Hello again, todays game wasn't the best unless I'm mistaken we didn't have a shot on target- but it really isn't all doom and gloom on a Fulham front after the game today. Firstly, we have to keep in mind we were playing top of the league- that sentence could seem patronising to some, but there are always a section of Fulham fans who latch onto a perceived "bad" performance and act like the world is going to end. As I said in my preview, this is the hardest game we could have gotten at possibly the worst time- away to top of the league is a game I'd have preferred in a run of Saturday-Saturday games so we could have prepared properly for it, without having another game in the back of our minds the whole time.
Considering our defensive- and Bournemouths offensive records we didn't disgrace ourselves by any means to "only" lose 2-0, and this was somewhat similar to the Middlesborough game where we could have kept it at 1-0 had we tried to settle as opposed to pushing forward for an equaliser. The first goal came from our old nemesis- set pieces, it seems as though no matter what defence we play- what manager we have we simply can't defend corners on a consistent basis and we were punished again today. The second goal came from Fofana losing the ball- and when I get onto the midfield I'm not sure why he was still on the pitch at this point and the Arter goal was a good one and not a goal anyone could really have done anything about considering we were pushing numbers forward in an attempt to get the equaliser.
Once again Bettinelli was great, unless I'm mistaken he's saved 2 of the 3 Penalties he's faced for us this season and on top of the Penalty Save he also made a number of saves that kept us in the game. Similar to the Brentford game even though he conceded two goals he was our Man of the Match from the game by a clear margin and didn't really deserve to be on the losing team.
The defensive performance wasn't amazing, but in comparison to some of the games we've had away from home we were infinitely better. Considering the team we were playing against, with the threat they posed from nearly everyone I thought we coped pretty well with them. We coped with the majority of crosses into the box well enough- and we largely reduced them to half chances and shots from outside the box. I thought Grimmer was the worst out of the defenders we had today, his performances seem to vary greatly- although the performance today could be put down to the opposition. The Hutchinson-Bodurov partnership is still looking like our best one at present, and going into the Brighton game where Bent will presumably be starting we might as well stick with the Centre-Back partnership that kept him quiet for the majority of the game a month ago. I thought Stafylidis looked pretty solid today, he was pretty wasteful when he was going forward in my opinion- but that isn't a new occurence. Considering Bournemouths scoring record, and I think when we conceded early on we were fearing another 5-0 drubbing- but all things considered I'm pretty satisfied with our defensive efforts for the game today.
The midfield was an interesting battle today, firstly I think Kit got his tactics wrong with regard to the midfield today. I think we should have gone for a traditional 4-4-2 with George Williams and Pat Roberts coming in for Fofana and Ruiz, and this would have allowed us to counter with a lot of pace and be pretty dangerous considering Daniels and Francis aren't the fastest full-backs in the world. As such we stuck with the same team we played against Sheffield Wednesday, which I fundamentally disagree with because we should have prioritised the Brighton game where (despite their result today) the points are for the taking and it will be interesting to see how we shape up for the game on Monday. Unless Christensen was injured- which I'm praying he wasn't, I don't see a logical reason why Kit took LVC off instead of Fofana or Ruiz considering he's been our most potent midfielder this season and out of the three is the most likely to make something happen in the type of game we found ourselves in today. As such we took him off, and (an injury notwithstanding) I hope that sub was made with an eye on Monday where LVC will hopefully run the show. As such we kept Fofana on for the whole game, and he was at fault (to an extent) for the 2nd goal- but in the scenario we were in by that point I don't mind conceding another if we were properly hunting for an equaliser as we were doing. Bryan was pretty ineffective today, as I predicted he would be; however I don't see a reason why he shouldn't be able to play on Monday given the energy- or lack thereof he expended in the game today. I'll talk about it more with the Striker section, but the midfield today were largely shut out of the game today- which you have to credit Bournemouth for but this isn't a game where we should make sweeping judgements over our midfield for that exact reason.
As I've just referred to McCormack and Hugo in particular were completely devoid of service in todays game. The way we've played- even under "him" we've always had a clear chance that we should have put away- and that didn't really come today there were a few half chances but there wasn't a moment where you went "he should have scored that". As I've said though, considering the way Bournemouth defended today this isn't the game to make a sweeping judgement from- I've seen some people calling for Hugo to be dropped and that is complete nonsense, just because he was completely starved today doesn't mean he should be dropped; in my opinion he played pretty well against Sheffield Wednesday contrary to what some people have said and those are the two games he hasn't scored in after he scored in 4 of our last 5. McCormack was on balance our most dangerous player today, he looked like would make things happen- which is a common theme with him, in the second half of the season and aside from a goal there wasn't really much more McCormack could have done.
The subs we made frustrated me, as I said I don't think Christensen should have come off unless he was injured- but we eventually were playing the team I suggested starting with, and we started really pressuring Bournemouth when we did have that team. There is going to be an inevitable debate as to whether George Williams dived, I haven't seen a clear angle- and even if there was a Football League Show tonight (which there isn't) I doubt we'll see it from a proper "TV" angle so we'll be left to wonder and blow up pictures from the standard side-on angle to try and spot a touch on him. Roberts and Woodrow weren't really on long enough to make an impact- and that is one area where Kit has to improve as Roberts and Woodrow do have the ability to change the dynamic of a game- but bringing them on when the Clock starts with an "8" isn't giving them much time to bed into the game and do so.
As the title suggests I'm not going overboard as a result of one loss, we do need to have some perspective- we were playing a team who's last loss in the League was September 30th, a team who score goals for fun usually a team who under "him" would have swept us aside most likely reaching double figures in doing so. I'm never "happy" to lose, but I like to think of myself as reasonably level-headed and I accept we can't win every game but what I'm happy with from the game is that we pushed top of the league to the absolute brink and we could have kept it at 1 if we so wished in my opinion.
We're now exactly half way through the season, as a result of the games today we're 15th- which going into the season many people would've seen as an abject failure. However, after the first 8 games to be where we are I'm reasonably happy. You also have to consider we've played 5 of the Top 6 Away from home already this season, while I'm not saying we are guaranteed to pick up points at home to Bournemouth, Derby, Ipswich, Brentford and Middlesborough we are definitely more likely to- and if we are serious about even getting close to the Top 6 we need to. That combined with the fact we won't be giving other teams an 8 games head-start for the back 23 means I'm still quite hopeful of being in and around the playoffs given the points tally we've accumulated in the 15 Games we've had under Kit. We've got one game left of this calendar year on Monday- and if we win and results go our way we'll be Top Half going into the New Year and that will give us a foundation to build on for 2015.
Finally, what in gods name were we wearing today- I think White-Orange-White has to go down as one of our more bizarre combinations.
Thanks for reading as always, as always any feedback is appreciated on this- or any other blog. We've gotten one game left for the Calendar Year but there are also a "2014 in Review" and "January Transfer Window Preview" blogs coming before we hit 2015 so stay tuned for all four of those blogs which are still to come- thanks again and lets move onto Brighton.
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