Not going to say anything regarding today's game, a heavy defeat was expected and delivered. Failure to beat West Ham next week at home and my faith in Jol will be hanging by a thread.
One thing that should have happened in the game was Jol should have substituted Berbatov after 60 minutes. Is there something in his contract to say he has to play 90 minutes ? Can someone please tell me what happened in the first half when Ruiz and Berbatov broke away, the next thing I knew the only United player there came away with the ball!!!!! was it a poor ball from Ruiz or was Berbatov robbed ? When I got home I watched the ITV recording but they didn't show it, (luckily they were obliged to show our goal). By the way some of the players where on the train back, but were whisked away on the coach at Euston, except for Ruiz who stopped to have his photo taken with the fans on the platform, Then I last saw him walking through Euston station in his Fulham tracksuit, wheeling a weekend suitcase with his wife.
We were exposed to the Nation tonight as dreadful and I was a tad embarassed. Possession wise we can compete against the best but goal threat is non existant - as it has been for several games. I'm not sure what has happened as we were scoring for fun early part of the season. Today was a total repeat of the Man City game - early goal lost, lots of posession, absolute no goal threat. It has to be about confidence - Craven Cottage must be 100% behind the team for Wednesday. We just have to win. I'm totally behind Jol. This is a dark period and we must get back to normality. Unbelievable that our goal should come from Hughes - upfront it is just too slow. I don't know - it's just not working for some reason. There is a good team somewhere within them but at the moment we are struggling to convert this play into attack and goals. COYW
Behind the team on Wednesday despite my any concerns! Drop Berbatov unless he can play as a striker. Both him and Ruiz are holding the ball too much. The rest are not moving forward as we are vulnerable in the counter attack. Spoke to a couple of players at the hotel and they know that Wednesday's game is crucial! As for the chance between Bryan and Berba I think the pass was intercepted. COYW!!
Quoted from BBC match report. "The game passed him by". Who are they referring to? Answers on a post card to..........
Agreed with all the comments on the match itself. The team shape, particularly Berbatov's reluctance to stay up, and the slowness are serious issues. I still think that if we can get the right combination for the two central midfielders, Berbatov and Ruiz can work as a front two, but until we do we need a striker who can be a target and a focal point. It was a depressing watch, but it's what you expect when you give away a penalty so early at Old Trafford. The really frustrating thing is that the goal was from a penalty (not even a dodgy one), which came from a corner which came from an attack started by an unforced error by us. One sloppy pass from Sidwell and we were left with a mountain to climb. At least West Ham won't have as much quality in their side as United on Wednesday. And as for my prediction of 1-1. At least I got the 1 right. Let's hope the 2-0 at the Cottage part comes true next weekend. I'm more in hope than expectation on that one.
Really? Can we hold you to that? If you're resting your case, doesn't that mean that you're going to stop banging on about it? Just asking.
Captain : Resting my case means what it says I am still questioning JOLS tactical ability. Remember he has been here 18momths,and can you honestly say we have inproved in that time. As a Fulham season ticket holder and supporter of many years I must accept the mediocre,but up till now we have not achieved that.
If we have a good team that aren't performing well, doesn't it make sense to change the manager? As player replacements aren't needed.
We looked old as a team yesterday, slow in our decision making, slow in our application of our decisions and generally lethargic. I am not sure but I would imagine we had more of the possession stats in the first half but did very little in the final third. Our situation was summed up in 3 incidents: - Reither played a great cross into the danger area and there was no one even close to make an attempt at goal - Berbatov plucks the ball out of the air like a genius and then proceeds to stand still whilst the rest of the team bomb forward, attack comes to nothing - Hughes ball watching for the Hernadez goal, that said Hernandez's movement was excellent I am still with Jol staying firmly put as manager but will agree he has to work much harder at getting this team back to where we were at the beginning of the season. I think having some fresh legs will provide us with some answers as whether he is the man for the job. With the current crop of players I cannot help but feel any manager would struggle. Bring on West Ham and let's hope for some passion and desire to show we are better than our league position suggests Come on you whites
The thing is Froggy, the first two matches of the season (Norwich, Man Utd) we were fantastic, and had basically the exact same squad minus Dembele. Were we really a one man team? The squad hasn't changed that much.
Ticket to the match - £45 Hotel for the night - £85 Petrol for the return trip to Manchester - £80 Watching your team get played off the park -Priceless Yesterday we were outplayed and it was embarrassing. I can't blame the players for not putting in the effort as I thought (with the exception of Berbatov) they all did. Most of the players we have are not good enough. For the last few seasons Dempsey carried us. To replace the players we have lost costs money and unless we do that we are going to go backwards. Last season we lost out top 2 strikers and 3 of our first choice midfielders and how much money has Jol had to replace those players? I don't blame Jol as he hasn't been given the money to spend. The players he has bought have been value for money. We are not going to get a great PL player for 3-5 mil will are going to get an ok PL player and that is what we have got. I'm 100% behind Jol. I just wish he had some more money to spend.
Ticket to the match - £45 Hotel for the night - £85 Petrol for the return trip to Manchester - £80 Watching your team get played off the park -Priceless Yesterday we were outplayed and it was embarrassing. I can't blame the players for not putting in the effort as I thought (with the exception of Berbatov) they all did. Most of the players we have are not good enough. For the last few seasons Dempsey carried us. To replace the players we have lost costs money and unless we do that we are going to go backwards. Last season we lost out top 2 strikers and 3 of our first choice midfielders and how much money has Jol had to replace those players? I don't blame Jol as he hasn't been given the money to spend. The players he has bought have been value for money. We are not going to get a great PL player for 3-5 mil will are going to get an ok PL player and that is what we have got. I'm 100% behind Jol. I just wish he had some more money to spend.
I understand where you're coming from, we have £22m to spend and usually I would say we cannot spend big in January due to there being no value in the market, but if we risk it, play it safe and keep what we have and maybe get a few loans in, we are looking at relegation. Premier League survival is worth £60m, we have £20m to spend. You do the math.
The problem is quite simple and straight forward... We don't have a forward!! Betbatov has not won a single header so far from any of the passes. When he gets the ball he is too slow to pass it and when he does he is not going into the box... Many said it even Jol. We cross the ball but there is nobody there... Ruiz and Berba do not fit in the same team as they compete for the same position. One needs to be dropped. And that's because none of them is Dembele who will track back and get the ball. That's something that Jol needs to sort out. They have moments of genius but nothing comes to fruition... Btw, glad we got dropped as we can focus on PL... Watching the first half was funny... Both Baird and Sidwell were trying to offload the ball as quickly as possible! Also, great support from the fans despite the atrocious weather conditions!!! Come on Fulham!
Fair point Bandy, my only answer to that question is that Diarra had far more influence in the middle of the park than we give him credit for. I think he controlled the area in front of the defence and allowed Sidders to push on to support Ruiz and Berbatov. This allowed Berbatov to play much higher up the pitch. I am not sure exactly what is going on with our form at the moment, one thing I do know is that Diarra has been missing for quite a long time. It will be interesting to see if Frimpong can do the same job as Diarra and if so what it means for the rest of the team. COYW
They laughingly call it the Theater of Dreams, Theater of Pain more like it. Stuck in the corner area again, knees of the bloke behind stuck in my back, my knees jammed into the seat in front, and started getting cramp. Half time changed seat, and when it started to chuck it down with rain the roof was leaking!!!! All for the privilege of being charged £45 for a seat to watch my team give up after 2 minutes. Only fun I had was to watch a rather obnoxious United fan being chucked out after 25minutes for mouthing off to the Fulham fans while holding a bottle in his hands, then pleading with the stewards not to be thrown out for drunk and disorderly manner. He'd been warned twice to sit down, but what did it was bringing his bottle with him to his seat and standing up arms spread with it in his hands. Stupid or what !!!
Ouch! Almost as painful as SuperBri's seat. Hats off to both, and Madness and COYW and all the other faithful who went. Loved the tidbits about the players Bri and Madness.
At least we went out to Manchester United who are quite likely to be League Champions, possibly European Champions and maybe eventual cup winners and not a team from 1, 2, or 4 divisions below ourselves. Things could be a lot worse.
