FoF MOTM Man United 3 v 2 Fulham and post match thread = Berge

[Pie n Mash]

No longer watch games while Silva is either in charge or plays this horrible slow paced football,so can't comment on the game, however, feel we missed a trick not getting Liam in as coach, or another young, progressive attacking manager. He's been very effective at Chelsea so far, Marco, he's not progressing as a manager or progressing us.

In my view, Marco needs the change as much as we do, but seemingly, no one wants him, so he'll be signing with us again no doubt, saves me £1k a match day so Silva lining and all that

[demeant0r]

No longer watch games while Silva is either in charge or plays this horrible slow paced football,so can't comment on the game, however, feel we missed a trick not getting Liam in as coach, or another young, progressive attacking manager. He's been very effective at Chelsea so far, Marco, he's not progressing as a manager or progressing us.

In my view, Marco needs the change as much as we do, but seemingly, no one wants him, so he'll be signing with us again no doubt, saves me £1k a match day so Silva lining and all that

You're chatting a lot of crap. We pretty much matched everything United threw at us today, the only difference was our crap defence. If you look at the stats, we had more possession, more shots, more xG, more everything - except for the only thing that matters.

[Hatch007]

Btw, there's a mistake in the graphics. ESR didn't score a goal today, but Kevin did.

and Sess is missing altogether from the line-up.

He wasn't in the running for MotM but he did get an assist for Kevin's wonder strike

[Whitestone]

No longer watch games while Silva is either in charge or plays this horrible slow paced football,so can't comment on the game, however, feel we missed a trick not getting Liam in as coach, or another young, progressive attacking manager. He's been very effective at Chelsea so far, Marco, he's not progressing as a manager or progressing us.

In my view, Marco needs the change as much as we do, but seemingly, no one wants him, so he'll be signing with us again no doubt, saves me £1k a match day so Silva lining and all that

Seriously, are you a Fulham fan ? You can't be can you ? Genuine question.

[Moussa Dembele the 3rd]

No longer watch games while Silva is either in charge or plays this horrible slow paced football,so can't comment on the game, however, feel we missed a trick not getting Liam in as coach, or another young, progressive attacking manager. He's been very effective at Chelsea so far, Marco, he's not progressing as a manager or progressing us.

In my view, Marco needs the change as much as we do, but seemingly, no one wants him, so he'll be signing with us again no doubt, saves me £1k a match day so Silva lining and all that

You're on the wrong message board mate.

[Ronnief]

If Pie n Mash doesn't watch Fulham's matches how can he comment on how Fulham play?

[Arthur]

We had at least two players in the box, to Uniteds one and only, and the scuffed and dragged cross managed to find him so he could take a touch, then finish. Tim and Andersen marking no one. Sure it was played out of his reach, but the point was he was so out of position and not marking, it gave Sesko so much time and space to finish.

Below is the position once Fernandes sold Bassey the dummy. With Bassey drawn to the touchline, I imagine Andersen is mindful not only of Sesko but also aware of Mainoo's run. In my opinion, Andersen is not out of position. If he were nearer to Sesko and, thus, further away from Bassey, the gap between them would be even easier to exploit.



And below is the position when the ball is crossed. It looks to me as if Andersen, rightly, is trying to cover enough ground to prevent the ball from being played goal side of him into the path of Sesko. Sesko, however, checks his run at the same moment as Fernandes plays the ball the other side of Joa.



Running at speed, Andersen cannot be expected to change direction in an instant. The best he can do is stick out a trailing leg and hope to divert the ball away from goal. The cross, in my view, far from being lucky, is directed almost perfectly into the feet of Sesko, who has only to take a touch before he can get a shot away.



I don't regard Andersen as being at fault.

[Sgt Fulham]

I find it odd people think the score flatters UTD, at no point did they look like drawing/losing.

We pulled it back out of nowhere with some moments of magic from Kevin and Raul, but defensively we were a total shambles.

Also Leno is was poor today on his positioning. I do think we need to start prepping for a new keeper for the long term

I mean, it looked like they were destined to draw or lose when we equalised in the 92nd minute lol

[FFC1987]

We had at least two players in the box, to Uniteds one and only, and the scuffed and dragged cross managed to find him so he could take a touch, then finish. Tim and Andersen marking no one. Sure it was played out of his reach, but the point was he was so out of position and not marking, it gave Sesko so much time and space to finish.

Below is the position once Fernandes sold Bassey the dummy. With Bassey drawn to the touchline, I imagine Andersen is mindful not only of Sesko but also aware of Mainoo's run. In my opinion, Andersen is not out of position. If he were nearer to Sesko and, thus, further away from Bassey, the gap between them would be even easier to exploit.



And below is the position when the ball is crossed. It looks to me as if Andersen, rightly, is trying to cover enough ground to prevent the ball from being played goal side of him into the path of Sesko. Sesko, however, checks his run at the same moment as Fernandes plays the ball the other side of Joa.



Running at speed, Andersen cannot be expected to change direction in an instant. The best he can do is stick out a trailing leg and hope to divert the ball away from goal. The cross, in my view, far from being lucky, is directed almost perfectly into the feet of Sesko, who has only to take a touch before he can get a shot away.



I don't regard Andersen as being at fault.

I think the Mainoo comment is conjecture and has no bearing. How can the gap between Bassey who is on the sideline, and Andersen, who is quite a few yards away from the striker, mean the gap is easier to exploit? Giving the striker more space makes it easier for him to exploit. That's nonsensical to me.

If the ball is played higher, and behind him, then he's still in no man's land for Sesko to head it in, similar to his chance previously so even then the positioning doesn't make sense unless we assume Bruno is likely to hit the first man when crossing into the box.

I agree Andersen, once in my opinion, out of position, shouldn't be expected to get that ball. He already made the fault in never arc'ing the run more towards Sesko leaving the striker completely unmarked. I think Andersen made his mind up that he would try and be the cross blocker and Timmy was marking Sesko with the glances over his shoulder.

For those reasons, Andersen, has the main centre half simply has to get closer to the only man in the box and is at least partly at fault. A lone striker should almost never just be left alone in the box, and we can agree to disagree on that but that's simply a fundamental basic of defending and a hill I'm willing to die on.

[ffc73]

The real question for me is before these stills.

Why are we so out of position?

We had spent the previous 15 odd minutes retaining possession with short passes but on that occasion we gave the ball away cheaply.

[FFC1987]

The real question for me is before these stills.

Why are we so out of position?

We had spent the previous 15 odd minutes retaining possession with short passes but on that occasion we gave the ball away cheaply.

Gambled to press for a winner smelling blood. Look, not sure why we're really trying to justify literally no one marking one player, but it cost us, again and has happened quite a bit this season. Sometimes it makes sense with zonal marking, and that's not what this scenario was. It was a collection of errors though, not just Andersen but I'm not going to pretend no one marking Sesko was ok because of a scuffed pass into the box and Sesko suddenly becoming a genius striker for off the ball running.

[LittleErn]

Sadly  after scoring a wonder goal to take us level , we simply weren't good enough to retain the status quo . We fell short because we are not good enough . I hate saying it but it's a fact

Hard disagree. By and large the team was the equal of United and the scoreline flattered them in the end.

I don't necessarily disagree  with what you said but if you can't see out seven minutes or so , at this level , then you will never win anything . We defended badly from front to back

We didn't try to see the game out. We went for the win. We were stretched and left low in numbers at the back.

[Nero]

So what we're saying is Bassey should have taken a yellow and hauled Fernandes down

[SP]

Confirmation on the link below that shirt holding results in a free kick, yea right, you need to tell the other refs:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cy05zk3pz3jo

[KentFulham]

No longer watch games while Silva is either in charge or plays this horrible slow paced football,so can't comment on the game, however, feel we missed a trick not getting Liam in as coach, or another young, progressive attacking manager. He's been very effective at Chelsea so far, Marco, he's not progressing as a manager or progressing us.

In my view, Marco needs the change as much as we do, but seemingly, no one wants him, so he'll be signing with us again no doubt, saves me £1k a match day so Silva lining and all that

You're chatting a lot of crap. We pretty much matched everything United threw at us today, the only difference was our crap defence. If you look at the stats, we had more possession, more shots, more xG, more everything - except for the only thing that matters.

Defense is quite a chunk of the team, so what your saying is we matched about 60% of them

[KentFulham]

I find it odd people think the score flatters UTD, at no point did they look like drawing/losing.

We pulled it back out of nowhere with some moments of magic from Kevin and Raul, but defensively we were a total shambles.

Also Leno is was poor today on his positioning. I do think we need to start prepping for a new keeper for the long term

I mean, it looked like they were destined to draw or lose when we equalised in the 92nd minute lol

When we equalised did you really feel confident of a draw at least......

[demeant0r]

No longer watch games while Silva is either in charge or plays this horrible slow paced football,so can't comment on the game, however, feel we missed a trick not getting Liam in as coach, or another young, progressive attacking manager. He's been very effective at Chelsea so far, Marco, he's not progressing as a manager or progressing us.

In my view, Marco needs the change as much as we do, but seemingly, no one wants him, so he'll be signing with us again no doubt, saves me £1k a match day so Silva lining and all that

You're chatting a lot of crap. We pretty much matched everything United threw at us today, the only difference was our crap defence. If you look at the stats, we had more possession, more shots, more xG, more everything - except for the only thing that matters.

Defense is quite a chunk of the team, so what your saying is we matched about 60% of them

Their defence was pretty cack as well so more than 60%.

[SimonDaviesEnjoyer]

I find it odd people think the score flatters UTD, at no point did they look like drawing/losing.

We pulled it back out of nowhere with some moments of magic from Kevin and Raul, but defensively we were a total shambles.

Also Leno is was poor today on his positioning. I do think we need to start prepping for a new keeper for the long term

I mean, it looked like they were destined to draw or lose when we equalised in the 92nd minute lol

When we equalised did you really feel confident of a draw at least......

Yes, the game was there to be won. We were right to commit men to it.

Maybe Bassey should have hauled down Fernandes and taken the yellow.

[Arthur]

I think the Mainoo comment is conjecture and has no bearing. How can the gap between Bassey who is on the sideline, and Andersen, who is quite a few yards away from the striker, mean the gap is easier to exploit? Giving the striker more space makes it easier for him to exploit. That's nonsensical to me.

You're right, it is conjecture. You can tell because I began my sentence with the words 'I imagine...' It has no bearing if I am wrong but does have a bearing if I have imagined correctly. The gap would be easier for Mainoo to exploit.

And despite your dismissiveness of my use of conjecture, you are not averse to it yourself:

I think Andersen made his mind up that he would try and be the cross blocker and Timmy was marking Sesko with the glances over his shoulder.

And you may be right.

A lone striker should almost never just be left alone in the box...

Indeed, but this is one of those occasions whereby the unexpected nature of the dummy sold on Bassey, in my view, led to a situation in which Sesko had time and space without anyone having to shoulder blame.

I appreciate your view and your point about Andersen arcing his run has merit if he wasn't mindful of Mainoo. I agree, however, that we can agree to disagree.

[LittleErn]

Fact is we have just played 3 shockers back to back, despite picking 3 points last week. We need to improve next week and that starts by dropping AR and probably Anderson

Believe me, this was not a shocker. It was nowhere near as bad as we played at leeds. I was at both games. At Leeds our shape was lopsided and we created nothing. Today we played very well after going 2-0 down and created several chances, gradually taking the initiative away from UTD. Our main problem IMO was that the ball didn't stick with our forwards. The defence was constantly under pressure in the first half because the ball kept coming back at them with little respite. Our play out of defence up to the final third was immaculate. The final goal was the result of our pushing up for a winner, coupled with some individual errors and a moment of brilliance from UTD.