The Cottage Tactico

If like me you are deeply annoyed that #FULTOT isn’t kicking off in 10 mins or so, fill the void until Sunday afternoon by listening to the @fulhamfocus.bsky.social Preview Pod 👇

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Did part of Fulham’s successful on ball gameplan in the first half of #FULEVE end up exposing a soft spot defensively in the second half? 🤔

More on that and other musings on what went wrong for us in this week’s match thread 👇

Bang on! You can see that in the data here too 👇

Pressed us a touch more. And in doing so turned it over a bit so they could attack an unset defence. Then when we went long they just bullied Raul aerially. Also seemed to spot our weak point down their left. But even then could and should have won or drawn 🤦‍♂️

That lack of pure physical presence means unless we batter teams and score multiple goals we’re always vulnerable. Not least from set pieces

A familiar tale of Leno weakness and not enough effort to protect him cost us and without a shakeup I worry the pattern will repeat 🤦‍♂️

Fulham over successive windows have tried to address a known weakness breaking sides down in settled possession, prioritising technical and creative quality

But it’s come at a cost exacerbated by our starting XI choices here. We lack physicality in a very physical PL 💪

I don’t like criticising players. But I called for three changes to the backline headed into this one. I got just one (Sess) 🤨

For all his on ball responsibility, Andersen needs freakish off ball help either side of him. Tete + Bassey suit that much more than Castagne + Cuenca

I’m generally baffled as to why we suddenly looked so shakey to start the 2nd half and why Marco didn’t make changes to address that earlier

Whilst Everton weren’t outstanding quality wise it’s clear they did up the press to unsettle us with their physicality 📈

Everton started to get real traction down that side (their left) 2nd half. They exposed Andersen for KDH's opener and the requirement for Castagne close to him got them 1v1 vs Wilson on other occassions

I’m astonished we didn’t see Tete on earlier to help lock this down 🔒

But structurally this has a downside. With Wilson often high and Iwobi skewed left there was space for Everton to target with passes in front of Castagne + Andersen down our right

Neither are overwhelmingly athletic or suited to being the point of stress for our backline 😬

Our positive left sided attack in the 1st half fascinated me. Having spoken pre-game about my desire to have Iwobi at LCM, Marco kept him RCM but let him float across to overload in possession when we attacked down the left

On the ball it helped us look hugely dangerous 🇳🇬

A more clinical team would have gone in more than a goal up

We were excellent. Particularly down our left with ESR, Chukwueze and Sess combining well

But we all had a horrible premonition that a combo of bad luck (crossbar), poor finishing, and decent saves would hurt us 🔮

On the balance of play I think we really did deserve more. Fulham totally dominated the 1st half, Everton had the impetus in the 2nd 🤷‍♂️

But there were clear signs of the game drifting away from us after the break that we were simply too slow to address with either subs or tweaks

It’s rare I get rattled by a defeat, but finding a way to lose #FULEVE in the second half was maddening 😤

And it also highlighted a genuine problem for a #FFC side that suddenly for all its technical brightness looks a bit… soft?

Here’s your match analysis 👇

🧵 1/10

My one tactical thing to watch for #FFC in #FULEVE 👀

We’ve finally settled on Alex Iwobi as an 8. And I love it!

But the side of midfield he plays on is a big factor in passing angles available to him

Marco switched Alex RCM to LCM last game. I hope he starts there today!

Start match day the right way by listening to the Fulham Focus Preview Pod 👇

You’ll hear me make the case for a totally unrealistic level of Starting XI surgery in #FULEVE 😅

Doubt Marco goes for it. But what do you think?

🎧: pod.fo/e/389b0c

Hahaha you don’t need to apologise! Just always a joy to be back to talking FFC. And thanks for listening 🙏

A couple of moments in this one genuinely made me laugh out loud 😂

Come for Sam’s news update at the top.

Tolerate my xG deep dive…

And you’ll be rewarded with some gold from Wiggo!

🎧: pod.fo/e/3816d5

Just for clarity - this was phrased to refer to the xG of those goals themselves.

So 8 goals with a cumulative xG value of 0.84. The ‘best’ chance he converted was 0.18. 4 goals were less than 0.1

Wider xG for the season is 3.88. I’m pretty sure he’s still the highest xG overperformer in the PL

📊 Fotmob

Harry Wilson’s 8 PL goals this season have come from chances worth a cumulative 0.84 xG 🤯

Out. Of. Nowhere. Again and again and again!

How many of Bassey, Iwobi and Chukwueze would you start for #FULBHA on Saturday? 🤔

Listen to me and @samdymond.bsky.social discuss that and more in the latest @fulhamfocus.bsky.social Preview Pod 👇

🎧: pod.fo/e/37f1e8

The Q becomes you want Harry Wilson to be doing that currently when he’s basically our man final third threat with other key ones missing?

He said no. But that Diop + Castagne is too defensive. Hence Sess RW 🤷‍♂️

I think I’ve confused people a touch with this one (in the other place too!)

Basically my wider point is there’s little difference between our 4 and 5ATB systems these days as Marco tends to want a RW to drop in to a situational 5 when we play 4 more often than not

The result was a huge onus placed on progression tight to the touchline. Particularly down our left

Jedi seemed extremely rusty and at times looked bambi-like when pressed in a way he hasn’t for years

No reliable basis to build attacks meant no joy for #FFC 😞

🧵 4/4

The key difference for me was Lukic + Berge as the midfield pair

They were clearly deployed to match Leeds physically in the middle of the park, but after a decent enough opening simply couldn’t get on it and impose order on a stodgy game and control things centrally

🧵 3/4

Wilson was still playing high closest to Raul and drifting more freely either side rather than holding width

ESR was still coming inside from the left, dropping in as needed with Jedi outside him

Both were features of our good results against Liverpool and Chelsea 🧐

🧵 2/4

Confused seeing people critique Marco Silva for ‘changing system’ by bringing Sess in for #LEEFUL

I saw next to no difference in what Fulham did structurally due to that switch 🤷‍♂️

If anything Sess just played the Castagne role more aggressively, RW slotting in at RWB

🧵 1/4

A reminder. This is Marco Silva’s second choice system!

We are not a pure 5ATB team and already seemed more fluid and effective with it on the ball than I ever saw say, Amorim’s Man Utd who tended to make build up look like some sort of impossible challenge

Great coaching 👏

Was very taken by just how flexible the #FFC build up was during #FULCHE even prior to the red card

5ATB base structure shifting into 4ATB build. Consistent dynamics but plenty of rotation and players comfortable everywhere

These examples all came from the opening 5 mins! 👇

The presence of Castagne and Diop in tandem reduced the reliance on Wilson dropping in OOP and ensured our most potent goal threat could focus on being exactly that, a goal threat 💪