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Fulham (H) build-up thread


Pilchards

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I am expecting a reaction after yesterday’s game, let’s hope it’s the right one..

 

Why was Gunn playing over McCarthy? Missed why McCarthy was dropped.

 

Ralph said after the game that he chose Gunn because of the opposition- something about him preferring a sweeper keeper in Gunn over McCarthy. He made the same choice against Chelsea away last month.

 

I think there is no doubt that this game represents our best chance of picking up points for a while yet, and not picking up points here would just make it so much more difficult for ourselves.

I would go 4 at the back too, we really should not need to use 3 centre backs against Fulham at home.

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By the time we play them Brighton will only be in big trouble if Cardiff have beaten them, which for Saints would be the worst possible result.

 

Its clearly between us and Cardiff.

 

Their home game tomorrow versus Everton is huge for us. If Cardiff win and we fail to beat Fulham then we could be well adrift by the end of March potentially.

 

On the flip - if they lose and we win then it suddenly looks better again.

 

We just have to beat Fulham.

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No point in playing three at the back with Valery because he is no wing back/midfielder - in fact he cannot do it at all.

For me Bednerak was poor against Cardiff and was evidently poor against Arsenal so he is by no means a sure starter. I would agree agree bring back Yoshi for definite.

Armstrong flatters to deceive and needs to be much more agressive and make himself available more. In a more solid midfield we can accommodate him perhaps but definitely not with a three at the back.

Maybe time for a fresh approach and Sims certainly comes to mind, he needs to be at least on the bench if not playing otherwise we have zero pace and even less creativity unless Armstrong is performing well.

Bertrand needs to be back in with Targett used only in a wide forward midfield role where he is best suited.

What we cannot do is press the ‘repeat’ button again because that will produce the sum total of F all and another Cardiff debacle where Ralph was left seriously wanting....

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No point in playing three at the back with Valery because he is no wing back/midfielder - in fact he cannot do it at all.

For me Bednerak was poor against Cardiff and was evidently poor against Arsenal so he is by no means a sure starter. I would agree agree bring back Yoshi for definite.

Armstrong flatters to deceive and needs to be much more agressive and make himself available more. In a more solid midfield we can accommodate him perhaps but definitely not with a three at the back.

Maybe time for a fresh approach and Sims certainly comes to mind, he needs to be at least on the bench if not playing otherwise we have zero pace and even less creativity unless Armstrong is performing well.

Bertrand needs to be back in with Targett used only in a wide forward midfield role where he is best suited.

What we cannot do is press the ‘repeat’ button again because that will produce the sum total of F all and another Cardiff debacle where Ralph was left seriously wanting....

 

All these weaknesses in players, Armstrong for example, will have been eliminated after the one to ones last week so no need to worry about them :lol:

 

I would have Sims involved Wednesday as well, decent option from the bench at least.

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I want:

Gunn

Valery vestergaard bednarek bertrand

Romeu Hoj jwp

Sims redmond Armstrong

 

As I think it has lots of flexibility and attacking industry, if we need to change things up though and go more conventional we can bring Austin on and go to

 

Gunn

Valery vestergaard bednarek Bertrand

Romeu hoj

JWP Armstrong redmond

Austin

 

We actually would be OK in a 4231 if we could just get a center forward to stay hit form and stay fit. In defence I opted for bednarek and vest as Fulham are a large physical team and they are both strong in the air but against faster sides I'd go to yoshida and bednarek

 

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With Fulham having a torrid time defending set pieces its likely JWP will be a nailed on starter. Would be tempted to go with Austin as well for a bit of presence in the box

 

McCarthy

Valery

Vestergaard

Bednarek

Bertrand

Romeu

Hojgjerg

JWP

Redmond

Armstrong

Austin

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With Fulham having a torrid time defending set pieces its likely JWP will be a nailed on starter. Would be tempted to go with Austin as well for a bit of presence in the box

 

McCarthy

Valery

Vestergaard

Bednarek

Bertrand

Romeu

Hojgjerg

JWP

Redmond

Armstrong

Austin

I would go with that, possibly Yoshida instead of Vestergaard who worries me in a back 4.

 

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Win or bust. Anything other than a win and we are just prolonging the inevitable. If we can't win this we simply don't deserve to survive; no disrespect to Fulham, just if you can't beat 2nd bottom at home...

 

Hope we go for it. Stephens out whatever happens. Wouldn't be averse to 4 at the back, but Mitrovic bullied us last time and we're just not very good.

 

Keeper

Bednarak, Yoshi, Vestergaard

Valery, Hoj, Romeu, Bertrand

Redmond, Austin, Armstrong

 

Yeah I'd go with that. Apart from Ings who is always injured for Austin and possibly Lemina who is always injured for Romeu that is basically the best side we are capable of putting out, and it really doesn't look very good.

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Bored of the negative line ups. Like Ralph a lot but disappointed with the approach in some games. Yeah we don't have enough attacking players but let's go with what we do have.

 

Whether 343 or 433 let's have 3 proper attackers on the pitch for once. Armstrong doesn't count for me. Okay in a midfield 3 but not the main 3 attackers.

 

3 from Redmond, Ings, Austin, Obafemi, Gallagher, Sims. Whoever is fit. Fulham's defence is rubbish, please don't let them off the hook.

 

Gunn

Valery Bednarek Vesterguard Bertrand

JWP Romeu Hojbjerg

Sims Obafemi Redmond

 

Obafemi is injured again.

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Very pessimistic about this one. There is no silver bullet in our squad. Whichever XI is put out tomorrow night we will still be plagued by stupid errors, panic under pressure and aimless tippy-tappy in the final third.

 

No question Fulham will see this as one of their few big opportunities remaining to get a result in a late bid for survival. They will aim not to concede with nine behind the ball and try to pinch one on the break with long balls over the top to their CF, knowing full well our nigh on hopeless limitations in attack if we go one down. This is yet another of those "must win" 6 pointers and we know from bitter experience how well we do in those sort on matches.

 

I fear 0-1, can't see better than 0-0. Neither result is good enough with Manure & Spuds next up. We cannot now rely on others to help us. If we don't get 3 points tomorrow and Cardiff win one of their next three it may be too late to avoid the drop.

 

That's how important tomorrow's game is.

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2 things killed us against them away. Firstly Sessignon and their LB got round Valery far too easily, secondly we made Mitrovic look like Ibrahimovic - I’ve never seen a player own CBs like that - won everything. Not sure we have addressed either point. We can outscore them though - shame we have no decent wingers as their full backs are a massive weak link. I think draw - if we lose this that means Fulham and Cardiff have done the double over us so you can’t complain when we go down - only team we are better than us Udders.

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If he wants the wing backs to become wingers then why don’t we put natural wingers in that position?

Redmond and Sims would offer more going forward with Austin getting on the end of the crosses.

Bertrand, Valery, Vestergaard and Yoshi would be good enough as defenders.

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I'd agree with this. We keep playing the same 14 and keep getting poor results. Change it up!
Just to check. In a huge game you would start:

 

Marcus Barnes (one failed loan spell at Yeovil, no PL apps)

 

Sam Gallagher (good spell at Blackburn two years ago, nothing since)

 

Josh Sims (couldn't get in a dire Reading team)

 

Really? Jesus.

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Just to check. In a huge game you would start:

 

Marcus Barnes (one failed loan spell at Yeovil, no PL apps)

 

Sam Gallagher (good spell at Blackburn two years ago, nothing since)

 

Josh Sims (couldn't get in a dire Reading team

 

Really? Jesus.

 

To be fair, what have the starting eleven achieved in the last few games? Even if one of them grabbed his chance, it would be worth a go

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I would play a 4231, and I'd like to see Gallagher play, even though I've not seen him ever train obviously, but I liked what I saw in the cameo he had against Brighton in the LC (all the way back in August!). If not, then let's give Austin a run out.

 

McCarthy

Valery Bednarek Vestegaard Bertrand

Romeu PEH

JWP Armstrong Redmond

Gallagher

 

I also think it is time for our 6ft 7 centreback to get on the scoresheet soon. Let's get some dangerous crosses into the mixer and create chaos in their box.

However, when that inevitably fails, let's use the last 30 minutes to put the very little pace we have on, using Sims and Elyounoussi.

 

Although, Fulham have played 3 at the back in some games I think, if that is the case again I say we should play a 442 or a variant with 2 up top.

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Just to check. In a huge game you would start:

 

Marcus Barnes (one failed loan spell at Yeovil, no PL apps)

 

Sam Gallagher (good spell at Blackburn two years ago, nothing since)

 

Josh Sims (couldn't get in a dire Reading team)

 

Really? Jesus.

 

Moi Eluselessy wouldn't get in a dire Reading team either (or any team for that matter) so why not give them problems with some direct pacy trickery that Sims could offer. RH clearly doesn't fancy him though having picked most others for the matchday squad but not him.

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Apart from a couple of players this side is Championship quality at best. The only chance to stay up is RH going back to the high press game where it is not so reliant on individuals but discipline and fitness, and if the training sessions have been stepped up fitness should not be a problem.

 

I cannot understand why RH has not stuck with what gave him most success.

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Hate to say it but trying to think about it logically, I think Fulham will win this. Tow teams who cannot defend but Fulham have more where it really matters, i.e up front. Mitrovic, Babel and Schurrle are far more of a threat than Long, Austin and Redmond. If Ings was fit and playing, I would be a bit more positive but realistically, I think we need Redmond to score a couple as I cannot see where else our goals will come from. Fulham will almost certainly score so we need at least two to win the game.

 

Honestly, I think it is time to stop tippy tappy football and start putting in loads of crosses as Fulham struggle with balls into the box, especially set pieces. This is a game to be a bit more direct and actually test Fulham's back four as our build up is often way too slow and pretty easy for teams to organise themselves and make it hard for us to break them down.

 

Our best chance of a goal from another source is probably a "worldy" from PEH or from one of our centre halves at a corner. Tricky one whether to play Redmond wide or down the middle but we have to get him on the ball as often as possible as he is our only threat to actually run at a player and go past them. I think Mitrovic will be too strong and too good for us so 3-1 to Fulham (though seeing as they haven't had a clean sheet, wouldn't be unlike Saints to gift them one too).

 

COME ON SAINTS, PROVE ME WRONG!!

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So the goals that will keep us up have to come from Long, Austin, Gallagher and/or Redmond with perhaps Ings fit enough to chip in here and there ?

 

Terrific :scared:

They could come from Redmond, Armstrong, JWP, PEH, Stephens, Yoshida, Targett all have scored fairly recently and more often than Long or Austin. A few more from some of our other players would be welcome, Vestegaard, Bednarek, Bertrand, Valery, Romeu. It doesn't have to be all about strikers.

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Just to check. In a huge game you would start:

 

Marcus Barnes (one failed loan spell at Yeovil, no PL apps)

 

Sam Gallagher (good spell at Blackburn two years ago, nothing since)

 

Josh Sims (couldn't get in a dire Reading team)

 

Really? Jesus.

Yes, but that was before Gabbi was sold. Now he's gone they are all much better players.

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This is an absolute huge game for Ralph. The last 3 games we have gone backwards at an alarming rate. He has to find a way to motivate this group of snowflakes and find a way, any way, to beat a decent Championship side in Fulham. Something he failed to do against Derby. Failure to win this home fixture would result in relegation in my opinion

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I would play a 4231, and I'd like to see Gallagher play, even though I've not seen him ever train obviously, but I liked what I saw in the cameo he had against Brighton in the LC (all the way back in August!). If not, then let's give Austin a run out.

 

McCarthy

Valery Bednarek Vestegaard Bertrand

Romeu PEH

JWP Armstrong Redmond

Gallagher

 

I also think it is time for our 6ft 7 centreback to get on the scoresheet soon. Let's get some dangerous crosses into the mixer and create chaos in their box.

However, when that inevitably fails, let's use the last 30 minutes to put the very little pace we have on, using Sims and Elyounoussi.

 

Although, Fulham have played 3 at the back in some games I think, if that is the case again I say we should play a 442 or a variant with 2 up top.

 

That lineup is pretty close to what i’d Hope for. Wouldn’t have an issue if yoshi was in though.

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I fear we just don't have enough without Ings, Lemina, Obafemi.

Other teams know Redmond is our only playmaker and that if they can stifle him and get past the predictable first 25 minutes high press without conceding they can go on to win playing breakaways against a crap defence and turning a nervous home crowd against their own team the longer it drags on.

I think this game will be decided in the first 30 minutes. If we've scored a couple we'll go on and win (for once). If it's 0-0 or worse I fear the worst.

I would put Yoshida in instead of Vestergard to cover Mitrovic...and provide a goal-scoring threat from set-pieces at the other end. I would have Sims on the bench. Not an Austin fan but this is his type of game...get him in the box and pump crosses in high and low. Armstrong has to play as he is one of the few who knows what it's like to score.

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