that was not good enough in my opinion. Blackburn took the game to us in the first half and a draw was probably the correct result. However, we gave the ball away far too much and there was very little desire to bust a gut to get a ball. The second half we should have battered them. We have got to work on clearing the first man with crosses, I have been screaming at the TV as time and time again our delivery from live play and set pieces was woeful. We have to improve because Blackburn are not a good team on today's performance and we will struggle against the rest of the prem if we are so wasteful with possesion and deliveries. I know they parked the bus in the second half but never the less , more quality required. Murphy had a shocker today as well. Sidders was running everything in the middle, thought Riise played well too.
Trust me Bidley, Martin Jol will be having a few stern words after this performance. It was great to see us attacking down the wings but it is pointless if the delivery fails to get over the first defender or we try to take on 1 or 2 too many players. I feel for Martin Jol to a degree, he must be watching thinking what can he do. I feel this is down to the players, they have to take responsibilty for these kind of performances.
There must be the rubbing of hands when the other "prem" teams,see that this, or that, week they are playing Fulham.
Good Evening all. Just returned from the match,this was a poor quality performance,so had to stop off for a glass or 2 of the falling down water, to lift my spirits.In what I can say is going to be a very difficult season to survive,based on the last 4 games. I maybe wrong but this must be the worst start to any season since we have been in the premiership. I said some months ago apart from a goalscoring c/f a right back has to be our priority, very evident today against a less than mediocre team. For survival we need what 43 points?. This means what 10 home wins 30pts 5 draws 5pts 2 away wins 6pts 2 away draws 2pts. Is this achievable on our present form. What are your thoughts, remember the teams we have met are no way top drawer.
I agree. I only watched it on TV but thought we were pretty poor. No creativity in front of goal, inability to make it past the first defender (or even get it past the wall - let's give it to Riise who will just blast it at the opponents - rubbish. Ruiz was hardly a star - saw him give the ball away twice and fall over. £10.6 million, yeah, right. £2.6 million maybe. Another forward we have overpaid for. Very disappointed in him and he was rightly hauled off at half time. Man City next week - given their current form we have not got a cat in Hell's chance of getting anything out of that game. Blackburn, on the other hand will be encouraged and if they manage to get a result we'll be bottom. It looks like it is going to be a long hard season and early days though it is we are already playing catch up and the gap will only get wider next week. What really annoys me is teams like Stoke, who don't have the creativity or even the quality of players we do are sitting in fourth, beating Liverpool and going quite nicely. Why can we never, ever, do this sort of thing? It's always a struggle. Even WBA won away today, under Roy, how long before we get an away win - March probably. Frustrated and angry - too bloody right.
Woah woah, like I said, I didn't see the game, but is it not a little drastic to be writing Ruiz off after just 45 minutes of PL football? He needs bedding in. It looked like we were playing 3-4-2-1 too, this is a bit different from any system our core team is used to, surely?
Agreed Bidley. Fulhaman I am with you on the frustrating display today, however, Ruiz cannot be held to blame for his display. It was pretty clear that he was a bit shocked by the pace of the premiership. He showed some good determination to get the ball but will have to get used to being closed down alot quicker. He is a class player and will be a great signing for us. I think it is a shame that he did not come into the game in the second half because he would have had fun trying to unlock their defence.
What a frustrating afternoon at The Cottage today!! I could not quite understand the set-up in the first half – please explain, since it all seemed too fluid. It was good to see some crosses into the box in the first half, but most ended in Robinson’s hands! In the second half, we were all over Blackburn, but we were just not crisp enough to convert the pressure into a goal or two. Dembele was the catalyst coming on at half time, but he really does need to learn to offload quicker. Ruiz will need to learn about the Prem if he is to come good, but he should have been more upfront, less midfield (frustration that he gave away the ball for their goal). Blackburn were weak, but still our defence looked stretched a few times, e.g. from Blackburn's goal, to the yellow card for the clash at the end. I cannot understand why we changed last season’s formula of the Hangeland/Hughes baseline defence, much better than Senderos. Also, with Chris Baird we would have had the experience/calmness which would have left us less exposed. Two highlights: 1) Riise looked really impressive today; 2) Bobby Zamora's goal was really well. OK, 3 positives actually: MJ was prepared to change things that were not working, e.g. it was a positive surprise that MJ subbed Ruiz at half-time. And, of course, had Dempsey’s good shot not been superbly saved, we’d have left happier with the 3 points. Fulhaman is right – we are better than this. I remain optimistic, in anticipation that MJ is working quickly to set things right.
My real problem is, I guess, that we never seem to buy "Premiership Ready" strikers and a lot of other sides do. Odemwingie came in and hit it off right away, so did Suarez and Arshavin and so has Aguero (although I accept he cost 3 times as much) and there are others I could think of if I had the time. Our guys always seem to want half a season or longer to start to look like they might think about scoring sometime in the next 3 months. Even Bobby took an fair old while to get his shooting boots on straight. I agree there is more to a strikers game than hitting the back of the net - as Bobby and Emile Heskey can demonstrate - but for £10.6 million he needs to adjust quickly and not still be waiting to break his duck in 3 or 4 games time. I didn't expect much from Healey, for example, because he only cost just over a million but he scored on his debut and instantly started to repay a small outlay. I expected a return from Marlet and AJ and never got it. I am just worried Ruiz will go the same way.
We simply aren't in a position to be buying PL-ready strikers. Odemwingie, Suarez, Arshavin (who has done little since his first full season) and Aguero were all in a similar boat to Ruiz when they arrived, but they hit it off and Ruiz hasn't (yet). They were as much of a gamble as Ruiz is, with the exception of Aguero who is simply doing as well as should be expected for that price tag. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, Fulhaman! Who else should we have signed? Crouch? And why the supposition on him waiting to break his duck after 3 or 4 games? He's played one half! He can only get better, he just needs to adjust and play in his proper position. We need to be calm, there are too many mitigating factors for us to be flying off the handle just yet imagine what it would've been like had we lost today!
A frustrating game today as we didn't have that cutting edge in delivering the killer ball. Too many crosses found the first defender. Disappointed that Ruiz didn't get into the game, the pace just seemed to overwhelm him, in the position he was playing. Murphys passing was woeful, he did well for his shot on goal that was saved and that was about it. Hughes at right back just does not work for me. Kelly played well when he came on, but I'm dreading him playing against Man City. Hoilett was probably their best player, gave us a few scares. Can't pick any player I'd give MOM too, even though most of the team played OK, but no one was at their best, a lot of below par performances.
My prediction Man city 6 Fulham 1,if i should be proved right, I fear it could be the start of a downward spiral END RESULT "curtains for our premiership status".
I've only seen MOTD2's coverage of the game, so I lack the nuanced picture of those who saw the full match. I agree that our league position is a concern, but we're still a work in progress as Jol looks to bring his style to the side. As for the perennial worries about right back, my guess is that Grygera will soon start playing there. I think Jol (wisely) chose not to throw too many of the new signings into the side for this game as they will only have had a couple of days at the club with all their team-mates. Ruiz was the exception - remember he can't play on Thursday - and while it sounds like he had a shocker, at least he has now started his adjustment. I've been a little wary about Ruiz since we signed him, but as others have said we can't possibly start judging him on the basis of 45 minutes. I'm hoping we get something out of the Twente match. With their status as first seeds in our group, a draw would be a good result. I'm not worrying about Sunday: our season won't be determined by our results against the likes of Manchester City, and anything at all will be a bonus. After that, Grygera, Ruiz and Sa will all have had more time to get used to their new team mates and we can maybe look to go on a run of results. We certainly need to, but if you look at the games so far this season there is a case for saying we've deserved more than we've got in several of them. You can never regain those lost points, but there is grounds for optimism in some elements of the performances. And Bobby's back, and the goal will do wonders for his confidence.
I was on the game yesterday and there was nothing but frustration all around me. A couple of players really wanted us to win the game but some others just walking. Regarding Ruiz I think most of time that he had the ball was isolated and nobody to pass or help him out. Is it the welcoming from his team mates? Will see. Bobby plays too wide for my liking which makes him ineffective. Hughes as RB is something that someone needs to ask Jol about. Murphy's legs are giving up. I'm afraid that is going to be a long season. We should have had more points out of these 4 games. Man City is coming up and will be a challenge!
Regards to Ruiz, we should not forget that the guy only recently got his work permit. So not only has he not had much time to readjust to the style of Fulham or the prem, he has barely set foot in the country. I believe he was in France whilst waiting for his work permit. We cannot judge the guy on his 45 mins, that is simply not fair. Good luck to him, we need him to get ready and on his game as soon as possible, we need his quality and he will need our backing.
Morning boys - I was disappointed like you guys. Maybe starting Ruiz was a mistake for Jol, but given the fact that we'd scored just once in three games before that, I think it was understandable. I was watching the Sky coverage and Gary Neville commented on how lost Ruiz looked on the pitch. Then he said, "but that was nothing compared with Patrice Evra's first game ... the look on his face said it all: "what have I gotten myself into?" Yet Patrice Evra turned into a very good left back once became acclimated to the pace of the EPL. I can't think of any player who walked onto an EPL pitch and made an immediate impact (except maybe Landon Donovan during his short Everton stint). Point is, we need to give Ruiz time to settle in. FC Twente is a small fish in a small pond. Everyone in the Dutch league knew that Twente's biggest threat was Bryan Ruiz. So teams marked him closely, double-teamed him and threw everything at him but the kitchen sink. Yet the man still scored a boat load of goals. He's got the talent, desire, size and pace to play anywhere. He just needs to find his feet. The worst part about the first half was the positioning. On paper, Ruiz started behind Bobby, but in reality he played right winger, which left Duff without a reliable position, drifting all over the pitch. Our second half performance was much better. Had we played that way for 90 minutes, running Blackburn ragged, I'm certain we would have won. Kelly did a decent job at RB. I'm not a Senderos fan, but I thought he played well yesterday.
DR good point. Just to ads that Dempsey was really good. Glad we managed to keep him in the team. Also Sidwell played well running at both ends. Credit to Kelly, he was really good compared to previous appearances and especially in the 2nd half gave so much trouble. A win against Twente will restore some confidence to the team. The merrier of all must be Bobby since he scored!
The reason we are so fluid is that Jol is trying to play Total Football with us. Will it work long term?
