View From The Town End: Fulham

How would you sum up Fulham's season so far?

Fulham's season has been disappointing to say the least. What makes it worse is that in the majority of games all the predictive stats were in Fulham's favor. The problem was that Fulham were finishing shots on goal at about half the league average and giving them up at about twice the league average. That is unsustainable and patience was required. However, the fan base isn't ready to be patient; especially with an unpopular manager. To make matters worse, instead of just keeping the squad out there that had performed well (even if they were unlucky) he seemed to make random changes that blew up in his face against Derby County.

Ross McCormack grabbed the headlines following an eye watering £11m move, has he lived up to his price tag so far?

McCormack has been pretty good now that he's fit. However, Fulham struggled to find a suitable strike partner for him early on. McCormack is as much of a creator as he is a goal scorer and he often likes to come back to midfield for the ball or drift out to the wings. That requires another player up top who can get into the box, play with his back to goal, and do the dirty work. Cauley Woodrow is the closest thing Fulham had to that player, but he's very young and that's not really his forte either. To address this problem, Fulham just decided to buy McCormack's Leed's strike partner in Matt Smith.

Who should Reading fans be worried about on Saturday?

There actually is a lot of talent on the Fulham roster. The question is, will Felix Magath actually pick any of them to play? Emerson Hyndman is a wizard as a deep lying playmaker and he's just made his full USMNT debut, but Felix left him out of two matches for no reason. Chris David is a talented CAM. McCormack we've already discussed. Kostas Stafalydis can be a terror when he plays at LB (not so much at LW). Moussa Dembele (18) and Patrick Roberts (17) are two of the best young players in all of England. Then there's Bryan Ruiz. No one expected him to be here. He had a good World Cup and everyone thought he would be sold. No move went through though. It's unknown whether Magath will use him, but just based on skill he's one of the best players in the Championship.

Who are Fulham fans not looking forward to facing?

To be honest, I'm not super familiar with most of the faces on the team. I know Danny Williams due to his time with the US national side and Stephen Kelley was a loyal servant to the club, so it's a shame they'll both be missing tomorrow. I also have fond memories of Pavel Pogrebnyak's half season with Fulham and it's always tough to see players that you think of fondly lining up against you.

What are your fondest memories of Reading v Fulham fixtures and any not so fond ones?

Both of the most memorable Fulham v. Reading fixtures were both in the 2012/2013 season. The crazy game in October of that year where Fulham came back from 1-0 to lead 2-1, Reading tied it at 2-2, Berbatov put Fulham up in the 88th minute, and Reading still somehow managed to score in extra time. I also remember the game from April of that year. Bryan Ruiz was able to tie the game twice before to late goals sunk Fulham. That game is particularly notable because it was in a bad run of games that Fulham has never really recovered from.

Finally, what's your score prediction for Saturday?

I think Fulham's luck finally turns and some of these shots go in. I think Fulham scores three goals and probably concedes late, for a 3-1 victory.

Thanks again to Andrew and you can follow the guys from CC on Twitter @cottagersc