Rise of a Football God

The Fulham players already did the needful, doing the training part to the best of their ability after the grueling Sheffield United game, and now they were in another away stadium in England to grind out another result.

For this game, both teams started with their strongest lineups.

Fulham started with Bernd Leno in between the posts, the 4-man defense comprising of Robinson, Calvin Bassey, Adarabioyo, and Tete while the double pivot role was taken by Joao Palhinha and Lukic.

Like usual, Muniz started ahead of Raul Jimenez and behind the striker was the 3-man offense of Sam, Wilson, and Alex Iwobi.

As for Nothingham Forest, they started with a formidable team comprising popular names like the likes of Aina, Danilo, Anthony Elanga, Morgan Gibbs-White, and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

On paper, both teams were evenly matched but despite this, the odds were on Fulham to win based on recent form.

When the game started though, the reality was far different from what most people expected.

Starting in front of the Notthingham supporters, the game started slow at first, both teams playing slow and conservative football for the first few minutes until a goal came from nowhere, destroying the slow tempo of the game.

Just like Fulham, Nothingham Forest played with a 4-2-3-1 formation and it started from one of their double pivots, Danilo.

After some basic passing in midfield to keep and rotate possession, receiving the ball, Danilo teased, turning around with it before playing a grounded through pass out of the blue that cut the Fulham defense open.

Tete who started as the right back for Fulham today erupted, trying to get to the ball but his speed was child's play before the rapid Callum Hudson-Odoi.

The Nothingham Forest winger went off like a jet, accelerating past the right back, calmly taking the ball in his strides before charging towards goal.

Bernd Leno was forced to charge out of his goal to close the rampaging left winger down and when he did was when this winger curled the ball round him, calmly slotting into the bottom right corner.

In the 9th minute, Nothingham Forest broke the deadlock, going ahead as their tens of thousands of supporters in The City Ground erupted.

That goal increased the tempo of this game after the restart.

Forced awake by the goal, the Fulham players finally showed up to work, doing their normal thing as they pressed and passed Nothingham Forest to death.

For the next few minutes that followed, Fulham dominated and it was Sam again providing the goods as he kept on playing promising passes to his striker and wing forwards only for them to fluff their lines.

It was clear that the Fulham forward like was not gelling today.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

10 minutes after the first goal, in the 19th minute, against the run of play, Fulham's profligacy in front of goal was punished again by Nothingham Forest.

And this time, it was scored by the powerful striker, Wood.

After some incredible play from Anthony Elanga along the wing, the former Manchester United player, Wood came on the end of a delightful cross, heading home to double his team's lead in this game.

If the first goal was a shocker, then the second was a reality check.

The Fulham players played with even more urgency as they dominated proceedings, trying to score their first goal even as Nothingham Forest started wrestling back authority over this game.

As the game wore on, the Fulham dominance lessened and lessened till it became virtually non-existent.

The Fulham players were showing signs of tiredness.

And then, they paid the price again for their lethargic legs as in the 45th plus 3 minute, Morgan Gibbs-White, the Nothingham Forest attacking midfielder added salt to injury, scoring an incredibly volleyed shot to make it 3-0.

"GOALLLL…!" The City Ground exploded.

None of the tens of thousands of Nothingham Forest fans in this stadium saw this coming before kickoff. It felt like some fantasy dream, and they were thoroughly enjoying it as their club tore Fulham to shreds.

During half-time, Marco Silva went on a rant, berating his players for the lethargic performance as he asked for improvement in the second.

"Come on guys, we can't draw our last game and lose this one".

"Not after the standards we've already set".

He glared at them. "It's not over yet, I want you to win as you go back out there. We can still win this game".

When the game restarted again though, reality showed that Fulham could not. And not just that, Fulham suffered a tragedy.

Just 3 minutes into the first half, taking matters into his own hands after winning possession deep in his half, Sam went on a mazy run as all his sights were set on goal but acknowledging his threat, Danilo, the Nothingham Forest defensive midfielder took one for the team as he brought Sam down aggressively.

Immediately after hitting the ground in horrible fashion, Sam grabbed his right calf as he screamed in pain.

The referee had to stop the game, calling the medical staff in.

"…!" In that moment, Coach Marco Silva felt like his heart was in his throat.

After a little diagnosis on the pitch, Sam could not continue. Apparently, he suffered a muscular injury. It was not too serious but he could not continue.

Sam limped out of the field of play, leaving his team in shambles.

'Dammit!' He cursed in his mind.

With Sam gone, the Fulham team tried to revert to their old ways and play their game in his absence. It worked once, just 6 minutes later as after a well hit set-piece from the corner, Adarabioyo jumped highest, heading the ball into the net and reducing the score line to 3-1.

After that goal, the Fulham players became even more motivated to get the 2nd goal and then the 3rd but they quickly learned it was not going to be easy.

Nothingham Forest played like a team, defending valiantly throughout the course of the second half and in the end, they got a famous victory.

Fulham lost 3-1, the club's first loss in a while in all competitions.

Their unbeaten run crashed landed in painful fashion.