Fulham 1 - 1 Leicester Post Match Thread

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

4 minutes ago, Dames said:

The bigger teams have quality players in every position so swapping Bernardo Silva for Mahrez at Man City isn't going to be the same as swapping Maddison for Ghezzal or Gray for Diabate.

 

The smaller teams actually go full strength for teams in and around them and rotate against the bigger teams because they have common sense and are not arrogant. We are not a big enough club to be fielding a weakened side against Fulham its pure arrogance.

A lot on here say they dont care about points as much as entertainment, so wouldnt be happy with us playing the kids against the likes of Man City and Liverpool

 

And i'd agree with them.  Dont think its good club management to throw games away

[Beechey]

4 minutes ago, Dames said:

The bigger teams have quality players in every position so swapping Bernardo Silva for Mahrez at Man City isn't going to be the same as swapping Maddison for Ghezzal or Gray for Diabate.

 

The smaller teams actually go full strength for teams in and around them and rotate against the bigger teams because they have common sense and are not arrogant. We are not a big enough club to be fielding a weakened side against Fulham its pure arrogance.

I can accept us fielding a weakened side due to injuries, but dropping Ricardo especially seemed a mistake to me. It was great seeing Simpson again, but Ricardo adds so much more to our attacking play.

[Dames]

2 minutes ago, AlloverthefloorYesNdidi said:

A lot on here say they dont care about points as much as entertainment, so wouldnt be happy with us playing the kids against the likes of Man City and Liverpool

 

And i'd agree with them.  Dont think its good club management to throw games away

I'm not saying throw the games away but if you're looking to get points on board it makes more sense to accumulate them against the teams you know you can beat. We didn't do that against Fulham last night and theres been a few other games this season where we've not kicked on when we should have.

 

If you have to rest players, rest them for the games you stand less of a chance in so you have an even better chance in the games you have a good chance in. Players coming in from the fringe will feel better and have more to prove coming in against teams like Tottenham rather than knowing they are a temporary measure against a team like Fulham. How are you supposed to motivate players that way?

 

Would you be motivated coming into a game against a team at the bottom of the league knowing that when its time to play the team thats 4th/5th you wont be starting? Or would you be more motivated playing against the team thats 4th/5th showing what you can do? One of those choices seems like a dead end where as the other choice seems like it has more opportunity.

[Blue Ed]

1 hour ago, l444ry said:

The unbeaten run needs to be taken in the context of having played 5 of the teams in the bottom 8. 

Yep we're definitely a mid table team.

[BKLFox]

2 minutes ago, Dames said:

Sorry but common sense dictates that if you have a run of games coming up especially with a few tricky fixtures in there you go full strength for the winnable games and then maybe rest players for the not so winnable ones. Also there is motivation factor as well - the players drafted in last night know they are in purely because its deemed as inferior opposition and probably know they will be out when we play the good team. That doesn't really motivate you does it? Only playing against 'crap' teams. I think the opposite would have had a better effect - play the 'cup squad' against a 'bigger' team and give them a bigger platform to show what they can do.

 

In the end going with a 'weakend' team for a winnable fixture has sort of backfired. A point is better than none but really we should have got all 3.

 

 

Motivation - Simpson knows he is on his way out & Diabate has been plucked from the French 2nd Division to be playing in the biggest league in the world, i don't think either of them, for different reasons, would need any extra motivation to be able to put their boots on & cross the white line regardless of oppostion.

I hear you regarding play full strength againts the more winnable games, maybe he thought as the other 9, ok minus Nacho, were 1st 11 starters he had enough to win the game, he did have the others on the bench & after all the bench is there for tactical changes in the main & i know if we started with 1st 11 & some how were losing i'd rather have Gray/Ricardo coming off the bench than Simpson/Diabate last night, recently our bench has looked a little thin on the ground for impact changes.

 

End of the day the squad is 25 players & 25 into 11 doesn't go he needs to rotate due to injury, suspension, tactical & simple man management otherwise why we wasting all that money on wages & fees for half-time orange boys if we only going to use 11 of them.

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

2 minutes ago, Dames said:

I'm not saying throw the games away but if you're looking to get points on board it makes more sense to accumulate them against the teams you know you can beat. We didn't do that against Fulham last night and theres been a few other games this season where we've not kicked on when we should have.

 

If you have to rest players, rest them for the games you stand less of a chance in so you have an even better chance in the games you have a good chance in. Players coming in from the fringe will feel better and have more to prove coming in against teams like Tottenham rather than knowing they are a temporary measure against a team like Fulham. How are you supposed to motivate players that way?

 

Would you be motivated coming into a game against a team at the bottom of the league knowing that when its time to play the team thats 4th/5th you wont be starting? Or would you be more motivated playing against the team thats 4th/5th showing what you can do? One of those choices seems like a dead end where as the other choice seems like it has more opportunity.

It was frustrating yesterday and yeah, if we'd played a bit of a stronger side we could have won that game

 

So I do see the point of view that its two points potentially thrown away

 

But I do want us to go for it against the big teams.  Its possible to get wins and your best players need to be playing against the best teams, imo.  They are pros and they want the biggest challenge.  As a club we dont guage anything technically by playing Shinji up front against top 6 and Vardz against Fulham and Cardiff

[turtmcfly]

15 minutes ago, Dames said:

I'm 'moaning' about the fact that its not settled. If there is an injury then leave Vardy out - let him recover and give someone else a chance to come in and get a run of games to build some form. Instead we are pulling in Vardy for a game when he's half fit then having to leave him out. There is no consistency.

  

You're blindly sticking to one point (injuries) and not acknowledging anything else and then inferring name calling. You overlooked the fact I said the 3 behind the striker are not injured but are constantly rotated thats what i'm mostly 'moaning' about.

Nope - that was one post. My initial post include all the reasons we've been unsettled as a team.

 

I am blindly sticking to the point that most of the time there's an obvious reason a change occurs, and the rest of the time you have absolutely no idea if there's another reason we're not privy to.

[turtmcfly]

25 minutes ago, Dames said:

The bigger teams have quality players in every position so swapping Bernardo Silva for Mahrez at Man City isn't going to be the same as swapping Maddison for Ghezzal or Gray for Diabate.

 

The smaller teams actually go full strength for teams in and around them and rotate against the bigger teams because they have common sense and are not arrogant. We are not a big enough club to be fielding a weakened side against Fulham its pure arrogance.

But we're a middling club. If anything, by all recent metrics we are closer to a big club than a small club.

 

Anyway, you may be happy with us beating Fulham 3-0 one week and getting humped 4-0 by Spurs the next. I absolutely would not be.

 

 

 

Edited 6 December 2018 by turtmcfly

[Blue ROI]

The moans about us not fielding a stronger team last night are a bit rich.

 

Had Ricardo been injured last night we would have had Simpson and Morgan starting against Spurs. You know that team who scored 6 and 5 goals against us towards the end of the last 2 seasons including a Simpson-Morgan howler after 10 minutes in Wembley last May.

 

If we went for it last night and got hammered by Spurs we'd be complaining about not showing ambition against a top 6 side.

 

 

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, fuchsntf said:

Facts..ffs!!!  it was known over decades,we always struggle against bottom teams,that has nothing to do with emotion!!

We dont appear to be very good against teams above us though, so it's a good job we aren't losing to teams below us, would have been nice to win more than 2 of the last 6 in the league but let's see where we are after December as it's a brutal month.

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

4 minutes ago, Blue ROI said:

The moans about us not fielding a stronger team last night are a bit rich.

 

Had Ricardo been injured last night we would have had Simpson and Morgan starting against Spurs. You know that team who scored 6 and 5 goals against us towards the end of the last 2 seasons including a Simpson-Morgan howler after 10 minutes in Wembley last May.

 

If we went for it last night and got hammered by Spurs we'd be complaining about not showing ambition against a top 6 side.

 

 

Mighty fin said Morgan is struggling with his back aswell, so maybe not even Simpson and Morgan.

 

We are dangerously close to having to field youngsters against proper teams.  Soycuncu (sp?) looks like he can play but his inexperience cost us yesterday.  Risking important players unnecessarily would not be clever at this stage

 

We risk players, deplete our squad even more, then Puel's team gets a couple of batterings and everyone calls for his head. 

Edited 6 December 2018 by AlloverthefloorYesNdidi

[st albans fox]

I expect the thought process was that we can go all out high intensity on Saturday evening with a weeks rest to come whilst spurs have to go to Barca 

 

therefore we we will play our strongest eleven (injuries etc permitting) against spurs and consider a win to be achieveable 

 

the side we put out last night was capable of winning - had Caglar stood up then perhaps we would have ......

[Goober]

3 hours ago, Haywood_6 said:

Last night is the sort of game you have to win if you want to stand any chance of finishing 7th. Otherwise forget it. That was hard to watch last night, we seem to just pass the ball around with no purpose, and then lose it way too often. Soyuncu had a decent game but he got done like a kipper for their goal. I don't think Iheanacho is the long term replacement for vardy, he just doesn't do enough. There was a slight improvement when okazaki came on, his energy and close control helped make a difference and we actually tried to play some sharp and incisive football in the final third which led to our goal. 

 

I imagine Everton are gonna concede their challenge for 7th place too after drawing at home against Newcastle? 

[Bablemikey]

4 hours ago, AlloverthefloorYesNdidi said:

And then we'd have to field that team against Spurs and watch us get steam-rollered at home

 

That would not be fun

Fully aware of that but I believe we had a better chance of 3 points against the worst side in the division than even 1 point against Spurs.

[FLAN]

1 hour ago, AlloverthefloorYesNdidi said:

There has to be some risk management in these decisions also.

 

What if he plays Ricardo and Gray for 90 minutes in all of these games and one or both of them get injured?

 

We already have a depleted squad and another 1 or 2 injuries would completely f**k us for December

 

 

 

 

Glad Claudio didn’t think that way in 15/16

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

3 minutes ago, F1_AN said:

Glad Claudio didn’t think that way in 15/16

He had no need to think like that

[Babylon]

1 hour ago, Dames said:

The bigger teams have quality players in every position so swapping Bernardo Silva for Mahrez at Man City isn't going to be the same as swapping Maddison for Ghezzal or Gray for Diabate.

 

The smaller teams actually go full strength for teams in and around them and rotate against the bigger teams because they have common sense and are not arrogant. We are not a big enough club to be fielding a weakened side against Fulham its pure arrogance.

The gap between us and Fulham was more than the gap between us and Spurs... so how are they "in and around us" and Spurs aren't. If the players had taken their chances first half, we'd have seen them off without them.  Fulham dropped first team players against us that they used against Chelsea and are regulars, so that argument doesn't hold up either. 

[AKCJ]

1 hour ago, Blue ROI said:

The moans about us not fielding a stronger team last night are a bit rich.

 

Had Ricardo been injured last night we would have had Simpson and Morgan starting against Spurs. You know that team who scored 6 and 5 goals against us towards the end of the last 2 seasons including a Simpson-Morgan howler after 10 minutes in Wembley last May.

 

If we went for it last night and got hammered by Spurs we'd be complaining about not showing ambition against a top 6 side.

 

 

Not that I really disagree with what you're saying, but 3 points is better than 1.

 

I'd sooner we pick our battles and work out the best way to pick up points. Last night was a massive opportunity to get 3 points.

[kingfox]

2 hours ago, Dames said:

He wasn't forced to take out Gray and Ricardo last night but he did. I've mentioned before but if you look back through his lineups especially in regards to our attack its constantly changing. You see either an out of form Diabate or Ghezzal appearing in one game and not the next and the players that performed well in the previous game are dropped to the bench.

 

One minute Ricardo is a winger and next he's a right back. Another Maddison is central and the next he's on the left. There is no consistency and thats why we are really struggling to score from open play at the minute.

 

Yes there have been injuries but a lot of the changes really are unforced.

He wasn't forced regarding those two but as I said I'm not surprised he made various changes, majority of teams in the league rested players over the past two days.

 

Wasn't that Diabate's first league appearance of the season last night? Of course he'll be part of the matchday squad with Ghezzal and Vardy both out.

 

Ricardo is now in at RB because Amartey is injured. Maddison was on the left for a bit because he wanted to see how we'd do with him, Iheanacho and Vardy all starting together, it worked about once, so he rightfully changed it again and has played Maddison in his rightful position ever since.

 

He's been forced into quite a few changes over the past few months, really don't know where you're getting this unforced crap from.

[Blue ROI]

2 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Not that I really disagree with what you're saying, but 3 points is better than 1.

 

I'd sooner we pick our battles and work out the best way to pick up points. Last night was a massive opportunity to get 3 points.

True that.

 

Given the injury worries we have and our league status more or less secured it's not a bad time to roll the dice. If we had a survival fight like 2014 or an outsiders chance of a title shot a la 2015 it would be all hands on deck for sure.

 

It's probably geared up for a go at the league cup quarter final so if we get to that game close a fully fit squad then it may just be worth it.

 

Here's hoping.

[AKCJ]

1 minute ago, Blue ROI said:

True that.

 

Given the injury worries we have and our league status more or less secured it's not a bad time to roll the dice. If we had a survival fight like 2014 or an outsiders chance of a title shot a la 2015 it would be all hands on deck for sure.

 

It's probably geared up for a go at the league cup quarter final so if we get to that game close a fully fit squad then it may just be worth it.

 

Here's hoping.

YEah I think last night was injuries more than resting.

 

Personally think that had Ricardo been fit enough he'd have come on at some point probably instead of Iborra.

[Ted Maul]

15 minutes ago, Blue ROI said:

True that.

 

Given the injury worries we have and our league status more or less secured it's not a bad time to roll the dice. If we had a survival fight like 2014 or an outsiders chance of a title shot a la 2015 it would be all hands on deck for sure.

 

It's probably geared up for a go at the league cup quarter final so if we get to that game close a fully fit squad then it may just be worth it.

 

Here's hoping.

If that's what he sees as the main priority in this busy festive period, I'll be absolutely delighted.

[WigstonWanderer]

A point away from home is good, but let’s be honest, that was a pitiful performance, particularly the eyewateringly bad second half. What happened to possession football? That was hoofball as bad as anything Shakey served up.

 

Just emphasises that if Vardy’s out, we’ve got nothing in the locker. Really wish we’d held onto Musa. He couldn’t have been worse than Nacho, and looked like he was finally coming good.

[polarbear]

2 hours ago, Dames said:

The bigger teams have quality players in every position so swapping Bernardo Silva for Mahrez at Man City isn't going to be the same as swapping Maddison for Ghezzal or Gray for Diabate.

 

The smaller teams actually go full strength for teams in and around them and rotate against the bigger teams because they have common sense and are not arrogant. We are not a big enough club to be fielding a weakened side against Fulham its pure arrogance.

or perhaps..just perhaps

 

out of the 2 games (fulham and spurs), fulham will want to dig in a protect  any point or 3 points they may have the opporutnity of getting.

 

whereas spurs come to our place and are likely to attack (like last season) and leave spaces open for our quick players to counter attack.

 

puel probably knows what he's doing...

[Dames]

1 hour ago, AKCJ said:

Not that I really disagree with what you're saying, but 3 points is better than 1.

 

I'd sooner we pick our battles and work out the best way to pick up points. Last night was a massive opportunity to get 3 points.

You’ve said what i’m trying to say better than I have myself.

 

We should be going all out agaist teams like Fulham because if we do theres a high chance of 3 points. Fielding a weakened side increases the risk of dropping points especially if it doesnt pay of and we lose on Saturday.

 

I hope i’m wrong and we beat Spurs but if we don’t it will make this result and the decisions around it look even worse.

 

If we do beat Spurs however i’ll hold my hands up and say I was wrong.