Game v Fulham

[swjf50 0]

Positives - we didn''t lose, we kept a clean sheet and Kamara was a breath of fresh air and looked lively. Becchio struggled on his own up front against a tough big central pairing but worked hard and nearly scored.

Hoolahan and Snodgrass were our best players going forward and worked their socks off. Tettey also had great spells. Our central defence looked sound.

Negatives - we never looked like breaking Fulham''s defence down and scoring. We had very few shots on goal. Our plan B was to put an extra striker on with 10 - 15 minutes left but that had very little effect. Kamara was the only one who looked like he would change the game but unfortunately he wasn''t risked until the last 5 minutes.

It''s going to be a struggle until the end of the season but in all reality I didn''t expect anything any different. We don''t have the finance to really compete with the majority of teams in the Premiership. Our best bet is for our scouts to unearth some hidden talent from abroad if we manage to stay up. Hughton has done his best with what we have and the funds he has available, he has made our defence more secure with minimal outlay which we desperately needed. We had to build from the back, so I think the first phase of the building programme has been done. The question now is can we survive this season and work on our attack so we are a more potent and threatening, even entertaining force in the seasons ahead?

[unique 466]

Fulham have kept one clean sheet in their last seventeen games - I''m afraid the negatives far outweigh any positives yesterday.

One less ''favourable'' fixture left.

[Aggy 944]

Although we didn''t create a lot, neither did Fulham. Now, I''m actually ok with Hughton starting with the 451 formation "even" against the likes of weaker clubs such as Fulham at home. They''re still decent clubs.

However, if they are offering virtually no threat to you whatsoever, and you''re at home, surely you think about a few attacking tactical tweaks early on.

Away from home, I can accept sticking with the 451 and getting a 0-0 draw, or even at home against a top club. But against a fairly poor Fulham side who clearly weren''t having a brilliant day themselves, with us at home, it does annoy me that we didn''t go far more attacking a lot earlier on.

[ZLF 335]

pros - clean sheet, becchio offering more efforts on goal than holt has in a game in ages, a point gained, wes being creative

cons - poor movement up front, sat too deep, poor passing quality, lack of creative cutting edge, slow support for beccho and lack of pace. We gave FULHAM too much respect

we need to defend from the front and get in teams faces, and move 20 yards up the pitch, use 451 as a positive to attack, not a sponge to just defend

[swjf50 0]

[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]pros - clean sheet, becchio offering more efforts on goal than holt has in a game in ages, a point gained, wes being creative

cons - poor movement up front, sat too deep, poor passing quality, lack of creative cutting edge, slow support for beccho and lack of pace. We gave FULHAM too much respect

we need to defend from the front and get in teams faces, and move 20 yards up the pitch, use 451 as a positive to attack, not a sponge to just defend[/quote]

Yes I agree Zippers. It should really have been 3 points for us. Neither team offered an attacking threat and since we were the home team, we should have been in their faces and throwing our midfielders forward to support Becchio as much as possible.