Saturday sees us welcome the ‘sumptuous’ Cottagers to our Cathedral on the Hill. Surprisingly Fulham have managed to sell their ‘full’ allocation of 1700 seats, indicating the prawn sandwich brigade are bringing a tidy little firm, which is rather peculiar for them.
Following Tuesday’s dismantling of Benfica, much to Jose Mourinho’s dismay, I personally am feeling rather confident going into the match this weekend. I thought NUFC were nothing short of superb in the second half, in particular the performances of Gordon and Barnes. I genuinely think Barnes is a significantly better player when he comes of the bench, with three goals and one assist in eight appearances now in 2025/26.
Once again Gordon was astounding in the Champions League, a combined tally of five goals and assists in three games is rather breathtaking. However, I do feel like he is yet to reach the level of performance he has achieved for the national side this season and the Champions League, in the Premier League so far this season. As per usual, the combination of Malick Thiaw and Botman was rock, creating a solid defensive foundation.
Historically Fulham at home is never really an interesting game, with peak entertainment of this ‘fierce battle’ coming on Saturday 16th December 2023, where we cruised past the Cottagers 3-0, following an early red card for Raul Jimenez and a first Premier League goal from Lewis Miley. We have in fact been defeated by Fulham in our most recent outings, losing 2-1 to them at home last season and 3-1 away.
Both sides haven’t necessarily had the great greatest start to their domestic campaigns in the Premier League, Fulham sitting in 15th, one whole place and point behind us. Both of us have managed to win two games in the league so far.
I’ve managed to catch a few of their games this season and, in all honesty, they haven’t been that bad, perhaps on the unluckier side of things with their results compared to their performances. In my opinion, a rather similar situation to us thus far. Sitting 14th at this early stage of the season isn’t necessarily the ‘end of the world’ as most ‘supporters’ on the remarkable platform ‘X’ (formally known as ‘Twitter’) would claim, NUFC have tended to start seasons slow with early season slumps.
Last weekend I had the ‘fortunate’ pleasure of a 23-hour day out to Brighton with a near 16 hours on a coach to watch a ‘bewildering’ performance against The Seagulls. To no-one’s surprise, we did not manage to pick up three points at Brighton, as the curse of the infamous ‘South Coast away games’ continues. In fact, the last time we won at Brighton was in February 2017, courtesy of a ‘Mo Diame’ wondergoal (fluke).
To be honest, I thought we were pretty poor last Saturday, albeit with ‘some’ decent football played in parts, providing a small glimmer of hope throughout the game. We started off reasonably well in the first 10 minutes, dictating the midfield (as per) and the possession, giving us a comfortable and confident start into the game. However from this point onwards up until the conclusion of the first half, I personally thought we were crap, creating very little.
Elanga had a rubbish first 45, pretty much failing to take anyone on, losing possession 4 times in the process, alongside flying crosses over the box failing to pick out anyone. But I really do think we are yet to see the best of him. Obviously signing for a new club is daunting and what not, but he’s yet to perform at the level we saw at Nottingham Forest. On a more positive note, there is bucket loads of potential with Elanga and I’m sure under Eddie’s guidance he will flourish in the up-coming future.
Joelinton as well was very poor on Saturday afternoon, giving the ball away too many times, courtesy of some very clumsy passes and touches, leading to his hacking at half time. We are yet to see the best of Big Joe this season, at times looking like a shadow of his former self from previous seasons. It’s still the early stages of the season, though, so let’s not rush to make a clear judgement.
I did think we played a rather decent second half of football, in particular the addition of Jacob Murphy at the break, who seemed to add a bit more intensity to the game. Woltemade was decent, scoring a brilliant goal, although it was clear he struggled to get properly involved in the game, probably due to the brilliance of Van Hecke on the afternoon, the lad blocking virtually every ball that came his way.
On a positive note, I do really fancy us for three points on Saturday against Fulham. If we play anything like we did on Tuesday against Benfica then I feel as though it’ll be guaranteed. The three points is vital. I feel like it’ll properly kick start our season. I fancy us for a 2-0 win.
Charlie Steven
