The overriding emotion walking away from Craven Cottage yesterday afternoon was disappointment that Fulham couldn’t convert their dominance into three points. That was certainly how the players and Marco Silva saw it afterwards and the first fixture serves as a sharp rebuke to the idea that the Whites will walk this division. It never works out that way and Middlesbrough’s muscularity showed just what an adventurous outfit, placing an emphasis on prettier football, will have to overcome in order to bounce straight back.
Neil Warnock was delighted with the point – and justifiably so. His side were well-drilled, robust and kept plugging away despite being a goal down. You wouldn’t expect anything else. Warnock is made for this league and his substitutions changed the complexion of what was becoming a rather one-sided affair. Silva should learn quickly from how Fulham’s advantage unravelled here – there is no doubt that Boro looked the more likely to pinch all three points after Marco Bola’s equaliser.
The new era began brightly and there are plenty of positives that Silva and his backroom staff can point to. The Tete-Wilson axis down the right flank began brilliantly and could be a considerable weapon in this division. The Dutch defender’s sense of adventure and crossing offers a natural attacking outlet that Fulham will need to exploit, especially when Wilson is so adept at drifting off the right flank onto his natural left foot. Wilson’s wizardry will unlock plenty of backlines at this level and the early signs from his interplay with Tete, Josh Onomah, Fabio Carvalho and Aleksandar Mitrovic were particularly positive. He took his goal magnificently and looks a massive upgrade on the enigmatic Anthony Knockaert.
Onomah’s inclusion was something of a surprise but there were plenty of reminders of just how effective he might be as an attacking force from central midfield areas. He released Tete with a couple of perceptive passes into space down the right and did fantastically to offer Wilson a bit of space at the edge of the area for the goal. Whether he can reprise the sort of displays that inspired Fulham’s play-off push under Scott Parker on a consistent basis remains to be seen, but these were encouraging signs. The midfield can only get stronger when Harrison Reed returns to his role in the front of the back four – and that will clearly make Silva’s side tougher to play through.
Silva’s decision to blood Fulham’s promising young talent was perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the afternoon. Francois did very well against an uncompromising midfield moulded in Warnock’s image, moving the ball intelligently in a quietly efficient league debut that has been a long time in coming. Carvalho’s creativity and zest was clear from the outset and he buzzed around to real effect behind the centre forward – having one shot blocked and shooting over after space opened up from a Mitrovic flick on. He will clearly play a key role as the number ten until Tom Cairney’s knees are up to the hurly burly of the Championship.
There was plenty of angst about Mitrovic’s overall display and the fact that he wasn’t able to find the net. I’m of the firm belief that writing off our Serbian talisman is ridiculously rash and there was a sense that his role in the side might be a bit different under Silva. He fashioned a couple of good openings with headers for Carvalho and Ivan Cavaleiro and was effectively managed by Middlesbrough’s centre halves. My feeling is with a bit more gametime in his legs and a first goal – hopefully at Huddersfield next weekend – he will be back to his devastating best. The use of Aboubakar Kamara as a late substitute in search of a winner suggests, however, that the arrival of Rodrigo Muniz can’t come soon enough.
Fulham’s defence was largely untroubled, which makes the fact that the Whites had to settle for point all the more frustrating. There will still be reservations about Antonee Robinson’s defensive diligence – Matt Crooks did seem able to run through him at will at times yesterday – but Tim Ream remains a reassuring presence at the heart of the back four and his partnership with Tosin Adarabioyo, who made a brilliant block right at the death, is a strong foundation for Fulham to build upon.
The final takeaway is two-fold: firstly, having the opportunity to enjoy a game at the Cottage and debate it passionately in person afterwards, is wonderful. Of more immediate importance to Fulham’s season is that the fact that the Silva era is still in its infancy. Patterns of play will take more than ninety minutes to emerge and personnel changes can make what seemed a pretty experimental eleven stronger. Avoid drawing too many cast-iron conclusions from the opening weekend as Fulham can certainly improve on their first outing.
Early positives and problems were evident, I think.
Positives:
Ream
Wilson
A more attack-minded gameplan
KENNY TETE
Willingness to use the best of the youth
Long way to go of course to mould the squad into the Silva mindset, but it’s looking pretty promising, isn’t it? The attacking intent was great, only let down by the personnel we have (more below), and a bit of a lack of fitness. Fixable things, both. Some key men have shown their colours early too. What a signing Wilson could turn out to be!
MOTM Kenny Tete for me all day long, but Ream, Wilson, Tosin in the second half, Kebano in the first half, all great.
Problems:
Mitro (and forwards generally)
Robinson
Match fitness – too many players disappeared in the second half
Midfield
Squad depth
The things that need sorting the quickest and will require the most work are the problems up front and in midfield. On paper, it looks fine, but the reality is starkly different, and that needs admitting.
Mitro is not interested, and has to go. AK is not a footballer. Honestly, we don’t have any forwards, and in a league where you need to score a LOT of goals to get automatic promotion, that’s unacceptable. Sell both, get new ones, and do it quickly, before we get to our next home game with 1 point from 9 because we’ve failed to score.
People rave about our midfield, but they are mistaken. TC is barely going to play again. It’s time everyone accepted that. He’s never going to be fit, and should not be a consideration when making decisions about our midfield. The lack of a proper number 10 yesterday was there for all to see, and we can’t avoid getting one in based on some misplaced hope that TC is going to get fit and play every week, because he isn’t. Anguissa is leaving, that’s blatant. Seri should be too, and it’s sounding increasingly likely that Fabio will as well. We’ve got Harrison Reed, who is excellent, but when he does get injured – which is going to happen given the full-blooded type of player he is – he takes a long time to come back. The games come too thick and fast in this league to not have first team-calibre back-up in every position, so we can’t rely solely on him either. Onomah is a bench player, not a starter. So, right now, have we really got any starting 11-worthy central midfielders fit and staying? No. None.
On the wings, Wilson and Kebano are obvious, but after that? Same old Cavaleiro and AK with no end product or touch – no coach can fix that – same old Knockaert (not even in the stadium yesterday?), and a very tired Bobby Reid. We had nothing on the bench yesterday to actually make a difference to that game, which is a dreadful position to be in for a team wanting immediate promotion.
Squad depth in general is poor. Kongolo is never going to be fit, so we’ve got two first 11 centre backs, Mawson as strong back-up when fit – but we all know how injury prone he is – and a bit of back-up in Odoi and Hector (both not on the bench yesterday), that’s it. Marco is right in what he said recently that we’ve got too many defenders, BUT, we’ve got a lot of regularly-absent defenders, and a couple who aren’t good enough, so we’re not actually strong at the back, we just have a lot of bodies, some of which are broken. It’s good that we’re still looking at options there (like Ostigard), because we need them.
And finally, full backs. Bryan in, Robinson out. That’s really easy. Robinson has no end product at all, he’s a poor defender, he’s just really quick. He showed it yesterday when he lost the ball, defended badly against the player who beat him, but was then able to outrun the guy to the ball after he’d knocked it down the line. But people talk about the difference between Bryan and Robinson like Joe is slow, just because Robinson’s so quick. Joe has some pace, he has better control, better crossing and shooting, and he’s a better defender. His only problem is getting caught out of position. But he’s on the left, where Kebano is, and Kebano is the best defensively-minded of all of our wingers. Those two could easily be coached to work in tandem so that Kebano can cover when Joe goes on the overlap. Always get your best footballers on the pitch, and Bryan is a significantly better footballer than Robinson.
On the other side, Tete picks himself, but is signing a dedicated right-back as back-up out of the question? Our only option at the moment is the all-purpose Odoi, who deserves a bench spot every week for that emergency reason, but shouldn’t be our dedicated replacement in a specialist position if the first choice ends up out for a period.
Being back in the stadium was fantastic, the intent Silva seems to have for how we should play is very promising and will hopefully prove very enjoyable, and I loved the commitment of both him and Boa on matchday (with Boa getting booked for getting stuck in). So far, very happy with his appointment, attitude, and what he’s trying to do. It’s the squad that has me worried at the moment, and how quickly we can a) admit to its failings, even the difficult ones, and b) fix it before too many games have drifted by. There’s no time to waste in the Championship, but we have a strong track record for wasting it anyway.
Forgot two right-back options we do have somewhere on the books. Christie, who is clearly banished to the reserves (where he belongs, in truth), and Steven Sessegnon who seems to have a lot of trouble staying fit for a young man. If Steven Sess could stay fit and take the back-up spot behind Tete, I’d be happy with that as I think he’s a better player than he’s had the opportunity to show us so far. But his fitness is a concern.