What would you prioritise as the first issues to remedy ? - organise the defence on set plays with immediate effect. We have conceded 19 goals this season in 11 games, 5 of which are from set plays. We do not seem to be organised from set plays, too often runners are not picked up or we switch off too easily. - provide adequate support for the back 4. We are leaking goals so we need to help out where the issue lies. Scott Parker can do this role perfectly. Play to his strengths and help the back 4. - link the midfield to the attackers. We have been playing Sidders and Parker but both of these 2 tend to pass sideways or backwards. We need players to push up the pitch and integrate the striker/s. If we move up the pitch offensively, we will automatically bring the whole team up. - get the best out of the offensive players we have. Berbatov needs to be up top and needs service. He looks nonchanlant because he is no getting the service. When dembele was playing he drew defenders with his attacking runs, this freed up space for Ruiz and berbatov to do what they do best. In order to free up Ruiz we need to create space for him. Kaka also looked far better when dembele was around. Problem is who can be creative and offensively minded, for me Kasami. - perhaps most important of all, give us an identity. When teams play us we seem to try to stop them from playing their game. Let's make other teams modify their game to counter ours. It is so frustrating to see teams play with such confidence against us. When Roy was manager, teams knew before they arrived that they would find it hard to break us down. Nowadays, it seems that we are the team who you should be getting 3 points from. This has to change as soon as possible. Bring the cottage as a fortress. So not much to do then !!!
If Rene can put his arm around the players and make them feel ten feet tall, then that will go a long way.
Spot on Bidley. And indeed the appointment of Rene reminded me of a post I made in the 'Team v Manchester United' thread about the similarities in the situation with Vic Buckingham back in season 1967 and Jol now. That was about managers getting the boot, of course. However, in season 1965/66 Fulham were at the bottom of the top League and really struggling under Buckingham. The Club brought in Dave Sexton during the season to help him and to quote the historian Denis Turner, "Dave Sexton was widely regarded as one of the best coaches in the game, he had the ability to get players to raise their game and with virtually the same team was able to bring about a transformation in results" We managed to escape relegation that year. So, hoping history repeats itself, and Rene does as Bidley says.
I think we all agreed at the beginning of the season that as a bunch of players this is the most talented set of players football has had in a very long while, if not ever. The problem has been that they cannot play as a team and I think this is where our new man can make a difference. We've played players out of position and for the sake of playing them. The new man has got to get the team working to our strengths and get new belief. It's not going to be instant so once again it will need patience and encouragement from all of our support. I am quite pleased about the appointment. I think it gives us a chance and this guy is no mug if he has spent all that time under SAF.
I wonder if Meulensteen's time at United was productive because he had started as youth coach and seemed to graduate through the racks with some of the youngsters, so he probably had a lot of respect from them, with listening and knowing what he wanted and could deliver. Will he get that from the first team squad. I wonder in the long run if he can blend the development squad we have coming through with a few of the experienced players into a team that can move the ball forward quicker. Another thought I had was if Jol leaves in the summer, would getting Hiddink be an option to team him with Meulensteen, as they were briefly together at Anzhi before they got into financial problems and had to ship their expensive players and manager out.
The quote doing the rounds is from Robin Van Persie, who says he's one of the best in the world, having only spent one season working with him.
Muelensteen is no mug. He wouldn't have joined Fulham if he didn't see potential. It's all ifs buts and maybe's at the moment but I definitely think there will be an improvement in confidence.
SBM - I think his time was pretty productive. 4 Prem titles and a double in there for good measure in 2007/8. I don't think there will be a problem with him being able to communicate well. If he can do it with Ronaldo he can do it with Sidwell!
