Utter trash

[Chi_FFC]

OP - were you even at the game? Leno ain't the issue my friend.

Leno has been the weak link in our defense for two plus seasons and people still give him a pass.

[Chi_FFC]

Iwobi and JA being dropped for Affi & Larsson is instant improvement in two key positions.

Maybe. Maybe not.

From there we play with two deeper CM's and leave LW,CAM & RW with the striker to press in the first instance and it should stop us being carved open in two passes

That is what some of us were hoping for today (with Berge and Charles being the two deeper CM's) but AA so far doesn't seem interested in playing that way. Which is a concern.

[Coastwalker]

Apart from the 1st goal Fulham had no luck. All deflections and touches went in their favour but you do make your own luck.

Leno beaten at the near post from acute angle, committed himself for the 3rd leaving Cresswell open goal. Robinson let player get behind him for same goal. Numerous Fulham attackers taking a 'poor' touch before missing great chances. Despite Livescore's stats Fulham actually had 26 shots with only 6 on target to Palace's 5.

Suggested improvements; drop Anthony Robinson he is one of the worst defenders in the EPL, drop Palacious and play Muniz. Sander Berge is better than Charles. Play Castagne on left and Tete on right as was done ONCE last season successfully (Castagne can even cross with his left). Leno's not started well but he is a decent keeper, just needs not to panic when under pressure.

Play Muniz after he'd blasted over the bar from 6 yards out.lol
And it would have been a draw for us,he's a league 1 player at best.

[bahay18]

Leno certainly not covering himself in glory but have to say he was brutally exposed by the defence for all 3 today , as he was for the goal last week .

[Chi_FFC]

Leno certainly not covering himself in glory but have to say he was brutally exposed by the defence for all 3 today , as he was for the goal last week .

I'd say brutally exposed by AA's tactics, which is a real problem. A gk on the downside of his career who's been poor for a couple years and you're asking him to play in a style where he's inevitably going to be under more pressure than he's ever been in his career...that's a recipe for disaster. And I think individually he deserves real criticism on the first. Anderson largely did his job there (after Castagne failed to deal with the ball and was left out of position) and for me that's a save a PL gk should make more often than not. As I've said before Leno at times makes himself really small and his reflexes seem so slow.

[LittleErn]

Iwobi and JA being dropped for Affi & Larsson is instant improvement in two key positions. From there we play with two deeper CM's and leave LW,CAM & RW with the striker to press in the first instance and it should stop us being carved open in two passes

I hope you are right, but how do you know that would be instant improvement? Given the poor form of Iwobi and Andersen in the current system it probably would be, but have you seen the new boys play?

[KJS]

Despite a lot of positives it was once again Iwobe played like a 1 legged Donkey who should never play for FFC again, his aspiration leading to their 2 goal was the cause of our defeat, he cannot play in this set up my only concern is he wasn't subbed earlier!!!
I hope he apologised to Josh🤬🙈

[Jaguar2013]

Leno looked like a fish out of water, Bobb never goes forward when receiving the ball. He need to take on the defenders instead of getting the ball and passing backwards. Tete needs to be our right back, there left side were left alone all afternoon. Kevin should be given a chance and told to attack defenders. Our midfield needs be changed as Iwobi is ineffective in that role. Perhaps we should try 2 strikers to be more of an attacking threat.

[cwindsor]

Wow. Three games in and you're calling for the manager to be sacked. Very Fulhamish.

[Sting of the North]

Apart from the 1st goal Fulham had no luck. All deflections and touches went in their favour but you do make your own luck.

Leno beaten at the near post from acute angle, committed himself for the 3rd leaving Cresswell open goal. Robinson let player get behind him for same goal. Numerous Fulham attackers taking a 'poor' touch before missing great chances. Despite Livescore's stats Fulham actually had 26 shots with only 6 on target to Palace's 5.

Suggested improvements; drop Anthony Robinson he is one of the worst defenders in the EPL, drop Palacious and play Muniz. Sander Berge is better than Charles. Play Castagne on left and Tete on right as was done ONCE last season successfully (Castagne can even cross with his left). Leno's not started well but he is a decent keeper, just needs not to panic when under pressure.

Play Muniz after he'd blasted over the bar from 6 yards out.lol
And it would have been a draw for us,he's a league 1 player at best.

I just have to assume that you haven't watched any replays (even though I suspect it is your childish dislike for Muniz that shines through). It was a very difficult shot, and Muniz almost managed to keep it down. He got in before the defender, just like he had another good turn and shot before. Good sub appearance that should increase his chances of playing.

[Coastwalker]

Apart from the 1st goal Fulham had no luck. All deflections and touches went in their favour but you do make your own luck.

Leno beaten at the near post from acute angle, committed himself for the 3rd leaving Cresswell open goal. Robinson let player get behind him for same goal. Numerous Fulham attackers taking a 'poor' touch before missing great chances. Despite Livescore's stats Fulham actually had 26 shots with only 6 on target to Palace's 5.

Suggested improvements; drop Anthony Robinson he is one of the worst defenders in the EPL, drop Palacious and play Muniz. Sander Berge is better than Charles. Play Castagne on left and Tete on right as was done ONCE last season successfully (Castagne can even cross with his left). Leno's not started well but he is a decent keeper, just needs not to panic when under pressure.

Play Muniz after he'd blasted over the bar from 6 yards out.lol
And it would have been a draw for us,he's a league 1 player at best.

I just have to assume that you haven't watched any replays (even though I suspect it is your childish dislike for Muniz that shines through). It was a very difficult shot, and Muniz almost managed to keep it down. He got in before the defender, just like he had another good turn and shot before. Good sub appearance that should increase his chances of playing.

"Childish Dislike" what sort of comment is that.lol
I don't dislike him at all,I just think he's a very average player,lacking in the intelligence side of the game.

[SuffolkWhite]

I said this on another thread

"In reality did anyone expect us to have more than 2 points after the first 5 games?

We have played two of our biggest bogey teams in Chels and Palace, Sunderland away is not easy and now we have two of the top 6 to play.

I agree it's the nature of the defeats defensively that is the concern, but AA has to be given a chance.

I and others have said Iriola didn't do too well in his first 10 games in various threads. I know that's no excuse for defensive failure but leeway should be given I feel."

[Carborundum]

For significant portions of the game our lads ran rings round Palace.  The size differential was such that we have to keep doing that.  We have the players to do so and it's fun to watch. 

But the positioning and workload being placed on the full backs shoulders is not in the zone of reasonableness. Saw it etched on Castagne's face with ten minutes to go. He's up where the gaffer wants him to be, but knows there's a gaping hole behind waiting to be picked off.  He's a good lad, he knows how the game works.  Strikes me that he's more compliant than Tete, whose reaction to being invited to play this way would likely be treat it as a guideline rather than a rule to be obeyed.

Silva was somewhat predictable, but part of the routine was that the wingers were told they needed to track back, no need to save your legs, because you are playing 65 mins max.  It kind of worked. With Arbeloa the lung busting position is fullback.

Arbeloa is asking fullbacks to do something that leaves gaps behind and seems to think Castagne can be superman for a full 90.  Compound that with a slow RCB and Castagne is being sent out for mission impossible.  He knows it.

I've never watched the Castilla team AA coached, so this is a hypothesis. If you take the most talented young lads in Spain get them super fit and set them against journeyman players week after week, then liberties can be taken and consequences will be few, if any.  In the premier league that will not work and our squad know it very well.

So Monday morning, please could our attacking work in training focus on the interaction of Garcia, King, Bobb, Palacios etc without undue emphasis on the fullback. They are good enough footballers to run rings around their opponents and score with appropriate support - one player springing and everyone else covering so no gap is left unplugged.  That's how effective football is played in this league if you aren't equipped for route1 stuff.  Which we are not.

There's plenty of people on this board who have experience in managing people successfully, for many more years than AA.  If you have good people in the team, and I'm convinced AA does, you have to listen to them and facilitate what they want to do.

If we don't change tack Monday morning, a spell of looking great in attack and getting few points is highly likely.

[Whitesideup]

I said this on another thread

"In reality did anyone expect us to have more than 2 points after the first 5 games?

We have played two of our biggest bogey teams in Chels and Palace, Sunderland away is not easy and now we have two of the top 6 to play.

I agree it's the nature of the defeats defensively that is the concern, but AA has to be given a chance.

I and others have said Iriola didn't do too well in his first 10 games in various threads. I know that's no excuse for defensive failure but leeway should be given I feel."

Well yes, I did think we had a good chance of points in the first five games. Away at Sunderland ..I hoped for a minimum of a point. Home to Palace ...win. And pick up another point, maybe even two from Chelsea, Liverpool, and Man Utd. For obvious reasons my optimism has evaporated.

[Karlos]

5 points from the first 5 weren't an unreasonable expectation

[Hatch007]

I struggle subscribing to "We have played two of our biggest bogey teams in Chels and Palace" when the managers and many historically key players at all three clubs including ours have been replaced. I just don't see how past results has any bearing in such circumstances

[the nutflush]

I said this on another thread

"In reality did anyone expect us to have more than 2 points after the first 5 games?

We have played two of our biggest bogey teams in Chels and Palace, Sunderland away is not easy and now we have two of the top 6 to play.

I agree it's the nature of the defeats defensively that is the concern, but AA has to be given a chance.

I and others have said Iriola didn't do too well in his first 10 games in various threads. I know that's no excuse for defensive failure but leeway should be given I feel."

I expected to beat Palace.  I dont buy into this bogey team hype.  That was the most winnable game we will get this season.  They are rubbish and we let them turn us over at home.   We are in more trouble than Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. 

[hopper]

I said this on another thread

"In reality did anyone expect us to have more than 2 points after the first 5 games?

We have played two of our biggest bogey teams in Chels and Palace, Sunderland away is not easy and now we have two of the top 6 to play.

I agree it's the nature of the defeats defensively that is the concern, but AA has to be given a chance.

I and others have said Iriola didn't do too well in his first 10 games in various threads. I know that's no excuse for defensive failure but leeway should be given I feel."

I expected to beat Palace.  I dont buy into this bogey team hype.  That was the most winnable game we will get this season.  They are rubbish and we let them turn us over at home.   We are in more trouble than Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. 

The bogey team thing is rather weird. I believe it means nothing, but find it fascinating how something that makes such little sense can happen this frequently. I think Palace are 9 unbeaten at CC since 2005!

[SuffolkWhite]

The bogey team thing isn't a hype, Chels are our biggest bogey team historically I think, and how often do we beat Palace at home?

Agreed the game was very winnable though, like the comparison with Andrew, very funny 

[Bassey the warrior]

Well that's another fine example of comedic fun and games involving us.

Leno needs to be gone now, Arbeloa needs to tighten the ship up as we are leakier than the titanic.

Absolute dross, and I fear for the next two games.

Arbeloa out calls will start soon.

It wasn't dross. Poor defenaively granted, but played some great stuff going forwards, just weren't clinical enough.