The Tanner Report: Fulham 3 Southampton 2
Superficially you might conclude that little had changed.
We conceded a sloppy goal early doors. Except for Seri coming in for the injured Anguissa, the team that fared well in the first half against Liverpool was selected.
However, poring over the entrails the ‘little steps’ referred to by new boss Claudio Ranieri – titled in the programme not as Head Coach but Manager – were evident.
The shape of 4-4-2 was adhered to with Tom Cairney pushing up from midfield and Schurrle and Sessegnon wide. This worked well and, as space became easier to find, Sessegnon in particular exploited it.
Cyrus Christie at right back played his best game yet for the team rampaging forward and making the third and vital goal with his cross.
The goals conceded need to come down – Fulham have yet to keep a clean sheet – and but for some inspired shot-saving by keeper Sergio Rico Southampton might have scored more than two.
Fans traveling to a match always interest me. On the South London train were numerous fans going to Twickenham. A loud noisy woman in the seats ahead making her way to England v Australia was already lagering up.
More than any other international sport rugby attracts the drinker. I’ve developed a trick of blocking out all unwelcome noise through headphones. In this case very necessary.
In the restaurant where we eat pre-match, I was delighted to see someone I had not encountered for over 30 years. She came from the Dean family who had a blind business in Putney and were key directors and shareholders in the sixties.
Tony Dean gave me my break in the window cleaning business and an introduction to such Fulham legends as Johnny Haynes, who lived then in Epsom, and Bobby Keetch whose Hampton house windows I cleaned personally till his tragic death aged 54 in 1996.
It shows how much club had changed as Ms Dean (as she was then) and I would collect bits and pieces of memorabilia at the end of each season for fear that there would be no Craven Cottage the following year.
