Do Fulham suffer from an international break curse?

After a day to forget against Wolves, it’s becoming apparent that the Whites seem to be consistently unable to put on a good display following the international break. So, while it’s welcome news that there is no international break for four months now, just how bad are we after the international break?

The numbers

Fulham have played 10 games following international breaks since we got promoted back to the Premier League under Marco Silva. In this time, we have only won three of those games and drawn two, scoring 15 goals and conceding 21 in the process. Six of these games have taken place at home, thus detracting from the good home record we seem to have in the Premier League under Silva.

The points

In this time, we have taken points in a 1-1 draw at home against West Ham, pegged back by a late Danny Ings equaliser, drawn 3-3 against Sheffield United away with a spectacular Rodrigo Muniz bicycle kick rescuing a point, won 3-2 against Wolves at home in a controversial match that saw two penalties dispatched by Willian get us over the line, bagged a 1-0 win at home against Luton courtesy of Carlos Vinicius and a 3-0 win away at Selhurst Park in a memorable victory against the nine men of Crystal Palace following the Qatar World Cup.

The assessment

Even with the post international break curse hanging over us, the Whites have managed to grind out points in five of those 10 games following the international break. However, it’s important to note the manner in which we gained those points. We have managed to gain many towering wins in the Premier League under Marco Silva, but the only convincing victory in this run of games was the win away against Crystal Palace, which was significantly aided by the hosts having two men sent off.

When we played Sheffield United away, it’s also important to remember that we travelled to Nottingham Forest in a match at the City Ground under the lights in the next fixture and conceded three in the first half there as well, thus further adding to concern about our slow starts following international breaks.

The conclusion

This record is a minor negative due to the number of international breaks throughout the Premier League season, however it’s important to think about solutions in order to stop them from disrupting our rhythm.

The Silva system is a high pressing, high intensity system and therefore rotation where possible and where necessary may be adequate in order to change our post international break fortunes. With players like Rodrigo Muniz and Adama Traore waiting in the wings to play on centre stage, these games could be a real opportunity for them to prove themselves with how much players like Raul Jimenez have to travel throughout the break.