Can Fulham Accomplish the Impossible this Season?
How Ream, Robinson, and Fulham are sitting 7th in the Premier League
Americans Tim Ream and Jedi Robinson are propelling Fulham up the Premier League table, to the point where they could conceivably chase European football. Anyone watching from afar may be surprised by the results, but not by the US connection. Fulhamerica lives on in Ream and Robinson, but before them came a long line of gritty trailblazers at Craven Cottage.
Before Ream and Robinson, Luca de la Torre got his start in the academy and made a first team appearance, before Luca came Emerson Hyndman, and before that came Eddie Johnson, Kasey Keller, Clint Dempsey, Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, Eddie Lewis, and Marcus Hahnemann.
Out of all the goals scored in the Premier League by Americans, exactly half of them have been scored by Americans at one club… Fulham.
But many of those players are ancient history by now, and few outside of Dempsey and McBride brought long-term success. There is something special playing out at Craven Cottage this season, and the American hearts are at the very center of it.
It's been a strong start to the season for Fulham, who sit seventh in the Premier League table as the calendar year comes to a close. With seven wins and just one loss to a team outside the current top six, the team is well positioned for a run at the top four - they're only seven points away. Even more impressively, their top scorer has reached double digits despite missing two penalties and their captain and most trusted defender is a 35 year old American Tim Ream. It's been a fast-paced, exciting year for Fulham, and fans will be hoping for more of the same in the second half of the season.
Fulham's year has been one for the books. It's been a thrilling, action-packed ride, and fans are left wanting more as the calendar flips to a new year. But with such a strong start to the season, it's natural to wonder if the team should start aiming higher than just mid-table security. Can they make a run at even more? It's a tantalizing prospect and one that has supporters on the edge of their seats.
A year ago, the idea of Fulham setting their sights on anything more than survival would have been unimaginable. But under the leadership of Marco Silva, the team has exceeded expectations. While Silva is careful not to get ahead of himself, it's clear that the team has the potential to aim for more. However, the focus remains on the ultimate goal: survival. The team still has work to do to reach that target, and Silva won't let them lose sight of it.
After a hard-fought 2-1 win over Southampton, Silva emphasized the importance of staying grounded. "We have to be realistic. I'm very realistic in situations like these," he said. "We can't lose sight of our ambition as a club, and my ambition as a manager to play a certain way. But we also have to recognize the reality of the competition we're in and the caliber of teams we're up against. Even a team like Southampton, who are at the bottom of the table, gave us a tough match."
"We can't afford to deviate from our goals this season," Silva said. "We need to stay focused and prepare for each game as best we can. One bad result can quickly turn into another if we're not careful. It's important that everyone stays realistic and continues to work hard."
Despite Silva's caution, it's clear that Fulham are no longer just fighting for survival. The team's ambition on the field has propelled them up the table, and they're now finding ways to win rather than ways to lose. Their victory over Southampton on New Year's Eve, in which they had to rely on some clever set pieces to secure the win, is just one example of this. The question now is just how far this ambition can take them.
Even with an off day on the pitch, Fulham found a way to come out on top. They have a contingency plan in the form of a reliable corner routine, and even when they fall behind, they know how to fight back. This determination has paid off against top teams like Arsenal, Manchester City, and Manchester United, all of whom needed late winners to defeat Fulham. It's this kind of mental toughness that will serve the team well in the second half of the season.
When you look at Fulham's performance in the Premier League so far, it's hard not to think that they're capable of achieving more than just avoiding relegation. In a table of the "other" 14 teams - excluding the current top six and their results against those teams - Fulham top the list. They've scored the most goals and suffered the fewest losses. Even their sole defeat, against West Ham United, was marred by questionable refereeing decisions. It's hard to ignore the potential that this team has shown, and it'll be interesting to see how far they can go in the second half of the season.
Fulham's form this season has been impressive, and it's already on par with some of the team's best Premier League campaigns. In fact, they've only finished in the top half of the table at the New Year three times before, and have only won seven games at this point twice. The only time they've been higher in the table at this stage was in 2003 under Chris Coleman. It's been a strong start for Fulham, and there's potential for even more success in the second half of the season.
In 2003, Fulham were flying high in fifth place, but eventually finished ninth due in part to the January departure of Louis Saha to Manchester United. These days, the team is more reliant on the scoring prowess of Aleksandar Mitrovic, who has scored 41 goals in 47 appearances for club and country in an impressive 2022. While fitness is a concern, as long as key players like Mitrovic and Saturday's match-winner Joao Palhinha can stay healthy, Fulham have a strong chance at success. Their win over Southampton puts them at 1.47 points per game, matching the team's best points per game rate at the New Year in the Premier League. It's a promising outlook for Fulham as they head into the second half of the season.
Obviously Mitrovic is going to be the star of most of these conversations, but I want to take a moment to focus our eyes on two Americans on the left side of the defense. Captain Tim Ream and left back Antonee “Jedi” Robinson have helped immensely for Fulham to lock down their net.
Former Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno also deserves massive credit here for his shot stopping ability. And even if you’re an American in it for the players representing the stars and stripes, we have to call out 27 year old midfielder João Palhinha who is leading the club in almost every single tackling stat there is.
Ream and Robinson are a dynamic duo on defense and are shutting down some of the best front lines in the world. Ream in particular is an astonishing story this season, leading the club in blocks and interceptions, and leads the defensive line in every passing category.
Ream is supposed to be approaching the end of his time as a player, but he's playing some of the best football of his career under Silva as a confident, tempo-controlling central defender. His poise on the pitch has even caught the attention of Guardiola, who said that if he were 10 years younger, he would sign Ream.
Manager Marco Silva has created a stout 4-2-3-1 where they are happy to give up possession and drop their lines deep, but are ready to spring forward with Antonee Robinson up the left connecting with the Brazilian winger Willian. Mitrovic is an old school poaching forward who is excellent at what he does. Balls that are whipped in at head height are essentially free shots for the Serbian. While you may expect them to be a more defensive team trying to avoid relegation this year, they’ve somehow managed to outscore 12 other clubs including Manchester United.
While it's up to Fulham supporters to decide whether to reset their ambitions for the season, it's undeniable that the team is performing well beyond expectations. For owners Shahid and Tony Khan, the goal has been to establish Premier League stability, and it seems that this team and manager Marco Silva may finally be able to break the club's "yo-yo" cycle of alternating between promotion and relegation. If they can maintain their form, 2023 could mark the end of a streak of five consecutive seasons of movement between divisions.
Silva maintains that the team's target for the season hasn't changed from avoiding relegation, but it's clear that Fulham's horizons are expanding thanks to their winning ways. The head coach and fans alike will still be mindful of the bottom three and the gap to safety, but it's hard not to dream of European qualification when the team is currently occupying a spot in the top seven. It's a natural response after such a successful year in 2022.
This article is my interpretation on a great story from The Athletic’s Peter Rutzler. Read the original here: https://theathletic.com/4047957/2023/01/02/fulham-ambitions-southampton/
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