Ok, this may sound completely mental, but, is Big Mart trying to get us to play like Barcelona ? When we arrived in the premiership, Big Mo said he wanted us to be the Man United of the south. Something tells me that he now wants us to be the Barcelona of the South. Since Jol has arrived at the helm it has to be said we are attempting to play some seriously adventurous attacking football. We have gone from solid defensive to interchanging attack. If you look at the way Barcelona play they have 2 playmaking deep centre mids ( Murph's and Sidders ), then they seem to play 4 attacking midfielders (Demps, Dembele, Kasami and 1 striker). The reason they play 4 attacking midfielders is that they interchange positions constantly making it so hard to pick up the movement. Now we are not Barcelona, but we are certainly showing some intent to play a similar game. Barcelona, I think, adopted this style of football from the Dutch principle of Total football, Jol has already mentionned this ' total football ' in interviews. So could it be that this is the future of Fulham ? We have been very active in the transfer window, buying up some youth talent that is symptomatic of the Barce way. Get them in young and get them playing the way you want to in 4/5 years. I know it seems that I have been smoking something but I really feel that Big Mo wants this and that is why he bought in Jol as he felt he was the man to achieve it longterm. Dembele was bought in the Hughes era but I would not mind betting that it was under Jol's instruction. Hughes mysterously left and Jol turned up very soon after. Jol had been out of work for some months and we have bought some really talented players that fit the new model we are wanting to play. Could it be he was scouting for that time with a definate plan in mind for the new Fulham way ? COYW and please let it be that we will be Barcelonesque in 4/5 years time.
If your crazy theory is correct, I fear that the Barca style pass and move fluid play requires players of Barca-ish standard to execute properly. I dont think we have the players for it yet. Although the signing of Riise certainly shows MJ wants his full backs to be competent going forward a la Dani Alves. If we could get anywhere near the quality of Barca then it sounds good but I have my doubts.
@ Froggy I think you're talking a lot of sense (albeit with some hyperbole). Brede is also being asked to carry the ball forward, and even stay to receive it back, rather than keep in his own half except for corners. This is much closer to Jean Tigana than Roy Hodgson. Now Hodgson and Tigana both did great things for our club. Whose team was more exciting to watch...? I'm pleased with Maarten J. I bet he's frustrated with results, but I still think he is going the right way. Our squad is better than last season - every bench we put out this year has potential to make a difference.
Here here, Tosh. I don't think Mo's intention is to make us a London version of Barca, purely because if that was his intent you can be sure he'd be ringing up the papers to give them that juicy quote. But you talk a lot of sense. We don't necessarily use the 'phantom number 9' but our attack play is very similar. Fair play to Big Mart, I look forward to the future.
Bidley mate too true about MAF, certainly likes the publicity. Do you reckon Karim Fei could be the illusive phontom number 9 ? He was supposed to be awesome against Chelsea and looked great in the early rounds of the Europa League.
I think if Frei carries on how he is he can be anything he wants, Froggy. He's certainly got the movement from what I saw in the early Europa games. If we were to use that position now I reckon Dempsey could do it. He did something similar for us last season.
Maybe the signing of Messi today will help Jol realise the Barca dream. http://http://thechels.net/2011/09/mesca-swaps-chelsea-for-fulham/ Oops, sorry, my imagination got ahead of my typing; it is indeed Mesca. Thank goodness for the diminutive - I wouldn't have managed the real thing. Diddy will have a field day - "kick off delayed by 5 minutes while teams are announced". Asides apart, it re-inforces the policy of building on youth which has to be for the longer term good.
Thanks, Bids. Yes, I agree Frei is a big talent. I also think Matty Briggs is superb - better prospect than Chris Smalling for me. However , for a more direct comparison how about Kasami - alright last game was iffy - but for a new lad - lots of movement, lots of skill, lots of vision
Tosh, bang on about Kasami. If you have watched any highlights of him for Switzerland, you will see what he capable of. The guy is a great signing, exactly the sort of player we have lacked for along time, very fit and desperate to get in the box to score goals. Dembele is starting to shine again and hopefully can stay fit, Dempsey will get goals too. For me we just lack a instinctive poacher, someone who can preempt the pass and gamble on the space. I like what I have seen of Sa, he plays off the shoulder of the last man and has pace. Hope he excels in training. As for the future prospects, there are so many good players in our youth set up. Watching the youngsters against Everton in the final last year showed that we are teaching them to play football the right way, to pass and move, play the ball on the deck and play as a team. I only hope we can get a group of youngsters together and keep them as a unit for 2/3 years, allow them to understand each others strengths and weaknesses. COYW
Froggie. Agree about Frei, but having seen many youth games over the last 2 years,my prediction for stardom was Marquez Sanches,what a pity we lost him,also watch out for Jesse jorgenson the Finnish goalkeeper. If Marcello Trotta could get up some more speed (fitness) what a prospect he could be.
I doubt Jol had anything to do with Dembele's signing - he was still managing Ajax at the time - but apart from that, Froggy, you're making a lot of sense. It also means that we might see Zamora slip down the pecking order, if the system needs a striker who is more of a false 9 and less of a target man. I don't think that Bobby has really had the chance to show what he can do in Jol's system yet, what with injuries and illness, but if he doesn't start to click in the next couple of months I wouldn't be surprised to see him replaced (and possibly moved out) in January. That's not to say that he can't flourish in Jol's brave new world, for what it's worth I think he will. But if Jol decides he needs a different type of striker to make the system work to maximum effect, it could be the end for Bobby.
Interesting point Capt. And of course if Sa, Kasami, Ruiz, Dembele & Dempsey all hit their stride then scoring goals wouldn't be a problem and we wouldn't necessarily miss BZ. Having said that, I'd still rather we got rid of AJ in January, who's goals we definitely wouldn't miss.
Agreed on Briggs and Kasami. Two of the most exciting players (along with Frei) I can remember at the club since the Tigana days. I can't see Bobster being shipped just yet either Captain. I don't think we'll ditch his role altogether, I just think we have far more options up our sleeve now, as opposed to just 'pass it to Bobby to hold onto until everyone else arrives' and 'park the bus'*. *Although to be fair, we didn't do too badly with those tactics!
morning all, captaino, interesting call regarding bz. he is still arguably the best finisher we have at the club but from the little i have seen of sa, he looks to play the system better. only time will tell as to who improves their game the most. i would be gutted if bz left but that said he has been pretty clear in the past that he wants to finish his career with brighton and if they get promoted this season he may be swayed. Alot will depend of whether he gets aother england call up me feels.
This theory would certainly explain a few things, Froggie. We're used to seeing Roy's 4-4-2 structure and people playing within their alleys, but since Jol's come on board there's much more fluidity up front. Sidwell and Murphy are playing in about the same positions as before, but Kasami, Dempsey, Dembele and whoever else is up front seem to be changing positions, moment by moment, as our attack evolves. Sa' did a fair job holding up the ball Saturday against WBA, and he's certainly more mobile than Bobby likes to be. I think trying to achieve a Barca system is a risky proposition. It's all or nothing in the sense that getting 3/4 of the way there might make for some pretty football, but it won't necessarily win you more games. Arsenal still plays some nice football, but who's higher in the table this year, Arsenal or Stoke (the polar opposite)? Dnipro played some nice passing football but we were able to beat them rather easily. If it works (like Barca), it works great. If it doesn't quite work, you could find yourself at the wrong end of the table. If I had my way, I'd go right back to Roy's system. It was easy enough on the eye, but had a solid winning strategy.
For what it worths I liked Hughes' approach more than Roy's. Now on MJ plans! This post has been really inspiring and against Daily Mail who thinks we are in trouble with performances similar to Saturday. At last the team has more than one plan of playing football. Roy's tactic were good but a lot was subject to luck as the team stayed fit. Now we have plan B as well as A and probably C somewhere in the making. And rotation seems to be working, or the right direction!
