Fa Cup 3rd Round - Fulham 4-1 Watford

Beat me to it

 

I've seen this mentioned a bit but have you been to Vicarage Road? Our home support is dreadful. Also, for Fulham this was not a game that will get their fans singing. How much noise did we make when we beat MK Dons? We were always going to make more noise than them no matter what the score was

 

Went to the game yesterday on the coach . God bless 'em ! Salt of the earth !
Was situated right next to the "Hugo's" in the Fulham stand and their interesting
banter !.
Second best all night to be frank although a very spirited first 45 .
More low iq game management early in the second half which resulted
in the penalty . Why are we playing out from the back at that point ?
Yet another early goal conceded from a kick off .
I was musing after with my youngest boy that Fulham are an upper
mid table Premier division side and it wasn't that long ago that we were too.
We are miles off at present . Fulham are a team with a plan . We seem to be reliant
on individual pieces of brilliance .

 

Since the final in 2019, we have only gone beyond the third round once and that was last season. I don’t think anyone expected much from last night, Fulham are a top half Premier League side with some good players.

Goodness me we need some re-enforcements in the transfer window.

 

I'm sure an 18 y.o. Bolivian wonder kid winger is on his way as we speak .
And a light weight non goal scoring reserve team CF from a Spanish 2cnd tier side
to replace Jebbo.

 

Vata's goal is now on the front page of BBC Sport with no reference to the fact we ultimately lost 4-1.

This is the kind of reporting I can get behind.

 

Dr Strangelove is just mad enough to do so.
Whether Dyche is desperate enough to accept is another matter!

 

My son has a connection with someone close to the dressing room who has been a good and reliable source of hot poop in the past and the word from him is Cleverly's days are numbered

 

I agree that TC is constrained by the players that he has available. However, I think his lack of experience as a head coach, which he can do nothing about for the present, is also a constraint. Not sure if Robbo is the answer to having an experienced mentor to plan strategy, tactics, player selection and player recruitment. The problem with the Pozzos is they are not likely to want to introduce a strong character with views and plans that challenges their rule. The Pozzos use Watford to progress talented players and sell them off at a profit. Getting a good return on Chak, Vata, Baah is high on the Pozzo priorities, perhaps more so than recruiting an experienced assistant manager or advisor for TC and getting in players that will help the cause. On a separate point, if, by some miracle, we managed to pull off a play off win, we would be so ill equipped to survive in the PL, that we would make Southampton look like CL contenders.

 

Why did you have to mention that bloody final in 2019. I'm going to have to go back on the tablets again now

 

.....and I forgot .....the chicken and stuffing pie inside the ground wasn't bad !

 

.....better than the Watford stuffing !

 

Thought the Watford fans were poor yesterday which might be a controversial take. Always hate it when away fans spend 85% of the time singing about the home fans and that's pretty much what we did. I don't mind a bit of that, but it was a embarrassing by the end.

 

Seems to be the modern way. Largely silent home crowds mocked by 'football in library' / 'is there a fire drill' / 'your ground's too big for you' singing away fans. No one seems to be quite work out the irony.

 

Perhaps with the silence coming back last night from the Fulham 'faithful', we should answer each of those questions in song in BBC Verify style...?

 

Chicken and stuffing pie? Is this a thing? What happened to steak and kidney.

 

So, an improvement, then.

 

I also thought Ryan Andrews was awful, gave a proper 2/10 performance. but because he's from the academy he's immune from any criticism. Repeatedly left Iwobi completely free, constantly out of position, gave the ball away loads and on numerous occasions just stopped trying when things didn't go his way. If Ngakia had given that performance people would be up in arms.

 

Sad but true. Sheffield United last week were one of the few fan bases that seemed to avoid that sort of drivel.

 

Totally agree, Andrews gets off very lightly because he’s a homegrown player.

 

He’s lucky he’s fast, his football fundamentals are non-league level.

 

Well, he’s still got his family home in Northampton so it would be easier on his domestic life!

 

The groundsman?!

 

More chance Luton right now

 

Two ex-Watford managers binned "by mutual agreement" the same day. Is this a record?

 

Sadly yep. Local, parachute payments, is unlikely to be appointed by an existing prem club.....

 

Gino’s reach is more deadly than Putin’s!

 

It actually says ‘Fire Any Head Coach Anywhere’

 

We certainly can be quiet at home but if we were 3-1 or 4-1 up we wouldn’t as quiet as they were.

 

Watching this game was a reminder that promotion would come with an unpleasant aftertaste, having to endure games like this week in week out for a year. A mid-table team like Fulham can rotate half their squad and still field players like Castagne, Cuenca, Andersen, Sessegnon (who they sold for £25 million six years ago and is only 24 years old!), Lukic, Pereira, Traore, Smith Rowe, Iwobi... it's just insane. The difference in quality, player for player, is so much greater than just five or six years ago. Only Vata and Chakvetadze looked like they were remotely close to their level. Also, in the past EFL teams could at least bridge the (much smaller) gap in quality by intensity and grit, but now the Premier League teams are really nasty and have found ways to completely control games in a way that makes it almost impossible for a lesser team to even compete. I really hope this doesn't knock the morale in our squad, because it must be pretty depressing to work so hard (and they did) and have no chance of getting a result. For Vata to score the goal of a lifetime and see us lose 4-1 must be a bit hard to take.

However, there were a few interesting things from our perspective:

Jonathan Bond. I like him. He looks calm and assured, even when he did hairy stuff like the badly controlled sweeping attempt that almost cost us a goal in the first half, he didn't lose his head. Probably not as good at shot stopping as Bachmann, as seen on their fourth goal, but it's understandable that he's a bit rusty playing his first game since early October. If we don't sign a new first choice GK this window I'm happy to see Bond between the sticks for the remainder of the season.

Antonio Tikvic. Just having a left footed center back playing on the left was very refreshing and he did alright in the first half. You can see that there's a player there, because on the ball he's actually one of our better center backs. However, the second half really showed his defensive shortcomings and why this loan deal is just nonsense. Maybe he'll become a solid, modern ball playing center back in a few years, but he's of little value to us now. We really need to sign a left footed center back.

Ryan Andrews. Well, he's not going to be sold to the Premier League any time soon, that's for sure. Playing against higher level opposition really exposed his weaknesses and especially his passing was just all over the place. Still a useful asset for us in the Championship, but also a reminder of why Ngakia is above him in the pecking order.

Yasser Larouci. Did alright, but couldn't fully cope with the pace and agility of PL opposition. It's a worry that he is currently our only left footed left wing back, with Sema seemingly crocked and/or leaving. We have to sign a left wing back this window.

Pierre Dwomoh. Sad to see him get injured, but to be fair he also looked out of his depth in the 30 minutes he played. Signing a defensive central midfielder should be a priority this window and Dwomoh might be a candidate for a loan move somewhere to get more experience and game time.

Edo Kayembe. He just cannot play central midfield. Stomping around like an elephant with the game passing him by completely. Thought he would get sent off and very surprised that he wasn't subbed off at half time. He has a good shot on him and has done pretty well in a more advanced position previously but please just stop playing him in a deeper midfield role.

Rocco Vata. Play him, every game. If that means going to a 4-2-3-1 to fit in all three of Vata, Baah and Chak behind a striker then so be it. They are our only real attacking force, so play them.

Mamadou Doumbia. Had an impossible task up front, but still tried to put himself about with the little stuff that came his way. Looks surprisingly strong and mature for his age. It goes without saying that we need to sign a new striker this window and Doumbia should probably stay as third choice, getting some minutes here and there to help this development. Could be knocking on the door next season.

 

Ladies and gentleman, a Pozzo fan