Fulham vs Leeds Preview: Three questions with Through It All Together

Cottagers Confidential: I don't believe that Leeds or Fulham are in any real danger of going down. With that in mind, what are your goals for the rest of the season and next season?

Through It All Together: I’ll reluctantly agree that Leeds United probably won’t be falling out of the Championship after this season, but I’m not as confident of that as I’d like to be. It's also hard to talk goals for this year after our last hope for 2016 (the FA Cup) expired Saturday afternoon at Watford, but it would be nice to see the young core of Lewis Cook, Alex Mowatt, and Charlie Taylor agree to long-term contracts so we can avoid the Sam Byram situation that ruined our January. And, the big news around Leeds these days, it’d be great if Massimo Cellino decided to sell and we brought in new local ownership. That’s the albatross on our team right now, if that were fixed, we’d be ecstatic. On the field, I hope for a top-12 finish at this point. It’s not a lot, but it’d be something. I’d really just love to see some exciting football, from Doukara, Antenucci, whoever. We’ve been plagued with scoreless draughts. Next season? Promotion, obviously. Ha.

CC: Leeds seems to have a pretty good defense but can't really score goals. What's the problem and is there anyway to address it?

TIAT: Goals are surely the problem for Leeds United this year, and the team did nothing in the January window to improve the situation. Chris Wood was supposed to be our primary striker, and his injury has left us really hurting. Souleymane Doukara has been surprising, with our only goals of late, but Mirco Antenucci hasn’t performed, and the midfield can’t seem to score either. I think the only way we address it is in the summer; hopefully Steve Evans can convince someone to join our soap opera.

CC: Leeds supporters mocked Fulham pretty heavily about the fee that was paid for Ross McCormack. Does anyone still think we overpaid?

TIAT: No. Ha. I’m sure some do, but goodness, we’d love to have McCormack’s attack right now. A lot of Leeds fans think that we’re one solid striker away from the Premier League. Obviously, I think we need a bit more than that, but McCormack sure would help. I’ve seen fans say online that they’re skipping the game because Ross will score a hat trick against us Tuesday night; we definitely wish he was wearing white.

CC: Predicted score and lineup?

TIAT: Score: I think Leeds will be fairly deflated/exhausted after Tuesday, and with Bellusci out with his yellow card accumulation suspension, it’s likely to be rough. With your defensive problems this season, I’d hope for a 1-1 or 2-2 draw, but I’ll predict 2-1 you guys. Our lineup for this one is hard to predict: we played Saturday, our season is basically over, and Bellusci is out, so I’d hope Evans goes with some youth options, but he probably won’t. Here’s my guess: 4-2-3-1, Silvestri; Wootton, Cooper, Bamba, Taylor; Bridcutt, Diagouraga; Mowatt, Cook, Dallas; Doukara. If he does sub, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lee Erwin up top or Jordan Botaka get a chance out wide. I’d love to see Lewie Coyle get a shot in place of Wootton, and there’s a chance Gaetano Berardi is back in the backline as well. Good luck... after Tuesday of course.