22 December 2024
Fulham 0 Southampton 0
Fulham welcomed bottom of the table Southampton to Craven Cottage. Marco Silva’s side were fresh off the back of an impressive performance at Anfield where they almost toppled the league leaders. At times this season The Cottagers have looked impressive, as always, consistency is the problem and that is reflected in their position in the Premier League table.
The hosts made a confident start and the in-form Iwobi tried a cheeky chip towards the far post. It had Ramsdale scrambling across his goal at full-stretch and he had to make a fingertip save to keep it out. It was a signal of intent from Silva’s side. If The Saints were to get something from this game, it was evident that the former Arsenal keeper was going to have to have a good day.
As you looked at the replay of the save, it showed an interesting fact about Ramsdale’s new gloves. The middle two fingers had been blended into one. What advantage is being gained by them is anyone’s guess but maybe they offer more stability to the two longest fingers when making those full-stretch saves. If so, they certainly did their job there.
Silva’s side continued to press with Wilson receiving the ball and chesting it down on the edge of the box. He rifled a shot narrowly over the bar. Southampton were well and truly on the back foot and were struggling to get out of their own penalty area, let alone half. Their new manager was sat in the stands watching this one.
Robinson then got forward and laid the ball off to Iwobi outside the box. He looked to clip one into the top corner but it narrowly missed with Ramsdale beaten. As much as Fulham huffed and puffed, they just could not blow The Saints house down. The two teams went into the interval with nothing to separate them, it was over to the managers now to inspire.
After the interval, The Cottagers continued to utilise the flanks. Muniz was so absent in this game for the hosts, many wondered if he had been given Harry Potter’s cloak of invisibility as an early Christmas present. Marco Silva’s side look far more dangerous when they have that focal point up top to link things up, nobody does this better than Jimenez for them.
In a rare counter-attack Sugawara and Armstrong exchanged passes but the forward’s shot was straight at Leno. For someone who scored so many goals in the Championship last season, he is struggling to adapt to life in the top-flight. It is one of the reasons why Southampton find themselves rooted to the bottom of the table, not scoring enough goals.
The Saints looked to come forward but gave the ball away with a loose pass. The hosts tried to make them pay but all they could do was force a corner. As the cross was half-cleared, Fulham recycled it well as Jimenez put in a cross into the back post. Wilson met it on the half-volley and Ramsdale did brilliantly to turn it over crossbar from point-blank range.
Fulham were starting to throw everything at the Southampton goal. As the visitors failed to clear their lines, Traore got a shot away from the edge of the box. It narrowly missed the far post by the finest of margins with Ramsdale beaten. It seemed like it was going to one of those frustrating days for Marco Silva’s side.
It is a tricky one to analyse from the manager’s point of view. There was nothing specifically that you could say his side did wrong in this game. Their movement was good, they worked the channels and often looked to stretch their opponents. If anything, the only thing that would have changed things would have been starting Jimenez up top.
Southampton will be able to take some positives from this result, although it does not really help their plight to avoid relegation. With a new manager coming in, it is all about getting back to basics for The Saints right now. The first run on that ladder is to make themselves harder to beat. A clean sheet in the capital, the first side to do so at Craven Cottage this season, is a good start.
For Fulham, they will see this as two points dropped. Ramsdale made a couple of cracking saves to deny them but they remain ninth in the Premier League table. They now have a tricky trip to Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day for a West London derby. This result will be forgotten if they can go and beat Enzo Maresca’s side.
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