Analysis - Simon Davies on Craven Cottage clash

Simon Davies starred for us in the early 2000s before ending his career with a six-year stint at Fulham between 2007-13. He’s kept a close eye on both teams’ fortunes since then and was at Wembley for our game against United last weekend for media work - where he teamed-up again with Teddy Sheringham.

Now back to where it all started at Peterborough United alongside Matthew Etherington as coaches of Posh's Under-18s, who better than the former Welsh international to preview Sunday’s Premier League clash at Craven Cottage?

Playing for Spurs

Simon: “In my first two or three years at Spurs I was absolutely flying. I just picked up injuries at the wrong times and that halted my progress. I still loved every minute. I always look back and some of those nights playing at White Hart Lane were unbelievable. It’s funny, when you leave... you have a lot of emotional times at a club and until you go back like I did for the Lane Finale (May, 2017)... I’m not saying you forget about those times, but it all comes flooding back. I loved my time at Spurs, I really did.”

Playing for Fulham

Simon: “I’d come off the back of my last season at Spurs (2004/05) struggling with injury, went to Everton, never really settled and I came back to London and Fulham (2007) and felt at home straight away. We had a group of players who had all done well earlier in their careers, had a bit of a stumble and then all came together – players like Bobby Zamora, Andy Johnson and Damien Duff. Roy Hodgson then came in and was the perfect manager for us, got us organised and we had an unbelievable couple of years. We finished seventh, eighth and reached the Europa League Final, incredible days. We beat Juventus on our way to the final having been 3-1 down from the first leg and then 4-1 down when they scored early at Craven Cottage. They then had a player sent off, we scored, the fans really got into it, momentum shifted and it was one of those crazy games, bang, bang, bang and we won 5-4!”

On Spurs...

Simon: “I was listening to the radio after the United game and people were saying ‘Spurs looked leggy’ and I was thinking ‘what are you on about?’ Spurs were always going to have the majority of the possession and United would try to hit them on the counter. You could see United had worked on it because every time they won the ball Rashford and Martial tried to spin in behind. There was nothing Spurs could have done differently. The amount of chances created, de Gea... you can’t legislate for that, as a coach all you want to do is get your team into positions to score and de Gea made 11 saves. On another day, Spurs could have won three or 4-1. The manager said it was the best 45 minutes under him and you could see why. Spurs are a great side and I love watching them play, so many quality players, so much class.”

On Fulham...

Simon: “I was at Fulham a few times earlier in the season. They played some great football last season in the Championship, played an expansive style and I just think they went into the Premier League believing they could do exactly the same. Maybe they were a bit naïve because every time they lost the ball they were getting countered and conceding goals. They made the decision to appoint Claudio Ranieri and try to tighten it up. I’ve not seen as much of Fulham since Ranieri’s gone in there but from what I’ve seen he’s playing two banks of four, trying to be hard to beat first and seeing what they can get on the back of that.”

Sunday’s match

Simon: “I remember going to Craven Cottage with Spurs and thinking ‘it’s tight here’, always a tough place to go and play and then later playing for Fulham, we used that to our advantage, we were used to it and that was always the success during my time at Fulham, our home record. At home, we never got turned over and more often than not, we picked up good results against the big teams. Fulham have to get that back if they are to have a chance of staying up. For Spurs, they have such a drilled in way of playing, they just have to go there and go again. If they play well, they’ll probably win. Spurs are so good to watch. As a game, it’s really well set up for Sunday - let’s see how it pans out!”