I’ve spent most of my time since the final whistle putting off writing this article. I can’t remember the last time Craven Cottage felt like it did yesterday; it was vitriolic, I think largely driven by the fear of what the result could mean.
We’re already witnessing in-fighting, scapegoating, doom mongering, and we’re still on daylight savings.
There was some magnificent football played by Fulham yesterday but the only way I can describe the goals that we conceded, is that they’re the type of goals that show up on highlight reels explaining why a team got relegated. I don’t think it’s unfixable, but it has to change quickly.
Bernd Leno
After an incredibly concerning start to the season from Bernd it seemed like he may have started to turn a corner. A couple of important interventions in the first half, including diving at the feet of an onrushing forward, exactly how he should have done against Sunderland.
However, his angles look all wrong for Tyrick Mitchell’s first goal and he’s totally lost for the Palace winner.
I feel for Leno because I can’t imagine he’s ever felt so exposed by his defence, but we saw the value today in having a top level shot-stopper in your side; Dean Henderson pulled off a number of impressive saves and highlighted how not signing a new number one this summer was a huge oversight. 3.5/10
Timothy Castagne
When we’re in possession, Castagne looks like he’s having a lot of fun playing in this side. He linked up really nicely, sometimes going on the overlap, sometimes on the underlap.
That’s all well and good, but when the opposition’s left-wing backs manage to score three, it highlights something glaringly wrong. It’s a really rash decision to step up for the first goal and the space that Palace were able to exploit all game is why they took home three points.
It’s so difficult to evaluate because he’s clearly being told to be aggressive with its positioning, so just like I said after the Chelsea game - is it his fault, or Arbeloa’s? 4/10
Joachim Andersen
Last week I wrote that we cannot play this style of football with an articulated lorry at centre-back. However, during the week Arbeloa informed us that the brain is the most important footballing muscle and that not being quick can be offset by intelligence. Thus, I can only conclude that Joachim Andersen is not just slow, but thick as well.
Admittedly, that’s incredibly harsh, but it’s nearly midnight and I’m stewing. There were a couple of vital last ditch tackles from Joa and that’s where he excels; he is a centre-back who can defend the box and we are simply asking him to do something that he cannot do. Not only that, but because his right-back is given right to roam, he doesn’t get the additional support that any central defender needs.
He doesn’t do terribly for the first goal, I would like him to stop the shot altogether ideally, but I think he expects his keeper to deal with it. The second and third goals he just doesn’t have the recovery pace to make a decisive impact when running back to his own goal.
Either the system has to change at Anfield next week, or David Affengruber is going to have to make his debut, because this just isn’t working. 3.5/10
Calvin Bassey
Lots of positive moments from Calvin once again, especially when driving us forward in possession.
However, I think he sometimes needs to suppress his desire to win the ball back constantly. For the third Palace goal, he’s by no means the player most at fault, but he does have a habit of jumping out of the backline and getting drawn towards the ball, leaving space in behind.
Other than that, despite our seven goals conceded, I’m still looking at CB as one our brightest performers. 6/10
Antonee Robinson
The way he allows Khalaili to run off him for the winner is really, really poor from such an experienced player.
Zero completed crosses also tells an unfortunately familiar story.
I had hoped he’d thrive in this wing-back oriented system but he hasn’t yet developed a relationship with Palacios down that flank, and no matter how quick he is, just like Castagne, he’s too far upfield to do anything about the counterattacks at times. 4/10
Shea Charles
I think he made that number six role his own today. I thought he looked really composed, always offering for the ball, and read the game well. His interception that led to the first goal and drive forward showed great anticipation but also ambition.
It wasn’t flawless by any means, particularly considering he was caught in possession in dangers areas on a couple of occasions, but he looks every bit a Premier League player to me. 7/10
Alex Iwobi
It’s going to hurt writing this. To be honest, I actually thought he played alright up until the point that he lost possession at 2-1 which directly led to the Palace equaliser.
From then on, confidence looked like it dipped, energy levels looked low, and it felt like everything he tried went wrong. To everyone calling him lazy, or saying that he doesn’t try, only Josh King has run further than Iwobi so far this season; explain that one.
Despite all of this, today was Alex Iwobi’s 100th appearance for Fulham in the Premier League, something that not many people can say they have. Across those 100 matches, he has 18 goals and 11 assists; goal contributions that are only bettered by Harry Wilson and Raul Jimenez since he joined. Therefore, the reaction from some fans today was a disgrace, and incredibly worrying to see after just three league games. Not that he’ll read this, but I would like Alex to know that it’s a minority of fans who don’t appreciate what he’s done for the club, they’re just unfortunately the loudest voices at times. 4.5/10
Josh King
Let’s talk about nice things for a bit. Josh King was once again the best footballer on a Premier League pitch.
His movement for his goal is delightful, drifting across the box before finally pulling the trigger. He gets a bit lucky with the deflection but he earned it. The work he does for our second is even better, selling a beautiful dummy to Chris Richards and then just breezing away from him (he looks like he’s got quicker over the summer).
Perhaps his most incredible moment was down on the right wing where he inexplicably managed to dribble his way past three Palace defenders before putting a ball into the box.
The key here is that those three separate moments happened in three different parts of the pitch; left, middle, right. He’s been given the freedom to drift around and impact the game as much as possible and is quite frankly the best thing about Fulham at the moment. He’s an absolute star.
My only concern is the amount of reliance being placed on him and both the physical and mental demands. Once again he looked exhausted with 15 minutes to go, and to hear boos at the final whistle when you’re trying your all for your club must be really tough. 9/10 - Man of the match
Oscar Bobb
A game in which I thought there were some brighter sparks. He linked up well with Castagne and unsettled Palace with some quick footwork. He created four chances, more than anyone else and nearly scored a contender for goal of the season when he jinked his way into the box.
However, it once again broke down at the decisive moment. A shot straight at the keeper, and pass that was delayed for slightly too long. It’s not bad, it’s just not as impactful as we need him to be; he’d do well to look at the decisiveness that Josh King displays in the final third. With Harry Wilson gone, Bobb needs to start contributing goals and assists. 5.5/10
Cesar Palacios
Really pleased for him that he got his goal. I didn’t think he should’ve started but particularly in the first half I thought he looked lively and you can see the energy that he provides out of possession.
He sniffs out the opportunity well for his goal, a smart, late run into the box, gambling on the fact the ball might break for him. Hopefully that’s a lovely confidence booster for him.
A couple of occasions where he was guilty of taking that extra touch before shooting, but he’ll learn that in this division you don’t tend to get afforded that luxury. I still worry about him being physically bullied in the Premier League, but overall it was a positive contribution. 6.5/10
Gonzalo Garcia
I’m going to start with the bad. I still cannot work out how manages to kick the air and not ball when attempting his goal-line clearance. I’ve watched it over and over again and I just cannot understand it. I appreciate the effort and desire that he shows, but that is one of the worst goals I have ever seen Fulham concede.
Onto the good. I like seeing us with a different profile of striker. His intense pressing and speed to runs into the channels, behind a defence just offer a different threat. Thought he was unlucky not to score on a couple of occasions but overall I think he’s showing promise.
However, he needs to get stronger. Too often he’s shrugged off by defenders in duels and he struggles the make the ball stick up top. That is going to need to improve, but is part and parcel of signing players from abroad and dropping them into this league full of physical monsters. 6/10
Substitutes and Manager
Sander Berge
An incredibly beige appearance of the bench I thought. Slowed things down too much when we were chasing the game, and continues to refuse to shoot. However, I think I saw the shoots of a midfield combination that will work for Fulham. When paired with Shea Charles, our balance looked a bit better, we controlled the ball, and I’m certain that should be our midfield pairing at Anfield. 5/10
Honestly, none of the four other subs had enough time on the pitch and were thrown on in such a haphazard way that I don’t feel I can fairly rate them. I thought Ryan Sessegnon continues to look dangerous from left-back and created a couple of decent chances. But other than that, it was far too chaotic to judge anyone who came on fairly.
Alvaro Arbeloa
If Alvaro is going to make it as a top-flight manager, he’s going to have to start learning quickly.
I appreciate the aggressive, attacking football. There were times yesterday where we played some genuinely exciting, attractive stuff, and created a load of chances as a result. It’s also refreshing to see us pen an opposition team in and press them into submission.
However, this system is currently so naive, so foolhardy, that until something changes, opposition teams will simply pick us off on the counter again and again. You cannot defend like that in the Premier League, you cannot set up to play 90 minutes of football like this in the Premier League.
Where the inexperience really shows through for me is in the game management. To forfeit a lead twice, due to overcommitting players to the attack feels like a fundamental misunderstanding of how unforgiving this league is. It’s why it concerns me when I hear him describe us as unlucky, and that we deserved three points. It concerns me because I completely disagree. It’s all well and good taking 25 shots, Palace only had ten. But out of those ten shots, six of them were defined as big chances. We deserved to concede at least three goals.
We need to get more street-wise, and it’s boring to say it, but we need to forfeit some of our attacking football for a bit more defensive solidity, the balance has to improve.
I’m also finding myself confused at his substitutions. The Sander Berge one made sense, the other four left us with an indeterminable formation and playing random football. It’s undoubtedly an experience issue, so I hope he refines his in-game management.
Perhaps the biggest problem today however are the signs that he’s not only started to already lose some of the fanbase, but some of his own players. Kevin’s not so cryptic instagram story after being an unused substitute spoke volumes of the relationship he has with Arbeloa. Kenny Tete’s interaction with a fan outside Craven Cottage post-game sounds even worse and suggests that Alvaro is not doing a good job of keeping this squad happy. That concerns me greatly.
This isn’t a massive squad; Kevin and Tete are both players who we will need over the course of this season, so for them to already feel so disenfranchised is a worrying sign.
The best thing Arbeloa can do over the next couple of weeks is pluck three points off either Liverpool or United, that will go a long way to quietening some of the noise. However, that’s far easier said than done. 3/10
I noticed something about Castagne’s positioning yesterday, that I can’t quite understand. I sit in the JH towards the putney end, so I didn’t see what happened for the first half goals, but for Palace’s third - there was no one covering the wing at all. Castagne was tucked in to midfield on defense, leaving all that space. No one else was there to cover either. I understand that underlapping fullbacks come inside while attacking, but are they supposed to stay there without possession? Is someone else supposed to cover that space?
That Anderson joke is absolutely fantastic. Well done, Dan