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I thought him talking about the discrepancy between first half and second half performances was interesting, and his thoughts about why that was.

We haven't made any half time subs in either game, as far as I can recall. His theory is that the margins between teams are so small and the league is so tight that it's almost impossible for any team to dominate 90 minutes of a game, at the moment, apart from the odd Arsenal performance.

He said that he sent the team out to try to dominate in the first half and it wasnt the plan to stay in the game and come back in the 2nd half, which is interesting.

Bluedylan1 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 08, 2026 1:23 pm I thought him talking about the discrepancy between first half and second half performances was interesting, and his thoughts about why that was.

We haven't made any half time subs in either game, as far as I can recall. His theory is that the margins between teams are so small and the league is so tight that it's almost impossible for any team to dominate 90 minutes of a game, at the moment, apart from the odd Arsenal performance.

He said that he sent the team out to try to dominate in the first half and it wasnt the plan to stay in the game and come back in the 2nd half, which is interesting.

I think Fulham's lack of ambition in the second half was probably the biggest difference. They seemed happy to sit deep and try snuff us out instead of playing as they had in the first half.

Had they repeated the same ambition in both halves we'd have lost by several goals imo.

Still we capitalised on that so credit to our boys, and them sitting deep allowed us to press much more aggressively, which caused them a lot of problems.

I just want Moyes to stop thinking about relegation and set us up from the off to cause teams issues, which he's not doing at the moment.

The points we're picking up can't be argued with so he's clearly getting a lot right, but if we want Europe then this will eventually catch up with us imo. Top 7-8 is definitely achievable but we have to show ambition ourselves to get there.

Since Moyes came in we've drawn more games than any other team in the division, which serves a purpose when you're down the bottom... As it stands we'd be better off losing some in order to win others than drawing tight games, or finding ourselves the wrong side of those fine margins, which we've been lucky to not have happened in recent weeks.

AjaxAndy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 08, 2026 2:06 pm I think Fulham's lack of ambition in the second half was probably the biggest difference. They seemed happy to sit deep and try snuff us out instead of playing as they had in the first half.

Had they repeated the same ambition in both halves we'd have lost by several goals imo.

Still we capitalised on that so credit to our boys, and them sitting deep allowed us to press much more aggressively, which caused them a lot of problems.

I just want Moyes to stop thinking about relegation and set us up from the off to cause teams issues, which he's not doing at the moment.

The points we're picking up can't be argued with so he's clearly getting a lot right, but if we want Europe then this will eventually catch up with us imo. Top 7-8 is definitely achievable but we have to show ambition ourselves to get there.

Since Moyes came in we've drawn more games than any other team in the division, which serves a purpose when you're down the bottom... As it stands we'd be better off losing some in order to win others than drawing tight games, or finding ourselves the wrong side of those fine margins, which we've been lucky to not have happened in recent weeks.

Yeah respectfully I dont agree with any of that.

If you listen to Marco Silva, Fulham werent intending to sit deep 2nd half at all. They wanted to do the same in the 2nd half, but we were winning 50/50s, 2nd balls, disrupting their build up and playing through them better and they were forced onto the defensive. Which again shows that its incredibly hard for most teams to dominate the majority of a game because every team has quality and is extremely competitive. Tiny margins between dominating and being dominated.

Moyez isnt thinking about relegation. He has been saying about Europe since he came back to the club, and he said again this week that he's talking to the players about pushing for Europe.

I dont see it that ''if we keep doing x wrong'' it will catch up with us. With our net spend over 5 years and clear squad limitations, we really should be around 15th/16th. We're doing absolutely incredibly to even be in a conversation for Europe, getting absolutely everything from a very limited squad. West Ham have spent 400m + more than us, similar with Forest. It's insane that we're in 8th! Look at what Liverpool have spent and we're 2 points behind them, having been a relegation team for years. Are people understanding how amazing a managerial performance that is?

Yes there are frustrations with Moyes' cautious selections, and I understand that, but our away record is the best in the league along with Arsenal. I think that should buy ANY manager some understanding and leeway to set up the team however he wants.

Bluedylan1 wrote:I thought him talking about the discrepancy between first half and second half performances was interesting, and his thoughts about why that was.

We haven't made any half time subs in either game, as far as I can recall. His theory is that the margins between teams are so small and the league is so tight that it's almost impossible for any team to dominate 90 minutes of a game, at the moment, apart from the odd Arsenal performance.

He said that he sent the team out to try to dominate in the first half and it wasnt the plan to stay in the game and come back in the 2nd half, which is interesting.

Yeah interesting remarks. Lot of truth in it, there are many teams in the league who are much of a muchness and it’s small margins that can decide games. Having that resiliency to dig in is key and to be fair, Moyes and the side this season have shown that


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Bluedylan1 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 08, 2026 2:28 pm Yeah respectfully I dont agree with any of that.

If you listen to Marco Silva, Fulham werent intending to sit deep 2nd half at all. They wanted to do the same in the 2nd half, but we were winning 50/50s, 2nd balls, disrupting their build up and playing through them better and they were forced onto the defensive. Which again shows that its incredibly hard for most teams to dominate the majority of a game because every team has quality and is extremely competitive. Tiny margins between dominating and being dominated.

Moyez isnt thinking about relegation. He has been saying about Europe since he came back to the club, and he said again this week that he's talking to the players about pushing for Europe.

I dont see it that ''if we keep doing x wrong'' it will catch up with us. With our net spend over 5 years and clear squad limitations, we really should be around 15th/16th. We're doing absolutely incredibly to even be in a conversation for Europe, getting absolutely everything from a very limited squad. West Ham have spent 400m + more than us, similar with Forest. It's insane that we're in 8th! Look at what Liverpool have spent and we're 2 points behind them, having been a relegation team for years. Are people understanding how amazing a managerial performance that is?

Yes there are frustrations with Moyes' cautious selections, and I understand that, but our away record is the best in the league along with Arsenal. I think that should buy ANY manager some understanding and leeway to set up the team however he wants.

Not sure I agree with Silva tbh, I've watched Fulham a few times this season, and two of those were live / at the stadium, and whether he asks them to play on the front foot they always seem to play in a very negative fashion.

Maybe he's instructing them to not sit deep and be negative but that's how they've played a lot of times this season. Appreciate they've been better of late but there seems to be something he's either instructing or they naturally revert to that isn't playing to score more goals.

Appreciate though those fine margins can make all the difference, maybe the way we came out pushed them back, although I really don't think we ever looked like scoring before we did so. They weren't in much trouble despite our dominance of the ball.

Anyway agree with what you're saying about Moyes, I'm always pro Moyes, think he's done an incredible job... I just don't want to see a right side of a CB playing out of position and a CM playing out of position in front of him. Time to set us up with some balance and more attacking edge to make the most of the position we find ourselves in.