When will Fulham ever learn to defend at Set-Pieces? I don't even necessarily think it's a Kit thing- actually I do but more on that later, it just seems like a Fulham thing. Corners and Free-Kicks felt like Penalties today, and I would probably have been more confident of us keeping the ball out of the net from a Penalty to be honest given the way Lonergan's played so far this season. Given how we started the game today in a way I'm actually happy we didn't grab a late equaliser, we didn't deserve it at all and it would have been a wake up call to all of the players after the last few games where we've won- but done our best to blow it. I'm not saying the players were complacent today, but it definitely looked like they were.
All three of the Sheffield Wednesday goals were basically the same. Wallace delivery, Poor Marking/Defending, Header, Goal. It's not a bad tactic to have to be honest, so credit to Wednesday on that front. It's just amazing to me that we're still conceding goals from Set-Pieces. I'm not sure if we practice them in training, if we are it's simply not good enough practice- and if we don't WHY THE HELL DON'T WE? It just reflects poorly on Kit and the Coaching Staff, even in games where we haven't conceded (see Blackburn) we've still looked shaky from Set-Pieces and it just so happens that the ball hasn't ended up in the back of the net (or more specifically not deemed to have gone over the line).
The Jamie O'Hara goal was 100% not deserved, but it doesn't really matter. It was unfortunate for Westwood with the deflection, but they all count. The Cairney goal was actually a pretty good one from our perspective, but in a way that makes it more annoying when we're so impotent for large parts of the game and it ends up costing us points. I hate statistics in general because people use them as their entire basis of an argument when it never tells you the full story, but taking a quick look at them today- we've had 62% Possession and only managed to get three shots on target. Simply put, that isn't good enough.
One of the very few positives from the game today was Andy Lonergan. I think this game from a Fulham and Andy Lonergan perspective can be perfectly summed up by the first goal. Initially it was a great save by Lonergan to keep out a Header from Bannan, they got a corner and somehow Fernando Forestieri not only got to the ball from a corner- HE SCORED A HEADER! It's the same as quite a few times last season with Bettinelli where we've conceded a number of goals and yet our Keeper's been one of, if not our best player. He was quite shaky in terms of coming out for Set-Pieces and whether he should have done so or not, but that's a bigger issue than simply his decision making and speaks of just complete disorganisation when it comes to Set-Pieces from our perspective. He's probably at fault for one of the goals today, but were it not for him we'd have conceded a lot more than 3 anyway so I'm willing to forgive him.
I don't like being right when it comes to me doubting players and just having big worries in terms of their performances. With that in mind, Tim Ream was just murdered in the First-Half. Nuhiu just caused us no end of problems and in the First-Half it wasn't even a contest when Nuhiu got next to Ream. On another day, with another Ref- Nuhiu would also probably have gotten Stearman sent off in the First-Half, it was just an all around bad day at the office. I said it in one of my Blackburn posts that there's a fine line between allowing time to gel and giving time to something that's not working, I'm not saying Ream/the Stearman and Ream partnership has crossed that line- but it's definitely something to think a lot about and at this stage it should still be our first-choice partnership primarily because of lack of options. Nobody was "good" today, that said Jazz Richards was once again for me one of our better players today. He goes under the radar a bit, but apart from the foul for the Rotherham Penalty he hasn't really put a foot wrong this season. It was far from James Husband's best game in a Fulham shirt, which of course it would be given how I praised him in my Preview yesterday. I was interested to see how Husband would do when he was pushed up to the Left-Hand side of Midfield with Ream behind him but he didn't really have a chance to settle into the role before he was taken off.
Ben Pringle hasn't exactly impressed since he's come in let's put it that way. He just had another shocking game today and was rightly subbed off at Half-Time. The thing is, Kit knows this- because he keeps subbing him off and yet he keeps persisting with him. Kacaniklic wasn't even on the Bench today, so I'm willing to assume he was injured- but for Stoke I'm expecting either Kacaniklic if he's back fit, Fredericks (again if he's fit) or what we did today in the Second-Half with Husband or Cairney going onto the Left-Hand side. Speaking of Cairney, he of course got his goal- but as with the rest of the Midfield he was completely out of the game for large parts. He improved to no end in the Second-Half, but as with the team as a whole it was too late. If anyone's deserved a goal this season for us it's Jamie O'Hara, and as with Richards I won't go as far as saying he was good- but if they put up a MOTM Vote for the game today (firstly I'll scream) I'll probably end up voting for O'Hara. Tunnicliffe didn't have his best game, and he wasted a number of chances today- I know that's not really his job but it's still annoying.
McCormack, well he was there- or at least his name was on the Team Sheet I can't actually confirm he was on the pitch today. The same can really be said for Dembele, I wouldn't have subbed him off and instead I'd have just fully gone for it taking off Tunnicliffe moving Cairney inside and played a 4-3-3/4-3-1-2. We were two goals down, what was there to lose? That sub did actually annoy me, while Dembele wasn't in the game that much- he's shown he has the capability to make an impact so when we're chasing a game to take a player like that off just doesn't make sense to me.
If Kit hadn't have used all three subs today we should have just left him in Sheffield, and the subs did actually make somewhat of an impact in that we got better in the Second-Half- although I'm not sure how we could have gotten worse. Yes, height was an issue today- but the fact is even with Dan Burn on the pitch we still conceded from another Set-Piece. Everyone talks about every team getting "one more chance" in a game- and it's just unfortunate that the chance fell to Burn late on. Christensen came on and was one of the rare players actually pressing the Wednesday players when he came on- but on the whole he really did nothing. I've already had my say on the Woodrow sub, and the taking off of Dembele- so it's not really worth getting into it again.
We're just making basic errors in every game now, and as I said in my Preview if we keep showing the naivety we showed in the Rotherham and Blackburn games sooner or later we will be punished- and today we were. I think these next three games will really make the decisions when it comes to Kit. Three games, all at Home against tricky teams will either make or break Kit- now he's gotten his squad it's all on him and should we lose all three the pressure will be as big, if not more so than it was in August.
Thanks for reading as always, these Fulham posts are back on Monday with the Stoke Preview- where hopefully we can move on from today's game as quickly as possible so stay tuned for that. As already said these next three games will be crucial for Kit- but we can only hope for the best and hope we take the last 25-30 Minute display from today into the Stoke game. The day we actually perform well for 90 Minutes is the day that SO much pressure on Kit will dissipate, but I can't see that day coming any time soon. Thanks again for reading, I hope you have a good rest of the weekend and can forget today's game as quickly as possible.
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