Fulham Shake Off Blackpool Frustration With Four-Goal Demolition at St Andrew's

After the frustration of Bloomfield Road on Saturday, Fulham had only four days to pick themselves up before a Tuesday night trip to St Andrew's. The Championship schedule is relentless like that, and it can either compound problems or provide the perfect opportunity to put things right quickly. Marco Silva's side chose the latter. Birmingham City were struggling under Lee Bowyer and Fulham tore into them from the start, winning 4-1 with an attacking display that made the Blackpool defeat feel like nothing more than an off day. The performance was clinical and the variety of the goals suggested a squad with serious depth and the kind of mentality needed to sustain a promotion push over forty-six games.

Aleksandar Mitrovic had been shackled at Blackpool, starved of service by two centre-backs who refused to give him a yard. At St Andrew's he looked like a completely different player. Two goals, both headers, both showing the kind of movement and anticipation that Birmingham simply could not deal with. The first came from a deep cross whipped in from the right flank, with Mitrovic ghosting to the near post ahead of his marker and glancing the ball inside the far corner. The second was all power from a set piece delivery, met by a run from the edge of the six-yard box with his forehead connecting cleanly and the goalkeeper left with no chance. His tally now stood at six goals in seven games. Whatever issues Blackpool had posed for him lasted precisely ninety minutes.

At the top of the Championship, Fulham and WBA had pulled clear as the early front-runners with identical records, separated only by goal difference, while Bournemouth tracked them two points behind. The table after seven rounds was beginning to show a division splitting into tiers.

Fulham's goal difference advantage, boosted by the four scored at St Andrew's, provided a slender cushion at the summit. But WBA were matching them stride for stride and it was clear that a two-horse race was developing at the top with Bournemouth not far behind.

What stood out at St Andrew's was the aggression from the first whistle. You could feel the intent in every challenge and every forward pass. Silva had clearly used the days between Blackpool and Birmingham to recalibrate his side's approach and the pressing was noticeably more intense than it had been at Bloomfield Road. Fulham's PPDA in the opening thirty minutes dropped below eight, among the most intense pressing spells any Championship side had produced all season. Lee Bowyer's Birmingham could not cope with the speed of the closures. Turnovers in dangerous areas led directly to two of the four goals. Where Blackpool had been allowed to sit deep and absorb, Birmingham were hurried into errors before they could establish any shape at all.

Bobby Reid's goal was the kind of contribution that often gets overlooked when the headline scorer bags a brace. Operating from a deeper position than he had in recent weeks, Reid arrived late into the penalty area to finish calmly after a flowing move that involved six passes from Fulham's own half. It was an intelligent run, timed to perfection, and it showed the squad depth that Silva had built. Kebano added the fourth and it was deserved given the body of work he had been quietly putting together on the left flank. His goal against Birmingham was a curling effort from the edge of the box after cutting inside onto his right foot, his third of the season already. With Cavaleiro also pushing for the left-wing spot it was Kebano who continued to stake his claim with consistent performances and end product.

Antonee Robinson had a fantastic game down the left. His overlapping runs stretched Birmingham's defensive shape horizontally and created the kind of overloads that had been completely absent at Blackpool. Robinson completed five progressive carries into the final third, delivered three crosses that found a teammate, and won his individual battle against Birmingham's right-sided midfielder so convincingly that Bowyer was forced into an early substitution. On the opposite flank, Tete offered similar width. Having both full-backs operating so high up the pitch transformed the attacking dynamic entirely, pulling defenders wide and opening channels through the middle for Mitrovic and Reid to exploit. It was a clear tactical adjustment from the Blackpool game where the width had been far too narrow.

Troy Deeney's consolation goal deserved a mention. A former Premier League striker now grinding through the Championship, Deeney finished with the predatory instinct that had defined his career. A low cross from the right was met with a sharp first-time finish inside the near post. Fulham's defensive structure had momentarily switched off, which was becoming a recurring theme in otherwise dominant victories. Four goals scored but one conceded and the clean sheet issue remained. In four of their five wins this season, Fulham had conceded at least once. Whether that was a genuine concern or simply the price of attacking with such freedom was a question that lingered, though at this stage it felt like a minor quibble given the goals flowing at the other end.

The numbers from St Andrew's backed up what the eye test was showing. Fulham recorded a PPDA of 8.3 across the full ninety minutes, their best of the season to that point. High turnovers, defined as ball recoveries in the attacking third leading to a shot within ten seconds, numbered five. For context, the Championship average sat around two per match. Silva's pressing system was not just intense but organised, with clear triggers built around the position of Birmingham's deepest midfielder. When the ball was played into that zone, Fulham's press activated and the resulting turnovers produced chance after chance. Fifteen shots and eight on target with an expected goals figure north of two painted a picture of total dominance across the ninety minutes.

Wilson was involved in everything good that Fulham produced. Where he had drifted through the game at Bloomfield Road like a passenger, here he was the creative heartbeat of the side once again. He drifted from the right wing into central pockets, collected the ball on the half-turn, and threaded passes into areas that Birmingham's centre-backs could not cover. Two key passes, three successful dribbles, and a constant willingness to receive the ball under pressure made him almost impossible to contain. The difference between Wilson at Blackpool and Wilson at Birmingham came down to the space afforded to him. When opponents press high they leave gaps behind them and Wilson thrives on finding and exploiting exactly those gaps. It was a sharp contrast to the narrow confines of Bloomfield Road where he had been squeezed out of the contest entirely.

Perspective matters in the Championship. How a squad reacts to its first defeat tells you more about its character than a dozen comfortable wins and Fulham's response at St Andrew's was about as convincing as you could ask for. The intensity was back, the goals came from different sources, and the tactical improvements in pressing and width showed that Silva had identified the problems from Blackpool and addressed them within days. Norwich's title winners of 2020-21 followed their first defeat with back-to-back victories. Watford's promotion side responded to their worst performance of that campaign with a four-goal thrashing. Fulham had joined that pattern and the manner of the response suggested this was not a side that would let setbacks derail them.

Seven games in and the storylines from this Fulham season were becoming clearer by the week. Mitrovic on six goals and showing no signs of slowing down. Three different scorers beyond him contributing in a single match showing the depth of attacking threat Silva had assembled. Sixteen points from seven games with the best goal difference in the division. The away end at St Andrew's had that feeling back after the wobble at Blackpool, a growing certainty that this squad had the quality and the character to see this promotion push through. But the Championship has a way of testing teams in different ways and the questions that Blackpool raised about Plan B and defensive concentration had not gone away entirely just because Fulham put four past a struggling Birmingham side. The fixtures would keep coming thick and fast. What mattered was that Silva's squad had shown they could respond to adversity, and respond quickly. The early signs continued to be very encouraging indeed.