Eddie Howe

[80]

7 minutes ago, Shadow Puppets said:

Eh?

 

I watched a really scrappy game… one where both teams were poor… one where Fulham had 2/3 shots on goal all game… and where we took two chances that fell our way.

 

We didn’t play well with the ball, but defensively we were pretty good.

 

The midfield for me is the problem. A seeming lack of confidence / ability to keep the ball. Understandable considering the absentees.

I can go along with most of that, but on balance of play I'd have to say they deserved the win. 3-1 to them would've been a perfectly understandable result. They had 2-3 shots on target, but it's deceiving if we ignore events like that shot they screwed wide towards the end when it looked easier to score.

 

Defensively we weren't awful, we weren't collapsing at all, and I wouldn't call the rest of the performance awful either, but going back to how this started, honestly I expected to win and put in a much more convincing display tonight, and that was very far from the case.

[The Prophet]

Thought Fulham looked pretty toothless like.

[Jonas]

Just now, The Prophet said:

Thought Fulham looked pretty toothless like.

Crosses into the box and shots from distance from the ensuing scramble it looked like to me. Couple moments of miscommunication by us on a couple crosses even made one or two of them look more dangerous than they were. Only clear chance they made was when the game was long since won.

[cubaricho]

The main issues arise when we drop deep and go into that flat 4-5-1 formation - it massively isolates our best player Isak for one thing but it also puts undue pressure on the defense. 
 

When we’re pressed up the pitch in the 4-3-3 we did last season and lose the ball in midfield our defense is at the halfway line and we have a much better chance of recycling possession. When we’re sat deep we’re fucked when we lose possession as it’s immediately in or around our box and we’re scrambling. 
 

We’re at our best in that true 4-3-3 pressuring up the pitch. When we drop into the flat 4-5-1 like we did today (and have many many times this season but didn’t last season) we play like garbage. 
 

 

 

 

Edited January 27 by cubaricho

[Vinny Green Balls]

18 minutes ago, 80 said:

They had 14 shots on goal? Not counting the fairly marginally offside goal and the ball whizzing across the face of our goal untouched by attackers or defenders several times. Maybe this is some strange new breed of defensive genius I'm not familiar with.

they had 3 shots on goal, and 14 shots total. They rarely looked like they could produce anything other than speculative efforts.

[TRC]

Our midfield was overran all game and we banked on them not having quality in the final third. Play like that against Villa who are far superior to Fulham and we get ruined. 4-3-3 vs villa is sending the team to the slaughter 

[80]

1 minute ago, Vinny Green Balls said:

they had 3 shots on goal, and 14 shots total. They rarely looked like they could produce anything other than speculative efforts.

They're all shots on goal, just not accurate ones 

[Vinny Green Balls]

11 minutes ago, 80 said:

I can go along with most of that, but on balance of play I'd have to say they deserved the win. 3-1 to them would've been a perfectly understandable result. They had 2-3 shots on target, but it's deceiving if we ignore events like that shot they screwed wide towards the end when it looked easier to score.

 

Defensively we weren't awful, we weren't collapsing at all, and I wouldn't call the rest of the performance awful either, but going back to how this started, honestly I expected to win and put in a much more convincing display tonight, and that was very far from the case.

It is crazy to suggest that a 3-1 to them is a perfectly understandable result. We were pretty shit for 60 minutes, but they were shit even when they dominated. They did not deserve to win at all.

[Holmesy]

9 minutes ago, TRC said:

Our midfield was overran all game and we banked on them not having quality in the final third. Play like that against Villa who are far superior to Fulham and we get ruined. 4-3-3 vs villa is sending the team to the slaughter 

They obviously identified our CM as an area of weakness, which any team with half a brain in charge will do. Only takes 10 minutes of watching us to realise how gaping the holes in our midfield are. 

[80]

1 minute ago, Vinny Green Balls said:

It is crazy to suggest that a 3-1 to them is a perfectly understandable result. We were pretty shit for 60 minutes, but they were shit even when they dominated. They did not deserve to win at all.

They didn't deserve to win because they couldn't shoot for toffee. But they were underperforming versus the opportunities they were creating. I don't obsess over xG, but they beat us on it tonight, and that won't be counting all the times they failed to apply the final touch. In contrast, almost everything we did - which wasn't much for the first 75 minutes - broke down outside their area, apart from the two we scored, one of which resulted from a lucky deflection.

[Vinny Green Balls]

1 minute ago, 80 said:

They didn't deserve to win because they couldn't shoot for toffee. But they were underperforming versus the opportunities they were creating. I don't obsess over xG, but they beat us on it tonight, and that won't be counting all the times they failed to apply the final touch. In contrast, almost everything we did - which wasn't much for the first 75 minutes - broke down outside their area, apart from the two we scored, one of which resulted from a lucky deflection.

they didn't beat us on xG according to ESPN+

 

We were shit but we looked like the only team who could score. Honestly not sure what game some are seeing. Fulham looked absolutely dog shit in the final third despite having all that space in the midfield.

[80]

Is this a clear chance? Or not, considering it didn't register as a shot?

 

[Vinny Green Balls]

Fulham wasn't exactly producing many of those goal scoring chances though. Mediocre crosses in a congested box that hardly worried a keeper prone to nerves.

[80]

1 minute ago, Vinny Green Balls said:

they didn't beat us on xG according to ESPN+

 

We were shit but we looked like the only team who could score. Honestly not sure what game some are seeing. Fulham looked absolutely dog shit in the final third despite having all that space in the midfield.

The one I've seen had them on approx 1.75 versus our 1.2. But whatever, as I say, I don't really like relying on it for arguments for reasons like the video clip I just posted.

 

I'd say Fulham looked fine in the final third, it was the final tenth that was the problem. I agree we might've played for another hour without them scoring. But it doesn't mean that was purely a result of our good efforts, and on another day they could have converted several, in the same way it was freakish when we put 5 past Tottenham in 20 minutes

[80]

3 minutes ago, Vinny Green Balls said:

Fulham wasn't exactly producing many of those goal scoring chances though. Mediocre crosses in a congested box that hardly worried a keeper prone to nerves.

They created very similar moments to that, just without anyone performing the Gazza role, which was their downfall.

[Vinny Green Balls]

Fulham were incompetent and didn't deserve shit. We obviously didn't deserve much either, and a draw wouldn't have been a surprising result. But suggesting Fulham could have easily had 3 goals given that display is just plain overboard.

 

 

Edited January 27 by Vinny Green Balls

[mofo]

34 minutes ago, 80 said:

I can go along with most of that, but on balance of play I'd have to say they deserved the win. 3-1 to them would've been a perfectly understandable result. They had 2-3 shots on target, but it's deceiving if we ignore events like that shot they screwed wide towards the end when it looked easier to score.

 

Defensively we weren't awful, we weren't collapsing at all, and I wouldn't call the rest of the performance awful either, but going back to how this started, honestly I expected to win and put in a much more convincing display tonight, and that was very far from the case.

We scored 2 goals, they didn't score. They didn't really threaten to be honest. We deserved the win, even though we weren't at our best.

[mofo]

3 minutes ago, 80 said:

The one I've seen had them on approx 1.75 versus our 1.2. But whatever, as I say, I don't really like relying on it for arguments for reasons like the video clip I just posted.

 

I'd say Fulham looked fine in the final third, it was the final tenth that was the problem. I agree we might've played for another hour without them scoring. But it doesn't mean that was purely a result of our good efforts, and on another day they could have converted several, in the same way it was freakish when we put 5 past Tottenham in 20 minutes

On another day we could of played better 😁

[Vinny Green Balls]

4 minutes ago, 80 said:

The one I've seen had them on approx 1.75 versus our 1.2. But whatever, as I say, I don't really like relying on it for arguments for reasons like the video clip I just posted.

 

I'd say Fulham looked fine in the final third, it was the final tenth that was the problem. I agree we might've played for another hour without them scoring. But it doesn't mean that was purely a result of our good efforts, and on another day they could have converted several, in the same way it was freakish when we put 5 past Tottenham in 20 minutes

ESPN+ claimed that the xG was something like the 1.68 to 1.54 in favor of us.

[Lotus]

We gave Fulham every opportunity to win that and they didn’t have a striker worth he’s salt to score. That’s their issue. Other than that I thought they looked far better than us with worse players. They looked cohesive and decisive through midfield. We looked like we met yesterday. If Mitro was still there we’d have been on the end of a hiding. Anyway, he wasn’t and we got 2 goals from a bit of luck and a bit of hesitancy from Fulham.

Hopefully we spend less time on the training pitch as it appeared very detrimental to our overall play 😛

 

Hope we beat Villa. Don’t care how.

[80]

5 minutes ago, Lotus said:

Hopefully we spend less time on the training pitch as it appeared very detrimental to our overall play

That's why I'm gutted.

 

 

Edited January 27 by 80

[Myleftboot]

Wonder how many shots we’ve had against us last few games?

[bobbydazzla]

Goals win games. Not xG

 

We got 2, they got none 

 

 

 

[clintdempsey]

I thought we looked really rough until we got the 2nd. After that we controlled the game better.
In the end the result is what matters - but the performance didn't really inspire confidence for tuesday night.
We really, really, really need to find a new midfielder down the back of the couch before the window closes. Something is off with the balance - though it did look better when Miley and Longy switched sides.

[RS]

He needs to stop allowing the opposition to run through the middle unchallenged. It’s our Achilles heel at present. Any team that just runs at us seems to inevitably create a chance.