It wouldn’t be the holiday season if someone didn’t remind you of the world’s doom and gloom. Overall, Fulham’s season has been fairly successful, with a top-half finish and a couple of nice cup campaigns – there’s certainly been something to be happy about.
However, it hasn’t been all rainbows and sunshine, and while George Rossiter will take you through the best of 2023 later this week, I’m here to look at the troughs rather than the peaks.
1.The present run
It’s inevitable that a season will have difficult moments, and although I hear people say, “Give the team a break, they won two games 5-0 earlier this month,” we need to address five issues, and this seems like a decent place to start.
True, we’ve experienced some incredible high points this month with the aforementioned victories and the clinched Carabao Cup Semi Final, which is why this unexpected decline in form is so concerning.
Since Fulham hasn’t scored in their previous three games and has generally looked bad, some supporters are starting to worry that we should start watching closely as teams like Burnley and Luton seem to be improving.
Even with a strong winter window, I believe we’ll be alright, but these previous few games have undoubtedly created some doubts.
2.Derby Day breakdown
We managed to secure three points against Brentford and four points against Chelsea in the 2022–2023 season, which included that notorious night at the cottage. Nevertheless, with both of our home games completed halfway through the season, Fulham has been utterly destroyed by both of our neighbors.
Against a Brentford team without Ivan Toney, Fulham were disoriented and lacking in creativity in our opening home match of the year. Was Tim Ream really worthy of being fired? Probably not, and that might have swung the balance in favor of Thomas Frank’s squad, but Fulham looked awful and we gave our rival club the opportunity to boast once again.
Amazingly, that wasn’t the worst thing that happened to Fulham on August 19, 2023, though, because Mitro left later that day.
We faced a Chelsea team that was struggling once more in October, having won just one of their first six games. The supporters of Fulham were hoping for another historic victory over Mauricio Pochettino’s team.
That was not going to happen with another subpar performance in a nearby race. In the first twenty minutes, goals from Mudryk and Broja put Fulham under siege, and we were never able to rally.
3.The cost of tickets
It wouldn’t feel right to discuss Fulham’s shortcomings without bringing up the increases in ticket costs and the board members’ ignorance in ignoring the opinions of the supporters. Fulham said in the summer that season tickets will now cost £3,000 in the new Riverside Stand, an increase of 18% on average.
When it was revealed that Manchester United tickets were available, some of which were priced at £160, there were murmurs of dissatisfaction within the fan base that eventually became loud.
The 18th minute yellow cards were presented as part of a protest, and Fulham supporters demanded that the board stop charging them to attend. Alistair Mackintosh defended the club’s choice to raise costs just before Christmas, although he questioned if the FST was indicative of the entire fan base.
2.Mitrovic travelled to Saudi.
Aleksandar Mitrovic was welcomed back to the team at Southampton by enthusiastic supporters and an abundance of Serbian flags after serving his suspension. In our final home game against Crystal Palace, he repaid Fulham supporters with a brace and a goal on the coast.
During the season-ending stroll around the pitch, “Freed from Desire” was playing over the tannoy. All four stands joined in unison to chant “Mitro’s on fire,” little knowing that it would be his final league appearance at Craven Cottage.
Saudi Arabian connections began to circulate on Twitter, and Fulham supporters laughed them off in unison, believing Mitrovic wouldn’t be looking away. How wrong we were. From the beginning, the Serbian striker made it very evident that he wanted to go and would stop at nothing to do so, even if it meant he would never play for the team again.
The journey to Al-Hilal was ultimately announced on August 19, capping a tale that has left Fulham supporters with a bad taste. A real club legend with a conclusion that is anything from a fairytale.
5.Within a minute, three reds
I wonder whether I’ll ever be able to go past this. A spot at Wembley appeared attainable when Fulham defeated Leeds 2-0 to get to the quarterfinals, while teams like Grimsby Town, Sheffield United, and Blackburn Rovers remained in the tournament. That is, until we had to make our yearly trip to Manchester.
Even yet, we had every reason to feel confident going into Old Trafford because Casemiro was out for Manchester United. After controlling Erik ten Hag’s team for the whole of the first half, Fulham was rewarded five minutes into the second half when Mitrovic scored from a set-piece.
Despite leading 1-0, Fulham persisted in their attack and was kept out of scoring territory by an incredible stop by David De Gea. Up until the 72nd minute, we were in charge and the prospect of a semi-final was becoming more real.
Jadon Sancho ultimately had a clear shoot into an open net as Manchester United stormed on the counterattack, but Willian stopped the ball for a corner. I was celebrating the block like we had scored at first, but then I saw he had cleared it with his hand.
First red card. Following a shove by Luke Shaw that resulted in the second red card of the game, Marco Silva subsequently made his views known by having Fulham refused a penalty in the first half. Then, in the most famous of the three, Mitrovic lost his mind and expressed his emotions to referee Chris Kavanagh, earning him the third red card and an eight-match suspension.
