Fulham H Post Match Thread

[sk3forme]

It was like watching boys against men out muscled the whole game.

[Ricey]

Negative. Slow. Lazy. Soft. Passive. Brainless. Sloppy.

 

Any more?

 

We are somehow even more reliant on the counter and Jamie Vardy than we were a few years ago. We are getting worse at breaking teams down.

[nabb7]

Reminded me of a period a few years ago (under Sven I think?) when we'd constantly go 2-0 down then start playing in the 75th+ minute, score to give us hope then hoof it up until the final whistle.

 

In fairness a makeshift defence playing twice a week has its excuses, but the midfield was the most disappointing part for me tonight. 4 quality mids on the pitch yet Evans is still holding the ball for 5+ seconds looking for a pass?

 

Also thought our press was too one dimensional. Felt like the players would panic when we lost possession and chase the ball without the intelligence for someone else to block off the passes. So easy for Fulham to beat.

 

Frustrating, but it's about time we learned how to respond to defeats and what better time than now? Let's see Rodgers earn his wage.

[ARM1968]

Consistency is sometimes a bad thing. 

[Spudulike]

I've not seen it mentioned yet but is handball in the box OK now? I can't keep up with the rules anymore. 

[harpendenfox]

We were poor tonight, no doubt about that, but I'm going to use the fine margins cliche. So often games go one way or another on the basis of a single chance or the width of a post. Strange as it sounds if one of those shots from Youri or Wes goes in, both of which hit the post/crossbar, my guess is we go to win comfortably. 

[John rayner]

5 minutes ago, sk3forme said:

It was like watching boys against men out muscled the whole game.

Only 10 games into the season and already so much negative comments on this forum ,yes were poor tonight ,but let's get behind the boys ,ndidi will be back soon as soyunca  and RP and qualified to the next stage of the Europa league, and sit 4 in the PL.

[Hammo]

The question I keep asking myself after all these same old same old home defeats when we put out a cautious team, build up slowly, barely test the keeper, misplace passes, offer zero threat at corners, get caught on the counter, then concede a sloppy goal or two is this:

 

Is Rodgers too arrogant to acknowledge, identify and correct these chronic deficiencies in his team that are staring him in the face week in week out?

 

Or is he just incapable of fixing them?

[cruzFOX]

I don't wanna hear anymore comparisons about madders to Grealish. that ship has sailed now.

If its motivation and belief that was lacking than it better come back soon because they can't

take anything for granted in this league. Thought they learnt some hard lessons last season?

Anyone else think foffana suddenly looks sub-par? I hope he hasn't got big headed because his

passes, lack of interceptions and brains has seem to gone off the boil. maybe we figged him up too

much too soon.

[ian__marshall]

54 minutes ago, Webbo said:

We've won 4 trophies in 136 years, you're not exactly sticking your neck out there.

I think that you've misunderstood me. How many times in our history have we had a group of players as talented as this? Do you honestly believe that this team aren't capable of winning a cup? Even a team featuring Robbie Savage managed to achieve that for us. If this generation fail to win anything we'll look back in years to come and view it as a missed opportunity. 

Edited 30 November 2020 by ian__marshall

[cruzFOX]

3 minutes ago, harpendenfox said:

We were poor tonight, no doubt about that, but I'm going to use the fine margins cliche. So often games go one way or another on the basis of a single chance or the width of a post. Strange as it sounds if one of those shots from Youri or Wes goes in, both of which hit the post/crossbar, my guess is we go to win comfortably. 

I agree with you but don't you think that simply papers over the cracks? There are gonna be games when the ball doesn't go in so easily than what? we need some mental grit to grind out the wins and a few of our players to play out of their skin in those moments to drive on the rest of them. We need more belief!

[Kierzz]

I hope this is the end of playing 5 at the back when we don't set up with a deep flat back five against an attacking, high pressing side.

 

When we push our full backs high up the pitch in this formation, the space to the side of the centre backs is just exposed over and over again. Like against West Ham, Braga, Liverpool and again today.

 

Also Evans and Fofana clearly don't have a good enough understanding between each other because their positioning is all over the place and they're not the solid drilled defensive unit we need when playing a high line.

[Raw Dykes]

I just hope the returning players and/or the move to Seagrave gives us a boost. Even if they don't, Brendan needs to have a good think about what he can do to avoid this happening again.

[Fish]

Change it and sort it earlier . BR seems to react too slow . How about a shout to jj to drop in on their first goal !

[fuchsntf]

When we brought in Under & Barnes, I didn t get it, We should of had them taking turns to Run at the them,Not only from the flanks, but also through the middle..

 

If we are again so slow & Passive..Then we will be giving Sheff.Utd a Bunk up...

We will own the badge of ever "obliging city"..!!!

The Tempo in all our Games has been woefully lacking.....Again W.Ähm & Villa are playing at pace....We have pacemen,but Move forward at the Pace of granded

in reverse..!! All the Advantages we have as a team,we are throwing into the gutter....I

 

I am sure there are no more Cats around Leicester, All the pussyfooters are Trapped in the KP-bubble..!!

[Fightforever]

19 minutes ago, sk3forme said:

It was like watching boys against men out muscled the whole game.

Remember something Modric said once. When teams start getting physcial you have to up the tempo of the passing so that way they can't keep up. The problem is we pass so slowly.

[oxtonfox]

Playing Christian Fuchs in every game, Europa and Premier League is a strange one for me. He hardly played last season. Why can’t Brendan trust Fofana and Evans as a pair instead of this three that appears more vulnerable for us than a two? 

 

And don’t get me started on our lack of penetration on corners and free kicks 

[daddylonglegs]

39 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

 

There's been one City (a) and many Fulham (h)s.

Not sure that’s fair.

 

We’ve had some really good performances under Rodgers. They just get ignored because they happen when the pressure isn’t on.

 

tonight we had a chance to go top of the league and really cement our place in the top 6. Therefore, Rodgers is unable to motivate the side to go out and do the business.

 

 

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

13 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

I've not seen it mentioned yet but is handball in the box OK now? I can't keep up with the rules anymore. 

No way was that a penalty. The guy kept his arm by his side and did not move it. 

[fuchsntf]

12 minutes ago, cruzFOX said:

I don't wanna hear anymore comparisons about madders to Grealish. that ship has sailed now.

If its motivation and belief that was lacking than it better come back soon because they can't

take anything for granted in this league. Thought they learnt some hard lessons last season?

Anyone else think foffana suddenly looks sub-par? I hope he hasn't got big headed because his

passes, lack of interceptions and brains has seem to gone off the boil. maybe we figged him up too

much too soon.

Because Fofana started well, we have left him with less support/ back up when he goes forward...Its a Case of lazy teammates..!!

[harpendenfox]

12 minutes ago, cruzFOX said:

I agree with you but don't you think that simply papers over the cracks? There are gonna be games when the ball doesn't go in so easily than what? we need some mental grit to grind out the wins and a few of our players to play out of their skin in those moments to drive on the rest of them. We need more belief!

Absolutely agree with your point and grit. In these sort of games we seem to lose our collective mind. I was convinced we were going to lose someone to a red around 75 minutes when we just seemed to lose the plot entirely.

[Spudulike]

4 minutes ago, Cadno'r Cymoedd said:

No way was that a penalty. The guy kept his arm by his side and did not move it. 

That was a penalty last season. But the rule has changed again (probably). That's the thing, no one knows anymore. 

[Pliskin]

3 minutes ago, oxtonfox said:

Playing Christian Fuchs in every game, Europa and Premier League is a strange one for me. He hardly played last season. Why can’t Brendan trust Fofana and Evans as a pair instead of this three that appears more vulnerable for us than a two? 

 

And don’t get me started on our lack of penetration on corners and free kicks 

Fofana is young a rash, as he has proven. He has a stupid amount of talent, and is arguably the most talented defender we have, but he’s 19, with limited experience he needs experience around him. I get why Rodgers does it, but it was unnecessary tonight.   

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

He probably thought it was one of our corners and went to get the cross.

...absolute nonsense, Kasper never comes for crosses!!!

[Hoopla10]

My hope we didn't repeat last year's pivotal period and instead bounce straight back after a Liverpool defeat proved pointless. It's the same mistake. We lost to Liverpool then went and played passive against a team at the bottom of the table who beat us. BR has to turn this around ASAP. Losing to Fulham and throwing away a chance to go joint top is frankly just not good enough and makes me worry about their mindset. 

 

Maddison needs to sort it out. Either bench him for a couple of games or prove he's worth the place in the team. The injury feels like it's still effecting him because a couple of times he should have got stuck in (possibly winning a pen) and yet pulled out. And then shooting from miles out at the end of a game we had finally started putting some pressure on was criminal imo. Try your wonder goals when we're 2-0 up and there's nothing at stake!  

 

For the love of God will somebody at the club hire a coach who can drill set-pieces into this team!!!! Absolute wasters. Even corners are a joke and we're missing out on so many opportunities because of it. 

 

Iheanacho missing the ball in the box in the last minute pretty much sums up my feeling towards him. I've said it for a while now but we desperately need a new striker. ManU was in the same situation at the weekend and bring on Cavani who grabs the game by the balls and turns it around. Somebody good in the air, somebody who can bully defenses, somebody who can give us different options. Yeah Iheanacho ain't it and I don't think he will ever be it. 

 

Under played a blinder once he came on. And it was a good goal by Barnes. The rest was pretty dire. I'll be happy if BR targets the player he wants against Sheffield and leaves them at home for Thursday because we looked so leggy at times. Fuchs clearly looked done in. It was inevitable our schedule would catch up on us but I'd hoped we'd feel it more in Jan' or Feb' not Nov'. 

 

I literally don't care about the Thursday game, Sheffield is a must win imo.