A few thoughts after today..... After a dream start, we could have been 4-1 up at half-time. Our back-four were relatively untroubled, especially given no Holt - but then came the last 20 minutes (more below). Losing The Pog was a pity, but Demps, Dembele, Duff worked hard. Kaka's debut was nearly made perfect except for the cross-bar. Danny Murphy is back to top form: great vision; always available; slick passing; and some really good tackles. The old man might not manage 90 minutes, but it still real class. However, Diarra was the exact opposite! The changeover was when the panic set-in, with us losing control in midfield - Dickson came on, but only after Norwich score and upped their game. Ruiz made a few good moves and, of course, made Clint's goal, but we are still carrying him as a bit of luxury. I'm afraid Diarra is in a high a higher risk pivotal role - too risky for me. Hopefully Steve Sidwell will be recovered soon! C O Y W
We really struggled after losing the Pog. Deuce is a great player, but today dispelled any thoughts of playing him upfront. Kaca looked very good. Ruiz had a good game. But both need a CF to play off and without the Pog our attacks fell apart in the final third. We played ourselves into trouble by not playing much football in the final third: given the number of times there was no Fulham player in the Norwich half, we were lucky not to be punished more.
I've not seen the highlights yet. Given the comments on how we missed a proper striker (no disrespect to Clint) once Pog went off, would we have done better to have brought on Trotta rather than Kacaniklic, and introduce Kaca later in the game? And is Diarra's problem one of still acclimatising to the pace of the game in England/building up to match fitness, or is it something more fundamental and unlikely to change than that?
Definitely not convinced by his performances. And he has been given his chances. The work he has been doing so far is not any better than Sidwell or Etuhu would have done. Not to mention that Baird would have been better than all of them.
It was a real pity that AJ was not on the bench once Pog went off. Both Sidwell and Etuhu are better replacements than Diarra. But still 3 points.
I thought Diarra had a good game against United on Monday last, he is a classy player, but a proper defensive midfielder in the same respect He will always look to defend first and play the ball sideways or backwards. He is different from Murphs's, not so much a play maker. I have only seen the MOTD highlights and he did not feature much on there. Give him time to get used to the premiership, he is a quality player. The partnership between Murph's and Dembele seems to be growing with each match, how did they play yesterday ?
Dembele I thought was very good again. Unlucky of course not to score and perhaps should have done to kill the game off right before HT. Odd I find too Trotta did not find his way onto the pitch. However the build up all week after his recall was Alex. Lovely shot with his right foot (didnt know he had one) and right at the end he skipped past the RB and had he gone over would have made the ref think about giving it. Murphy was good - again. We lost shape when Pog went offf made even worse when Murphy went off. He makes our team click week by week. Even when Norwich knocked it around - and they did play some tidy football at pace - he didn't look off the pace as such. Welcome 3 points but to be fair I felt they deserved a draw purely on the amount of effort but flip side is they never really tested Schwarzer enough to get a goal. Credit to their fans - constant noise even when 2 down. I thought we were poor again - edgy i'd say is the word.
Couldn't agree more GeraS - he was slow on the ball and never tracked back quickly enough when he lost posession, ergo their goal. We also lost balance in the midfield when dempsey had to go up front but Jol's decision to bring on Kaca rather than Trotta was IMHO borne out - he was outstanding. Hughes, Hangeland were excellent throughout as indeed was Kelly. Top marks also to Riise and Dembelee who took hefty knocks but played the full 95. We had a really good 20 minutes in the second half, until of course Murphy was taken off and all in all I thought it was a solid performance none of which you would (naturally) see from MOTD - perhaps they thought April Fool's day had arrived 15 minutes early.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but now we've crossed the magic 38pt mark maybe he'll be willing to throw Trotta in just to see if he's ready. It's a lot easier to do that on 39pts than 36.
I'd like to see Trotta come in but if Jol does go with Dempsey up top then that leaves an extra space in midfield for possibly Frei or Kaca to fill in so at least one of the youngsters will get a chance.
Kaca probably deserves a start against Bolton. My front six for that game would be: Murphy and Dembele in the centre, Duff and Kaca wide, with Dempsey behind Pog (if fit), or Trotta or AJ otherwise. It's a shame to drop Ruiz from the above line up, but I think Duff and Kaca deserve the starting places this time around. We'll learn more by throwing Kaca and Trotta in, and other than Wigan at home, there isn't a kinder looking fixture for the youngsters than this one. Not that I'm taking Bolton for granted, but they are a less daunting prospect than Chelsea or Spurs, for example.
Given that the Bolton and Chelsea games are virtually back to back, Jol will 'rotate' some players but up front his options are limited. In his post match review he said " Pavel is the only number nine I have apart from Marcello Trotta". So I think he will give Trotta an outing against Bolton and give the Pog an extra couple of days to recover from his twisted ankle. If he does, I hope he ensures that the lad has some support; playing Ruiz behind him and continuing with Kaca on the left.
Good logic on giving Pog rest time. If Ruiz and Kaca both start, then presumably either Dempsey or Duff drops to the bench. Who would you leave out, Cottager? Much as I want Ruiz to get more game time, I suspect Dempsey might be a better support striker for Trotta.
Jol said that Pog will be back within a week. We need to get as many points as possible to get some extra money by finishing higher. I think Jol will play his strongest available squad. Both Bolton and Chelsea games are going to be tough for different reasons and we can't afford to look that we are favouring teams...
Why? I don't think it would look like that, and even if it did, what's the down side for us? After last season they changed the rules so that clubs won't get fined for making wholesale changes. Now that teams have to register a 25-man squad, they are free to make use of that squad (plus any players under a certain age, 21 I think).
For the Bolton game, Duff. He covered an awful lot of ground on Saturday and I've no doubt his contribution helped Kelly have, probably, his best game of the season. However, allowing for the style Bolton play and our inevitable away format (lying deep) we should have more options of hitting them on the break with the others. Just had a thought about how many natural left footers we have currently (AK being the latest) and wondering why Jol keeps insisting on playing Frei on the left?
I would like to see Trotta given a run out in a home game, just to let the fans judge his ability. Much has been said of him on this forum,this season, so it would be nice to see the 606 pundits comment on one, who could be a future C/F fixture for us
