Fulham H Post Match Thread

[Stoopid]

We are playing like a team totally shot of confidence. Odd really, considering the start we've had. 

Don't think there's too much wrong with the players or the manager. But this mental timidity (so to speak) can be difficult to overcome. 

I think Brendan recognises this, and his relentless positivity is his way of tackling it. But clearly,  t's failing to engage the players. 

 

[The boy Linacre]

2 hours ago, 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. 

Totally agree, Jonny has done a great deal right but for the last 9-12 months when we play from the back it goes through him, he totally slows it down, EVERY time and then in the first half he then went lengthy pass/punt which was intercepted when he didn't have an idea.  Just cut him out of the distribution process at the back, Mendy and Tielemens have to want the ball more and then look forward more.  We should be upping the intensity levels against the poorer teams by speeding up the passing and sadly for what has always looked a lazyish team, movement off the ball to give options for the man on the ball!!!  Positives are we have kept our head above water whilst many have been injured, lets hope their return does really take us forward.  The league is pretty level this year, we are missing big opportunities to really be 1st or 2nd now, see West Ham, Villa, Fulham.  We ARE A good side, lets get some swagger and develop some arrogance and come out of the Christmas period in the top 4, but they need to be consistently motivated, and when the wrong team is chosen, change it quickly and give them a kick up the backside if they are lethargic, want to be better or the best you can be!!

[Ric Flair]

I know I'm an irrational character at times but since last seasons capitulation and having time to reflect on what may have gone wrong, I managed to banish any resentment of the collapse. It was still an unbelievable season for the club given we were never troubling the top 5 before Rodgers arrived. 

 

My expectations for the team this season was to try and compete in both Europe and the league and if we hit a difficult patch, to at least show some proactiveness in trying new approaches to games to evoke a change. Rodgers and the team have done this brilliantly this season, especially considering the injuries we have had. I think how Rodgers completely changed his philosophy of the game to try and get some results against teams who comfortably had our number last season is admirable and proved he isn't as arrogant and stubborn as some have him pegged.

 

However, last night is borderline unforgivable. I don't say this lightly when I say that decision to pick that personnel against such poor opposition at home was gross negligence and anyone who stuck up for it prior to kick off is a prat. I get that the reactionary mob on here can be tiresome to read whenever things don't go our way but there are occasions and decision like last night where they cannot be defended and we are allowed to get angry and question things. The wait and see approach only goes so far, it's like someone lobbing your young kid in the sea and not being able to react in case they somehow manage to stay alive and get to shore. It was clear lunacy from the off and you can't defend shit like that I'm sorry.

 

Should 5 defenders and 4 central midfielders have done better than what they did in that opening 45 minutes yesterday? Absolutely but it was complete lunacy to pick that side. People defending it because we were going to face a low block, are you saying the only way to counteract that is to go pure Gary Megson and try and create some turgid equilibrium? I've never ever seen Barcelona, Man City, Juventus, Liverpool, Bayern, Real deploy such a hideously negative side. Maybe thats what they are missing out on when they sometimes fail to break down defensive teams. What I find highly amusing though is Fulham who we perceived to be so unpalatebly defensive, seemed to pick a more attacking side than we did and found it so surprisingly easy to launch attacks as we had players ill equipped at trying to force the play themselves. 

 

It's a myth we can't break teams down at home, this was something we used to struggle with under Puel in a 4-2-3-1 where the defensive midfielders were unable to get the ball forward quickly enough to create space for the wide players. Go through the results under Rodgers and it's a who's who of crap teams who we put to the sword in 2019 bar Newcastle at the back end of the 2018/19 season and Norwich after the 8 game winning run in December. Then as the slump started to take hold we still put away dog shit like West Ham, Villa, Palace and Sheffield Utd. All teams last season who might come under the realms of teams who would come here and sit back. Incidentally the only home game against inferior opposition that we faced from January through to July who might come and sit back was Brighton and we picked a horribly negative side that day with 2 defensive midfielders and low and behold we created absolutely nothing and were lucky to get away with a point. 

 

Lets be clear here, this wasn't even us only fielding 1 winger and attacker and going with Maddison out wide like Rodgers had an obsession with at the start of last season. This was 5 defenders and 4 central midfielders, I keep thinking i've taken LSD. So I refuse to accept any excuses for last night's considered decision to put that disgrace of a team out and I'm even more disgusted that Brendan Rodgers hasn't apologised. It will take some time for me to get over this, but as long as he never ever makes such a cardinal sin again then I will eventually forget about it on a day to day basis. What a complete waste of an opportunity to maintain the pace with the top sides and it's frivolous and bizarre decisions like this that create disillusion in the team and confidence can drop which we saw last season and it doesn't end well. 

 

Players can get fined wages, I hope managers can too. If so, he deserves the maximum fine.

 

[Mickyblueeyes]

1 hour 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. 

Exactly this. I mean, you look at yesterday's performance and its something we have seen quite consistently during Rodgers reign. I don't want the man sacked. However, the performance was no different to West Ham or Villa or a few games from the second half of last season. Is it wrong to call it out ? Of course not. We barely had a kick in anger yesterday. That was a very hard watch. Its wrong to assume Fulham have all of a sudden mastered their defensive approach (like Norwich apparently did last year and then lost nearly all of their remaining games). Yesterday was unacceptable and fans have every right to criticise players and the managers. We were not prepared for the game. That doesnt mean the vast majority of "moaners" want the manager sacked. It just means that this shortcoming is now getting to be a problem and it is a problem. Sit back and nick a goal against Leicester - its easy to play these lot. 

[lifted*fox]

easy come, easy go

 

sometimes that's just football

 

was shite tho tbf 

[surrifox]

Probably, like a few on here, I've got a bit going on at the moment and question whether I can afford the emotional roller coaster that results from watching half arsed  shiteshows like last night's performance against a championship standard outfit that simply  wanted it more. (Sorry Fulham, you deserved the win , were better than us but you know what you are). however that is what being a long term City fan requires of you.

As City fans we are hugely invested in our Club and there is nothing more enervating than watching a team that appeared not interested, unfit ,or playing with low energy and a manager who on present form inspires little confidence that he can make decisions that influence outcomes positively.

 

So in search of a more positive outlook I embraced the following hopefully not too happy clapper thought. If we knew that we were going to be without the services of 4 of our most influential players for most of the first quarter of the league season and deep into EL qualification, most would be sustained by the hope that the kids and old guys brought in to the first team would be capable of keeping us afloat and in contention until we were able to bring back the injured players or strengthen the team in the next transfer window. The players have done that - that much is unarguable. Yes it drives me mad when we are dicking about with aimless short sideways or backward passes only to release the killer pass straight to an opposition player or when our dead ball specialist appears to lack even the most basic football skills but we're still competing and in touch with the top of the league . so I'll try to recall this current feeling when we concede an early goal against Sheff U at the weekend - honest.

[The boy Linacre]

18 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I know I'm an irrational character at times but since last seasons capitulation and having time to reflect on what may have gone wrong, I managed to banish any resentment of the collapse. It was still an unbelievable season for the club given we were never troubling the top 5 before Rodgers arrived. 

 

My expectations for the team this season was to try and compete in both Europe and the league and if we hit a difficult patch, to at least show some proactiveness in trying new approaches to games to evoke a change. Rodgers and the team have done this brilliantly this season, especially considering the injuries we have had. I think how Rodgers completely changed his philosophy of the game to try and get some results against teams who comfortably had our number last season is admirable and proved he isn't as arrogant and stubborn as some have him pegged.

 

However, last night is borderline unforgivable. I don't say this lightly when I say that decision to pick that personnel against such poor opposition at home was gross negligence and anyone who stuck up for it prior to kick off is a prat. I get that the reactionary mob on here can be tiresome to read whenever things don't go our way but there are occasions and decision like last night where they cannot be defended and we are allowed to get angry and question things. The wait and see approach only goes so far, it's like someone lobbing your young kid in the sea and not being able to react in case they somehow manage to stay alive and get to shore. It was clear lunacy from the off and you can't defend shit like that I'm sorry.

 

Should 5 defenders and 4 central midfielders have done better than what they did in that opening 45 minutes yesterday? Absolutely but it was complete lunacy to pick that side. People defending it because we were going to face a low block, are you saying the only way to counteract that is to go pure Gary Megson and try and create some turgid equilibrium? I've never ever seen Barcelona, Man City, Juventus, Liverpool, Bayern, Real deploy such a hideously negative side. Maybe thats what they are missing out on when they sometimes fail to break down defensive teams. What I find highly amusing though is Fulham who we perceived to be so unpalatebly defensive, seemed to pick a more attacking side than we did and found it so surprisingly easy to launch attacks as we had players ill equipped at trying to force the play themselves. 

 

It's a myth we can't break teams down at home, this was something we used to struggle with under Puel in a 4-2-3-1 where the defensive midfielders were unable to get the ball forward quickly enough to create space for the wide players. Go through the results under Rodgers and it's a who's who of crap teams who we put to the sword in 2019 bar Newcastle at the back end of the 2018/19 season and Norwich after the 8 game winning run in December. Then as the slump started to take hold we still put away dog shit like West Ham, Villa, Palace and Sheffield Utd. All teams last season who might come under the realms of teams who would come here and sit back. Incidentally the only home game against inferior opposition that we faced from January through to July who might come and sit back was Brighton and we picked a horribly negative side that day with 2 defensive midfielders and low and behold we created absolutely nothing and were lucky to get away with a point. 

 

Lets be clear here, this wasn't even us only fielding 1 winger and attacker and going with Maddison out wide like Rodgers had an obsession with at the start of last season. This was 5 defenders and 4 central midfielders, I keep thinking i've taken LSD. So I refuse to accept any excuses for last night's considered decision to put that disgrace of a team out and I'm even more disgusted that Brendan Rodgers hasn't apologised. It will take some time for me to get over this, but as long as he never ever makes such a cardinal sin again then I will eventually forget about it on a day to day basis. What a complete waste of an opportunity to maintain the pace with the top sides and it's frivolous and bizarre decisions like this that create disillusion in the team and confidence can drop which we saw last season and it doesn't end well. 

 

Players can get fined wages, I hope managers can too. If so, he deserves the maximum fine.

 

A perfect resume of the overall situation and last night, good job.  The positivity of the last minute Braga goal dissolved before we had set foot on the pitch.

[Finnegan]

@Ric Flair

 

[Hales]

I just do not understand the seemingly lack of confidence in the team at the moment. They have had some fantastic results and just last thursday they showed fight and grit to come back 3 times against Braga. They qualified too so should be riding high at the moment. Yes they lost to liverpool and it was a disappointing display but that should have given them the grit to want more yet they played even worse?! I don't understand it. No disrespect to Fulham but they are not Liverpool so I dont understand the formation, the lack of effort, the lack of momentum and confidence. What the hell is going on? I understand they are tired and a lot of games have been played with a small squad but players are heading back now so they just needed to hang on. Thankfully we are forth still and the points margin is minimal but something needs to happen to turn this around and quickly. I hope honest conversations have happened today amongst the players and management.

[AKCJ]

27 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I know I'm an irrational character at times but since last seasons capitulation and having time to reflect on what may have gone wrong, I managed to banish any resentment of the collapse. It was still an unbelievable season for the club given we were never troubling the top 5 before Rodgers arrived. 

 

My expectations for the team this season was to try and compete in both Europe and the league and if we hit a difficult patch, to at least show some proactiveness in trying new approaches to games to evoke a change. Rodgers and the team have done this brilliantly this season, especially considering the injuries we have had. I think how Rodgers completely changed his philosophy of the game to try and get some results against teams who comfortably had our number last season is admirable and proved he isn't as arrogant and stubborn as some have him pegged.

 

However, last night is borderline unforgivable. I don't say this lightly when I say that decision to pick that personnel against such poor opposition at home was gross negligence and anyone who stuck up for it prior to kick off is a prat. I get that the reactionary mob on here can be tiresome to read whenever things don't go our way but there are occasions and decision like last night where they cannot be defended and we are allowed to get angry and question things. The wait and see approach only goes so far, it's like someone lobbing your young kid in the sea and not being able to react in case they somehow manage to stay alive and get to shore. It was clear lunacy from the off and you can't defend shit like that I'm sorry.

 

Should 5 defenders and 4 central midfielders have done better than what they did in that opening 45 minutes yesterday? Absolutely but it was complete lunacy to pick that side. People defending it because we were going to face a low block, are you saying the only way to counteract that is to go pure Gary Megson and try and create some turgid equilibrium? I've never ever seen Barcelona, Man City, Juventus, Liverpool, Bayern, Real deploy such a hideously negative side. Maybe thats what they are missing out on when they sometimes fail to break down defensive teams. What I find highly amusing though is Fulham who we perceived to be so unpalatebly defensive, seemed to pick a more attacking side than we did and found it so surprisingly easy to launch attacks as we had players ill equipped at trying to force the play themselves. 

 

It's a myth we can't break teams down at home, this was something we used to struggle with under Puel in a 4-2-3-1 where the defensive midfielders were unable to get the ball forward quickly enough to create space for the wide players. Go through the results under Rodgers and it's a who's who of crap teams who we put to the sword in 2019 bar Newcastle at the back end of the 2018/19 season and Norwich after the 8 game winning run in December. Then as the slump started to take hold we still put away dog shit like West Ham, Villa, Palace and Sheffield Utd. All teams last season who might come under the realms of teams who would come here and sit back. Incidentally the only home game against inferior opposition that we faced from January through to July who might come and sit back was Brighton and we picked a horribly negative side that day with 2 defensive midfielders and low and behold we created absolutely nothing and were lucky to get away with a point. 

 

Lets be clear here, this wasn't even us only fielding 1 winger and attacker and going with Maddison out wide like Rodgers had an obsession with at the start of last season. This was 5 defenders and 4 central midfielders, I keep thinking i've taken LSD. So I refuse to accept any excuses for last night's considered decision to put that disgrace of a team out and I'm even more disgusted that Brendan Rodgers hasn't apologised. It will take some time for me to get over this, but as long as he never ever makes such a cardinal sin again then I will eventually forget about it on a day to day basis. What a complete waste of an opportunity to maintain the pace with the top sides and it's frivolous and bizarre decisions like this that create disillusion in the team and confidence can drop which we saw last season and it doesn't end well. 

 

Players can get fined wages, I hope managers can too. If so, he deserves the maximum fine.

 

Immensely difficult to agree that the formation was "hilariously negative" given we were caught out for being too offensive for both goals. I don't see how the 3-4-3 can be seen as negative.

 

I know you look at it on paper and see those players but I can't believe you watched the game and thought Justin and Thomas were playing as defenders. In fact, if they were playing as defenders we may have gotten something out of the first half.

 

For me, blame has to lie in the way they played the game. We were slow and turgid. The likes of Maddison, Tielemans and Mendy were just not up to it. They didn't want the ball and when they got it they lacked any sort of quality.

 

Fault lies with the players. Unless Rodgers has said to them "I want you to play as slow as possible and for you to refuse to do basic running and tracking".

 

Ultimately, we have too many players playing right now that just aren't good enough. Justin, Thomas, Fuchs, Fofana (to an extent) and Mendy just do not have it in them to play consistently at a high level. I'm sure that will change when we get their replacements in Ricardo, Castagne, Soyuncu and Ndidi back.

 

Ultimately we need those players back and also we need to seriously replace Mahrez because none of the players we've signed in the Premier League to play right wing have been anywhere near Premier League quality.

 

[ARM1968]

We should have attacked them, simple. We should have had the courage to accept that we are a good, capable side and actually had a go. The team picked was reflective, in my opinion, of Rodgers and his fears. That fear played in to Fulham’s hands, and until he gets over that major obstacle we will always get results like this which should have been 3pts - or at least an bloody attempt at them. 
 

Fulham were better and deserves the points. That in itself is a sad condemnation of what we offered on the night.  

[Saxondale]

They did exactly what we used to do to teams: sat back, let us have possession, absorbed the pressure and hit on the counter. Well done Fulham. They were very organised and disciplined.

 

They completely eliminated our attacking potency. Every through ball was cut out, every cross was defended and Maddison wasn't allowed any creative space.

[Matt]

The funny thing is Sky mentioned before the game one of or several of the players said they wanted to make amends for the dire Liverpool performance.

 

I thought ok, good to hear, they’ll have had a rocket up their arse.

 

We could have been more passive and lacking grit if they tried.

 

As I said last night. Sort your ****ing shit out lads. Actions speak louder than soundbytes. 

[volpeazzurro]

50 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I know I'm an irrational character at times but since last seasons capitulation and having time to reflect on what may have gone wrong, I managed to banish any resentment of the collapse. It was still an unbelievable season for the club given we were never troubling the top 5 before Rodgers arrived. 

 

My expectations for the team this season was to try and compete in both Europe and the league and if we hit a difficult patch, to at least show some proactiveness in trying new approaches to games to evoke a change. Rodgers and the team have done this brilliantly this season, especially considering the injuries we have had. I think how Rodgers completely changed his philosophy of the game to try and get some results against teams who comfortably had our number last season is admirable and proved he isn't as arrogant and stubborn as some have him pegged.

 

However, last night is borderline unforgivable. I don't say this lightly when I say that decision to pick that personnel against such poor opposition at home was gross negligence and anyone who stuck up for it prior to kick off is a prat. I get that the reactionary mob on here can be tiresome to read whenever things don't go our way but there are occasions and decision like last night where they cannot be defended and we are allowed to get angry and question things. The wait and see approach only goes so far, it's like someone lobbing your young kid in the sea and not being able to react in case they somehow manage to stay alive and get to shore. It was clear lunacy from the off and you can't defend shit like that I'm sorry.

 

Should 5 defenders and 4 central midfielders have done better than what they did in that opening 45 minutes yesterday? Absolutely but it was complete lunacy to pick that side. People defending it because we were going to face a low block, are you saying the only way to counteract that is to go pure Gary Megson and try and create some turgid equilibrium? I've never ever seen Barcelona, Man City, Juventus, Liverpool, Bayern, Real deploy such a hideously negative side. Maybe thats what they are missing out on when they sometimes fail to break down defensive teams. What I find highly amusing though is Fulham who we perceived to be so unpalatebly defensive, seemed to pick a more attacking side than we did and found it so surprisingly easy to launch attacks as we had players ill equipped at trying to force the play themselves. 

 

It's a myth we can't break teams down at home, this was something we used to struggle with under Puel in a 4-2-3-1 where the defensive midfielders were unable to get the ball forward quickly enough to create space for the wide players. Go through the results under Rodgers and it's a who's who of crap teams who we put to the sword in 2019 bar Newcastle at the back end of the 2018/19 season and Norwich after the 8 game winning run in December. Then as the slump started to take hold we still put away dog shit like West Ham, Villa, Palace and Sheffield Utd. All teams last season who might come under the realms of teams who would come here and sit back. Incidentally the only home game against inferior opposition that we faced from January through to July who might come and sit back was Brighton and we picked a horribly negative side that day with 2 defensive midfielders and low and behold we created absolutely nothing and were lucky to get away with a point. 

 

Lets be clear here, this wasn't even us only fielding 1 winger and attacker and going with Maddison out wide like Rodgers had an obsession with at the start of last season. This was 5 defenders and 4 central midfielders, I keep thinking i've taken LSD. So I refuse to accept any excuses for last night's considered decision to put that disgrace of a team out and I'm even more disgusted that Brendan Rodgers hasn't apologised. It will take some time for me to get over this, but as long as he never ever makes such a cardinal sin again then I will eventually forget about it on a day to day basis. What a complete waste of an opportunity to maintain the pace with the top sides and it's frivolous and bizarre decisions like this that create disillusion in the team and confidence can drop which we saw last season and it doesn't end well. 

 

Players can get fined wages, I hope managers can too. If so, he deserves the maximum fine.

 

I think that's very measured, fair and sums up my feelings entirely. I applauded Rodgers more pragmatic approach against Man City compared with his total lack of game plan against them away last season.  I felt Rodgers, despite his love of a certain philosophy had turned a corner.

 

You can't however bask too long in the glory of such a great result and then offer such tripe tactics and formation against a team with such a poor defensive record. As soon as the team sheet was released you could fairly easily predict the outcome and if supporters can see it, then don't be surprised if the opposition manager can too. If you want to break down a team with a low block with pace, aggression and creativity, then you have to pick the sort of players that have the capability of able to deliver it. Whilst admittedly a generalisation, with the odd exception, big lumbering centre halves compared to particular midfielders or wingers just aren't going to afford you that. So why pick 3 including one ageing left back against a team known for leaking goals? Simply bizarre, over cautious and representative of a mind seemingly incapable of seeing the bleedin' obvious!

[FoyleFox]

23 minutes ago, Saxondale said:

 

They completely eliminated our attacking potency. Every through ball was cut out, every cross was defended and Maddison wasn't allowed any creative space.

We didn't show hardly any attacking potency for them to cut out.

[fuchsntf]

1 hour ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

Exactly this. I mean, you look at yesterday's performance and its something we have seen quite consistently during Rodgers reign. I don't want the man sacked. However, the performance was no different to West Ham or Villa or a few games from the second half of last season. Is it wrong to call it out ? Of course not. We barely had a kick in anger yesterday. That was a very hard watch. Its wrong to assume Fulham have all of a sudden mastered their defensive approach (like Norwich apparently did last year and then lost nearly all of their remaining games). Yesterday was unacceptable and fans have every right to criticise players and the managers. We were not prepared for the game. That doesnt mean the vast majority of "moaners" want the manager sacked. It just means that this shortcoming is now getting to be a problem and it is a problem. Sit back and nick a goal against Leicester - its easy to play these lot. 

I mean..This is absolute tosh..!!!   

Yesterdays game from the Leicester side...is something we have seen year in year out,including the title year..!!!

We are still in a Good position,but we having yet to produce any convincing performance in the PL so far this season. We have neither been here nor there,

but ,thats Leicester..!!

 

Yesterday was my time to have a rant, & Yes I want to See my Team start to put a character to our style of play, & give other Teams something to think about...!

I saw yesterdays game as a Chance for our young players to be told..go for it, we Trust you can Drive us, Now & in the future forward...

Justin,Thomas,Barnes,Fofana  & Under, have IMO proved they can Performance at the Top end of the PL.....

If we were a Top 6 team,under Klopp/Ferguson. Those 2 ( & others) would of thrown down that guantlet, more importantly

Trusted them to do it, yesterday was the Time to Take Off the protective gloves, & be arrogant....To Show the league, we trust the future to their hands...I

 

Our movement & Build up, was too slow & passive, it was us, that were too cagey & not prepared to take our opposite numbers on...We need to see more intent to Show our top 6-3 potential....Justin ( my MOM)  did one run,Maddison a couple of maybes runs,Thomas Wanted to but wasnt given the ball when free.

We played like we we were the Bottom side, no panache,no arrogance,no effort to Take in what was in Front of us....!

Last Night we saw how I expect put Losing Team to Match up.....West ham and Villa was a decent game,but more importantly they both stayed on the Front foot and Wanted to Show they also Enjoy showing that intent.....

Sorry .... but if we had won it ( despite our  injuries)  it would of been boring...!!!   And that is what is worrying me...

There are times to be Wary & pragmatic.....Yesterday wasnt it..!!

 

Even with Rodgers selection, I was ok with that, but the players should Stop pussy-footying  around...!!

 

 

 

Edited 1 December 2020 by fuchsntf

[Mickyblueeyes]

2 minutes ago, fuchsntf said:

I mean..This is absolute tosh..!!!   

Yesterdays game from the Leicester side...is something we have seen year in year out,including the title year..!!!

We are still in a Good position,but we having yet to produce any convincing performance in the PL so far this season. We have neither been here nor there,

but ,thats Leicester..!!ich

 

Yesterday was my time to have a rant, & Yes I want to See my Team start to put a character to our style of play, & give other Teams something to think about...!

I saw yesterdays game as a Chance for our young players to be told..go for it, we Trust you can Drive us, Now & in the future forward...

Justin,Thomas,Barnes,Fofana  & Under, have IMO proved they can Performance at the Top end of the PL.....

If we were a Top 6 team,under Klopp/Ferguson. Those 2 ( & others) would of thrown down that guantlet, more importantly

Trusted them to do it, yesterday was the Time to Take Off the protective gloves, & be arrogant....To Show the league, we trust the future to their hands...I

 

Our movement & Build up, was too slow & passive, it was us, that were too cagey & not prepared to take our opposite numbers on...We need to see more

intent to Show our top 6-3 potential....Justin ( my MOM)  did one run,Maddison a couple of maybes runs,Thomas Wanted to but wasnt given the ball when free.

We played like we we were the Bottom side, no panache,no arrogance,no effort to Take in what was in Front of us....!

Last Night we saw how I expect put Losing Team to Match up.....West ham and Villa was a decent game,but more importantly they both stayed in the Front foot

und Wanted to Show they also Enjoy showing that intent.....

Sorry .... but if we had won it ( despite our  injuries)  it would of been boring...!!!   And that is what is worrying me...

There are times to be Wary & pragmatic.....Yesterday wasnt it..!!

 

Even with Rodgers selection, I was ok with that, but the players should Stop pussy-footying  around...!!

 

 

 

So what I said was absolute tosh and then you go on writing a paragraph confirming what I said ? That this problem is something we are now consistently seeing in Rodgers reign. I’m as confused as scooby doo. 

[Vazman]

 I was met this morning with a printed full colour picture of the Fulham FC badge with Wooops in bold letters, (capitals I might add), stuck to my Office door. The banter is great in my workspace, but i had nothing to say in defence of the performance last night so sat for 40mins listening to an onslaught of friendly banter from a Newcastle supporter and a Rangers supporter 2 steps forward 4 steps back come on Leicester let's reverse that 4 steps forward.

[Luttfox]

I just dont get it, i know we have injuries, but if i was a manager i'd be picking the formation based on the players i have available in their best position, not shoehorning players to fit the formation, round pegs square holes

 

a tired 34 year old LB playing CB, a RB playing LWB, a Winger playing RWB, a CM playing on the right, you might aswell put Kasper up top, Vardy at CB and Mendy in goal

 

But then maybe thats why im not a football manager

[Wymsey]

3 hours 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. 

Good post.

 

But, be fair, spill the beans, and screenshot your Ignore List - to give those on it time to get the opportunity to change your perception of them around..

Edited 1 December 2020 by Wymsey

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, AKCJ said:

Immensely difficult to agree that the formation was "hilariously negative" given we were caught out for being too offensive for both goals. I don't see how the 3-4-3 can be seen as negative.

 

I know you look at it on paper and see those players but I can't believe you watched the game and thought Justin and Thomas were playing as defenders. In fact, if they were playing as defenders we may have gotten something out of the first half.

 

For me, blame has to lie in the way they played the game. We were slow and turgid. The likes of Maddison, Tielemans and Mendy were just not up to it. They didn't want the ball and when they got it they lacked any sort of quality.

 

Fault lies with the players. Unless Rodgers has said to them "I want you to play as slow as possible and for you to refuse to do basic running and tracking".

 

Ultimately, we have too many players playing right now that just aren't good enough. Justin, Thomas, Fuchs, Fofana (to an extent) and Mendy just do not have it in them to play consistently at a high level. I'm sure that will change when we get their replacements in Ricardo, Castagne, Soyuncu and Ndidi back.

 

Ultimately we need those players back and also we need to seriously replace Mahrez because none of the players we've signed in the Premier League to play right wing have been anywhere near Premier League quality.

 

So if we played 10 defenders up front you wouldn't call that negative? Its negative because you're asking non attacking players to play in positions where you attack the oppositions goal. 5 defenders and 4 central midfielders are going to be less equipped to do that in a 3-4-1-2 than if you had a variation of a number 10 and 2 strikers or forwards. If its merely a case of the " formation " that dictates whether a setup is negative or not then are you saying the importance of players playing in their natural positions is secondary?

 

Come on mate, just admit that what Rodgers did last night was an abomination and should be taken to task on it. Should those ten outfield players be enough to beat Fulham? That's not even the real issue, the issue is why make the game harder for ourselves by putting out an unnecessary selection. Our track record against dog shit at home has been phenomenal under Rodgers, even the 2 recent losses vs West Ham and Villa although were abysmal, both teams have dangerous this season and took the games to us. Teams who play a low block have seldom been a problem at home and yet Rodgers has suddenly ripped up what was successful against such teams and we have paid the price. The buck stops with him, no other team in our position would have done that.

[Gamble92]

21 minutes ago, Luttfox said:

I just dont get it, i know we have injuries, but if i was a manager i'd be picking the formation based on the players i have available in their best position, not shoehorning players to fit the formation, round pegs square holes

 

a tired 34 year old LB playing CB, a RB playing LWB, a Winger playing RWB, a CM playing on the right, you might aswell put Kasper up top, Vardy at CB and Mendy in goal

 

But then maybe thats why im not a football manager

Kasper playing up top sounds like a better idea than all the others tbh.

[kingfox]

I know we can’t view the Athletic, but the pinpoints of Rob’s tweet isn’t pleasant reading.

 

@Ric Flair makes a lot of good points in terms of breaking teams down at home is a myth.

 

However things have clearly changed a bit from the back end of last season, to the start of this one.

 

This is where the Puel comparisons come in, his downfall was because we were failing to beat the teams we should be beating. That pattern has occurred under Rodgers especially throughout 2020, last season it was more so about losing to these kind of teams away from home. Losses to Burnley, Norwich and Bournemouth, plus a draw to Watford, three of those four got relegated for christ sake, that’s embarrassing. We managed to stuff West Ham, Villa and Palace, yet we had poor performances against the likes of Southampton and Brighton.

 

This season so far it’s been the opposite, Rodgers has finally adapted away from home; however the type of away games we’ve had, have been absolutely perfect for a more defensive system. Man City, Arsenal and Leeds are three perfect teams to let them come onto you and hit them on the counter. This weekend at Sheffield United though could be a different story, it will be very interesting to see how he approaches this.

 

Now moving onto our home form, unfortunately this is where the Puel similarities come into question again, we didn’t see it much last season; however the start of this season, we are failing to break down teams we should be beating at home. Losing to West Ham, Villa and Fulham is embarrassing, that kind of run is almost as bad as some of our away results at the back end of last season.

 

Funny enough, West Ham and Villa are two of the teams we stuffed at the start of this year. About nine months later, they both return and it’s roles reversed. Both of those teams this time around came with an organised defensive game plan, West Ham especially got their approach to us absolutely spot on, they defended superbly well that night, many fans gave them credit, probably put it down to the wrong system and an off night, yet a few weeks later here we are again, having the same discussion after losing to Villa and now Fulham. Fulham have conceded the most goals this season, yet we hardly laid a glove on them until 85 minutes. 
 

So what on earth is going wrong? Have teams found us out when they come to the King Power, or is just down to playing an incredibly negative system, and things will look rosey again once he changes it?

[AKCJ]

2 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

So if we played 10 defenders up front you wouldn't call that negative? Its negative because you're asking non attacking players to play in positions where you attack the oppositions goal. 5 defenders and 4 central midfielders are going to be less equipped to do that in a 3-4-1-2 than if you had a variation of a number 10 and 2 strikers or forwards. If its merely a case of the " formation " that dictates whether a setup is negative or not then are you saying the importance of players playing in their natural positions is secondary?

 

Come on mate, just admit that what Rodgers did last night was an abomination and should be taken to task on it. Should those ten outfield players be enough to beat Fulham? That's not even the real issue, the issue is why make the game harder for ourselves by putting out an unnecessary selection. Our track record against dog shit at home has been phenomenal under Rodgers, even the 2 recent losses vs West Ham and Villa although were abysmal, both teams have dangerous this season and took the games to us. Teams who play a low block have seldom been a problem at home and yet Rodgers has suddenly ripped up what was successful against such teams and we have paid the price. The buck stops with him, no other team in our position would have done that.

I just don't see what changes could have been made that would have made such a difference?

 

You're talking about maybe something like Praet out for Under or Barnes. Even then it's splitting hairs, cases to be made for any of the three. Neither Fuchs nor Thomas are capable of playing as a left back in a Rodgers team and I don't think Justin is capable as a right back. Only really because of this ridiculous injury record and the emergence of Fofana have we had to resort to wing backs. Also because we simply don't own a right winger with an ounce of genuine quality on the ball.

We have gotten by with players like Justin and Mendy but I honestly just think they're being found out. Fulham just copied Liverpool's style of having their midfield press ours and they just folded. Every time Fulham had the ball, we were just jogging and every time we had the ball there was an obvious desire to win the ball back.

 

As I pointed out last night. We're 4th, we have 4 absolutely massive players to return (case to be made that all four get into 95% of the teams in the league). Lets just ride this period out. We have Sheffield Utd next week, we're already qualified in Europe and then the week after next we can look at bringing some of these big players back into the team for the Christmas period.

 

What team would you have played yesterday?

[smr]

Barnes scored on Thursday. Why didn't he start? 

 

Why doesn't Under start every game? 

 

Why did we set up so defensively against a shit team?