This spring I broke down Fulham's PPG and if that fell off after the final international break of the season. Turns out, FFC's performance has declined post March break in each of the four seasons that we have been in the PL under Silva. The 2025/26 season declined about the same as our first season back up (22/23).
I posted about this on Bluesky - here's hoping the link works ...
In previous seasons the ppg decline has cost us a place or maybe two in the final table. The biggest difference this season was that if we had actually maintained our pre-March points per game we'd have finished in 7th place.
Overall these ppg drop offs aren't massive, and maybe four seasons is just too small a sample size to mean much, but under Marco it has always dipped at the end. We're never stronger at the finish and that doesn't seem great.
Really enjoyed this read. I think the “Fulham collapse” narrative has become a bit too easy to throw around whenever we hit a rough patch. Frustration is fair because it felt like Europe was there for the taking, but the stats do paint a more balanced picture. Still disappointing how the season ended, but it’s important not to lose sight of how far we’ve come under Marco.
There’s a lot of randomness here in football. A post here. A worldie there. Refs. In mid-table, it’s a muddle. From today’s Athletic, “Fulham would have qualified for the Europa League at Sunderland’s expense, but the same three teams would still have been relegated if the officials had reached the outcomes preferred by the Premier League’s independent panel of former players.”
This spring I broke down Fulham's PPG and if that fell off after the final international break of the season. Turns out, FFC's performance has declined post March break in each of the four seasons that we have been in the PL under Silva. The 2025/26 season declined about the same as our first season back up (22/23).
I posted about this on Bluesky - here's hoping the link works ...
https://bsky.app/profile/dougstern.bsky.social/post/3mmmkmsxqb22e
In previous seasons the ppg decline has cost us a place or maybe two in the final table. The biggest difference this season was that if we had actually maintained our pre-March points per game we'd have finished in 7th place.
Overall these ppg drop offs aren't massive, and maybe four seasons is just too small a sample size to mean much, but under Marco it has always dipped at the end. We're never stronger at the finish and that doesn't seem great.
Really enjoyed this read. I think the “Fulham collapse” narrative has become a bit too easy to throw around whenever we hit a rough patch. Frustration is fair because it felt like Europe was there for the taking, but the stats do paint a more balanced picture. Still disappointing how the season ended, but it’s important not to lose sight of how far we’ve come under Marco.
There’s a lot of randomness here in football. A post here. A worldie there. Refs. In mid-table, it’s a muddle. From today’s Athletic, “Fulham would have qualified for the Europa League at Sunderland’s expense, but the same three teams would still have been relegated if the officials had reached the outcomes preferred by the Premier League’s independent panel of former players.”