Post Match Thread: Fulham 1 (2) - 1 (3) Liverpool

[filham]

We were in there at the end fighting, well done lads but result as expected.
Bring on Newcastle.

[Somerset Fulham]

I'm not sure what to make of the whole thing to be honest, but nobody disgraced themselves and Sky got the final they would have been desperate for.

I am going to sleep on it.

[bencher]

We just don't have the overall quality and squad depth that they have. They were the better team tonight and ought to have made more of their good positions. Not too many good performances from us, probably Tosin and Willian stood out, Cairney did well in the 2nd half.

[filham]

Result as expected but we were in there fighting at the end, well done lads.

Bring on Newcastle

[bencher]

As I wrote on the transfer thread, the club really needed to make a signing before this tie to give us a chance (how often are we in a major semi final???), but that didn't happen and I honestly didn't see us going through.

[SimonDaviesEnjoyer]

The one that got away. We could have won both games... could have lost both by several goals too.

[BestOfBrede]

Hat trick?

[horse1031]

I thought we looked nervous in the beginning.  A bulldog like Reed in the middle would have been nice and maybe bring Cairney in around 60 in the second half.  He was decent but we were awful for the first 25.

I thought BDR looked second best all night and he was really lightweight in all his challenges.  Him and Pereira are both very light and get brushed off the ball easily.

Willian is class and he brings so much calm to the team.  I can't help but thinking that having Mitro in the team  could have done wonders.  Raul got no service and Liverpool were the better team for 70 minutes.

No matter what people say about Palhinha is that he can run for all day and his his all.  He comes alive the longer the match goes on.

[Matt10]

You can't defend Liverpool, so you have to go into a shoot-out with them. Think Marco's conservative tactics lasted too long and subs came in too late.

We should've just started with two up top to begin with. People wonder why Jimenez has to drift wide it's because he's the lone forward against two mammoth center-backs, so he has to occupy half-spaces to hold up the ball just so he can drag at least one of those defenders. Two forwards would have at least given us more advanced points to work off of. We were getting run over in the central midfield anyway once Andreas was bypassed.

Good effort in the end, just too little too late. So tired of Liverpool, but Newcastle next is not much better.

[Sgt Fulham]

You have to beat the best to win trophies. We came close against a really good team, but that's ultimately the difference between them and us. That's not to our discredit, as the fact that we're in this position shows massive improvement over just a few years.

Well played boys, heads up and try again with the FA cup.

[SerbianLad]

It seemed to me like our players lacked belief before Diop scored. After that, we really put Liverpool under pressure and could have got another goal.

Castagne the main culprit for me, for the Liverpool goal. He seemed shaky defensively throughout as well. I think he's better than that, but as I said in the lineup thread, and in the match thread, Tete should havr started this match. His skillset is much better suited for a game like this. Better crosser of the ball and better defensively. We were never going to dominate possesion, so playing Castagne whose build-up play is his main attribute wasn't the way to go, in my opinion.

I would have kept Andreas and Cairney on, and made a straight swap Muniz for Raul, but I can see what Marco wanted.

Dissapointing result in the end, and it feels like a good opportunity wasted, but hopefully we can go far in the FA cup now, and a top half finish in the league.

[General]

There's a real frustrating lack if urgency and quality from the team together. Just a bit chaotic and disjointed. Frustrating as one goal so late on has given such a tangible possibility of getting something from the game. Perhaps the occasion got to the players? Ott on the build up and chat pre game. Will have to go again next year, and hopefully having strengthened the squad further. We missed bassey and iwobi tonight.

I can't help but feel team wise we may have got it wrong.. feel tete is more dynamic than castagne, also feel he has had a better understanding with BDR which was on another level last season.. feel that fluidity would've been great.

Disappointed with the defence and Reed late on, with so many passes aimlessly played conservatively when what we were crying out was more direct and forward passes. Took so much energy out of the game, which is what the sky commentators are picking up on now.

[3rdgenfan]

Silva got it wrong with the subs taking off Cairney Killed any momentum we had. After scoring he should have waited for at least 5 mins even though he had got them prepped to come on. Tete for Castagne I get but taking off Cairney for Muniz who has been poor all season and Pereira for Reed who doesn't create anything other than a stink was totally wrong

[Palhinha Colada]

It was a really tepid, shaky performance for 75 minutes and then we scored and Liverpool was rocking and then Marco's subs absolutely killed the match off.

You can say we lost 3-2 agg to a massive club and be somewhat proud, but you can also walk away disappointed from letting a big opportunity pass somewhat cheaply and nowhere near our best from minutes 61-165 of the tie.

[St Eve]

If only we started like we finished. We just don't have the quality and depth. Credit to all of the players. They gave everything. Disappointed, but not devastated. Our time will come

[Milo]

On reflection tonight, I feel:

Leno is human and made a mistake. Probably related to the occasion.

Tete is the better RB over Castagna. He has shown against top teams to rise to the occasion (recall win V Chelsea where he completely dominated Mudyrk). Nonetheless, for his first season Castagna is an excellent back up utility full back.

Palhinha, while one of our better players clearly, is not as critical to our team as we all believe. If he wants to go, and we can't persuade him to say, then let the hard-working Reed take his place. We needed Palhinha to step up tonight in a big game and show us why he's supposedly worth so much money. He was one of our weaker players this evening.

I think it's becoming evident that the reason Silva is managing mid tabled teams rather than eg the Liverpools of this world is because of his mid-game decisions. I've seen too many games this season where his subs prove to be wrong and significantly delayed.

I want to finish by saying that I think this season Silva has still done tremendously well given everything. The fact we've got to a semi final of the cup, that we will likely stay up for another season.
I'm yet to reach a verdict on our transfer team. Part of me thinks we should've signed a new striker since Mitrovic left.. but part of me also points to Iwobi as a good signing and reality checks that top Prem strikers don't grow on trees.

Oh hang on, apologies, I've not quite finished.. Willian is a world class player.

[LC]

My thoughts are, Castagne is a good defender but not as good as Tete. If Tete started today they wouldn't have scored the first goal. Nothing again Castagne at all, I think he's decent and could actually play further forward for us with Tete.

I wouldn't have taken Cairney off, he was starting to dictate the play, and I wouldn't have taken Andreas off who was starting to get into the game.

We need a few new players, wide forwards and a Mitrovic replacement. We really aren't far off from from seriously competing. Don't forget we had some key players on international duty which hurt us today.

All in all I'm proud of what we achieved in the cup and make no mistake this is an achievement 

[Lighthouse]

The fact is this isn't a great Fulham side. We are inconsistent and struggling at times in the league. We have if anything done better than most of us would have thought with a squad of one striker who was bought in as a back up. No doubt there will be discussions about subs and the impact Wilson made when he came on. But once the error happened so early. This is not the side that came back against Juventus. This is an iffy side full of mistakes but who can have flashes of skill and brilliance. The fact we came so close against Liverpool can be something to be proud of whatever some say.

However it was never really in doubt with the way we played for most of the game. Still a semi final and survival will be a good thing if it happens this season. With this squad and missing the African cup players. It seems that fate and luck just is never on our side in semi finals.

[3rdgenfan]

We go again and now take it out against Newcastle on Saturday night. Silver has to start Wilson ahead of BDR for sure. BDR is not up to prem standard and is not a game changer which Wilson is. BDR has served Fulham well but the time has come to move him aside.

Next season hopefully Stansfield will be first choice, Wilson back up and BDR moved on

[General]

On reflection tonight, I feel:

Leno is human and made a mistake. Probably related to the occasion.

Tete is the better RB over Castagna. He has shown against top teams to rise to the occasion (recall win V Chelsea where he completely dominated Mudyrk). Nonetheless, for his first season Castagna is an excellent back up utility full back.

Palhinha, while one of our better players clearly, is not as critical to our team as we all believe. If he wants to go, and we can't persuade him to say, then let the hard-working Reed take his place. We needed Palhinha to step up tonight in a big game and show us why he's supposedly worth so much money. He was one of our weaker players this evening.

I think it's becoming evident that the reason Silva is managing mid tabled teams rather than eg the Liverpools of this world is because of his mid-game decisions. I've seen too many games this season where his subs prove to be wrong and significantly delayed.

I want to finish by saying that I think this season Silva has still done tremendously well given everything. The fact we've got to a semi final of the cup, that we will likely stay up for another season.
I'm yet to reach a verdict on our transfer team. Part of me thinks we should've signed a new striker since Mitrovic left.. but part of me also points to Iwobi as a good signing and reality checks that top Prem strikers don't grow on trees.

Oh hang on, apologies, I've not quite finished.. Willian is a world class player.

Think harsh on Leno, the ball took a deflection on its way to him. It was close enough range for that to throw you as a keeper. I think where it went wrong was before that with Castagne and how he initially challenged Luiz for the ball, which was wrong on a number of levels. Didn't dominate, wasn't on the right side of Luiz when he went for the ball. Once Luiz won it he had a clear run in on goal and castagne was left for dust. As someone else said, don't think that'd have happened with Tete at Rb at the time.

Frustrating small things make huge differences.