Cottage POV

Wow, not sure any of us expected that from the Etihad today. A terrific team performance for Fulham didn’t reap the rewards of points, unfortunately elite moments made the difference with a gorgeous touch and finish on the edge of the box from Mateo Kovacic to give City the lead, followed by a Jeremy Doku stunner took a result from Fulham’s grasps with chance after chance passing them by. An international break follows with Fulham sitting 6th as I type, two unfortunate single goal losses to two of the anointed “big 6” and points dropped to a last gasp Danny Ings equaliser now has you wondering “what if” but also “what could be” as the season progresses.

The early news on Saturday was the single change of Sander Berge coming into the midfield in place of Emile Smith Rowe, I’m glad I’m no longer on Twitter as I’m sure there was outrage at the lack of our shiny new play thing. Tough game to judge the Norwegian but I’ve seen better displays, though will bare in mind his lack of a pre-season and meaningful minutes within the system; on top of that, the asterisk of playing the benchmark of the league away from home and an untypical look to the side.

Silva has frequently tinkered with his shape in these difficult grindy fixtures and a couple early doors caught the eye. Firstly, the phenom Adama Traore playing down the left up against the equally excellent Rico Lewis and it was clear the Spaniard’s freakish athleticism was to be a big outlet for Fulham. But it wasn’t just a swap of wingers, not only was Alex Iwobi moved to the right hand side, he was flipped over and played very deep, almost as a right wing back which was familiar to how Bobby Decordova-Reid would be utilised in these sorts of fixtures. Out of possession, Fulham formed a 541 instead of their typical 442 with Andreas Pereira moving to the right hand side of midfield, this low block cut out any form of clear cut chance for Manchester City though there had to be a bedding in period with our hosts starting quickly.

That quick City start did see Fulham struggle with some quick interchanges in the first 10-20 minutes with Bernardo Silva and in particular Phil Foden finding pockets of space between the Fulham midfield and defence which led to Erling Haaland taking all 4 of his shots of the afternoon and had me fearing the worst. Once we settled down, Fulham were more familiar to Marco Silva’s previous 3 seasons at the club with a 4231, Andreas taking up the 10 in and around Raul Jimenez with Berge and Lukic provided the base of midfield. There were moments where we flirted with the current iteration of a 433, Berge dropping in to collect the ball as the central deep lying playmaker, Andreas dropping in as an advanced 8 on the right hand and Sasa Lukic nudging forward to the left hand side; though this was in few periods of attempted possession retention. What I will say for Sander Berge is he displayed his physical presence from set pieces defensively.

I wanted to speak specifically for a pair of quality performances down the Fulham left (City right). Whilst Adama Traore was unbelievable on the transition, sure he should have scored but that’s an all time individual performance that displayed a reminder that football isn’t just an intrinsic tactical battle that nerds like myself enjoy. This is a sport, a physical endeavor and sometimes games will come down to who is quicker, faster, stronger in moments and on other days, Adama Traore has a hat-trick and Fulham come away from the Etihad with 3 deserved points. This isn’t to discredit his competitor though, Rico Lewis I thought was wonderful all afternoon for City on the complete opposite of the athletic profile. Lewis looking like Philip Lahm popped up everywhere providing a useful rotation in possession and being a player you had to monitor. I don’t think he’s just a “system player” as has become vogue with the success of Pep and his protégé Mikel Arteta, I think Rico Lewis is a footballer in the purest form and another positive of this growing strength in depth for English footballing development.

Speaking about the goals, whilst Raul Jimenez’s backheel assist will draw attention, I thought Alex Iwobi’s little clipped ball into him was superb. I urge you to watch it back, it sort of had to be a perfect pass and it really was. The beauty of Raul’s backheel is its instinctiveness, I don’t think he looks at the situation at all but he couldn’t have picked the ball up and thrown it better. He’s been bemoaned for his fetish for a rabona, but that eccentric willing to try will draw out something like that from our Mexican no.9 whose run of form has gotten him back into the Mexico squad for the upcoming international break.

An unfortunate deflected equaliser for City, frustratingly quick and from a breakdown of a corner. It was a bit of a shit happens goal, could argue get out to him quicker, I’ll leave that to the coaches who know the defensive corner responsibilities. The second goal from Mateo Kovacic was certainly more frustrating, whilst its phenomenal touch and strike from the Croatian, it’s City picking up an errant Fulham pass up field that led to the goal, and when you have both Berge and Lukic in the middle, you’d hope to defend that space a bit better but how frustrated can you be when the majority of the game, City’s goal threat was nullified. In fact, the shots for their 3 goals total a sum 0.26 expected goals. Whatever your thoughts on the “xG” stat, it was an elite level moment from Mateo Kovacic that shows why they are arguably the best football team in the world.

To develop more on the xG stat, Fulham won the overall game on xG (1.5 to our 2.4) which means little when you lose 3-2 but there was a real aura of control about Fulham. It’s a word I use when I talk about Marco Silva a lot, the entire system is based around control no matter the opposition. Fulham want to control the ball, but also the space and manipulate the space the opposition are offering. When Fulham defended yesterday, it was largely controlling where they wanted City to go rather than vice versa. You’re “happy” to let City take digs from distance rather than allowing the frightening Erling Haaland clear cut opportunities, unfortunately for Fulham, that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City just find ways to win games.

Fulham sometimes beat themselves when it comes to decision making, seemingly in these games against big opposition as well. At Anfield in the Carabao Cup first leg last season, the famous Bobby Decordova-Reid shot on goal rather than a ball across for a free Andreas Pereira. Then this season we had the aforementioned Andreas who couldn’t find Alex Iwobi when Fulham were 2 on 1 against Harry Maguire, whilst perhaps more so an execution issue than a decision making one, it was played appalling by Pereira who made the defensive moment easier for Harry Maguire. And then yesterday at the Etihad, another counter led by Adama Traore, he finds Raul and instead of popping it one more to Perera (yes, he’s involved in all 3), he takes the shot which is blocked but to me it felt clear that a nicely weighted ball to Andreas and it’s at least a shot on target.

It was a great compliment to our Spanish winger Adama that Pep brought on Kyle Walker for Manual Akanji to help deal with his pace and never, ever before have I seen Walker left like he was by Traore for the hat-trick of his excellent opportunities. Even with Walker holding a 5 yard head start, Adama overtook him and left him for dead, it was one of the freakiest displays of athleticism I’ve seen in football since maybe some prime Cristiano Ronaldo leading for headers.

I’ve jumped around a little bit I accept there. I noted some things during the game that weren’t put on the highlight package, at least the one on Match of the Day. There was a Calvin Bassey foray forward which didn’t lead to a shot on goal but he found Alex Iwobi across the field nicely but the pass was just behind Emile Smith Rowe which saw another strong attacking opportunity pass us by. And shortly after, Raul Jimenez’s shot from an Antonee Robinson cross was blocked excellently by Josko Gvardiol and it felt like Fulham were going to equalise any moment… And then a Jeremy Doku stunner “won it” (as my notes during the game says). Sometimes you do just have to put your hands up and say superb, it’s possibly his best strike since arriving in Manchester and it was really a moment where Fulham could feel aggrieved. Feel aggrieved that even with the 3 conceded, Fulham created more than enough to win the game which is a mindblowing statement on its own.

Silva had made a triple sub about 5 minutes before Doku’s screamer, and two of them connected to pull one back for Fulham in the dying minutes. Arsenal loanee Reiss Nelson was found in a pocket by former Arsenal player Emile Smith Rowe. Nelson’s cross was brought under control beautifully by Rodrigo Muniz who spun and dispatched uncontested, an excellent moment to get Muniz up and running for the season and another goal contribution for Nelson who may feel like a must keep by the end of his loan.

The grandstand finish wasn’t to be but to be disappointed by a loss by a goal at the Etihad against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City speaks volumes to a monstrous performance by Marco Silva’s side, who must be given a new deal and the keys to Craven Cottage. If you weren’t convinced, let this hopefully help, Pep went 5 at the back taking Phil Foden off for John Stones, saw his goalkeeper booked for timewasting and seeing the referees book himself. City were uncomfortable for the entire 90 minutes and know they were in a game there. Silva’s mentality will be disappointment, sadness the performance didn’t lead to points on the table ahead of the international break and that attitude has been infectious to the entire squad who only look upwards and believe in everything. I for one am proud of Fulham Football Club with Marco Silva at the helm.

Up the Fulham.