Let’s talk about last night. Plenty of people like to lambast the League Cup but it still delivers great moments. There’s nothing better than an end-to-end encounter under the lights at Craven Cottage and, whereas a half-paced game between two second string sides might not have appealed when the draw gave us the visit of Tottenham Hotspur in between league visits to Arsenal and Manchester City, what we got was a classic. Marco Silva admitted afterwards he was infuriated that his side hadn’t won in ninety minutes and every Fulham fan would have been filled with a sense of foreboding as we waited for the penalty shoot-out but that was when this side that keeps on surprising us proved their mettle once again.
Fulham have famously been far from reliable from twelve yards. Given our lack of success from twelve years, it would almost have been worth adopting the old Corinthian Casuals approach and declining to take a penalty. Our former Serbian striker, as good as he was at everything else, could not be called reliable from the spot. Then there were the travails of Slavisa Jokanovic’s side who missed thirteen penalties after the departure of Ross McCormack as if we were being punished for recouping the money we paid Leeds from Aston Villa.
Whereas Ange Postecoglou gave a sermon about winning in advance of this game, Silva stayed true to his perfectionist approach. The Portuguese head coach, who paid the penalty for his third caution in succession at the Emirates by being banished to the stand, oversaw a series of practice sessions at Motspur Park. The result was sensational. I’m not sure anyone has ever seen five consecutive Fulham penalties as flawless. Harry Wilson’s rocket was stuck with real fury as if he was angry at not seeing off Spurs in the 97 minutes that had preceded the shoot-out.
Five star pens! ?
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) August 30, 2023
Which was your favourite? pic.twitter.com/HlJe6rh1YH
The icing on the cake was Marek Rodak, the man who helped the Whites to a pair of promotions from the Championship but has barely had the opportunity to prove himself in the top flight, making the decisive save from Davinson Sanchez, who might still have been bewildered by being put in a spin by Tom Cairney midway through the first half.
It wasn’t just the penalties, either. Fulham were fantastic throughout – and could have won by quite a margin. SW6 was clearly a no-go area for Angeball. Spurs’ seemed shambolic, barely causing Rodak to break sweat in the first half, and only scoring when Kenny Tete was forced to sprint to the dressing room to locate a new right boot. Have you ever seen anything quite like that?
? Kenny leaves the pitch to get a new boot
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) August 30, 2023
? Spurs equalise while he's gone to take the game to pens
? Kenny then scores the winning penalty with his new boot
Have we reached peak Fulhamish? ? pic.twitter.com/bejmZdyXys
How fitting it was that our flying Dutchman tucked away the winning penalty with his new right boot in front of the Hammersmith End? We’ve hinted at before but Marco Silva’s Fulham are built different. He’s a genius.
