Fulham did an incredible job closing us down and smothering midfield. At some point in the game it was something like 8 shots to 3? When we on form it’s normally 2 shots to 15+.
If we play Thiago and Fab, it feels like we need someone more mobile than Hendo as the third midfielder, someone other than the front three tho can provide another easy pass ahead of the ball when we have it but quickly get behind the ball when we don’t.
Fulham started at 100mph in their hounding. With the ref allowing little follow on kicks, we should’ve adapted faster. The final 10 minutes of the first half, we started to spread the play wide and Andy should’ve done better with his crossing, and Diaz hitting the woodwork.
So credit to Fulham, even though on another day, the first goal would’ve not even developed with a call on the foul, and the second (a terrible pass by Matip) the ref may have called play on.
I think Fulham need to be given a lot of credit in that first 20 minutes, rather than just blaming the midfield. We found more solutions in the second half, but shot ourselves in the foot with wayward passing.
A lot of gloom on the first match of the season, but can use this match as motivation to go on a winning run that we have done many times in the past. $hitty lost their first game last season.
You can have your MotM pick or 3 picks if so inclined. Milly, together with Darwin, did move the needle of the match back towards us. Nevertheless, those are my picks.
In my view, Matip was better than anyone on the pitch early in the match. Great blocks, good forward run(s?) to create chances for our forwards when nothing works from the mid-field, or long range pass from VvD/TAA.
One observation that I’ve made : we seem to have leaders across the pitch, Virgil, Robbo, Hendo, Mo, Milner, yet when the whole team sucked, no one stood up to grab the game with both hands and galvanize the team to buck up. I would have thought Hendo or Virgil at least would have done that. But no. Something for Jurgen to ponder.
Shame Jota got injured in the useless nations whatever cup that no one cares about. Him coming on for Diaz in the final 15 minutes would’ve made a big difference, as he has a knack of hitting the target.
We were bossed in the middle of the park.Fabinho should be doing that to other teams and if he doesn’t we don’t really have an alternative.Sometimes you just need a midfielder to stick the boot in,Milner helped but by that stage Fulham had the confidence up