“Stu” met with the press (all two of them) for his pre-match conference today, ahead of the Bolton game. Bolton Wanderers who have drawn their last three home games but haven’t had a win in twelve. You know what they say about lucky 13 and the Fulhamish consistency of providing someone with a first …. Enough of the superstition! “Stu” is confident. He told the press lads that “we know Bolton are fighting for their livelihoods but we’re prepared for that; the team have been training hard to get in the right mood.” And, “Scotty Parker is available again!”. Other than that, there’s nothing new on the injury front and it looks like (apart from Tunnicliffe obviously) we’re still missing LVC, Wee Georgie and Matilla (don’t know what his problem is!). I just know “Stu” is going to start 4-4-2 but the team I’d put out is: ……………………...Lonergan…………………… ……Stearman…Hutchinson…Ream…. …..Fredericks…..Hyndman………Garbutt.. …………..Cairney…………….O’Hara…… ……………..McCormack..Dembele… With Kaca and Smith coming on as super-subs.
I'd go along with your lineup C58 except I'd have Burn in instead of Hutchinson, for reasons I've already stated in the v Ipswich thread. liked Hyndman's attitude when he came on, in wanting to get the ball forward more quickly and less passing backwards to defenders.
please log in to view this image Inspired? Have a look at this: blob:https%3A//vine.co/5302f723-c60c-441e-91d8-b8bfd6007a00 blob:https%3A//vine.co/c010f783-d709-4a51-b830-ce52e12eba5f Drat me - neither of these links work. If you're on twitter you can find it under @FulhamFC and I promise you it's worth a look just to see how motivated for tomorrow's game the lads are .. not. please log in to view this image
I used to think that, a good coach manager, could drill our poor defence into something, but recently I have come to the conclusion that whatever coach we had the likes of Stearman, Hutchinson Richards Ream Fredericks and Garbut will never amount to anything ,if we could step into the transfer market we should build around Burn , O Hara , Cairney, & Hyndman. Todays result another loss 3 ~ 1 Salary savings must be made - - - RIGG - - - priority + any other deadwood who appears not to be making any contribution
i don't know that's it squarely the fault of individuals in defence, we've never really addressed the fact that out midfield is like a sieve, although for a short period we had Tunnicliffe putting himself about. In the last game it was OHara and Cairney, both good players but neither defensively minded. OH can be quite scrappy, but he's not the most mobile, Parker doesn't sit and the others are more attack minded. The only two we have are Matilla and Tunnicliffe, without one of them, or a player who can sit deep and break things up, the defence is going to be more exposed - especially with that midfield pairing and then 4 strikers - although that's not been the case all season. In terms of players, I think the defence is stronger than the last 2 seasons its just that we still don't have balance in our team. I'd like to see Hyndman play, but in a more advanced position than C58s line up. I don't know who the best candidate is, but rather than going with the 3 at the back we could pull one of our defenders into the DM role, ala Phil Jones/Eric Dier and get them to do their best Dickskn Etuhu impression for 90 mins.
The Team: Lonergan; Richards, Stearman, Burn, Ream, Garbutt; Parker, Hyndman; Kaca, Dembele, McCormack Subs: Lewis, Hutchinson, O'Hara, Cairney, Pringle, Woodrow, Smith Don't know what to say, other than surprise at Cairney on the bench and excellent to see Emerson start. Oh, and it looks like 5-2-3.
Please no more praise for our crap defence. Could not even beat the bottom team for the memory of Jim
Get out of jail there! Think it was forwards today rosc, certainly in the first half with missed chances which would have given us breathing space. However same old, same old - can only play decently for one half. The BIG problem is what people have been saying for yonks - there is no strength in the midfield. Suppose the good news is that we can now strike off 1 of the 17 draws needed to avoid the drop.
Indeed. GJ's comments on the second half showed how pitiful we are playing. Thanks to Ross that we are not in the relegation zone. Not won a game in 8, we are averaging 0.5 pts per match and 40 points might not be enough. I'll rant elsewhere.
Have to say - absolute cr*p. First half ok, had them on the ropes but second half we didn't turn up and if it weren't for McCormack again we'd have lost it. I'm glad I didn't post earlier as I was confident of a good performance today and at the very least 3 pts. God help us Boxing day.
Our main concern must be "and this is no joke" stay in the championship. basically consolidate. our defence is abysmal so in the transfer window get in a couple of loanee defenders. If we stay up, comes the summer RIGG out ALI MAC out CURBUSHLY out Keep Burn ~ Cairney ~ OHara, ~ Lonnie Clear out the rest of the defence, and hopefully a new manager can build a team. which could challenge for promotion. My concern in the Jan or Summer window we will loose Mc C ~ Dembele ~ Hyndman.
