Team for today

[Lazybones]

A good game.  Bassey the stand-out player, I thought.

First game I've ever streamed from FFCtv.  Liked the commentator quite a bit.  Nice turn of phrase and well-paced commentary.

I hope his 4 year old granddaughter enjoyed her first game. :)

[ianthailand]

What a cross from Robo

I'm one of his biggest critics re crossing but that was sublime!

[LittleErn]

Much better 2nd half. Fewer misplaced passes and some good forward runs. We picked up the pace nicely. Still some frailty in midfield but 🤞Pailhina will cure that. Apart from the assist - which was great - Robinson looked jaded, mind you, Willian never passes the ball back to him so why should he bust a gut. Diop not at his best but not his type of game. Bassey looks good, especially in attack! ( My grannie was called Bassey so I'm biased!) Mitro not on the pace yet. I thought BDR did some excellent work. As long as we cut out the misplaced passes, especially at the back, we should be OK

[hovewhite]

Lukic covered DM well in his best performance since joining us,Bassey and jimmehez 1st games at cottage both score happy days,Miro back in a Fulham shirt.downside a dodgy fist half.but a good warm up for tofees next week.

[Drewry66]

Million times better second half. Looked pretty sharp in it and should have scored 3 or 4. Andreas looked good. Mitro actually looked very sharp considering he hasn't played..just shows how important his link up play is...a few brilliant balls to set up chances although prob should have shot a few times. Let's just hope this is the start of him being back as confident we'll be much better this year by the time the window is closed if he is still here.

Prob Luckic best game for us so well done mate and defensive midfield where we need over.

Bassey MOTM and clearly a massive upgrade on Duffy, Tosin or Diop competing with Ream. JM a great back up option with Vinnie if Mitro stays. Add CHO and Gray and a few more and keep Mtro and it could be a great season again.

Key for me is obviously the Mitro piece, having Pereira play a full 90 and get his fitness back and then having Palhinha holding down the middle of the park.

Hoffenheim came 12th last season (albeit out of 18) and we won without Palhinha, Ream, Pereira and Mitro who would've been starters for us last season, for most of the match.

Promising, but we really do need to get more faces through the door for competition and to improve weaker areas of the first team ASAP.

Gray, CHO, Fred, Andre etc..

Yeah if we keep Mitro even with where we are at now we have a brilliant foundation when everyone is fit. If we add the potential and quality of the likes of CHO, Gray, Andre/Fred and some sort of decent full back cover and replace Tosin with someone as good as Bassey looks I am ridiculously excited about this season. If we do that list is replacing Mbabu/Soares, Tosin, Duffy, Soloman, Kabano, James. If we get that kind of quality in and keep the rest it is a MASSIVE upgrade on last year. Know we have to get them yet but by the end of the window I am sure g the club will have filled all those positions. Well done to the club and Marco rebuffing the Saudi offers..just all needs to come together now next few weeks.

[General]

Seems as if Marco got them all focused at Half time and they upped the effort levels and listened to him. A great sign that the team are all back on the same wavelength and pulling in the same direction again.

Good to see people warming to Lukic, I think he'll come into his own this season.

[SerbianLad]

I thought that, apart from the first 15-20 minutes and the situation that led tl Hoffenheim's goal, we looked pretty solid. Before Andreas and Mitro came on we lacked a bit of creativity, but after they came on we created loads of chances.

As others have said Bassey the stand out performer and clear MOTM, I thought Lukic and Willian were very good as well. Jimenez struggled in the first half but had some nice moments in the short time he was on in the second including nice build up play and a cool finish for his goal. On to Everton!

[LittleErn]

Much better 2nd half. Fewer misplaced passes and some good forward runs. We picked up the pace nicely. Still some frailty in midfield but 🤞Pailhina will cure that. Apart from the assist - which was great - Robinson looked jaded, mind you, Willian never passes the ball back to him so why should he bust a gut. Diop not at his best but not his type of game. Bassey looks good, especially in attack! ( My grannie was called Bassey so I'm biased!) Mitro not on the pace yet. I thought BDR did some excellent work. As long as we cut out the misplaced passes, especially at the back, we should be OK

I should clarify - I'm not saying Mitro was slow over the ground. In fact he looked fit and if possible a little quicker over the ground. I should have said that he doesn't look match sharp yet. Let's hope he gets that sharpness while playing for us!

[Grassy Noel]

As good as Bassey played for me the stand out player once again was Tete but his supreme confidence either with his positioning or with his control of the ball seems to be taken as read. Long may he stay fit.

[Motspur Park]

I thought the team had much more presence when Mitro came on and it showed what we will miss if he leaves. We will not be able to play Jiminez in that role and he would need someone to join him quickly from midfield. We would not have the outlet from defenders that Mitro has provided.

As good as Bassey looked, my concern was that he was out of position too much and we would concede goals against premier league opposition. He will need to learn quick that he cannot wander. We didn't get punished from that today but we will do.

Tete was class and Reed, Reid & Lukic were all solid.

Rest were all okay but Pereira added some spark when he came on.

[Carborundum]

Plus points:

Bassey is a leader on the pitch.  Talking, shaping, stepping out.  We can play a bit higher line because he's a serious athlete.  He's captaincy material one day and, though I know this won't be popular, should start ahead of Ream at LCB. 

Jimenez scored a strikers goal, a nice one.  Just what he needed.

Mitro's bang up for it.  He always is when he crosses the white line.  Bassey's goal came, in part, from textbook Mitro skullduggery in the six yard box.  Goalie and CB couldn't cope.  They were fuming, but to no avail.  Layoffs instead of shots were intelligent.  Before the next corner I said to Carborundum jnr that nothing would come of it because the ref would blow a foul against Mitro.  Sure enough, that's what happened. 

Marco's team talk presumably questioned where the zip had gone and worked wonders.  We tore them apart second half.

Lukic supplied a lot of welcome workmanlike glue.  Tete is some footballer and the back header to himself was one for the showreel.

Negatives:

Kick off time.  I'll get over it.

First ten minutes.  We'd be 2-0 down against better opposition.

Sprinklers on at half time.  Seriously??!

Restless leg syndrome.  The lad sat next to me. 

The phrase "notoriously unreliable guide" applies to such games but we didn't look like a team set to struggle.  Incidentally this was my first pre season game since a dismal afternoon against Real Betis which featured a titanic battle of egos between Berba and Ruiz both intent on occupying exactly the same place on the pitch and the unveiling of our new midfield solution, Derek Boateng.  We went down that season. Whatever happens Calvin Bassey is rather more capable than Derek Boateng.

[KJS]

Good pre season run out especially as the players actually trained for 2 sessions yesterday, their legs would have felt it in the 1st half that's most probably why they eased into the game🤔

[LC]

I didn't get to watch the game but it sounds like Mitrovic put some effort in which is great to see. I doubt he leaves at this point, if he stays and puts the effort in then this is a good thing. On the down side, it's probably the last summer window where we would get big money for him- given he's about to turn 29 years old and what's happened this summer.

And just a general point, I know some managers/people like a left sided center back to be left footed, but I really don't think this is a big deal at all. It's very much down to the player and if you are playing centrally it means even less. We could have a scenario this season where Bassey and Ream play along side each other

[Motspur Park]

I didn't get to watch the game but it sounds like Mitrovic put some effort in which is great to see. I doubt he leaves at this point, if he stays and puts the effort in then this is a good thing. On the down side, it's probably the last summer window where we would get big money for him- given he's about to turn 29 years old and what's happened this summer.

And just a general point, I know some managers/people like a left sided center back to be left footed, but I really don't think this is a big deal at all. It's very much down to the player and if you are playing centrally it means even less. We could have a scenario this season where Bassey and Ream play along side each other

On the Mitro point, the return on his sale is, I think, secondary to establishing ourselves in this division. Plan for succession later but for now let's stabilise.

[Lighthouse]

Highlights from GERMANY tv via YouTube

[Chi_FFC]

https://twitter.com/peterrutzler/status/1687846819143798785?s=20

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

Willian starting, that's got to mean that story was bulsh*t. Mitro back on the bench probably means he's staying.

Nice to see Ream has recovered and Raul getting a start. Looking forward to this game.

Edit:Nice to see Bassey in the starting eleven as well.

Thanks for posting the link.  Cheers from USA although English

[Drewry66]

I didn't get to watch the game but it sounds like Mitrovic put some effort in which is great to see. I doubt he leaves at this point, if he stays and puts the effort in then this is a good thing. On the down side, it's probably the last summer window where we would get big money for him- given he's about to turn 29 years old and what's happened this summer.

And just a general point, I know some managers/people like a left sided center back to be left footed, but I really don't think this is a big deal at all. It's very much down to the player and if you are playing centrally it means even less. We could have a scenario this season where Bassey and Ream play along side each other

On the Mitro point, the return on his sale is, I think, secondary to establishing ourselves in this division. Plan for succession later but for now let's stabilise.

Completely agree. If we keep him this year and buy all these other positions we are looking to fill with quality we are stable, avoid second season syndrome and we can plan for replacing him next year if needed. Also not the last chance to get a pay out for him or us. He is capable of scoring 20+ goals in the prem with a full season and if he does watch the pricks come back in for him next year. If he scores 20+ goals they might actually pay the £50 million (or at least something close). He knows that so he has all motivation to smash in a tonne for us this year if he still wants his massive pay day. If he's fit and firing with what we have and are adding the chances of going down are minimal you would have thought. If he went it is a massive hole and makes relegation at least a risk although I think we'd still have enough. Far better to keep at least for this year and take a big fee next year if the same situation arises and they pay up.

[Lordedmundo]

Good performance all round - raised our game in the second half and were then far the better team.

Bassey deservedly man of the match, definitely got a player there and Lukic looks more settled and confident now.  Everyone else was fine, except maybe Diop who looked a bit slow and indecisive at times. Jimenez slightly quicker than Mitro, but not as strong in the air (as expected).

Assuming Mitro stays - we just need to get 3-4 players in to cover injuries etc and I think we will do well, maybe even stronger than last season.

[cmg]

Our manager talking calm, reasonable, intelligent good sense after match.

Can't see how he fits in to an industry which is largely reliant on garbage, falsehood and fabrication as a method of communication.

"Mitrovic is training with the team and is ready to play. If this wasn't the case he wouldn't be on the bench and he wouldn't be playing in the second half.

"I think for me and for all the managers, it's impossible for me to guarantee that any player is going to stay," Marco added when asked about transfer speculation.

"As you know, and I told you last season, we are happy and pleased with the squad we kept from last season and we are looking to strengthen and reinforce our squad, not the opposite.

"We cannot control the market. Of course, some of our players have received offers which is a consequence of our great season last year and we have to be ready for that."