Post Match report for the Fulham game - Wednesday, 16th December 2020
PREMIER LEAGUE 20/21: Fulham v Brighton - 16/12/20, P13.
ALBION GOALLESS AGAIN
RESULT: 0-0 . SHAPE: 5-3-2
VENUE: Craven Cottage, London SW6 - seventh away match of thirteen fixtures to date . Wednesday 8pm k-o.
Game played without fans attending as revised Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions just imposed for London regions.
PRE-MATCH: Brighton fans were set for a busy period ahead following this midweek contest of bottom six participants. Christmas & New Year were coming, so Prem opportunities came thick & fast amid all manner of other festive shenanigans post lockdown.
WEATHER: dry evening after afternoon rain . KIT: first colours.
GRAHAM POTTER was under increasing pressure during build up this month to avoid defeat and be sucked into a relegation battle by default. Playing aesthetically pleasing soccer was one thing, keeping clean sheets and sticking the ball into the net met other challenging considerations.
Strong reaction to poor form was evident as several alterations to that starting eleven well beaten last Sunday produced a much revised line up.
TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Sanchez
. 2 Lamptey, 3 White, 5 Dunk, 4 Webster, 20 March
. . . . . . 17 Alzate, 8 Bissouma, 14 Lallana
. . . . . . . 18 Welbeck . . . . . . 11 Trossard
BENCH: 23 Steele, 33 Burn, 34 Veltman (78), 13 Gross (86), 16 Jahanbakhsh (78), 7 Connolly, 9 Maupay.
GOALS: none.
INCIDENTS: 49 - visitors score disallowed by VAR for Welbeck handball . 62 - Webster attempt hits the bar.
YELLOWS: none.
SUBS: 78 - Veltman & Jahanbakhsh for Lamptey & Trossard . 86 - Gross for Lallana.
SYNOPSIS: the first half began in lively fashion but gradually reduced to more of a meandering motion toward whistle for the break. Goalmouth action was few and far between, although the central third contained plenty of lateral or cross field movement.
The second period kicked off with a flurry of forays into hosts area but unfortunately no reward for exerting extra effort.
With the clock ticking down Potter put on two simultaneous subs and tried to maintain forward momentum.
The match petered out as both outfits slogged away while trying to find the crucial first goal.
NUMBERS: poss 46%-54%, on target 4-4, off target 5-5, corners 1-8, fouls 15-11, yellows 1-0, subs 3-3.
CONSEQUENCES: status quo resumed with a predictable feel about this performance that kept a clean sheet but also registered a fail to score stat.
FS
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