Team v Parma

The team will be wearing the new Away Kit tomorrow, so that will be good to see. The other thing fans will want to see of course is Tarby. However, having fallen out with ’Arry 3 or 4 weeks ago in QPR’s pre-season tour of Devon he was sent home and hasn’t trained since. So while he might get a few cameo moments late on, I very much doubt if we’ll see him start.

In the two games earlier this week Jol seemed to have played his first string against Betis and his second string against Limassol. He obviously wasn’t happy about the Betis performance and the question is whether he willl mix things up a bit for this game. I don’t reckon so - except Dejagah starting in his correct position, Bryan in the middle and Mesca on the left. Hugo dropping out.


…………………..Steckers……………….
..Riether…..Hangeland….Amore…..Richardson….
……………Boateng…….Sidwell….
..Dejagah………..Ruiz…………….Mesca…
……………………Berba……….

 

I think he'll play Riise...

 

I hope he puts Tarabt on at some point, I want to see how/if he plans to play him with Berba and Ruiz.

 

Pajtim Kasami is on the front cover of today's programme - kind of weird and spooky given Jol's intention to put himout on loan. Will be interesting to see if he features at all in the game.

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haven't been able to get to the game but am listening to Gentleman Jim. Apparently it was a very two sided first half with Fulham strong for the first 20 or so minutes and Parma the other 25mins. Sidwell's goal sound very good at around 30 yards from goal. From what I've heard Boateng has been our best player so far making good passes, tackles and interceptions.

 

We NEED to get the check book out before next week, we are simply not good enough.

 

Watching todays game i feel we need at least 3 quality players,and some sound tactics,parts of this afternoon looked like a park game.
I feel that much could be learned by our senior coaching staff closely watching our youth side. same old same old.

 

His passing was poor today but very strong winning the ball back. We need a striker who plays on the shoulder as a priority- then a LB, then another CM. Sidwell's goal was spectacular but he is not the answer to our problem. Taarabt looked lively- Richardson had a good game, Ruiz on better form, one spectacular cross field pass.

 

Agree with everything except the last statement silky. That was a superb pass by Ruiz BUT it was his only contribution to what was another poor team effort. I watched him closely in the first half (sadly gave up after that) and his movement off the ball was zilch - never did he move into the box when Berba pulled the defence out; never did he look for space in the middle when we pulled their midfield wide (mainly on the left through Richardson and Mesca).

Kasami when he came on (for only 15 minutes showed how it can be done. On today’s showing I know which one I’d send out on loan.

Agree also with rosc’s view that we played like a pack of individuals (again). Unfortunately some just don’t have individual skills to hack it and in a way I’m sorry to pick on Hugo, because he got no support at all, but his control is too awful. Tarby in his cameo showed intent and yes, he often tried to take on one too many but at least he was a threat. I do hope Jol didn’t sign him to solely play out wide left however.

And on the subject of Jol, I was frustrated during and after the game but having read his post-match comments I am downright irritated!


“Everybody knows how I feel about it,” he said. “We need pace up front. We need goals and if you see our flank players they are very talented, but since Clint Dempsey left we have not scored enough. I think Adel [Taarabt] is capable of scoring goals, Berbatov is, Bryan could be. But what I need is someone who can score more.

“We are a very good Premier League club and we have some good players, but I want to strengthen the squad.”


He may be trying to make a not very veiled plea to Shad Khan/Ali Mac. However surely he needs to acknowledge that this is now his team and if they don’t make space or work as a team, they will not create chances to get those goals which apparently only Dempsey could.

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Here is a link to his full post-match interview: http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/august/10/manager-reaction

 

So, basically, we're in trouble this season then with the current squad?

 

And if this is so then it's incredibly short-sighted of the Chairman not to put his hand in his pocket. I mean, he's forked out £150 odd million for the club and if his investment drops out of the Premiership for the want of another £10 - £20 million then the value of the club would drop by more than this outlay. Talk about spoiling the ship for a ha'poth of tar.

The lack of activity is worrying, as is the fact that yet again we bring in a player on loan rather than actually spending the money. I think Bent would be a good signing and at £6 million he might be a tad over priced but he will get you goals (and if we think £6 million is over priced i wonder what Aston Villa think of the £24 million they paid for his services).

 

Another Dempsey mention? Is that the entire interview? Surely there's a Dembele reference there too?

 

boring he continues to mention Dempsey. Maybe his hands a tied and its a call for more dosh from Khan. On the face of it we look like last year...slow build up with little creativity. Another striker is a must, didn't even know Hugo was on the pitch in the second half. Why did Hughes play and not the new lad? LB, is a priority. Is Riise leaving for Bremen? Why play him if this is the case but then why take the number 3 shirt off him? Buttner on loan is a good move, if we can pull it off. CM saw Sidwell playing further up the pitch with Del boy holding - he looked solid and comfortable on the ball. Berbatov desperately needs better players around him. Again we looked dangerous down the flanks with the 2 FB and wingers playing well but it wasn't good enough. Adel looked sharp coming on, he'll challenge Ruiz thats for sure. How loyal is Jol going to be with Ruiz? He was poor.

Line up at Sunderland is going to very much the same as last year to me. Unless we improve we'll also end up like last year in my view.

 

I'm getting quite concerned about this season now. Yesterday we just didn't look good enough and the season starts in a week. All the teams who finished below us last season have strengthened significantly and Cardiff has made some good signings too.

The minimal investment we have made last season and this season means we are slipping back as we are not improving when teams around us are.

We desperately need another striker as if (god forbid) Berbatov gets injured we'll be completely toothless upfront.

I hope we managed to sign a few proven players over the next few weeks but suspect its going to be loans again to paper over the cracks.

It’s great Khan has confirmed he sees the Riverside stand expansion as a priority but if we are playing Championship football next season its not going to be much good to us half full.

 

Also who were the idiots booing Taarabt when he came on? What's that going to achieve?

 

we have achieved nothing under Jol in his 2 season tenure. I am not yet saying he should be replaced but before
the " in Jol we trust" brigade gets to irate he has to prove himself to us long standing frustrated fans.
There is time, so martin start getting organised. as Laudrup said we are not a weathly club but the premiership monies recieved
has hopefull allowed us to make some good buys.

 

I'm getting a bit tired of Jol now. I will give him the first 5 games of the season before i either back him or join the 'JOL OUT' bandwagon.

 

Really? Are we really starting the countdown to 'Jol out' already? I'm frustrated at the lack of signings, but we've also made some good additions - Stekelenberg is an excellent signing, Taarabt has potential to be great (though I'm not entirely convinced - time will tell) and all the reports on here about Boateng sound good. And we've not played a competitive game yet this season. People were saying the same kind of thing last season, and we got off to a flyer. Let's wait for the season to start before we start talking about bandwagons.

 

I anticipate plenty of unfounded criticism of Jol over the next few weeks. But let's be clear here - no signings is in no way the same as bad signings. If Jol had spanked £30m on some questionable players, I'd be much more concerned. The blame for lack of signings should lie with AliMac and Mr Khan, not Jol; does anyone seriously think Jol wouldn't spend the money if he had it, that he likes living with loan players? Jol's job is to handle the players we have and there is plenty of criticism there too. But do we have quality players playing badly? That would be Jol's fault. Aside from Ruiz, our good players seem to be playing well and our mediocre players are playing mediocre. I understand it is frustrating to watch as Jol tries to patch together what he has into the style he wants, but Jol has clearly not been given the cash to just go out and sign a big name player.

My concern is that MAF believed that if we can survive the next two years on low spending, high quality Academy graduates will start coming through and that is what Mr Khan has been sold on. That's a very dangerous tactic indeed.

 

exactly, as i said, i'm giving him 5 games or so and then i'll join a bandwagon based on those competitive performances.