Fulham secure well-deserved three points against Newcastle

Fulham 3-1 Newcastle United

Fulham’s 3-1 win over Newcastle will have satisfied everyone apart from the travelling supporters, who had come expecting a straightforward victory to put their team temporarily on top of the Premier League. Marco Silva fielded his familiar 1^st XI and this time they really lived up to his expectations.

The opening moments of the game were startling. Joe Willock’s cross found Joelinton who beat Bernd Leno at the second try. Fortunately Willock had started from an offside position. While the commentators were still musing on the incident a slick one-two between Raoul Jimenez and Adama Traore concluded with the Mexican killing the ball and slamming it into the net. Does Senor Jimenez read my blog? Just last week I was urging him to score more. He certainly seemed up for it.

The Town defence looked vulnerable as Emile Smith Rowe and Jorgen Andersen came close to finding the net and in the 22^rd minute Alex Iwobi enabled Emile to send a rather soft shot past Nick Pope. The keeper redeemed himself keeping out a much stronger effort from Joachim Andersen.

We expected the Geordies to come out fighting after the interval but their hosts had not read the Email. Sloppy Fulham passing in the first few seconds permitted Jacob Murphy to run through and feed Harvey Barnes with a goal that could have transformed the match. Two distinct moments in the build-up looked potentially offside but VAR (grudgingly?) validated their colleagues’ verdict.

Barnes nearly poached an equaliser just two minutes later but at the other end Nick Pope had to make a point-blank save to thwart the unmarked Iwobi. Fulham had another good chance when Dan Burn (less noticeable than usual) fouled Jimenez; Andreas Pereira’s free kick soared over the bar. 

This was exciting football. With Newcastle increasing their pressure Leno saved from Anthony Gordon and Murphy’s shot hit the bar. Fabian Schar came closest to a goal but it was another near miss. Fulham’s most convincing reply came not from substitute Rodrigo Muniz but from the adventurous Kenny Tete. At the end of 90 minutes the score remained 2-1. Could Fulham survive added time? 

In the corresponding game last season the United won with a late Bruno Guimaraes strike. It was so different this September. Toying with the ball near the corner flag the Brazilian somehow delivered a perfect centre to Fulham sub Reiss Nelson, who netted almost apologetically.

This victory deserved far more attention than it received from media still obsessed with Mancunian clubs. Statistics may show that the Geordies dominated possession but the home side took a prodigious twenty two shots at Nick Pope’s goal, half of them on target. See what I mean about the 1^st XI?

Coming to terms with Al Fayed

Every day brings further accounts of the ghastly behaviour of the late Mohammed Al Fayed towards his female employees. It always seemed so odd that such a ruthless and unprincipled businessman should have lighted on struggling Fulham. Alas, for good or ill, he will loom large in the club’s history, far too significant to be airbrushed out.

Last year I commented on an article in the Independent that ‘unfavourably compared the present regime with Mohammed Al Fayed while acknowledging how the latter undermined his brilliant manager Jean Tigana. Much worse in my view was Al Fayed’s attempt to dupe the fans into believing that he was about to modernise the ground when he was really negotiating with developers who wanted the site for luxury flats’. (11 October 2023 Whites Bag Three Points)

If he had not arrived we would surely have lost our ancestral home and faced a fight to continue as a League club. Al Fayed undoubtedly saved Craven Cottage but then was ready to flog it. What a strange, contradictory man. No wonder his undisputed acts of generosity are increasingly dwarfed by revelations of the unthinkable. For years the supporters have praised him in song. Now we must come to terms with his troubling history.