Kevin and Reed earn Fulham comeback win over Stoke

The 2-1 win sees us qualify for Round 5 of the FA Cup

Fulham have made it through Round 4 of the FA Cup with a 2-1 with against a sturdy Stoke side, and whilst it wasn’t a particularly pretty afternoon for Silva’s men, at this point in the season the actual act of winning may have to be enough for now. Once again a lower-tier side took the lead against us, doing what Middlesbrough and Wycombe in the League Cup managed earlier in the campaign, but Fulham persevered and lasted the distance to make their quality count in the end. Kevin can be proud of a solid showing, rewarded with a goal for the equaliser, and whilst Reed may have played better games his tenacity at the end yielded a fine moment when he struck the winning goal - and really, what more can you ask from your captain on the day?

First Half

We arrived at the Bet365 Stadium in poor form, needing a win to offset the recent slump the team has suffered of late. Our hosts could say the same though - Stoke were winless in six, listing in midtable and having scored a paltry nine goals since December. Perhaps a trip to a struggling Championship side would help a few of the players rediscover their footballing talents? The early signs seemed positive, Reed leading from the front with his pressing to let Stoke know they were facing a different beast to the regular inhabitants of the second tier. An early dispossession induced by his aggression led to the first chance of the game, Iwobi taking a cleared Kevin cross and bending an effort moderately over the bar.

It was clear we were going to hold the majority of the possession quite quickly. Stoke’s 4-2-3-1 often became a back five, Thomas becoming a de-facto wing-back to support Phillips with Kevin and Robinson bombing down his flank and creating nice interplay. We’re quite used to games turning into this, and for the first part of the half seemed comfortable patiently waiting for the right moment to split Stoke open. It was quite nice in places - Bobb’s arrival has introduced yet another delightful footballer, replete with Guardiola tuition, to the team, and the passing sequences on the right let us move fluidly into Stoke’s final third. A different referee might have deemed Muniz being pulled down in the box by Phillips following Castagne’s cross to him sanctionable - instead it only yielded an off-kilter header from the Brazilian that, through Iwobi, led to Reed smacking a shot over the bar. Our striker wasn’t generating the power he needed - a deep header from a Kevin cross and an acrobatic volley following Reed’s burst into the box looped comfortably for Simkin to catch.

All the while, our hosts were watching, waiting for their own time to strike. Their physical gameplan meant they weren’t afraid to take our players on, stealing seemingly safe possession and funnelling the ball quickly forward to their wingers Cisse and Thomas. This energy gave our pedestrian tendencies problems, stealing the ball following needless mistakes and throwing themselves into dangerous positions. We should have learnt from the earliest chances - cheap free kicks were won and put into the box by Rigo, producing a narrow miscue for Phillips in a crowded box and a powerful low strike from Thomas that required kicking away by Lecomte.

Not for the first time, the warnings were not heeded. We’d been ponderous and lethargic from many of the corners won in the game, sticking to our usual “two men at the flag” routine and pumping sterile balls into the box. From one, Stoke saw our depleted defence and struck, moving the ball swiftly through their team to reach the attackers. A quick pass under pressure from Phillips found Rigo, who had the space and the vision to spot Cisse’s burst along the left wing. With Castagne having surged out of position, he had the freedom to sail into our final third, slowing to move the ball into the path of Bae Jun-Ho. A touch, and then a bounce, and the ball was pummelled into the net beyond Lecomte’s dive, opening the scoring. It was a horrible set of defensive mistakes - Castagne extinguished from the action, Reed unable to get close to the incoming Bae, Cuenca waiting to see what the forward did rather than closing the chasm available to him in the box. Once again, a good start had been compromised by our own actions.

Unsurprisingly we took the game to the hosts immediately, trying to throw our energy and passing together to obtain an immediate response. It wasn’t poor football either - it’s clear the team had an idea of how to get into the box, and had the passing to take much of Stoke’s team out of the game. But with Seko and Rigo stepping into the backline intermittently, Thomas supporting Phillips so consistently as a wing-back and the general buzz of being a goal up against a Premier League bestowing a tenacity onto Stoke’s conduct in the tackle, Fulham needed to be sharper than what they managed in the critical goal-scoring department.

Iwobi had a golden opportunity to equalise, having set up a move along the left with Robinson and Kevin’s intelligent, swift movement, but upon running onto Kevin’s dinked cross headed his effort painfully wide from a close distance. Bobb, King and Castagne worked nicely with a series of passes, reaching the edge of the box, only for Kevin to send his resulting shot flying into orbit. Perhaps most painfully, a rare moment where Stoke lost the ball and didn’t have time to block off our sight of goal saw Kevin latch onto a through ball, speed into the box… and stab his shot too low and central, allowing Simkin to repel the effort with his arm. We ended the half goalless and 45 minutes away from a premature cup exit.

Second Half

Stoke found themselves leading, but had a tricky half of football to navigate knowing they’d be up against Fulham’s pressure in possession. There are many ways to approach such a situation, albeit some more difficult as an under-resourced Championship side, but the back five they’d leant into in the first half became adopted as gospel, Thomas affixed to the RWB position to allow Phillips a more permanent role to Talovierov’s right. Given our early energy, Robinson and Kevin wasting no time from the kick off to fire crosses into the box for the centre-backs to clear, and shortly afterwards Bobb cutting inside from the right and only being denied a goal by a well-timed block, you could understand why such a change was made - but it meant Stoke had less relief for our pressure than they had in the first half, and were seldom seen outside their half.

Then, the game-changing sequence. Stoke’s back five drew the centre of gravity into their half, and our players took up residence around it. Yet us losing possession invited danger, and sharp pressing from Rigo demonstrated this; winning it off a flimsy Iwobi, he knocked it quickly forward to Cisse, bursting into life. The winger made it all the way to our goal, cutting inside with our midfield trailing far behind him, and curled a shot towards the far post; Kecomte did brilliantly to glance the ball away from the target.

But the resulting corner, Stoke’s first opportunity to attack, moved their pieces out of the structure they had settled into. Once it had been dealt with, we had the extra space to get ourselves into scoring position, moving the ball through the team to find Kevin, sneaking down the wing. Thomas made his way back but Kevin was not deterred - the panicked wing-back is but a body to get around. He wriggled into the box, spriniging away from Thomas and playing the ball to Muniz - though Wilmot got his foot in the way, the Brazilian read the situation quicker than a snoozing Rigo, and latched onto the loose ball to take a strike at goal, too low, angled and powerful to be stopped by Simkin. 1-1 - at last, we had our goal.

We had Stoke confined to their final third for much of the play now. The passes accumulated into the hundreds, Robinson taking up home in attack, Iwobi and Reed spreading the play nicely and forcing us into corners the only way for Stoke to defuse the danger. Yet these set-pieces still caused us grief - not least because more accurate crosses would have yielded a chance beyond the defender simply kicking it out! Again, the pace on the counter proved a worry - Cisse and Bocat enjoyed running at the space Castagne couldn’t cover, and supplying teammates with opportunities once in our half. Rigo’s long-range effort flew narrowly wide of the left post, and Thomas will wonder how his missed a deep cross from Bocat from an open position.

Slowly the tide started to turn. King’s guile was proving a brilliant combination with Bobb’s dribbling, and the pair made inroads along Bocat’s flank. Bobb’s dribble against Cisse and Seko let him find King, who worked himself away from Talovierov and fired a shot at goal. Simkin did well to push the shot away, and was rewarded with Iwobi pumping his own long-range effort wide of the goal. A similar move saw Wilmot have to step across to block a goal-bound shot, mixed amongst wave after wave of overlaps and crosses for the team to deal with. It kept them frantic and conservative - even the counter-attacks, supplied by the ever-rapid Cisse, were becoming more errant and isolated, one late run matched by the equally speedy Robinson.

The game truly turned with the arrival of the substitutes. This is often the way - Fulham, a Premier League side, have the luxury of introducing established top-flight players like Smith Rowe and Jimenez, just to add a little extra energy to the closing stage of the game. Stoke, whilst bringing on the sprightly Rak-Sakyi, removed Rigo, a key piece in Stoke’s parity thus far, for Pearson. Not poor players by any means, but it is hard for new personnel to capture the energy of the game in changing circumstances, and we took advantage. A lull in the game was turned on its head when Fulham turned up the pressing, and a bit of aimless passing between Wilmot and Simkin was met with Smith Rowe bearing down on the duo. The keeper moved the ball to Seko, but Reed smothered it, his interception taking the ball towards the box. He surged onto it, no one able to block its trajectory, and with a single touch slotted the ball under the hapless keeper to finally give Fulham the lead. A fine moment for the captain on the day.

It wasn’t over though - Silva read the room, and had Wilson and Berge enter the action to see out the rest of the game. This was crucial - gifted winger Manhoef, former Premier League mainstay Cresswell and World Cup winner Steven N’Zonzi had all entered the pitch, and turned the situation on its head. Stoke had the ball, and were moving it around quickly to try and force themselves back into the game; we were hoping for a quick escape, and had Kevin burrowing into Stoke territory on the break to try and alleviate the situation. Though we made it to the finish line, and didn’t need Lecomte to make any critical saves, the danger was there, as the tired legs of Castagne and Robinson were put to the test by the nippy widemen thrown on by the hosts. Cuenca and Diop can take some plaudits for their acumen in this critical moment - we survived the last onslaught and made it to the 5th round of the Cup.

Reed between the lines…

Fulham won, and ultimately that’s all you need to do in the cup - particularly when the team has injuries and fatigue and all the other tribulations that have occurred this season. I think we shouldn’t underestimate getting through these games - we’ve had plenty of years where we’ve done absolutely nothing in the cup competitions, and whilst there’s every chance we’ll go out in the next round these moments help keep our season alive, particularly whilst our league form takes a nosedive. The players clearly care, as evidenced by the scenes when Reed scored the winner, and compared to the doldrum football being played at other top-flight teams I don’t think that’s an intolerable situation.

There were plenty of positives today, too. Kevin is growing in confidence, forcing Stoke to shove their winger into a back five for the majority of the game, and his goal was the highlight of a productive, dangerous game. Whilst he ought to have scored his one-on-one just before half-time, he supplied numerous killer balls into the box and had a brilliant rapport with Robinson along the left. This is the player we got excited about months ago, and long may this MOTM form continue. Bobb has taken to his new setting quickly and was decent cruising down the right, too - it won’t be long until he strikes his first goal on current evidence. He had the bonds with King, which is also encouraging - as it is seeing our starlet on the pitch again. The confidence he has on the ball, the quality his touches provide in each attack, and the vision and intelligence contained in such a young mind make him a brilliant asset for Silva to deploy, in many a situation. Muniz can be excused for a slightly wasteful set of shots - he was good in the build-up play and it is just nice to see him have a near-full game today.

Further back we have a conundrum - what should our pairing be in games like this? Reed, the captain for the day, was aggressive and positive, putting himself everywhere on the pitch. This energy led directly to our goal, as he had the foresight to press Seko and it gave him the opportunity. But he is also a touch slower than the others playing in the same position, wasn’t quite as impenetrable as a DM needs to be and critically can’t influence the game enough at transitive moments, as demonstrated painfully for the goal. He was stronger than his counterpart though; Iwobi was okay on the ball, interspersed amongst many a series of passes and helping gel the midfield, but his radar was wayward in a few moments today, be it missing his close-range header in the first half or at one point putting a cross straight into the sidenetting from a good position. A mix of fatigue and not-really-being-a-DM continue to hinder his performances, but I don’t see an easy solution with Lukic and Cairney both out of action.

Perhaps it needs to come from the defence? Cuenca and Diop are both very good at the defensive side of their tasks, but you feel the reason Bassey and Andersen are preferred lies in the ease at which they pass and move with the ball, making it easier for the midfield to operate without being as porous. Diop doesn’t have the speed, and Cuenca lacks the directness, placing more weight on Iwobi and Reed to maintain the structure - as we saw today, the two don’t quite have the same connection as others that have been tried there, and got exposed when Stoke had attacking moments. That said, I do feel the team improved defensively as the game went on, with some great moments for the backline in tight spots towards the end - with the exception of Castagne, who once again didn’t have control of the events happening down his flank and kept leaving opportunities in the matchplay for Cisse (and for what? A cross cleared out for the 5000th corner of the match). The gulf between him and Tete has seldom been wider.

Subjugated Stoke?

It’s always important to praise the opposition for what they do right - Stoke were decent today, keeping us from a lead until the very end of the match, and I don’t think it can solely be put down to us wasting chances. Simkin had a good game between the sticks, the centre-backs were very physical and imposing in the box, giving Muniz a rather dry game, Bocat was dynamic and dangerous all game from the left and the energy of Cisse produced numerous scares throughout the match, including the creation of their goal. The substitutes looked lively as well - I don’t think it will be long before our hosts find their long-awaited win in the Championship.

However, the team are not attacking enough, and were far too quick to take their foot off the pedal when in a decent position. I don’t like how easily teams switch into back-fives - whilst it helped alleviate some of the pressure, it also pinned the team in, and meant we were able to switch the play over to our right, not receiving the extra support Phillips had at right-back, and thus more susceptible. With an attacking player removed it increased the isolation of Bae and Smit, who didn’t have the speed Cisse enjoyed and couldn’t make much of an impact in the second half. In fact, I don’t recall Smit even touching the ball more than once or twice in the whole game…

Still, we are a division above Stoke for a reason - and long may it continue! Given the disquiet about Silva’s long-term future at the club there is a large part of my mind that thinks only of the positives of the day, that we should enjoy comeback victories to get us through the FA Cup, that we should be pleased that the team smile and celebrate together and aren’t staring down the barrel of what the Wolves, Burnleys, even West Hams and Nottingham Forests have at the moment. Sunderland will be a tricky ordeal next weekend, and the team have work to do before then, but let’s take a minute to smell the roses.