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Team v Leeds

Discussion in 'Fulham' started by Cottager58, Mar 6, 2017.

  1. Cottager58

    Cottager58 Well-Known Member

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    As ever with midweek games these days there is nothing on the leader board about how the lads are after Saturday's game. We will of course be without Piazon and Ayite, probably Petsos as well, but otherwise they seem in fine fettle.

    Leeds we can anticipate will be physical and robust with Monk's 4-2-3-1 system attempting to break up our passing and play game. They'll certainly have benefited from the extra day off. The main threat is obviously New Zealander Chris Wood. It's not just that he's clinical with his shooting, it's the way he can drift into and create space.

    Which brings me to our line-up. Wood tends to drift right (our left) which is where we are most vulnerable as evidenced by Preston's goal on Saturday. Young Sessegnon had a great game, allowing for the odd misss-pass, going forwarded in that game but note what others say about his defensive abilities. And we all know about the other left sided defender, Ream, and his occasional concentration blips. Trouble is I don't rate Malone any better at defending.

    Everyone from the Gaffer down knows how impotant tomorrow night is, so I'm going for ... no change. Leave any rotation/tinkering for Newcastle.

    .......................Button.............
    ..Fredericks..Kalas...Ream..Sessegnon..
    .....................McDonald..
    ...............Cairney...Johansen...
    ....Aluko..............................Kebano..
    .......................Martin....
     
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  2. Super Brian McBride

    Super Brian McBride Well-Known Member

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    Think we might need a more defensive look to the team so he might bring back Odoi and Malone.
    I not sure Jokanovic takes much notice of other teams tactics, just gets on with his own game.
    I'd expect Leeds to be more of a threat than Preston were, they tend to be more clinical with their chances, need Button to be on top form.
    Think Leeds will go 4-2-3-1 trying to pin McDonald and Johansen from going forward too much.
     
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  3. Fulham COYW

    Fulham COYW Well-Known Member

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    I'd say no change but I suspect Malone will come in for Sessegnon.

    Birmingham put up more of a fight against Leeds than Preston did with us but the extra days rest must count slightly in Leed's favour. If they sit back and try and absorb pressure like against Birmingham I feel we will have more threat and could do well.

    We dominated on Saturday but I felt we could still step up a gear and if we play as well as we did then I'm quietly confident that we will win. I am so looking forward to it.
     
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  4. Captain Morgan

    Captain Morgan Well-Known Member

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    I'd go with Cottager's team, although I think I might go for Malone ahead of Sessegnon for this one (I know that puts me very much in the minority). If we're worried about the weakness on the left of defence, than maybe Ream should make way for one of the other centre backs. As both left backs are prone to defensive lapses, that would be the only way to tighten things up. Having Sessegnon on the bench also gives the option of bringing him on further forward as a pair of fresh, energetic legs to run at them down the wing if we need to chase a goal later on. Big game tonight, so we need options for turning the game around if we go behind.
     
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  5. Cottager58

    Cottager58 Well-Known Member

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    Tonight we've got Lee Probert.

    Most will remember him well from days past and some might have been wondering "where is he now?". Well, Probert has had problems following a leg injury - Warning: this video clip is not for the faint hearted -





    No, no that Sidwell cruncher was from yonks ago, 2012 I think. No idea what Probert's real leg injury was about but it kept him out of ref'ing for all of the season 2015/16. He came back this year and, despite retaining his top dog senior ref status, has being doing lower League games with a smattering of Championship matches thrown in. Tonight is only his 6th in the Championship.

    In his 23 games so far this season he's handed out 40 yellows and 2 reds. A wee observation however. The 5 Championship games he has been in charge of, accounted for 17 of those 40 yellows and the 2 reds. And a wee word of caution to both managers - kick over a water bottle at your peril.
     
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  6. Super Brian McBride

    Super Brian McBride Well-Known Member

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    Let's hope that he's not one of these Refs who likes to be the star of the show, and just lets the game flow.
    Leeds seem to have a lot of games were it is 0-0 at HT then they nick a win. So I guess their style might be to keep it tight 1st half, it's how we react if they do score, and on saturday it was good to see a reaction when Preston scored.
     
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  7. Cottager58

    Cottager58 Well-Known Member

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    We got quite excited as well !!!




    And no more than was deserved. Actually a lot less. That's twice this season we've played them off the pitch and twice we've only claimed 1 point. After a sticky first 15 minutes - not from pressure by Leeds, but our own ineptness - we were unbelievably good. Unfortunately it was one of those games where we never got any breaks whatsover.

    Mixed in with all that were the less sweet M&M. Sorry but both Malone and Martin were awful and I couldn't believe Jokanovic waited an hour to do what every fan wanted and got rid.

    Lots of what ifs tonight and naturally have to comment on the the two biggest. What if Button had been more agressive and maybe communicated better could that horrible own goal from the hapless Ream have been avoided? What if Probert had consulted his linesman about the "goal" we scored in the first half? Yes it came off the bar like a rocket but even from the middle of the JH it looked over the line. [Makes note to look at the replay on FulhamTV]

    Of course the result was disappointing. But the attitude/guts shown by the team and, the quality of some of their play has to keep you believing.
     
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    Last edited: Mar 8, 2017
  8. 2whitestripes

    2whitestripes Well-Known Member

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    Listening to GJ it was very obvious we absolutely thrashed them, 1 - 1.
    We're due some good fortune, maybe against Newcastle.................
     
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  9. Super Brian McBride

    Super Brian McBride Well-Known Member

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    I was disappointed with our performance tonight, lots of stray passing, Malone had so many chances to cross the ball in the first half and failed miserably to get it past their first defender. And again we took one touch too many instead of shooting. Thank god Cairney took that shot instead of passing. Gift of that own goal gave them a helping hand to defend well.
    The big screen at HT or FT didn't show the Kebano shot that hit the cross bar and bounced down, but was it in, I've not seen it but Jokanovic's report seems to say it was over ?

    Thought the Ref was going to book Cairney for the second time after his goal celebrations into the crowd, that would have put a dampener on it.
    Strange just looked at the Fulham match report and it said Cairney got booked for his celebration, during the game I thought he'd got booked before for a late tackle, must have been Johansen.
     
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    Last edited: Mar 8, 2017
  10. Fulham COYW

    Fulham COYW Well-Known Member

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    Just back and relieved that we got the point but we battered them all night. The own goal was a real set back - had we scored first we'd won comfortably - in fact had we been awarded our other goal that when in under the cross bar we'd have won comfortably - roll on goal line technology. Leeds defence though stuck at it well for the full 95 mins and were dead on their feet at the end.

    Other results tonight didn't go too bad for us and Newcastle will have to be in top form on Saturday to stop us getting a result there.
     
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  11. Cottager58

    Cottager58 Well-Known Member

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    Looked like it to me at the game, as said earlier, and from this ... a no brainer!


    upload_2017-3-8_0-43-55.png
     
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  12. Surlyc

    Surlyc Well-Known Member

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    Not sure what I can add, We outplayed them and didn't get the result our play deserved.

    That said, it would be wrong to ignore how good their centre backs are; they were a big part of blunting our attack. We didn't create many chances on goal for all our possession and wing play and that was probably the difference. To try and find a positive, there aren't many teams in the league that are better defensively than Leeds.
     
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  13. Super Brian McBride

    Super Brian McBride Well-Known Member

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    Guess this shows it better.
    Kebano Goal over line Leeds.jpg
     
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  14. silkship

    silkship Well-Known Member

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    It was an enjoyable game in the end - if Cairney hadn't got the goal it would have been a miserable way for our play-off run to seemingly fizzle out. Now, hopefully, we'll carry some momentum from this game over because they completely dominated the match and finished with 73% possession - 23 shots to their 7 and 14 corners to 4. I don't know if we can beat Newcastle but I've got more confidence in this team than I have any other since Hodgson left.

    Kebano was immense and Cairney, Aluko, Kalas and Fredericks all had good games. Malone and Martin were poor and Button just makes me nervous - it's clear how Slav wants them to play, building from the back and not panicking in possession - I'd say he encourages them to go back if there isn't an option and start again and this brings Button in a lot - he's mostly solid in his play but there is always that feeling around him when he's got the ball. I like that we have a good team spirit and they are all working together but within that there are some strong individual talents. Over the season each one has had a run where they've influenced a couple games in succession and it's Kebano's turn at the moment, maybe Cairney's goal means he's about to go on one of his own again - I think Johansen has one more run left in him too.

    I didn't have much of an angle for Kebano's shot and assumed it hadn't gone in - Ceyriac might not have made more of an impact than Martin - he had a decent header saved at the end - but we were missing a cutting edge for a lot of the game and at times they were almost like an Arsenal team trying to walk the ball in and the move ending up a defensive mess around the penalty spot with bodies strewn everywhere and no space to shoot.
     
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