"I'm not an ultimate pessimist as some Fulham fans have a tendency to be- and realistically barring an absolute horror run of results we won't go down this season"- Me, Birmingham Preview; 6th February- Famous Last Words.
We've got another Review, and another loss. I was borderline not going to do this because if the players don't care- why should I? I'll refer everyone reading this- if you haven't already to read the blog I did the day after Ipswich (http://soccerballandwrasslin.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/fulham-what-needs-changing.html) Where I outlined what I'd change tactics wise- because its as relevant as ever.
Lets get the positives out of the way; Wigan, Millwall and Rotherham all lost. That means we're still 5 Points clear of the Relegation Zone.
Now the positives are out of the way lets get on to the goals. When will we ever learn to defend corners? We had started quite well in my opinion- and then on Wolves' first real chance they converted from the corner. The Second Goal had a ridiculous number of passes leading up to it- and pretty much summed up where we are as a team, because we just let Wolves play and maneuver themselves into position and gave Sako pretty much as much time as he needed to line-up the shot and convert it. The third goal was ridiculous- the fact nobody took the ball of Sako was criminal, and the fact he managed to find the net with his shot was even more criminal- and that was game over.
Bizarrely considering we conceded three goals, Bettinelli had an alright game. He could have arguably done better for the third goal- but the other two, and indeed the third can also be equally attributed to poor defending. If it wasn't for some strong saves on the part of Bettinelli it'd have turned into a Chris Gayle v Zimbabwe scenario.
Unsurprisingly there'll be criticism for the defence off the back of todays game, but I think a lot of the criticism that'll be levelled at the defence has to fall at the feet of Kit. I want Kit to either say our defence is lazy and doesn't close people down enough- or he's told them to avoid physical contact at all cost, its one or the other. All of the defenders had a bad game today, so I'm not going to single any singular player out as playing specifically bad- unlike Ipswich where it was clear by quite a long way Stafylidis was at fault. I'm not going to suggest Dan Burn, instead I'll suggest someone who'll be high on confidence after he's won the South American Youth Cup Tiago Casasola. He's far from a finished article- but we need to break up the Bodurov & Hutchinson partnership ASAP- and I'm not sure we can wait for Amorebieta to get back to break up the partnership as I suggested after Ipswich. I wouldn't be rushing to extent Jazz Richards' Loan because he appears to be cursed- it was good to see Sean Kavanagh come back in today, but it looks like he'll still be used as a Left-Sided Midfielder.
I believe I used the words stagnant in relation to our Midfield less than a week ago. We started quite positively, with Bryan looking quite good- and Fofana looking lively; and that continued to an extent until we conceded the 2nd Goal. But on the whole we looked completely devoid of any ideas. We can only blame Kit for Christensen's recent dip- because he tried to fast-track him back in for ironically Wolves in the FA Cup; and thats hindered his development and set him back long-term for games that actually matter. I don't know how Tunnicliffe has kept his place in the team for tonight, its become clear he isn't suited for the "Parker" role- so if we were going to rest Parker we should have either changed formations (which is a must anyway) or played someone who can actually play as a Holding Mid. I don't even care if we played someone like Sol Sambou. It was good to see Hoogland back in the team (on the bench) and he would be my pick for Holding Midfielder on days Parker is being rested, even if he wasn't fully fit- he played 90 Minutes in the World Youth Cup thing against Chelsea, so I would find it hard to believe he couldn't have managed 60 Minutes in a role that's main requirement is to be able to read the game and mop up.
Matt Smith is not the answer. I remember just before Jol was sacked it seemed everyone wanted us to give Moussa Dembele a run in the team- and what do you know, he hasn't even managed to get a Goal in the Championship let alone the Premier League. I respect Matt Smith and his ability don't get me wrong- but the way we're set up to play doesn't suit Smith for a start, and we create so few clear cut chances in comparison to Bristol City he'd find it just as hard going. I highlighted McCormack's regression and that continued tonight- since Forest he's scored twice, but both have been gimme's and to match the trajectory of the team McCormack seems to have lost his spark. Rodallega is in the team to score goals, but when the team is giving him nothing- and he has to feed on scraps I'm not sure how much Rodallega is to blame.
As I've already said it was good to see Sean Kavanagh back in the team- albeit as a midfielder, but we need him to slot back into his natural Left-Back role as soon as possible. Woodrow coming on for Hugo was too late to make a real impact on the game both in terms of time and score- I was surprised we didn't start Woodrow tonight, especially considering we went down the supposed "resting" route tonight with Kacaniklic & Parker.
All we can do is turn our attention to Derby and pray for the best- Thanks for reading as always, I know its bleak and all. Stay Tuned for the Derby Preview, and it'll be interesting to see if Kit survives the week.
No comments:
Post a Comment