Fulham H Post Match Thread

[StanSP]

1 minute ago, HighPeakFox said:

It tends to be the posters who just routinely slag everything off regardless. Having reservations etc is totally normal, but debating with the basic argument of 'he's got it wrong even if he wins' is an exercise in utter futility. 

What about those who only come out the woodwork when we lose? For example I haven't seen @BlueSi13 post much (may be wrong?) before last night when he suddenly appeared again... 

[HighPeakFox]

5 minutes ago, StanSP said:

What about those who only come out the woodwork when we lose? For example I haven't seen @BlueSi13 post much (may be wrong?) before last night when he suddenly appeared again... 

Yep, there are a number. I am afraid that some (not all, by any stretch, but enough) that just want to find fault. I agree that saying everything is rosy is no better. There is lots of area in between for reasonable debate, without resorting to simplistic black/white absolutisms. 

 

I hated last night, I thought we were awful. I'm just less sure why than others - it doesn't make them more right because they're confident. The only thing I am fairly sure of is that the players looked knackered, and we missed a lot of passes.

Edited 1 December 2020 by HighPeakFox

[Sol thewall Bamba]

4 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Not be 4th in the league. Not be qualified in Europe with 4 games to go. 

As in, massively under perform on a regular basis. 

 

Be nowhere near where we need or want to be. Regularly go on losing streaks and not go on unbeaten streaks. 

 

Plenty of players I'm not happy with. Doesn't mean I have to go all ultra critical and go in to full meltdown when a result doesn't go our way. 

Pointing out glaring obvious mistakes and errors from people who are paid massive money makes you no less of a fan. Come on Stan embrace the dark side. 

[ultrafox]

Just read Rodgers post match comments on LCFC.COM.

 

To quote  “I thought our outstanding player was Jonny Evans. He played like a man."

 

Is he serious???!!!

 

Evans has really looked uninterested ever since Northern Ireland got knocked out of the Euros.  I lost count at how many times he gave the ball away yesterday. 

 

Rodgers needs to change his rose tinted specs when looking at Evans' contribution. 

[HighPeakFox]

Just now, ultrafox said:

Just read Rodgers post match comments on LCFC.COM.

 

To quote  “I thought our outstanding player was Jonny Evans. He played like a man."

 

Is he serious???!!!

 

Evans has really looked uninterested ever since Northern Ireland got knocked out of the Euros.  I lost count at how many times he gave the ball away yesterday. 

 

Rodgers needs to change his rose tinted specs when looking at Evans' contribution. 

I mentioned last night, I think he's trying to protect the players. I expect Evans is playing through pain.

[SpacedX]

Just now, HighPeakFox said:

 There is lots of area in between for reasonable debate, without resorting to simplistic black/white absolutisms. 

 

 

That's FT and that's the polarised world that we live in today unfortunately. We see it everywhere, politics, religion, sport. Rational dialectical discourse and debate is dying. 

[StanSP]

3 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Pointing out glaring obvious mistakes and errors from people who are paid massive money makes you no less of a fan. Come on Stan embrace the dark side. 

I have done that too many a time

[Buce]

2 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

Yep, there are a number. I am afraid that some (not all, by any stretch, but enough) that just want to find fault. I agree that saying everything is rosy is no better. There is lots of area in between for reasonable debate, without resorting to simplistic black/white absolutisms. 

 

I hated last night, I thought we were awful. I'm just less sure why than others - it doesn;t make them more right because they're confident. The only thing I am fairly sure of is that the players looked knackered, and we missed a lot of passes.

 

I don't find it that surprising, tbh.

 

People invest a lot of emotional energy in football, and when life is shit like it is atm, what happens at the game can set the whole tone for the rest of the week.

 

[weller54]

5 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

I mentioned last night, I think he's trying to protect the players. I expect Evans is playing through pain.

We know that feeling..

We watch him through pain!

[oxtonfox]

1 hour ago, Hales said:

My worry is also frustration is going to build within some of the players. Praet and Thomas constantly get pulled. That isn't going to do their confidence any good. Yes they were not great but they really were not the worse either. Fuchs is shattered and needs more rest than a young 19 year old. Madders should have been subbed but yet again it was Praet, this happened last season too when Praet never finished a game. He got frustrated at that as was obvious between him and Rodgers. Under is getting frustrated at Madders hogging corners and set pieces. I think Madders need benching at the moment as he is not on it fitness wise. Start Harvey and Cengiz as they have fresh legs. Frustration is growing and that is never a good thing. 

 

If there was ever a time we need players back it is now so thank goodness! Evan's needs resting desperately too. The players coming back will hopefully bring some vigour and fight.

My team had Cengiz and Harvey up front. I thought that would put Fulham on the back foot. Praet does not seem to be trusted by the manager just like Kel. If it goes pear shaped he hooks them regardless of who is playing far worse. 

Now then, Sheffield United one point out of 30, who's going to hand them that much  needed win?

Sort it out Rodgers...

[HighPeakFox]

1 minute ago, weller54 said:

We know that feeling..

We watch him through pain!

Ignoring your standard level of humour for a moment, I suspect that if Cags and Ndidi were fit enough, he'd not be near starting right now.

[foxfanazer]

10 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

I mentioned last night, I think he's trying to protect the players. I expect Evans is playing through pain.

I don't think singling him out for praise is protecting him in all honesty. If anything it's made his below average performance a talking point and made Brendan look a tit

[HighPeakFox]

1 minute ago, foxfanazer said:

I don't think singling him out for praise is protecting him in all honesty. If anything it's made his below average performance a talking point and made Brendan look a tit

Fair enough. If that's the case, he's still created a distraction. Either way, my feeling is that there's all sorts going on unseen that we won't ever be privy to.

[daddylonglegs]

It's funny because in about November last year I thought the fake news brigade were out in full force when they were telling us we were lucky to be where we were. Outperforming xG at both ends of the pitch.... it won't continue.... will all come crashing down....

 

Since the subsequent collapse after that, I've taken more notice of xG and we're seeing exactly the same thing happen this year. Start the season with a keeper in ridiculous form, and a striker scoring for fun (And some moronic defending giving us countless penalties). And it's happened again. 

 

Until we get our first X1 back (One I don't think we've seen for over a year), we desperately need to try something that isn't 5 at the back. 

 

Fulham completely played us off the park yesterday, with and without the ball. Sheffield United are having an absolute torrid season but are missing some outrageously good chances. Just like Lookman's goal drought and Fulham's penalty woes... bad records tend to come to an end when Leicester are involved. I feel particularly nervous about Sunday because of that!

[Pliskin]

24 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Not be 4th in the league. Not be qualified in Europe with 4 games to go. 

As in, massively under perform on a regular basis. 

 

Be nowhere near where we need or want to be. Regularly go on losing streaks and not go on unbeaten streaks. 

 

Plenty of players I'm not happy with. Doesn't mean I have to go all ultra critical and go in to full meltdown when a result doesn't go our way. 

Ordinarily I would agree, however, last night was a joke. As you’ve pointed out we’re qualified for the knock out stages of the EL, Ukraine should have been the place for a more conservative approach, not last night. There is no argument for playing a defensive line up against one of the worse teams in the league, and then making a complete **** job of defending. Both Rodgers and the players carry the can for this, but ultimately it just proves that Rodgers is not learning, how many times has he done this? 
 

We are a good side, and we should not have lost last nights game, we gifted it to Fulham and have thrown away three relatively straight forward points. 

[AKCJ]

There's no energy in the team. I suspect they're all shattered.

 

Sick of watching passes trickle to their target. There hasn't been any zip in our play for ages. We're so laboured in our play. 

[Le Renard]

I was hoping the morning after I would feel a bit better, but I'm still annoyed at the manner of the defeat.  I can take a defeat if the players fought and were up against superior opponents.......I've been a Leicester fan long enough to know this is what we do best, the ever obliging foxes reign supreme! 

[Hales]

I should imagine Belvoir Drive is a little tense this morning!

[StanSP]

48 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

Ordinarily I would agree, however, last night was a joke. As you’ve pointed out we’re qualified for the knock out stages of the EL, Ukraine should have been the place for a more conservative approach, not last night. There is no argument for playing a defensive line up against one of the worse teams in the league, and then making a complete **** job of defending. Both Rodgers and the players carry the can for this, but ultimately it just proves that Rodgers is not learning, how many times has he done this? 
 

We are a good side, and we should not have lost last nights game, we gifted it to Fulham and have thrown away three relatively straight forward points. 

I agree with everything you say. 

 

[Finnegan]

58 minutes ago, Line-X said:

That's FT and that's the polarised world that we live in today unfortunately. We see it everywhere, politics, religion, sport. Rational dialectical discourse and debate is dying. 

 

Yeah but that cuts both ways. I've had HighPeakFox on ignore since about halfway through the Puel area (I don't say this to wind him up, he's a grown adult and outside of football conversation seems like a nice guy, I highly doubt he cares) because all he seems to do is commit to arguing with everyone that has a criticism. 

 

For the record, it's not just HighPeakFox, there's plenty of them and for what it's worth I've got more people on the ignore list who go all weller54 and find something to moan about after a 5-0 win.

 

You're absolutely right, there's an enormous amount of polarisation on here but it's two camps and they're both as bad as each other. 

 

It's completely valid to have criticisms after performances like Wolves and Fulham, one a win, the other a loss and both with the same problem and warning signs. 

 

This place needs to be a fair environment for good discourse. If you can really dismiss people like Mark, ttfn and myself as "moaners" and ignore any valid points we may have purely because they're negative on any given day then, to be honest, you're no better than the people you're bemoaning. 

 

None of us are screaming for Rodgers head, calling him shit, calling the team shit or refusing to give him credit for where we are in the league yet we're shouted down by the same eyerolling "omg we're top four aren't you ever happy?!?!?!?" trolls anytime we voice a concern. 

 

Look, some people don't want to analyse football or think about football in any kind of depth, they don't care about tactics, they just care about the result, the banter, the experience and that's that. But some of us are interested and do want to discuss the specifics and sometimes that's going to be pointing out problems as well as celebrating successes. 

[HighPeakFox]

46 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Yeah but that cuts both ways. I've had HighPeakFox on ignore since about halfway through the Puel area (I don't say this to wind him up, he's a grown adult and outside of football conversation seems like a nice guy, I highly doubt he cares) because all he seems to do is commit to arguing with everyone that has a criticism. 

 

For the record, it's not just HighPeakFox, there's plenty of them and for what it's worth I've got more people on the ignore list who go all weller54 and find something to moan about after a 5-0 win.

 

You're absolutely right, there's an enormous amount of polarisation on here but it's two camps and they're both as bad as each other. 

 

It's completely valid to have criticisms after performances like Wolves and Fulham, one a win, the other a loss and both with the same problem and warning signs. 

 

This place needs to be a fair environment for good discourse. If you can really dismiss people like Mark, ttfn and myself as "moaners" and ignore any valid points we may have purely because they're negative on any given day then, to be honest, you're no better than the people you're bemoaning. 

 

None of us are screaming for Rodgers head, calling him shit, calling the team shit or refusing to give him credit for where we are in the league yet we're shouted down by the same eyerolling "omg we're top four aren't you ever happy?!?!?!?" trolls anytime we voice a concern. 

 

Look, some people don't want to analyse football or think about football in any kind of depth, they don't care about tactics, they just care about the result, the banter, the experience and that's that. But some of us are interested and do want to discuss the specifics and sometimes that's going to be pointing out problems as well as celebrating successes. 

Finners won't see this, but that's a mighty shame. I like a lot of what he has to say. He's every right to stick me on ignore, and no doubt my style isn't to everyone's taste, but I tire of having it suggested that I'm reactive to criticism. I counter knee jerk bollocks, anyone trying to constructively explain their criticism gets my full attention. 

[Reg Vardy]

I was critical last night, and we did do some schoolboy stuff.....that can't be denied

 

But on reflection......if we score when we hit post and crossbar, the game changes, and Fulham need to go from 5 at the back, 4 in midfield strung across the pitch, that we really struggled to break down, to create attacking threat....as it was as soon as they went in front, they sat back, and they did it really well, and we were unable to break them down.....bad day at the office......

[foxinsocks]

4 minutes ago, Reg Vardy said:

I was critical last night, and we did do some schoolboy stuff.....that can't be denied

 

But on reflection......if we score when we hit post and crossbar, the game changes, and Fulham need to go from 5 at the back, 4 in midfield strung across the pitch, that we really struggled to break down, to create attacking threat....as it was as soon as they went in front, they sat back, and they did it really well, and we were unable to break them down.....bad day at the office......

Yes if the few chances we created got converted then we would have got away with one.

The problem is that we are not making chances... scoring one goal more or less isn't the issue.   We played one of the worst defences in the epl and played ponderous football creating very very very few chances.

We need pace 

Edited 1 December 2020 by foxinsocks

[LVFox]

4 minutes ago, Reg Vardy said:

I was critical last night, and we did do some schoolboy stuff.....that can't be denied

 

But on reflection......if we score when we hit post and crossbar, the game changes, and Fulham need to go from 5 at the back, 4 in midfield strung across the pitch, that we really struggled to break down, to create attacking threat....as it was as soon as they went in front, they sat back, and they did it really well, and we were unable to break them down.....bad day at the office......

Agree with this, although worryingly we are seeing bad days at the office occur a little too often.

 

We aren't ruthless enough against poorer sides. A top side create chances when on top, and crucially take them. We don't and teams gain confidence the longer the game goes on against us.

 

I think we are seeing the inconsistency we probably expected given our injuries but the good start to the season made us forget that. I still think if we qualify for europe again this season (whether that be league or cups) it's been a great season. 

[shen]

2 minutes ago, foxinsocks said:

Yes if the few chances we created got converted then we would have hit away eith one.

The problem is that we are nit making chances... scoring one gopa5more or less isn't the issue.   We played obe if the worst defences in the epl and played ponderous football creating very very very few chances.

We need pace 

We need to press high and hard with this system. We are not hitting teams where it hurts with the patient build up play as you say - players like Ricardo and Castagne are absolutely crucial to destabilize teams and make us dangerous on the flanks. Justin, Thomas, Albrighton, Fuchs, Praet, Maddison and even Barnes to an extent, are not a big threat if teams just keep tight in the middle.

 

It is scandalous that we didn't test an ordinary defence and midfield more than we did. It's just too predictable when Vardy stays central and Maddison doesn't threaten to make runs in behind.