[Albion] Welbeck 2

[nwgull]

Or maybe because Fulham were extremely good at stopping us playing our game? They seem to be getting very little credit on here with people preferring to dig out Potter and most of the players.

That's certainly a possibility - Fulham did press very energetically and the only player that seemed to be able to give himself any time on the ball was Mc Argie. It's certainly not as simple as suggesting that Welbeck has a magic presence on the pitch without which we can't play.

 

[el punal]

48 hours to find a backup to Welbeck, who do you go for?

Leon Best?

 

[boik]

I’ve a more simplistic view that EPL games are won in the midfield, numbers are key to that. Trippier and others commented on the nightmare of our swarming midfield.

The only exceptions to that:
- you’re playing far inferior opposition so can carry two upfront.
- you’re forwards are so good and pacey that they effectively help the midfield when you haven’t got the ball (Mane and Salah).

Hence why virtually the entire EPL only plays one true striker - Haaland, Mitrovic, Welbeck, Jesus.

That’s my layman’s take.

We played lots of midfielders last night!

 

[el punal]

That's certainly a possibility - Fulham did press very energetically and the only player that seemed to be able to give himself any time on the ball was Mc Argie. It's certainly not as simple as suggesting that Welbeck has a magic presence on the pitch without which we can't play.

I was chatting with a Fulham fan after the game. His take was that Fulham deliberately were in our faces from the off and just wouldn’t let us settle. It worked - we looked rattled and for the first time this season our defence looked shaky. He also said when we brought on the three subs - Welbeck, Lamptey, Mitoma - we were much more dangerous. So from his perspective it was just a case of Fulham just hanging on to the bitter end, which they did frustratingly well.

 

[nwgull]

I was chatting with a Fulham fan after the game. His take was that Fulham deliberately were in our faces from the off and just wouldn’t let us settle. It worked - we looked rattled and for the first time this season our defence looked shaky. He also said when we brought on the three subs - Welbeck, Lamptey, Mitoma - we were much more dangerous. So from his perspective it was just a case of Fulham just hanging on to the bitter end, which they did frustratingly well.

I thought the pace out wide definitely added an extra factor to our attack; although it has to be said that we still didn't seriously test their keeper for the last 20 mins. One frustrating aspect of bringing on Lamptey so late was that within about 5 mins he forced a cynical foul from his opposite man with pure pace, which had him booked. Had that been earlier in the game he'd have had much more time to make it count.

 

[Weststander]

We played lots of midfielders last night!

4-5-1 is a winning formula.

 

[giveusfalmerplease]

Missed the second half and v confused. Either welbeck came on as sub or he's out till January?
Anyway I was initially shocked to see us play a false nine, then I consider all the following:
1) no way we can expect Welbs to play Saturday, Tuesday, Sunday
2) Welbs hadn't actually scored any of our goals this season
3) man city seem to do alright without a number nine!
4) but..why the F didn't potter at least bring undav on at half time when it was already clear our formation wasn't working. Would have subbed Mwepu who was frankly useless and after watching his close up smiling after yet another bad pass you sort of wanted to slap him and get on with the game...
Hope this is not the shape of things to come. Next up, very out of form Leicester but they are one of our bogie teams so would take a draw now..

 

[southstandandy]

To be fair we rarely ever sign recognised strikers and Potter seems happy with this and to sometimes go 5-5-0 in his formations. It's worked in the past and with very limited options this season up front, I fully expect to see last nights formation played many more times. All 5 of our goals this season have effectively come from midfield.

Undav in his brief cameo didn't look great but neither did anybody last night.

Certainly not expecting us to to get another forward in by tomorrow night (regardless of whether I'd like to see an addition in that dept). Time to give Ferguson a chance ahead of Undav in my view.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Missed the second half and v confused. Either welbeck came on as sub or he's out till January?
Anyway I was initially shocked to see us play a false nine, then I consider all the following:
1) no way we can expect Welbs to play Saturday, Tuesday, Sunday
2) Welbs hadn't actually scored any of our goals this season
3) man city seem to do alright without a number nine!
4) but..why the F didn't potter at least bring undav on at half time when it was already clear our formation wasn't working. Would have subbed Mwepu who was frankly useless and after watching his close up smiling after yet another bad pass you sort of wanted to slap him and get on with the game...
Hope this is not the shape of things to come. Next up, very out of form Leicester but they are one of our bogie teams so would take a draw now..

When someone suggested he was out till the New Year others simply accepted it, even though he clearly came on as a sub last night. It's a bit like when Labour caused the global financial crash.

So here we are, no points, bottom of the league, and what do you expect with No Striker?

Oh, and we were fine up to half time. Two bits of stupidity in the second half cost us the game.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Or maybe because Fulham were extremely good at stopping us playing our game? They seem to be getting very little credit on here with people preferring to dig out Potter and most of the players.

The formation stopped us playing our game. Fulham must have thought it was Christmas. When I saw Leeds against Chelsea I was worried about how much they might press us but we got round it by often having wide overloads, particularly on our left. But if that wasn't on we had a ball down the middle to Welbeck on. The break where Solly was one on one is a classic example. We block a shot and then have Welbeck to aim for as a clearance. He holds it up well, finds Gross who has space to play an unbelievable pass and Solly's in. Last night that ball was never on. Fulham were also happy to play and press wide. They had the beating of Solly and Pervis on the flanks and, like us against Leeds, used a nine to bully our centre backs. Also we never had anyone in the box when we did get up the field. We looked waaaaay better when Lamptey and Welbeck came on because we suddenly had pace on the right and a fulcrum.

No one is digging Potter out. It's healthy criticism. He got it wrong as everyone does from time to time. Far better to learn from it than whitewash it.

 

[CaptainDaveUK]

To be fair to Potter and our team, maybe the first half was more about trying to control the game. Near the end of the first half, Fulham started to slow a little, although they did press well all game, which allowed us more possession and we looked good in the final third. Clear cut chances for both teams were few and far between. The game turned on it’s head with a slightly fortuitous shot / cross and unlucky own goal. I suspect Potter was planning to attack them final 30 minutes, when their players had tired, and duly brought on Welbeck, Undav, Mitoma and Lamptey. We looked a far more attacking threat but honestly we can’t play three games in a week and expect this kind of attacking play all the time. We need to rotate the squad, certainly for players like Welbeck. On another night we could easily have come away with a point and everyone would have been pleased. As it is we move on to the next game, and hopefully bounce back against Leicester. UTA.

 

[Seaview Seagull]

It seems clear that GP accepts that Welbeck can't be expected to play every game and hence playing the so called false 9. Whilst clearly there is no need to press the panic button it suggests that it would be a good idea to find someone who could be a back up to DW. lHe doesn't need to be a super star or a 15 goal a season man just someone who can hold up the ball and give others the chance to move past and score.

Having said that, I see last night as a blip in the road. Credit to Mitrovic for an excellent all round performance especially unsettling our defence. I expect GP will be talking to Webster and Pervis about their performances. Webster was uncharacteristically panicky and Pervis needs to understand the speed of the PL and stop playing the suicidal cross field balls in our own half.

 

[Machiavelli]

To be fair to Potter and our team, maybe the first half was more about trying to control the game. Near the end of the first half, Fulham started to slow a little, although they did press well all game, which allowed us more possession and we looked good in the final third. Clear cut chances for both teams were few and far between. The game turned on it’s head with a slightly fortuitous shot / cross and unlucky own goal. I suspect Potter was planning to attack them final 30 minutes, when their players had tired, and duly brought on Welbeck, Undav, Mitoma and Lamptey. We looked a far more attacking threat but honestly we can’t play three games in a week and expect this kind of attacking play all the time. We need to rotate the squad, certainly for players like Welbeck. On another night we could easily have come away with a point and everyone would have been pleased. As it is we move on to the next game, and hopefully bounce back against Leicester. UTA.

Spot on. Spurs now control the first half, keeping tight and doing all they can to not concede, while tiring out the opposition. I think this is what GP planned to do and, as much as we didn't look much cop in the first half, they didn't have a shot on goal. All that changed within 5 minutes of the restart, compounded soon after. We had to change after the og, but there's zero chance that we wouldn't have changed personnel -- and, most likely formation -- if Fulham didn't get those early second half goals.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Or maybe because Fulham were extremely good at stopping us playing our game? They seem to be getting very little credit on here with people preferring to dig out Potter and most of the players.

Lots of players who so far this season have been exceptional, underperformed.

Fulham stopped us playing - and they played well.

Potter (who gets SO much right) got the team / formation wrong - Fulham's weak point is their defence and we played without a striker.

That sums it up for me.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

It's certainly disappointing that Undav apparently isn't ready to start a game. It may have been a tactical move to have an extra midfielder, but in the end Mwepu just seemed to be playing the Welbeck role, but nowhere near as well.

 

[chrisg]

With 3 strikers bought recently on loan in Europe, maybe one of them needs a recall in January.
Surely one of them must be capable of standing in for Welbeck, or why buy them.

 

[Bridcutt]

Isn't this just pathetic? We've sold White, Bissouma, Cucurella and Maupay for a combined £140m, yes we have bought some players with that money (Pervis etc) however to go into another premier league season with just Welbeck (injury prone) and Undav (unproven) is just awful. We solely lost this game because of having no striker, it was obvious to everyone during the first half how poor we were. It's the same discussion every year, we weren't even that bad last night, just poor individual performances

 

[Mellotron]

Even if it was a tactical choice to start no strikers last night, for me it’s definitely still a concern that we have 2 senior strikers, 1 of whom is injury prone and the other is totally untested at this level.

 

[southstandandy]

Isn't this just pathetic? We've sold White, Bissouma, Cucurella and Maupay for a combined £140m, yes we have bought some players with that money (Pervis etc) however to go into another premier league season with just Welbeck (injury prone) and Undav (unproven) is just awful. We solely lost this game because of having no striker, it was obvious to everyone during the first half how poor we were. It's the same discussion every year, we weren't even that bad last night, just poor individual performances

I don't disagree, but GP doesn't seem interested in main strikers, prefering to rely on attacking midfielders and has done so largely since he's been here. Not expecting that to change anytime soon.

 

[Eric Youngs Contact Lens]

See Kalajdsik ha signed for Wolves : £15m. Thought he might be a decent option, albeit only seen him playing for Austria. Were we linked at one point?