I honestly believe this is a really tough window for us....... It would be so much easier if we were just off the play offs or in the relegation zone as we would have to spend a bt of money, but with promotion a distant dream and relegation hopefully unlikely we are now looking at building for next season, and with so many youngsters this is tough For example a lot of people have mentioned a need for a defensive midfielder but would this stop Hyndman developing, yes Hyndman has been thrown in a bit early but if he gets another 15 odd games in the second half of the season he could well be ready for the championship next year. The same goes for Grimmer people say we need full backs but if we okay Grimmer and Stafylidis another 20 games they could well be ready to be top players next season where as if we buy somebody they won't play I would be happy with just Kacanicklic and Tunnicliffe give the youngsters a lot of game time as long as we are not drag in yo the fight and in the summer assess hoe try have dared and who has kicked on and who hasn't I don't envy kit at all
I agree it will be hard to get the right players in, we'll struggle to attract established players who slot right in and run the risk of getting more youth players to compete with our academy graduates or end up with some old timers on decent wages with little to prove. Hopefully we can move on some, if not all of the following : Kiraly Smith (if he isn't in kits plans) Amorebieta Zverotic Chihi Fotheringham Mitro Stek Ruiz And replace them with a new, experienced first choice keeper, experienced centre back, back up right back and (ideally) poacher / striker who can score from the off (in which case add Hugo to the list above). We probably won't do this in Jan but I'm itching to see the back of them and stop pissing money on their wages. A strong defensive midfielder would be good too.
One player who won't be joining Fulham - having been linked with a return earlier in the season - is Mark Schwarzer. He's off to Leicester for the rest of the season. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30675920 Good luck to him there.
Excellent points, Cookie. I was thinking something similar earlier today concerning Woodrow. I thought his finishing was very poor yesterday, and that Smith or Taggart (or someone) should be playing ahead of him, but if that happens, how does he gain the experience he needs? The big gamble in all this is that phrase, 'as long as we're not dragged into the relegation fight'. Can we afford to trust the youngsters and give them time? Perhaps, but it's a high stakes game to play.
The solution for that would be to send Woodrow out on loan, surely? He'd get a lot more chances out on loan at a league 1 or 2 club than he currently is with us. Right now he's more or less a bench warmer, an attacking option for us on there. I'd rather have Smith on the bench as an option. At present I think we need Smith more than we need Woodrow, Woodrow has the potential to be a good player but needs to be playing regularly which he isn't doing with us.
Just read my original post and auto spell went crazy on it lol though you all seem to have got what I was saying! The point of loans is an interesting one, when you have a few good youngsters who need first team football the answer is often loan them out to get minutes but we are in a unique position where we have 8/9 rated youngsters all at the same time and if we loaned them all wouldn't have a squad Personally I would like to see Dembele, Roberts, Burgess and Taggert loaned out But instead of signing anyone would like to see Kavanagh, Grimmer, Hyndman, Christiansen, Stafylidis and Woodrow given lots of games to get them ready for next season.
I can't think of many games hyndman and christensen have played together, they could be a little lightweight at the moment. I liked hyndman when he was getting games, he looked to have some composure and passing ability. However I have noticed many teams in this league (and in the prem thinking about it) have an absolute brute in the middle who is there to break things up. I'm not sure we have that, Parker and Fofana are quite similar types of midfielder in that they go box to box but we could do with a nasty man in the middle protecting the youngsters and defence and doing little else. Christensen seems to roam a bit, which we should encourage, and has appeared to play more on the wing on occasion - over time I'd like to see hyndman and christensen together but Parker isn't the right man to sit alongside them. Hopefully we go for a real 4-3-3 by the end of the season, and by that I mean wingers on either side. McC is no doubt a good player at this level but he exemplifies the madness of Magath - he essentially prevents us playing the system we have the players for because he isn't a winger and he isn't a striker. Putting him with Ruiz is understandable, they are probably our better players at the moment, but it's a lot like Jol forcing round pegs into square holes- we saw with Roy that if we play the players in the right position in a balanced formation we do well. Ideally I'd like to see us bring in a starting keeper, Betts has given a good account of himself but we need experience there, and an enforcer as a minimum and try 4-3-3 with two from Williams, Roberts and Kaca on the wings and getting in behind and McC in the middle , McC can fill in on the wing too on occasion. The alternative is to stop playing 3 in the middle and change to 4-4-1-1 or 3-5-1-1 which would best suit McC
I'm not sure I agree about Bettinelli. I'd like to see another experienced keeper, but as a back up, not to replace him as number 1. I thought Kiraly was going to be just the man, but I was remembering the player from 10 or so years ago. He's not still got what he had then (apart from the penchant for track suit bottoms), but the idea of an experienced keeper to help with Bettinelli and Jorenen's development is a good one. We do need someone reliable in reserve.
Bettinelli has come good and it would be unfair to take this opportunity from him. He is playing well and will improve further. A big enforcer in the midfield and someone to replace Parker, in addition to a LB...
We’re between a rock and a hard place at the moment. I’d love to see our youngsters progress and as Cookie said, they’ll only do that by playing games at this level. However, as we saw with Magath at the beginning of the season, throwing a number of them into a game at the same time doesn’t achieve anything for them .. or the Club. They need to be played on a more individual basis (and in their correct positions) alongside experienced professionals. I’d also love to see more width up front and McCormack playing further forward - in the kind of formation suggested by silky. However, our wingers and McCormack, and our midfield for that matter, are tiny. They won’t win the ball in the air; something we also saw in those early games under Magath. The reality, if we want to get out of this league, is that we need more experience, more height and yes, more “thugs” - as silky also said. The ideal is a strong spine of players who can win, hold and distribute the ball to the younger, smaller more mobile lot. We don’t need to make wholesale changes and I’d argue a quality CB, a midfield ’enforcer’ and bringing back Matt Smith would do the job. As I said at the beginning of the post, tough decisions are needed to help the youngsters and the Club develop. I just hope Kit, Rigg and Khan make the correct ones.
Why do we need a first choice keeper when we have one of the best youngsters in the league? Currently playing out of his skin with the potential to be....well who knows. All I know is....he's called the Betts!
I think Betts has proven himself to be a very good shot stopper and has done well, the reason for wanting more experience there is to have the defence better organised. Bodourov is the most senior of our defenders but communication is a problem with him. Either a more experienced keeper or a centre back would, I think, benefit us a lot. The average age of our back 5 is 23 at the minute which bodes well for the future but does indicate the lack of experience in a league where it can be quite important.
A CB for sure Silks but Bettinellli has been one of the finds of the season for me along with LVC. Grimmer has shone too plus Stafylidis. See post on Kit regarding my thoughts on why not getting promoted this season wouldn't be a bad thing. Age and experience are factors that do play a part but the season is long and you never know what will happen.
He has done well, perhaps I'm being a bit unfair - I hadn't prioritised centre back over keeper because we seem to have a range of youngsters there. Agree another year could do us good although it would hinge on how we end this season and whether we could keep hold of the youngsters who could go on to make up the spine - I'll be amazed if both LVC and Roberts are with us this time next year. If they go I'm sure there are other prospects we could bring through but it would be back to the beginning in terms of experience. I might also now be a bit unfair to Kit and say we would have a better chance of keeping them together and seeing some progression if we had someone like Hoddle who has worked with youngsters, plays in a particular way and has experience. He's learning along with the players which might turn out to be glorious but I suspect some of them might look for a change if only to learn.
