Smith Rowe knocks Cambridge out in dull victory

Fulham's 1-0 win at the Cottage just enough to squeeze into the fourth round draw.

Fulham are in the last 16 of the League Cup! A second half goal from Emile Smith Rowe edged us ahead of a determined Cambridge United in a 1-0 victory at the Cottage. It was a mediocre game that took the hosts an age to click into gear in, arguably one Cambridge might wonder whether they’d have been able to sneak on penalties had they held on to parity a little tighter, but it matters not - the result has gone our way, and Marco Silva’s ambition for silverware with the club lives on, however underwhelming the scoreline.

First half

We expect teams like Cambridge to be defensive, and they were - ostensibly playing a 4-4-2, they moved players between backline and midfield fluidly, Mayor and Brophy doubling up with their wing-backs to deny Fulham easy overlaps, McLoughlin and Smith taking turns to join the centre-backs to deny space in the box. Not groundbreaking, but they executed it professionally and adeptly, and Fulham needed to grace the game with a touch of quality to find the opening.

It was a poor first half for Fulham though, and Eastwood had little to do in goal. Possession was slow; Cambridge were content to let Cairney and Reed knock ponderous passes about knowing they could organise quicker than any penetration could take place. The excitement of Robinson and Kevin flattered to deceive - our left-back still looks nervous and couldn’t connect his runs into a composed cross, while the new signing was too single-minded, putting shots hideously off-target or tamely into defenders. Jimenez was drowned out among the forest of Cambridge defenders - the few times he touched the ball in the box were comfortably blocked. Perhaps the weakest was Traore; there are only so many times we can watch him sprint ahead of a full-back, slow down and smack the ball out of play.

Our opponents were winning their defensive battles; Rossi heading balls away, Jobe shepherding players out of play, Fulham denied an easy route into the box by the numbers Cambridge had swarmed around them. It lifted their confidence with each successful intervention - indeed, it was our end that saw the closer chances as the visitors smelt our hesitancy.

They were pragmatic about it, too. Mayor’s long throws were difficult to deal with - one towards the end of the half was fumbled by Robinson and led to two shots for Lavery that needed blocking. Quick passes out of their congested half let Lavery and Mpanzu run at a vacant defence. A well-timed tackle from Diop was needed to stop one Lavery run turning into a shot at Lecomte, a combination of an underhit pass from Reed with a wayward slide from Castagne needed Cuenca’s body to block an actual shot, and by the end of half Reed was willing to take a yellow card to stop Mpanzu bursting into our half.

Second half

Worrying stuff - but the half ended 0-0, and Fulham had the chance to reset after the interval. You’d imagine Silva had some stern words for them too, because there were some nippy moves at the start of the second half. Kevin sprinted into action, forcing Bennett into duels along the left and winning corners for his efforts. Similarly Traore tried to sharpen up, moving a little deeper to play a few crosses without Bradshaw or Mayor on top of him. Though the aerial balls were still being repelled, chinks in the armour were starting to show - a Kevin cross saw Jimenez had a backwards volley fly just over the bar, and Reed put a Traore cross on target from a tight angle for Eastwood to save.

It wasn’t quite enough though, and time was ticking away. A pair of misses from Jimenez - one hopeless shot from distance, and a header from a Cairney corner that really ought to have been on target - led to Silva making his changes, taking off a disappointing Traore and cautioned Reed for debutant Chukwueze and King. It put some much-needed energy into the final third, and gave us the movement to create attacking space and shooting opportunities. At last, we had the avenue to our goal. Cairney fed a smart pass to Robinson down the left, who despite an uneven stride lofted the ball over Bennett and Brophy into Jimenez’s path, who leapt on the turn to volley at goal. Eastwood dived quickly to produce a decent save, but Castagne was the first man to the loose ball, playing an intelligent pass back into a manic box for Smith-Rowe, sat unmarked in the six-yard-box to put the ball into the goal.

1-0 might have been the catalyst for Fulham to cruise to victory - we’d introduced a playmaker with regular Premier League gametime and a winger with games across European competitions. Cambridge were far from deterred though - having matched us for much of the game, their substitutions were positive and ambitious. A triple change had already put Ball, Kaikai and Kouassi on, and Knight and Kachunga made it clear Fulham would be facing an assault of pace and power to see out the game.

It was a nervy watch, in truth. Kaikai was rapid, surging beyond Castagne easily to get into our final third. One shot, a cutback away from Diop, fizzed through the defence, fortunately curling away from the goal. Another move saw him strike a fine cross, headed back across by right winger Knight for regular striker Kouassi to take - his acrobatic overhead kick didn’t connect at all though, sparing us the ignominy of a sensational equaliser. We have our centre-backs to thank for staying alert with such a precarious lead - Cambridge had taken control of the ball, passing smartly into our final third and through our wilting outfield. A smart triangle with Knight and Kachunga forced Cuenca into blocking Kouassi’s low effort, and with our players preoccupied left-back Bradshaw had the freedom to make a marauding run of his own - a cross-like shot was smothered tentatively close to the line by Lecomte.

However, it wasn’t enough. Perhaps the gulf in divisions gave Fulham enough to see out the game, riding the storm, introducing yet more international-tier footballers and getting back on the ball towards the end. King might even have doubled our lead - a good run by Wilson led to a grounded cross by Muniz, and but for a goal-line block from Rossi the young starlet would have scored. It didn’t matter though - the game came to a close, and passage had been secured.

A strong showing for Cambridge

There’s a temptation, something all fans of top flight clubs are guilty of, to read a matchup like Fulham vs Cambridge and treat it as though Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona are playing a local school side. I’ll be the first to admit I was hoping for a chance to see Kevin to rip a defender or two apart, Jimenez to score a blinder, and Fulham’s squad players to enjoy a thrashing. The reality is football doesn’t always end as simply as that. Even in League Two, a decent coaching team can organise proficient athletes into a unit that can frustrate - even beat - sides several tiers and wealth-brackets richer than them.

That goes some way to explain what happened tonight, I feel. There are teams in the Premier League that have barely managed Kevin’s trickery, Robinson’s runs along the left, or Fulham passing their way into the goal - Cambridge didn’t frustrate us through fluke, it was well-executed tactics and application as a team. The centre-backs Rossi and Jobe were a strong pairing, Bennett was diligent and refined at left-back, the defensive support from midfield, particularly from Mayor, was a fine example of what good communication with a backline can accomplish and the forwards - both the starting pair and the eventual replacements - gave Fulham serious questions at varying stages of the game. Sometimes you face opponents that know what they’re doing, and tonight was one of those nights - throw a few moments the other way, and they’d easily have made it to the next round.

But let’s not forget that they are still a League Two side, and we shouldn’t be in the position we were in tonight, needing defenders to throw themselves in front of shots to just about keep ourselves ahead. We can justifiably be disappointed with more than a few starters tonight, who wasted an opportunity to advertise their talents to Silva, and there may need to be a few questions asked of them.

Frustrating Fulham

Traore is the easy target for criticism, because his failings are known to everyone - once he’s made his run, the end-product ranges from middling to abysmal. With new wingers at the club now his place in the pecking order will surely be slipping if he doesn’t improve soon. But just as poor was Jimenez tonight, who wasted several goal-scoring opportunities with wayward, often appalling finishes, and barely touched the ball for large passages of the game. Can the wingers be blamed when the striker isn’t of any presence? Smith-Rowe gets criticised for similar reasons - we expect a player of his quality to stand out in a game like this, after all. But he scored the goal today and was quietly effective in the first half, where he was connecting dots between misfiring teammates and popping up in decent positions. His usual chemistry on the left wasn’t functioning properly for him - Robinson is still on the road to recovery and Kevin, though still a deeply exciting talent, played far too selfishly and flashy when removed from the cameos he’s had so far.

I think Reed is a tricky one to judge. The yellow card felt a little unnecessary, and at times you can see that his ballwork is a little rough, but he read the game well and at least tried to instigate more in the second half. He suffers from having a gap in quality to Cairney, who can thread positive moves together in matches like this because of his patience and composure on the ball. Chukwueze didn’t get to do a lot today but liberated from the doldrums of today’s match we ought to see his speed contribute to some special moments. King, as he’s done thus far in the season, took the ball forward when he got the opportunity, taking the game away from Cambridge really nicely.

Perhaps we should instead celebrate the defenders. Cuenca has grown into a decent centre-back for us and was critical today at a number of junctures involving Cambridge’s forwards, and Diop showed his experience at the back as well - a promising sign for Fulham if we are to take this cup run seriously. Though Castagne started to wilt when Kaikai came on his attacking contributions were among the stronger ones of the game, with some important deliveries into the box, and despite Robinson’s struggles across the game the only way we’ll see him back to his best is if he can start to complete 90 minutes again, which he managed today. And of course, Lecomte did his job when required and has another clean sheet to celebrate as reward.

The fourth round awaits - nothing to sniff at, given the state of our cup fortunes pre-Silva. Though it’s too early to get euphoric, especially after a performance like today, Fulham should at least be given credit for turning around a rubbish first half, doing enough to get ahead of Cambridge and then avoiding the calamity of a late equaliser (and an embarrassing penalty shootout exit). Whilst we’re still in the cup, does it truly matter that we sauntered through a Tuesday night game in Round three? Our only serious concern should be for Kevin - it would be a huge disappointment if injury felled his bright start to life at the Cottage. Let’s be pleased that we’re in the draw, and trust Silva and the team to recalibrate themselves for our trip to Villa Park this weekend.