Just to take a bit more of a holistic view of what's going on at the moment - there's thoughts on the post match thread - late subs, getting Manor and/or Wilson more minutes etc, which FWIW I agree with.
A point of concern with Silva coached teams in the past is that they can go on big losing runs where minimal points are obtained. If we lose to Chelsea at the Bridge then that'll be 3 losses on the bounce. I have a lot of faith in this team, and we've been super impressive for the most part this season but is a run like that possible for us?
In reality we shouldn't even be competing with the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham etc, the squad was built to stay up. If we were having draws/losses with teams that are 14th and below then id be worried, but thankfully we aren't
Quote from: Sammyffc on January 23, 2023, 11:59:45 PM
In reality we shouldn't even be competing with the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham etc, the squad was built to stay up. If we were having draws/losses with teams that are 14th and below then id be worried, but thankfully we aren't
I agree with that.
My main point of contention will be that will these losses see us lose our confidence and start to drop points against those sorts of teams (who incidentally all seem to be splashing a lot of cash to try and stay up)?
Quote from: Sammyffc on January 23, 2023, 11:59:45 PM
In reality we shouldn't even be competing with the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham etc, the squad was built to stay up. If we were having draws/losses with teams that are 14th and below then id be worried, but thankfully we aren't
Absolutely! A very few months ago the target was to finish 17th!
Shows how far we've improved that we're competitive against the top clubs.
Before the season started, I just wanted us to stay up, and anything better than that would be a bonus. Now it's totally possible for a top half finish. I'm not worried about a couple of losses.
Quote from: Black and White Town on January 24, 2023, 12:18:59 AM
Shows how far we've improved that we're competitive against the top clubs.
Before the season started, I just wanted us to stay up, and anything better than that would be a bonus. Now it's totally possible for a top half finish. I'm not worried about a couple of losses.
Definitely.
It's important to ensure that we don't go on one of those horror runs that have been a feature of Silva sides in the past. It starts with a couple of competitive losses and then morale can plummet.
We can't afford to be complacent and rest on our form in the first half of the season.
Got to make sure we keep playing the right way, and take advantage when the fixtures start to open up again.
COYW
Yes, three points from the last three matches against top six teams is not that bad but not scoring a single goal in the last two matches is of concern.
William, BDR, Wilson, Solomon and James are all good wide attacking players but none of them seem to be causing big problems to opposing defenses.
Appreciate the thought as it was a concern of mine in the first year of Silva, but does seem a bit OTT.
As others have said, we were not expecting to compete with the likes of Chelsea and Spurs at the start of the season. 3 losses on the bounce doesn't look great, but on the flipside, IF we beat chelsea, doesn't look so bad after all does it? I imagine that a lot of posters here would have been content with 3 from a possible 9 from those three games just gone. 6 from a possible 12 with Newcastle, Spurs and Chelsea would be a very good return for Fulham. The problem is that we have set the standards so high this season; just have a look at the posts on here before the season started. I have to keep reminding myself that survival was and still is the goal here. However, I do genuinely think we will finish top 10.
Even if we were to lose to Chelsea in 10 days time, I have seen enough from this team to know that we will pick up many more points. There is something special about this squad of players. That said, I am really f****** annoyed at last night's result as we certainly deserved more from it and Spurs were there for the taking, no doubt.
I am feeling confident for Chelski. Genuinely.
In Marco I trust!!
Quote from: southwest6 on January 24, 2023, 11:05:14 AM
Appreciate the thought as it was a concern of mine in the first year of Silva, but does seem a bit OTT.
As others have said, we were not expecting to compete with the likes of Chelsea and Spurs at the start of the season. 3 losses on the bounce doesn't look great, but on the flipside, IF we beat chelsea, doesn't look so bad after all does it? I imagine that a lot of posters here would have been content with 3 from a possible 9 from those three games just gone. 6 from a possible 12 with Newcastle, Spurs and Chelsea would be a very good return for Fulham. The problem is that we have set the standards so high this season; just have a look at the posts on here before the season started. I have to keep reminding myself that survival was and still is the goal here. However, I do genuinely think we will finish top 10.
Even if we were to lose to Chelsea in 10 days time, I have seen enough from this team to know that we will pick up many more points. There is something special about this squad of players. That said, I am really f****** annoyed at last night's result as we certainly deserved more from it and Spurs were there for the taking, no doubt.
I am feeling confident for Chelski. Genuinely.
In Marco I trust!!
A rare win at the Bridge would put any worries to bed for a long while. Honestly though, I think that is too much to hope for.
Spot on sammy . As soon as I read it I thought the same .
Let's be a bit more clear with what's going on. We were 6th until last night and have played Chelsea, Newcastle, Spurs and will be playing Chelsea again. These are games many wouldn't expect to win - we arguably dominated spurs who needed an inspired bit of forward play by Kane to get anything. We beat Chelsea, and Newcastle fans said we were the toughest game they'd had at St James's Park and they had got 14 without loss.
These are close games against top teams. Yes, we're losing but by one goal. I think we're doing well. There's obviously something we can do to improve in terms of squad and output against those too teams, but we're doing well and turning up against every team and disappointed not to win - months ago we were talking about worrying about being relegated.
I think people need to realise that as a team whilst we've been in 6th we've also been at times two games ahead of Brighton etc, realistically at any point we could've been 10th to 6th based on how results go. But allow for that and don't panic if we lose three on the trot against those teams.
We're in good shape. Arguably son could've been sent off last night, similar with Burn and the penalty shout the ref missed vs Newcastle. There are fine lines.
We've only lost to top teams I think so let's see after the Chelsea game.
Quote from: General on January 24, 2023, 11:56:49 AM
Let's be a bit more clear with what's going on. We were 6th until last night and have played Chelsea, Newcastle, Spurs and will be playing Chelsea again. These are games many wouldn't expect to win - we arguably dominated spurs who needed an inspired bit of forward play by Kane to get anything. We beat Chelsea, and Newcastle fans said we were the toughest game they'd had at St James's Park and they had got 14 without loss.
These are close games against top teams. Yes, we're losing but by one goal. I think we're doing well. There's obviously something we can do to improve in terms of squad and output against those too teams, but we're doing well and turning up against every team and disappointed not to win - months ago we were talking about worrying about being relegated.
I think people need to realise that as a team whilst we've been in 6th we've also been at times two games ahead of Brighton etc, realistically at any point we could've been 10th to 6th based on how results go. But allow for that and don't panic if we lose three on the trot against those teams.
We're in good shape. Arguably son could've been sent off last night, similar with Burn and the penalty shout the ref missed vs Newcastle. There are fine lines.
+1 good post General
Of course we are in good shape, nobody could deny that. The OP was questioning how the team's confidence could be impacted by a losing run, personally I think we are stronger than that and anyway, there is a good opportunity to pick up a win in the Cup.
I do share a slight concern about how much goal threat we carry. Last night we struggled to open up a very defensive Spurs team and if Mitro doesn't get chances then the other forward players need to step up.
Not many other Prem teams will play a massed, behind the ball, defence against us though - even City can struggle to score against such tactics.
We generally more than matched Spurs, anyway, and how many times can we have said that?
Yes we could have a losing run but our points total gives us insurance against going down - we don't need many more points to be pretty well certain of staying up.
The players have played well in these three narrow defeats against top six teams , and should still feel confident.
First half was superb, clearly better than them by a mile. Given that performance, there is no reason why the lads will not repeat it again and win some games comfortably.