Raul Jimenez penalty earns Cottagers fortunate victory over toothless Forest

0:07You're listening to the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. Welcome along. The last Premier League game before Christmas came from Craven Cottage as Fulham played Nottingham Forest on Monday Night Football. Here is how things sounded at full time.

0:31So Fulham take it in the ends and they only needed the one. Marco Silva gets that big win just before Christmas Raul Jimenez, his perfect penalty record continues and it was his penalty that won it in the end Douglas Luiz with a challenge on Kevin that led to the spot king in the first half and Nottingham Forest, their poor record against Fulham continues Fulham did the double over Forest last season and they've got one over them this season. For Sean Dyche, a frustrating game in the end because there wasn't much between the two sides ultimately. But it's Fulham who edge it as they aim to continue looking up the table rather than over their shoulder.

1:22Final score at Craven Cottage. Fulham won, Nottingham Forest in. Sean Dyche wasting no time to head back to the dressing rooms. not happy with what he's seen perhaps across the 90 minutes there there wasn't in truth much between the sides was there Jamie but that is a hugely valuable three points for Fulham yeah we mentioned that before the game it wouldn't be the end of the world for either team if they lost but whoever gets three points here could put a little bit of distance between themselves and the bottom train it will feel huge I think the guys mentioned it in Covency to get two wins on the bounce in the Premier League is big say like a team's there at the bottom that's what Fulham have done so but it It is also taking points off your rivals, that's key as well isn't it?

2:06Yeah of course that's important. And yes, the rivals, but I expect certainly Nottingham Forest to move up this table as the league continues and moves on in these next few months. So they've actually beaten a really good side, they're in great form as well, so it's a great scout as well for Fulham. Because I think to be fair, I think Nottingham Forest are in probably more of a false position than many of the teams down there at the bottom of the table. But that is a very welcome three points for Fulham. Very well received by the Cottagers. Coming just in time for Christmas. And they have two away games now against London rivals as well across this Christmas period.

2:42Look at them climb up to 13th and 10 points clear of West Ham United now. That must feel really significant to them now. And only four points off Sunderland in sixth. So it all could change very quickly. across this busy Christmas period. For Forrest, five points clear of the bottom three, 17 games into the season. But as Jamie was saying, Forrest feel like they're moving in the right direction under Sean Dyche.

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4:00Welcome back to the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. Let's get back to the studio for more reaction to today's game.

4:11Kevin. Sonner gets it back and then goes down. It will be a penalty. So Raul Jimenez, often perfect from the spots. And it's again for Fulham.

4:31Man of the moment, Raul Jimenez for Fulham tonight with the only goal of the game against Nottingham Forest. Making it a happy Christmas for the Cottagers who edged the game by that single goal. Nine yellow cards we had, that is the second most in any game this season. and they were dominant on the XG actually. Forrest had 12 shots, but what might be a frustration for Forrest fans is their last shot came in the 62nd minute. Didn't manage one really for the final half an hour of the game, pushing for an equaliser.

5:07Perfect from the penalty spot. 11 out of 11 as a Premier League player to equal the record, making Marco Silva a very happy manager. We can get Ralph Jiménez's reflections now. Here's with Nathalie Gedra. Raul, well done. It was a tough first half in terms of creating chances, but you guys managed the game well in the second half. What do you think worked so well for the three points? Well, I think we knew it was going to be a tough game, but we made good things in the pitch. Both halves, I think, were really, really tough. We know there's a team that's fighting there in the bottom zone, but we are also there with these three points.

5:53We get a little bit more of our breath, so we are happy of having these three points. Your penalty. Was it all about patience? Patience to wait for, to take the shot, but also to wait for John to move as well. Yeah, it's always what I do. I think I do it well. So it's something that I have been training my whole career. So I like to have this pressure in these penalties and I'm happy to score. Do you know your record in the Premier League with penalties? Yeah, I've never missed. I think 12 out of 12, I think. 11 out of 11. Still good. Yeah, I'm really happy about that. So I want to keep doing like this.

6:34If it's more penalties to come, I'll be there. Apart from the experience, of course, what do you do when you work in these penalties? What extra work do you do in the training pitch and studying goalkeepers as well? Yeah, during the week, at least once a week, I'm training with the goalkeepers there in the training ground. It's more difficult because they know me. But I'm always doing it right, how I need to do it. So I'm really happy for it. Before the game, I was talking to Marco Silva about managing your minutes. So how does a 34-year-old striker manage himself so well to play so many minutes like you have been?

7:21Well, it's all in me. I think I need to play as much as I need to play. I need to be, during the week, resting well, sleeping well, eating well. so everything goes by the hand. So I need to do every week the same to keep going and playing like this. It's a tough period of a lot of matches. Now in the next couple of weeks we have, I think, five games in two weeks. So it's going to be tough, but we're going to be there ready for it. Were you a little bit more worried when Rodrigo Muniz got the injury because, of course, you were going to get more minutes in such a busy period? Well, it's something that can happen.

8:11I'm sad for him because it was a bad injury, but I know that he's going to be ready for the next, I don't know, maybe in February, by the end of January. And it's a good competition that we have there in the striker position. So I'm always, he's a good friend of mine, so we are happy to be together in the team. Well, then get the rest you can. Well done. Thank you very much. thank you yeah his penalty made the difference Raul Jimenez as it has done so many times for Fulham but only for the second time this year the first time since their last penalty award January the 5th it's been a long time coming were they the better team overall Jamie?

8:53just I would say I think when you look at the stats there it's very even you look at the XG but you've got to obviously take into account Fulham had the penalty in there as well so there was not a lot in it as you mentioned before disappointed I'm sure if you're a Nottingham Forrest fan, the fact that they don't have a real effort at goal with half an hour to go. So I think Fulham, when we looked at it at half-time, it wasn't just a penalty. They probably just edged it, a bit of a threat down that left-hand side. But there wasn't a lot in it. Let's have a look at the goal. The penalty award, and as we've already seen, there's a little cheeky touch in the middle of the park here from Real Jimenez, Jamie.

9:25Yeah, I loved it. He's kept it going. He's put it right into the path of Emile Smith. It was quite bright as well in that first half, where as we said, at half-time, every bit of threat that came from Fulham was down this left-hand side. They never really made the most of it. It was actually they need Nottingham Forest player to give us a little ways to actually make a challenge and give the penalty away. There's that touch. Look at that. Little touch and he wouldn't have known right then that was going to lead to him scoring a goal and the winning goal. There you go. Keep on going, Kevin. Yeah.

9:57They might not leave him alone at Christmas. No, no. I thought it was harsh I must say the penalty decision we're just going to look at it now on this angle

10:14harsh because what there's not enough contact the force isn't there I just think he's on the floor he's trying to kick the ball away the as we know the attack just gets there first and when you're on the floor trying to kick a ball you're almost just trying to scoop it away now again it's one of those that I can't say the referee's got it wrong as such but it just feels a little bit soft and you haven't got the ball so how can he argue when the referee says that to him? By the same token it's not one I don't suppose that VAR feel like they would get involved in because he's so close to it he's got a view of it and there's contact Yeah I mean when you actually slow it down probably it looks a little bit worse as every challenge does in that situation and I keep going back to it because of maybe something that's happened this weekend involving Arsenal and Everton I think if you're David Moyes sat at home you're probably looking at and thinking, well, how did we not get a penalty?

11:04Yeah, it's about the consistency of those same sort of incidents, isn't it, I suppose? Yeah, that's what it's about. It's just the fact that we probably had two on the same weekend. Some people might say it's slightly different because one foot was planted on the floor and one foot was in the end. We're going to have a little look at it now.

11:21And the reason I'm talking about fours, I think when you're sat on the floor, as Luis was, and you're trying to almost scoop a ball away, it's difficult to get much force. But when you're a defender trying to clear a ball out your box, you're trying to kick it as far away from your goal as you possibly can

11:38and you'll see the contact there they feel that there's a lot more force there from Saliba as you'd expect he's a defender trying to clear his box and send the ball up the other end of the pitch I think that was different with Douglas Luiz tonight they both don't get the ball the attack and play just gets there before them they're not trying to kick someone they're trying to kick the ball away but the attacker just gets there before them and how that is different I don't know I mean, for me, the Saliba one is much more of a penalty than what we saw tonight. Let's have a look at the kick, Jamie.

12:05It strikes me that the value of having someone in your team that you can just trust in these moments must be absolutely huge. Yeah, it is. And I was looking at a couple in my team over the years, and one of them used to play for Fulham was Danny Murphy. He was brilliant penalty kicks. But, I mean, that's just probably just caught up on me. I've never really seen that stat before on him. I mean, it's a fantastic record, isn't it? He's got that stutter run-up and an absolutely vital goal. Huge for them. Yeah, there you go. So 11 out of 11. He thought he'd got 12, but not quite the record yet. Yaya still matching him in terms of this perfection record.

12:45Others have, of course, scored more penalties, but not with a 100 % success rate. I think with Kevin there, drinking away with Chuck Wasey to come back from AFCON, maybe not going to be too long before there's another one. Yeah, they'll hope. They don't have to wait as long as they have done for that one. Obviously, you mentioned it being a long time since Fulham got penalties as well. So are you saying their players like to go down? I'm absolutely not saying that. I'm saying they have the ability to entice little touches from opposition players. Yeah, yeah. But listen, I keep going back to the actual penalty kick.

13:20Anthony Taylor, brilliant referee in a great position as well. And yes, he gave the penalty. he didn't give the penalty right away. He had a real think about it. You could see he was thinking, you know, is there enough contact here? You know, he's thinking about, you know, the excessive force or the actual force of the challenge as well. So I think it was a tough one for the referee on the incident as well. Let's get the view of the Fulham boss. Marco Silva is with Natalie Jedra. Marco, it was a first half that was very tight, but are you happy with the win and the game management, especially in the second half?

13:52Yes, firstly, we are very happy and pleased for the players for the three points. They were massive for us. We spoke before the match how it's going to be important for us to get the three points and to win again a Tom, to have back-to-back Premier League wins again after the last three points against Burnley. The three points will make more sense if you are able to win a Tom, and we did it. Tight game, difficult game. I think that first half was better than the second from ourselves. of course, as you said, you manage well the second half off the ball, on the ball. It was not at our level, what we are capable to do.

14:31First half, we had some good moments, the way we started the game, reaction from Nottingham. But I think we had some good moments, the way we explored our left-hand side, with the dire position from Robison, overloading with Emil and with Kevin there. Some good moments, one or two moments with Kevin, and that he better touch, he can go 1v1 with the goalkeeper. Of course, we scored in an important moment of the game before the half-time. And as you said, in the second half we did manage well. I don't remember one chance from Nottingham. That is the truth. You have the conditions and you know how to play better on the ball, to manage better the ball.

15:06Of course, when Tom Carney came in, he made an impact. The change was clear for us to have more ball. We are not capable to keep the ball, to give five, six passes between ourselves. And Tom Carney, I know what he's capable to do. He gave the piece that we wanted on the ball. and of course the game after that was more under control and we managed very well. We didn't give zero chances for them that I remember really clear chances, not for us to second half. The reality that we won the game is an important game for us. Raul Jiménez is your goal scorer. What does he do on a daily basis to remain such a reliable option for you?

15:40It's very important and he needs the goals. He had two great chances with the head, two great headers from him in the first half because the reality, first half, we had two great chances first half one with Sasha Lukic in the back in the edge of the box and after the header of Raul to start leading the score and great chance before he come out second half with the header as well he's a hard worker he's a guy that he's always puts everything on the pitch he's always his heart for the team he's going to fight for the shirt every single moment of course he needs confidence because he the goals will give him the confidence because he is really the striker to link our game, to be the right guy.

16:20But very pleased for him. In that moment, he was cool enough to decide in a great penalty. Thank you, Marco. Thank you. Thank you very much. So it looks a lot better for Fulham, doesn't it now? Up to 13th and just opening that gap to 10 points on West Ham and putting five between themselves and Nottingham Forest. Four clear of Leeds United, who I think a lot of the teams are worried about down there. But what's interesting, yes, it is a very busy Christmas period. But this next game for Fulham feels, Jamie, absolutely huge. But 13 points potentially between the two sides, them and West Ham. It's big for Fulham, but it's absolutely huge for West Ham.

16:59Almost feels like a cup final. If Fulham won that, you'd do the math. Well, they're 13 points clear. But that might mean Fulham home and homes, wouldn't it? 13 points at that stage. That is a huge gap. I know there's a long way to go. But, you know, the way Leeds are playing right now, Fulham, I think West Ham, Nuno's been in there now for a little bit of time. And I thought they'd sort of kick on a little bit the way Forest have. It hasn't quite happened. And that gap is getting too big for comfort. And I think there'll be a real worry at West Ham right now. And I know they'll look to do business in the January, but before they get to that January transfer window, they've got to cut that gap somehow.

17:40Yeah, of course, there are other teams that West Ham can target along the way as well. but yeah 13 points would be pretty huge for Fulham at that stage and given they've already got 23 and 33 would have been enough across the last 10 seasons to be fine which would tell you if that's the same again Jamie I don't know if you think it will be the same again 10 points more for Fulham and they can start worrying about next season maybe you will need a little bit more you think so yeah because I think on the back of the last couple of years the promoted teams have really struggled and it hasn't been the fact that they've actually gone down it's actually how many points they've got that was a real worry so what Leeds are doing especially Sunderland has been absolutely fantastic and that's been a real worry I think for other teams in the Premier League I think it's one of the reasons why we've seen a lot of teams near the bottom actually change the manager I don't think that happened a lot as well over the last couple of years because I think there was a real sort of understanding that the promoted teams probably weren't quite at their level and they were going to go down hence why teams didn't need to sack a manager and maybe giving them pay off they don't like to do but that's certainly been different this season Yeah, and interesting, as you said before about West Ham United, whether that does force them to play a particularly heavy hand in the transfer market.

18:47We hear there are moves afoot with Nicola's full crew potentially as early as today. What has Sean Dyche got to say about that back-to-back away defeat? We'll hear from him next.

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19:42Well, it wasn't exactly a nightmare before Christmas, but not an evening that Nottingham Forest would have enjoyed. They've now lost all four Premier League visits to Craven Cottage, 1-0 tonight. And here is Sean Dyche with Natalie Jedra. Sean, you look pretty frustrated on the touchline tonight. Why was it so hard to get things going? I don't think it's getting it going. It's just capitalising on, you know, the performance from ourselves, really, because we've got into good moments and never really threatened enough, never asked as much questions. as the kind of good passages of play, good possession areas.

20:16But you've got to penetrate, you've got to ask more questions. Not that they did, to be fair. I don't think Akibe's had a save to make part in the penalty, obviously. So just disappointed in that, which we've been doing really well. We've been looking at a threat. But tonight we didn't once it got into the final third. In the second half, it seems like you had more of the ball. But did you feel that you were rushing things sometimes, putting too much in those final passes? No, I think more or less it's just the quality that you need. You know, that killer instinct because we're going to some good areas, the final pass, the final cross, particularly the crossing.

20:46We didn't hit the right zones. We didn't get the right people in the box. And we've done that so well last week. But maybe we'll come off of it tonight. You know, sometimes it's one of them frustrating nights where there's no lack of effort. The team's shape was a little bit off at times, which I wasn't happy with at half-time. Good pressing at times. But then long balls are not dealing with that as quickly as we'd like to. But, yeah, I mean, there's not much in the game. I didn't think it was a particularly good game from either side. actually, but you've got to win them or you've got to get something from it.

21:14That's the frustration tonight because I didn't think we did enough to lose it, but we didn't get nothing from it. The penalty incident, how did you see it? It's a loose leg. Nowadays, it's a touch. People go down. That's the way it is. We should have dealt with it earlier. If we come 2v2 inside, he can't get through the gap anyway, but there are fine margins of football. Apart from the penalty, how did you see the midfield with Douglas Luiz and Elliot Anderson and their understanding, the fluidity? Yeah, we're asking a lot of Dougie because he's been injured for a while and we're almost fast-tracking him back in, so we weren't expecting him to last 90 minutes, but we know he's a good player, he's been on good form for us.

21:51Let's say there wasn't loads wrong, it's just the shape, the detail, the absolute basics of what we've done so well lately. We just came away from that. Before the game, we were talking about consistency, maintaining consistency. What is so challenging when you're trying to do that, when you set really high standards in the last match against Spurs? Well, one of the biggest things you've got to do is handle praise. You know, that's the biggest thing. So we got praised, rightly so, for a very, very big performance last weekend. This weekend, handling that, going again with that fire and that intent.

22:20I thought that was lacking the edge that we showed in abundance. It wasn't quite there tonight. That killer instinct, that killer edge and the moments, the big moments that come. And it's a reminder that, you know, if you're not on top of it, the margins are tight and things can go against you. You're five points clear, the relegation zone. It's a considerable gap. but is it even more frustrating tonight that you could have opened this gap even more and be in a much more comfortable position maybe? Yeah, of course, but that's every game. You want to win as many games as you can. But yeah, it was a good opportunity tonight.

22:49We can only have the right intent in our minds, but to go and deliver it is the key. When the whistle blows us, when you've got to go and do it, it would have been a good point for us even on a day like today where we weren't really firing properly. I think we should have got a point because we didn't do enough to lose the game, but on the other hand, you've got to go and step on and win it. So that's the frustration tonight. And finally, what do you do to work on this killer instinct that you mentioned? Go back to exactly what I started with at the beginning of this evening, and that's consistency.