Friends of Fulham

I could only catch parts of the game since I'm busy with several projects.  Marco made many changes—likely due to the schedule and the upcoming match against Southampton—though I'm unclear why Wilson wasn't on the bench.  Fulham's shift from dominating Spurs to a poor performance was puzzling.  Leno's mistake on the West Ham goal left the defense exposed and an open net. 

Anyway, if you had to choose a MOTM, who would it be?

I'm not voting for anyone, maybe Billy the Badger.

Joke of a game with zero quality from either team. Charity FC strikes again!

That was genuinely disgusting. Baffling managerial selection, no tactical identity, minimal effort and a team that never looked like they were doing anything more than going through the motions. Silva picked the wrong XI and made it about 10x worse with atrocious subs, not for the first time this season I wonder if he's actually hitting the wall with us as a manager expecting to be on the front foot and taking the initiative because we've reverted to type tonight of just get it wide and hit a hopeful cross in

No one. SIlva really needs to answer for this lineup. We were riding high playing some of the best football in a while and you do a good rotation. We needed 3 from this. Should have saved the rotation for Sunday.

Slim pickings, Berge gets a sympathy vote from me.

Nobody getting my vote losing to a side that are rubbish.
Disgusting performance.

Comical. all effort, decisions and ability, everything just a joke. What just happened?

There was no one worthy of MOTM. Leno had the worst game of his Fulham career, in my opinion. Refereeing was comical, if the referee thought King was fouled then Mateus or whatever his name is should've gotten a second yellow.

Nothing else to say about this game because it was a nothing game.

I am not going to go one one about 'not being fit for Europe" or "get rid of Silva" or any of that bollocks that is about to flood this forum, but boy that was a bucket of horsehit.

On to the next one.

I can't give anyone MoM. If I had to, it would be Diop, on the grounds that he didn't do anything especially good, but didn't do anything bad either. It was a turgid, lifeless display all over the pitch.

My true MoM would have been a TNT sound engineer if one had muted the commentator and that prize t*t Robbie Savage. They might as well have been standing in the West Ham end, they were so desperate for them to win.

Same every season that's why this guy cannot take us to the next level you buy Bobb for a few bob and you leave him on the bench WTAF.

You drop Sess for Robinson???? Robinson can play against Southampton he wasn't needed today.

I'm glad we are out of the European argument now I can watch a relegation scrap now that our league season is over.

Quote from: Plodder on March 04, 2026, 09:34:05 PMI can't give anyone MoM. If I had to, it would be Diop, on the grounds that he didn't do anything especially good, but didn't do anything bad either. It was a turgid, lifeless display all over the pitch.

My true MoM would have been a TNT sound engineer if one had muted the commentator and that prize t*t Robbie Savage. They might as well have been standing in the West Ham end, they were so desperate for them to win.

That Iwobi "penalty" that wasn't a penalty, the commentators were URGING the VAR to give them the penalty. Absolute gobshites.

Went with Diop again in the end. Although I think this should be called the least bad player of the day or something like that.

I know a lot of people are saying the loss is on Marco, but I disagree. Us not winning is perhaps on Marco, us losing is entirely on Leno. I have stood up for him in previous threads, but this is indefensible. West Ham were terrible too and they were never going to score. He gifted them the goal with something that I still can't get my head around. What on earth was he doing there??? Atrocious.

Robinson was terrible throughout the match, and so were Iwobi, Chukwueze, Berge, Bobb, ESR, Muniz, etc... I could name pretty much every player.

Well that's confirmed that we are on the beach already...

Thank god we won at Sunderland and beat Spurs or we would be on 34 points and only 6 points off the bottom three.

I hope this isn't the usual March slide.

Just on our heels too often. No sense of anticipation to passes into traffic. Then when it was time to take a shot on goal, noone wanted to pull the trigger except maybe Iwobi. Brain fleeting moments by Leno and Bassey. Bassey in particular not once, but twice especially with the unnecessary foul in stoppage time that killed so much momentum. I didn't agree with placing Chuk on the LW at the end of the match. He's so much more dynamic in the middle. Would've been a treat to see him, Iwobi and ESR connect, while Sess goes far right and Bobb actually play where he's been before on the left.

Sunday can't come soon enough.

So much for dreams of Europe.  And we have enough points to survive.  So guess the season is really kinda over.  Right?

No one gets it

Castagne  - he had a shot on target

Can we get a bite for no one?

I guess Diop is the only one who did nothing wrong

No one deserves  vote ,terrible passing,looked knackered ,played like donkeys, utter crap,anyone who believes Muniz is a centre forward should watch again,

Lecomte, Lukic, Reed and Andersen didn't put a foot wrong. Would the person who voted for Leno please reveal yourself.

Who put Leno as MoM?

Quote from: DadCreature on March 04, 2026, 09:44:31 PMSo much for dreams of Europe.  And we have enough points to survive.  So guess the season is really kinda over.  Right?

A very winnable FA Cup 5th round still to come on Sunday, and no fear of relegation with still a substantial number of league games which we can enjoy without fear. That is a satisfactory season so far, in my opinion. I would rather have a season "over" (which it isn't, for me) in that way than be involved in a relegation scrap.

feels disingenuous to nominate anyone. Waking up in the middle of the night for that is infuriating

Blimey, Leno now has two votes and is joint leader. Wasn't aware the West Ham goal was disallowed and the game finished 0-0.

That was beyond woeful.

40-points & once again we stroll to the  🏖� I cannot understand the same syndrome every year.

The half time walking football teams moved quicker & with more purpose than any of our players.

Clearly nobody deserves a MoM nomination and there are plenty on other threads giving Marco pelters.  Ok I think he made too many changes BUT the players were hugely culpable  tonight. Some out there turned in absolute stinkers; Robinson, Iwobi, Leno but others too. Marco had the right to expect so much better from these senior players who should now be hanging their heads in shame.

Couldn't vote for anyone. No one played well. 
But there you go. Fulham will always let you down. It's in our DNA.
I still haven't got over that 0-1 loss to Preston that denied us the old 3rd division championship.

Muniz looked like a Sunday league player when he came on

Apart from Diop & Bassey I thought everyone was rubbish.

Amongst all poor performances (and Leo's howler), I kept thinking how poor Muniz has been. I appreciate he's still coming back from a long injury, but my God he's been bad.

He looks leggy, weak & poor in his touch. Just inferior to Jiminez on every level atm. If he carries on at this rate, big questions to be asked in the summer about our strike force

One of those days, and we all saw it coming a mile off. Consistently not quite consistent enough for Europe, but a good season nonetheless.

I actually have no real issue with the team Marco sent out today (other than preferring Anderson to Diop). Coming off only two days of rest with a Cup fixture that many fans think is very important this weekend I don't think it would have made any sense to run out the same lineup as on Sunday (not to mention he was forced into at least one change with Wilson out). This performance was on the players. Nobody was particularly good, but that Leno error...it keeps getting worse every time I watch it. If we'd only had average PL goalkeeping this season we'd be sitting a couple spots higher in the table...

Quote from: KentFulham on March 04, 2026, 09:45:29 PMNo one gets it

Which team do you support ?  You've never told us.

Lethargic from the start, Cairney leading by example, strolling round as it was a Sunday game in the park.

No man of the match for me on this occasion

Quote from: Fulham1959 on March 04, 2026, 10:17:15 PM

Quote from: KentFulham on March 04, 2026, 09:45:29 PMNo one gets it

Which team do you support ?  You've never told us.

What a silly comment, I am a ST holder at Fulham

Quote from: Milo on March 04, 2026, 09:32:29 PMSlim pickings, Berge gets a sympathy vote from me.

berge ? I'm sorry he was awful tonight and I made him my MOM on Sunday

I went for iwobi he was irked his socks off but still made some mistakes . Close call with raul lots of effort to no avail .

Quote from: hongkongfulham on March 04, 2026, 09:59:41 PMfeels disingenuous to nominate anyone. Waking up in the middle of the night for that is infuriating

The walking football at half time by octa and nonagenarians was more impressive than our performance, I would go for for one of them if I knew their names!

WHU fans openly celebrating in the home areas was the icing on the cake.

Gutted.

Quote from: SP on March 04, 2026, 11:06:44 PMWHU fans openly celebrating in the home areas was the icing on the cake.

Gutted.

General Sale mate that's the reality I have no quibbles if your gonna open your ticket allowance to the general public he is entitled to celebrate

Went for Diop.  He didn't put a foot wrong.

Every team in the country, from Surrey Youth League U12s upwards has it within their repertoire to be comicly, cosmicly terrible.  Tonight was our night.

Nuno is doing a great job with West Ham. Expected them to wilt after half time, but not a bit of it.

Also on the goal it is difficult to see why the other two defenders, or at least one didnt head to the goal line to cover

I'm giving it to Castagne because he was our most dangerous forward. And that says something.

Issa again, unlike Sunday when it was all of them, tonight it was none of them.

Diop for me, Castagne would be a close second as he looked very lively.

Harry Wilson.

This team is apparently toothless without him on the RW.

How about Balley for worst on the pitch.   He and Berge are super overrated.

For once I'll jump on the complaints-train too. I get the need to give some players a rest but come on. If that was the case then why start 35 year old Raúl? If anyone could do with a few days of recovery it must be him.
What does make me concerned more than anything is the glaring difference in energy between Raúl, 35 and Muniz, 24. One runs and runs and gets involved in tackles and is constantly a presence and the other is just, largely invisible.

Also I'm getting tired of Tete's go-to solution of pulling shirts whenever he's behind or loses a duel. Yes, he has some fantastic tackles and great offensive energy, but i would honestly prefer the much calmer Castagne at this point.

Uninspired match, onwards and upwards.

The lack of match fitness with Muniz and Robinson is quite worrying. There is a stark difference between them and Raul and sessegnon.

I thought Josh played well considering he had poor service. Don't think he should have been subbed. Castagne was very busy and Diop is very consistent, he cannot be dropped. Josh for me.

The spring in my step was hampered when I saw team sheet in all honesty. Then compounded with result. Why was there a need to make so many changes knowing you could play the more fringe players this Sunday? Has to be on Marco this defeat on why Cairney is starting King starting Robinson suddenly back in when ESR Bobb and Sess to a certain degree all were good against Spurs?
Unless injuries or perhaps early round of cup competitions Cairney should not be in front of ESR in league games! Why King last night? If anything he looks like he is struggling and surely Bobb after the Spurs game gives Westham more to worry about? Robinson I just think is still nowhere near full fitness. Berge decides to have another indifferent game and as for Muniz contribution like Spurs game non existent.
Leno we've seen this now more regularly than previous and I stand by we should of got a goal keeper in who was going to challenge the No1 spot and not what we've done the last couple of seasons and sign cup only goalies? We've been fortunate I suppose that his not been out for a period of time but no club should run that risk. Just do not think there is enough quality in this position to keep him on his toes?

Everyone was pretty awful although the defense was not bad. I will go for Kenny.

I was disappointed when Raul came off. He was having a good game.

I gave it to Leno as he had one of the biggest contributions to the outcome of the match.

Well, either people are on the wind up or they saw something that I didn't. 7 people have voted for Leno?

Went for Issa again, the man mountain had a great game again. Much more dependable than Andersen and Bassey IMO .

It can only be Diop....he was probably the best player on the pitch

Unfortunately I missed the Spurs game, so didn't get the chance to enjoy what sounded like a great team performance.

Going into last night I didn't know what to expect, West Ham are a team we tend to struggle against at home over the years. We seem to not like coming up against claret and blue teams by and large.

To be honest, I think last night was a total shambles and it's hard to find any redeeming features. There seems to be some kind of issue we have when we have a winnable game at home, to make a push for a European spot and we just don't turn up. Losing is fine, but how we lose matters and last night was a bit of a mess.

Dependable players just weren't at it. Tete and TC had as poor performances as I've seen from them. Berge was misplacing passes he would never normally miss. Iwobi at LW didn't work. Robinson right now can't really do anything right. Leno, we all know what happened there. Chukwueze was very poor.

I wonder is it a matter of complacency, after one or two good results - the players just feel their job is done and don't approach these games with right attitude. Did Marco overthink it with four changes? We missed how ESR knits everything together, King was a bright spark but I think ESR is a step up right now. Bobb impressed me in his cameo and shame he didn't start too.

Diop didn't put much of a foot wrong last night, but we slightly missed Andersen's ability to switch play, which nobody was doing last night.

Southampton, Ipswich and United at home last season. Everton, Palace and now West Ham this season have all been games where there was a huge opportunity for us to push on. We may not win all of those but there has been something missing, where we are not at the races. West Ham looked so comfortable last night and we struggled with their press. Did the players underestimate them? Were they not prepared?

West Ham's next two games are City and Villa, their previous game was Villa - so it should have been expected that they would be bang up for it last night. We certainly weren't - and these missed opportunities are becoming a key feature of this era at the club. I'm happy to be comfortable and midtable, but I just don't get how we drop the ball so badly in these big games every single time.

Having voted earlier for Diop (faute de mieux, in the absence of a worthy contender) on the grounds that he did nothing wrong, he did share some responsibility for the defensive mess which created the goal.  He and Leno were both indecisive in dealing with the initial long ball, which led to the Leno and Bassey confusion.

Speaking of Diop, I also think we really missed Andersens passing. Between Diop and Bassey/Robinson on the left our passing out from the back was bad all game. We put ourselves under unnecessary pressure time and time again, not because we passed out from the back, but because we had poorly timed and poorly executed passes. When you want to beat the press, you should set the receiving player up for the next part of the move, not put it half a yard behind him. Even the passing between Bassey and Diop often managed to stop all sort of passing momentum when we weren't even pressed. 

With that said, we still managed to make our way to the final third countless times, only for the likes of Raul, Chuk, Iwobi etc. basically just giving the ball away for no apparent reason whatsoever.

Overall a really poor performance.

Quote from: Plodder on March 05, 2026, 11:04:55 AMHaving voted earlier for Diop (faute de mieux, in the absence of a worthy contender) on the grounds that he did nothing wrong, he did share some responsibility for the defensive mess which created the goal.  He and Leno were both indecisive in dealing with the initial long ball, which led to the Leno and Bassey confusion.

In my view it was three errors from Leno. 1) not coming off his line decisively enough 2) not clearly communicating with Bassey about who was going to do what with the ball 3) not heading back into goal quickly enough

Quote from: Plodder on March 05, 2026, 11:04:55 AMHaving voted earlier for Diop (faute de mieux, in the absence of a worthy contender) on the grounds that he did nothing wrong, he did share some responsibility for the defensive mess which created the goal.  He and Leno were both indecisive in dealing with the initial long ball, which led to the Leno and Bassey confusion.

But if you look at the replay, Leno came off right on time in the end, but for whatever reason, after his initial contact with the ball, he stood still instead of clearing the ball. I don't think Bassey or Diop are at fault at all. It was all on Leno.

https://x.com/WestHam/status/2029338602669543611

This is what I'm talking about. If you look at the video, Diop does his job well, imo. He blocks off their player, in a similar way you do when you want to win a goal kick for example. Leno comes out right on time. I have no problem with Bassey's position either. Leno makes a contact with the ball, and he's still the player closest to the ball, but instead of clearing it or even trying to pass it to someone, he stands still. He's 100% at fault for their goal.

Quote from: SerbianLad on March 05, 2026, 02:39:33 PMhttps://x.com/WestHam/status/2029338602669543611

This is what I'm talking about. If you look at the video, Diop does his job well, imo. He blocks off their player, in a similar way you do when you want to win a goal kick for example. Leno comes out right on time. I have no problem with Bassey's position either. Leno makes a contact with the ball, and he's still the player closest to the ball, but instead of clearing it or even trying to pass it to someone, he stands still. He's 100% at fault for their goal.

This strikes me as one of many examples of us not being that streetwise, once you've put yourself in so much danger one of the outfield players has to do anything possible to just take a west ham player out and take the yellow, much like the United winner too. We're poor at that.

Quote from: SerbianLad on March 05, 2026, 02:39:33 PMhttps://x.com/WestHam/status/2029338602669543611

This is what I'm talking about. If you look at the video, Diop does his job well, imo. He blocks off their player, in a similar way you do when you want to win a goal kick for example. Leno comes out right on time. I have no problem with Bassey's position either. Leno makes a contact with the ball, and he's still the player closest to the ball, but instead of clearing it or even trying to pass it to someone, he stands still. He's 100% at fault for their goal.

He does, though in my opinion he should have headed to the goal line once Leno chested the ball to cover as the nearest player, we end up with 3 defenders and a GK all trying to block a shot around the edge of the box.

A bit like when Wilson scored at Spurs away, Vicaro totally at fault, but no Spurs player considered covering the goal.

Quote from: hopper on March 05, 2026, 02:43:49 PMThis strikes me as one of many examples of us not being that streetwise, once you've put yourself in so much danger one of the outfield players has to do anything possible to just take a west ham player out and take the yellow, much like the United winner too. We're poor at that.

Not sure who could have made a foul and not get a red. Maybe Berge?

Quote from: KentFulham on March 05, 2026, 02:46:53 PMHe does, though in my opinion he should have headed to the goal line once Leno chested the ball to cover as the nearest player, we end up with 3 defenders and a GK all trying to block a shot around the edge of the box.

A bit like when Wilson scored at Spurs away, Vicaro totally at fault, but no Spurs player considered covering the goal.

Maybe, but I feel like there maybe wasn't enough time for that.

In some ways Leno's mistake is even worse, because he was in full control over the situation. Vicario made a poor pass under pressure, while Leno froze for no apparent reason.

(https://i.ibb.co/KjSYzZvf/Screenshot-2026-03-05-15-51-13-744-com-twitter-android-edit.jpg)

I mean this is his position before he stopped. I don't blame any of our other players there.

Quote from: SerbianLad on March 05, 2026, 02:47:01 PM

Quote from: hopper on March 05, 2026, 02:43:49 PMThis strikes me as one of many examples of us not being that streetwise, once you've put yourself in so much danger one of the outfield players has to do anything possible to just take a west ham player out and take the yellow, much like the United winner too. We're poor at that.

Not sure who could have made a foul and not get a red. Maybe Berge?

Yeah Berge is a repeat offender at not taking a necessary yellow. I was thinking Bassey too, but he does foul the first man in fact and then the play gets away from him.

Quote from: hopper on March 05, 2026, 02:51:26 PMYeah Berge is a repeat offender at not taking a necessary yellow. I was thinking Bassey too, but he does foul the first man in fact and then the play gets away from him.

Watching it carefully, yeah, maybe you're right. He makes a half hearted attempt to tackle him but gets dribbled by their player pretty easily. He probably should have just clattered him.

Quote from: SerbianLad on March 05, 2026, 02:49:49 PM

Quote from: KentFulham on March 05, 2026, 02:46:53 PMHe does, though in my opinion he should have headed to the goal line once Leno chested the ball to cover as the nearest player, we end up with 3 defenders and a GK all trying to block a shot around the edge of the box.

A bit like when Wilson scored at Spurs away, Vicaro totally at fault, but no Spurs player considered covering the goal.

Maybe, but I feel like there maybe wasn't enough time for that.

In some ways Leno's mistake is even worse, because he was in full control over the situation. Vicario made a poor pass under pressure, while Leno froze for no apparent reason.

(https://i.ibb.co/KjSYzZvf/Screenshot-2026-03-05-15-51-13-744-com-twitter-android-edit.jpg)

I mean this is his position before he stopped. I don't blame any of our other players there.

Just looks like simple misunderstanding to me. Neither player wanted to be aggressive to the ball. This frame it's set up perfectly for Bassey to hoof it with his left foot. Problem is Bassey keeps backing up in the following frames because he's giving space for Leno. Neither of them make a decision.

We could still recover and I'd blame Berge for not diving in to take out Summerville, but instead he's prepared for the winger to go to the right instead of the left and he's been done with that fake that suggested it. I think in hindsight Diop should immediately be stepping with Berge, but is covering the goal instead. Gives that bit of daylight that forces Leno to step instead rather than get into a better angle.

Jiminez for me. He worked his socks off and was so much better than Muniz who replaced him. Diop was excellent again but I can't help feeling he was the wrong pick by Marco for this particular game. West Ham were poor and didn't put us under pressure for much of the game. We really missed Andersen's passing range from the back.

Quote from: Matt10 on March 05, 2026, 03:17:15 PMJust looks like simple misunderstanding to me. Neither player wanted to be aggressive to the ball. This frame it's set up perfectly for Bassey to hoof it with his left foot. Problem is Bassey keeps backing up in the following frames because he's giving space for Leno. Neither of them make a decision.

We could still recover and I'd blame Berge for not diving in to take out Summerville, but instead he's prepared for the winger to go to the right instead of the left and he's been done with that fake that suggested it. I think in hindsight Diop should immediately be stepping with Berge, but is covering the goal instead. Gives that bit of daylight that forces Leno to step instead rather than get into a better angle.

At the end of the day, when a goalkeeper comes off his line, he should just boot it. In my opinion at least. Diop for example was sure Leno was going to do that, hence why he shielded the ball from their defender. Looking at the clip, Bassey seems to be expecting the same thing.

Only player that could arguably have done something better is Berge, in my opinion at least.

One thing worth mentioning re the performance last night is that we went into this game coming off only two days of rest. I mention this because I've seen a lot of criticism of Marco making changes to the lineup that won against Spurs on Sunday. I would be willing to bet the short turnaround time had an impact on that lineup. I suspect that there were "sports science" reasons for some of the changes. By that I mean the training staff said something like player x and y should not be starting two matches three days apart. For example, look at what Marco said about Oscar Bobb the other day.
https://x.com/jackellyffc/status/2028961364975427899?s=20

Quote from: Chi_FFC on March 05, 2026, 05:19:25 PMOne thing worth mentioning re the performance last night is that we went into this game coming off only two days of rest. I mention this because I've seen a lot of criticism of Marco making changes to the lineup that won against Spurs on Sunday. I would be willing to bet the short turnaround time had an impact on that lineup. I suspect that there were "sports science" reasons for some of the changes. By that I mean the training staff said something like player x and y should not be starting two matches three days apart. For example, look at what Marco said about Oscar Bobb the other day.
https://x.com/jackellyffc/status/2028961364975427899?s=20

That may be the case but how the hell is a mid 30's CF who runs his socks off every match able to play after just 2 days rest, when sports science requires that younger players must be rested?

Quote from: Twig on March 05, 2026, 05:29:14 PMThat may be the case but how the hell is a mid 30's CF who runs his socks off every match able to play after just 2 days rest, when sports science requires that younger players must be rested?

Maybe our other option (a striker who just came back from a serious surgery) was in worse condition in terms of physical tests?

Quote from: Twig on March 05, 2026, 05:29:14 PM

Quote from: Chi_FFC on March 05, 2026, 05:19:25 PMOne thing worth mentioning re the performance last night is that we went into this game coming off only two days of rest. I mention this because I've seen a lot of criticism of Marco making changes to the lineup that won against Spurs on Sunday. I would be willing to bet the short turnaround time had an impact on that lineup. I suspect that there were "sports science" reasons for some of the changes. By that I mean the training staff said something like player x and y should not be starting two matches three days apart. For example, look at what Marco said about Oscar Bobb the other day.
https://x.com/jackellyffc/status/2028961364975427899?s=20

That may be the case but how the hell is a mid 30's CF who runs his socks off every match able to play after just 2 days rest, when sports science requires that younger players must be rested?

Wasn't King recovering from injury as well? Hamstring injury to Bobb, that's easy to re-aggravate.

Goes to show how valuable Raul is, but I'd also say someone like Sander Berge who has the second most minutes played behind Leno.

Quote from: SerbianLad on March 05, 2026, 03:29:35 PM

Quote from: Matt10 on March 05, 2026, 03:17:15 PMJust looks like simple misunderstanding to me. Neither player wanted to be aggressive to the ball. This frame it's set up perfectly for Bassey to hoof it with his left foot. Problem is Bassey keeps backing up in the following frames because he's giving space for Leno. Neither of them make a decision.

We could still recover and I'd blame Berge for not diving in to take out Summerville, but instead he's prepared for the winger to go to the right instead of the left and he's been done with that fake that suggested it. I think in hindsight Diop should immediately be stepping with Berge, but is covering the goal instead. Gives that bit of daylight that forces Leno to step instead rather than get into a better angle.

At the end of the day, when a goalkeeper comes off his line, he should just boot it. In my opinion at least. Diop for example was sure Leno was going to do that, hence why he shielded the ball from their defender. Looking at the clip, Bassey seems to be expecting the same thing.

Only player that could arguably have done something better is Berge, in my opinion at least.

Exactly don't come off your line or out the area unless you are gonna commit to getting rid of the danger and kicking that ball out.

Quote from: SerbianLad on March 05, 2026, 11:21:14 AM

Quote from: Plodder on March 05, 2026, 11:04:55 AMHaving voted earlier for Diop (faute de mieux, in the absence of a worthy contender) on the grounds that he did nothing wrong, he did share some responsibility for the defensive mess which created the goal.  He and Leno were both indecisive in dealing with the initial long ball, which led to the Leno and Bassey confusion.

But if you look at the replay, Leno came off right on time in the end, but for whatever reason, after his initial contact with the ball, he stood still instead of clearing the ball. I don't think Bassey or Diop are at fault at all. It was all on Leno.

100% Leno

We're talking about Berge willingly taking a card as if it's inconceivable that he could have just put in a legal tackle or even just blocked the shot. Running past the player as he did was really naive and poor. It would have been a bread and butter challenge for Palhinha or maybe even Reed, no goal.

Quote from: Angus Telford on March 05, 2026, 08:00:33 PMWe're talking about Berge willingly taking a card as if it's inconceivable that he could have just put in a legal tackle or even just blocked the shot. Running past the player as he did was really naive and poor. It would have been a bread and butter challenge for Palhinha or maybe even Reed, no goal.

I agree on both players. Lukic would have fouled him/tried to tackle him definitely. He probably makes too many fouls, but he definitely always makes those tactical fouls at least. I even think TC might have done more there.

I didn't notice that yesterday, but after seeing the video a 100 more times today, Berge was very poor for that goal too. I still completely blame Leno for it, but Berge should have done better definitely.