Fantastic 3pts... 'Points over performance' has never been truer than today's game.
Obviously the back 5 have barely played with each other but at times our press was so, so bad. The number of times Mitchell arrived late and an easy ball was played passed him, where an equally late Canvot would be arriving only to then leave caverns of space behind him. It happened so often and was painful to watch. I'm not particularly blaming those two, as pressing is a coordinated team effort but it was so easy for Fulham to play through and nearly led to our downfall numerous times.
Another thing we often do when we press is over commit to intercept the ball, when we miss our midfield gets completely bypassed. The best teams apply the pressure on the opposition but don't dive in, they force a bad pass or commit the foul - but we are often not able to do either.
In the post match interview Sage said that there needs to be huge improvements in defence which is good as there's plenty to work on!
To me it still looks like the current formation actually exposes our players weaknesses rather than play to their strengths I.e the 2 man midfield overstretches our two not very mobile CMs, 3 at the back doesn't increase solidity at the back and hands over midfield control to the opposition.
...but we won. Despite the negative comments I actually thought Khailili did well for his second start, looked a bit shaky defensively, but who didn't, and he showed his threats going forwards.
Great for Mitchell to get his goals although Bobb did give him one of the toughest afternoons I've seen him have for a while.
Disasi got some good last ditch blocks in.
Timber showed promise.
Hendo with some big saves.
Really pleased for Pierre to get his first win on the board and refreshing to see substitutes used!
Lovely (if I'm being honest quite lucky) 3points... I'd be fuming if I was a Fulham fan.
COYP