Sidwell is back from suspension and will definitely play. Richardson is ruled out with injury (again) and Petric who missed Saturday with a problem to the calf that needed stitches in the Sunderland game, is doubtful. The critical players are obviously Bryan and Diarra but unfortunately neither is going to be ready for Wednesday. Had they been Iâd have gone for pretty much the same team as Bandit suggested in the âTeam v Liverpoolâ thread - except Duff instead of Dejagah. Iâd also seriously consider dropping Riise for the reasons I mentioned in the same thread, but I know Jol wonât. Equally Chris Baird could do with a rest but if thereâs no Diarra thereâs no way we could leave the midfield to the roaming duo of Sidwell and Kara. However Iâd play all three and go for a starting line-up of - â¦â¦â¦.Schwarzerâ¦. ..Riether..Hangeland..Hughes..Riise â¦â¦Karaâ¦.Bairdâ¦Sidwell â¦Duffâ¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦.â¦.Frei.. â¦â¦â¦â¦Berbatovâ¦.
And now Damien Duff (calf injury) joins Petric and Diarra on the sidelines. Although in his press interview that there's a slim chance that Bryan could be considered - http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2012/december/24/jols-saints-preview From his comments I think it a very slim chance for Bryan (we've heard something simlar before). So Dejagah for Duff and that 's about it I guess.
Bryan has confirmed on his website that he is indeed in the squad today. I guess the question is will he start or is it just a 'ruiz' to get Adkins wondering about his game plan ? My feeling is that he will start on the bench and come in for Kara on the hour mark - by which time hopefully the game will in any event be sown up.
Just back from the game. Disappointing... Should we continue this way we are heading for relegation dogfight. Berbatov a walker in parts of the second half. Baird completely off the game, out-played, out-paced, out on everything... Ruiz brought a breath of fresh of air but not for long. Riise back pedalling defending. Does Jol have a plan B? Hope he does... Plan A is falling apart.
My faith in this team is crumbling by the second to be honest. We played some good stuff in the first half, but crucially needed that second goal to kill the game, the longer we went without scoring another, Southampton grew in confidence and got what was probably a deserved equaliser. No disrespect to Southampton, but if we are going to finish where we want to be at the end of the season, then home games against promoted teams have got to be home bankers, especially given our away form is absolutely dire. There are far too many players at the club who don't deserve to be here, let alone in the first team. We lack quality all over the pitch in my opinion, and even though there are easily three worse teams than us, I wouldn't be astonished if we went down. Jol has a big job on his hands. Schwarzer, out Riise, out Sidwell, out Baird, out Senderos, out Karagounis, out Hangeland, unless he picks up some form, out Kaca, Rodallega (decent game today), Berbatov, Ruiz and Dejagah are the only ones who played today that I'd like to see here for the foreseeable future. Grim.
Disagree on Sidwell and Kara. Sidwell run all over and had Baird done the same would not be the saying anything. Kara gelled the midfield but the gaps left by Baird were huge. The rest seem to be inept on the reality. I would give Briggs a chance against Swansea as well as Stockdale. Stockdale has been playing for Hull and should be in good condition. Dejagah did not play that well. Did some good runs but needs more focus.
Dejahah is a poor player. Jol has a problem, fans dislike him does not track back and his tackling is awful. quicker Duff is back the better. Sidewell was our best player today, should of had 1 of his 2 shots on goal. Berbatov - what was the shirt message all about? apart from the goal and some sublime touches it was dull. Why we continued to lump it long, we got no change out of their CB pairing. Very disappointing. We could have lost that today and I for one would not complain.
We weren't as bad as the last couple of games but I agree it was not a great performance. We needed that second goal to settle us down. I could not see Southampton actually scoring so they were lucky to get a penalty but in fairness they deserved it. Good to see Ruiz back and we were good for a few minutes. Sidwell had a rocket shot that was very close - had it hit someone it could have killed them ! We just need some confidence and get back to playing our game. In summary, yes we were not at our best but we have been much worse in the last few weeks and it was an improvement.
Very disappointing to drop the points today - We should have won, but could have lost. We have gone backwards since the woeful Sunderland game. I like MJ but he needs something more – a new spark to get us out of the doldrums. Certainly, having a wholesale clearout and rebuilding a team in the makes no sense in January. But midfield remains the problem: Sidwell and Baird should not play together. I disagree on Kara - he played a full 90m at Anfield and doesn't gel. Good to see Bryan Ruiz again; now we need Duff back. But the urgent need is for heartbeat in the team, ideally in the midfield, ala Danny or event Moussa – neither Diarra nor Richardson are a solution either. In defence, we need a cover for Hughes and Hangeland (offloading him makes no sense) - Senderos still just looks error-prone to me, as does Riiise (an enigma - going forward he's cracking). At least Riether is back to match fitness. Thanks to our good start to the season we have 21 points in the bag and there are 5 clubs with bigger problems than ours, so we have some chance to ensure safety, maybe a climb to mid-table. We have a "proper" manager - although I would like to see a bit more "Plan B". Having EXPECTED 3 points today, I can just HOPE for 3 on Saturday - C O Y W
Agree GeraS but we were our own worst enemies - looping the ball forward (hopefully), mis-placed passes when under no threat, no running off the ball. I could go on. Frankly after a bright 15 minutes when we created three good chances and scored from one of them, we were woeful. This game put a new definition on what's meant by a flat back four; to which you could add a flat midfield. Why, oh why do we back off and let teams get back into the match ? Berbatov it right with his slogan, "stay calm". Unfortunately few did and the confidence is rock bottom. Just on Berba. I'd challenge any suggestions about his contribution - what's he man supposed to do when virtually every ball is lumped up in the air to him ? And Jol's half time substitution did him no favours - Kaca should have stayed and Hugo replaced. Bryan did okay at first (in the centre) but then drifted out of the game when he went to the right wing with the other substitution. Up till now Jol has made very decent subs but not today. They ruined what little shape we had. Sidwell was our best player and really put hmself about but unfortunately he's not a gifted footballer. For the rest, I'll limit myself to; Schwarzer whose kicking ... it's just not credible from a premiership player, Riise who just cannot defend at the moment, and Baird who looked totally lost throughout the game. Poor, very very poor performance from a team playing at home. If I say one shot on goal, I'd then rest my case.
This game summed up the problems we have been having for weeks. Nearly all our major problems emanate from our woeful CM. For over an hour today all our passes were sideways or backwards. This is linked to the same reason why we lump the ball up out of defense: players do not make themselves available for the pass. This is personified by Baird but shared by Sidwell - where exactly were Hangeland/Schwarzer supposed to put the ball? They couldn't make the forward pass because Sidwell & Baird were never available for it. If you watch Barcelona, what makes a great team is not the passing (most Barca passes are short, simple passes), it is in players making themselves available to receive the pass. We just do not do that. Karagounis showed a willingness to make himself available once he came on. He is unfortunate that he is now older and just cannot do the other things we need from our CM, but at least he showed desire. Baird is not a real CM and it is a little ridiculous to say he should be shipped out because he isn't a great CM. He is a squad player who can do a job, but we cannot rely on him. Sidwell tries to be a leader, but that cannot cover the fact he is technically poor. He is never in the right position and frequently ends up committing a foul as he tries to recover. We will not be able to really see how good our strikers/wingers are whilst they have to come deep for the ball or try to make the most of a long ball.
I don't think it is a contradiction. Baird is a good squad player who seems to be a CB who can help us at RB & CM when we have an injury or suspension. He is useful for that flexibility. We should not ship him out just because he isn't the top CM we need - its not his fault we didn't prepare well enough in the summer that we have to rely on a converted CB as a first choice CM.
one of our youngsters in the middle has got to be better than baird, or atleast have the bollocks to pass the ball forward
As a Southampton fan I expect you feel a little aggrieved, however it seemed to be the inverse of the game at St Mary's earlier this season. Neither side played to their potential, with players out of position and a lot of long balls. I guess it is because there are a lot of games in a short period of time and neither team can afford to have their best players out injured for long. I think you will be fine and Jol has always developed sides. I think Fulham are in transition as a number of your long term servants that have done well may be coming to the end of their careers. Keep faith you will finish mid-table.
Pretty sure we have an attacking midfielder named Pajtim Kasami amongst the ranks who could do a job.
That is my frustration why he is not given a chance. He couldn't be any worse than Baird yesterday. Not having a go at Baird, but Jol who exposes him so miserably.
Agree - and let’s all remember Hodgson used Baird for 3 maybe 4 games in the CM a stop gap when we had no other options, he knew it wasn't a longterm because as soon as Murphy and Etuhu were fit he played them and Baird was on the bench. Baird has a massive issue playing the ball forwards, technically not good enough - he’s a utility player at best, harsh as it may seem not a starting PL player. Let’s be honest he's is a defender first and foremost we're all expecting wonderful things week in week out - we don’t get them. We say no other options but is that the case...Ok Diarra being injured is unfortunate, however Jol must have thought in the back of his mind the African Nations and the possibility of losing him in January anyways but what about Tavares - a natural CM not playing, Kasami - as others have mentioned a natural MF - both not being used. Or even look at playing Karagounis from the off. Richardson clearly off the pace and discarded. We’ve won 1 in 11, are we really stuck with just Baird..our MF and I include Sidwell in this is all workmanlike...you need more in the PL, we've been crying out, then Dembele came along and we were much much better. All I’m saying is the clause was there for a team to stump up the 15m, Spurs were in long before the window closed it was rumoured. So when others mention a plan b - we didn't have one or perhaps no resources to get them in that late. The tactics are not right in my view, its all sideways and backwards we’ve been exposed the last 3 games and looked like a relegation team – the form suggests so. How long is this going to go on. Why did we not have a striker on the bench? If we’re going to lump it and play long ball at least have someone who can win a fair share of headers…I’m not talking about Berbatov and Hugo here. I’m not suggesting Petric either. Ideal to have a Trotta on the bench not at Brentford, at least then we’d have a decent look at him.
