Fulham Boss Jean Tigana still has a striking problem to contend with as
he prepares his side for their tough test at Wycombe and it has not been helped
by the late collapse of the Carew transfer. The Cottagers lack of firepower up
front was in evidence at Pride Park on Wednesday when they needed an own goal
from home defender Horacio Carbonari to edge past lacklustre Derby.
Record signing Steve Marlet made his first start for two months after recovering
from a knee injury - but despite getting into a handful of scoring positions the
Frenchman looked well short of match fitness. Louis Saha is still struggling to
recreate the form which swept him to the top of last season's Division One scoring
charts and he failed to add to his miserable tally of one goal in four months
when he fluffed a simple chance at the death. Luis Boa Morte, who missed the Derby
game with a strained hamstring, should be fit to play against Wycombe and could
replace Marlet. But Tigana may opt to stick with the restructured line-up in which
young central defender Zat Knight proved outstanding at Pride Park.
Fulham (from):
Edwin van der Sar(G),
Steve Finnan(D), Andy Melville(D), Alain Goma(D), Rufus Brevett(D),
Sean Davis(M), Zak Knight(D), John Collins(M), Steed Malbranque(A/M),
Bazza Hayles(A), Steve Marlet(A).
Maik Taylor(G), Abdeslam Ouaddou(D), Luis Boa Morte(A/M), Sylvain Legwinski(M),
Louis Saha(A).
Wanderers will be happy with the postponement from a team selection
point of view as it aids the recovery of top scorer Andy Rammel who suffered an
ankle injury in the match against QPR and central defender Paul McCarthy who missed
the trip to Rangers with a muscle pull.
Wycombe Wanderers' Steve Brown is also looking forward to another chance of an
F. A. Cup run.
The Wycombe midfielder was at the forefront of the Second Division club's remarkable
surge to the semi-finals last season, where they lost to eventual winners Liverpool.
"The lads are confident. Last year has stood the younger members in good stead
and we'll be up for this game as we were last season. "All the pressure is on
Fulham and I'm certain we will give a good account of ourselves."
Wycombe Wanderers (from):
M.Taylor(G), Mark Osborn(G),
C.Vinnicombe(D), P.McCarthy(CD), M.Rogers(CD),J.Cousins(D),
D.Bulman(M), M.Simpson(M), S.Brown(M), D.Currie(M), D.Carroll
(M), S.Roberts(M), K.Ryan(A/M), M.Lee(M)
J.McSporran(A), D.Senda(A), P.Emblen(A), A. Rammell(A) .
The condition of the pitch has improved in terms of frost but still will not present
an easy playing surface for the Rolls-Royce passing game of Fulham.
Source