kirsikka
UTC Legend
Parker forced to shuffle the pack again and do something unusual due to all the players out. Again, it looked like he'd made astute decisions. The first 30 was ding dong stuff before Fulham took control and we were gasping for the half time whistle.
Brilliant restart obviously but what was noticeable is the early move to bring on Pearson. There would have been no pregame plan to give him 35 minutes (30, 20, 10, yes. 35 is just an odd number) so after watching 10 more minutes of ding dong stuff Parker decided to be tactically decisive, and try and take the pace out of the game.
To be fair to him, for 20 minutes it looked like it was working but once Fulham went all out attack, he could have looked to switch things up again and put the pressure back on them. However, by ceding the territory and letting a team of attack minded players have the ball it was going to result in a siege.
Shame it didn't come off but credit where it's due, despite missing a huge chunk of his team the first two calls he made looked to be absolutely correct.
Next time we meet Fulham it will be interesting to see what happens when we're, hopefully, a less depleted team.
The second half wasn't so much an enjoyable watch as an endurance, wishing time away.
One thing to note. We really struggled to pass our way through that high press and the long ball rarely worked but a couple of times we dinked it over the front of the press to a man in space and the pitch opened up. That has to be a tactic we look to utilise more when teams try to do that against us. If we'd been more consistent with breaking away like that their manager might have pulled them back or, even if he didn't, others would.
At the end of it, given the players out or only just back from injury, I'd have taken a point in a heartbeat pre-kickoff so I'm remain happy with that.
Oh, and if Harry Wilson had stumbled and gone down naturally instead of throwing himself off a cliff then he may well have got a penalty. His own theatrics cost him there. Good.
Positives performances:
S Cook: MotM by a country mile. Immense. What does Parker do when Kelly is back if Cookie keeps playing like that? He's done what he had to do... kept his mouth closed whilst he was shut out of the team and waited for an opening on the pitch and let that do his talking.
Solanke: Tireless running and excellent pressing. Great finish. The ball was sticking at times even when isolated on his own, which was what we missed in the last match.
Travers: Harsh on him not to get a clean sheet out of that performance
Room to improve:
Stacey: Has looked really flustered of late and had a difficult first half. Improved in the second but with Smith back his place must be under threat.
Anthony: He's a young player so we have to expect and accept ups and downs. This was a down. I'm confident the next will be an up.
Brilliant restart obviously but what was noticeable is the early move to bring on Pearson. There would have been no pregame plan to give him 35 minutes (30, 20, 10, yes. 35 is just an odd number) so after watching 10 more minutes of ding dong stuff Parker decided to be tactically decisive, and try and take the pace out of the game.
To be fair to him, for 20 minutes it looked like it was working but once Fulham went all out attack, he could have looked to switch things up again and put the pressure back on them. However, by ceding the territory and letting a team of attack minded players have the ball it was going to result in a siege.
Shame it didn't come off but credit where it's due, despite missing a huge chunk of his team the first two calls he made looked to be absolutely correct.
Next time we meet Fulham it will be interesting to see what happens when we're, hopefully, a less depleted team.
The second half wasn't so much an enjoyable watch as an endurance, wishing time away.
One thing to note. We really struggled to pass our way through that high press and the long ball rarely worked but a couple of times we dinked it over the front of the press to a man in space and the pitch opened up. That has to be a tactic we look to utilise more when teams try to do that against us. If we'd been more consistent with breaking away like that their manager might have pulled them back or, even if he didn't, others would.
At the end of it, given the players out or only just back from injury, I'd have taken a point in a heartbeat pre-kickoff so I'm remain happy with that.
Oh, and if Harry Wilson had stumbled and gone down naturally instead of throwing himself off a cliff then he may well have got a penalty. His own theatrics cost him there. Good.
Positives performances:
S Cook: MotM by a country mile. Immense. What does Parker do when Kelly is back if Cookie keeps playing like that? He's done what he had to do... kept his mouth closed whilst he was shut out of the team and waited for an opening on the pitch and let that do his talking.
Solanke: Tireless running and excellent pressing. Great finish. The ball was sticking at times even when isolated on his own, which was what we missed in the last match.
Travers: Harsh on him not to get a clean sheet out of that performance
Room to improve:
Stacey: Has looked really flustered of late and had a difficult first half. Improved in the second but with Smith back his place must be under threat.
Anthony: He's a young player so we have to expect and accept ups and downs. This was a down. I'm confident the next will be an up.
Last edited:
