Fulham FC | Tactical Breakdown 👀
In a few hours, Fulham and Brentford will fight for a place in the Premier League. Despite having finished the Championship with the same points, they are two totally different teams.
Today, I will breakdown Fulham-Weaknesses+Dominant traits #FFC
S. Parker believes that the 4141/4231 is the system that best supports his Game Idea based on possession.
They value the ball to the point that the way they use it's a problem.
U ask: A problem? How so?
The ball is just a detail of the game, a very important 1, but not the only 1
👉The acceleration moments are the most important to have offensive success.
Of course, it's necessary to have the ball to change the speed of the play, but the FUNDAMENTAL is to understand:
🔸Where.
🔸When.
🔸How.
And that is Fulham's big problem.
Leading to the inability to translate possession into goal opportunities.
They are a very predictable team with the ball, with basically ONE offensive pattern (I am not saying that it is a weak pattern, on the contrary).
The pattern is simple.
They move the ball across the defensive line until they find a way to get it wide. From there they look for a cross to Mitrovic. If they are unable to cross, the wingers (inverted) come inside and look for a shooting opportunity.
There aren’t positional rotations. The Full-Backs have an extremely passive behavior. Generally there is a great aversion to risk, despite having players in the construction phase (Ream), with the ability to burn defensive lines with quality.
Without the ball, Fulham struggles (Especially with Mitrovic). Despite covering a large amount of space, they have little control over that same space. Each player individually has to over a large amount of space.
A big issue when you have Cairney as a CM,
When you have Mitrovic as the 1st player to apply pressure. His unwillingness to condition the opponent's circulation, to press the ball, ends up forcing players from the subsequent lines (CM's, W) to leave their positions to try to pressure the opponent.
Leading to a dreadful vertical compactness when they look to pressure the opponent’s buildup. The ball has the ability to run faster than any player, so individual pressure efforts are always doomed to failure.
The defensive points I just showed + the aversion to risk end up explaining the team’s inability to hurt opponents at the moment of Offensive Transition.
They never leave their comfort zone, even with space (possession ... possession)
Onomah could be the key of Fulham’s offensive scheme today. Not only for the ability to overcome lines with the ball, but mainly for being the only midfielder with the ability to attack gaps that emerge without a ball, drag opponents out of position and open spaces for colleagues
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