Hello! Another Review, another depressing loss. This game was a bizarre one though because we were by far the better team, created more chances, looked more dangerous, put Leeds under more pressure and still ended up losing 3-0- which I think sums up our season.
The Goals were just awful from my point of view, the first goal was almost a carbon-copy of the goal we scored at the Weekend in that everyone just stopped when Bryan went down (far too easily) and Leeds did exactly what we did and played on until they heard the non-existent whistle and the ball was put in and it was a mismatch at the Back-Post for the Header. I'm not entirely downhearted after this performance because we did look the better side out of the two and it was just one of those days where Silvestri wouldn't let anything go by him- and the chances we had to leave Silvestri helpless we simply didn't take. That said, the fact we've conceded from a corner again is absolutely criminal in my book- you wouldn't have thought Kit was a Centre-Back given our general lack of organisation at Set-Pieces, and this goal conceded was exceptionally bad because we let the ball get to the back post without anyone getting to the ball and it was a Free-Header. The Third Goal pretty much summed up our night, it was a combination of poor defending and a slightly lucky finish.
Bettinelli barely had a thing to do apart from pick the ball out of the back of the net, He was helpless for the first goal just the way the header was directed, He could have perhaps got a stronger hand on Bamba's header for the 2nd goal, but that's from an onlooker's perspective and I couldn't really gauge how powerful the header was- and the 3rd Bettinelli was entirely helpless for because it bounced over him. It did seem like Bettinelli lost his head a bit tonight, after the first goal him and Bryan got really into it- and he went ballistic after Stafylidis was Sent Off and then his Goal Kicks etc. seemed a bit off and lacked a lot of accuracy and precision.
Stafylidis. I Accept that there are occasions some times when someone will get Sent Off for Two Yellows "just because" but his Red Card tonight was absolutely ridiculous, his first Yellow was for dissent- which doesn't always bother me, but the fact it was over a Throw-In is absolutely ludicrous- the second foul was a bit debatable as to whether it was worth a 2nd Yellow or not but the fact he put the ref in the position of having to make a decision so soon after his first yellow is unforgivable in my book. I don't have a lot to say about the other three in our Back Four- as I've already said this wasn't a 3-0 where we were constantly under pressure, and for long stages even any kind of pressure- from on offensive point of view Richards' crosses leave a lot to be desired but that's pretty much the only thing you can say about it.
I don't have a lot wrong to say about our Midfield tonight, Hoogland as the Right-Sided Midfield bothered me just because from an offensive and passing standpoint he isn't good enough, the number of times in the First Half Hoogland showed a good deal of strength to hold off his man, but then went on to misplace his pass was ridiculous- I do believe Hoogland best suited as a Midfielder, but only in the Holding Midfield Role where his offensive responsibilities are minimal. Tunnicliffe didn't do an awful lot wrong tonight, but he also didn't do a lot right- he missed arguably our best opportunity when Silvestri saved his shot in the 2nd Half, and he provides a lot of endeavour without much end product- which was pretty much our whole night epitomised. Parker put in a good shift tonight- it was far from his best game in a Fulham shirt, but the way they game played out I thought he did alright. We saw the worst of Bryan tonight, as I've already said he went down way too easily for the first goal- and I'm not entirely sure but I think Bryan was the one who missed the ball for the Second Goal. It's frustrating to be in the position where I'm slating Bryan because he started the game really positively and he looked up for it.
Smith annoyed me tonight, just because he's scored a few goals for us recently doesn't mean he's immune from criticism- and his finishing was shambolic tonight. In total we had 27 Shots- and I'd be willing to bet Smith had about half of them, and a Striker in the form he's in and some of the chances he did have it's beggars belief he didn't take one of them, but I'm willing to chalk up to "one of those days". McCormack's injury may be a blessing in disguise in my opinion, while McCormack is without a doubt one of our better players he's looked quite forlorn since his Hat-Trick against Forest and while I'm not sure of the extent of his injury I'd be surprised given the way he went down if he was fit for Saturday.
The Subs we made today were varied, I thought Kacaniklic looked dangerous when he came on- and he gave us some width down the Right-Hand side which we've lacked for ages. Fofana coming on was pretty much out of necessity with the McCormack injury and he had very little time to make an impact one way or the other.
I've decided to coin this the most dominant 3-0 loss ever, it was just bizarre in that way and pretty much sums up our season with regard to wasting opportunities and it costing us dearly. I'd definitely give Kit the Huddersfield game because tonights performance definitely didn't merit a 3-0 loss- and we can hardly blame Kit for us missing enough chances to win two games, the only thing I would put on Kit for tonights game would be our defending for the second goal.
Thanks for reading as ever, I know its depressing- but as Fulham fans we have to soldier on. A lot has been made about our "We beat Juventus 4-1 on this day 5 Years ago" thing- but from my point of view its like a tramp talking about the time he won the lottery, it just gets really depressing. Anyway these'll back in a few days in the build for the Huddersfield game- so stay tuned for the Preview and don't let Fulham get you down too much.
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