Fulham v AFC Bournemouth

northstandmark said:
I just don’t understand why we look worse despite having more options and more fit players now. We should be coming into our stride now with the squad almost fully available, something that’s like rocking horse crap in modern football.

Seem we’re at our best with players out of position left right and centre and a threadbare bench.
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Backs to the wall syndrome?
 
borisatha said:
You always bring this up.
Was it a condition of bail that you watched the team. It sounds like it.
Trying to make out your some sort of hero going to Dean court in those days.
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That last sentence is about right...I'll go with that.

You're getting quite tidy at the banter box !
 
Vlad_The_Impaler said:
Andoni should now start Kerkez LB from start he's been fit for a while.
I think Lloyd is a decent CB but he can't attack like a modern LB and end of the day he's clearly leaving for nothing in Summer so Kerkez should be LB from now on as that's the future.
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Is he 100% fit though?

About five minutes after coming on he looked very stiff and was doing stretches during a break in play. He also didn’t seem as quick as I recall previously

Played ok in the main, although I thought at the time that he got too far in the middle and left a gaping left-back-sized hole for the third goal
 
Oh, and one more, just for Brian

Because of a woeful first half, we didn’t deserve to win today, it was entirely the team’s fault that we didn’t

Having said that, the officials were dire. Minimal decisions in our favour, Solanke got repeatedly fouled with no free kick given, time wasting by Fulham from the seventh minute onwards allowed to go unchecked, our possession pulled back because of non-head injuries to Fulham dying swans. The ref exercised no control whatsoever
 
Very subdued Riverside Rocket heading down the Motorway. It was a bit of a Curate's egg of a match. Both teams looked good at times and both teams looked equally as bad at times. Seeing as the Cherries are our specialty subject, I'll admit it was disappointing, especially when you know they can play much better. That first half was reminiscent of the team returning from Dubai after an international break. So many errors, bad decisions, losing second balls etc .

We had so many ficks, fancy turns, drag backs and dummies, our players didn't seem to know what to expect. Also didn't have much luck in the 50/50 balls, ref decisions etc but we are good enough to beat Fulham on our day. We weren't good enough to earn our luck. Second half much better but not enough to get a point : )

I'm sure Andoni will sort it out, the last 3 matches show we need to improve our decision making in the final third : )

Had a good chat with Eriktheviking and Audenshaw. Well done Audders, running that 6 1/2 miles from Battersea would be beyond most of us : )

Agree with ETV, the home atmosphere, it appears to me anyway, is what you get at a "corporatasied" stadium. Absolutely flat as a flattened pancake on Pancake day. 2-0 and 3-1 and they still didn't sing, clap their clappers or wave their complimentary flags. On the other hand our support was very good, given the first half and the score : )

Safe travels home everyone, I'm hopeful it's one of those matches Andoni and the team learn a lot from. Only a short hop up to Newcastle next week: )
 
Neto kept us in the game today.

We started sluggish, and got severely punished for it.

That’s the first time I’ve left Craven Cottage a loser.
 
Waz afcb said:
Most disappointing performance of the season.

Fulham were so ordinary but we just didn’t turn up in any way until the second half. First half was unacceptable, we were second to absolutely everything.

Major negatives:

Neto: time to give Travers a chance, he can’t be any worse. Neto is an okay shot stopper but the rest of his game just isn’t good enough. He looks absolutely terrified to leave the goal line and shows absolutely no authority in situations that a PL goal keeper should be commanding comfortably. That second goal summed him up. You need your keeper to command his area at times and Neto just isn’t capable. Don’t care if he’s captain, he needs to be dropped.

Christie: has been one of our star players this season but today he was so bad that it was almost comical at times. His passing was almost as bad as his shooting, which really is saying something. His decision making was so strange too, trying to dribble out in very confined areas of the pitch. Very disappointing.

Cook: again, he’s generally been decent this season but today was a dreadful showing from him. Was second to absolutely every second ball, looked nowhere near it.

Small positives:

Sinisterra: clearly has quality. The only player that really turned up in the first half. Always a threat and will make things happen if we get him in and around the box.

Unal: we gave him very little service but he looked very strong and composed on the ball, very promising hold up play and gives us a different option.

Favaire: again looked very calm and composed on the ball, carries the ball very well and looks classy. Where Tav was all huff and little composure, RF displayed an ability to pick up pockets of space.
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Most disappointing performance of the season, but 25 shots, ok only 4 on target. First half we were poor, but was much better in the 2nd.
Cook and Christie were ok, not the best. Thought Scott and tavenier looked lost
 
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2 stupid mistakes in the first half (1st was more bad luck than genuine mistake) cost us this one.
Having said that, how can we outshoot them 25-7 and only have 4 shots on target??
Some very poor shooting today cost us even more than the defensive mistakes.
 
adam0102 said:
Is he 100% fit though?

About five minutes after coming on he looked very stiff and was doing stretches during a break in play. He also didn’t seem as quick as I recall previously

Played ok in the main, although I thought at the time that he got too far in the middle and left a gaping left-back-sized hole for the third goal
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The more he starts the less stiff he will be, he was great before the injury and consistent playing is key to overcoming physical barriers. I work in the building trade, the first week back after 3 weeks out the body feels everything, the muscles are heavy and getting up early next day to go through it all again is not easy. But after you've done it 4 weeks in a row the body quickly adapts and the first week becomes a distant memory. And I'm far from a fit professional athlete and footballer but the body does that to anyone.
 
Was reminiscent of our early season form. We weren’t actually playing badly in a lot of those games, we were just haemorrhaging goals and losing games. Lots of unforced errors today, wingers mostly misfiring, and we seem to have lost the steel that we generated in the run of good form. Even with all that, we’re creating chances still. I’d rather lose with 25 shots than with 3. Proves imo that the formula is the right one, just that sometimes the personnel don’t perform as they normally would. Solanke had a bit of an off day too; Ünal looked quite sharp when he came on though.

I do feel like we look worse without Kluivert in the No10, too. He also gives the ball away and can be frustrating, but the way he presses seems to work a lot better for the team overall. I think we missed that endeavour today. It’s also good that Adams is back fit, because Cook and Christie both need high-level competition for their places. I’d like to see Kerkez and Kluivert back in the team, with Sini and Semenyo on the wings. Tavernier has been rank for a while now.
 
Another angle on this - no away game in this league will be easy for Boscombe.
We managed a 4-3 aggregate over the two games v Fulham...the home game in a run of good form ..and this defeat in a barren run.

Most of our attackers are not so hot on shooting accurately ...and our defenders are still quite mistake prone....so we are very average really arent we ?

So ...All this talk of the 'very talented squad' is basically Forum Elite orchestrated hogwash...you expect a certain level of talent and quality from a PL squad...but allowing your bias towards the players of your club to affect your judgement is plain daft...you need to be honest and truthful....

A problem we have, I believe....and it's been a problem in most games...is the lack of leadership when it gets tough.
The next two games will test this and whether Andoni Iraola really has his hands firmly gripping the tiller. :shrug:
 
Before the season started you'd say wingers were our biggest strength and depth but they've all been disappointing considering the competition of places with the exception of Sini which was probably the deciding factor we decided to sign him permanently early.
 
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