Analysis: Fulham

Fulham set up in a fluid 4-3-3 formation. Tom Cairney and Jean Michael Seri played ahead of Kevin McDonald in midfield, while Ryan Sessegnon and Andre Schurrle supported Aleksandar Mitrovic in attack.

Fulham set out to dominate possession throughout the game and play through Crystal Palace’s defensive block. A key strategy of attack in the first half was to play the ball to Mitrovic’s feet with his back to goal, which would trigger the forward movement of Schurrle, Sessegnon, Cairney and Seri. The quartet would look to run beyond their striker or receive the set-back in front of him to continue the attack.

Their other strategy was to play a killer pass in between the centre-back and full-back for the runs of Schurrle or Sessegnon, who would then pull the ball back to the penalty spot or across the six-yard box. This created three or four chances in the first half – unfortunately for Fulham and head coach Slavisa Jokanovic, none were taken.

Schurrle and Sessegnon approached this tactic differently. Schurrle operated largely within the half-space, with Cyrus Christie providing width on the right, and would make his run between the full-back and centre-back. The former was worried about Christie and the latter didn’t want to leave Mitrovic. Sessegnon, meanwhile, chose to run in behind Aaron Wan-Bissaka, knowing the full-back would be forced to either take his eyes off the ball or his man.

Both approaches caused problems in the first half, but Fulham struggled to penetrate in the second period against a more organised defensive structure from Palace. They appeared to lack ideas after going a goal behind, too.

Out of possession, Fulham set up in a 4-1-4-1 formation. They intended to press aggressively, but the visitors’ style of play meant there were limited opportunities to do so successfully and the majority of these opportunities came as a counter-press in transition. McDonald would operate in between the two deeper blocks within this set-up, while Sessegnon and Schurrle dropped into the second line. The wide players would initiate a press when the ball was delivered to the Palace full-backs.

Fulham will need to do more to guard against counter-attacks in their future fixtures, as this was an area that Palace were able to regularly exploit. The home side’s willingness to commit bodies forward was both a strength and a weakness.