Fulham vs Burnley

Top of the table Burnley comes to visit Fulham on Tuesday. They score like Fulham, but with half the goals conceded - a winning combination. The league's leading scorer, Andre Gray, gave Burnley a 2-0 first half lead in Simmons penultimate game with Fulham in November. We fought back hard in the second half, but ended up falling 3-1. Burnley hasn't lost since Boxing Day, so getting anything from this match will be tough.

 

I'll say we spring the upset. Something along the lines of 3-1. If Betts is back in goal, I'll even predict a clean sheet.

 

Wow, someone pass the Kool-Aid.

We seem to put up a good fight against the top teams in the league, but I'm not sure I can see us winning. I predicted a score draw in tipping, so I'll stick with that. Would be great to see Betts back, although I think Loners has been one of our best players this season. Even with all the goals we've conceded.

 

It's really gonna suck if we lose this one after coming back and going ahead.

 

And it sucks...

 

Effin' bloody hell. Perhaps we could WIN a match if we'd STOP GIVING UP PENALTIES!

 

It also sucks that once again we seemed to play well (mostly) but couldn't win.

 

Throw in Rotherham beating Boro and the 7 point cushion is down to 2 and it was a bad Tues.

 

Well that was disappointing. I was able to follow the first half but had to leave it...only to come back later & see that we blew it. It's like this team can't handle prosperity on any level. Get a big win, lose the next one. Take a lead into half against a top team, blow it in the 2nd.

Whoever disputed my claim that this team has a loser's mentality a month or so ago...still disagree?

 

I don't think we have a loser's mentality. The team controlled most of this match and fought hard to the end. Burnley is just good enough to exploit almost any opportunity you give them.

I know I was in the minority on the penalty in the Reading match, but can we at least agree this penalty was ridiculous?

 

After viewing the highlights it's apparent that we still haven't figured out what to do about the defense. You can't out offense too many teams in this game, i.e., the best defense is a NOT a great offense. Not in futbol anyway. Their first goal was from yet another set piece. Couldn't tell whose man got the best of them, but it doesn't matter. Vokes just manhandled whoever it was, much the same as Gray did to Madl on the winner. That was a world class goal by a striker who probably ought to be in the Prem or other top tier European league. But we should have won. Played well enough to, anyway. But that won't help now that we're two points above safety. The upward trend under Joka now needs to include WINS, not deserved draws or competitive losses. Wins. I don't know what the answer is, but it's still not what we're doing. And even though Slavisa likes him, I cringe every time I see Love Bite on the pitch for us. Perhaps it's time to recycle some defenders and combinations (Ream, Hutchinson [gulp}, Stearman [double gulp] to see if something, ANYTHING, can help. Can we recall Grimmer or (covering my eyes) Bodurov? Perhaps a new defensive coach?

 

Thamks for posting highlights Micah, looked like a dive to me. Going to have to grind it out the rest of the season at this point and hope we outscore teams. How bad is the defense? Fulham is 2nd in the division in goals scored. Our GD (goal differential) is -6, which is more fitting for a mid-table team (Wolves are in 12th with a -5, Brentford are in 17th with a -7), but it also tells you the defense is a sieve. The teams that are even or below us in the table have GD's of -18 or far worse. Don't think the defense can be fixed at this point, but have to hope they play slightly better and the offense keeps scoring. The next 3 matches are HUGE with 2 6-pointers with Bristol City and MK Dons with a roadie at Birmingham sandwiched in.

 

The key to these penalties is better defensive positioning. The last two were because our players are out of position and making contact from behind. Of course the opponent is going to drop like a paper doll at the slightest bit of contact - especially if they don't feel they have a top notch scoring chance. If our defenders were in front of the opponent (or at least positioned between the opponent and the goal), there wouldn't be the chance for the opponent to influence the ref with an exaggerated fall. Our defenders need to anticipate better.

 

Therein, my friend, lies the problem.