Fulham's European hopes destroyed by poor draw at Wolves

Robinson's penalty cancelled out Mane's opener but Fulham fail to claim the win needed to escape mid-table mediocrity

The European dream is all but over. An underwhelming performance at Molyneux has seen us squander an opportunity to climb the table, as we fell behind to a good strike from Mateus Mane and could only offer a Robinson penalty in response. Our 1-1 draw with Wolves leaves us four places, three points, a considerable goal difference swing and a whole host of results falling in our favour to even possibly finish 8th, and squeak into the European places. On this form, we’d be knocked out before you could even say “UEFA Conference League”, so perhaps it’s all for the better, right?

First Half

“Dead rubber” doesn’t quite do the situation heading into this game justice, but initially it had the feel of one. Wolves, long relegated, had the pride of playing their final top flight home game to play for, whilst Fulham’s fading chances of a European spot could be given a lifeline with a win today, but the weekend sun sapped much of the energy out of the opening minutes and lacklustre passing punctuated much of the play. Scares for Leno and Jose Sa came not from ferocious attacking but lackadaisical passing out from goal, and for a good while the greatest cheer came for Raul Jimenez, taking the applause from his former audience as he warmed up along the touchline.

We had most of the ball, and with Iwobi back in the team seemed a little more fluid around the pitch. Robinson engaged the space around Rodrigo Gomes and Mosquera, winning a series of corners on the left, whilst Bobb continued the flair of his cameo by jutting down the right in search of the ball. One move, in which he wiggled through midfield cutting centrally, let him slip Muniz into the box - the Brazilian muscled past Bueno, and laid the ball off to Castagne as Sa closed his shooting angle down. A lovely cross floated over the defence, reaching Iwobi for a volley - but Sa had recovered well, racing to the post to cut out the shot. Our fullbacks were enjoying being versatile, and Robinson seemed to have some of his spring back, skipping past Joao Gomes on a diagonal run to work the ball to the right, through Bobb to Castagne - the Belgian took the shot on himself this time but fired the ball past the far post.

It seemed promising, but Wolves soon rose to the challenge. Berge and Lukic stepping into advanced midfield positions, along with Robinson and Castagne joining the attack ahead of our wide midfielders, gave Wolves the option of the long ball. Their central defenders and midfielders sprayed passes forward, letting runners collect it and take on our depleted defence. A Wolfe cross, assisted by Joao Gomes, had already needed a Bassey diversion to stop Armstrong tapping it in, and later a Krejci long ball was headed down by Armstrong for Rodrigo Gomes to collect, skipping past Robinson along the right of the box and rifling a shot marginally wide of the post. We weren’t alert to the danger, and sure enough the routine had earnt them a goal. Andre moved the ball down the pitch along the right for Rodrigo Gomes, who breezed past a docile Robinson and crossed into the box for Hwang. Our defence had vacated the space, and Hwang had the time to stop the ball before laying it backwards for Mateus Mane, open outside the box. He didn’t need a second invitation, pulling his leg back and swiping the ball into the goal, past Leno’s dive. 1-0, and Wolves became the latest team to our expose our feeble in-game concentration.

We’d been decent though, and should have equalised soon after - a couple of corners won along the left let Lukic swing a ball into Berge, unmarked at the far post. Anything on target would have scored - instead he headed it straight down, bouncing into the ground and over the crossbar. The chance acted as a slap in the face to the Wolves backline, tightening up the box and putting their bodies between a number of crosses and passes we tried to thread through. Muniz struggled to get on the ball, sandwiched amongst the centre-backs, and our passes couldn’t find the man in the shooting position, forcing play out-wide. Smith Rowe knocked a firm header onto Bobb, who combined well with Castagne, letting him squeeze space from Krejci but steer his shot off target. Whilst being a goal down discolours the value of the effort, there was good work being performed around the team. Smith Rowe seemed alert, Latching onto a pass from Robinson into the box, pulling Mosquera and Bueno away from Muniz and laying it off to the striker. Wolves were fortunate more wasn’t made of the hands placed all over ESR’s torso, or Muniz’s failed attempt to lift the ball over Sa. The Englishman broke into the box from another Robinson through ball but couldn’t generate the power to trouble Sa with his low effort.

The half was petering out though, and our passing game was being absorbed by Wolves defence. But we’d pinned them in their box, and Castagne’s productivity down the right earnt a just reward - collecting the ball from a Bueno headed clearance, a poorly-timed kick from Mane caught him on the knee. He went down in pain, and though play initially continued, VAR intervened to let Thomas Kirk reassess his decision. But with Raul on the sidelines, who would take the spotkick? A Sa led furore around the spot cleared to reveal Antonee Robinson holding the ball, who allayed the understandable doubts that may have been held over his selection by coolly slotting the ball to the left of Sa’s speculative dive right. 1-1, and as late long ball that Mane collected ahead of Bassey was blasted wide, we’d earnt parity right before the break.

Second Half

Silva, seeking to seize the game, introduced Kevin for Berge, letting Iwobi move centrally and trying to match some of Wolves’ pace in attack. It was a bold move, and a nice signal of intent from Marco, but not one without risk - Berge’s departure increased the workload for Lukic, who would be relied on for more defensive contributions with Iwobi as his partner. Unsurprisingly, Wolves took advantage as soon as they’d seen off our first attacks. A long ball was won by Armstrong and needed Bassey to bail out the left-back. Andre started another surge, playing Wolfe down the left ahead of Castagne and a chasing Bobb, which again needed Bassey’s slide to avoid a Wolves man taking on Leno. Mane’s corner was good, finding Mosquera’s untracked run onto the cross - but his header was wayward, sailing past the post. Wolves smelt blood, and Mane had soon won another free kick off a clumsy Lukic foul, but Hwang couldn’t restrain his effort, and blasted the ball into the stands.

The game had a basketball feel at times, both teams carrying the ball forward and slipping around the pitch, struggling to maintain control of the game. Bobb looked slick on the ball, cruising down the right with guile, but his clever play was cut out in the box too frequently to trouble Sa. Bassey dominated our defence, cutting out numerous Wolves counter-attacks with his interceptions, ranging from clever tracking to diligent slide tackles. The pace of our opponents made these interventions necessary - Rodrigo Gomes continued to fox around Robinson, timing a brilliant run to take an aerial ball from his keeper and drive into the box, which without the Nigerian’s athleticism would have produced a very nervy moment for Leno.

A tiring Iwobi and disappointing Muniz departed for Jimenez and King, increasing the attacking tools of the team; again, Wolves were awake to the opportunity, Gomes slipping the ball through the freer midfield to Hwang, whose cruise along the left let him slip the ball into the box for Armstrong, nipping between the defenders to get into shooting position. With Leno rushing towards him he nimbly chipped it over the keeper… but struck the ball against the wrong side of the post, and watched it bounce out of play. Raul’s first chance was a little less dramatic, taking the ball from another Bobb glide forward but hurriedly slamming his shot into the crowd.

The game entered a bit of a lull as both sides swapped their players around - Arokodare came on to lead the line for Wolves, joined by Bellegarde and fresh wingbacks Hugo Bueno and Pedro Lima, whilst Wilson and Chukwueze arrived to give Fulham some more fizz around the attack. Arokodare lacked the composure - taking a Diop miscue and bounding into shooting position but scuffing a shot for Leno to gather, and generally being a little too heavy-handed in attack to turn Wolves attacks into critical chances. It wasn’t much worse than Fulham’s attack - Wilson’s maestro moments were absent entirely, curling a tame left footer from outside the box into Sa’s hands and turning a decent cut inside into a hideous skew off-target with teammates available around him.

As Fulham chased the winner, knowing results were looking favourable elsewhere, a foul on the tenacious King gave us a free kick right on the edge of the box. Could this be a moment of magic to seize the game? Sadly not, as Jimenez put the free kick straight into the wall. Indeed, it was Wolves who came closer in the closing stages, a Bellegarde combination with Mane on the left almost reaching Arokodare and the soon-to-depart Rodrigo Gomes, and the Haitian starting another move for Hugo Bueno to skill his way past Castagne and set up an open volley for fellow wingback Lima… but he skewed it well off-target. Kevin made one last hopeful sprint along the left wing but opportunity was ended by some firm defending by the Wolves backline, as was our chance to win, as were our ambitions for Europe.

Mid-table, thy name is Fulham

The uncomfortable truth is that the team aren’t good enough for European football at this moment in time. Wolves are the worst team in the league, utterly humbled by fellow European contender Brighton last weekend, and any team with serious ambitions of making it into the top 8 needed to offer more than we did here today. Marco Silva has built a good team, but one that has been unable to progress beyond midtable, and when the wider portrait of underinvestment in key positions and accumulated injuries is thrown in, you get some of an explanation for the poor showing today.

We have one goal from open play in the last six league matches, and if you exclude the Burnley win we haven’t scored more than a single goal in a match in nine (10 including our FA Cup exit!) You can see why when you watch us - we aren’t sharp enough in the final third, constantly piecing together a few nice passes but lacking the composure or confidence to threaten the keeper. Singling out Muniz is a mistake - whilst his form in front of goal has evaporated, he is no more responsible than the other attackers in the team, all of whom are arguably more talented “on paper” and should also be questioned as to their pitiful returns over the last couple of months.

Smith Rowe, Iwobi, Bobb… all good players, but too pedestrian too often, and unable to unlock a defence enough times over a 90 minutes. Wilson, our “star”, has lost his form through fatigue and injury, and was selfish and disconnected from the play when he came on. King at least shows fight on the ball when he plays but doesn’t have the bodies around him for his work to connect with enough across in-game situations. For the possession style of football we play we need to be ruthless and effective with our chances - the slow tempo has sucked the energy out of the team, and seemingly left the forwards uninspired and listless. There needs to be more to the team’s attacking output than utterly useless shots or occasionally pretty touches 30 yards from the goal, and when the only players with the speed to change the game are a featherweight Kevin, a stagnant Chukwueze and a left-back leaving massive chasms in defence, there’s a reason we’re seeing the results we have.

Bassey can take pride in his defensive contributions and was excellent amidst a lifeless performance. The rest were varying degrees of average to poor. Andersen’s suspension gave us a chance to see Diop, who was okay defensively but still looks uncomfortable when asked to use the ball, something Wolves would have advantaged more frequently. Castagne was one of the better attackers and clearly relished the chance to work in advanced positions with Bobb, but Wolves exploited his movement for their own attacks, because the man is not an out-and-out right-back and shouldn’t have had to cover for so long in a position he isn’t suited for. There are some suggestions Leno should do more for the goal, and whilst there’s some truth to that his alertness definitely saved us a few in other areas of the game. It’s small pickings though - a 1-1 draw against 20th in a race for Europe is a collective failure.

A better life in the Championship?

Let’s at least offer some credit to our opposition though. Wolves were a touch more attacking than in previous games under Rob Edwards. Rodrigo Gomes moved from right wing back to a more conventional right winger across the game, putting greater pace into counter-attacks and encouraging more interplay from Mane, Hwang and Armstrong. It meant we were a little more vulnerable at any one point in the game than we perhaps would have expected - the speed along the flanks quickly transitioned Wolves from defence into attack, and allowed Gomes and Andre a range of channels to feed the ball into. This increased the effort we needed to put in to make inroads into Wolves territory, letting their defence organise and shore up the goal. I thought Bueno was excellent, stopping Sa from having to make any massive saves, and Gomes and Andre ahead of him worked hard to shore up the final third.

Of course, the problem any relegated side faces at this time of the season is in planning. How many of these players will still be in Wolverhampton for the Championship? I’d imagine Edwards has some idea of who will be the core of his squad but football is a vicious game, and more than a few sharks will be happy to pick the trimmings off a squad with more than a few prospects strewn across it. It will be curious to see which of the players that gave us trouble today - be it Mane, the Gomeses, Andre or Wolfe - stick around for the 46-game grind coming up.

Those days haven’t graced the Cottage in a few years thanks to the work of Marco Silva. But with Europe all but off the table, and the team stuck in a major rut, what is his future at the club? His tactics, whilst solid, don’t produce the form needed over a season to bridge the gap from midtable to the qualification places, and the stagnancy clearly afflicting the team at the moment breeds complacency, a recipe for a tumble down the table. It’s clear that the team need revitalisation, and likely a decent rest in the summer. Will it be without Marco? Deep down, with a gun to my head, I believe he could still do something special here with the right pieces in play - yet this feels more and more a dream, and in all likelihood our last game of the season will also be his last. One only hopes the club has a plan for if this becomes the case.