On one hand, it seems churlish to quibble with an eleven match unbeaten run that sees Fulham top of the Championship. The point at Kenilworth Road, however disappointing, did extend the lead over Bournemouth after the Cherries were beaten by Blackburn. Yet, as Tim Ream articulated last night, four consecutive draws is not the flawless form of promotion certainties. Extenuating circumstances may explain some of Fulham’s recent lethargy, but Marco Silva certainly has some work to do at Motspur Park this week.
The pattern of recent away displays appears particularly familiar. A surfeit of possession and perhaps even an early goal gives way to a more spirited, aggressive and adventurous display from the hosts – and Fulham’s previously comfort becomes as slender as the scoreline. This template from Deepdale was followed at Luton yesterday and nobody could begrudge Nathan Jones’ men a share of the spoils. They shut down the space afforded in the early exchanges to Fulham’s engine room, cut off the supply to Aleksandar Mitrovic and quietened both Neeskens Kebano and Harry Wilson.
There were grumbles about officiating and the conditions yet, in the cold of light of day, Fulham failed to create clear cut chances to win the game. Luton looked the likelier in the closing stages, emboldened by an equaliser from our old boy Elijah Adebayo, and tore into 50-50s with relish. Rodrigo Muniz was introduced with just three minutes of normal time remaining and the substitutes that preceded the Brazilian striker were only summoned once the pendulum had swung sharply the way of the home side. There was a lack of urgency about Fulham’s second half that felt like it prolonged in the tenure of the previous head coach.
The visitors badly missed the tenacity of Harrison Reed in the middle of the field, but I’m still unconcerned by Silva’s transformation of the ginger-haired firefighter into a box-to-box midfielder. The Cairney-Seri axis all but evaporated during the second half downpour and Fulham’s normally reliable flanks offered precious little. A couple of tactical tweaks might be necessary before a reinvigorated Sheffield United, minus Slavisa Jokanovic now sadly, come to Craven Cottage in eight days time. Wilson might be worth a try in the number ten role as Fulham’s forays forward lack the dynamism of the early weeks of the season.
Fulham’s defending yesterday is worthy of note too. The Whites have been much better at the back since Marek Rodak returned in goal, but the Slovakian international had little chance at stopping coming back to haunt us when he had tiptoed between Tim Ream and Tosin Adarabioyo to beat a very high line from a free-kick. Silva’s susceptibility at set plays was one of the reasons for his downfall at Everton and that equaliser was far too soft of a goal to concede. He will know this – as well as the inescapable fact that, for all of Fulham’s attacking talent, it was the home side who created the better opportunities in the closing stages.
The Championship is a notoriously unforgiving grind, especially in the winter months, and produces surprise results in every round of fixtures. It is very difficult to play catch up, which is why Fulham’s position at the top of the table at this stage of the season is a source of contentment. But Silva’s dissatisfaction with the way they folded in the face of Luton’s fight in the second half was evident and understandable. The Whites have a squad that must be the envy of the rest of the division: they need to relocate the freedom and energy with which they began the campaign to prove it on the pitch.
Spot on!
Everybody and his dog goes on and on about the depth of our squad but, in reality, there is a paucity of real quality.
Onomah seems to be the preferred person when Silva finally gets around to making changes that should have been made much earlier but, if Onomah is the best option off the bench, then we have a real issue because he is simply not good enough.
Unlike most fans, I don’t think Carvalho merits all the attention that he is garnering currently yet, without a doubt, he has more ability and creativity than Decordova Reid and I can only assume that Silva did not think his slightness of frame would be the best option against a physical side like Luton when he chose the latter in his starting line up. Whatever -it didn’t work.
Silva needs to reassess how we approach away games because, as performances at Blackpool, Bristol City, Coventry, Peterborough, Preston and, now, Luton indicate, we are not the All Stars that we would like to think we are.
We are far too light weight against the physical sides> Onamah adds nothing. Both full backs are good going forward but suspect defensively, We spurned far too many chances and without Mitros goals we would only be mid table. Having said we basically have a good team but some fine tuning is required. Priority in my view is tightening up midfield and to be more clinical
I agree with all the above but we need more fight we have lots of possession but lack clinical passes in the final third, we are missing Anguissa and need someone similar to him, Onomah isn’t good enough by far and B D R isn’t the answer either, our goals have dried up and we really need to do something about it real soon.