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Match Ratings Ratings vs Fulham

MOTM

  • Lloris

    Votes: 8 2.5%
  • Sanchez

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Toby

    Votes: 17 5.2%
  • Verts

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Trippier

    Votes: 50 15.4%
  • Davies

    Votes: 2 0.6%
  • Dier

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Eriksen

    Votes: 2 0.6%
  • Dele

    Votes: 23 7.1%
  • Lucas

    Votes: 172 53.1%
  • Kane

    Votes: 2 0.6%
  • Dembele

    Votes: 12 3.7%
  • Lamela

    Votes: 10 3.1%
  • Winks

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Poch

    Votes: 22 6.8%
  • Undecided

    Votes: 4 1.2%

  • Total voters
    324

Bulletspur

The Reasonable Advocate
Match Thread Admin
Oct 17, 2006
10,690
25,246
Lloris and back 3 - 6.5
Trippier - 8.5
Davies - 6.5
Dier - 7
Eriksen - 8
Alli - 7
Kane - 7.5
Lucas - 7.5


Thought Lamela was really good as a sub. I was impressed with Eriksen, Trippier, and Lucas.
With the greatest of respect you are giving Eriksen a higher rating than Moura? Really? How much would you have given him if he (Eriksen) had played well?
 

Hakkz

Svensk hetsporre
Jul 6, 2012
8,196
17,270
Not sure what I am doing in this thread without a comment by BC :unsure:

Voted Trippier. Not sure we would have cracked them without his freekick. And somevery active display in the beginning.

Dele, Moura, Lamela and Dembele also with bright distributions

Bumble bumble! Dele was bumbling the most, but Dier was a turtle in a windsock. Cockwomble Aurier on the bench and Tripper clear MotM closely followed by Filip Lesniak.
 

Dannyspur

I just don't know anymore!
Aug 17, 2004
10,127
13,799
Just got back from the game - Moura ran his socks off today - my MOTM. Great that Poch saw how we were being out played in the middle and not holding the ball when Fulham's tails were up, so the early-ish sub bringing on Moussa was a really welcome. Then adding Lamela to speed things up again was an excellent choice when he could have chosen you-know-who :(. For once the subs made a great impact and weren't left until the 80th minute. We could/should have had more goals and if the Fulham hadn't hit the post and shot wide with two great chances we could be really miserable tonight. Trips crossing from the many attempts looked poor, but to be fair nobody ever attacked the front post. He took his goal spectacularly as did Moura and Harry's finish was class too. The one player who disappointed today was Eriksen, I think he was just trying not to justify his valuation so he can stay for the glory days ;). Really should have got back for their goal and shied away from challenges passing was not up to his usual standard. Corners were down to his usual standard. The 'was Dele good' discussion will rage on, he had an good game but sometimes he does take the sting out of our attacks when he acts all casual and sometimes overdoes the 'clever' flicks. Hugo saved well on a few occasions. Overall an OK team performance considering early season fitness and bedding in of our new …. oops... lets just say considering early season fitness.
 

Lighty64

I believe
Aug 24, 2010
10,400
12,476
The match I watched Dele got into good positions and his end product was poor/wasteful.
He does things better when he does them quickly rather than piss about on the ball and slow things down.
Shooting today was poor from some very good chances.

you say end product, and his contribution, yet winning a free kick that puts us in front was contributing. yes he does slow it down at times, but those are the times his passes don't go astray.
 

Trippier the RB fantastic

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2017
223
788
Lloris - 8
Toby - 7
Sanchez - 6.5
Vertonghen - 6
Trippier - 6.5
Davies - 5
Dier - 6
Eriksen - 6
Dele - 6.5
Lucas - 8
Kane - 7

Subs - Dembele - 8
Lamela - 7.5

Poch - 9
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,513
This was quite a strange game.

Overall I thought Fulham were a fairly piss poor outfit, particularly without the ball, and looked exactly what they are - largely a new squad of players who need to gel. As I say, without the ball they were didn't offer much resolve, any half decent team would surely put them to the sword pretty comfortably..... And so going on the final score, and knowing we should have scored more goals than that, you'd think this was pretty routine and dominant. However the game I watched was a bit different.

I got quite a bit of stick at HT for saying I didn't like the first half and what we were doing, and I stick by that. Did we have a bit of bluster, and create some chances, yes. We eventually broke the deadlock just before the break, to great relief, but I never thought the game was done. I was concerned about what I saw in several facets of the play, and didn't think it was a game we had great control over.

The main problem for me was the selection and formation. I'm not sure what the idea was, but I cant believe that was how Poch envisaged it. Today we got what I assume was meant to be 3-5-2, but even first half I saw a lot not to like about it. With the ball I didn't think it helped our build up play, and I thought Eriksen and Alli were too deep too often and taken away from goal doing jobs others should be doing. Without the ball I thought large spells of it was horrendous, quite frankly. Fulham seemed to be able to advance up field with ease every time they got the ball, and our pressing and shape was really poor. We often fell back into a back five, with it being a case of lots of people in the vicinity but no one taking charge, and our midfield three was often too narrow, and bypassed with ease. I'm sure some will think I'm picking on them by giving them a 2nd mention, but Alli and Eriksen weren't diligent enough with this part of the game today (which they have to be if selected in CM), the system showed this up more, and Dier just struggled to cope with the additional workload. We also had a couple of occasions where we really rode our luck.

This all culminated at the start of the second half, Fulham obviously used the break to work out how to try and target us, and seemed to use the flanks a bit more and target our narrow midfield as we got pinned back and struggled to get a foothold in the half. And the equaliser then came..... I can only repeat myself, I don't think this was us switching off, or out of the blue, for me there were problems with the system, and at 1-1 it was now misfiring quite badly.

I thought the change (both in personnel and more importantly system) Poch made was absolutely fucking obvious to make, but credit to him - he made it fairly decisively (by his standards) with plenty of time remaining and it really changed the balance of the game and wrestled some momentum back. We took a redundant player out of the backline, had better coverage across the pitch, and 4-2-3-1 straightaway seemed to outnumber and win the midfield battle and gave us more options to play forward. On top of that both the Dembele and Lamela subs individually gave us fresh legs and impetus. A great freekick from Trippier put us back in front after a better spell, and then we just totally ran riot and could/should have added another three goals quite probably on top of the one Kane sealed the win with.

Two wins on the board, and that is the main thing. As I said after the previous game, these early weeks are about getting up to speed (especially after the world cup), putting points on the board, and staying in contention at the top of the league. However personally I don't think the starting formation worked too well, 3-5-2/5-3-2 is more of a sit deep/counter attack tactic in my opinion, and I'd rather Poch sticks with alternatives.


Lloris - Couple of decent stops when called upon.

Alderweireld - Probably the most reliable of the back three today, still had a couple of moments where he was caught out. As with last year, still think he's carrying a bit too much timber.....

Sanchez - Thought he was a little too erratic today, and for the second week in a row he has lost his marker and the end result been a goal conceded.

Vertonghen - Got caught out quite badly a few times today and not always at his best. With a back three I was looking forward to him in attack mode, but it didn't happen (more on that shortly...).

Trippier - Didn't think he defended so well, often made poor choices/decisions... However he paid that back. There were a few clever little passes, in particular for the opening goal, and he curled in another great freekick to put us back in front.

Davies - There were a couple of his random surprise bursts forward where he got involved well, but on the whole I'd like to see more involvement/threat from our left flank, and defensively didn't really offer much security and I thought his positioning was really suspect at times.

Dier - I think the effort was there, but didn't really offer too much in the way of protection and Fulham often were able to play through our midfield. Not helped by having to do a lot of it on his own.

Eriksen - For large parts of the game thought he was a bit off it, and if he is playing in one of the central midfield positions, even in a three, he simply cant have one of those 'powderpuff' half hearted games where he lacks a bit of effort when we don't have the ball. Too often today he didn't do enough in this aspect.

Alli - The start was alright, he was enjoying himself more towards the end when he had less responsibility and playing a bit more advanced..... Didn't like a lot of what I saw in the middle. I don't think he's a central midfielder, a lot of what he did dropping deep might have looked 'composed' or 'mature' but I thought could have been left to players stepping out from the back, and other times he was nowhere to be seen as an option. Also, like Eriksen, felt he wasn't so diligent with his defensive responsibilities. Much prefer him playing in advanced positions, making use of his best attributes.

Moura - Missed a couple of chances, but opened the scoring with a lovely strike, and after that absolutely worked his bollocks off and pressed and harried throughout and led by example.

Kane - This was better. More involved, scored, had other chances and probably should have had more, still think he could be doing a bit more dirty work for the cause..... Witness Moura's contribution to the pressing and defensive work, and compare........ But this was a step in the right direction, more to come though.

Subs:

Dembele - Decent cameo, added presence to midfield, and a change that was badly needed.

Lamela - Was also a decent cameo. Involved for the third goal and aided our possession play as we finished strongly. Probably should have even grabbed a goal or two himself.

Winks - Good to see him back.
 

spids

Well-Known Member
Jul 19, 2015
6,647
27,841
Lloris 8
Trippier 8.5
Toby 7
Sanchez 7
Verts 7
Davies 6
Dier 6
Dele 7.5
Eriksen 7.5
Moura 8.5
Kane 7

Dembele 8
Lamela 8

Trippier my MOTM - constantly got behind them, scored a fabulous goal, hardly put a put wrong.

Moura ran him close, but missed two easy chances early on, so Trippier gets it.

Special mention for Dembele who literally changed the whole game when he came on. Lamela also made an impact, and Pochettino showed that he can make changes with strength in depth!
 

wrd

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2014
13,603
58,005
LLoris 7 - Did everything he had too without needing to be spectacular
Trippier 6.5 - Great goal but crossing wasn't on point today
Toby 7 - Solid and great passing, added a new dimension as most of us knew he would
Sanchez 6.5 - Solid without needing to do anything special
Vert 6.5 - Same as Sanchez
Davies 5.5 - Poor for their goal and they had 3 attacks through his side of the pitch, think he's been poor first two games
Dier 6.5 - Solid without needing to do too much
Eriksen 6 - Started well but fluffed his lines more often than we are used to
Dele 7.5 - first 25 minutes were superb and he added some great passes to his game, probably could have scored
Moura 8.5 - MOTM, missed two easy chances but once he scored his dribbling and work rate was superb.
Kane 7 - Great passing, still unfit and missed two chances but took his goal well

Subs

Dembele 8 - awesome and changed they game, made us extremely solid.
Lamela 7.5 - Only isn't higher as he didn't have as much time as Mousa but was great and showed how good he can be centrally.
Winks - No time but great to see him back
 

Marty

Audere est farce
Mar 10, 2005
39,885
62,562
I think some of this is not understanding what Dele had to do in this game, and why. He's one of the few players we have, or anyone else has, that are both very offensively and defensively aware.

I'd be interested to see a positional map of his game today, because he had to support Dier in CM at times, chase back for defensive duties when needed in our defensive third, take on CM/AM duties at different times, link our attacking play from midfield to our forwards, and also be a forward threat himself!

First half especially, I thought both Kane and Eriksen were way off their game. I thought Trips was good positionally, but poor with his distribution, which is where we had most of of our attacking opportunities. All of this affects Alli's game, and he had a better game than each of those three.
Here's your Dele heat and touch maps. You can see he was a lot deeper than we're used to seeing him.

Screenshot_20180818-221804_Chrome.jpg Screenshot_20180818-221852_Chrome.jpg

I voted Hugo MOTM for his vital contributions, but Dele, Lucas or even Dembele who totally changed the game when he came on would all have been worthy. Could also have voted Poch for actually changing a game with his subs and tactics which is a welcome addition to his armoury.
 

Nebby

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2013
3,363
6,377
Trippier for me. Lots of other good performances.

Eriksen needs to toughen up. Poor for their goal.
 

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
What I liked:

The formation, I think that it’s a good format to get the best out of several players and I’ve longed for that midfield trio for about a year. Best part about it, it’s fluidity made the ultimately successful change more of a seamless tweak than a wholesale reshuffle, like one simple turn of a Rubik’s cube changed the pattern from being almost right, to absolutely right,

Dembele off the bench. I actually think this might be the best use for him now. Not winning? Bring on Dembele to give you more control. Winning but only just? Bring on Dembele to give you more control. Imagine being a tired opposition midfielder and seeing a fresh Dembele come on at the 60 minute mark? Another beautiful thing about him, he can come on for any player on the pitch barring the full backs and slot into any of the three midfield positions.

The overall strength of the bench. Lamela, Winks, Dembele, Rose, Aurier, even Sissoko? And that’s without Wanyama, Son and even Llorente.

Pochettino making great subs at the right time. Dembele gave us control, Lamela gave us cutting edge, and he brought them on at the right time in the right order, changing the formation and turning a game that we controlled into a game that we dominated. You might ask why we didn’t start them, but I’d answer that they were more effective as impact players.

Kane having a good all round game and scoring a composed finished.

Moura using his energy and pace very well throughout and scoring a beauty.

Dele looking very good from deep.

Two dangerous looking wing backs with a great free kick from Trippier.

Some great goalkeeping from Lloris.

Pochettino and Alderweireld seemingly continuing to restore their relationship.

What I didn’t like:

Vertonghen and Eriksen both looking off the pace and a bit sloppy.

Both wing backs tucking in with the centre backs too often.
Half a dozen great chances wasted.


Individual:

Lloris came off the line beautifully to deny Sessegnon. Goal wasn’t his fault. Generally commanding.

Alderweireld passing enhanced our play, defensively he was pretty calm and he covered Trippier well.

Sanchez was indecisive on a few occasions and didn’t make the most of his pace enough. Mitrovic bullied him.

Vertonghen had his worst game for a while, lost Sessegnon a few times (rescued once by Hugo) and didn’t deal with things confidently.

Trippier scores a great free kick and scrapped well defensively a few times. Also a great outlet down the right and linked well with Eriksen. Seemed to be woefully out of position when they crossed to score and on a few other occasions.

Dier seemed bypassed, which surprised me. This role and system should have given him simple parameters to follow, but he seemed unsure whether to drop in with Sanchez or push on with the Dele/ Eriksen pivot. Needs more time there.

Eriksen was sluggish by his standards, did a pathetic job of closing down the cross for the equaliser and didn’t manage to open things up with his usual finesse. That said, he still saw tonnes of the ball and always tried to make something happen, it’s just that today he was more Malbranque than Modric.

Dele did well, I like him as the spare man in the midfield three. He saw lots of the ball, worked hard off it and most encouragingly he managed to contribute all over the pitch but still kept finding himself in dangerous positions too, albeit today he was wasteful.

Davies I though played well on the whole, but did leave Vertonghen a bit exposed. God forward well, played near Fulham’s third mostly and found space well.

Moura was very good, with and without the ball. Yes, most of his dribbles ended without a direct chance being created, but they put Fulham on the back foot constantly. One bad touch in the build up to Harry’s disallowed goal is the only negative I remember, and he made up for it with a lovely goal. Great outlet throughout, fought for possession and many lovely bits of skill. Best game for us.

Kane was my man of the match. One wrongly disallowed goal because goalkeepers get mollycoddled on 50/50s, one beautifully taken finish and lots of brilliant hold up play, sensational passes and lead from the front. Best match in a while,

Dembele came on and bullied, well, all of Fulham.

Lamela came on and his charge and through ball were the moment of the match. I love a great counter attack cutting a team open. Several other nice moments too and could’ve scored.

Winks came on, I hope he is fit now.
 

ItsBoris

Well-Known Member
Jan 18, 2011
7,467
8,604
With the greatest of respect you are giving Eriksen a higher rating than Moura? Really? How much would you have given him if he (Eriksen) had played well?

In fairness I was watching the game at 7am here so wasn't entirely with it yet, but I thought Eriksen dictated our play really well in a role that's different from what he's used to playing, so that's why I gave him the high score. Seemed like everything went through him. I did say Lucas was also impressive but it was mostly after his goal. Before his goal I thought he was just ok.
 

Yid

Well Endowed Member
Jul 5, 2013
1,254
1,366
Poch brilliant match management today - Legend!

Lucas is my MOTM - grear work rate off the ball, excellent dribbling/blowing past defenders, world class finish to open up the score...break out season ahead, provided he improves positional play in final third and stays fit;

Hugo and Trips - both very close, second place...Hugo couple of critical saves, while Trips kept bombing forward up the right flank, threatening, and capitalizing on dead ball opportunity with a world class free kick;
Kane and Dele - both very solid, third tier today, Kane with a nifty finish to seal the lead, but most importantly to silence all the haters;

Back 3 - very glad to see Toby ( a bit rusty, but good)...Jan solid as always...Sanchez struggled a bit man marking Mitrovic, Otherwise pretty good;

Eriksen - looked a bit out of sorts, but he'll come around.

Dier - Aside from the beautiful crossing pass, he was alright.

Subs - Mousa coming on for Sanchez was very timely and introduced instant order to all aspects of our game, from posession to attack, which immediately improved. Perpetual Dembele haters , can spin on this :finger:
Lamela for Dier - sealed the deal...Coco blowing by 4 defensemen, and providing for Harry's finish took the cake.

COYMFS!!!!!!
 

doctor stefan Freud

the tired tread of sad biology
Sep 2, 2013
15,170
72,169
No idea where to put this but I’m watching MOTD and Mark Hughes is such a whiny twat, blaming the ref frequently yet not really able to accept he’s a shit manager riding his luck with yet another drooping club.
Thank you
 

Snarfalicious

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2012
15,709
71,935
Moura's my MOTM. On a different day, he has a hat trick, but despite his missed chances, he was just so relentless in his pressing until the final minute. I was thinking around the 60th minute he had to be about out of gas but he kept pushing. That's the type of performance that will endear him to many fans and I'm sure Poch. Really, really fun to watch him try to win every loose pass in his vicinity and he created a lot of uncomfortable moments for Fulham.
 
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