In the aftermath of last night's game, the biggest question that came to the fore is regarding players attitudes. As a manager Rene must have said to the players in the dressing room prior to the game that we need to show energy and desire if we are to win this game, so who upped their game ? Stockers - not too much to do Passley - very impressive, the young full back really looks the part, played very well Hangeland - showed desire and good to him and burn together Burn - as with Hangeland showed desire and heart, passing came be a bit dodge, but great attitude Amorebieta - played ok, had it tough against the impressive brayford, looked disheartened though Kasami - worked hard but as we all know he is not a winger, tried hard when put up top. Parker - solid but did little to inspire, too much sideways passing Tankovic - very impressive, showed great confidence and was looking to push forward, kept it tidy later on when asked to play deeper. Kaka - was he even playing ? Did not look like he was up for it, provided little, no desire to get forward Dempsey - a really disappointing display. One of the Europa league boys, but showed no desire and was diving around like a kid. He is simply earning money now, should be sent back from loan deal. Rodders - once again produced very little, but with not a lot of service. No runs into the channels, dropped too deep. If he had shown as much passion as he did on the bench on the pitch things may have been different for him. Duff - been a big critic of his this season, but showed real desire on the ball and tried his upmost to lift the team. Unfortunately not many wanted to follow. Dejagah - showed good promise, took players on but not a lot of end product. He did though find the spaces and is clearly our best right winger. Looked a bit disillusioned though. Sidwell - did what Sidders does, still slows the game too much for my liking. What did we learn then ? The fringe players are struggling to find the will to play; Amorebieta, kaka, Dempsey, rodders, Dejagah all looked as though theirs minds were elsewhere. Sidders and Parker show desire but are not forward thinking enough. Duff although not playing so well gets the situation we are in. Our youngsters are making the step up and did not look out of place. We looked solid defensively. It to be honest did not have too much to do in the final 75 mins. For the first time last night, there were signs that Rene is losing the dressing room. The fringe players has very little desire to impress. This was their opportunity to show the manager that they are wanting to play first team football. Of them only Dejagah looked worthy of first team football. Rene has to blood the new players we got in against United. It goes without saying that mitroglou has to hit the ground running. He needs to give us a outlet up front, to get some goals and perhaps more importantly take some pressure off our defence. Knowing we can score goals will lift the rest if the team. Holtby has to have a free role as an advancing centre midfielder. He is the only creative spark we have. Kvist has to anchor the midfield, he is good at organising and pushes Parker and Sidwell forward. Tunnicliffe, not sure about, but from what I have read he is an all out centre midfielder. If he can cover defensively and get the ball forward, he has to start. That said the experience of Parker or Sidwell may be invaluable, but perhaps coming off the bench when we need to tighten things up would be better suited to them. Larnell cole, supposed to be direct winger who is very skilful and not afraid to take people on. Pace and no fear could be just what we need. Do not know much about him the alternative options are few and far between. Heitinga is a right sided defender, we need that balance, Hangeland does not look as happy on the left side. How brave Rene will be remains to be seen. The players need to stand up and fight for the cause. The new signings have not yet been pulled into the doom and gloom, perhaps they can be the catalyst to lift the other players. Dempsey cannot play again, nor bent or rodders. Stekkers Passley Heitinga Hangers Richardson Dejagah Tunnicliffe Kvist Cole Holtby Mitroglou Bit scared to watch the game but a little spark is still burning inside that we may put in a good performance at least. Coyw
Very good summary of yesterday's game. The reaction by Hugo says a lot about the team spirit or how some players might be feeling. Dempsey was far worse than Hugo and responsible for the goal. I don't know if changes of that scale will produce a result but nothing to loose. We are desperate for something positive. Honestly I can't see where it will come. Most of us will say bring more of the U21s and the display of Passley and Tankovic yesterday, even against a supposingly lesser opponent, it justifies this.
Yes, a good summary of the game, though I though Amorebieta was much worse than you rated him. Tank was pretty decent, I thought, and Dempsey just didn't give a rat's a$$. I'm guessing he doesn't like the rainy weather in London and would rather be in Seattle ... oh, never mind. (weather joke) I was watching the game on TV and saw a few things I thought were very strange - incongruous really. When Rodallega came off, rightly after a poor display, you'd have thought someone had shot his mother. He moped and burried his face in his hands like he'd given everything he had and it wasn't appreciated. I saw the same kind of determination and frustration on the face of Dempsey, who was even worse ... but why didn't this desire and frustration translate into actual performance? That's what I don't get.
I'd agree with all of those individual assessments, Froggy, other than agreeing with DR about Amorebieta being worse that you suggested. Before last night I'd have said to play him in place of Richardson, now I'm not sure either way. From my extensive research into Tunnicliffe (I saw him play once over Christmas), I'd describe him as a Sidwell-type who may or may not share the same flaws that Sidwell has. If Tunnicliffe was going to get into the side now, it would be in place of Sidwell. I see you've got no room for either Parker or Karagounis in your team, which seems odd to me. Even though Holtby's best position may be behind the striker, we've looked best this season with a third central midfielder, so we might have to play him out wide to accomodate that, certainly away from home or against the top teams. How's this: Steklenberg Reither or Passley, Hangeland, Heitinga, Richardson or Amorebieta Parker, Karagounis, plus one of Kvist/Sidwell/Tunnicliffe Cole, Mitroglou, Holtby
I was all in favour of the 4-3-3 if Dejegah and Kaca were playing with Parker/Holtby and Kara in the middle, but seeing as that hasn't happened, and yesterdays team selection suggests neither will be starting on Saturday, we might as well go to 4-4-2 narrow with Holtby playing off the striker and the 4 midfielders staying deeper. If we go 4-3-3 without any actual wingers playing we crowd out the middle and effectively end up with two players in the free role behind the striker, which we can't afford. I really don't know what to expect in terms of the starting line up. If it was me then I'd go for; Stek Reither - Heitinga - Hange - Amore Parker - Kara Holtby Dejegah - Kaca Mitro
I don't know what the rest think but Kara's leadership is required. If someone can see space and get a couple of passes beyond the defenders it's him...
The fact that Karagounis didn't start yesterday suggests to me that Rene plans to use him against United. That makes sense in terms of Mitroglou - it can only help him to settle in if we're including the only player who already knows his game well. Plus the fact that Karagounis is one of the few to have consistently played well when he's featured.
He's got that bit extra composure on the ball. I can't fault Parker or Sidwell for effort, and they are both good to have for winning it back, but I'm increasingly frustrated with Parker's passing and he has a tendency to try run through the man. Sidwell's energy is fantastic but I'd say he loses it as much as he wins it and it becomes a bit of a positive-negative circle. Kara can help settle us and keep the ball and hopefully work well with the new boys. He should be made captain, if anyone can lead us at this time it's him. Brede is better left to defend, he's not a natural leader.
Forgot about Kara to be honest. Captain makes a brilliant point that he would aid the transition of mitroglou as well. Having kvist as the enforcer in the middle with Kara and Holtby in front of him would give us loads of creativity. I mould drop both Sidders and Parker, this may make them realise that we have to push forward as well, also, be great to bring them on to tighten things up defensively. Holtby has to be given a free role. As impressive as he was against Southampton, he does not maintain his position if played wide as was shown for the Lallana goal. For the first time in a long time we could put out a team that has creativity in it and a striker who may score, if he is fit that is. We are under a hell of a lot pressure at the moment but we are bottom of the league and not playing well, United on the other hand, should be near the top of the league and are not playing well. The pressure on this game is on them, if we can get a goal in the first half and panic them a bit then who knows. Stoke beat them so can we.
Passley, Tankovic and Burn all did well. The rest? Well, nothing needs to be said. Kaca/Amore/Dempsey in particular, woeful.
Would agree. The only thing Amore looked up for last night was a fight. Forget him at the weekend - we've been playing with ten men in an awful lot of games already this season and can well do without that being enforced on us. Kasami was pants.
Totally agree Bandit with your assement,but i would add Brede. Demps Parker Rods and Amore were woefull.We were bad against a team in a lower division fighting for their survival, and with the advantage of home ground. The full back position Reither on the right side,and Passley on the left,as those that follow youth sides know that he can play on either flank.Please no more Amore,Riise.and especially Rchardson, and with the introduction of the new lads, we hopefully can show a greater commitment and improvement.
I excluded Kasami as in the final 10 minutes he looked like the only FFC player actually willing to shoot, but yes, another sub par performance from him, actually since 'that' goal against Palace he hasn't been the same player. Brede's distribution was shocking as ever and although Stockdale made a decent save, he still looks very shaky on crosses. Can't remember the last time he actually caught a ball from a cross rather than punched it. Parker is mastering the sideways/backwards passing movements. This is why Dembele was SO important to us, a player who can come from deep and take the ball forward, boy do I miss players like him, Murph and Diarra. Hopefully Holtby can be our forward thinker. Wouldn't be surprised if we don't see Kaca again this season.
I think Kasami is suffering from the fact he doesn't seem to have a position. I reckon Wenger could turn him into a very good player and I think he would use him as a holding midfielder, which is against his instincts but where his body type suits best. He isn't sharp enough to be a striker, not creative enough to play as 10, not quick enough to be a winger and doesn't have enough composure to be a Murphy-esque midfielder. He's another Dempsey, unless we build the team around him we won't get the best from him. I'm unconvinced whether his ability would warrant that faith - he has shown flashes but can look very ordinary.
I agree with all that's said. Still disappointed. The younger lads did do well. But then they were playing against league 1 opposition, they should do well, shouldn't they? That therefore means the established premier league players should have been even better? RM said that they could have played for a month and not scored! No Sh*t sherlock! Why didn't he do anything about it? There were players that could have done a much better job than the bunch of lazy ars*s who played last night. If Tankovic was out of position then all credit to the lad because I thought he was our best player. I actually think that our problem at the moment is Parker. I hate to say it but he's the instigator of all that's negative in terms of play. If he plays why doesn't he just sit in front of the back 4? I thought he would be a great player for us, very Fulhamish, but he is getting on and can't handle the pace. The Prem has upped a notch in intensity this season it seems and Fulham haven't got the players to handle it. RM needs to be brave and stick to his guns from the first 3 or 4 games in charge. If he plays Holtby (our real game changer) on the flank I'll go over to Motspur on Monday (barging my way past Madness, Rosc and Surly) with a bloody great sign saying play players in the right positions you muppets!! FFS, we're making QPR look good and that's not a good thing to do!
How long have we been saying that? Exactly. He seems to want to be (or is being instructed to be) an attacking and a defending midfielder. Apart from anything else he hasnt the legs for it. The recurring theme, and I could have added other examples, is that players do not have a clearly defined role. Translate that to any job and the outcome is always the same...below par.
Parker does have a tendency to play wall balls which isn't always the best way to use it. He's increasingly played within himself as time has passed, not sure whether this is a message from the management or just reflects general malaise / lack of faith in players around him.
Oh, and another recurring theme from this Board .. What do they do on the Training Ground? .. Why can't we take decent corners or free kicks? A classic illustration last night was when Kasami took over from Kaca (whose free kicks had been hopeless) and his[/] free kick didn't clear the first man. ..Why can't we take throw ins? Don't think we won any of our own cleanly last night and in the second half players either ran away or hid behind a Sheffield man. At times the nearest player to Passley must have been 20 yards away.
