Lonesome Crow
Pay at the gate.
Pretty much spot on -
ZeeZeeTopFulham
5 hours ago
There will be some who point to Leicester's utter wretchedness as having a greater effect on the game than our elegance, and whilst I maintain that Fulham performed to a standard many of the sides above us have struggled to replicate consistently, it's an undoubted truth that the decline of this Leicester side has left them perilously balanced over the abyss. It is astonishing that a team can be in May and have no concept of how to manage transitioning between defence and attack - watching their team was like watching a game managed by children, where loose concepts of defence and attack are bandied around and the best players are left to salvage the game through their own devices.
When Leicester needed to harry Fulham off the ball their press was lacklustre and tame. Vardy literally allowed to graze the pitch whilst his teammates worked without him; can a top flight side in a relegation battle afford a free body out of possession? There was confusion between Praet and Maddison over who was defending the right flank, leaving Castagne horribly exposed to Willian and Robinson's attacks. There was complete abdication of duties from Tielemans, strolling around the Cottage aimlessly and barely breaking into a run for most of the game. Soumare committed himself but without care, plunging into tackles carelessly and leaving the defence without protection on numerous occasions. What a mess the defence was, too - Soyuncu made a few tackles before melting into lifeless sludge, Faes was calamitous and looked petrified of Fulham’s attackers and Kristiansen had no clue where Wilson - or anything - was all afternoon.
The three goals might have been a positive for Leicester if they weren’t all scored after Fulham went 4-0 up, took our star performers off and went into “2021-22 Championship party mode”. The attacking was disjointed and wholly dependent on Maddison to function for most of the match, Vardy largely suffocated by Tosin and Diop, Barnes and Praet marshalled nicely by the full-backs and Palhinha devouring the frequent dithering by the midfield. Their attacks were lone sparks disconnected from any coherent strategy and easily smothered by Fulham - hence their inability to garner momentum and frequent weaponisation against them through our counter-attacks. Leno, despite giving away a penalty, also deserves significant credit - he kept us ahead of Leicester with his saves from their errant attacks and earnt instant redemption for fouling Vardy by saving his penalty. At 4-2 a comeback might have been possible - instead, we took the chance to sting a rueful Leicester and made it 5-1 shortly afterwards.
Individual mistakes gave Leicester the goals - doziness from Robinson to let Castagne whip a cross in for Maddison and Barnes, a moment of rashness from Palhinha to fell Maddison and let him score a penalty, a silly Duffy header into space to give Leicester an easy scoring chance in our box. Maddison is the only player who comes out of the game with any credit - he alone unfoxed our defence, often let down by his teammates, and cut a frustrated figure watching the mess unfold around him. Confidence must be in the toilet at the club - so many individual talents playing dismal football, such a loss in the core belief of the team, and the result is a chastening defeat, where even as they score three goals they were rendered worthless in the face of a dismal scoreline. But for the awfulness of the other relegation candidates, Leicester would be destined for the Championship by now.
ZeeZeeTopFulham
5 hours ago
There will be some who point to Leicester's utter wretchedness as having a greater effect on the game than our elegance, and whilst I maintain that Fulham performed to a standard many of the sides above us have struggled to replicate consistently, it's an undoubted truth that the decline of this Leicester side has left them perilously balanced over the abyss. It is astonishing that a team can be in May and have no concept of how to manage transitioning between defence and attack - watching their team was like watching a game managed by children, where loose concepts of defence and attack are bandied around and the best players are left to salvage the game through their own devices.
When Leicester needed to harry Fulham off the ball their press was lacklustre and tame. Vardy literally allowed to graze the pitch whilst his teammates worked without him; can a top flight side in a relegation battle afford a free body out of possession? There was confusion between Praet and Maddison over who was defending the right flank, leaving Castagne horribly exposed to Willian and Robinson's attacks. There was complete abdication of duties from Tielemans, strolling around the Cottage aimlessly and barely breaking into a run for most of the game. Soumare committed himself but without care, plunging into tackles carelessly and leaving the defence without protection on numerous occasions. What a mess the defence was, too - Soyuncu made a few tackles before melting into lifeless sludge, Faes was calamitous and looked petrified of Fulham’s attackers and Kristiansen had no clue where Wilson - or anything - was all afternoon.
The three goals might have been a positive for Leicester if they weren’t all scored after Fulham went 4-0 up, took our star performers off and went into “2021-22 Championship party mode”. The attacking was disjointed and wholly dependent on Maddison to function for most of the match, Vardy largely suffocated by Tosin and Diop, Barnes and Praet marshalled nicely by the full-backs and Palhinha devouring the frequent dithering by the midfield. Their attacks were lone sparks disconnected from any coherent strategy and easily smothered by Fulham - hence their inability to garner momentum and frequent weaponisation against them through our counter-attacks. Leno, despite giving away a penalty, also deserves significant credit - he kept us ahead of Leicester with his saves from their errant attacks and earnt instant redemption for fouling Vardy by saving his penalty. At 4-2 a comeback might have been possible - instead, we took the chance to sting a rueful Leicester and made it 5-1 shortly afterwards.
Individual mistakes gave Leicester the goals - doziness from Robinson to let Castagne whip a cross in for Maddison and Barnes, a moment of rashness from Palhinha to fell Maddison and let him score a penalty, a silly Duffy header into space to give Leicester an easy scoring chance in our box. Maddison is the only player who comes out of the game with any credit - he alone unfoxed our defence, often let down by his teammates, and cut a frustrated figure watching the mess unfold around him. Confidence must be in the toilet at the club - so many individual talents playing dismal football, such a loss in the core belief of the team, and the result is a chastening defeat, where even as they score three goals they were rendered worthless in the face of a dismal scoreline. But for the awfulness of the other relegation candidates, Leicester would be destined for the Championship by now.
