Fulham (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

[J.G.Blue.]

Almost feels like a loss to me because the 2nd half after we went 5:1 up was so unbelievably bad and Pep is starting to really infuriate me with his absolute lack of game management.

Try not to fret to much, FFS!

 

[Doc_Testosterone]

Its not just our midfield though. It starts from the top. Haaland is lazy on the press, Doku chases after the ball has been passed to his man rather than start running to his man before the ball starts coming to him so he is under pressure at first touch. Once we cave in up top, their defenders simply bypass our forwards and then our defense drops off to avoid a ball over the top. Seeing as we are not playing our quickest central defender.

This creates even more space for the opposition to operate and pick their passes easily. We then funnel it to the sides qnd hope our fullbacks can stop their winger.

We succeed sometimes. Then other times we make mistakes even after succeeding. This too happens because we don't have well set repeatable patterns.

Our problems are deeper than individual players even though individual players can help.

I am a fan of Anderson, but the issue is larger than any individual player.

I agree that our press has completely vanished. I’m not sure why Haaland isn’t contributing more to it when he actually chooses to press or track back, he’s quicker than anyone else in the squad and does well when he wants to. But as long as he’s in the team, we need to compensate for that. Previously, with Kevin, Gundogan, Bernardo, and Rodri, we had a midfield of relentless runners who covered that ground effortlessly.
I personally feel our current lack of dominance is based on getting the wrong players.

Statistically, Pep’s sides dominate possession through ball retention and precise passing. This is something our current midfield simply isn’t managing. Pep touched on this yesterday that Reijnders isn’t really a defensive midfielder but more of an attacking player. And while Gonzalez has been doing a decent job filling in as the holding option, Pep also made it clear he’s really missing Rodri and Kovacic.

I personally feel it is a combination of multiple players that just can’t play the style he would want to use. I am not sure if you are suggesting Pep is the problem?

 

[shemnel]

That’s mainly because Rodri and Kovačić are both out and Nico can’t play every minute of every game. He’s the only player who couldn’t even get a break last week against Leverkusen.

Imagine if Arsenal had Zunimendi and Rice out, had to play Norgaard every game and then brought him off for a centre back sub to play in defensive midfield.

Ideally, yesterday, we’re bringing Rodri off for a rest and bringing Nico on for the last half hour.

i think you both have a point though. Yes we've got two injuries to players who were essential last night (and have been throughout) but also i would not really have wanted to see Ait-Nouri, Lewis, Savinho, Stones, Trafford or maybe even Marmoush last night, i dont think they would have solved a thing (2 of them didnt). Khusanov (perhaps), Ake and Cherki could have (Cherki was easily the best sub).

I personally would have gone; Nico (assuming he had to), Doku and Reijnders off for Ake at left-back (O'Reilly up to left mid tucked in next to Silva), Cherki right with Foden left, Khusanov to RB with Nunes other side of Silva. Maybe it's too much change. perhaps the line-up, the bench and the momentum completely hamstrung our choices, in the end.

I mean, one glaring weakness is there was no central mid on the pitch, which comes full circle to your point.

 

[Doc_Testosterone]

We could have done with Jack Grealish off the bench to see the game out , or a fresh legged Bernardo to play keepy ball and draw fouls .

Cherki literally did that. Came on and kept the ball well drawing out fouls.

 

[Dax777]

The morning after the night before.
I think you must learn from these games, and I am sure that we did.

I have thought this for a while, but I think that keeping Erling on for the full game in such circumstances is something we need to consider. Yes, he can always get a goal, but in terms of keeping the ball and seeing out the game, it is not in his skillset - he is isolated and wanders a little.

I think it is time, in those circumstances, to move to a false-nine, with more physicality in central midfield, and to bring on an additional midfielder/attacker who has more energy.
The switch to Nico O in central midfield was a little late last night. Had that happened earlier, with the introduction of Cherki for Erling, or Marmoush for Erling, I think we would have seen the game out far

more comfortably.View attachment 176542

I don't think you can leave these things too long because the agitation starts to increase and the confidence of the opponent too. Shutting the game down is something we are very familiar with from our recent past. In the event that Gonzalez has to come off for injury, then Foden drops in to the central midfield and his place in that lineup goes to one of our other attacking talents.

The real issue is being able to comfortably posses and pass the ball around to kill time or depress the opposition. Our ability to do this has significantly degraded

Our movements off the ball is generally poor and we now carry many players who arent crisp passers of the ball. A majority of our current players.
It is easier to count players who are at average or above standard of 5 years ago..

Phil, Gonzalez, Rico, Cherki... That's the list. Everyone else is below standards for 5/6 years ago. Rodri and Kova too. But they currently dont count.

Everyone else is slightly below average with the bsll due to technique, structure or chemistry (Stones , O'Reilly, Dias, Nunez, Tijanni,, Bernardo, Bobb)

Or clearly below average (Gvardiol, Savio, Doku, Haaland, Marmoush, Ake, Khusanov, Donna,) Becoming a consistent quick passing possession team is highly unlikely.

We are either a counter attacking team or a sluggish slow conservative passing team.

The former is a better choice considering our personnel. We just have to increase on ball pressure and defending from the top.

 

[Centurions]

Are we all having fun yet?

Thoroughly enjoyed that :)

 

[blue by birth]

Why leave Gvadiol out? He was a defence disaster museum today too.

Great clearance off the line though

 

[Fordyboy46]

Who is our defensive coach?

 

[Tuearts right boot]

Didn't see a single goal last due to dodgy stream or wifi. Watching now on replay, but fair play to Fulham....4 great goals.
I can say that now though, can't I.

 

[Micky Blue]

In the cold light of morning it’s a win and we got 3 points.

But I fear we are extremely far off challenging for the PL or the CL.
The money spent in the last 2 windows looks to have been largely wasted.

The same issues from last season persist.
Let’s hope the team and management can sort this out soon.

 

[Phoenix900000]

So at 2-5 when pep subbed Gonzales Doku with 30 mins left did you actually think fuck we could be in trouble here? I didn’t

Taking off your only DM and putting on Savinho (who has been very poor and keeps losing the ball) i think you are asking for trouble imo

The whole second half was a mess defensively so at least of me you keep your DM on until Fulham couldn't come back. There are not enough ball winners in this side

 

[mayo31]

Almost feels like a loss to me because the 2nd half after we went 5:1 up was so unbelievably bad and Pep is starting to really infuriate me with his absolute lack of game management.

FFS

 

[mayo31]

Taking off your only DM and putting on Savinho (who has been very poor and keeps losing the ball) i think you are asking for trouble imo

The whole second half was a mess defensively so at least of me you keep your DM on until Fulham couldn't come back. There are not enough ball winners in this side

He did not take the DM and replaced him with Savinho

He replaced him with Stones.

He replaced Doku with Savinho. At least be honest

 

[Tarzan Pancake]

Attack looks great, and defence looks crap. I'm having more fun than this time last year.

 

[East Level 2]

It’s mainly when we don’t have a 6 pep teams are built around the 6 Rodri how he kept fit for so long was unbelievable but occasionally when he didn’t play we had Gundo from last season we have had Gonzales who has only just clicked in how to play that position this season! He went off we lose all control

So we need a 6? Well the good news is Alan Oakes is still alive. He might well be 83 but never just ran around like a headless chicken. Or isn't that a 6 these days.

 

[Dax777]

I agree that our press has completely vanished. I’m not sure why Haaland isn’t contributing more to it when he actually chooses to press or track back, he’s quicker than anyone else in the squad and does well when he wants to. But as long as he’s in the team, we need to compensate for that. Previously, with Kevin, Gundogan, Bernardo, and Rodri, we had a midfield of relentless runners who covered that ground effortlessly.
I personally feel our current lack of dominance is based on getting the wrong players.

Statistically, Pep’s sides dominate possession through ball retention and precise passing. This is something our current midfield simply isn’t managing. Pep touched on this yesterday that Reijnders isn’t really a defensive midfielder but more of an attacking player. And while Gonzalez has been doing a decent job filling in as the holding option, Pep also made it clear he’s really missing Rodri and Kovacic.

I personally feel it is a combination of multiple players that just can’t play the style he would want to use. I am not sure if you are suggesting Pep is the problem?

There are 2 separate issues here: i dont blame Pep for our lack of intricate possession i think we've made a conscious decision to move away from intricate pass happy football

We cant be the possession team we were 5 years ago because weve made a conscious choice to recruit players who aren't ball possession types:

Haaland, Gvardiol, Nunes, Marmoush, Savio, Alvarez, Khusanov Doku, perhaps even Tijanni are all not well suited to a intricate passing team. And that's the majority of incoming the last 3 years. Unless the plan was for Pep to improve them like he did Otamendi. But more likely we made the decision consciously to become more direct.

The interest in Semenyo is another example. Clearly not a possession based passing type. 5 years ago, id have laughed it off as 'not a Pep fit', but we are in the 'post Pep fit' era. So our degraded possession ability isnt on Pep.

However, our lack of defensive structure, our shambolic press, the lack of coordination up top when not in possession? All of that is totally a Pep problem. It is designable and fixable.

I lay that squarely on him.

 

[East Level 2]

Just watched the highlights again and it looks like that late chance was going wide. So never in any danger!!!

 

[Phoenix900000]

The second line is. Fulham scored goals that they wouldn’t have normally. One of those weird games. Credit to our team for closing it out. Appreciate that’s not the done thing on here.

But that shows that xG is a weird stat cause Fulham scored 4 goals when their xG was only 0.9.

It's the other stats that are not great viewing imo

Lack of control and other sides are popping shots at our goal.

Attack wise we are pretty good but defensively and in the midfield we are miles off challenging.

It needs massive improvement and am not sure we capable in resolving it (hope I am wrong)

 

[heslops barnet]

I’m afraid Stones is not good enough anymore, slow and poor distribution

 

[Phoenix900000]

He did not take the DM and replaced him with Savinho

He replaced him with Stones.

He replaced Doku with Savinho. At least be honest

I know you are correct

What i meant in that statement is the sub for Stones for Nico wasn't right as well as he isn't a proper DM

If you are putting on Stones I would prefer him and Nico on as well to tighten up.

Plus the threat of Doku is gone and most of us knew Savinho isn't going to do much (unlucky with the cross to Haaland though)