Fulham (Away) 16.03.2025

Djed Spence started at right back with Mathys Tel on the left wing, Brennan Johnson on the right, with Dominic Solanke in the middle of the front line.  Archie Gray finally got a start in midfield alongside Bissouma and Bentancur, with Romero, Davies and Udogie completing the back line. 

To be truthful, the first half was one of the worst I have seen in a long time, with neither team finding any sort of ability to put a move together.  An early tackle by Jiminez on Tel saw the ball head back towards the Spurs goal, but Vicario just recovered his feet to grab the ball after initially slipping.  Pereira flashed a hopeful shot across goal from the right in the fifth minute, but Tottenham’s failure to press effectively high up the pitch and being loose in their passing allowed the home side to be the more attacking, albeit throwing crosses in that Spurs dealt with well. 

Twenty minutes into the half, Mathys Tel went on a left wing dribble that took him into the box past three defenders and his cross across the face of goal went unfinished with no Tottenham player having read it.  Shortly after a cross from the right into the Spurs box saw Jiminez go flying with claims that Spence shoved him in the back, but it looked more like hands making touch-tight contact than a push.  That’s what VAR decided anyway.  The first shot on target in the match was Fulham’s when a ball into the box by Iwobi was cut out by Ben Davies, but it dropped for Castagne, whose weak low shot in from the right allowed Vicario to flop down behind it with ease.

The game was stop-start with lots of soft free-kicks being given as Jiminez and Willian kept throwing themselves to the ground at the slightest touch.

The start of the second half brought Son and Bergvall on for Johnson and Bissouma and immediately, Spurs looked better going forward.  Winning a couple of corners was a good start although nothing came from them, but in the 52nd minute, Bergvall’s cross from the inside right channel was won in the air by Solanke, who put his header a couple of feet wide of the far post.  Dom won another header when Spurs won a free-kick on the left wing, but this went wider of the far post and might have been given as a free-kick as he appeared to push Castagne who was in front of him.

When Lucas burst past a defender into the box, it looked as though Andersen had used an arm across the Swede to stop him getting onto the ball to shoot, but nothing was given.  Just before that Udogie did well to wriggle past a defender and put in a decent cross that wasn’t met by a Spurs player and a free-kick whipped in by Son from the left flank apparently went all the way through the goalmouth with the last touch coming off a Tottenham man, much to the astonishment of the men in green.  The run of the ball was going Fulham’s way, with Son’s ball into the box jumped over by Solanke to let it run to Bentancur on the penalty spot, but the ball was a little behind him and got stuck under his feet.

Davies put in a header from Tel’s cross from 16 yards out, but it was a simple take for Leno.  When a foul had been given to Fulham, Tel ran away with the ball and was hacked down by Bassey, who took a dislike to Romero telling him what he thought.  It was a dangerous tackle with the Fulham defender jumping two footed to connect with Tel’s ankle and the fact that Madley only spoke to him was ridiculous.  It was the last part Cristian played in the match being replaced by James Maddison, who almost had an immediate impact.  Mathys Tel came inside off the right to curl a left footed shot at goal, which Leno pushed wide, but only towards Madders, who chested it back into the edge of the six yard box for Solanke, who fired over the bar with a volley.  It came to Dom quickly, so he wasn’t able to adjust his feet to keep the ball down.

A pass up the left caught Maddison on the heel and Pereira crossed that Vicario came flying out to punch away, but only to Willian, who bent a shot at the majority of the empty goal although he lived up to his reputation by putting it wide.  With neither side looking much of a goal threat, that all changed with 13 minutes left as a long ball hoofed forward by Leno was won in the air by Moniz, nodding the ball out to Traore but his cross was headed out and when Odobert tried to find a team-mate making an option for him to pass to (there wasn’t) the three players penning him in won the ball.  Robinson crossed from the left, Troare turned it back inside at the far side of the box and it hit Pereira falling to Moniz who swept it low to Vicario’s right just inside the post.  While it looked as though it would end goal-less one goal might have won it and this looked like it.

As it was, it wasn’t as Ryan Sessegnon came off the bench and following another ball launched forward, it looked as though Ben Davies would get to it, but Sess held him off and turned on the ball to curl it into the goal beyond Vic’s dive to the left just like Willian wasn’t able to do.  So, perhaps it was inevitable that the winger would return to score against us, but he had the good grace to celebrate in a subdued fashion.

There was one last chance for Tottenham, with Son taking the ball up to the Fulham defence before sliding it into the box on the left, but Dominic’s low shot lacked power and Leno held it as he fell behind the effort.

While Bassey should have been punished with a card for his late challenge on Tel, the fact that the ref did not hand out a single card showed what sort of game it was.  There was a red flashed at one of the Fulham backroom staff who must have celebrated the first goal too vigorously.

It was nice to hear some old Spurs songs with some of the repertoire from forty years ago being given an airing.  All we needed was a resounding chorus of “What Do You Wanna Make Those Eyes At Me For” to transport me back to the 80s.  The fact that I was there when Ray Clemence had to go off after being clattered by Leroy Rosenior and Graham Roberts took over between the sticks in a Third Round FA Cup tie made it even more poignant.  But against the odds, we didn’t lose that day and we did today.  We rarely looked as though we might score, but the same could be said of Fulham until the last ten minutes.  It was what was becoming a typical Spurs performance of this season, with little to get excited about and nothing to take home with us.  I don’t suppose that will change at Stamford Bridge in three weeks when we play again.

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