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A surprisingly easy victory and three more points

Though Millwall were surprisingly timid

billp TOOFIF Updated Sunday, 25 August 2019

FFC 4 v Millwall  0 AUG 21 2019

It's  still dreamland

Best not get carried away

billp TOOFIF Sunday, 18 August 2019


Match Information from FFC

Competition: Sky Bet Championship

Date: Wednesday 21 August 2019

Kick-off: 7:45pm

Venue: Craven Cottage, London

Attendance: 17,066

Referee: Darren Bond

Fulham

Line-up: Bettinelli; Steven Sessegnon, Mawson, Ream, Bryan; Cairney (De Cordova-Reid 69'), Arter (McDonald 75'), Johansen; Knockaert, Mitrovic, Cavaleiro (Kamara 79')

Unused substitutes: Rodák, Le Marchand, Christie, Reed

Manager: Scott Parker

Millwall

Line-up: Bialkowski; Romeo, Pearce, Cooper, Murray Wallace; Mahoney, Leonard, Williams (Matt Smith 45'), Skalak (Ferguson 39'); Thompson (Molumby 75'); Bradshaw

Unused substitutes: Steele, Hutchinson, O'Brien, Bödvarsson

Manager: Neil Harris

After the superb demolition of a haples Huddersfield at their John Smith’s Stadium, we started with exactly the same line-up s the vicy=tors of that contest.

The swapping of Knockaert and Cavaleiro lit the fuse for a period of impressive attacking play. Their supply of crosses mounted up , mostly to be difused by Millwall's largish central defenders. until Bingo, Knockaert terrific cross was met by Mitrović, whose placed header was excellently saved by Bartosz Bialkowski in the away goal.

Just to shake things up a little, Knockaert and Cavaleiro reverted to their original positions, and soon our first goal was created. Cairney found Cavaleiro back on the left wing, and the Portuguese cut inside into the area, beating a man before lashing an effort beyond the outstretched Bialkowski in a stunning reprise of the wonder goal he scored at Huddersfield

Knockaert soon added a second goal to our tally by heading in a Cavaleiro’s cross from the left. This, his first goal for the Club, terminated a breath-taking team attack consisting of a dazzling series of close passing.

It was now that Millwall manager Neil Harris his first substitution, swapping Jiri Skalak for Shane Ferguson.

Good though all this was though, in order to keep the Stas Chaps happy, the team were determined to not allow Millwall to touch the ball and by the close of the first half we had allowed them only 11% of the ball, we claimed the bigger portion naturally.

Millwall used the half-time interval to re-think their line-up and Neil Harris brought on old Fulham favourite Matt Smith in place of midfielder Shaun Williams, in usual Fulhamish fashion, Matt was cheered on by applause from the entire home support.

Matt had a denet attempt almost immediately but his rather puny effort was easy meat for Bettenelli who was in exactly the right place.

The Lions again started the half with intent but normal service once again resumed and Fulham looked by far the more likely, in fact Sessegnon came close when his cross was deflected onto the bar.

Mitrović now came to the fore by unbelievably controlling Arter’s shot and dribbling round the keeper who blatantly fouled him to give away a penalty. Mitro scored clinically to add a thrid goal to his season's total.

It was seveth heaven for for Fulham when Tom Cairney sparayed a wonderful loping pass to Cavaleiro who danced past the keeper and tapped in his second goal.

We brought Bobby Decordova-Reid on for Cairney in the 75th minute and despite Fulham creating more chances, te scoreline stayed at 4-0

Lions suffer heavy defeat as expensively assembled home team prove too slick

from London News online

https://www.londonnewsonline.co.uk/fulham-4-millwall-0-lions-suffer-heavy-defeat-as-expensively-assembled-home-team-prove-too-slick/


Millwall suffered their first defeat of the Championship season as Fulham underlined their automatic promotion aspirations by inflicting a heavy defeat at Craven Cottage.

Little expense has been spared in assembling Scott Parker’s squad as they look for an instant return to the Premier League and their headline acts all came to the party on Wednesday night – Ivan Cavaleiro scoring once in each half with Anthony Knockaert and Aleksandar Mitrovic also netting.

Fulham’s first-half  saw them complete 453 passes to Millwall’s 34. By the end the visitors had totalled 115 passes, compared to 935 for the victors.

And while plenty of those were just shifting the play from side to side, they also possessed the quality time and again to cut open the Lions backline with the quality in their ranks.

Fulham’s first goal on 15 minutes saw Cavaleiro score a replica of his winner at Huddersfield on Friday night. The on-loan Wolves man cut inside on his right foot – going away from Mahlon Romeo and Connor Mahoney – before thrashing a bullet of a strike past Bartosz Bialkowski.

Knockaert had his first goal for the home side since his loan move from Brighton on 32 minutes. The Whites switched play ruthlessly and slipped in Cavaleiro on the left of the box, he found the head of his fellow winger who stooped to put daylight between the two sides.

To be absolutely truthful, I wasn't as confident as the previous two results should have made me prior to kick off against Millwall

My paranoia seemed to be borne out in the opening minutes as Millwall took the initiative and appeared determined to win the London Derby bragging rights.

Panic over, reality was resumed after around ten minutes and the cause was the switching of pur lively wingers to opposite touchlines, immediately we looked a more dangerous proposition. Flexibility and an acceptance of tactical updates during a match is order of the day with our manager and team these days.

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