Right, I'm sure we all just want to move on from yesterday, so I thought I'd just write out my full impression for a bit of closure. Let me know your thoughts.
I would identify our midfield as being the biggest problem yesterday. Johnson's passing was woeful at times (thoughts did at least battle energetically) I thought Surman was anonymous to the point that he exposed Tierney horribly, Pilkington was simply shocking and I really don't think he was match fit- shouldn't have been played. Snodgrass was similarly quiet, I suspect he just needs to warm up, but I'm not convinced by him in that role behind the striker- it is obvious his best position is wing. Of the substitutes, Bennett looked quite lively, though some of his crosses were awful- at least he helped cover back and created some chances. Hoolahan wasn't on long enough to impact, but I thought he looked equally lively though liable to get caught in possession as ever. Howson was the only shining light, though even he didn't have a great game- at least he can retain the ball and create space. I look forward to Fox being fit to give us a bit of control and I really hope Butterfield will be able to play with Howson in the centre. If we are going to play one behind the striker, for me it has to be Hoolahan or Bennett.
Obviously, the more we conceded, the deeper the midfield sat in order to create the impression of helping defend, but rather than this being organised, everyone seemed to sit deep, leaving us with no chance to attack, and then when we attacked, everyone surged forward leaving us exposed again.
The impact the midfield had on the defence was what caused the problems. Lacking in sufficient cover, the fullbacks got caught out time and again. It has to be said that Tierney had an awful game too, so not entirely the midfield's fault, and it's not surprise that we have Garrido signed because I don't think Tierney was very good in pre-season either. I think we all know he's good enough, but the long ankle injury has really set him back a way and he may need six months or more to get back to speed. He was at fault for the first goal, and playing Rodallega onside for the pen (though it was the awful clearance that caused the problem)- too often he gave the winger space. I actually thought both R Bennett and Turner looked very good early on, but unfortunately Turner's head clearly went down and he became very despondent, which made matters worse- the big deflection was the nail in his defensive coffin (he should have closed down) and then it was a silly tackle on Rodallega who I thought Tierney had covered. If Turner plays like he did in the first half for the rest of the season, the defence will be strong I think. Martin did well- it's not his fault he's a bit slow, he otherwise looked solid, though maybe this was in comparison to others!
Up front does not need discussing. We all know Holt does not perform alone up there. He kept getting caught due to lack of support and he ended up looking sluggish. I actually thought he did have a few moments of great work- a neat flick on to Surman for example, but otherwise starved of opportunity and looking like he suffered in the heat, it wasn't his best game. I thought Morison was good when he came on- got the crowd going with some serious effort, but unfortunately the delivery into the box for him never gave him enough space. Generally I was encouraged by his performance and the support the fans gave him.
As for Ruddy, five goals is a horror show, but it really wasn't his fault. He could have done more for the first goal (incidentally he actually did enough to change the ball's direction round the post, but the spin on the ball must have caught the turf luckily because it then spun inside), but otherwise he couldn't have done much. First goal was Tierney's fault, second goal was poor corner defending, third goal was a huge deflection which happen when your luck's out, fourth goal was the first major error of the centre-halves and Martin, with a good finish and the last was a penalty.
Regarding the manager, I'm not sure all the blame can be placed at his door. The players really didn't give him much. However, I would say that it was obvious to me last season that the only defender that contained Holt completely was Hangeland- this happened. A day for Jackson? Morison or Vaughan at least would be better. 4-5-1 is the sensible choice away from home, so Hughton was making sense, but a few injuries to Fox and Hoolahan meant that our best 4-5-1 team wasn't put out. Ultimately, I couldn't help feeling Hughton selected players on a safety first basis- i.e. Those players who were strong last season, rather than thinking about this exact match and formation. hence, Holt was played because he is a "talisman", Surman because he scores and Pilkington because he was fantastic at times, forgetting that these three individually have off days and together squeeze our shape and don't actually work as a unit. Hughton must also be relieved to have Garrido waiting. I think the reason for Hughton's slightly odd press chat afterwards was genuine panic at a terrible debut. Ive seen enough of him to know he won't make the mistakes in selection he did today. I expect to see a bit more of E Bennett in particular.
This should all take nothing away from the fact that we came up against a fantastic performance yesterday, to all the Fulham bashers. It was just our luck that Ruiz decided to perform to his potential- next week he'll probably be awful. Dembele and Diarra were also magnificent as a unit, taking full advantage of our sluggish midfield. Added with a player debut (Petric) where he played out of his skin and it's clear that we were always going to lose, it was just a question of how badly.
I think we just have to all shrug here and accept that the opposition were fantastic. Every team takes a heavy defeat, it's unfortunate that it happened to Hughton's in his first match, but I think better now than five matches from the end of the season when we're sat in seventeenth... It's not the end of the world because the room for improvement is so obvious, four of the goals were entirely avoidable, the fullback problem is being dealt with, etc. We wont always come up against a team working so smoothly and our players will click better. I see the performance yesterday as precisely on a par with Sunderland away last year. Let's also not forget that we weren't e only team to start badly.
I, for one, am really looking forward to QPR at home to see how our entire team and manager bounce back. And how QPR react.
I would identify our midfield as being the biggest problem yesterday. Johnson's passing was woeful at times (thoughts did at least battle energetically) I thought Surman was anonymous to the point that he exposed Tierney horribly, Pilkington was simply shocking and I really don't think he was match fit- shouldn't have been played. Snodgrass was similarly quiet, I suspect he just needs to warm up, but I'm not convinced by him in that role behind the striker- it is obvious his best position is wing. Of the substitutes, Bennett looked quite lively, though some of his crosses were awful- at least he helped cover back and created some chances. Hoolahan wasn't on long enough to impact, but I thought he looked equally lively though liable to get caught in possession as ever. Howson was the only shining light, though even he didn't have a great game- at least he can retain the ball and create space. I look forward to Fox being fit to give us a bit of control and I really hope Butterfield will be able to play with Howson in the centre. If we are going to play one behind the striker, for me it has to be Hoolahan or Bennett.
Obviously, the more we conceded, the deeper the midfield sat in order to create the impression of helping defend, but rather than this being organised, everyone seemed to sit deep, leaving us with no chance to attack, and then when we attacked, everyone surged forward leaving us exposed again.
The impact the midfield had on the defence was what caused the problems. Lacking in sufficient cover, the fullbacks got caught out time and again. It has to be said that Tierney had an awful game too, so not entirely the midfield's fault, and it's not surprise that we have Garrido signed because I don't think Tierney was very good in pre-season either. I think we all know he's good enough, but the long ankle injury has really set him back a way and he may need six months or more to get back to speed. He was at fault for the first goal, and playing Rodallega onside for the pen (though it was the awful clearance that caused the problem)- too often he gave the winger space. I actually thought both R Bennett and Turner looked very good early on, but unfortunately Turner's head clearly went down and he became very despondent, which made matters worse- the big deflection was the nail in his defensive coffin (he should have closed down) and then it was a silly tackle on Rodallega who I thought Tierney had covered. If Turner plays like he did in the first half for the rest of the season, the defence will be strong I think. Martin did well- it's not his fault he's a bit slow, he otherwise looked solid, though maybe this was in comparison to others!
Up front does not need discussing. We all know Holt does not perform alone up there. He kept getting caught due to lack of support and he ended up looking sluggish. I actually thought he did have a few moments of great work- a neat flick on to Surman for example, but otherwise starved of opportunity and looking like he suffered in the heat, it wasn't his best game. I thought Morison was good when he came on- got the crowd going with some serious effort, but unfortunately the delivery into the box for him never gave him enough space. Generally I was encouraged by his performance and the support the fans gave him.
As for Ruddy, five goals is a horror show, but it really wasn't his fault. He could have done more for the first goal (incidentally he actually did enough to change the ball's direction round the post, but the spin on the ball must have caught the turf luckily because it then spun inside), but otherwise he couldn't have done much. First goal was Tierney's fault, second goal was poor corner defending, third goal was a huge deflection which happen when your luck's out, fourth goal was the first major error of the centre-halves and Martin, with a good finish and the last was a penalty.
Regarding the manager, I'm not sure all the blame can be placed at his door. The players really didn't give him much. However, I would say that it was obvious to me last season that the only defender that contained Holt completely was Hangeland- this happened. A day for Jackson? Morison or Vaughan at least would be better. 4-5-1 is the sensible choice away from home, so Hughton was making sense, but a few injuries to Fox and Hoolahan meant that our best 4-5-1 team wasn't put out. Ultimately, I couldn't help feeling Hughton selected players on a safety first basis- i.e. Those players who were strong last season, rather than thinking about this exact match and formation. hence, Holt was played because he is a "talisman", Surman because he scores and Pilkington because he was fantastic at times, forgetting that these three individually have off days and together squeeze our shape and don't actually work as a unit. Hughton must also be relieved to have Garrido waiting. I think the reason for Hughton's slightly odd press chat afterwards was genuine panic at a terrible debut. Ive seen enough of him to know he won't make the mistakes in selection he did today. I expect to see a bit more of E Bennett in particular.
This should all take nothing away from the fact that we came up against a fantastic performance yesterday, to all the Fulham bashers. It was just our luck that Ruiz decided to perform to his potential- next week he'll probably be awful. Dembele and Diarra were also magnificent as a unit, taking full advantage of our sluggish midfield. Added with a player debut (Petric) where he played out of his skin and it's clear that we were always going to lose, it was just a question of how badly.
I think we just have to all shrug here and accept that the opposition were fantastic. Every team takes a heavy defeat, it's unfortunate that it happened to Hughton's in his first match, but I think better now than five matches from the end of the season when we're sat in seventeenth... It's not the end of the world because the room for improvement is so obvious, four of the goals were entirely avoidable, the fullback problem is being dealt with, etc. We wont always come up against a team working so smoothly and our players will click better. I see the performance yesterday as precisely on a par with Sunderland away last year. Let's also not forget that we weren't e only team to start badly.
I, for one, am really looking forward to QPR at home to see how our entire team and manager bounce back. And how QPR react.
