Fulham's evolution
After struggling against the top half last season, Marco Silva changed his playing style and is reaping the rewards for his ingenuity.
Fulham in the 22/23 season were 9th in the league for goals scored and were a respectable 11th in goals conceded. However, this does not tell us the entire truth of their promotion season. They overperformed in their underlying statistics which matched the eye test. They were built on a fun transitional game which was helped by having Mitrovic who was finally finding his feet in the Premier League.
The most worrying stat for Fulham lied in the xGA table where they were bottom in the league supposed to have conceded roughly 71 goals but only conceding 53 times. This is attributed to the brilliant performance of Bernd Leno who was brought in from Arsenal.
Leno produced the second highest number of saves per 90 while Fulham faced the third highest Shots on Target per 90(SoTA). This was an overperformance which helped keep Fulham up. However such overperformance is not sustainable and big changes were required.
The issues for Fulham were pretty obvious. The table above taken from TIFO shows that Fulham performed better against lower mid table sides. The best description for these issues against better opposition is attributed to their set up out of possession.
Fulham, out of possession ensured that the pivot player is marked at all times. They do this by marshalling one side of the pitch while leaving the other side unmarked. They retreat into a situational 4-4-2 when out of possession and decide to press the flank with the ball is.
Against the bottom half teams where players are not as comfortable on the ball it becomes effective at blocking short passing lanes forcing the opponents into long balls which their centre backs sweep up. Now against stronger sides multiple problems arise when the ball is switched effectively.
As displayed below by Arsenal. The ball switched by Saliba is sensational and allows Arsenal to gain numerical advantage on the other side of the pitch and lead to a dangerous scenario which they put away to make it 2-0.
How did Marco Silva respond to such a massive issue in his setup?
Defensive changes were necessary and Calvin Bassey was brought from Ajax to replace Tim Ream. Timothy Castagne was poached from relegated Leicester to provide cover to the excellent Kenny Tete. Bassey offers more on the ball and is adept at defending channels.
The biggest loss to Fulham was Mitrovic moving on to the Saudi League for a club record fee. They managed to keep hold of Silva who had offers from the Saudi League and Palhinha who was integral to their survival.
They tried to replace Mitrovic with a premier league veteran in Raul Jimenez and two interesting purchases in Adama Traore and Alex Iwobi.
How do you improve a massive issue with your set up and evolve to become a regular member of the premier league?
To answer this question we take a trip to Liverpool and Forest
Liverpool (A)
We see that Fulham line up in a familiar 4-2-3-1 shape. A constant theme and a principle of this evolved Fulham is asking their fullbacks to push up on the wing and asking their wingers to take up a more central position.
Liverpool have changed dramatically this season. While they maintain their high intensity press and direct attacks they do it in a very different manner with Trent often inverting from his full back position to dictate play from the middle.
Fulham’s press targets the pivot player and they always had an eye on Trent throughout the game. Allowing the likes of Macalister, Gravenberch and Szoboszlai to face their makeshift midfield of the non pressing winger and the two sitting midfielders.
This worked quite effectively as it forced Liverpool to try direct passes to the channels with a regular theme of Van Dijk to Salah who was being well marshalled by Robinson.
I want to draw attention to two players, Alex Iwobi and Antonee Robinson. Iwobi a bag of tricks who failed to live up at Arsenal is finding his feet at Fulham and on several occasions proved to be a tricky customer. He had two responsibilities to marshal Trent out of possession and to carry and retain the ball in possession.
Iwobi did his job meticulously and breathed life into several of Fulham’s forages into the Liverpool half and was extremely important in both of their goals. Robinson on the other hand was dealt with the tough task of facing continuous 1v1s versus Salah and did admirably keeping the Egyptian quiet while being an integral part to their wing play.
Klopp made several changes to try and nullify the problems that Fulham were causing. He moved Trent completely into midfield brought in Konate, Gomez to deal with Iwobi on the channel and Gakpo to stretch Fulham’s makeshift midfield with runs behind their holding players. Liverpool had greater control of the game and created more chances. They won the game due to some incredible ball striking(twice from Trent once from Endo and once from Macalister).
They restricted Liverpool’s clear cut chances by defending their box well and forcing Liverpool to shoot from long. Silva couldn’t deal with the changes from Klopp due to his centre backs not being able to back up their press. Bassey was played uncomfortably on the right hand side limiting the angles that he could pass through. There were changes needed.
Forest(H)
Against a team that the Cottagers were expected to do well against Silva chose a more technical side. He dropped Ream for Tosin and brought in Cairney. Willian was introduced into the side for his hard work and to be an outlet in possession.
These changes allowed his team to execute his vision superbly and put out their best display to date. Silva prefers his Strikers to be brilliant target men capable of an all round game with the ability to score goals and help the team out of possession by being a focal point.
To overload the central part of the pitch against the two defensive minded midfielders Jimenez consistently dropped deep between the lines. A keen eye can notice in the picture below that their wingers initially stayed wide before allowing their full backs to overlap them. Now with the opposition CB’s reluctant to leave their position and follow Jimenez there is always an easy wall pass.
They take the game to Forest consistently utilizing clever runs into spaces between the centre backs and full backs winning 5-0. An example is shown below where the ball is worked out wide to Wilson who plays it to the back post where Iwobi finishes emphatically.
Out of Possession Modifications
This is a representational image of a team trying to build up in a 2-3-5 and how Marco Silva sets his team up to counter the same. Fulham no longer press in a situational 442 instead choosing to have a 4231 shape out of possession where they are able to press the progressing midfielder quite effectively.
The decision to have more mobile defenders who are adept at defending the channel allows them to step out and deal with scenarios like a Striker dropping to receive the ball.
This is how they press if the ball is played to the Left CB.
Now suppose the team plays in a 3 2 5. The principles remain the same but now the press is changed to stop easy passes through the lines.
To show how much of an effect change in structure had we look at matches against Manchester United and Arsenal
Manchester United (A)
Erik Ten Hag’s Manchester United have several issues. They choose to play in a low block and try to win the ball as high as possible leading to several gaps in midfield. Fulham lost Palhinha to injury prior to this match causing Sasa Lukic to start next to Reed.
(Fulham’s OOP structure)
United lack a proper build up structure and choose to go direct to their pacey forwards. Anticipating this Fulham had a trigger on either fullbacks. Where they went man to man versus United’s forwards and marked the progressing players out of the game. Lindelof who is naturally a right footer is awkward at receiving the ball on the left side which triggers Fulham’s press.
Robinson and Castagne were excellent throughout the match and nullified the United wingers. United’s midfield often became extremely spread and allowed runners to roam freely. This lead to multiple instances where a Fulham player was running onto a 3v3 or a 4v4.
One player I would like to point out is the incredible 22 year old Brazilian striker Rodrigo Muniz. He has been sensational and for his troubles has won the PL Player of the Month for March. In 21 appearances he has racked up 8 goals and an assist.
(Muniz battling and winning the duel, playing a lovely ball to Robinson)
He was a constant thorn for United CBs especially Varane who struggled to deal with him all game. His presence up top kept United on their toes and he caused extremely experienced centre backs to make mistakes. His overall contribution throughout the match was exemplary and he was unlucky to leave without a goal.
Something that must not be underestimated is the mentality shift in the Fulham side. After two nervy games at Old Trafford last season they were determined to set things right. They chose to play more adventurous and daring. This pass from Tosin breaks the lines and allows them into situational advantages.
This was a theme for the afternoon as the Cottagers deservedly came away with a 2-1 victory.
Arsenal(H)
Fulham had an impressive draw against the Gunners at the start of the season holding them to a draw after being reduced to 10 men for the last 10 minutes. They were resolute and refused to be beaten. Arsenal were on the end of a disappointing December after losing to West Ham at home. Zinchenko, Trossard and Jesus were dropped and Kiwior, Havertz and Nketiah replaced them. Meanwhile Fulham gave Perreira a rest and allowed Decodova Reid to play who was instrumental to their win.
Fulham’s principles of inverting their wingers to allow their fullbacks to burst forward are again visible here. Jimenez also chose to drop in at times to provide an option.. Castagne and Robinson pushing up high and wide caused a lot of problems for Arsenal’s wingers.
Arsenal desperately miss Jurrien Timber, unfortunate to succumb to an ACL and have had to resort to using their left winger as a player to support and hold width as overlaps and are severely restricted. This allows Fulham to double up on the left side which was a continuous theme throughout the game.
A theme of Arsenal’s attacks are the movement of the right hand triangle of Saka White and Odegaard which is extremely tough to stop. They force a numerical advantage at the backpost creating good opportunities to oncoming attackers. Tosin and Castagne were switched on and dealt with it admirably throughout the game.
By allowing a left footer to play on the left side the angles become more favourable to pass and progress. They beat the press and are able to create an overload on the wings creating another scoring opportunity.
Fulham scored their equalizer when Bassey robbed Saka off the ball and Willian was picked out by Iwobi who constantly rotated with Cairney throughout the game. Cairney’s off the ball movement was superb who put it on a plate for Jimenez to finish.
Tomiyasu replaced Kiwior who was often tucking in too close to Gabriel and allowing Fulham to take full advantage of the channels. This change allowed Arteta’s team an extra dimension in attack but they weren’t able to create anything fruitful. Fulham took advantage of this shift in mentality and scored from a scrappy set piece to run out as deserved winners.
This marked a huge victory for Silva after the poor performance in the reverse fixture a year ago.
This evolution has allowed Fulham to be more daring and more adventurous. Silva deserves plaudits for masterminding it. If they hold on to their key players and keep up their smart recruitment they could easily challenge for a European place.
This table has been taken from https://understat.com/league/EPL/2022
This table has been taken from https://fbref.com/en/comps/9/2022-2023/2022-2023-Premier-League-Stats#all_stats_squads_keeper
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