Post Match Thread: Fulham 1 v Swansea 0

[Woolly Mammoth]

What I like most about Mitro is his work ethic.
Every match, he busts an absolute gut, and gives his all. Top man.

Precisely, an example to us all.

[Woolly Mammoth]

I have absolutely no complaints after that one. The team played with much more desire and commitment, they won far more second balls and dominated midfield.  We moved the ball forward with pace and, at times, with real quality.  It was attack vs defence and eventually we got what we fully deserved.

Well said ⚽️

[Matt10]

Since I have been pretty damning on Parker, when Mitro missed the pen, I decided to come on here and say something along the lines of...We weren't great, but Swansea are a decent team and most importantly, there did seem to be an ever so slight change in attack. I couldn't say on tactics (Matt10 will confirm) but definitely to me on speed and intent. I just happen to think if we pick up the intensity we will beat most teams. I thought it was only fair to say this on a disappointing draw.

But.....

This is a bit why I think the Derby match was a bit misunderstood. They pressed high with 4 players and trapped Arter into little gaps. So our only outlet was side to side. Today versus Swansea, they didn't pressure high at all, and were quite spread out. However, we also dropped Cairney back which meant Arter could move with ease between the banks. If he got trapped, we could play the ball to Cairney, or the sides, then back inside to Arter, thus taking advantage of the triangles we have always set up. As a result, our speed of play was much faster. You could also tell there was a higher intensity from the fullbacks to get the ball forward. I mentioned in another thread how Odoi was passing backwards a lot lately. Today he and Bryan took a touch and passed right down the sidelines.

I know he was subbed, and Kebano was involved in the penalty, but the soft first touch by Cavaleiro should not go unappreciated. He is a perfect winger (inverted or not) to build on, but he needs to dribble less into blind alleys (not as much this match) and take more shots to raise his conversion rate.

Tactically our inverted wingers did a lot of work. I know there is a negative connotation that goes with that strategy, but because our fullbacks actually overlapped, it opened up both sides of the pitch for the wingers to be threats.

I imagine this is what Parker wanted to see, and hopefully the aggressive nature pays off earlier so we can win more comfortably. 

[snarks]

Since I have been pretty damning on Parker, when Mitro missed the pen, I decided to come on here and say something along the lines of...We weren't great, but Swansea are a decent team and most importantly, there did seem to be an ever so slight change in attack. I couldn't say on tactics (Matt10 will confirm) but definitely to me on speed and intent. I just happen to think if we pick up the intensity we will beat most teams. I thought it was only fair to say this on a disappointing draw.

But.....

This is a bit why I think the Derby match was a bit misunderstood. They pressed high with 4 players and trapped Arter into little gaps. So our only outlet was side to side. Today versus Swansea, they didn't pressure high at all, and were quite spread out. However, we also dropped Cairney back which meant Arter could move with ease between the banks. If he got trapped, we could play the ball to Cairney, or the sides, then back inside to Arter, thus taking advantage of the triangles we have always set up. As a result, our speed of play was much faster. You could also tell there was a higher intensity from the fullbacks to get the ball forward. I mentioned in another thread how Odoi was passing backwards a lot lately. Today he and Bryan took a touch and passed right down the sidelines.

I know he was subbed, and Kebano was involved in the penalty, but the soft first touch by Cavaleiro should not go unappreciated. He is a perfect winger (inverted or not) to build on, but he needs to dribble less into blind alleys (not as much this match) and take more shots to raise his conversion rate.

Tactically our inverted wingers did a lot of work. I know there is a negative connotation that goes with that strategy, but because our fullbacks actually overlapped, it opened up both sides of the pitch for the wingers to be threats.

I imagine this is what Parker wanted to see, and hopefully the aggressive nature pays off earlier so we can win more comfortably. 

I think that is a lot to do with BDR, he plays higher up the pitch, which means we have a better outlet than when Onamah or SteffJo play as they start from deeper positions meaning we don't break as quickly. Whilst not the game he personally impacted, I like BDR in the line up

[Whitesideup]

Just saw that out of 42 crosses for Fulham only 21% were accurate. 

Let's give a bit of credit to Swansea defence. I thought they were generally very solid, the no 4 played well against Mitro  .... maybe only for 93 minutes, mind you. But they kept their shape pretty well.

[Whitesideup]

I thought we tried to get more players in the box today, and I noticed Cav more centrally a couple of times. I agree it was generally a better performance with the caveat that it didn't really work for us in the final third. But I would guess we had more play in the opponents' box than we have done of late.

PS - can we work on our corners? Again credit to Swansea, but they won practically every header from our numerous corners. You kind of expect that from a competent defence, but we didn't look threatening.

[Milo]

First time for a while we've been in complete control. Think that's half the reason why we struggled to be honest.. lack of practice in the opponents penalty area! Genuinely!

[Stevieboy]

Much better performance, the way we started I thought we'd be done and dusted by half time....Swansea not a bad side who still have aspirations of top 6.
Corners were a problem why did we have someone in front of the keeper, he had so much time to see the flight of the ball and collect quite comfortably on the most part.

[toshes mate]

Overall, as has been the case on many occasions this season, the result was more convincing than the performance.   On the plus side Arter was more disciplined in midfield and this seemingly helped Cairney to be more involved, but, sadly, there was very little product in the final third.  There was a hint of very good fortune about the penalty calls in either box and I was relieved when Mitro missed (poor decisions were no way to beat a really good Swansea defensive performance). Mitro's real moment was to come in open play when he converted the best cross of the night from Kamara (who Parker apparently considers is only worth a token appearance here and there).   

Through comparison with other recent performances it may have appeared marginally more convincing but I remain very unconvinced that Parker knows what he is doing.   He described it as 'exceptional' although he does allow us the latitude to choose the word that follows and I'd go for 'mediocrity'.  Swansea not only defended well they created a fair few chances of their own.  On our side we have players who may be called quality but just do not deliver quality whenever it is required and can be found out when put under pressure.

[Twig]

Overall, as has been the case on many occasions this season, the result was more convincing than the performance.   On the plus side Arter was more disciplined in midfield and this seemingly helped Cairney to be more involved, but, sadly, there was very little product in the final third.  There was a hint of very good fortune about the penalty calls in either box and I was relieved when Mitro missed (poor decisions were no way to beat a really good Swansea defensive performance). Mitro's real moment was to come in open play when he converted the best cross of the night from Kamara (who Parker apparently considers is only worth a token appearance here and there).   

Through comparison with other recent performances it may have appeared marginally more convincing but I remain very unconvinced that Parker knows what he is doing.   He described it as 'exceptional' although he does allow us the latitude to choose the word that follows and I'd go for 'mediocrity'.  Swansea not only defended well they created a fair few chances of their own.  On our side we have players who may be called quality but just do not deliver quality whenever it is required and can be found out when put under pressure.

Marginally more convincing? God give me strength.

[Matt10]

Since I have been pretty damning on Parker, when Mitro missed the pen, I decided to come on here and say something along the lines of...We weren't great, but Swansea are a decent team and most importantly, there did seem to be an ever so slight change in attack. I couldn't say on tactics (Matt10 will confirm) but definitely to me on speed and intent. I just happen to think if we pick up the intensity we will beat most teams. I thought it was only fair to say this on a disappointing draw.

But.....

This is a bit why I think the Derby match was a bit misunderstood. They pressed high with 4 players and trapped Arter into little gaps. So our only outlet was side to side. Today versus Swansea, they didn't pressure high at all, and were quite spread out. However, we also dropped Cairney back which meant Arter could move with ease between the banks. If he got trapped, we could play the ball to Cairney, or the sides, then back inside to Arter, thus taking advantage of the triangles we have always set up. As a result, our speed of play was much faster. You could also tell there was a higher intensity from the fullbacks to get the ball forward. I mentioned in another thread how Odoi was passing backwards a lot lately. Today he and Bryan took a touch and passed right down the sidelines.

I know he was subbed, and Kebano was involved in the penalty, but the soft first touch by Cavaleiro should not go unappreciated. He is a perfect winger (inverted or not) to build on, but he needs to dribble less into blind alleys (not as much this match) and take more shots to raise his conversion rate.

Tactically our inverted wingers did a lot of work. I know there is a negative connotation that goes with that strategy, but because our fullbacks actually overlapped, it opened up both sides of the pitch for the wingers to be threats.

I imagine this is what Parker wanted to see, and hopefully the aggressive nature pays off earlier so we can win more comfortably. 

I think that is a lot to do with BDR, he plays higher up the pitch, which means we have a better outlet than when Onamah or SteffJo play as they start from deeper positions meaning we don't break as quickly. Whilst not the game he personally impacted, I like BDR in the line up

Yes, that's true that he does impact the game higher up, which is where he usually he is. However, he's involved at the second level, and is not involved in us building from the back - which is where a lot of the "slowness" has occurred. His movement off the ball is superb and the free roaming license that Parker has given him is paying off. I agree he didn't have the best game directly, but off the ball and his subtle touches to keep the ball moving in the defensive third were critical to our attacks. Will note that twice in the last two matches he's been in position to lay the ball off to a wide open TC, but has opted to take players on or attempt a well contested shot. While I don't want us to try to pass the ball into the net, a lot of our sequences are built off gradually moving Cairney into those advanced positions to find a key pass or take a shot himself. After all the hard work off the ball, Reid tends to miss one final run into the box that most natural goal scorers have. I recall Cairney's first time low cross that was perfectly into space for Reid in the 6-yard box, but he was well on his heels instead.

Regardless, I like Reid a lot, and believe that he needs to keep being sent up. He's just a couple little things away from breaking wide open. Unfortunately we're running out of time, and possibly patience, for anyone else other than Mitro to score goals. Hopefully Reid, Cav and Knock have built enough pressure and are going to let loose in goal scoring against Preston.

[toshes mate]

Overall, as has been the case on many occasions this season, the result was more convincing than the performance.   On the plus side Arter was more disciplined in midfield and this seemingly helped Cairney to be more involved, but, sadly, there was very little product in the final third.  There was a hint of very good fortune about the penalty calls in either box and I was relieved when Mitro missed (poor decisions were no way to beat a really good Swansea defensive performance). Mitro's real moment was to come in open play when he converted the best cross of the night from Kamara (who Parker apparently considers is only worth a token appearance here and there).   

Through comparison with other recent performances it may have appeared marginally more convincing but I remain very unconvinced that Parker knows what he is doing.   He described it as 'exceptional' although he does allow us the latitude to choose the word that follows and I'd go for 'mediocrity'.  Swansea not only defended well they created a fair few chances of their own.  On our side we have players who may be called quality but just do not deliver quality whenever it is required and can be found out when put under pressure.

Marginally more convincing? God give me strength.

That's a bit OTT coming from someone who has gone from declaring he'll not be renewing his season ticket if Parker remains next season to being convinced in real time on this Forum in the past few days, if you don't mind me opining.  It'll need more than divine intervention to sort torpor like that, methinks.

[WindyCity]

That is three precious and massive points for morale and team spirit and will make so much difference for the atmosphere in training for the rest of the week.

WM, whilst I agree with your sentiment here, I think we all take stock with the fact that we've seen these opportunities before and have come away disappointed.  Games narrowly won which could have/should have boosted morale and confidence in upcoming games just didn't happen.  Even coming off several nice unbeaten runs facing lowly opponents and tanking.  I hope you're right, that this late goal win will propel FFC for remainder of this week and Saturdays' game.  Fingers crossed.  But, in my case, expectations are rather tempered.

[WindyCity]

Really hope the players play with that kind of pace for the rest of the season.

From what I gather in this forum and the game thread, FFC played with good pace in the first half.  However, still lacked quality in the final 3rd.  Sure, Mitro had great chance to tally and shot high and wide, but on balance, finishing was a shortcoming.  It did produce a lot of corners, many more than we typically see for FFC, but those too apparently were wasted producing very few, if any, quality chances.  So, yes, nice to see the pace.  But still need to see the 'finish'.  The second half wasn't as pretty as the first half.  And FFC was blessed this game with a favorable ref, could have seen one or two pens against.  And the pen given to FFC was somewhat soft.  All in all, I do agree with you that seeing that kind of pace is a good thing for rest of season, but the lads still need to learn how to tickle the twine.

[Milo]

Think there are some things we need to sort:

1. Stop Mitro taking free kicks
2. Stop Hector's aimless long balls
3. Improve corner taking

[Milo]

I also noted Jim's AK remark at the end of the game about "for all those saying he hasn't got a football brain!" and wasn't sure if he was referencing a thread on FOF this week.

Unless Twitter has been full of the same? Don't go on there so no idea.

[RaySmith]

I think, and obviously hope, that our  other, than Mitro, skilful, attackers, will begin to score from all the openings that they create, particularly BDR, who has that type of close control i the box, an keeps coming close but the final touch or effort  has mostly eluded him- but i think it will begin to happen for him.

I think there sometimes seems a certain hesitancy  around the box, moving the ball from side to side, looking for openings, when you want someone who can just go past defenders and put the ball in the back of the net. though we do have players with the skill to this, as well as being able to score from long range efforts.

I feel that we will soon slaughter an opponent, and the floodgates will open from the ensuing confidence.
We have he talent to be a high scoring team, and think this will happen.