POST MATCH: Fulham 4-5 Man City

[Southcoastffc]

Some strange posts on this thread IMO. Citeh were, for much of the game, very good.  Their movement was excellent, they pressed us very well and when we went forward they were well organised. Their first 5 shots gave them 4 goals and one against the post. They were incisive and clinical That said, even when we were 2 goals down (2 nil, 3 1, 5 3) I still thought we were in with a chance, and so it proved. I don't think our back line was very much at fault, more that we were so open in midfield and gave the ball away so much.   And I struggle to think which of their goals Leno 'should' really have stopped.

[SP]

The ref was gutted when he had to o book the City player for kicking the ball away. How he warned their keeper five times for time wasting without a booking is a mystery to me.

[Steeeeeeeeeed]

I do think Iwobi is our best player overall and consistently, and is a great "all round" player, good at everything.

i feel like he is the heartbeat of the team, and feel.sometimes he is wasted playing on the sides, I really like him in the centre of midfield, he brings out the best in the team there.

[Steeeeeeeeeed]

57% possession against City.

City only had 4 shots on target (one deflection went in) according to BBC Stats (though Haaland hit the woodwork twice too).

[Jim©]

Ok....now breath....

So, that's what it feels like to almost enjoy losing a game...

Can't fault any player... Mr Silva  made quick positive decisions...the team has definitely got it's MOJO back...on balance probably should have been a draw

I'm usually a pillar of positivity but Lukic was woeful. Berge also a problem, far too passive/negative on and off the ball.

The rest of them were wonderful, Bassey MOM though, which is maybe controversial considering we conceded 5 haha

Berge a problem? He was class second half. Granted bassey was best defender but mom? Thought they were all poor. Leno terrible.

[Nick Bateman]

Incredible result considering Leno was thinking of his Christmas shopping list.

[Steeeeeeeeeed]

Both Managers Post Match Press Conferences...

https://www.youtube.com/live/KxKJl3rYANk?si=uat45_Q7DEiDPBXG

[ArcticOctopus]

The worst player on our team this match was the Berge-Lukic pivot. I don't know what Marco's intention was with his initial setup. Lukic was sitting on the right touchline half the time. No wonder City has the run of midfield.

[Steeeeeeeeeed]

https://www.youtube.com/live/MKZZKBcAsfk?si=n1vvRp07wgiRShkE

Full Radio Commentary (TalkSport) of the game,

At 1.17.00 ish the some of the Crowd are starting to walk out.

At 1.18.00 ish, Fulham  make it 2-5...

And is a good listen from there onwards

[DadCreature]

The City fans here all said the same- amazing fight from this Fulham team.  Exciting wings that are hard to contain.  Utter trash defensive midfielders.  Their words, not mine.

[Bassey the warrior]

Sorry just to clarify, we've got an option on chuk?

€25m allegedly, looking more and more like a steal.

[Harry the bee keeper]

Incredibly proud of the performance, and don't want to give Marco too much stick, but felt like a missed opportunity last night. Every good performance this season has been with iwobi at the centre of the park, and the Berge Lukic axis just isn't working. King in the 8 during afcon?

[Baszab]

Anybody at the game would have seen a great performance from Berge

City strength moving forward was simply unstoppable in first half - although we did loaf around and watch them like schoolboys

Couldn't really deal with OReilly pressing in Tete leaving Doku spare

[Count Flapula]

Some strange posts on this thread IMO. Citeh were, for much of the game, very good.  Their movement was excellent, they pressed us very well and when we went forward they were well organised. Their first 5 shots gave them 4 goals and one against the post. They were incisive and clinical That said, even when we were 2 goals down (2 nil, 3 1, 5 3) I still thought we were in with a chance, and so it proved. I don't think our back line was very much at fault, more that we were so open in midfield and gave the ball away so much.   And I struggle to think which of their goals Leno 'should' really have stopped.

Largely how I saw it. All the Leno bashing a bit odd as their goals were either very good or the fault of players other than him. Some using xG stats to bash him but from being at the game and watching replays the eye test does not match that. Citeh were just clinical with their chances.

Defence was all at sea on occasions but as Southcoast said, they had woeful midfield cover most the game - was far from Lukic's best game but he's just coming back from injury so that was more the issue rather than he's become a bad player overnight that some on here now opine (nonsense). I agree with the sentiment though that we showed them far too much respect from KO and maybe should have started Iwobi next to Berge / Chuk kept his place and gone at them (thought that before KO as well to be fair), but hindsight is the most wonderful and useless superpower of them all.

By Christ we showed some fight though - the lads definitely playing for both the manager and the shirt so very proud of them. Think how easy it would've been to let your heads drop at 0-3 and 1-5 but they kept going. So close to one of the all time great comebacks.

Shame we're about to lose the Nigerian crew for AFCON as they have become the heartbeat of this team. We definitely need a CM to cover Iwobi's loss pretty much in the door on New Years Day and I think Silva has foreseen this since 1 Sept. Even if they are in the door early Jan it will take them a while to get up to speed so I'm buckling up for a hairy festive season/New Year period.

Other points - Cuenca has been top draw when he's played so maybe should have been integrated a bit more and given a few more starts prior to Bassey going to keep his confidence up / make him feel like he's more than just an understudy. Also Kevin and JKA looked good which is pleasing as we will need them firing - especially over the congested festive season.

[Count Flapula]

Also credit to ESR - earned his start and was the only danger in the first half. Now our joint top league goal scorer with OG!

He's not the creative ball carrier I thought he'd be but he's good at arriving in the box and gets on the end of things. Can beat a player in certain situations but much more often tends to try and beat players with movements and quick 1-2 passing with team mates. Not what I thought he'd be but definitely a good player when his confidence is up. I think his mentality is the key as to whether he kicks on or not but there is definitely a capable and clever player in there.

[JimmyConway]

Not sure if the spirited second half fightback is a huge papering over the cracks of conceding 5 goals in under an hour?
I have no doubt if the game goes on another 5-10mins we don't lose but though some will be on a high from that second half performance the reality was some x rated self inflicted passages of play from Fulham. Possibly teams not of the calibre of City's attacking prowess would not of been so clinical but that's a big takeaway from last night why so open and sloppy against them of all teams? They are as vulnerable at the back as most teams towards the bottom of this league but if you are going to roll out the red carpet like we did for an hour then you'll get punished like we did.

I really thought we had a chance of getting at least a point against them last night leading up to the game and full marks for the courageous effort in the second half and though there will be lot's of patting on the back for nearly pulling off the impossible just hope that first half performance is not just swept under the carpet.

I really hope the first player in come January is a midfielder who has more vision and attacking prowess as opposed to the back sideways back we are having to watch week in week out. We are taking defensive midfielders to the extreme.
Fully understood Silva decision to bring Lukic back last night but he must be scratching his head now to see his two deep sitting midfielders failing to get the basics right for long periods and offer little to nothing in terms of protection.
On to another bogey team at home next ! Palace manager outwitted Marco in both home games last season so hopefully we get the tactics right against the way they setup.
Though beaten on the night hopefully still a bit of momentum to carry forward to Palace game.

[hopper]

Don't know how to analyse that, was certainly brilliant fun and had shades of Juventus - I thought we were going to get that fifth goal to equalise, and there was so much belief all around the ground. Just an incredible ride.

The big positives for me are ESR putting in another fine performance, that's a good few in a row. He looked our best player in that first half. Chukwueze is absolutely dynamite, what a performance - and two fabulous goals. I just love Iwobi in the 8 as well. I really like Kevin, his first touch, ball control and trickery are so impressive, just a shame that final corner couldn't be delivered into a more dangerous area. King did very well coming off the bench too.

The disappointing thing was that we had a really low intensity and I think showed them too much respect in that first half which put us in what seemed like an impossible position. Could have been worse too with Haaland somehow hitting the inside of the post. Lukic had a worrying outing yesterday - we need him in form during the crucial AFCON period. The defence and keeper didn't cover themselves in glory at times as well. Seen a bit of debate on Leno, but he was quite slow on Foden's second and dealt badly with the corner for Foden's first. Doku is a fine player who we didn't know what to do with all game.

We badly need to improve at set pieces too, although if Chukwueze wants to keep scoring screamers from headers out then I guess it doesn't matter.

Overall it was the daftest, most entertaining game of football and went from bitterly disappointed, to somehow elated but also gutted. Never had such a funny mix of emotions. The Cottage was absolutely brilliant yesterday, and think did a good job keeping the players going during some difficult moments. Not sure I'll ever see the Cottage so happy in defeat.

Neutrals everywhere calling it game of the season and a modern classic.

[SerbianLad]

Fully understood Silva decision to bring Lukic back last night but he must be scratching his head now to see his two deep sitting midfielders failing to get the basics right for long periods and offer little to nothing in terms of protection.

Disagree with this bit. I thought Lukic's passing and first touch were both very poor yesterday and he was rightfully subbed off. However, I don't think that partnership has anything to do with why we conceded any of the three goals. For the first goal, every one of our defenders was just ball watching. No one tried to stop the cross and once the cross was made everyone continued to stand still. Second goal, Andersen overcommits and Bassey's positioning is poor. Third goal, Leno should have done better with the cross, but the goal itself was just pure skill from Foden. If you look at the stats, Lukic was probably our best player defensively in the first half(which isn't saying much) and Berge did okay too. Again, the problem with Lukic yesterday was poor passing and first touch and he eas rightfully subbed off.

[alfie]

Too much hindsight going on, shoulda...woulda...coulda. If Berge was more narrow in the box he'd have ended up on the end of King's finish to make it 5-5. If Sess was tighter to Halaand on the 1st, it wouldn't have gone in, if he was tight on the headed-post from the City forward again, it may have gone in, who knows.

What is certain is the players are up for it. The confidence has to be sky high right now. Chuk is incredible. I remember posting here in the transfers about how much he'd be someone we need from Milan - can only imagine what his conversation with Rjeinders was like after the match (former Milan players).

Kevin was good too, but he needs more sample size in match defining moments. A corner with no time left, it's got to be quality - he has to be up for it.

In the end, brilliant match, and I'm glad I didn't just fast forward it. I genuinely wondered what we were going to do down 5-1. Bring on Palace.

Ahh that famous word that can change the world. "IF"

[Twig]

Incredible result considering Leno was thinking of his Christmas shopping list.

And you watched the match did you Nick?