Fulham throw lead away twice as Palace inflict third loss on Arbeloa

King and Palacios strikes cancelled by abject defending in 3-2 defeat at the Cottage

The season is still in its infancy but the first clouds are starting to form over Craven Cottage… it is Crystal Palace that provide our stormy weather today, 3-2 victors in a wasted opportunity for Fulham to get off the mark. Our positive attacking play, not for the first time, was compromised by some abysmal defending from familiar culprits - the efforts of our young attacking nucleus were shot dead by amateur errors and risible situational awareness from some of the team’s oldest heads. We were better than Palace in many metrics today but it counts for nothing if you can’t keep hold of a lead, and Fulham find themselves stricken with a sickening feeling following today’s sorry antics.

First Half

A home game in the weekend sun against pointless Palace… what could be a better game to elicit a reaction following our struggle against Sunderland? We certainly started with some energy, moving around the pitch with a touch of speed and kicking into gear around the final third. Castagne flashed a shot wide with a burst from the wings and Robinson moved with his trademark pace to win an early corner, perhaps needing a better set-piece than Iwobi’s overhit effort. Our blossoming chemistry on the right turned our early moves into a proper advantage - Charles intercepted a pass and moved it forward to Bobb, who glided down the right channel. A cross deflected off Disasi but fell to King, and our starlet maneuvered away from Timber to fire a shot at goal, deflecting off Canvot and past Henderson for the opener.

Such a brilliant start was betrayed by our perilous defending. We’d left chasms of space open for Palace’s invitation and within minutes Sage’s side had bounced back, Nketiah speeding away from a sluggish Andersen along the right to force the defence to retreat, playing it back to Pino on the left and letting the Spaniard curl a delectable ball into the box to Kamada, nipping ahead of Bassey and tapping the ball beyond a hapless Leno. Castagne and Bobb’s languid efforts to track back, Andersen’s shabby one-on-one defending, Leno’s dismal efforts in the box… our humbling was allayed only by a marginal VAR offside spotting Kamada inches ahead of the backline.

The game took a basketball feel for a few moments, as Palace threatened to pounce on our insecurity. A Khalaili shot from distance was speculative but fierce, flying past the post with venom, and Leno was needed to race off his line to stop Nketiah latching onto a long ball unopposed. Fulham did similar, Bobb having an effort stopped on the line by Khalaili and assisting a Garcia effort that Henderson needed a split-second arm to divert over. The England keeper was involved again, making a similar stop at the near-post to stop Castagne converting for us. It was end-to-end, but Palace were the side to actually convert - a Wharton header in midfield let Nketiah move the ball left, our depleted right flank exploited by an advancing Tyrick Mitchell. His place humbled Andersen and he galloped into the box, lifting the ball over Leno at the near post to equalise.

All teams benefit from good fortune though, and Fulham’s attacking football was causing Palace concerns. We were solidly on the ball and finding space around Palace, their set-up leaving them in a nervy back-five that let our technical attackers architect a lot of play. After a Robinson shot from distance flew past Henderson’s post, Josh King took centre-stage again, turning Richards on the wing and cruising along the exposed left channel to reach the box. He played a ball into Garcia’s feet, and after Henderson again saved the Spaniard’s effort Palacios was on-point to guide the ball into the open net. Despite our ramshackle defending - again requiring a last-ditch Bassey intervention to block Nketiah in the box - we’d take a 2-1 lead into the half-time break.

Second Half

Palace opened the half with a change - a frustrated, if sprightly, Eddie Nketiah departed for the towering figure of Jorgen Strand Larsen. He’d scored inside minutes, getting ahead of our centre-backs to stick home a Kamada cross, but the winger was offside in the build-up. Undeterred, Fulham made their own move, winning a corner on the right - Bobb, busy in the first half, whipped a sharp ball into the congested box for Garcia to leap onto. His effort might have travelled in but for the unaware body of King, and upon the rebound Palacios steered his effort wide of the left post. Charles continued to impress, intercepting passes from Palace’s backline and making progressive moves with his forward passes and connecting runs. One such action almost gave King a second goal, as our new signing combined with Castagne and our starlet along the right to put King in the box… a late slide was all that prevented our third goal.

But once again, Fulham’s ability to shoot themselves in the foot unwound our positive start to the half. Some insipid footwork from Iwobi was pounced upon by Palace, dispossessing him and setting Mitchell away down our seemingly ever-exposed right flank. Gallivanting into position with a lethargic defence backing away, he pumped an effort towards goal - it deflected off Castagne, Pino’s miscued effort marginally angled the shot goalwards and though Palacios made a valiant effort to slide the ball away Mitchell was again more alert than our defenders to stick his foot forward first and strike another equaliser. It was horrible to watch - we’d been pulled apart from a relatively mundane situation again, and blown a second lead in the game.

The possession continued. Arbeloa’s attacking formation was certainly keeping us on the ball, Robinson and Castagne moving incredibly far forward, Iwobi a deeper playmaker as our forwards prowled around in search of gaps. A speedy run from the left-back saw Palacios reach for a cross that needed more power to beat Henderson. Another combination on the right with Charles linking Castagne and Bobb saw the Norwegian move around Disasi and force Henderson into a save. A free kick swung in from the right found Castagne in a great position, whose lay off to Palacios needed a far sharper effort from Palacios, slicing a shot off-target despite the time he had. Garcia collected a couple of sharp crosses and got them down to his feet, but blocks from Disasi were well-timed and prevented Henderson from having to stop a shot.

We’d introduced Berge for Palacios and moved an ailing Iwobi further forward on the left, but the clinical touch hadn’t come. What we hadn’t done was take note of Palace’s substitutes, seasoned Premier League players Ben Chilwell and Will Hughes entering the action. They put some steel into Palace’s outfield, combating our possession with some tough play - in doing so, they kickstarted Palace’s own attacking vision and activated the counter-attack. To our dismay, it didn’t take long for the game to be inverted. Hughes helped string together a few Palace passes, prompting Bassey to step out of defence to try and disrupt the flow. He couldn’t outmuscle Strand Larsen, whose mind clicked into gear - a pass back to a deeper-lying Pino let the Spaniard play a through-ball through the space Bassey left behind, right-back Khalaili accelerating past Robinson and towards the goal. Leno ambled forward, staggering in front of the ball - his hesitation let Khalaili take the ball away from the keeper as his late dive diverted its momentum. Andersen’s overrun positioned him behind the loose ball, at least enough to slide and block the attempted follow-up from Kamada… but it flew straight up, looping nicely into the path of Chilwell - the substitute needed a single touch to volley the ball goalwards, bouncing through our pitiful troops.

Realising the predicament, Arbeloa threw the bench onto the pitch - Sess, Smith Rowe and newcomer Larsson arrived to try and turn the game our way, with Muniz arriving a few minutes later. But Palace were focused on their goal, and had the physicality to frustrate our players on the ball, eating time out of the game. Despite their earlier struggles, the trio of Canvot, Disasi and Richards was an effective one at physically narrowing the time and space available to shoot, and our significant possession was not translating into serious danger for sustained periods of time. Sess was courageous off the bench, operating as a winger and dribbling into action - a pass through to Muniz produced a shot that Henderson had to save, and his own rebound on his weaker foot skewed narrowly off-target. Castagne, still making combinations with King, helped work the ball into the box again for Muniz, taking a close-range cross from our goalscorer ahead of Richards, but the volley flew over the bar. Palace introduced their late substitutes for a burst of energy to repel our closing attacks, Disasi again in the right place to stop Larsson firing at goal following Garcia’s header down from Bassey’s long ball, and after a free kick won by King’s tireless efforts was blocked away, the final whistle tolled the end of another disappointing afternoon for Arbeloa’s side.

Fulham - unfit for a King

We’ll offer some plaudits to break up all the misery. Josh King is starting to look like a seriously effective Premier League player, heavily involved throughout the action today and earning the individual plaudits of a goal and a de facto assist. He glides on the ball, has surprising strength given his size next to some of his opponents, is intelligent when in collaboration with his teammates and lives to get the ball into dangerous areas through his runs and clever little passes. Even with the game in its dying embers he was moving around with purpose - his spirit is what needs to be captured and reproduced for the rest of the team, and with Thomas Tuchel in the crowds one wonders how long we’ll have to wait before we see the man in an England shirt.

He is the headline of a good attacking fulcrum, even if it didn’t earn the points today. People have been critical of Palacios and even Garcia but the pair have the energy to make things happen - you don’t score the goals we did without the legwork taking place, and we forget that Henderson had to make some decent saves across the game to keep us from extending our lead. Bobb and Castagne are enjoying good chemistry along the right, particularly when King interplays with them, Charles read the action well from behind them and off the bench Sess and Muniz showed attacking intent and vision of their own. The team aren’t in the stodgy slump they found themselves in towards the end of last season and aren’t afraid to play attractive football, which is always a positive to take forward.

The positives have to end there though, because any Premier League side can hold their lines against a good attack and punish you if your defence isn’t up to scratch. We have several serial underperformers in the team at the back that have carried their poor form into this season, and it has resulted in a dearth of points to start this season. Andersen is the man perhaps most spotlighted here - his mobility has declined quite alarmingly, to the point that most attackers are breezing past him without too much effort, and far too much space is vulnerable when he is the man responsible for dealing with the attacker. The calls for Affengruber or De Fougerolles will only get stronger when his performances are as abject as this. Castagne was too careless today as well, too comfortable leaving his teammates to deal with threats along their left across the game, and for all his improvements will need to find a greater balance between attack and defence if he wants to keep his place - Robinson does not have the benefit of positive form over the last few months and is guilty of the same problems. This instability can perhaps explain the sordid case of Bernd Leno, who has rarely looked as unstable in goal as in the last few weeks - mistakes are happening in every game at the moment, a perilous set of conditions for the team.

What of the midfield? Charles was solid but his partners have not yet clicked into gear - Iwobi seems at sea in this team, caught between roles and struggling to do any of them successfully at the moment, whilst Berge doesn’t play with the dynamism of our new midfielder and struggles to turn the screw for Fulham when required. With Fulham bringing in Larsson the pressure needs to be on the pair to step up the action, lest our ship rock even further going into some tough fixtures next week.

Lucky points for Palace?

Shall we offer some praise to Crystal Palace? They have an international quality keeper that kept them in the game at their lowest, Henderson saving his defence’s blushes for large parts of the afternoon today, and took their chances when presented them by our comedy of errors. I don’t think Timber and Wharton had particularly strong games in midfield, meaning their defenders were required to individually step in and stop attackers from striking at goal, and whilst the scoreline shows they won their three goals were incredibly fortunate and dependant on their left-backs being given the freedom of the park to make their moves - work clearly needs to be done for Sage’s side.

That said, they are three points better off than us this weekend, and as always their squad seems to be in a decent place. Given the European games on the horizon there’s a lot to be excited about at the club - you have to ask yourself what we would be feeling about a nervy start to the league if we had trips around the continent coming up for us, because there is a strong possibility the players are warming themselves up for the real highlight of the campaign in the Europa League. Sage will have time to tweak his team, letting the new faces gel together effectively - the talent and experience will merge in time.

Hopefully the same is true for Arbeloa, but a far tougher challenge awaits in the next couple of fixtures - a trip to Anfield, a cup contest at perennial headaches West Ham and the visit of Manchester United to the Cottage represent a challenging ride for this young Fulham side. The Champions League opponents will at least offer the team a serious opportunity to fix our porous defence - failure to do so may leave our season in a wretched place heading into the international break, and prompt the first whispers of the r-word around the club. We must stay positive to give the team the best chance of staving off such negative energy.