Growing expectations should be welcomed (ESPN article)

by Dave Usher for ESPN

You can't blame them for trying, I suppose. I doubt that anyone who witnessed Liverpool's 5-1 destruction of league leaders Arsenal on Saturday would fancy playing against them anytime soon, but unfortunately for Fulham the cancellation of the London Tube strike means they'll just have to roll up their sleeves and get on with it Wednesday night.

I'd imagine that the prospect of having the night off to rest their weary legs after that energy-sapping rearguard action at Old Trafford on Sunday would have greatly appealed to Fulham's players, but now they'll have to saddle up once again and go toe to toe with a Liverpool forward line that will present a vastly different type of challenge to that which the Cottagers faced against Manchester United on Sunday. Liverpool won't be breaking the Premier League record for the amount of crosses aimlessly thrown into the penalty area, that's for sure.

The dilemma facing Fulham boss Rene Muelensteen is whether to adopt the same tactics on home turf that worked effectively -- to a point -- at Old Trafford. While Muelensteen was keen to pat himself on the back and boast of how he knew what to expect from United, let's not forget that they did actually concede two goals and needed a stoppage time equaliser from substitute Darren Bent to avoid defeat. For all the praising of Fulham and criticism of United's one-dimensional approach play, it's not like they went there and kept a clean sheet.

The question is, will Fulham be more adventurous against Liverpool? They are the home side so you would certainly expect them to be more positive than they were at Old Trafford, but given how devastating Liverpool have looked on the counterattack in games against Everton and Arsenal recently, I wouldn't expect Meulensteen to be throwing caution to the wind, irrespective of how desperately his side need the points.

Fulham have traditionally been a team that plays attractive football and can be a real handful at home. Somewhere down the line they lost their way, however, and this season in particular they have looked a real pushover at times. They have certainly not been equal to the sum of their parts, that's for sure, as individually there has been a lot of talent at Craven Cottage over the last couple of years. It simply wasn't working though, and Meulensteen has shipped out the "fancy dans" in favour of a more dogged approach.

The Premier League is unquestionably a poorer place without the mercurial talent of Dimitar Berbatov, but in their current predicament Fulham are probably better off without the Bulgarian. Glamour has made way for graft at the Cottage as they try to claw their way to Premier League safety. Bryan Ruiz has also gone, as has Adel Taarabt ,who somehow ended up at AC Milan. He must have the best agent on the planet.

Read the full article here.