I thought Crouch played really well and so did Bale, we wasn't creating much and when we hit it long to Crouch 9 times out of 10 he won the ball controlled it and did good placed knock-downs, but so many times Pav was way off the mark either too far behind or in no mans land.
He was so poor it was unreal where was the Pav of last week running around and really wanting to 'prove a point' Arry needs to rip the piss out of this guy to make him play again.
Playing Bale at LM made him completely ineffective on Saturday, yes he beat his man a couple of times but never had the same space he has been recently been seeing... Modric in centeral midfield was completely neutralised by their midfield and again we frustrating hit Crouch with the long ball far too often.
Was disappointed by the result as despite all that we were the better team, lets hope we can do them at the Lane.
Palacios was amazing too
He wasn't completely ineffective at all, he beat his man more than a couple of times and if our forwards ever start attacking the space at the near post we'd really start to benefit from his crosses.
The fact was that Fulham defended in numbers and did it very well so there was very little space to be had, ironically against that set up I don't think Hud's presence would have made a great difference as there was no space behind their defence for him to play that lovely pass to Defoe for Pav's goal last week.
We will do them at the lane don't worry.
I think having Modric on the left not only suits Bale, but it suits Pav too. When Modric comes infield, it causes a problem for the right midfielder. Does he follow Modric, or stay out wide? This is not only an area where Bale thrives, but it's also a channel Pav likes to work in aswell. The same could be said for Kranjcar on the left too really.
I thought Modric did a great job in the middle. And Palacios for me was MOTM alongside him. However, it wasn't the ideal game for Modric, certainly not in an attacking sense. Fulham closed the gaps and made it difficult to play through them. They also played 5 in midfield, which was always going to make it difficult for Modric in the middle.
It's a combination i wouldn't mind seeing again. Especially if we have Kranjcar on the left, and Lennon or Bentley on the right. But i think Huddlestone has to be the prefered option in the middle if available.
SP I suppose I did blame the strikers for not attacking the space but that’s something I’ve been saying for a while now, instead of watching to see where the ball goes they should attack the space and make themselves an advantage should it go there, and it often will, Gary Lineker made a career on doing that.
I wouldn’t blame BAE for not overlapping he doesn’t do that and I’m happy with the style of player he is and we have to accept that Fulham did restrict our chances but they set up to do that and would have done so even with Bale at left back.
I guess my position is that I don’t see Bale as an excellent full back or an excellent left winger I just see him as fucking excellent and I haven’t seen a young player at the club with so much ability for decades I really do think he is that good, I just think the potential for what he can achieve is mind blowing and I therefore refuse to label him yet.
I don’t say he should play left wing I just refute the arguments of other people who say he shouldn’t and Saturday’s game certainly didn’t confirm that he shouldn’t by any stretch of the imagination.
I know, and we've already largely agreed on all of this.
Sorry, I kinda made your post the vocal point for all of the various 'Bale the winger' comments, which wasn't really fair. As I have said, above, and elsewhere, I have no objection to him layng as a wniger at necessity; what my problem is is when he isd paying full-back, and Modric is playing on the left and they are linking up superbly, and there is no injury crisis to make Bale on the wing a necessity, and we Krankjar on the bench, and folk are going on about him 'beng a winger' (it has happened - note, not wanting him to 'play o the wing' but actually 'being a winger' and not a full-back). So, I know you aren't really extreme on this at all, and we largely agree - it is just that some obsessive behaviour has created a need in me to refute absolutely that he is a winger, as opposed to a full-back who can also pay on the wing when needed:up: