Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Football Reporting
Football Reporting

Manchester City

Fulham edge closer to relegation as Adama secures late win for Wolverhampton Wanderers


Adama Traore struck a goal deep into added-time to fire Wolves to victory and sink Fulham deeper into the relegation mire.

Fulham thought they had done enough to earn what would have been a precious point only for Traore to break their hearts in the second minute of stoppage-time with a powerful shot which beat Alphonse Areola at his near post. It was his first goal in 16 months.

It was just deserved for Wolves as despite a below par performance they ought to have already been ahead. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side thought they had edged in front on the stroke of half-time when Willian Jose headed in what would have been his first goal for the club only for VAR to intervene and rule it out for a very marginal offside call.

Premier League

Lingard inspires West Ham as they climb into top four

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

05/04/2021 AT 18:20

It looked to be a real let off for Fulham, who, save for a Ruben Loftus-Cheek header in the first half, offered next to nothing in attack.

With a victory enough to lift the Cottagers out of the bottom three, Parker’s decision to leave it until the 75th-minute to make an attacking switch will have raised eyebrows.

The introduction of Josh Maja provided a slight improvement, although Fulham still failed to test Rui Patricio in between the Wolves goal.

And with the hosts throwing caution to the wind late on, they were caught short on the counter-attack, with Traore’s shot proving decisive.

The victory lifts Wolves up to 12th, while Fulham remain 18th, three points behind Newcastle having played two games more.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

TALKING POINT – VAR disappoints again, Fulham are in deep trouble

VAR was about to steal the headlines until Traore’s late winner, but let’s face it, there needs to be a serious rethink about the offside rule ahead of next season. At the moment, it is simply ruining too many spectacles. There was nothing clear and obvious about Podence’s sleeve being in an offside position – Fulham’s defenders didn’t even appeal for offside. Decisions like this are, undoubtedly, detracting from the beautiful game.

But it shouldn’t detract from Fulham’s poor performance and Parker’s tactics. In what was a must-win game, the Cottagers boss left it too late to make his substitutions. Their approach play was fine but too often there weren’t any attackers in the box. On too many occasions, the final ball was lacking. It has been the story of their season and now time is finally running out.

Fulham have six games left to save their season but only two are at Craven Cottage. This result all but spells relegations.

KEY MOMENTS

28′ – Close! Loftus-Cheek should score or at least hit the target! Andersen (again) builds the attack with a raking pass to the left flank. Robinson gets his head up and picks out Loftus-Cheek with a superb cross. He’s trying to be too precise with his glancing header though and misses the target!

45’+3 – Goal ruled out! Willian Jose has his first goal for Wolves! It’s all about his movement as he runs across his marker to meet Podence’s beautiful cross and he beats Areola with a bullet header. But wait, VAR is having a look to see if Podence was in an offside. It’s very, very close. And it has been ruled out. Podence was offside by the finest of margins. That is so cruel. A real let off for Fulham.

90’+2 – GOAL! Fulham 0-1 Wolves (Adama Traore): Wolves win it right at the end! Traore grabs his first goal in 16 months and it could spell the end of Fulham’s time in the Premier League. It comes following a rapid counter-attack, with Silva feeding Traore and he beats Areola at his near post with a shot that has plenty of pace and power!

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

KEY STATS

  • Adama Traoré’s goal ended a run of 48 appearances without scoring in the Premier League, since his last strike against Manchester City in December 2019. The Spaniard’s first goal in the competition this season came with his 28th shot attempt.
  • Fábio Silva (18y 264d) is the youngest player to assist a goal in the Premier League this season, with Bukayo Saka in February 2020 (18y 171d v Everton) being the last player younger than Silva to assist a teammate in the competition.

More to follow…

Premier League

Trezeguet double helps Villa roar back to break Fulham hearts

02/04/2021 AT 14:17

Premier League

Grealish to return from injury for Fulham game

02/04/2021 AT 12:20

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.



Source link

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

AC Milan

Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport at great length, Giorgio Furlani shared his thoughts on the future of AC Milan, the rumours suggesting a big-player...

AC Milan

Ahead of the game between AC Milan and Fiorentina Stefano Pioli shared his thoughts on Ismael Bennacer. The Algerian has recovered from his minor...

International

Alan Shearer has warned Marcus Rashford he has not done enough this season to cement a place in the England squad for Euro 2024...

Arsenal

THIERRY HENRY won pretty much everything in his decorated career but his biggest regret was missing out on the Olympics. The football icon, 46,...