Positives and negatives: Fulham 1-1 West Ham United

Fulham had to settle for one point as one pound pints were served and Cam’s gathered some of the main focal points from our meeting with West Ham United. It felt like a loss, however it’s still a step in the right direction and don’t you forget it.

Positives

Raul opens account

Handed his first start of the season ahead of Rodrigo Muniz, Raul Jimenez opened his goal-scoring account in the 24th minute with a near-post finish that harked back to a time we’d almost forgotten about. He did net a brace against Luton Town on the final day of the previous season, a brilliant one at that, but he’s another striker that tends to blow searing hot or shiveringly cold but if anything, it’s great that one of our main supposed goal-getters isn’t still stuck on a flat tally of zilch.

It was a fox-in-the-box prod that doesn’t come about so regularly. Smith Rowe kept the ball in play just within the 18-yard box and he instantaneously threaded the ball Konstantinos Mavropanos’s legs, and that’s where Raul rounded it off nicely. That’s his bread and butter, or it should be, anyway. We need one of our number nines to kick, to build a respectable return and our Mexico international made the most of what was probably his only clear-cut opportunity.

There’s were instances where his positioning was offish, where he was yards behind our counters and even caught on the channels, which basically rendered him inactive, but as we didn’t invest in a fresh face for our striking department, we simply have to work with what we’ve got. He doesn’t contest aerially, he isn’t lightening across the turf nor is he consistently where a striker should be, but of he can turn one of a multitude of chances beyond the keeper as he did on Saturday, he may well be able to keep his head above water. If not, we have to delve into the January transfer market. Enough said, well in Raul, for now.

Andersen’s solid start

First to virtually every ball in the air, tough in challenges and imperious with those raking 60-yard pingers. Joachim Andersen’s first Premier League start for the Whites may not have ended with a clean sheet but constructively, the Dane enjoyed a solid afternoon alongside Calvin Bassey and it’s a connection that will strengthen immeasurably as the campaign progresses.

Andersen isn’t an unknown quantity. From his loan days here to his impressive spell at Crystal Palace, the ball-playing central defender’s qualities are suited to the English top flight and I couldn’t care less of sell on values, we’ve purchased a 28-year-old that’s ready for the present and as connections grow between he and his teammates, we’re going to have a defensive line that’s safe and sound.

Michael Antonio was kept under lock and key by both Andersen and Bassey, but it was Joa that asserted himself with the ball once we’d retrieved it. A fundamental prerequisite of a central defender is to be confident with their feet and Andersen sheens switches to feet, business class. Sumptuous, salivating, he must’ve twatted umpteen cross-field rockets and they were all inch perfect. Chef’s kiss. He truly wants to be here, he is precisely what Tosin Adarabioyo thought he was but our Nordic addition’s sturdier, smarter and he is going to make recognisable difference.

Nelson’s a live wire

We’re going to fall deeply in love with another player that isn’t ours, aren’t we? Introduced for his Fulham debut in the 67th minute, Arsenal loanee Reiss Nelson got down to business instantly, a front-footed attacker in every single sense and if people didn’t know what he was about beforehand, they certainly do now.

He is a live wire and a bloody tidy technician with the ball in his custody. Many players stand and admire their first touch, particularly off the chest on the touchline but clearly, it’s second nature to Nelson and he knocked the ball into beyond his marker expertly and he was in full flow within a single stride. He left his marker for dead, neither Aaron Wan-Bissaka or Mohammed Kudus could muzzle him and if this is a sure sign of what’s to come, we are in for a genuine treat.

He received passes in tight spaces with ease, he manipulated the tempo to offset the Hammers’ back line and he doesn’t think twice about sticking it on his man, one-on-one or with support. This is a tremendous opportunity for the 24-year-old to prove his Premier League worth. not just to Mikel Arteta, but himself. If he gets his head down with regular game time, he will undoubtedly make a telling impact in SW6 and already, even within 30 minutes or so of his emergence, I can tell this is going to be a move that is going to suit him hugely. He fits the bill and I am hooked to find out what he can bring to Silva’s system.

Negatives

Another late, late lapse

Seriously, we are cursed. Why is it that we cannot seem to hold onto, well, anything past the 85th minute? Another late, late lapse with a matter if seconds to spare spoiled what would’ve been a professional victory but as it so often is, we switched off in extra time to record a draw which honestly feels like a terrible loss.

Perhaps we should’ve headed for the corner flag rather than spreading play, allowing a washed-up Danny Ings the space to manoeuvre a strike on target is also incriminating but as the game whittled down, whatever way you spin it, our game management was poor and it has to be addressed immediately. We were out of shape and chasing shadows as Jarrod Bowen was freed, before that crucial sequence we were untroubled as the back, Bernd Leno barely had a save to make and even then, the German stopper should’ve done much better as his near stick with a full palm of contact.

We are the kings of conceding sloppy goals when the final whistle’s on the ref’s lips. We do it to ourselves. West Ham were average, they were there for the taking and I suppose it also comes down to our evident inadequacies in front of the target at the other end of the park, too. Even still, we’re the masters of our own downfall time and time again but I guess that’s all part and parcel of supporting a club like ours. It’s predestined, but that doesn’t make it any more palatable.

Eight ain’t for Andreas

The widespread debate surrounding Andreas Pereira’s performances have come to the fore yet again after another distinctly abject outing as a number eight. For the love of all things sacred, it just isn’t going to work for him in that capacity. Silva’s insistence to shoehorn him into the starting compliment by any means necessary is killing the balance within our midfield department, he isn’t familiar with his newly-adopted duties and one semi-decent ball over the top for Emile Smith Rowe doesn’t mask over how deficient he is in a deeper role than the ten.

He was clumsy in possession, shrugged off, outmuscled in the thick of it and when we should’ve been progressing with purpose under his supervision, he held onto the ball for longer than he should’ve and even at set-plays, he was woefully wasteful. Physically, he isn’t designed for it whatsoever. Surely Marco and his staff can see that while he is indeed out of position, he flatters to deceive and I don’t give a shit about those so-called stats, the eye test never fails and I am watching a man that needs to be dropped.

If he isn’t going to accommodate that advanced position behind the striker, he has to make way for Sander Berge when Newcastle come to town, even if our summer signing isn’t necessarily 100% fit. It’s an experiment that hasn’t worked out and nothing ever really suggested that it could in the first place. He isn’t geared up for box-to-box action and he isn’t capable of conjuring frequent transitions. He can initiate the press from the front, he can double up with our striker on the day but as a partner for Sasa Lukic? It isn’t going to gel and it isn’t wise for us to persist with it either.