Boro vs Fulham 0-1

[gephind 7]

Forget about the smash and grab, the onus was on Boro and I am bewildered as to why we are so poor against those teams, above and in and around us because this is becoming a trend and will be our downfall if we hope to achieve anything this season.

 

Our strikers are guilty as hell for missing clear cut chances and there today lays the blame.

 

So very disappointed with this result, Fulham had not won here for 13 years what a poor return of points we have taken from them this season

 

HI Downsouth, of course the basis of your post is correct but a little harsh considering a change of personnel at the top with a different approach and goal perhaps in a very short time. The overall performance was at least pleasing to the eye. You are on the money with the chances missed which i guess should be irrelevant to the new manager coming in. The good thing about this league is that we get to dust ourselves down and go again and again and again. UTB

[gephind 7]

We should have been 3 up at half time, poor finishing, Gestede good in the air but personally not a lover of him, just don't rate him. Traore 1st half was excellent, mistake switching him to the left  Fulham's full back  was able to come forward time and time again after that. Downing pulling the strings again in midfield, Braithwaite very hit and miss, defence were solid.

The subs, the very poor ineffective Johnson on, when we have a better player in Bamford, and just couldn't work out why we put Clayton on, to do what.

Saw the penalty again n the Comcast after the game still think its a soft one given by a very poor referee.

All in all you don't take your chances you pay the price.

Good comments. Realistic.

[Borodane 1,442]

I found it a bit strange that when Gestede was on we were really trying to get closer to the box and when Britt came on we changed to a more direct approach with more long balls. If we want to start games with high pressure and putting bodies forward I’d start with britt or Bamford and then put Gestede on when we start to tire in the second half and need someone to hold the ball up or win headers.

[gephind 7]

Their penalty wasn't dubious at all, Grant stuck his foot out and caught the player, simple as.

 

We'd have been screaming for a penalty had it happened at the other end and you know it.

 

I don't agree with your comment. Two wrongs don't make a right. Yes in this modern era any contact in the area is really a claim for a penalty so the refs have a hell of a job on their hands. The late goals these days is becoming a real common occurrence with the fact that you risk all to put pressure in the box to hopefully get a decision. It would be a contactless sport in that area of the pitch of you think Grants challenge made the other player fall down. Just saying

[Rioch's Braves 309]

Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic said:

 

"They pushed each other (Braithwaite and Kalas) and the referee was in perfect position to make the decision.

 

"For our penalty, it was clearly a contact between Norwood and the Boro player and, again, the referee was in the perfect position to give the penalty."

He's talking out of his ***, he knows they've got away with one.

[Barticus 29]

Got to be one of the most blatant pens I’ve seen, more like wrestling

[sanddancer 516]

The only thing that counts is the result, period.

[richmfc 41]

The only thing that counts is the result, period.

 

Not sure that was what you said when monk won and you complained you still couldn’t see a plan

[p_mards 408]

It was a massively disappointing result as I think that defeat effectively ends any outside chance of the automatic promotion spots, but I came away from the game feeling fairly optimistic about us showing signs of progress. The penalty decisions were ridiculous. Ours was a stonewall, theirs was a very soft one. I have seen more signs of a system/team in the two or three weeks since Pulis took over than the several months that we did under Monk. It was far from perfect but I'm content that we're going in the right direction. If we play in that system, albeit with better finishing and new signings better suited to the style, I think we'll win most of them types of games against the better sides like Fulham. In the first half we played really well, aside from the first 5 minutes, as after then we pressed up on Fulham and didn't let them play the slick football that they can play. We turned the game into a scrap and we were by far on top in that style of game. It wasn't pretty but it was effective in terms of the chances we created versus the chances Fulham created; sort of how we won loads of games under Karanka by narrow margins when we didn't play particularly well. Consistently winning ugly isn't just luck. If it wasn't for awful finishing we could easily have been 3 nil up at half-time and the game put to bed. Gestede, in particular, needs to be converting them type of easy chances. We were defensively solid for the vast majority of the game. It was only towards the end of the game when we ran out of steam to press Fulham that they dominated the end of the game. I agree that the substitutions were negative, but I totally understand why Pulis made them as the attacking players had ran out of legs to press(to stop them keeping the ball) and have any sort of attacking influence on the game. Traore massively faded in the second half so needed to come off as he would have been a massive defensive liability. Considering the poor quality of the wide and number 10's on the bench I don't think there was much else that Pulis could have done. The game will have further highlighted to Pulis and the club hierachy how we're short in them creative areas. Hopefully we can start seeing some progress with outgoings like Gueudiora, Forshaw and Fletcher, as them departures from bloated areas will clear room in the budget for some much needed signings. Fabio looks like he will leave too but will need replacing so won't release much of the budget. Baker will surely leave also. I'd happily see Johnson leave too - I know's he's low on confidence but he just isn't good enough. Unfortunately it looks like Clayton could leave also as there seems to be something going on with him not in the side. The side that got us promoted in the 2015/16 season was great and will always be remembered fondly but I think the only way we can move forward is to give Pulis a clean sweep of building his own side that he thinks can win promotion. That might involve some unpopular decisions of selling players who have been great here in the past, like Clayton, but I will continue to look forwards as there needs to be some serious changes to this current side if we're going to achieve promotion either this or next season.

[Brunners 2,124]

Holy formatting batman.

[p_mards 408]

Once Fulham were through the initial press in their third - when Braithwaite and Traore were occupying their CB's trying to prevent them from playing from the back - and they were playing in the central third of the pitch, I noticed that Downing was regularly dropping back from his number 10 role into more of a central midfielder so that we had three central midfielders congesting that gap. It was a good little tweak from Pulis I thought. Whether that's something that will be the standard approach or just against the better footballing sides like Fulham remains to be seen, but I liked how the team switched to different roles depending on the phase of play. At the very minimum it showed that there was a detailed plan depending upon where the opposition had the ball.

[BillyWoofs_shinpad 945]

Holy formatting batman.

 

Does not compute.

[Foogle 506]

Disappointed with the result, thought we played well and think that given the opportunities that Gestede got I think Assombalonga would have scored... But the performance overall was okay, against one of the form teams that was tipped for automatics this year, I was feeling we deserved more than a point and then we ended up with nothing right at the death.

 

I'm hoping Clayton gets a start next game, although I thought Leadbitter had a really good game which made it all the worse when he was the one who gave the pen away. Howson was a bit anonymous, but he's had a lot of good games recently so will let him off.

[sanddancer 516]

The only thing that counts is the result, period.

 

Not sure that was what you said when monk won and you complained you still couldn’t see a plan

 

So you are saying results don,t matter?

[Borodane 1,442]

Disappointed  with the result, thought we played well and think that given the opportunities that Gestede got I think Assombalonga would have scored... But the performance overall was okay, against one of the form teams that was tipped for automatics this year, I was feeling we deserved more than a point and then we ended up with nothing right at the death.

 

I'm hoping Clayton gets a start next game, although I thought Leadbitter had a really good game which made it all the worse when he was the one who gave the pen away. Howson was a bit anonymous, but he's had a lot of good games recently so will let him off.

 

Britt did get a chance like that and missed, although you could argue that he was under more pressure from the defender.