[Albion] Player ratings v Fulham

[Eric Youngs Contact Lens]

I don't disagree with the majority of sentiments, but I do want to temper Dunk was "bullied" by Mitrovic. Dunk and Webster were undoubtedly unsettled by him, but that was always going to be the case - physically he is very difficult, almost impossible to play against and Dunk (and Duffy) has certainly struggled in previous encounters but that ties in with how the game has unfolded - when we have dominated, Mitrovic has been largely anonymous. and the same in reverse. He is playing very well at the moment. BUT, whilst he caused them big problems I am not sure I can agree that he bullied them. His goal had a huge slice of luck to end up at his feet in front of goal, can't remember Sanchez having to make any kind of serious save from him, or anyone else, which suggests that chances were very few and far between at both ends.
I am not trying to argue that either Dunk or Webster played well - they didn't - but that seemed more about being unsettled (yes, in part caused by Mitroivc presence) but that was also spread across the team. I haven't seen Veltman struggle as much as he did vs. the wide man, Pervis was struggling with the pace of the game , Sanchez had moments and I think we generally couldn't get a foothold because of how they set up out of possession and how unsettled we were when turning the ball over as a result. This left us exposed and ideal for the quick breaks that made our back line look unusually hasty and stretched. I think both Dunk and Webster competed with Mitrovic, but you have to accept that often you can't win the first ball against him..

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

No one better than a 5 and when Potter says we didn't deserve anything as we were poor he needs to include himself in that assessment. We had to go back to playing slow from the back as there was no outlet up front. Therefore we had to resort back to the tactics that weren't working for periods of last season.

We also slipped back to being too nice again. The tactical foul is something adopted by the top sides we failed on numerous occasions to "stop" a Fulham attack in the middle of the park. Mitrovic is so easy to wind up yet not once did we but him on his backside in a safe area. It highlights to me why Dunk and Webster can't handle a powerful quick lump against them.

 

[Wardy's twin]

No one better than a 5 and when Potter says we didn't deserve anything as we were poor he needs to include himself in that assessment. We had to go back to playing slow from the back as there was no outlet up front. Therefore we had to resort back to the tactics that weren't working for periods of last season.

We also slipped back to being too nice again. The tactical foul is something adopted by the top sides we failed on numerous occasions to "stop" a Fulham attack in the middle of the park. Mitrovic is so easy to wind up yet not once did we but him on his backside in a safe area. It highlights to me why Dunk and Webster can't handle a powerful quick lump against them.

Bit unfair on macallister who played well while those around him didn't.

 

[Wardy's twin]

If Dunk's block goes the other side of the post then people's marks would be high. If Undav scores then everyone's marks would be a lot higher even though our game play would have been the same.

I don't think we were outplayed but possibly out fought and and out thought and the difference was a freak own goal.

There were some individual poor performances - Webster was poor and we are not seeing any runs or decent passing, I would probably have taken him off and moved Veltman (a much better defender) into CB.

Estupiñán made a key mistake leading to the goal. March needed to score rather than miss.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Bit unfair on macallister who played well while those around him didn't.

Probably right yes.

 

[bluenitsuj]

Webster was awful.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Couple of things I would add into the mix from last night, rather than necessarily disagreeing with what has already been said. The ref was I think taking his first premier league game (is that right?). Anyway I thought he was poor, particularly allowing tackles from behind. I think we were on the end of 6 poor decisions in the first half and then he was generous with two our way. This would not have helped the likes of Trossard who is unused to playing with his back to goal and may have contributed to the failure of the false 9 plan last night.

I don't think Estupian or Mwepu are bad players. They both just looked in need of game time last night, hopefully both will improve.Fulham were hanging on desperately at the end and their fans who had been really quiet throughout the game, reacted as if they had won the cup. Last night wasn't our night, but we have become a big scalp for clubs like Fulham, which in itself represents huge progress. Finally Mitrovic may be a hard man centre forward, when he is knocking other people over. If he takes the slightest knock, he whines like a 6 year old at the ref.

 

[Swansman]

Couple of things I would add into the mix from last night, rather than necessarily disagreeing with what has already been said. The ref was I think taking his first premier league game (is that right?). Anyway I thought he was poor, particularly allowing tackles from behind. I think we were on the end of 6 poor decisions in the first half and then he was generous with two our way. This would not have helped the likes of Trossard who is unused to playing with his back to goal and may have contributed to the failure of the false 9 plan last night.

I don't think Estupian or Mwepu are bad players. They both just looked in need of game time last night, hopefully both will improve.Fulham were hanging on desperately at the end and their fans who had been really quiet throughout the game, reacted as if they had won the cup. Last night wasn't our night, but we have become a big scalp for clubs like Fulham, which in itself represents huge progress. Finally Mitrovic may be a hard man centre forward, when he is knocking other people over. If he takes the slightest knock, he whines like a 6 year old at the ref.

Thought the ref was great, especially considering it was his first game.

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

Not wishing to dig him out, but It looks like when Caicedo has an off game then the team will struggle badly.

Last night he won 2 of 8 ground duels and 0 of 2 in the air.

He's so important for us already.

 

[Eric Youngs Contact Lens]

Thought the ref was great, especially considering it was his first game.

I was at the game, so keen to get a TV viewers perspective too.. He seemed to let a lot go, relatively speaking. Not sure I felt we were any harder done by than Fulham, but Fulham were very quick to get onto him as players, annd eventually Dunk did so too - I guess letting more go is more in line with the directive, but a lot of stuff I think would have been given in other games I have been to this season were let go.
I am interested to see if the Undav effort that hit the post would have stood? It looked a mile offside in the ground and I assumed it would have been reviewed and chalked off (and Undav seemed to think he ws too) , but did replays show it to be close or even on-side?

 

[Uh_huh_him]

I was at the game, so keen to get a TV viewers perspective too.. He seemed to let a lot go, relatively speaking. Not sure I felt we were any harder done by than Fulham, but Fulham were very quick to get onto him as players, annd eventually Dunk did so too - I guess letting more go is more in line with the directive, but a lot of stuff I think would have been given in other games I have been to this season were let go.
I am interested to see if the Undav effort that hit the post would have stood? It looked a mile offside in the ground and I assumed it would have been reviewed and chalked off (and Undav seemed to think he ws too) , but did replays show it to be close or even on-side?

I was at the game too and similarly felt he was a mile off, but as the Lino was insistent that he was onside, when the players remonstrated with him, I assumed i had missed something.
Replays have shown that he was in fact 2 miles offside.

 

[Swansman]

I was at the game, so keen to get a TV viewers perspective too.. He seemed to let a lot go, relatively speaking. Not sure I felt we were any harder done by than Fulham, but Fulham were very quick to get onto him as players, annd eventually Dunk did so too - I guess letting more go is more in line with the directive, but a lot of stuff I think would have been given in other games I have been to this season were let go.
I am interested to see if the Undav effort that hit the post would have stood? It looked a mile offside in the ground and I assumed it would have been reviewed and chalked off (and Undav seemed to think he ws too) , but did replays show it to be close or even on-side?

Yup he let a lot go and I liked it... was the type of game that could very easily been completely ruined by free-kicks each and every minute.

Undav was extremely offside. After the call, the linesman was zoomed in and it sort of looked like VAR was telling him "you're a ****ing idiot".

 

[Gabbafella]

Just another quick score to give, I thought the ref was excellent, motm.
Our travelling fans sounded great on TV, well done to anyone who went and has a sore throat today.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

The ref had an excellent game. That can be easier to see on tv than in the ground. If anything Fulham would have more to complain about, but that’s only marginal. I also disagree about Potter’s tactics. He flexibly changed formation to nullify Fulham’s threat but there were just too many individual errors. Beaten by the better team on the night.

Starting with a false 9 against a weak CB pairing is not a good tactic, and arguably this was proven very quickly, as with no pressure or threat they were able to squeeze higher up.

Re the ref, I’m not sure if the Fulham play acting came over or the constant haranguing, but if he acted immediately he would not have had more issues further down the line. Weak IMO.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Yup. I'll go with this. We weren't good, and Fulham weren't that much better either, despite being strong in the midfield battle, impressive work rate and intensity. Their goals were lucky. We hit the post twice in one passage of play. Posters giving players 2s and 3s demonstrate a lot more about them rather than the players' performance on the pitch. Some people are just bad losers.

Maybe, but even approaching 24 hours later, 4 for Mwepu is generous.

 

[boik]

Sanchez - 3 atrocious on the ball
Veltman - 6 meh
Dunk - 2 well i think we know who won the dunk/mitro battle
Webster - 2 horrendous passing
March - 6 unlucky with the header, did some things well and others not so well
Mac Allister - 7 actually our best player tonight i thought, played his role very well and scored the penalty
Caicedo - 4 he is human after all
Mwepu - 1
Estupinan - 5 absolutely chaotic
Gross - 5 he plays best when he has a #9 to play off. not at wing back, not as a false #9, not in a deep lying role. we've had five years to recognise this ffs!
Trossard - 3 nothing came off tonight

Welbeck - 5 didn't get into the game as I'd have liked him to
Mitoma - 5 ditto
Lamptey - 5 his dribbling isn't anywhere near as good as his speed
Undav - 2 needs time but really doesn't look too promising

Bloody hell. I might expect scores like that if we'd lost 9-0, but, really??

 

[macbeth]

Bloody hell. I might expect scores like that if we'd lost 9-0, but, really??

yes. 5 is average, a lot of them were way below average last night. not that hard to comprehend

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

5 games, 10 points, how did we ever manage that with such a shit bunch of players?

 

[tigertim68]

How about rating the manager , again against a team not as good as Brighton he fails to employ the right team and tactics , probably the worse team we have played this season so far , and like all the seasons passed we lose , this is potters biggest weakness can’t beat the bottom teams

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

I think a lot of credit needs to go to Fulham for how 'bad' we played. They were well organised and worked relentlessly giving us no space or time. They made it uncomfortable for us ad made it very difficult to get into any kind of rhythm. It reminded me a bit of an F.A cup tie when a lower league team plays a team from a higher league. Which is either a compliment to us or means a lot of teams will struggle against them.

I thought the ref was o.k. He tried to let things go but it felt very much like we got the benefit of most of those decisions.

I also thought we weren't a million miles away from a hard fought draw which would have been a very good point. I've not seen a replay of the first goal but it looked like the Fulham player shanked his shot which turned into a perfect pass to Mitrovic(although how he appeared to be in so much space is a different question) and the second was an unfortunate own goal. A foot either side and it probably either get saved or hits the post/goes wide.

So I'll give the team a 6 overall.