Fulham (H) Post Match Thread

[ali benarbia's studs]

Raheems touch for the first was perfect, he made it look simple and easy. Kev played well and looks close to his best. drive on. well happy with another clean sheet. onwards and upwards!

 

[BillyShears]

The main reason I defend Sterling is because I think he has earned the right to go down easily. It's not his first instinct to take a tumble, but I think it is with some other players like the two you mentioned. As proved recently in the Liverpool match. He is also probably the most fouled player in the penalty area with no return. As proved in the Porto match last week and countless other times.

There's no comparison between Mane, Salah, Fernandes et al who literally fling themselves to the ground at every given opportunity, and someone like Raz who tries to use his upper body strength whenever possible to stay on his feet.

It was a penalty yesterday, and the sort of penalty that you HAVE to go down to get. Outside the area you can just stop and you'll get the free kick but inside, the refs need to see you go down for it to happen.

 

[stonerblue]

Pretty much sums it up, players go down voluntarily ie dive for all clubs Sterling isn’t alone in this. If fans are happy to take the decision they should own that view when it goes against. Personally I think it’s wrong and when the touch is minimal it’s pretty embarrassing but today players don’t have those same sporting values.

I don’t remember posters names but we all know how quick many will be to about turn if Salah flings himself to the ground next weekend or we suffer from it at the scum.

I also agree refs don’t help at all where a clear infraction has taken place.

Pisses me off seeing a City player do that but, when we're losing games because the opposition do it (Vardy, Kane,) then it's understandable.

 

[HelloCity]

He was kicked? Well the other guys foot touched him I agree

If he doesn’t go down we don’t get the penalty? I agree but so what

You have to go down when you’re touched? What happens if you don’t? Gout, the earth opens up, the gods bring great wrath upon you?

Not sure if you saw the Liverpool game but Sterling was fouled and didn’t go down so the ref didn’t give anything. Liverpool then went down the other end and scored because their player then went down in near identical circumstances. Ultimately the referee’s create the culture of players needing to go down for a foul to be rightfully given.

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

Fantastic win. If only we can string a few together over xmas!
No subs .....must surely be related to his comments mid week about players putting in the effort. Perhaps he only plans to give game time to those mentally committed individuals...

 

[Burtonblue]

There's no logical reason not to use subs to their full advantage when the game is under control and you have a season like we have. We should be careful not to burn out players like Rodri who are plays a lot, and DIas. A central defendr may not use much energy but they can get injured. I do't understand why in this season of all seasons, Pep is not using his subs. Look at the fixture schefule ahead. We need to be careful and use our squad to its full. It is an asset we are not exploiting fully. I like the rotation between games in the Premier League and Champions League but we could make better use of the subs.

Rodri and Dias will get rested midweek
They may not even be on the bench and be given a few days off.
The likelihood of them getting injured yesterday in the second half was v low given the control we were exerting.
Obviously everyone has and is entitled to their opinion but I can fully understand Pep’s stance on subs yesterday given how the game was panning out. I trust he knows what’s best.

 

[BillyShears]

Not sure if you saw the Liverpool game but Sterling was fouled and didn’t go down so the ref didn’t give anything. Liverpool then went down the other end and scored because their player then went down in near identical circumstances. Ultimately the referee’s create the culture of players needing to go down for a foul to be rightfully given.

Exactly.

If people want football from the 80's and 90's buy a time machine. Otherwise this is the reality of modern football and Raz going down to win a penalty for us needs to be applauded not vilified.

 

[Rammy Blue]

I'm assuming he wasn't first choice based on the reported pursuit of Koulibaly and Jiminez. I of course don't have access to city's player scouting and acquisition software as I am non Scouse

Kounde was ahead of Dias too. Not complaining mind.

 

[OB1]

That's what I'm assuming, I've been baffled by the lack of substitutions lately,
but then again I'm not paid millions to manage Manchester City.
So what your saying is most likely correct.

Pep confirmed it in his post match press conference.

 

[BillyShears]

Kounde was ahead of Dias too. Not complaining mind.

I'm glad we're so bad at transfers. Haha.

(That's a joke, we're not bad at them).

 

[OB1]

There's no comparison between Mane, Salah, Fernandes et al who literally fling themselves to the ground at every given opportunity, and someone like Raz who tries to use his upper body strength whenever possible to stay on his feet.

It was a penalty yesterday, and the sort of penalty that you HAVE to go down to get. Outside the area you can just stop and you'll get the free kick but inside, the refs need to see you go down for it to happen.

He made a meal of it no doubt but he did so to get the correct outcome. People can call it what they want but it wasn't a case of trying to con the referee; unlike some players, who regularly try and con referees.

In Raz's case, it's a kind of professionalism that I'd prefer not to see in the game but, in this day and age, that was a foul and therefore a penalty.

 

[Rammy Blue]

I'm glad we're so bad at transfers. Haha.

(That's a joke, we're not bad at them).

Dias has definitely ticked all the boxes, especially with Laporte’s loss of form. I’d have happily had KK or Kounde though too.

 

[BillyShears]

Dias has definitely ticked all the boxes, especially with Laporte’s loss of form. I’d have happily had KK or Kounde though too.

My faith in Dias has been repaid in buckets and spades.

 

[OB1]

Rodri and Dias will get rested midweek
They may not even be on the bench and be given a few days off.
The likelihood of them getting injured yesterday in the second half was v low given the control we were exerting.
Obviously everyone has and is entitled to their opinion but I can fully understand Pep’s stance on subs yesterday given how the game was panning out. I trust he knows what’s best.

Far too much fuss being made over no subs yesterday: it was obvious what Pep was doing and he confirmed it after the game.

People may not agree with the approach but it's hardly unreasonable or illogical of Pep to do what he did.

 

[OB1]

My faith in Dias has been repaid in buckets and spades.

I didn't know much about him before he arrived but, and it's early days, but he appears to be almost exactly what we needed, given that it is in fact almost impossible to get the complete player for any position.

 

[Rammy Blue]

My faith in Dias has been repaid in buckets and spades.

He’s completely rock solid, and very alert and focused. Laughably too, he should have had a few goals by now as well!

 

[hilts]

Not sure if you saw the Liverpool game but Sterling was fouled and didn’t go down so the ref didn’t give anything. Liverpool then went down the other end and scored because their player then went down in near identical circumstances. Ultimately the referee’s create the culture of players needing to go down for a foul to be rightfully given.

I mentioned the ref in the earlier post. If we accept, and we all will, that at one end we have a no contact dive and at the other a chopper Harris(sorry young uns) leg breaker in the middle is a vast grey area.

A refs job is to make decisions and some become tricky in that vast grey area. Now some posters view changes depending on the colour of the shirt. They would be terribly biased refs, the sort that annoy the hell out of balanced fans.

We already have one poster claiming Sterling is some put upon hero seeking justice for all those fouls he isn’t given whereas Salah is the Dick Dastardly cheating villain. The reason for this apparent nonsense? He is a city supporter. Simples.

Lots of players dive when touched and the touch itself varies in strength. Yesterday’s wouldn’t knock over a 90 year gran with a cane but there you go he isn’t the only one. Would be nice if fans could just own it.

 

[hilts]

I didn't know much about him before he arrived but, and it's early days, but he appears to be almost exactly what we needed, given that it is in fact almost impossible to get the complete player for any position.

He looks to be a great buy, well impressed with him so far.

 

[Marvin]

Rodri and Dias will get rested midweek
They may not even be on the bench and be given a few days off.
The likelihood of them getting injured yesterday in the second half was v low given the control we were exerting.
Obviously everyone has and is entitled to their opinion but I can fully understand Pep’s stance on subs yesterday given how the game was panning out. I trust he knows what’s best.

The probability of Rodri and Dias getting injured when coasting is low but game time adds up and we should also be trying to get game time into young forwards like Delap/Torres given Aguero's injury.

I know Delap was not on the bench but perhaps anticipate the opportunity of giving him 20 mins? For all I know he's injured but this is tremedously draining season and imo City are off or best precisely because our intensity is sub-standard so we should be using subs to the max.

 

[Rammy Blue]

Far too much fuss being made over no subs yesterday: it was obvious what Pep was doing and he confirmed it after the game.

People may not agree with the approach but it's hardly unreasonable or illogical of Pep to do what he did.

At the time it seemed a crazy tactic, but in hindsight it made sense. Can be a risk bringing a player off bench when they aren’t completely warm and loosened up. I’m sure Pep will have told the players that if any of them felt tight then they should indicate a requirement to come off.