Fulham v Reading Preview

Re: Fulham v Reading

As Barcelona exited the Champion’s League this week with a whimper to Bayern’s thunderous statement of superiority I was amused to listen to the television pundits who were seemingly perplexed by Barcelona substituting like parts for like pieces. It really should have come as no surprise to the commentators that Barcelona only has one style of play and when their tiki-taka, one-two touch style fails to produce a goal they really don’t have any anyone on the bench who can bring something different to their mix. Anyone that has watched Barcelona play a match in which they are pressed to score pretty much knows that Barcelona’s plan B is to hope their substitutes can execute the same system better than the player being removed from the pitch. Barcelona has one beautiful plan, when it works, and they are going to stick with that plan come what may. The thought of one plan is what brings me to Fulham.

Keep calm and pass me the ball. It was a brash statement by a precocious talent but it should not be Fulham’s singular offensive philosophy should it? Berbatov taken in isolation has been a god-send but there really should be more to Fulham’s attack than flashes of brilliance from our silky smooth Bulgarian shouldn’t there be? I have been listening to the “moans” for some time now that Fulham’s offense has been in the quagmire with no urgency to get into the attacking third, how little creativity there is when the ball is not at Berbatov’s feet and how little speed we have on the wings. Sometimes I know that is just me talking to myself but I have read enough blogs and forum posts that express similar opinions to know I am not alone in my concerns. At the risk of joining being drafted into team “Jol Out” and sounding like an 80’s Wendy’s commercial I have to ask “Where’s the goals?” My concerns about Fulham’s attacking competence began gelling near the beginning of this year so I decided to jump back to January 1 and ask just that question.

The first and obvious answer to "Where's the goal's" is that Berbatov wasn’t half wrong with his with his prophetic t-shirt. Since the beginning of the calendar year Berbatov has averaged a goal every other match and the good news for Fulham fans is he is overdue against Reading. However, in all honesty, that is nearly all of the good news I could drum up about the Fulham attack since January 1. I could grasp at straws and quote you some isolated statistics against either Blackpool or Stoke but I won’t resort to stretching for a team outside the Premier League or a team that doesn’t play proper football. The truth in my eyes is that Fulham has scratched and clawed out results to get to the magical forty point barrier since the beginning of the year instead of cruising on home to a top ten finish because this team struggles in the offensive third of the pitch. Fulham perhaps stole three points from Spurs but only managed draws with Wigan, Norwich, Sunderland and Aston Villa. Good offensive teams cannot afford to leave that many points on the table to squads that have allowed 62, 54, 51, and 64 goals on the year. You can add to that the fact that the entire lack of any offensive cohesion in the second half of the QPR match nearly cost the White’s two more points. The question is with a talisman like Berbatov up top why has Fulham struggled so badly to create goals against teams that can’t defend? When you break it all down and begin to analyze the facts the answer is really simple and it is because Fulham have no other goal scoring threats in the squad. It is a bitter pill to swallow but ask yourself who was the last person to score other than Berbatov? When was the last time an attacking player other than Berbatov scored? When was the last time a midfielder scored for Fulham?

If you don’t know the answer to some of those questions don’t worry about your short-term memory because you have to go back more than a couple of matches or in some cases a couple of months to get the answer. Fact is since the beginning of the year the own goal is Fulham’s second leading scorer and the OG has triple the number of goals credited to it than any Fulham player other than Berbatov. Sadly, it has been a while since either of those has been credited with a goal. Based on a ninety minute match with no added time it has been 294 minutes since Fulham has been credited with any goal and 518 minutes since Berbatov has hit the back of the net. The bad news for Fulham is Berb’s goal scoring purple patch has completely dried up since Dejagah’s injury during the QPR match and my fear is there is no coincidence with there. Beyond those goals you have go back 686 match minutes on March second to Sacha Riether’s magnificent goal against Sunderland to find another Fulham goal scorer. That is right you have to go back two full months and then that goal scorer is a defender. How about a forward? You have to reach all the way back to January thirty and a full 1,031 match minutes before finding Hugo Rodallega’s goal against West Ham and our last midfield tally came from Karagounis on January twelve against Wigan which will be 1,189 match minutes when the Reading match kicks off.

Something is broken. You can argue it is not if you like but you should not have to look back a full three months before finding a second attacker’s name on the score sheet. My personal opinion will not be popular but for me the crux of the problem still lies in our midfield. I have been a big supporter of Damien Duff but it is time for him to depart as a first option winger in my opinion with our current attacking options. If Berbatov is going to sit up top and Ruiz in the hole then Fulham have to have some speed on the wings. It is time to bust open the piggy bank, collect our cash and take it all to the sweet shop to see what we can get even if we wind up with a belly ache. Two of Kaca, Frei or Emanuelson need to feature on the outside so Jol can see what this squad can do with players who are willing to get forward quickly on the wings. Even if Emanuelson isn’t coming back Jol can perhaps convince the board of the type of player Fulham need to compliment Dejagah or provide depth if Kaca or Frei make the breakthrough.

My next change would not be popular but Giorgios Karagounis would only see the pitch again for Fulham if there was an emergency. It is true the Greek provides a lot of hustle and bustle with more drama than I care for but the truth is he doesn’t provide much in the attacking end of the pitch. In the Premiership he has managed one breath taking goal but on the entire season he has not notched a single assist. I would think that a central midfielder playing with Berbatov up front could trip into an assist somewhere along the way. Complain about Ruiz all you like but for me Karagounis is where the offense goes to die and he needs to find a seat on the bench. I told you I wanted to break open the piggy bank and if I am going to break it I might as well shatter it so for me I would like to see either Emanuelson or Duff given an opportunity in the middle of the pitch next to Enoh. Urby was given a brief outing there and looked quite comfortable and Duff is a wise old vet who has more creativity in his off foot than Karagounis has left in his entire body. Enoh has shown he can cover a lot of ground and I believe getting the Greek out of the middle of the pitch and putting someone in who will make runs off Ruiz and Berbatov could pull the plug out of Fulham’s stopped up offense. It could be a bloody nightmare as well but I bet it wouldn’t be boring. Just for the record I am thankful for Karagounis' input into the current Fulham season I just believe it is time to move on.

I would like to give you something to expect from Reading but when you are playing a team that was just relegated from the league there is no way to know if the squad will show up with heads hung low or see this as an opportunity to audition for a spot with another club next season. Adam Lefondre has been their main danger man with 10 goals and 1 assist but he has only started eleven matches and made twenty substitute appearances.

Whatever Reading squad shows up it is well past time for Jol to break open the Fulham offense. If there is anything to put on display it should be in the match plan this week. Anything less than a two or three goal victory at the Cottage against a squad that has allowed the second most goals in the league will be very disappointing. I don't think this match is a lock and if Fulham fail to get more players than Berbatov into quality scoring positions it could prove to be another meat grinder of a match. Here is to hoping Jol unleashes the dogs and lets them run.

COYW’s!

Fulham 2013 Premier League Goals

January
39’ WBA – Berbatov – open play
58’ WBA – Kacaniklic – open play
22’ Wigan - Karagounis – open play
10’ West Ham – Berbatov – open play
49’ West Ham – Rodallega – open play
90’ West Ham – OG

February
45’ Stoke – Berbatov – open play

March
16’ Sunderland – Berbatov – penalty
34’ Sunderland - Riether – open play
52’ Spurs – Berbatov – open play

April
08’ QPR - Berbatov - penalty
22’ QPR – Berbatov - open play
41’ QPR - OG
66’ Aston Villa - OG

 

Re: Fulham v Reading

:clap: :clap: :clap:

 

Re: Fulham v Reading

Barry, outstanding preview as always :bow-yellow:

 

Good job doing all the research to put that together Barry. I've dwelled on this subject myself quite a bit since the new year.

For me, the first question is how much of what we see is by design? We hold the ball up or pull it back too often for me to think the players are that timid. I do think Jol has put a priority on possession, regardless of how meaningful that possession may be. On the one hand, you can argue that the other team can't score w/o the ball and that's a fair argument. The flip side though is that you have to have a lot of quality in the side to score when you make it so easy for the opposition to defend. If you go back and look at it, we've ceded around 20 shots against even during our most possession dominant matches. I made this point re Barca and I think it applies to us as well. We spend too much time idle that we struggle to change gears and get back quickly when the opposition regain the ball. The other part of the problem is that b/c we don't get the ball deep, the opposition counter begins a lot higher up the pitch in most cases.

I see your argument for more pace on the wings and it's a fair point. But it doesn't address two core problems. There aren't enough men in the box and our forward doesn't get forward quick enough at least half the time. Dejagah and Reither are interesting b/c they seem to be playing their own game. First, they've formed a fantastic partnership and play each other forward very successfully. The other thing though is that if the forwards aren't there, whichever of them has gotten the ball in the final third will take it into the box. And whichever one doesn't have the ball, usually drifts in, to the outer corner of the box or just outside of it as an outlet. Our other wings/fullbacks aren't doing that (except Riise some). If there's no forward with them on the run, they've been pulling up the attack and waiting...often passing back in the process. Then they take up a rather stationary position outside and provide width. If he's inverted, you'll see Duff cut in but when he's not, he stays wide. Ruiz stays in the hole (or deeper, more often than not) and almost never makes runs into the box. Our cm's don't get forward except for Sidwell, who actually does make runs into the box but with little payoff. As a result of all of this, the offense appears to be get the ball across midfield, then pass to Ruiz or Berbatov. If it goes to Berbatov, try to figure out what he's going to do and play off of him. If it goes to Ruiz, he either gets it to Berbatov or initiates the stall offense.

Conversely, in the past several years, we relied on inverted wings to accompany the striker in scoring positions. We also used another striker or a CAM/CF/#10 (however you wish to define it) to provide the striker with an outlet around the top of the box or to make runs off of the striker. Fullbacks got forward to the provide the width and at least one cm would stay back to cover for the fullbacks if the ball came back the other way. Sometimes both would, but once Dembele moved to a cm slot, it was usually just one. Of course, that one was Murph who could pick a pass so we still posed a threat no matter where the ball was in the opposition half. I remember our fans would complain about balance and a lack of width, but I never got that b/c the fullbacks provided it. Plus it worked for us.

I don't know if pace is the answer per se. We could attack faster simply by playing more direct if we wanted to. Dejagah and Reither aren't Kyle Walker and Aaron Lennon, but they get forward just fine and more effectively than those two. If you look at most of our goals from the run of play in 2013, that's how they've come. Once we settle into our set offense (don't know the proper term, but soccer equivalent of a half court offense in hoops) we're toast. I'm pretty sure Berbatov's wonder volley vs Stoke was the last goal that came from the set offense although one of the penalties might have been earned from it as well. We're not a good counter team, but that's been our best shot at scoring goals...outside of the opposition of course. They've been like Santa this year.

I disagree that we don't have scoring options. The truth is that we don't know what we have b/c outside of Berbatov, almost no one is put into a position that would enable them to score. As a player, you can't get one shot in 3 matches and expect to have any success. You also can't judge your players' goal scoring prowess when you allow the defense to set up before attacking it. Moreso when you're attacking it with only 1 or 2 men in the box. Kacanicklic has scored goals. He's taken some nice shots as well. Duff has scored plenty of goals when inverted. He still has a cannon. Ruiz, well I don't know what the heck is going on with him. Towards the end of last year, prior to his injury, he had started getting into the box and worked some really nice stuff with Clint, resulting in goals for both of them. I'd thought he'd do that with Berbatov but it just hasn't happened. Emanuelson looks like he might have some goals in him if given the chance. Even the Greek tragedy has shown he has a decent shot on him. Reither has scored. And our cb's should be threats, especially on set pieces, but from the looks of things we don't spend any time on that in training.

I do agree that we need to upgrade cm, but simply playing more direct would paper over that weakness whereas this slow, deliberate, possession scheme exposes it more.

For me, our struggles are a result of the way we play, and that's Jol. It's also Berbatov to a great extent, but he's enabled by Jol. And that's the frustrating part....I don't see either going anywhere and I have zero faith in either of them to change. Maybe the board will splash the cash (or the scouts can find the affordable diamonds in the rough) for the type of quality players required to run this offense. Or maybe Schalke or a "lack of ambition" will save us. It feels like "wait til next year" has become, "wait til next window"....and then the next and the next.