Recap: Injuries and Forest interest rock Fulham

Sammy wraps up a rocky weekend for the Fulham

Well, that was quite the weekend for Fulham - and to be honest, not the most enjoyable one. Saturday’s defeat to Arsenal was pretty inevitable as soon as we knew the extent of our injuries, but I think most of us would have predicted a much more comprehensive loss.

Fulham teased us, particularly in the first half, into a false hope that we might actually spring a shock - Harry Wilson went close, and Tom Cairney probably should have done better with a volley from a corner, but in all honesty, did you ever really think we were going to score against Arsenal’s measly defence?

In the second half, the inevitable finally happened as the gunners scored their customary set-piece. Bukayo Saka thought he’d won a penalty after Kevin’s perfectly timed tackle. Fortunately, it only took Antony Taylor 6 minutes to spot that Kevin’s foot touched the ball.

Bernd Leno made a string of fine saves to keep the scoreline at one, so much so that George Rossiter rated him highest in the player ratings. I actually think Jorge Cuenca was my MOTM, an excellent performance from the Spaniard, and real competition for Calvin Bassey.

Anyhow, a 1-0 defeat to the team who are probably going to win the league is hardly a shambles. However, it is the combination of poor form, injuries and a stronger league overall that does leave us feeling pretty nervous. Something that Owen MacDonald noted during his brilliant recap.

Ultimately, 8 points from the games we’ve played is pretty much exactly what you’d expect us to have, but it does feel like a lot of pressure will be on the next 4 fixtures, all of which are either against newly promoted teams or teams in the bottom half.

After the match, the Cooper brothers gave an honest assessment of the match which is worth a watch. They commented about how the pressure for that Wolves match in a couple of weeks is going to be pretty enormous, especially if they are still winless going into that one.

Of course, the biggest news in the Premier League this weekend was the sensational 19 minute firing of Ange Postecoglou after Nottingham Forest’s 0-3 defeat by Chelsea. This then has led to a wave of rumours linking our very own Marco Silva with the vacant job…

I went on a bit of a tear-up on X to say that I categorically do not see Marco Silva taking the Forest job. The links are no surprise given the fact that Silva won the league for Olympiakos in 2016 whilst Marinakis was chairman, and I don’t dispute that the greek nutcase would want to bring Silva to the City Ground, but wanting something does not always mean you get it.

No doubt that Silva is dis-satisfied with the way Fulham is run and I personally do not see him staying another season (even if Shahid Khan went on Talksport to say otherwise). However, I don’t see what’s in it for Marco to jump ship, mid-season, to the absolute basket case that is Nottingham Forest.

Sure, they’re in the Europa League, and they have a marginally better squad, but Marco would be mad to cash his chips in now, when come the summer he could have the pick of half-a-dozen jobs across Europe. Marco deserves a Champions League level club, why risk his burgeoning reputation working again for a man who makes Donald Trump seem docile.

Hopefully, this is the eye of the storm as far as FFC are concerned. We could really do with some good news soon.