FoF MOTM Fulham 0 v 0 Forest and post match thread

[love4ffc]

I didn't think there was a lot of quality in this match.  For me, some of the players looked tired and seemed to be going through the motions. Honestly, I feel lucky to have even gotten a point.

Who was your FoF MOTM and why? 

[SP]

That game finished very nil nil!

Kenny for me.

[bill taylors apprentice]

None of the above!!!

[demeant0r]

Tete was the only player who played well today.

We got 1 point of of 6, I'm thinking that's our European dream pretty much over.

What has happened to Iwobi? That was possbily his worst performance in a Fulham shirt.

[SerbianLad]

Tete for me. Saves us the point late on and had many important blocks/tackles. All subs made a positive impact too, but weren't on for long enough to get my vote.

[Ronnief]

Difficult to pick but Tete pips any other.

[Sgt Fulham]

Tete

[FFC1987]

I'm not voting, but think the fans deserve MoTM for sitting through that turgid rubbish.

[hongkongfulham]

this feels like one if the weakest premier leagues in a while. So many poor teams.

Can't have Anderson and Berge starting for us next year.

[ron]

Yeah, Kenny.

[Fulham 442]

We were lucky to get a point today, offside saved us twice.  What a turgid watch too.  I'm already dreading the match against Burnley!

[The Old Count]

A clean sheet away from home. However turgid. When Ferguson or Wenger oversaw performances like that everyone said that good teams who were a bit out of form ground out results like this.
Kenny mom.

[Holders]

VAR

[SerbianLad]

Positives for me:

Muniz had his best game since coming back from injury. Looked like himself from before the injury, and Lukic coming back, who had a good performance, especially relative to how our midfield starters played. I'd start both in the next match.

Decent cameos from TC, Chukwueze and Sess too.

Tete was solid. Leno much more composed than in the previous match.

[JimmyConway]

VAR best game for a while in a Fulham shirt.

[OZ-WHITE]

Not sure what the tactics were supposed to me, not a lot of pressure on Forrest with that odd mid block . Just too slow , no real urgency and saved by VAR.
Have the players already packed their holidays bags ?

[HV71]

Only one man stood out above the rest - king Kenny by a country mile

[Matt10]

Andersen for me. Had a lot to deal with trying to make up for both Bassey and Robinson's over aggression and clumsy play multiple times. Won a lot of headers, variety in his passing, I can only remember one underhit diagonal into the wind.

This was a frustrating match overall though. Constant overplaying, trying to walk it in. That's been the theme for a while now. The left side has zero threat and goes to show why Silva has always opted for inverted wingers. It's just too easy to defend with two left footed players (LW and LWB). Pair that up with Robinson's very basic decision making, other than crossing early (except once) and no ESR to link any play - it just became so easy for the midfielders to tuck inside and prevent any movement into the half-space. King managed to receive on the half-turn in the first half, but nothing came of it because we've got Iwobi too deep or absent and Robinson never choosing to just blast the ball into the penalty area.

I think the Iwobi at the 8 experiment is over. He's getting lost and doesn't collect the ball in 50/50's enough. There were times in the match where he was reluctant to even put a foot in. I'm glad Lukic is back, and now it's time for the Berge-Lukic midfield to get back on track, while we bring Iwobi over to that left hand side like he did before Lukic's injury. That will bring more dimensions to our attack that doesn't rely on the most obvious left winger/wingback movements.

[SerbianLad]

Andersen for me. Had a lot to deal with trying to make up for both Bassey and Robinson's over aggression and clumsy play multiple times. Won a lot of headers, variety in his passing, I can only remember one underhit diagonal into the wind.

This was a frustrating match overall though. Constant overplaying, trying to walk it in. That's been the theme for a while now. The left side has zero threat and goes to show why Silva has always opted for inverted wingers. It's just too easy to defend with two left footed players (LW and LWB). Pair that up with Robinson's very basic decision making, other than crossing early (except once) and no ESR to link any play - it just became so easy for the midfielders to tuck inside and prevent any movement into the half-space. King managed to receive on the half-turn in the first half, but nothing came of it because we've got Iwobi too deep or absent and Robinson never choosing to just blast the ball into the penalty area.

I think the Iwobi at the 8 experiment is over. He's getting lost and doesn't collect the ball in 50/50's enough. There were times in the match where he was reluctant to even put a foot in. I'm glad Lukic is back, and now it's time for the Berge-Lukic midfield to get back on track, while we bring Iwobi over to that left hand side like he did before Lukic's injury. That will bring more dimensions to our attack that doesn't rely on the most obvious left winger/wingback movements.

I agree with pretty much all of this, bar Andersen. I don't think he was our worst player, far from it, but he got exposed for his lack of pace two times in the second half. He did have a lot to do though, because, as you say, Bassey and Robinson weren't at their best.

Iwobi in the 8 worked well in one full game (Sunderland at home), somewhat well against Sunderland away and against Spurs at home. It also worked really well in the first half against Spurs away, but it looked terrible in the second half that day. It looked poor in every other match imo. To me it suggests it's more opponent related than anything else, as all 4 games in which there were significant periods of good play with him there were against the same two opponents. Berge-Lukic may lack a bit of creativity, but they dominate every midfield in the league pretty much every time. There were maybe 2-3 matches in total in which they dominated by opponents. I still think our best overall performance this season was against Brentford, and I don't think any other match was particularly close either, and we started Berge-Lukic pivot that day. Absolutely get another midfielder in the summer, but at the moment, for all their shortcomings, Berge-Lukic remains the best midfield pivot we have.

[Fulham 1879]

Tete.  BBC's viewer ratings for players who started are of some interest as they will include many non-Fulham fans. Berge deservedly rock bottom. He's usually in the bottom 2 or 3 on the BBC viewers' ratings.