Post Match Thread: Fulham 0-1 Spurs

[SerbianLad]

If Son's 'tackle' was only a yellow then Palhinha's booking count for the season should be about two rather than seven.  Another example of the biased refereeing and VAR that has perverted justice in the PL for decades.  Little bit lacklustre in the chance department for us and Kane's goal was an example of how the ball sometimes runs for strikers.  He attempted a repeat second half and was a good metre wide.  I think we need to sign another central midfielder before deadline day because there are tired legs and brains out there.

It's exactly the same tackle that got Felix a red card...he was never going for the ball.

For me it was even worse. Thought Tete was just a bit faster than Felix and Felix actually tried to pull his leg away a bit towards the end. Son didn't and was not even close to getting to the ball first.
We're lucky Tete "survived" those fouls considering his injury history.

[wback]

Agree with a lot of this - they have a lot of world class players, starters for their teams at the World Cup, and a manager who's won almost everything. Yet they played a deep 5-4-1 to hold onto their win.

In the second half, if we got past the first line, the second line swarmed us and we couldn't find a way to work the ball out and round quickly enough to find space on the other side. A few attempts at switching it were just too slow to get us to 1 on 1 situations or create overlaps/loads. We needed a mistake or for them to switch off and we they didn't oblige.

Not really sure what we can do about that with the current roster. E.g. though Solomon looks like he can beat a man and pick a cute pass, he's still going to be doing it in a tiny amount of space. Perhaps as we see more of him, he'll be the new Messi, and be able to commit opponents in the final third, but that's likely wishful thinking.

Even our set plays were from very deep, with them holding a high line, so we were competing for balls on the edge of the box rather than the six yard box.

Fortunately, this isn't too much of a problem for us, it's going to be pretty rare that a top team comes to us looking to grab a 1-0 and hold on. They'll usually give us a bit more space than that as the game stretches.

A couple of other comments:
- Leno good, no chance with the goal.
- Diop and Ream generally very good.
- Tete and Robinson also.
- Reed excellent first half.
- Palinha won lots of ball, walked the tightrope a bit, does need to concentrate on his passing a bit more. Gives it away a bit too much.
- Perreira, not really on it unfortunately.
- Willian, good first half, no space/avenues in the second.
- BDR, same. They focused on shutting us down.
- Mitro, some nice link up, but feeding on scraps.
- Subs, tidiness, signs of quality, but very tough to create anything.

With the first half performance we showed yesterday, we'll probably see another 4-5 wins this season and few draws and as we settle into mid-table. So a fairly quiet end to the season (with the caveat that you don't want to carry a run of straight losses over the summer - we need to be careful to finish up acceptably).

[Deeping_white]

With the first half performance we showed yesterday, we'll probably see another 4-5 wins this season and few draws and as we settle into mid-table. So a fairly quiet end to the season (with the caveat that you don't want to carry a run of straight losses over the summer - we need to be careful to finish up acceptably).

Nothing I saw last night made me think we're only going to go at a 20-25% win ratio for the rest of the season. We battered Spurs in the first half and the only reason they won is because they've got a world class striker and then proceeded to park the bus for the entire second half

[wback]

Nothing I saw last night made me think we're only going to go at a 20-25% win ratio for the rest of the season. We battered Spurs in the first half and the only reason they won is because they've got a world class striker and then proceeded to park the bus for the entire second half

Don't think it's just last night. Feels like we're creating very few quality chances at the moment (though we're a lot tighter at the back than we were). After the next round of games, we might find ourselves in 10th, we'll only have Palinha for 15 out of 17 games, other teams will get more competitive as they fight for their lives/European places... we're going to have to be really, really on it to maintain a 40% win ratio.

[Sting of the North]

Nothing I saw last night made me think we're only going to go at a 20-25% win ratio for the rest of the season. We battered Spurs in the first half and the only reason they won is because they've got a world class striker and then proceeded to park the bus for the entire second half

Don't think it's just last night. Feels like we're creating very few quality chances at the moment (though we're a lot tighter at the back than we were). After the next round of games, we might find ourselves in 10th, we'll only have Palinha for 15 out of 17 games, other teams will get more competitive as they fight for their lives/European places... we're going to have to be really, really on it to maintain a 40% win ratio.

I have seen nothing to suggest that we would not be equally competitive, we are also potentially playing for European places. Why would other teams care more (as if they didn't already care)?

Also not sure why we will only have Palhinha for 17 games. Is he scheduled to miss games for any reason? Or have you already awarded him the additional 3 yellow cards needed for suspension? He just went 12 games with just 1 yellow so if he replicates that he will reach match day 32 without being suspended, and then the number is increased to 15.

I agree that we will have to be really, really on it though. Which we have been so far under Silva. No reason to believe that will change in my opinion.

[jarv]

Spurs were dull, boring and several times when the camera angle was right, easy to see Spurs played 2 banks of 5, no intention to attack in the second half.  It was an even game and if I was a spurs fan I would be crying out for some creativity in midfield which in the past, they have always been famous for. Once again, we were unlucky.

Is the window still open and is anyone in the frame.??

[wback]

I have seen nothing to suggest that we would not be equally competitive, we are also potentially playing for European places. Why would other teams care more (as if they didn't already care)?

Also not sure why we will only have Palhinha for 17 games. Is he scheduled to miss games for any reason? Or have you already awarded him the additional 3 yellow cards needed for suspension? He just went 12 games with just 1 yellow so if he replicates that he will reach match day 32 without being suspended, and then the number is increased to 15.

I agree that we will have to be really, really on it though. Which we have been so far under Silva. No reason to believe that will change in my opinion.

Yeah, I think he'll get the bookings.

As for competitiveness, isn't it just the case that teams in the middle of the league get a bit softer because they've less to play for, whereas the top and the bottom have to push on.

Yes, Silva has kept us on it so far, but when we were really running away with the league last year we definitely dropped off at the end. It's just what happens when the pressure's off.

[cookieg]

It was disappointing that we could not break them down in thew second half. For me, we should have played two up front a lot earlier in the second half and gone a bit route 1 at times to get their defence running backwards, they looked all too comfortable playing with two lines of 5 and we didn't know what to do. 

[RaySmith]

Spurs were dull, boring and several times when the camera angle was right, easy to see Spurs played 2 banks of 5, no intention to attack in the second half.  It was an even game and if I was a spurs fan I would be crying out for some creativity in midfield which in the past, they have always been famous for. Once again, we were unlucky.

Is the window still open and is anyone in the frame.??

A Spurs' fan and a Fulham fan were on 5 Live early this morning, giving their reflections on the game.

Fulham fan, Dan, spoke of how well we were doing under Silva - much better than anyone anticipated.

The Spurs' fan, a woman with a strong, Manchester?, accent, ranted about how boring Spurs were now, and how they needed a new manager.

Dan said 'It was Fulham who played the entertaining football,' and she agreed.

[WindyCity]

Frustrating game, but an overall positive for me.  Sure, very disappointed we couldn't get something out of this game.  But Spurs are still one of the top clubs in this league, and we played them even for most of this game, with large chunks of time of possession and a handful of scoring chances.  Too bad Reeds' volley from the box early on was hit directly at the keeper.  Great chance there.  I think we finished the game with same number of shots and more shots on target.  Very encouraging to see that we can stack up with and compete against any team in this league.  I'm still hoping for a top half table finish this season, but this team has proven itself as PL quality.  A few more improvements/backup help and this team will be tough to beat this season and next.