Andy Munro enjoys Blues’ latest win at Fulham.
They say lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place and while that might or might not apply to Clayton D’s penalty record, it certainly applies to the Blues team who yet again triumphed in front of the army of Bluenoses who made their annual pilgrimage to Sarf West London.
Gary Rowett sensibly stuck with the winning formula with the continued inclusion of Davies and only one winger balancing (whisper it) two up front. In fact, while Fulham had a chance or two they generally showed that against the current Blues team, possession is only about one tenth of the game. The Fulham stat of over 60% possession effectively meant nothing with Blues having three times the number of shots.
On the subject of attempts, Donaldson could have had three penalties but had to suffice with two which was a good job given his patchy record. Yet Blues always looked the team most likely to and would probably have won even if the opposition hadn’t been prematurely reduced to ten men.
Certainly Rowett seems to have hit on a formula and team that is well balanced with Kleftenbeld and Tesche heralding an undreamt level of Dutch and German co-operation with Kleftenbeld’s courage being anything but Dutch and with Tesche’s creativity an excellent foil. One wonders if Fabrini’s days are numbered but if gets a chance of a recall, he will need to grasp it with both hands and feet.
A word on Maghoma, who is not everybody’s favourite winger but continues to improve match by match while Donaldson is playing like a man who is ten years younger now he’s got an official sidekick in Che Adams.
It’s certainly good times at the moment, especially with our paltry resources, but nobody is getting carried away given last season’s pattern of flourish then a downturn.
