms. Not the first deal that has been agreed with a club only for the player not to agree personal terms. Owner Chairman apparently has Premiership dreams - maybe he needs to back his stadium spending with similar wages as transfer fees don't appear to be an issue - or maybe players just couldn't see eye to eye with Cotterill from the off.

[WakeyTerrier]

Brizzle City sacked Cotterill last night. They haven't won since they beat us (and could have been 4-0 up by half-time). Despite almost knocking The Baggies out of the Cup at the weekend, they only took a point off QPR and Charlton since beating us. There were rumours of Zak Clough going there from Bolton but that fell through due to not agreeing personal terms. Not the first deal that has been agreed with a club only for the player not to agree personal terms. Owner Chairman apparently has Premiership dreams - maybe he needs to back his stadium spending with similar wages as transfer fees don't appear to be an issue - or maybe players just couldn't see eye to eye with Cotterill from the off.

The pressure was mounting on him, defeat the other night was the straw that broke the camels back. At the end of the game Cotterill was filmed having a slanging match with the Bristol support and to me looks like the stewards were holding him back. That was followed by a interview where he says they gave it everything but it wasn't enough.

[Lord Snooty]

Nice one, theo. 

Can't wait for this one. There's a real genuine feel good factor about the place now.

Hope it doesn't pan out like last year's fixture when  Fulham scored in the first and last minutes and in between it was all Town.

Last Town victory over Fulham was in 1993 over the road at the old stadium. We won 1-0 and the scorer was Stuart Hicks. Now who remembers him?

[EastLondonTerrier]

Went to the away fixture this season and they were very poor. We gifted them an equaliser at the death and if we play like our potential we can win convincingly. Shadow of the attacking team who got lucky last year and beat us somehow after we dominated near enough the entire game. UTT

[WakeyTerrier]

I remember Stuart Hicks, he didn't play too many games for us IIRC so I'd imagine a goal by him was a rare thing

[jjamez]

First time I've done three home games in a row. Going to reading tuesday too. Whats wrong with me?