nomadwolf
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Whoever wrote that should be a journalist. Great understanding of the game (and us!). Enjoyable read thanks for sharingThought I'd also post this Fulham fan's view on the game from the comments section of The Guardian report. Better than the actual match report they are commenting on! Really summed up the game well.
What happens when you switch off in the Premier League? Fulham’s defeat at Molineux tells you the answer. An immensely watchable match, with two positive teams playing decent, progressive football, saw a sting in the tale for the in-form visitors, with a sluggish start to the second half marring an otherwise lively and vivacious performance. Full-backs Ait-Nouri and Semedo scored in a sloppy phase of the second half for us - as always, all the chances your team generate mean nothing if you squander it with silly mistakes, and Iwobi’s response came far too late to save us from a 2-1 defeat.
Compared to the sludge-fest I’d watched at Old Trafford, these two sides played in a fantastic style. It could have been so different for us… Fulham have attacked with confidence in recent weeks and their personnel let them do that - Muniz batters a team with his physicality, supplied by a well of creativity from the talents behind him. Iwobi had a marvellous match, his effervescent stamina seeing him effortlessly drift around the pitch, manning the left, cutting inside to the centre, threading balls through to Muniz and Wilson from the frontline and deep and generally running our team. Wilson darted around with his familiar zest and Pereira’s quality on the ball connected many passages of play. Wolves boast some marvels of their own - despite their injury list, lengthened today, they had Sarabia’s wizardry pinging passes about the pitch, Neto whizzing along the wing, Fraser pestering the frontline, Ait-Nouri dazzling the eye… it was a thrilling, end-to-end game, in which every area of the pitch saw action, and when you get to watch games like that you find yourself.
Of course, Wolves were the victors. I think O’Neil deserves credit for his pragmatism today - struck with two injuries to key attacking players, with Bellegarde and Neto forced off the pitch in the first half, Wolves adapted their shape and kept competitive against a confident Fulham side, weathering the storm and matching our intensity until it wore us down. Moving Lemina forward following Bellegarde’s departure gave Wolves bite and tenacity in advanced areas, putting pressure on our core to operate through his excellent pressing and stamina. Neto blew his hamstring trying to outpace Robinson, which could have killed the game for Wolves - on came Toti Gomes, seeing Ait-Nouri move into the advanced regions - the technical abilities of Ait-Nouri gave Wolves the extra incisiveness in attack, with a similarly talented Toti adding speed and trickery going forward and at the back. He has done a fantastic job with Wolves, just as he did with Bournemouth last season, and the fruits of his labour are reflected in their ability to seize their opportunities - they pounced on our doldrum start to the second-half and struck twice to claim a great victory.
Defensively there has to be some scrutiny. We started well, with a good temperament and discipline in the face of Wolves’ liveliness, but it fell away quite rapidly in the second half and allowed Wolves the advantage over us. The goals are the obvious flashpoint, which came through a muddled period in which a series of sloppy errors clouded our minds. Gifting the lead through a set-piece is unacceptable; Sarabia’s good free kick from deep was met with a rather hideous defensive header from Bassey, giving Toti the chance to make a slick cutback to Ait-Nouri for the opener. He and Tosin, having been so resolute in the first half, lost the ball far too often in the second, giving Wolves countless opportunities to pounce on us. The substitutes seemed to unsettle things further, with our attacking changes giving Wolves numerous attacking inroads to take to our struggling defence, and a flimsy spell of defending on our right let Wolves carve their second out. Ait-Nouri, as he did over several spells of the game, dazed Castagne to get the ball central, Fraser burst through our backline, scrambling our centre-backs and playing it back for Joao Gomez, who set up Semedo for the goal.
The previous two matches saw Reed and Lukic perform exceptionally in Palhinha’s absence, but we have to accept that it won’t always work out. Against attack-minded sides like Wolves today, they have to be impeccable, otherwise the team becomes much easier to play your way through. Reed was poor on the ball and unable to keep control of midfield today, notably conceding the free-kick that led to Wolves’ opener. Lukic has been brilliant but when Reed went off he was left at DM, with Cairney obviously taking a more advanced role alongside him - Wolves subsequently had an easier time getting into dangerous positions and could easily have scored more with their attacks. It’s worth mentioning Palhinha actually, who did eventually come on for Lukic - his cameo today saw him commit numerous risible tackles that could have earnt him another suspension, matching the general loss of control Fulham struggled with in the game.
It’s important to contrast this to Wolves’ defending, which also faced a few tests but managed to hold firm throughout (excluding the late consolation). Muniz has menaced a fair few centre-backs of late but Kilman and Bueno handled him well, tracking his movements matching his strides and making crucial tackles to stop him getting the killer shot away. They were exceptional and protected the goal really well - something that perhaps gave Sa the confidence to pull off the wonder-saves he made towards the end. We’re a side that like having the ball and we utilised a number of tactics to get the ball into dangerous position, with the through balls barraging the Wolves backline, but the defending in the critical regions was exemplary and ensured we were largely frustrated. The whole team got involved, Lemina the key presser, and winning the ball from us so frequently allowed for quick turn-overs and a constantly hostile atmosphere for Fulham to try and play in.
Some might be tempted to lambast Fulham’s finishing - Wilson had many shots and missed a great opportunity through on goal in the first half, Muniz and later Broja will rue their wasted chances and we should definitely have done more from the wealth of corners we generated over the game. Willian was able to work nicely with Robinson when he came on, Traore gave Wolves a reminder of his blistering speed and I think on another day we’d have scored one of the shots Sa had to save later in the game… but ultimately it was the loss of the focus in the face of Wolves’ perseverance, and we need to ensure the same doesn’t happen against Tottenham next week.
As for Wolves, they can pride themselves on their lofty league position. For all the struggles they have a positive young side with an attractive brand of football, and given they’re only a few points off the European spots there could yet be more excitement for their campaign.
I'm not sure that Fulham fans want to read a eulogy to Wolves !Whoever wrote that should be a journalist. Great understanding of the game (and us!). Enjoyable read thanks for sharing
ZeeZeeTopFulham consistently writes excellent and full reports.Thought I'd also post this Fulham fan's view on the game from the comments section of The Guardian report. Better than the actual match report they are commenting on! Really summed up the game well.
What happens when you switch off in the Premier League? Fulham’s defeat at Molineux tells you the answer. An immensely watchable match, with two positive teams playing decent, progressive football, saw a sting in the tale for the in-form visitors, with a sluggish start to the second half marring an otherwise lively and vivacious performance. Full-backs Ait-Nouri and Semedo scored in a sloppy phase of the second half for us - as always, all the chances your team generate mean nothing if you squander it with silly mistakes, and Iwobi’s response came far too late to save us from a 2-1 defeat.
Compared to the sludge-fest I’d watched at Old Trafford, these two sides played in a fantastic style. It could have been so different for us… Fulham have attacked with confidence in recent weeks and their personnel let them do that - Muniz batters a team with his physicality, supplied by a well of creativity from the talents behind him. Iwobi had a marvellous match, his effervescent stamina seeing him effortlessly drift around the pitch, manning the left, cutting inside to the centre, threading balls through to Muniz and Wilson from the frontline and deep and generally running our team. Wilson darted around with his familiar zest and Pereira’s quality on the ball connected many passages of play. Wolves boast some marvels of their own - despite their injury list, lengthened today, they had Sarabia’s wizardry pinging passes about the pitch, Neto whizzing along the wing, Fraser pestering the frontline, Ait-Nouri dazzling the eye… it was a thrilling, end-to-end game, in which every area of the pitch saw action, and when you get to watch games like that you find yourself.
Of course, Wolves were the victors. I think O’Neil deserves credit for his pragmatism today - struck with two injuries to key attacking players, with Bellegarde and Neto forced off the pitch in the first half, Wolves adapted their shape and kept competitive against a confident Fulham side, weathering the storm and matching our intensity until it wore us down. Moving Lemina forward following Bellegarde’s departure gave Wolves bite and tenacity in advanced areas, putting pressure on our core to operate through his excellent pressing and stamina. Neto blew his hamstring trying to outpace Robinson, which could have killed the game for Wolves - on came Toti Gomes, seeing Ait-Nouri move into the advanced regions - the technical abilities of Ait-Nouri gave Wolves the extra incisiveness in attack, with a similarly talented Toti adding speed and trickery going forward and at the back. He has done a fantastic job with Wolves, just as he did with Bournemouth last season, and the fruits of his labour are reflected in their ability to seize their opportunities - they pounced on our doldrum start to the second-half and struck twice to claim a great victory.
Defensively there has to be some scrutiny. We started well, with a good temperament and discipline in the face of Wolves’ liveliness, but it fell away quite rapidly in the second half and allowed Wolves the advantage over us. The goals are the obvious flashpoint, which came through a muddled period in which a series of sloppy errors clouded our minds. Gifting the lead through a set-piece is unacceptable; Sarabia’s good free kick from deep was met with a rather hideous defensive header from Bassey, giving Toti the chance to make a slick cutback to Ait-Nouri for the opener. He and Tosin, having been so resolute in the first half, lost the ball far too often in the second, giving Wolves countless opportunities to pounce on us. The substitutes seemed to unsettle things further, with our attacking changes giving Wolves numerous attacking inroads to take to our struggling defence, and a flimsy spell of defending on our right let Wolves carve their second out. Ait-Nouri, as he did over several spells of the game, dazed Castagne to get the ball central, Fraser burst through our backline, scrambling our centre-backs and playing it back for Joao Gomez, who set up Semedo for the goal.
The previous two matches saw Reed and Lukic perform exceptionally in Palhinha’s absence, but we have to accept that it won’t always work out. Against attack-minded sides like Wolves today, they have to be impeccable, otherwise the team becomes much easier to play your way through. Reed was poor on the ball and unable to keep control of midfield today, notably conceding the free-kick that led to Wolves’ opener. Lukic has been brilliant but when Reed went off he was left at DM, with Cairney obviously taking a more advanced role alongside him - Wolves subsequently had an easier time getting into dangerous positions and could easily have scored more with their attacks. It’s worth mentioning Palhinha actually, who did eventually come on for Lukic - his cameo today saw him commit numerous risible tackles that could have earnt him another suspension, matching the general loss of control Fulham struggled with in the game.
It’s important to contrast this to Wolves’ defending, which also faced a few tests but managed to hold firm throughout (excluding the late consolation). Muniz has menaced a fair few centre-backs of late but Kilman and Bueno handled him well, tracking his movements matching his strides and making crucial tackles to stop him getting the killer shot away. They were exceptional and protected the goal really well - something that perhaps gave Sa the confidence to pull off the wonder-saves he made towards the end. We’re a side that like having the ball and we utilised a number of tactics to get the ball into dangerous position, with the through balls barraging the Wolves backline, but the defending in the critical regions was exemplary and ensured we were largely frustrated. The whole team got involved, Lemina the key presser, and winning the ball from us so frequently allowed for quick turn-overs and a constantly hostile atmosphere for Fulham to try and play in.
Some might be tempted to lambast Fulham’s finishing - Wilson had many shots and missed a great opportunity through on goal in the first half, Muniz and later Broja will rue their wasted chances and we should definitely have done more from the wealth of corners we generated over the game. Willian was able to work nicely with Robinson when he came on, Traore gave Wolves a reminder of his blistering speed and I think on another day we’d have scored one of the shots Sa had to save later in the game… but ultimately it was the loss of the focus in the face of Wolves’ perseverance, and we need to ensure the same doesn’t happen against Tottenham next week.
As for Wolves, they can pride themselves on their lofty league position. For all the struggles they have a positive young side with an attractive brand of football, and given they’re only a few points off the European spots there could yet be more excitement for their campaign.
Reed should have also been sent off for 2 yellowsReferee was crap
Well I’m excited about next week and the rest of the season
if you were measured in your criticism and praise you wouldn’t get pulled up all the time.I don’t understand your point unless you’re saying no criticism for Fosun is allowed because of what they did. In which case, I disagree.
As I’ve repeatedly said, I don’t ever expect success. I just want owners that try. In January, they didn’t do that.
We’re now entering what should be a golden period, potentially in our history, and we can’t even compete. We aren’t even turning up to a gun fight with a knife, we’ve got a water pistol.
Fosun were brilliant owners, that shouldn’t need to be said on any post that criticises them now.
I read this and he should be writing for the Guardian!ZeeZeeTopFulham consistently writes excellent and full reports.
Not enough spilling mistakes for the Gruadian.I read this and he should be writing for the Guardian!
Aren't the south downs ups?41 points and a home fa cup quarter final to come next week before the squad gets a well deserved mini break.
Lived in Worthing down on the South Coast all my life and so glad I don’t support one of the usual plastic clubs who expect to win every week. The downs certainly make you appreciate the Ups and I can’t ask for anymore than the current squad and management team continually exceeding expectation.
Agreed, it was excellent and we’re going to need it next week as c4.5k cov fans will be totally up for it.I thought second half the mol was starting to rock, felt a more like an evening match under Nuno
Utter rubbish. Our season is about to take off.Two sides to that game.
The negatives, the two injuries. Our season is realistically over because of the board. If we had done the bare minimum in January, replacing the outgoings, we could have got by. They didn’t. They’ve probably ruined our season and potentially our future.
Hobbs has admitted that we have to sell at least one player a season. The overworked Neto is injured, can he be sold now? He wasn’t fit against Brighton, Newcastle and today he went, because O’Neil was understandably desperate. What happens if he’s not sold? Do we get rid of Gomes or RAN as Hobbs alludes to.
We should be dreaming but it’s hard to get excited when we face Coventry next week who have better attacking players.
But, the players should be separate from that, and today as a whole.
Thanks to O’Neil we have a team that give their all. A team full of warriors, led by Lemina. A team us fans love and like Brighton we helped them over the line.
Semedo, Ait-Nouri, Gomes, all incredible and I really could go on.
That special bond might get us past Coventry. It might not.
I had immense pride watching us today but it was tinged with sadness that we were having to take the role of massive underdog against Fulham, yes Fulham, because of Fosun.
Let’s see how far we can go in spite of them. Hopefully it’s beyond next week.
This is bizarre.We will see next week, won’t we?
Because the Wolves team that is 8th is based on Neto, Hwang and Cunha involved heavily.
Coventrys attack, on the whole, is better than ours next week in terms of quality and depth.
Yes, we’re better elsewhere but it’s a close game overall.
This is bizarre.
How is Coventry’s attack better than Wolves?
Unless you are comparing now when
we have injuries to Coventry’s current team?
Saying that we are where we are because of X players is absurd.
It’s like saying Brazil 70 wouldn’t have been the greatest team in the history of the sport if they didn’t have Pele and Tostao.
Ifs, buts and maybes don’t win matches
It was all in relation to next week.This is bizarre.
How is Coventry’s attack better than Wolves?
Unless you are comparing now when we have injuries to Coventry’s current team?
Saying that we are where we are because of X players is absurd.
It’s like saying Brazil 70 wouldn’t have been the greatest team in the history of the sport if they didn’t have Pele and Tostao.
Ifs, buts and maybes don’t win matches
I enjoy matchdays win, draw or lose and have done for years and will continue to do so.Utter rubbish. Our season is about to take off.
Win on Saturday and the excitement will be sky high..
You can bury your head in misery if you like but the rest of us will be enjoying the ride.
That's how I read it (their attack is currently better than ours due to injuries), in which case he may have a point.This is bizarre.
How is Coventry’s attack better than Wolves?
Unless you are comparing now when we have injuries to Coventry’s current team?
Saying that we are where we are because of X players is absurd.
It’s like saying Brazil 70 wouldn’t have been the greatest team in the history of the sport if they didn’t have Pele and Tostao.
Ifs, buts and maybes don’t win matches
OK fair enough would agree with you there but equally we’re not in a false position in the league: the players we have are the ones that got us there. It’s not hypothetical or even like a cup run where you can ace a few flukes.It was all in relation to next week.
So Coventry's attack is better than ours next week. And I mentioned the players because they're not involved next week.
I fully agree.OK fair enough would agree with you there but equally we’re not in a false position in the league: the players we have are the ones that got us there. It’s not hypothetical or even like a cup run where you can ace a few flukes.
I guess next week will be the irresistible force vs the immovable object
Yeah me too. I get that we had to cull in summer, but not getting even one extra in during winter has seriously curtailed what we can work with and therefore what we can achieve. It’s more galling as so many people have called it so many times.I fully agree.
I haven't said we're in a false position. I love this team, the manager is performing miracles and we thoroughly deserve to be where we are. In fact, the VAR decisions mean you could say we should be better off.
I am just gutted that O'Neil wasn't backed at all in January as this group are on the cusp of something special and I don't think we'll be able to capitalise on that because a few injuries have left us in such a bad state.
The reality is that somehow the incompetence of Premier league officials cost us possibly 9 points, this tiny squad of players have been at it all season, so yes the wheels could still fall off, however the facts are this group of professional footballers appear to want to win more than most of the teams we have faced, so let’s all enjoy and maybe they and us will get what we deserve.I enjoy matchdays win, draw or lose and have done for years and will continue to do so.
I come on here to give opinions and debate. I can't see how this team can compete for a top eight finish due to the few injuries we've picked up. I also think if we beat Coventry, which is going to be really tough, we won't be able to compete with (likely to be) one of the top sides in the country at Wembley. Which is a real shame. It's an opportunity that may never come around again for some time, if it does at all.
This team and O'Neil have proved me wrong many times before though, let's hope they can again.
Loved that bit, surprised it wasn't highlighted more on all MOTD and the like.What Joao Gomes does to create our second goal is almost unbelievable! What a player.
This was apparent through absence v NewcastleThe central midfield of Gomes and Lemina is massive for us. Even losing Neto and having all our attackers out the midfield is a huge help. RAN going into attack is also big. He will have to play there full time for a while now.
I’m not sure it’s unbelievable but it’s a great example of shielding and escaping pressure. Then a very smart back heel. He will be a top player.What Joao Gomes does to create our second goal is almost unbelievable! What a player.
The thing is even if we had signed some good players in Jan I don’t think we’d be considered as having a particularly good chance of winning the FA Cup given the pedigree of the remaining sides.Not miserable at all. As my first post outlined. Delighted with O’Neil and the players and even my tiny contribution with 6/7k others by singing along from the South Bank to help them today. In fact, it’s the best I’ve felt about a team we’ve had in 4/5 years.
Sad that I don’t think we really have even a chance of winning the FA Cup or finishing top 8 when it really should be possible after O’Neil’s outstanding work.
If only your ‘ITK’ posts had actually been right and then maybe I’d be optimistic
I would argue that considering what has happened to Everton and is about to happen to Forest and what’s likely to happen in the summer to a few other clubs that the way we are run is exactly the right way to be running business.Yeah me too. I get that we had to cull in summer, but not getting even one extra in during winter has seriously curtailed what we can work with and therefore what we can achieve. It’s more galling as so many people have called it so many times.
I think we make the semi in spite of not because of the club, which is no way to run a business in an elite environment.
Not sure I agree with that. The big clubs want players who can come on and make an impact.. 20-25 appearances across all competitions for a season is probably enough.Think at this stage RAN is worth more and sought after by more clubs than Neto. Neto's injury issues are quite a concern for prospective buyers.
In my opinion if we were placing in order our best assets it would be
Cunha
RAN
Joao Gomes
Neto
He got Bueno'dWhere was Muniz? I watch all of the match highlights from NBC (about 12 minutes of each match), and he seems to have been playing very strongly these past few weeks - including scoring a lot. I didn't even notice him yesterday. I'm putting this down to very good players very well organised.
Rolling around all game he looked very averageWhere was Muniz? I watch all of the match highlights from NBC (about 12 minutes of each match), and he seems to have been playing very strongly these past few weeks - including scoring a lot. I didn't even notice him yesterday. I'm putting this down to very good players very well organised.