Fulham vs. Crystal Palace match thread

chris richards looks like he has lost the plot ,he seemed to have lost his pace at latter part of last season ,he is a very likeable player and person and tries very hard but perhaps he has just had to much football and needs a rest atm he is a bit of problem to say the least 😕
 
PatrickA said:
I was encouraged to note Sage’s post match reaction acknowledging the importance of getting the back 3 right and that it ‘all starts from there.’
Some may not have liked him highlighting the mistakes by Richards and Canvot, essentially breaking football’s silent rule about ‘not naming names’ , but he did acknowledge their improvement in the second half.
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Unusual for managers to criticise players publicly but watching it back on MOTD you can't argue with it.

Perhaps Chilly or Tommy could fit in left centre
 
blackgirl3 said:
chris richards looks like he has lost the plot ,he seemed to have lost his pace at latter part of last season ,he is a very likeable player and person and tries very hard but perhaps he has just had to much football and needs a rest atm he is a bit of problem to say the least 😕
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He was at his best when he had Guehi and Lacroix alongside him. Before that he looked a bit dodgy and has gone back to that.

What I’ve seen of yesterday it didn’t look like him and Khalali had a great understanding. Richards had his worst moments when he was dragged wide into positions you’d want the right wing back to be covering. Hopefully that will develop with time given they’ve only played together for 5 minutes.

Lots of work to do defensively but much better doing it having got some points on the board
 
JHB said:
He was at his best when he had Guehi and Lacroix alongside him. Before that he looked a bit dodgy and has gone back to that.

What I’ve seen of yesterday it didn’t look like him and Khalali had a great understanding. Richards had his worst moments when he was dragged wide into positions you’d want the right wing back to be covering. Hopefully that will develop with time given they’ve only played together for 5 minutes.

Lots of work to do defensively but much better doing it having got some points on the board
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Richards seems to lack discipline in his position, he wonders off leaving gaps and then when he is called upon (irrespective of who’s next to him) he lacked quality, speed and composure. Maybe he does need a leader next to him, who tells him where to be and what to do as his own decision making seems terrible at the moment.
 
I think the point of Sage’s comments about Richards and Canvot was that he didn’t slag them off because it puts extra pressure on them and doesn’t help performances. It’s a point he is making to us just as much as the players.

I know it’s early days but I’m beginning to think we may have found an excellent manager as well as a decent person.
 
MarkA333 said:
It’s what happens next that matters. Will Sage persist with the perceived mistake makers or will he change things up?
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Khalaili and Mitchell are certain to start, so that just leaves getting the balance of the centre half formation right. Don't really want too much trial and error and hopefully it can be sorted on the training ground.
 
It’s good that we have the Middlesbrough game midweek as this gives Sage a free hand to choose a new defensive line up which then has a chance to shine potentially. Also maybe Sarr may have recovered emotionally to warm the bench by then.
 
The back 3 did look disjointed from highlights , but with 1 senior , 1 new CB and a youngest thats still learning , hopefully that can be addressed in training and the Middlesbrough match , we have played 3 matches and not had the same back 3 , so that could be the issue , worried not yet we have 4 winnable matchs before international break
 
Having watched Fulham's home game against Chelsea, I was hopeful that we could take advantage of their poor defending - which we duly did.

What I wasn't expecting was Palace to look so open themselves.

The back three clearly need time to settle in and work together. Disasi was solid but either side of him Canvot and Richards gave cause for concern. If Sage suspects those three can't work as a unit then at least now he has some options. But I expect him to work hard on getting it right with them first.

First half in particular, Fulham were causing us problems in the pocket down their right. I expected a tactical tweak at half time to mitigate that but it didn't happen. But again, we're integrating new players so hopefully that will be addressed.

It's a shame Sarr was ' injured '. He would have had a field day against that Fulham defence.

Fulham were one of my pre season tips to go down this season. Which should actually guarantee they stay up ! But they must be concerned at losing their opening three games.

For Palace, this is the building block for the next run of games.
 
I was disappointed with how easy were were to carve open in the first half. I am a big Wharton fan but I dont think he played well either but getting the negatives out the way I thought our resilience and determination shone through. Before the game I worried a bit where the goals were coming from. Mitchell could (and would) have had a hatrick if he'd stayed on. Put him up front! 🤣
I always felt our first 2 games were likely to yield nothing and that our season started in this game. This has proved to be the case. I think we can really push on now with confidence growing and weaknesses being identified and rectified. Great result. Just what we needed.
COYP!
 
EagleEddie said:
Richards seems to lack discipline in his position, he wonders off leaving gaps and then when he is called upon (irrespective of who’s next to him) he lacked quality, speed and composure. Maybe he does need a leader next to him, who tells him where to be and what to do as his own decision making seems terrible at the moment.
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He has not looked good so far. First goal yesterday prime point. I imagine when he had ML next to him he was being led / guided as you suggest.
 
kevlee said:
He has not looked good so far. First goal yesterday prime point. I imagine when he had ML next to him he was being led / guided as you suggest.
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Not that he was ever fast, but he’s looked even slower this season, but that could just be his lack of pace is now being exposed, as you say with out LaCroix next to him
 
RE back 3

Will be interesting to see what Sage does.

I thought Canvot was broadly ok, but maybe a couple of idiotic passes. He's better than that. Feels like thats a bit of experience and learning when those balls are on or not.

Disasi was ok I guess, but turned quite easily a couple of times.

Richards is more of a conundrum. We know he's good enough, but he's been a mess all season, never tight enough. Or then gets too tight and gets turned. Robinson had Khalaili pinned down most of the match, and Richards just couldn't figure out how to deal with Placios/Garcia.
 
Clearly the defence is work in progress… but don’t think we can lay it on losing Lacroix. I was a big fan of him, but feel we got good money given he wanted to leave. lest we forget with him in defence we conceded 15 goals in our last 6 games, and France conceded 6 against England with him in the team (albeit a nothing game). Moreover, Chelsea’s defence is proving very leaky. Losing Guehi (and not replacing him - either in the centre of defence or as a captain marshalling them) has obviously had a much greater impact - hard to replace one of England’s best centre backs.

I’m confident it will come. 3 points on the board takes the pressure off and I have faith in Sage.
 
For each of the two goals, our wingbacks were caught way upfield. Canvot played a careless pass for the first and that led to a goal and Richards got done for pace by on the right with Khalaili way upfield. Yes they were both mistakes bit our wingbacks were way upfield. So some of this is Sage’s fault. If we are going to play such an aggressive pressing style, we need very quick and dependable centre backs. I would drop Richards and Canvot for now and play Tomiyasu, Disasi and Chilwell as the three centrebacks. Mitchell scored our first two goals as the furthest forward and Chilwell and Khalaili were the furthest forward for the third goal. So it bears dividends but then there has to be cover. It’s a very adventurous style of football, that’s for sure!
 
Although comments about the shaky nature of the back 3 are accurate, Fulham got to them far to easily through our midfield which didn't provide any sort of first line of defensive cover and I would strongly reiterate that this is where to be more competitive. I assume Timber was brought in for this exact purpose.
 
est1905 said:
I was disappointed with how easy were were to carve open in the first half. I am a big Wharton fan but I dont think he played well either but getting the negatives out the way I thought our resilience and determination shone through. Before the game I worried a bit where the goals were coming from. Mitchell could (and would) have had a hatrick if he'd stayed on. Put him up front! 🤣
I always felt our first 2 games were likely to yield nothing and that our season started in this game. This has proved to be the case. I think we can really push on now with confidence growing and weaknesses being identified and rectified. Great result. Just what we needed.
COYP!
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Let’s be honest, we need our CMs to help protect the defence. Wharton miles off it yesterday. Perhaps dreaming of his next move ?
 
Timber looks like a fierce combative player, precisely what we need in midfield. I would love to see us play three in midfield with Kamada and Wharton as the other two. But I think Sage loves high pressing wing backs as his strategy so we need three dependable centre backs and at the moment that’s not Richards and Canvot. This can change with time but for now, I would bring in more dependable solutions, which we have.
 
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