Fulham 0-0 Saints - Reaction

[Backrow91]

If that was the first choice eleven that’s played well recently I would have been disappointed more so than I am. To rip the spine of the team out, the players coming in not “match” acclimatised then it was going to be a big ask against a team that has shown some fight recently. We obviously set up not to go hung ho and pick our times to attack even if that didn’t make for a pretty game (but how many games with the big boys have you watched as a neutral when it’s been utter crap to sit through) To be fair to Ralph it nearly worked today. Unlucky with the Prowsey free kick and follow up, possible good shout for a pen....looked like VAR even showed the checking for a possible offside in the build up so I thought they were going to give it! It was  Moss on duty and I dislike him big time o not surprised! and of course the two disallowed goals (both correct) Another point on the board and now on to a really tough one......onwards. 

[Forester]

A good clean sheet, Fulham one shot on target all game, and while disappointed not to win the game I feel that taking out Vest and Romeu meant that we would all have been delighted not to concede before the start of the game.

 

To be fair thought Fulham were one of the very few teams to match Saints’ workload this season hence it all feeling a bit frenetic and scrappy.  As they say, if you can’t win it don’t lose it

[Matthew Le God]

The two VAR offside goal decisions were correct... the two penalty decisions were not! 

Fulham player leaned towards the ball with his arm, no lean and it misses him. Walker-Peters also fouled in the box.

Edited 26 December, 2020 by Matthew Le God

[CB Fry]

2 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

 

The early promise of achieving something this season is slowly slipping away.

What did you think we were going to achieve this season?

We're at best a mid table side and we're well on track to achieving that aim.

[Dusic]

3 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Making subs in the way he did demands Ralph being questioned about them. No reason to make those subs other than to waste time to cling onto a 0-0 draw against one of the worst teams in the league. 

Maybe he felt that with the pen denied and two goals ruled out that it just wasn't our day and was happy in the very end to take the point.

From his position, when you look at the bench there isnt a huge amount of quality to bring on, and I'm sure Djenepo will end up starting vs WHU and Liverpool with Long benched and Walcott moved up front. So he also has to manage that.

End of the day, we got a draw, were the better team second half and but for inches may have won even when not playing well.

Hardly a disaster, and I felt Fulham were not a terrible side overall.

[Totton Saint]

10 minutes ago, madge said:

Not sure what half of you expect? And a reality check I think. It’s obvious our squad isn’t deep enough to sustain us in the top six. We are good, very good at present and it’s a well earned point, could have been three. When you get upset about that game maybe think back to life under puel and pellegrino.. honestly some of you need your head examined.

It was just hoofing long balls optimistically just to be swallowed up by Fulham. Where was the tactics we used against Sheffield. The worst match I have seen in  along time.

I agree Walcott was not so good today

[madge]

10 minutes ago, Maya's Dad said:

why should we be content with a draw against one of the weakest sides in the league. newly promoted, havent scored many goals, while our away form has been excellent not just this seaosn but since restart

Jeez.. you’re sounding like  an entitled arsenal fan!!!

[OttawaSaint]

You’d think Ralph would be looking to have what he feels is the starting XI for the WHU game (bar Romeu) on the field from 75 onwards to get them a bit of cohesion. He’d better not go with Long again. He was a waste of a shirt today.

Edited 26 December, 2020 by OttawaSaint

[Teddeer]

The commentators also mentioned the poor quality of the playing surface a few times which wouldn't have helped our passing game.

[Wes Tender]

Considering that the main players that formed our spine were missing, we didn't play too badly. Defensively we were reasonably solid and McCarthy wasn't troubled much. But then neither was their keeper. Diallo made a decent debut in midfield. However, I'm sure that Vestergaard would have increased our solidity in defence and added more threat in their box from set pieces. He would also have provided some good diagonal balls forward, and have moved into the midfield, ball at feet looking for a defence splitting pass. Romeu was missed for his box to box energy, but after a slow first 20 minutes the midfield were at last winning many of the 50/50 balls and stringing together some good possession. It was from midfield to the attack that we lacked cohesion. Here we missed Ings badly, not only for his ability to score goals, but his general contribution, holding the ball, and helping the defence too.

Long doesn't add much of a threat up top any more, and in the rare occasions that he does, he is either offside, or shoots straight at the keeper. Walcott and Adams as the joint strikers would have been better. Walcott wasn't as effective out wide. He made some good runs, but went into blind alleys and lost possession too often, a bit reminiscent of Redmond this match. In my opinion, Hasenhuttl should have had Djenepo on instead of Long, or otherwise have thrown the dice on giving N'Lundulu a start. Good performances from Adams, Armstrong and Walker-Peters, the others mainly OK.

Fulham have been solid defensively their past five games, including against some stiff opposition, so this wasn't an easy match for us, especially considering our players out injured. I understand that this the best run of away matches without defeat in our Premier Division history, so there is at least that upside. 

[S-Clarke]

Defo take the point from that game and run, not very good.

Could have been much worse, so I can't complain with the result.

At the end of the day our squad is poor once you have to start delving into it. When you have to start Shane Long, who scores a goal once every decade, then you know how weak you are depth wise. I think there are better goal scorers down in the lower leagues tbh. Certainly shouldn't have offered him a 2 year.

[OttawaSaint]

Get Walcott alongside Adams, he does better when he doesn’t have time to think (case in point his finish from Adams’ pass). In midfield he can’t make his mind up and holds on to the ball too much, he passing up good chances to thread a pass or shoot.

Edited 26 December, 2020 by OttawaSaint

[saintadjg]

Absolutely done by VAR today. Not the goals dissalowed as to the letter of the law it was correct. 100% penalty denied, no such thing as clear and obvious error. If it was a foul and it wasn't given then it was an error plain as. He clearly leaned toward the ball very much on purpose. Then KWP hacked on the edge and again possibly fouled inside too, should've been at least a free kick on the edge of the box.

[VectisSaint]

Awful game, we were poor, but no great surprise with the players out. Diallo looked OK, but seems lightweight compared with Romeu, still handy player to have as backup, very calm on the ball. Stephesn made some dreadful passes first half early on, but otherwise did pretty well, and the block at the end was excellent, was a bit surprised Ralph played Bednarek right and Stephens left, but I guess it kept the right-sided partnership with KWP in tact. Salisu will get a go soon, with Vest being out for at least 4 weeks, in fact leaves us a little exposed. Longy was a waste of time, his offside goal was well taken but pointless if you are offside. The Adams offside was unfortunate (but correct), which was a shame for Theo who took it coolly, and generally put in a shift again, whilst not being so effective as last game. The W-P free kick was brilliant again, just a shame the spin on the ball left Adams looking like a twat (which he isn't). Armstrong looked better today, but still not back to his best.

Still, we didn't lose, onwards and upwards.

[Secret Site Agent]

We were poor and luckily so we're Fulham 

We could have quite easily stolen 3 points today but a poor show and late subs did for us as well as poor refereeing and VAR giving us no luck.

 

Onto West Ham where we will suffer even more if this is what happens when we loose our spine to Injury.

 

Despair doesn't cut it today.

[redkeith]

Poor first half,  better 2nd . 

Dalio did well for a debut,  as did Stephens, but the wide men were  awful, and Long was like playing with 10 men, until those 2 shots out of nothing.  

Fulhams  343 seemed to stop us finding our fullbacks up high, need to come up with a plan for that. 

That handball would  be a penalty 11 times out of 10 for United or Liverpool. 

 

 

 

 

 

[bpsaint]

6 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

What did you think we were going to achieve this season?

We're at best a mid table side and we're well on track to achieving that aim.

Could say the same about Leicester, and look where they are in the league.

On the form of the last year we’ve got every right to believe we could push for a europa league spot, especially with the way the season has started for us - however not killing off games is costing us, you’d have every right to say that’s the third away game on the bounce we really should have won.

[SaveloyMush]

Walcott flatters to deceive.

Diallo now understands the difference between Ligue 1 and the Premier League. He is not the full Action Man Romeu.

Stephens did his job, which was to defend.

McCarthy's distribution continues to take the piss for a team that plays out from the back. Good stopper though.

Armstrong is a great attacker, but a liability in the home third; if he wins the ball back defensively, he needs to hoof it away, rather than try to be tricky.

Adams' thighs are fucking massive.

Shane Long...

[LaptopSaint]

26 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Awful game, worst performance for a while. Didn’t deserve to win but 2 goals (rightly) ruled out by 6 inches, hit the woodwork,  and a pen not given and you could argue we were very unlucky in the end. 

Sums it up for me. Way off our best, but still unlucky. Hate the way VAR is slowly sucking the life out of celebrating a goal. 

[S-Clarke]

Just now, bpsaint said:

Could say the same about Leicester, and look where they are in the league.

On the form of the last year we’ve got every right to believe we could push for a europa league spot, especially with the way the season has started for us - however not killing off games is costing us, you’d have every right to say that’s the third away game on the bounce we really should have won.

I genuinely don't feel we have the squad to sustain it over a full season. We've managed to sustain that level of form over two seasons...with a big gap (or two) in the middle, so we were adversely affected by fitness or squad availably.

Over the course of a season when you lose key men (like we are atm) then we will slip slide away. Top 10 will be result for this 'squad', talk of Europe over a full season isn't doable until we have more depth in the squad, which we don't. Decent side when all is fit, no doubts, but over a season that will never stay the same - so you have to then call on the likes of Long to not do anything, and thus the results will automatically dip. Nothing you can do about it.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Fucking whinging again, what’s the matter with people? If he’d had Redmond or Ings on the bench, he’d have brought them on sooner, but the quality ain’t there. We have a decent starting 11 but, a pretty average squad. The manager is producing a bloody miracle with that bunch, yet people are still criticising him. FFS, any point away from home is ok in this league and if Fulham are as shiete as some make out, how did the manage a draw with Liverpool the other day.

 

 

[Minsk]

22 minutes ago, Shroppie said:

They had their moments and at least we didn't lose. But I just don't understand how VAR didn't give the handball pen. The ref bottled the freekick on the edge as he didn't know whether it was in or out, so unlucky on both counts. JWP's free kick was so nearly in and a shame Che misjudged the rebound. Plus two narrow offsides and all in all, with Ings, Redmond, Vestergaard and Romeu out, we were unlucky. Take the point and move on.

All this. Saved me typing it. Cheers Shroppie.

[S-Clarke]

Just now, Lord Duckhunter said:

Fucking whinging again, what’s the matter with people? If he’d had Redmond or Ings on the bench, he’d have brought them on sooner, but the quality ain’t there. We have a decent starting 11 but, a pretty average squad. The manager is producing a bloody miracle with that bunch, yet people are still criticising him. FFS, any point away from home is ok in this league and if Fulham are as shiete as some make out, how did the manage a draw with Liverpool the other day.

 

 

That is the exact reason he leaves the subs as late as they are, they're no better than what is on the pitch....so unless you are absolutely convinced the better/more experienced players aren't going to cut it, then you stick for as long as you can.

It's a shame, but there's not much more he can really do. You notice when he has quality to select on the bench, he does it much earlier....

He can't be happy with the depth he's got to play with...but what can you do.

[Nordic Saint]

The highlight was the Stephens block. In fact, the Stephens-Bednarek pairing restricted Fulham to just 3 shots at our goal in the whole match. They hardly put a foot wrong. Walker-Peters was good as always.  In midfield we were OK, without creating very much but up front the Adams-Long pairing was poor. Before it eventually happened, I thought, if we get the ball in the net any time in this game, it will be ruled out because Long will be offside. He was constantly standing in offside positions when we had free-kicks in attacking positions and not bothering to run back to get himself onside. Maybe in the pre-VAR days he got away with a few but surely he should realize you can't get away with it now. Adams did not seem to get on with Long at all and that was one of his poorest games for us.

Edited 26 December, 2020 by Nordic Saint

[OttawaSaint]

14 minutes ago, redkeith said:

 

That handball would  be a penalty 11 times out of 10 for United or Liverpool. 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s the trouble, refs have cottoned on. Big team they give it and then let VAR correct any mistakes (they are scared of getting crucified). Small team and they don’t give it and they let VAR correct a mistake. The problem is this “clear and obvious” bullshit. It means big teams get decisions that the smaller teams don’t. Utterly corrupt EPL trying to protect their product.

Edited 26 December, 2020 by OttawaSaint

[Charlie Wayman]

The match and result I expected so no surprises there. Not one VAR call in our favour today, bad luck or what? 

Only KWP and Walcott showed any real enterprise while JWP was a stalwart in the middle. Diallo has a lot to learn, the pace took him by surprise and he was caught in possession more than once and early on the game passed him by. The fact that RH started Long and made no serious subs in what was a winnable match must be a morale sapper for the young lads on the bench.

KWP our MotM

 

Mods. Why can't we vote for MotM when we draw or lose? Let's have a bit of consistency please.

[JRM]

Subs are irrelevant, none of those players coming on were going to make much difference. 

It's a shame O'bafemi has regressed so much, he scored a great goal in the win at Chelsea this time last season. 

Stephens played well, didn't miss Vestergaard. Diallo not bad but not on Romeu level. 

Massively miss a fit energetic Danny Ings up front, he'd have had a goal. 

We should have had a pen for handball. 

We'll be back down to 10th soon which is still good for the squad we've got.  

[BotleySaint]

With our squad depth and options we can't realistically expect to stay near the top. With the injuries we now have, its going to be a tough start to 2021. We need to strengthen with quality..  but then so does everyone else.

[Toussaint]

27 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Starting to creep down the table. I suppose that's what separates us from the teams around us. We can't win the games we should be winning.

I think it’s our lack of depth that separates us from the teams around us, nothing else. 3 big outs and we are a lower mid table side , very little to bring on from the bench. 

[Toussaint]

30 minutes ago, Saint Pete said:

It's a fair question to ask today why Ralph didn't make subs much earlier. Pretty baffling given we weren't playing well and are in the busiest period of the season. I think I heard Ralph saying recently he was in favour of allowing 5 subs, very odd given he seems so reluctant to use the 3 he is allowed!

Great manager on the whole, but his attitude towards subs has been strange on occasions.

I think two things came into play today, firstly Fulham are nowhere near as bad as some would have you believe, they have fast and dangerous players and work really hard. I know some will disagree but I thought our bench was extremely lightweight today, changing things was possibly more likely to cost us a point rather than gain us an extra two.

[Toussaint]

10 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

That’s the trouble, refs have cottoned on. Big team they give it and then let VAR correct any mistakes (they are scared of getting crucified). Small team and they don’t give it and they let VAR correct a mistake. The problem is this “clear and obvious” bullshit. It means big teams get decisions that the smaller teams don’t. Utterly corrupt EPL trying to protect their product.

Spot on

[Nordic Saint]

On a positive note, I think we have now broken our club record for the most consecutive Premier League away games without defeat. Can anyone confirm if it is also a record for all of our 44 seasons in the top flight? 

[The Cat]

Should have had a penalty, quite bizarre that it wasn't given. 

Saying that I'm not sure we deserved to win and a draw was a fair result. We lacked a bit of cohesion although it's to be expected with the players missing and Diallo making his first start. 

[Baird of the land]

With three young attackers on the bench who’ve all shown potential, there’s zero excuse imo with persisting with long for 90 minutes.

[Convict Colony]

Am more pissed off with this draw than our loss to city, we all had high expectations and then we get this...

Ralphs lack of subs again, if you put them on the bench you should be brave enough to use them in the game where they can make an impact.

[Convict Colony]

5 minutes ago, Nordic Saint said:

On a positive note, I think we have now broken our club record for the most consecutive Premier League away games without defeat. Can anyone confirm if it is also a record for all of our 44 seasons in the top flight? 

Calling MLG

[stevy777_x]

44 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

You’d think Ralph would be looking to have what he feels is the starting XI for the WHU game (bar Romeu) on the field from 75 onwards to get them a bit of cohesion. He’d better not go with Long again. He was a waste of a shirt today.

Shane Long is not capable of playing our possession based style of football.

The guy should have been released this summer.

He isn’t our future so I prefer giving a chance to one of the youngsters.

 

[Lord Duckhunter]

24 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

That’s the trouble, refs have cottoned on. Big team they give it and then let VAR correct any mistakes (they are scared of getting crucified). Small team and they don’t give it and they let VAR correct a mistake. The problem is this “clear and obvious” bullshit. It means big teams get decisions that the smaller teams don’t. Utterly corrupt EPL trying to protect their product.

Pony.

What happened was people moaned about handballs being given as penalties, so they’ve now changed the definition. Surprise surprise, people are moaning about them not being given. I absolutely guarantee had that  been given against us the majority of posters on here would be moaning. 

[gammon cheeks]

Two very hard working sides ....who did not have enough quality in final third ...thats about it really .

[Convict Colony]

Arsenal just got a soft var pen, typical

[stevy777_x]

5 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Pony.

What happened was people moaned about handballs being given as penalties, so they’ve now changed the definition. Surprise surprise, people are moaning about them not being given. I absolutely guarantee had that  been given against us the majority of posters on here would be moaning. 

It was never a penalty and was rightly not given

how is the guys supposed to run with his hand behind his back?

Just because a decision is not given our way doesn’t make it a bad decision.

People moan against decisions because it doesn’t go in their team s favour.

overall Var has been a blessing for teams like us.

i cannot imagine even going back to having referees not realizing a player is miles offside or Gabiadini s disalowed goal at wembley

[Teddeer]

Simple, the guy is meant to pull his arm out of the way so that the ball doesn't hit it. If not then he has clearly intentionally used his arm to block the ball - ergo it's a penalty.

[benjii]

13 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Arsenal just got a soft var pen, typical

No they didn't. The ref awarded it on the field.

[jamesfp1]

Awful game. At least we didn't lose. Weird subs again. 

[Jimmy_D]

1 minute ago, benjii said:

No they didn't. The ref awarded it on the field.

That was an example of one that would never have been given by VAR if it hadn’t been given on the field.

[ButtikonSaint]

A year ago we were 17th or 18th before Xmas -  we're now top half with a settled team and manager. We've been praised and admired since restart, playing pretty decent attacking football... I think the improvements have been massive... 

Dissapointing draw today maybe, but how good is it to be dissapointed with a point rather than resigned to lose ...

I'd be happy if we got to position 8-9-10 this year... RH is here to build a team... he's got a few more years to win us something 

 

COYS

 

Edited 26 December, 2020 by ButtikonSaint

[Convict Colony]

9 minutes ago, benjii said:

No they didn't. The ref awarded it on the field.

Ok just remove the VAR part, still ref's seemingly to favour the bigger teams.

 

[Appy]

3 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Ok just remove the VAR part, still ref's seemingly to favour the bigger teams.

 

I mean, they’re playing Chelsea 

[whelk]

1 hour ago, bpsaint said:

Could say the same about Leicester, and look where they are in the league.

On the form of the last year we’ve got every right to believe we could push for a europa league spot, especially with the way the season has started for us - however not killing off games is costing us, you’d have every right to say that’s the third away game on the bounce we really should have won.

I wouldn’t fret over league positions. We are 3 points away from 2nd. Not exactly wheels come off as since opening day lost to Spurs, Utd and City.

[Saint Billy]

Hideous game, poor refereeing but at least a draw. Any decent side would have turned us over though.

Hard to believe that after months of not wanting Vest anywhere near the first team we are now reliant on him being in it, that also applies to Rom and Ings. The next few games will be tough without a full squad and bringing in Long to bridge the gap is a big mistake, I only hope Ralph realises it sooner than later.