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Fulham Performance

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I liked the back 4 selected but unless he was injured I think it was a shocking decision not to play Bassong. Shocking in that Adams had indicated he wanted the big characters to step forward - and our Captain wasn''t one of them.

I couldn''t fault the effort put in by the players, but I never felt we would score and we didn''t create enough. We still look ponderous going forward and appear incapable of playing a quick diagonal pass along the ground to split a defence.

Our strikers are woeful - both need to play off someone or have the ball played in front of them. Neither RVW or Hooper have enough pace, height, or strength. They can''t hold the ball up, can''t out pace defenders, and don''t win aerial battles.

That left me surprised that Adams appeared to want to use the wings or take all day to get the ball forward.

The signings of Hooper, RVW, and Bassong should have been enough to get rid of Hughton months ago. In my view Adams isn''t the answer and we will go down. He certainly got the effort from the players, who all gave everything, and you felt they were playing for the shirt - but we didn''t create enough.

I knew we wouldn''t score when I nipped to the loo in the second half - bitter experience told me, if we were going to equalise that would have been the time.

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You mean Bassong who was POTS last season and was being seen as the calibre of player we needed to sign all over the park?

Been quite disappointed by how quick and desperate people have been to stick the knife in.

The partnership of Turner and Bassong is the best we''ve had for a long, long time and I''d like to see us return to that before it really is too late.

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Sorry GJP, I didn''t pick the team, nor did I make the comments about being up for the fight.

My comments on our strikers are negative but it is only my opinion. Sang my heart out yesterday and then had to put up with my wife droning on about the musical "The Bodyguard" on the train home!

Perhaps Bassong was not picked for tactical reasons, we can only speculate.

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I share your disappointment GJP, but hey I''m a plastic so my opinion doesnt really count. Also am confused by the OP stating that Bassong''s signing is one fo the reasons why CH should have walked earlier yet stating he should have played vs Fulham?

Did I read that Bassong picked up an injury vs Albion and had missed training most of last week? That said, maybe there may have been a bit of his mind not being right as he was close to CH........but when it is, surely he is a must start for these big matches now Turner is fit, our best partnership for years, regardless of Bassongs indifferent form.

The challenge coming up is just how do you contain Liverpool? Man City are struggling! 

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[quote user="FCC"]I liked the back 4 selected but unless he was injured I think it was a shocking decision not to play Bassong. Shocking in that Adams had indicated he wanted the big characters to step forward - and our Captain wasn''t one of them. I couldn''t fault the effort put in by the players, but I never felt we would score and we didn''t create enough. We still look ponderous going forward and appear incapable of playing a quick diagonal pass along the ground to split a defence. Our strikers are woeful - both need to play off someone or have the ball played in front of them. Neither RVW or Hooper have enough pace, height, or strength. They can''t hold the ball up, can''t out pace defenders, and don''t win aerial battles. That left me surprised that Adams appeared to want to use the wings or take all day to get the ball forward. The signings of Hooper, RVW, and Bassong should have been enough to get rid of Hughton months ago. In my view Adams isn''t the answer and we will go down. He certainly got the effort from the players, who all gave everything, and you felt they were playing for the shirt - but we didn''t create enough. I knew we wouldn''t score when I nipped to the loo in the second half - bitter experience told me, if we were going to equalise that would have been the time.[/quote]

 

 

Can''t help thinking something happened in training for Bassong to be dropped completely. Total guess but I''m imagining Bassong telling NA to stick it , possibly after NA suggesting Martin being captain on the pitch? He has alienated a few yesterday? Bit of a gamble.

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Apologies for the ambiguity in my original post Mark. What I was trying to express was how shocked I was that our Captain was not seen by the managers as one of the big characters we needed for the game.

Not that it was a shocking decision not to select him.

I had high hopes that your lucky scarf was going to save us this season GBP!

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the back 4 was poor yesterday. Martin put in lots of effort but one at least a dozen occasions he and turner were competing for the same ball - with most of the blame with martin. Ditto martin playing deeper than the rest of the back 4 on a couple of occassions playing an attacker on side.

Turner give his usual 6-7 score performance, solid, committed and consistently good. for me its clear he has to be paired with one of the other cbs, preferably seb as they know each others play well if not yobo. Even bennett would be better than martin again at cb.

It also means we can put martin back at right back - where has also been found wanting but he is always better than the alternative liability.

The cb partnerships mishaps also applied to the midfield - chaotic in its congestion as fer and howson went narrow as is their preference and made worse when ricky or redmond went deep. Cant disagree with FCCs comments about being ponderous - thats the feature that this chaos / lack of understanding and relying on snodgrass to be our main outlet.

Up front we are no nearer finding an answer - the glee in MOTD in stating 20 hrs since ricky scored hides the fact that it is also over 15hrs since hooper did too. For all his faults rvw was unlucky with his saved effort and he was far less bad than hoopers 6 touches and 1 run amounted to.

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I thought Neil Adams stated that Bassong had not been stripped of the captaincy and would still be captain if/when he plays.

 

 

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[quote user="Canary Wundaboy"]Ricky has been denied goals by 2 or 3 wonder saves this season, can''t help but feel for a lad, can''t catch a break at the moment.
[/quote]

 

 

I''m with that way of thinking too CW, but sorry OP I can''t agree with much you said. The back four were poor? They let in the one goal. RVW deserved to score and Hooper looked useful. I have no wish to nit-pick shortcomings. But for Stockdale''s acrobatics we would have got something from that game for sure. Their manager admitted as much on TV.

 

There is such a fine margin between success and failure that I refuse to be critical and would prefer to proffer my limited opinion at the end of the season. Whatever that may bring.

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Always fascinates me how we all see games differently. I too thought the back four was a reasonable selection. Whatever the reason Bassong was not playing it could not be deemed a shock. Yes he was fantastic last year but most certainly he hasn''t been this year and its not as if he''s a great leader on the pitch. If he has had a row with Adams (although I very much doubt he has) then that''s just tough.

I thought we did move the ball forward quicker. Let me declare straight away I am not an admirer of RVW but his was a good effort that brought that brilliant save but apart from that contributed very little.

First half we were dominant, second half got more desperate as the game went on but still created two or three good chances. Bearing in mind what has gone on for the last 18 months Adams has done a good job in a few days.

He and the players can gain from this performance and although our chances of keeping up have taken a bad knock I still think we can do this. 3 points may be enough, 4 points and we would be safe. Easy!!!

Many apologies, just realised sound like LDC so off to bed I go

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I have no real quarrel with the back four or how they played but have been concerned all season long on where they play.

Because of their overall lack of pace and ability to read the game, they line up across the eighteen yard line and allow teams to push up on them. The Swansea game personified this. Swansea had possession but it was all in front of the back four.

Play up the pitch and you condense the play and make the opposition have to make decisions far more earlier.

In fact we play into the hands of the home teams and it is little wonder that our terrible away form is because of the fear of exposing the back four.

I thought Adams tactics of the diamond were good but the execution in the second half was poor and too many passes were made across the pitch in front of the massed Fulham team.

For a team that needed at least an equaliser but preferably two goals, we didn''t create enough momentum or clear chances to get those goals.

And RVW should have buried that chance in the first half. He has no excuses left and I don''t understand the "guess" that if he could only score one, he would all of a sudden become the £8M striker he was reputed to be.

It looks like it is our time to go down again and I don''t have a problem with that.

There are no flukes over a season and the worst 3 teams will go down. And from what I''ve seen, we are one of those 3.

If we can''t score against WBA and Fulham, then where will the goals come from against 4 of the top 5?

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