Bristol City punishes Fulham - quick thoughts

“As if the afternoon wasn’t bad enough…” Gentleman Jim, at Kevin McDonald’s red card.

After a high-flying start to the season, the wheels are falling off for Fulham. If points were given for possession or errant shots, we’d be in an automatic promotion position.

But they’re not.

Fulham were in the match from the beginning, moving the ball well and pressing hard. Slavisa fielded a strong team, one with eight different players from the EFL Cup Match defeat to Bristol earlier in the week. From the start it looked like the Whites would be the first team on the scoreboard.

And then we weren’t.

Abraham punished us at the 10^th minute on their first real attempt. Still, the Whites bounced back and pressed hard, testing both the Bristol keeper and the crossbar. On the run of play, it certainly felt like Fulham would at least equalize before the halftime whistle, if not put in a pair.

And yet, we didn’t.

The second half started well again, but again we were punished, this time by Freeman at the 60^th minute. Then again by Reid at the 68^th. And finally a tap in by Flint on the 83^rd.

Where is the defense we’ve come to expect? Where is the Craven Cottage brick wall? Sure, we’re not accustomed to scoring many goals this season, but that well seems to have dried up completely. We now have a negative goal difference and are dropping in the table. Chris Martin hasn’t impressed at all so far. Matt Smith’s scoring ability has taken a dive. Tom Cairney’s left foot seems to have gone on holiday.

The four minutes of added time were simply four minutes of additional misery. Calls for Slavisa to go have begun to pop up on Twitter. The honeymoon period for the Serb is over, and some are already demanding a divorce.

I’m not a fan of booing at our own team, but after a display like that, it would be tough not to. Thankfully (perhaps) we’ve got another match in just a few days, when we travel to Nottingham Forest. We’ve performed better away than at home, and a win is desperately needed – for the fans, for the club, and especially for Slavisa.