The Tanner Report: Fulham 0 Crystal Palace 2
Once again Fulham followed a superb win – over high-flying Nottingham Forest – with a home defeat to a team below us.
Palace got off to a bad start this season and Fulham were easy victors at Selhurst Park in the autumn. Since then they have rallied, garnering 27 points and winning their last three away games prior to their visit to the Cottage.
In Lacroix and Richards they have a reliable unit in central defence whilst Fulham were flustered at the back. Eze, Gueha and Wharton are all England internationals. I predicted a draw but Palace deserved their win.
One of the many unsatisfactory aspects of modern football is the corner. The penalty box becomes a free-for-all more like all-in wrestling.
Arsenal are the masters at scoring from corners, but Palace opened their account when the accident prone Joachim Andersen headed the ball from Will Hughes’ corner into his own net.
His partner Calvin Bassey can bring the ball forward with aplomb but, as with Andersen who has a wonderful diagonal ball out of defence, the basic defensive skills of blocking and heading elude him.
I yearn for some of our combos of yore, e.g. Roger Brown and Tony Gale and ‘The Thames Barrier ‘ of Aaron Hughes and Brede Hangeland.
Fulham go to Wolves on Tuesday.
Wolves pulled a 3-0 victory over Fulham at the Cottage and are not free of relegation worries. It will not be an easy match and to get a result Marco Silva might have to recall Mohammed Diop who can dominate in the air.
