Fulham v Tottenham

[Chelmsford_yid]

Fulham

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v

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Tottenham

Barclays Premier League - 4th Jan  - KO 20:00  - Ground: Craven Cottage

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[Metalanimal]

3 points in the bag and coming back from a goal down away from home!

Regardless of other aspects I am happy with that!

[Chelmsford_yid]

It sounded like a smash & grab. 

[Glenn R]

I sat in the Fulham end (as I went with my son in law who is a Fulham supporter) so couldn’t jump up when the goals were scored. But I did almost give the game away when I shouted “shoot” when Defoe was near goal. Got a few funny looks.

I thought Fulham did well and kept on attacking. Yes, we got our goals and won but what annoyed me about Spurs was that when they were attacking and couldn't get through they then kept back passing and not really achieving anything (other than giving the ball away).  But we won and now we take on Sunderland. I was interested in the team line-up. Defoe starting instead of Soldado. Sadly he didn’t score. Which would have help his cause. I would have stuck with Soldado.

[Blackjack]

I thought we looked more agressive with Defoe up front, his pace gave us more options and he linked up well, we won the game which was great but we still look wide open at the back, forcing Vertonghen to bomb forward on the left is great untill we lose the ball, to many times we fizzed a ball through the center to a marked player, conceded possession and Vertonghen was left in no mans land up field and this was only Fulham!, we saw what happens at City if we play like that against a good side, if we put two up front then we will have more chance to hold up the ball better giving our defence a well needed rest. we may have had the most shots at goal but most are from outside the box because the loan striker is well marked and so no service gets to him, we scored two brilliant goals last night but we are not going to keep pulling them out of the bag every week.

[Glenn R]

I thought we looked more agressive with Defoe up front, his pace gave us more options and he linked up well, we won the game which was great but we still look wide open at the back, forcing Vertonghen to bomb forward on the left is great untill we lose the ball, to many times we fizzed a ball through the center to a marked player, conceded possession and Vertonghen was left in no mans land up field and this was only Fulham!, we saw what happens at City if we play like that against a good side, if we put two up front then we will have more chance to hold up the ball better giving our defence a well needed rest. we may have had the most shots at goal but most are from outside the box because the loan striker is well marked and so no service gets to him, we scored two brilliant goals last night but we are not going to keep pulling them out of the bag every week.

Yes we did score two brilliant goals. I have just watched it back on Match of the day. Also Lloris was brilliant.

[Metalanimal]

I am hoping AVB soon figures out that the issue is not who we have up front but the formation and tactics, I fear benching Soldado is going to only drop his confidence even lower, he surely must be regretting his move to us, 1 goal from open play due to no service.

Defoe/Ade and Soldado with a 4 man midfield with wide men is what i would like to see.

[spursjoolz]

I think AVB should play Defoe for the next few games and we will see him score.

He had a good game yesterday and almost put one in. Difficult situation with Soldado, but I think he should sit on the bench for while.

[Metalanimal]

Fair shout Jools, what is your reasoning behind that mate?

Maybe Soldado use him in Europe and cup games to get some gaols under his belt and confidence back up maybe could be a solution.

[RSS61]

I am hoping AVB soon figures out that the issue is not who we have up front but the formation and tactics, I fear benching Soldado is going to only drop his confidence even lower, he surely must be regretting his move to us, 1 goal from open play due to no service.

Defoe/Ade and Soldado with a 4 man midfield with wide men is what i would like to see.

Agreed, we absolutely must try out 442 with JVT and Cherices at CB . I dont care who plays LB so long as its not JVT because as pointed out above he bombs forward, a role not really ideal for him, then gets stranded by counter attacks.

[spursjoolz]

Fair shout Jools, what is your reasoning behind that mate?

Maybe Soldado use him in Europe and cup games to get some gaols under his belt and confidence back up maybe could be a solution.

JD looks more active and makes more effort to get the ball imo.  Quite righlty, AVB should swap roles and I am sure Soldado will find the net in the Euro games.

He needs a confidence boost in that dept and this could be it. No shame in putting him in Euro. JD has been doing it up to now. It's called competition! Besides, "a change is as good as a rest"

Let's see who AVB picks on Sunday! Will he put 1 or 2 up front?

[Glenn R]

I think AVB should play Defoe for the next few games and we will see him score.

He had a good game yesterday and almost put one in. Difficult situation with Soldado, but I think he should sit on the bench for while.

I personally think he should stick with Soldado. Defoe hasn't done any better in League matches. Also; Soldado will be here a lot longer.

[spursjoolz]

I personally think he should stick with Soldado. Defoe hasn't done any better in League matches. Also; Soldado will be here a lot longer.

True, Soldado will be here a lot longer, but we need goals now and JD may well be the one to do it for now. I am not suggesting that Soldado be left out, he just need a pick me up.

[Glenn R]

I personally think he should stick with Soldado. Defoe hasn't done any better in League matches. Also; Soldado will be here a lot longer.

True, Soldado will be here a lot longer, but we need goals now and JD may well be the one to do it for now. I am not suggesting that Soldado be left out, he just need a pick me up.

I take your point, however, JD isn't doing it either. Yes, he is doing it in cup matches and against weaker opposition but not against the big boys. I've been constantly saying that it isn't the fault of either JD or Soldado but not getting the ball up front.

[Paul Finch]

        You cannot expect any Forward to score unless he is being fed with quality balls put into the right places, we could have Van Persie playing for us and he would struggle to score if he wasn't getting the service, neither Soldado or Defoe are what you would call tall, Soldado 5ft 10 1/2 and Defoe 5ft 7 in, they are both goal sneaks and in order to be effective they need a strike partner to feed off, I have said so often 1-4-5-1 just doesn't work unless you have a quality playmaker, (eg Modric or VdV) which is something that we do not have, on Wed Defoe was showing his frustration, as has Soldado in previous games and this will continue until AVB either changes the format to 1-4-4-2 or buys a quality playmaker, playing 5 across midfield is effective defensively, but once we get into our attacking third they get in each others way, and the attack breaks down, Wed when Holtby received the ball from Walker, he almost had the ball taken off his toe by Townsend, and it was only his sheer determination to have a shot that resulted in him scoring the winner, and this is happening week in and week out  (players getting in each others way). So AVB its time for a change of game-plan otherwise I think you will find you might well be shown the door and no I am not advocating that that is what should happen.