FoF MOTM Fulham 0 v 0 Forest and post match thread

[iansthailand]

Tete, clearly, but a shout out for the subs who I think changed the game in our favour. Thought Muniz looked very sharp.

Looked sharp? Couldn't hit a barn door

He did hit a barn door named Aina. That was heading for top corner. You're hatred for all things Fulham are becoming tiresome young man, lighten up for all our sakes but most importantly your own.

[Matt10]

I can agree with that, and good point about the Berge-Lukic combo. I think we also need to consider how last season they were in the same position. I think a lot of people forget how consistent the Berge-Lukic pivot was last season.

For Andersen, look, the way I see it - he's not going to all of a sudden develop pace. Is that his fault relative to his performance? Not really. I could say the same about Tete who made fouls unnecessarily, got beat by Williams several times including the Dominguez chance in the first half, or opted for some questionable passes or choose not to cross when he's supposed to - it doesn't mean he is not deserving of MOTM. He positioned himself physically, and came through with the crucial block at the end.

Andersen won his battles versus Jesus, then had to fight versus Awoniyi. Andersen won all his headers, including a crucial one where it was he and Bassey vs Awoniyi on a difficult bouncing ball - just enough to steer the momentum away from their attack. Nobody says anything about Andersen's reading of the game though, where the outside of foot through ball by Gibbs-White to Jesus was well covered by him to clear. He made the right choice in bringing down Hutchinson, as did Berge dropping back behind so we didn't get a red instead of a yellow.

In the end, Tete vs Andersen is not a bad shout for MOTM as looking on whoscored they are both 7.0 and 7.2 respectively.

I agree Andersen was decent all things considered. Bassey and Robinson were far bigger problems today if we're looking at defenders, but from what I've seen online, Andersen is the scapegoat.

I agree that he should have brought down Hutchinson. However, I can't help but wonder if against a team like Forest Diop would have been the better choice. Forest has a lot of pace in their attack, and that is Andersen's achilles heel, while Diop has very respectable recovery pace. Especially as his passing wasn't that effective today either (easy to say in hindsight).

As for Berge-Lukic combo, I'd add another thing. They were the starters in most of our games last season where we broke our record points tally. We had a slower start result wise, and a lot of fans blamed them for that, when in reality it was a combination of a lot of things, including terrible refereeing decisions.

My only hesitation with Diop would've been the pitch conditions. That was the most bumpy pitch I've seen in the PL, obviously getting a workload after Europa match a couple days before this one. It wasn't until the brief onslaught of rain that the ball started to stick to the surface. I just don't think Diop would handle the ball bobbling about as well. Andersen made some smart passes and successful diagonals when we were out of ideas at times.

All hindsight of course as I would've rather had Cuenca than Bassey, but the more this match went on the more it was a slugfest and style points were going to be out the window. A lot of players, not just Fulham, struggled to get the ball under control. I think that is what made this result, especially the cleansheet, a decent catalyst to rebuilding our momentum.

Social media is a laugh the majority of the time. Everyone has an opinion but can't explain it - just general statements. I appreciate your posts so much because they always provide context and examples. It's too easy and cliche to hate on our team of players and manager right now. I'm glad to not have to worry about relegation and look forward to the Europa push. 

[bog]

Tete for me. His match saving block right at the end summed up his display.   

[KentFulham]

Tete was the best of a poor team performance.

[Shredhead]

I'm struggling to think of anyone, but probably Kenny for his tackling. He certainly got under the Forest fans' skin.

Bassey got done so many times.
Andersen looked slow.
Muniz at least had a shot on target.