Raul Limping

[KentFulham]

Raul pulled up on 60 mins In front of the Hammersmith end, then limped around from there onwards. 3 occasions he opted out of sprinting for the ball. Why on earth did Silva not pull the JKA trigger.

Tonight's subs were mindboggling

[SerbianLad]

I didn't mind the subs in terms of the players coming on, but I think wrong players were subbed off. Raul should have been the first one to come off, with Chukwueze moved to the false 9 position. I also think Wilson should have been subbed off before Chukwueze. Wilson had one moment of magic (granted it was one of the best pieces of individual skill I've seen this season), but he's been poor in the rest of the match. I would have also put on JKA instead of TC.

[KentFulham]

I didn't mind the subs in terms of the players coming on, but I think wrong players were subbed off. Raul should have been the first one to come off, with Chukwueze moved to the false 9 position. I also think Wilson should have been subbed off before Chukwueze. Wilson had one moment of magic (granted it was one of the best pieces of individual skill I've seen this season), but he's been poor in the rest of the match. I would have also put on JKA instead of TC.

I can get on board with all of that, so what is it MS can't see?

[bahay18]

I think the substitutions cost us the match . Not taking off Raul was mind boggling. And when we had Cairney and Adama lined up , surely at the point palace score you tell Tom to sit down and bring on the striker .

[ffc73]

Raul, the most ineffective striker we have when fit, is clearly injured & limping from 60-min mark & yet is the only forward to play the entire game.

More than baffling or bewildering. Just plain stupid.

[Whitestone]

It's fairly unanimous that Raul should have been subbed. He was finished on 60 minutes so what is it that persuaded Silva to keep him on that the rest of us can't see ?
Today we didn't need to see Lukic, Cairney or Traore who was particularly hopeless. Seriously, what did swapping Berge for Lukic achieve. Taking off Chuk, ESR and Iwobi was crazy. These guys can all carry the ball and were doing ok.

[Rj Fulham]

JKA showed promise in his cameo against City. Got into good positions, hit his passes, and showed plenty of energy  in harrying the defenders and putting pressure on. I understand Raul's pedigree, but pedigree doesn't help us  when were chasing a goal and he cant break a jog and is clearly running on fumes.  Give him a chance Marco!

[andyk]

I'm afraid the only explanation is ego. He wanted a new striker,  in the summer. He argued for one and now he's been proven right. So, he's just ramming it home and is willing to leave a tired, injured player, hobbling around the pitch, just to prove he was right. It might not have cost us the match, but it didn't help.

[flyingfish]

Just when I'm getting behind marco again he goes and does something like that. How can JKA be worse than the last half hour of raul when he was the worst player on the pitch. Why take off berge who saved us on a few occasions? Why bring off ESR when JK is too lightweight to see a game like that out? Totally inexplicable.

[HobGoblin]

I didn't mind the subs in terms of the players coming on, but I think wrong players were subbed off. Raul should have been the first one to come off, with Chukwueze moved to the false 9 position. I also think Wilson should have been subbed off before Chukwueze. Wilson had one moment of magic (granted it was one of the best pieces of individual skill I've seen this season), but he's been poor in the rest of the match. I would have also put on JKA instead of TC.

That's making an excuse and defending MS, total bollox. Raul should have been off and the young lad on, MS was being his usual stubborn self. Don't paper it over, the guy is being a twit over the player we signed

[jayffc]

Raul, the most ineffective striker we have when fit, is clearly injured & limping from 60-min mark & yet is the only forward to play the entire game.

More than baffling or bewildering. Just plain stupid.

Extra baffling after JKA showed good play against city.

I find Marcos refusal to give the kid at least 10mins over a knackered and possibly injured player completely maddening. And I'm a Silva fan generally

[Ludlow Richard]

So Raul has started the last eight games for Fulham. Of those he has played the full 90 minutes in four of those. Sandwiched in those eight games has been a trip to Mexico where he started two internationals, played for 79 minutes in one and 90 minutes in the other.

In those 10 games he's scored twice, once for Mexico and once against Sunderland. Also in those 10 games he had to play 75 minutes against Wycombe Wanderers in the League Cup'

Put another way he has not had any rest since before the Arsenal game in mid October. He has featured in all our games this season apart from the away game at Bournemouth.

Much of his recent workload is of course down to Muniz's injury. But it can't go on, can it? He may be expected to start in the next three games (Burnley, Newcastle and Forest). By Christmas he may be completely shot.

Silva needs to come up with a credible alternative and that's not Traore at CF.

[Whitestone]

Silva isn't managing Jiminez's minutes correctly and it's so obvious that the whole fanbase can see it. Surely he has to come up with a solution within the squad. Whether it's JKA as an option or a different set up ? Silva has to find an answer.

[ArcticOctopus]

Not the subject of the thread but Marco seems to be mismanaging a number of our players minutes.

[KentFulham]

Wilson plays up top for Wales, and during his goal he looked like a great CF, looking up time and time again, wanting the ball to the feet etc.

[Free Elvis Hammond]

Agree Raul was out on his feet - assume Marco was hoping he'd still pop up in the last few mins, like against Sunderland - but I think the bigger issue was the lack of a system change

At about 60 mins, Palace took off two attackers and brought on one attacker and one midfielder, and it changed the game completely. We couldn't play through them any more, they just soaked up pressure and hit us on the break

Marco needs to have an answer to that, we can't just keep playing the same way and expect something different to happen

[The Little Dave]

I feel bad for Raúl. He gives it his all every moment he can. When he comes off he is literally completely gassed, always gives 110% for the club.

His immediate future is in Marco's hand, and Marco is being borderline reckless with him. As someone who will be cheering with all emotion for Mexico next summer, if Raúl gets injured and misses the WC I will never forgive Marco.