Positives and Negatives: Fulham 0-3 Crystal Palace

Jack Stroudley looks back at an afternoon to forget in SW6.

Football eh… A sport that can give you all the elation in the world but also suck out all of your joy. Crystal Palace dismantled Fulham on Saturday afternoon to book a place at Wembley next month, Marco Silva’s men whimpered in arguably the biggest game in his tenure. I want to write this as much as you want to read it, let’s come to terms with it together.

Positives

There’s nothing to write home about from Saturday. I guess the opening thirty was quite good, Fulham had a fair chunk of the ball. Huffed and puffed but failed to make Dean Henderson work. Other than that Crystal Palace done a proper number on us – let’s move onto the negatives.

Negatives

Copy and paste

What I said last month when we met at the Cottage, read that and you’ll get the same jist. Crystal Palace came to Craven Cottage and done a serious job on us. Soaked up pressure when it came, limited Fulham’s clear chances and were clinical on the break when they needed to be. Marco Silva is adored by the masses but I do question the idea of doing the same thing that resulted in a convincing defeat last month.

There’s arguments about Adam Wharton being on the pitch. That’s one of if not the first thing Silva said after the game which has only riled me up more. Hold some accountability, you got it wrong during the biggest game of your tenure. This isn’t on the ref. Fulham didn’t show up on Saturday and ultimately paid the price.

Lack of leaders?

Three seasons on the spin we’ve been a game from Wembley and on all three occasions we’ve fell short. This group of players have brought us so much joy this season but there’s one thing I want to talk about. 2-0 down and we felt flat once again. Struggled to create anything and lacked anyone to grab the game by the scruff of the neck.

Bar Willian (someone whose been at this stage of a competition before) I felt there wasn’t anyone in the second half with that frantic desire to scratch and claw Fulham back into the game. I criticised Silva in the previous point but the players need to stand up and be held accountable as well. The team that won wanted it more, we just looked flat.

FA Cup hangover

It feels ridiculous that after this we need to dust ourselves down and go into a tricky run of games and pick up a good amount of points, alas that’s the nature of the Premier League. Fulham now have an opportunity to right the wrongs of Saturday against Arsenal and springboard into a position which keeps us in European contention.

I just can’t see it. I’m flat, you’re flat, those around the club will also be flat and I just think that the impact of Saturday will result in this season being one what could’ve been. Fulham once again going close but faltering at the final hurdle, the biggest game in year and we’ve dropped a performance like that? Embarrassing.