Even if this is a “what if?” season, let’s enjoy it
Written by Dan Cooke on 2nd December 2024
The relief when that final whistle went on Sunday was wonderful. A properly dogged, resolute last 15 minutes, where we kept Spurs at arm’s length, sparked lovely scenes in the away end. It was one of those moments where you feel the stress evaporate and you can finally breathe.
However, it wasn’t long until that annoying voice popped into my brain saying, “We should’ve won that”. It was the same voice that piped up after Everton, Aston Villa, Manchester City, West Ham, and Manchester United. It’s a troublingly long list of games when you realise we’ve only just touched December.
I’m confident that this is the best team we’ve had under Marco Silva, which means it’s the best side we’ve had in well over a decade. I just have this unfortunate niggly feeling that we won’t do as well as we deserve. That this season will leave us all asking, “what if?”.
Some of the football that we played at the creatively-named Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was stunning. There were passages of play that just made me smile. The move that saw Iwobi hit the crossbar in the first half was near perfection; a sequence of passes that the best of the best would be proud to show highlights of. Yet what do we have to show for it? A point. It’s not fair, but it’s also very on brand.
This is my worry with this era of Fulham. We’re in danger of becoming the nearly men. We play superb football, we bloody some noses, but we just don’t have that knockout blow. Ultimately, it’s that characteristic that means we will probably underachieve this season.
But do you know what? I think I’m OK with that. With a couple of notable exceptions, I’m just really enjoying watching us play football. I’m looking forward to every game and there’s a really nice atmosphere in the fanbase; a sense of pride. We might not reach our desired destination, but I think the journey is going to be fun. So, let’s lean into it, let’s accept that this is the season of “what if?” and allow ourselves to fully enjoy Silva’s silky Whites.
