Sorry, That was Disappointing!

[jayffc]

Mitro, both fullbacks, Tosin and Onomah were massive disappointments today. I'd be quite happy to never see Onomah on the team sheet again. Subs were weird. We finished the game with 1 CM on the pitch and Seri still on the bench. If this is a sign of things to come I'd be more worried about top 6 rather than automatics.

Wasnt that worried by Tete, thought robinson was a bit meh but on the whole the defense wasn't the problem.
Lack of dominance and bite in midfield and a very poor Mitro are the biggest concerns to me

[Fulham 442]

I have to say I know it is early in the season and I didn't post earlier about my feelings about our promotion chances but  unless something changes I certainly can't see us romping this league as some posters have suggested.  One goal is rarely enough and we should have scored again when we were dominating.  When they equalised they got their tails up.  Definitely work to be done.  Here's hoping we get another striker soon because Mitro isn't cutting the mustard and AK is quite simply not up to the task.  As someone posted in another thread he is fast, strong and confident but falls down in every other department!  Robinson's passing was poor and he nearly scored an own goal too!

[grandad]

Just a couple of positives to glean from this outing.  Wilson and Carvalho looked good and helped move the attack forward.  FFC did have some nice pushes forward but yet again as in past recent seasons were very poor in the final third.  But there is some measure of hope that can be improved. 

Does Ream know what to do with the ball when he has clear possession?  It seems Boro just let him have wide open spaces with the ball, I assume figuring on a Ream turnover.  His passing very poor and seems unsure what to do with the ball.  Just an observation, not trying to totally slag off Ream, but he's played a lot of football in his career and he should be making better passes.

Were you really watching him today. He was a rock & was always waiting for a run from the attacking MF & forwards. He knew exactly what he was doing & thinking of doing. Would you rather he just lumped hopeful balls upfield?

[filham]

We dominated but failed to get the important second goal. The fact we have to face is that our ability to score goals has not advanced much from last season.

It is goals that count and only getting one goal at home is an ingredient for relegation not promotion.

[Matt10]

Even though we have so many, I feel an upgrade at the winger spot is needed badly. We need someone who is just as good as Wilson but is right-footed to match. I know it will take time, but I'd prefer to see BDR over Kebano. Kebano tries hard, and has his moments, but his concentration seem to escape at the wrong times.

After that, Seri needs to challenge Francois. While Francois showed in preseason that he can thread a ball, in this match he played very very safe, and was knocked around a bit. Still, he held his own, and I can see the upside. Onomah played quite well. His first touch was silky smooth and was involved in a lot of our attacks. He threaded multiple passes to Wilson and Tete.

Mitro is starved for service, which is why we need more risk takers that will send balls over the top and into space, so Mitro can find himself benefiting with the scrap - like the chance he missed towards the end of the match that went over the crossbar.

Overall, yeah disappointed, but a lot of good signs. Small sample size of course, and against Warnock's tactics, it could be a one-off that we get that much possession and chances. Onwards!

[Arthur]

...to criticise that performance is beyond me.

It's not a criticism to express the opinion that we need to produce better than that to be challenging at the top of the table. We didn't work the opposition goalkeeper anywhere near enough in my opinion. Wilson and Carvalho aside, the rest our midfielders and forwards did nothing to suggest that, were they playing for our opponents, we would be remarking how good they were.

[WindyCity]

Just a couple of positives to glean from this outing.  Wilson and Carvalho looked good and helped move the attack forward.  FFC did have some nice pushes forward but yet again as in past recent seasons were very poor in the final third.  But there is some measure of hope that can be improved. 

Does Ream know what to do with the ball when he has clear possession?  It seems Boro just let him have wide open spaces with the ball, I assume figuring on a Ream turnover.  His passing very poor and seems unsure what to do with the ball.  Just an observation, not trying to totally slag off Ream, but he's played a lot of football in his career and he should be making better passes.

Were you really watching him today. He was a rock & was always waiting for a run from the attacking MF & forwards. He knew exactly what he was doing & thinking of doing. Would you rather he just lumped hopeful balls upfield?

Yeah, I was watching him, and my preface was not to totally slag him off, but his passing was terrible.  I assume we watched the same game?  Was given plenty of room in most cases to do something with the ball, but either made a poor pass or back passed to the keeper.  His defense was fine, the overall defense was ok, the problem was scoring that second or third goal.  But the backline players still need to make decent passes and create a little something.  I just thought he looked very unsure of himself.  JMHO

[Holders]

Very poor refereeing - no consistency over the yellows and he was far too easily conned into soft free kicks, I can't remember ever seeing as many given for so little. And that's setting aside the penalty.

.

[AnOldBrownie]

...to criticise that performance is beyond me.

It's not a criticism to express the opinion that we need to produce better than that to be challenging at the top of the table. We didn't work the opposition goalkeeper anywhere near enough in my opinion. Wilson and Carvalho aside, the rest our midfielders and forwards did nothing to suggest that, were they playing for our opponents, we would be remarking how good they were.

Agreed.   Onomah did some good 1-2 give and goes on the wings with Wilson, but Boro kinda let us do that.    Once we pulled Kebano...Francois didn't mark his man and they scored.  Then, Boro brought on the guy in the face mask...who looked like he had more movement and pace than any of our wingers (including Wilson).

I'm more worried than I was...because Boro didn't try to attack us until late.   I don't think other teams are going to wait that long to come at us.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Goals win games and we don't look like scoring many on that showing.

But its early days, we lost & drew our first games in the last 2 promo seasons!

[Nero]

Sack Silva, we didn't win 3 nil first game of the season, Boro will give a few teams a bloody nose this season we dominated a large part of the game, Robinson has speed that's it, bring back Bryan, a lot better to watch than the last 2 season, we will be up there at the end of the season still undeafted

[rebel]

Silva needs to nail down the 'free flowing' football, we need to see more of it.   

[steed the legend]

Really Missed Reed today, and why isn't Jo Bryan playing?
.
Wilson is class, and Ream, Tosin, Tete and the keeper played well.
The young lads really got bullied today but played ok, the rest where just bang average.
What does that say for the Season ahead? We need to unload quite a few and get more quality in to consider promotion.

[Arthur]

... his passing was terrible.  I assume we watched the same game?  Was given plenty of room in most cases to do something with the ball, but either made a poor pass or back passed to the keeper. But the backline players still need to make decent passes and create a little something.  I just thought he looked very unsure of himself.  JMHO

His passing was 'terrible'? What an exaggeration. Perfect? No. But far from 'terrible'. Contrary to you, moreover, I thought he played with confidence. As a centre back in a footballing side, his primary role, I would say, is to feed it into the midfield players, giving them enough space to have the time to get the ball under control. This he did on numerous occasions. Quite what you mean by 'create a little something', I'm not sure. I'll guess you mean create a chance for someone to assist a goal-scoring opportunity. Maybe. But such would be a bonus rather than an expectation against a defence as well-drilled as was Boro's.

[The Rock]

We were faster and stronger by about the same tune a Top 6 PL is against us. The kids will come good. Wilson is the real deal. It seemed like we played down to Boro and didn't know how to play such slow and clumsy football. Ream was an excellent example of this. He can't keep up with the the PL, yet had time for tea in the middle of the pitch on numerous occasions today. We lacked that bit of clinical finishing and quality and so we drew blah blah blah same sorry.

I still think we'll be Top 6, hopefully Top 2. 45 games games to go. Next time around a game of this nature needs to be won not drawn. Not bad, not great. Bring in Muniz.

[SuffolkWhite]

Waaaaaaaaay too early to start the moaning, give ten games and see where we are and how we have played.

[Somerset Fulham]

Waaaaaaaaay too early to start the moaning, give ten games and see where we are and how we have played.

It is clearly never, ever too early for some.

We dominated, they scored from the one shot they had on target.  As soon as our finishers get up to speed, all will be well.

[Carborundum]

Reams passing became predictable because there was no-one presenting to receive it ten yards away on the half turn to transition play.  Francois just went into his shell and teammates didn't have the confidence to pass to him.  Sorry, based on that showing he's just not ready.

We dropped two points today because of midfield in general and selling Steffjo in particular. 

[junior white]

Positive was we were more attacking, negatives far out weigh those. Mitro yet again looked like he wasnt interested, and that really disappoints me. Midfield needs Reed in it for sure, but overall i was disappointed with the performance, hopefully work in progress and we pick up points while the side settle in to Silva's tactics.

[roberto w6]

First game of the season so I won't read too much into it but I was more positive walking down Fulham Palace Rd than I was walking back.

Overall, I was disappointed that we didn't seem to have much structure and the passing wasn't good enough. But new management trying to play a new system and he hasn't had much time to embed his ideas yet so we should all keep the faith.

Positives: I thought Ream was a rock in defence and led us well, Tete looked classy, Wilson showed signs that he could become a very special player for us but I just hope the referees (I thought today's standard was poor) give him protection as he will be targeted heavily. Carvalho and Francois showed great potential and did well to stand up to Warnock's predictable bullying tactics as they got more into the game.

Worries: I wasn't convinced by Gazzaniga - he looked nervy. Let's hope he'll look more assured once he's settled in. Mitro so needs to get one spectacular goal and 2 or 3 tap-ins to get his confidence back or I fear he'll have another poor season. Overall we lacked creativity and precision. We missed Harrison Reed a lot and hopefully his return will steady the ship and allow the others to be more creative. Wouldn't it have made sense to have Wilson and Kebano on the opposite wings and let them swap from time to time during the game.

Early days and let's hope we manage to get another couple of signings

COYW