Fulham vs. Crystal Palace match thread

[TheBigToePunt]

What on earth was he doing hugging the touchline in the first place?

As others have said, looked like Khalaili dived in a bit and sold himself. Richards is then next in line and had to go out there. He did a very bad job of it, but he didn't just take it upon himself.

 

[JessieJ]

Come October I think we'll see a different back 3.

Admittedly it's early days, but the balance doesn't look right at present.

The new player from Atalanta would apparently provide much needed pace, and Tomiyasu is a good defensive reader of the game and senses danger in the penalty area (if he can stay fit).

When wing backs push as high as ours do, it's necessary to have pace to deal with counter attacks as well as defenders capable of 1 on 1 defending.
Guehi and Lacroix excelled at this.
If the current bunch can't do this, we may need to play a defensive midfielder to protect them.

Ah, after so many comments about the leaky or uncoordinated defence a reminder that we signed (at least on loan) the CB with the best stats of any U-23 year.old in the Europe last season and he played around 30 matches as well. There are certainly options now and i suspect that needs will dictate that there are at least a couple of "best line-ups" depending upon opposition and the number of matches. defending is imho also about the whole team so the structure needs to gel. Seems like Monsieur Sage is on it listentening to his comments.

 

[pssguy]

Our best team would have Sarr in it and probably JPM. We have Mingueza and Osorio to come in at some stage too if not as starters they're better options than we had last year . A fit Tomiyasu can only benefit the team as well.
Despite some reservations I thought we did alright and winning away after being behind twice is a good sign.
You'd think Fulham and Coventry would be more concerned and as for Tottenham...

If he is fit, surely he should be in ahead of Richards on his current form. He's as likely to pick up an injury in training as a game, so play him whilst he is available

 

[TheBigToePunt]

We look like a side transitioning from a low block hit on the break side to a high press team. The wingbacks have made the transition and our front three seem on board to a degree, but our midfield haven’t quite found their role and our back three are suffering from getting to know each other and working out how to defend with a high line. Hopefully it’ll improve in time but Richards needs to work out when to press because he lacks pace on the turn when his man beats him.

Agreed, though I would add one further observation. The obvious, and greatest risk when pressing high is that the opposition might be able to counter attack directly against us, that one pass into the space behind our defence could put them in on goal.

What I think is more likely to happen regularly is that teams counter attack against us more indirectly, by which I mean the ball gets turned over in the oppositions half, they then have an attack, but we are able to get bodies back into our box. The problem with this is that often the team is still retreating into position during the vital moments when the opposition attempt a 1v1 or play the final ball. We have bodies back but the players are not 'set' to defend properly. It's so much easier to defend if the game is in front of you and your body is facing outwards than it is if your traveling back still. Wharton missing that cut back yesterday was a good example.

That's also why wingers were always taught to put an early, low cross in if they had been released behind the opposition defence; the defending team might have bodies back in the box but they are all running back towards goal. That's what did for Canvot yesterday for one of Fulham's goals.

Compare all this to how we played under Pulis, Hodgson, Allardyce, and Glasner, in which we often dropped off into a low block early, so much so that we would often just stay in that negative shape even during our attacks. It's so much easier to defend well that way, although the price is paid in the attacking part of the pitch.

If Sage persists with a high line and pressing game then I'd expect a steady flow of what seem like poor bits of individual defending through many of our games.