Over the course of the last 10 games Fulham have managed to gain 10 points. This is the worst out of all the teams around us and relegation form. Bristol City - 10 games - 16 points MK Dons - 10 games - 13 points Rotherham 10 games - 11 points (9 of which have been in the last 3 games, admittedly) In fact, since Slavi became manager 12 games ago (not counting the game against Rotherham where he was a spectator and not actually in charge and the FA cup game) we still only have the 10 points. Going back 21 games to when Kit was sacked we have picked up a further 7 points Going back another 14 games to the beginning of the season we managed 20 points (including 2 sets of back to back wins). Basically double the tally Slavi has managed. The question is then - should we have stuck with Kit? I accept the period without a manager where we only picked up 7 points was reasonably season defining but if we had stuck with Kit we would almost certainly have had more points by now be safe from relegation in mid table, he could have seen out his contract and we could have shopped around for a new manager in the summer (given Slavi was never going to get us up when he came in anyway). We'll probably find there will be as good or better managers knocking around post season than Slavi so we wouldn't have lost anything by waiting - and we may have gained something. Obviously I'm not saying sack the manager - but if we should go down, with his current win/loss ratio, should it be considered as he doesn't seem to be getting through to the team, his tactics aren't producing results (albeit they are producing better football), he hasn't instilled any steel in the defence, the penalty count has gone through the roof and we don't win back to back games anymore. He talks a good fight and personally I like him but the players don't seem to be responding - we didn't even get the new manager bounce.
Fulhaman, you can't polish a t*rd mate. Kit would have been in exactly the same position I think. We were on a slippery slope, tactically we were rubbish and there wasn't the intensity. SJ is working with the same people that Kit had and there are signs that we are improving, just not fast enough. If we had managed to get a solid centre half in January it might be different, having said that I like Madl. I don't think we will go down.
Keeping Kit as manager would have been a no brainer but Slavi tactically does not seem to be there. Relegation for us would be a complete disaster. Now on to my favourite moan and underlining problem RIGG his job was to identify and bring in players bought or loaned, and he has been a complete disaster. A man I believe never walked away from previous appointments but was sacked . Tarkowski ? something wrong there as he left Brentford for a fee much less than we offered.
I don't disagree but I just wonder why, with essentially the same players, Kit picked up twice the number of points. If we were going to do poorly I would have thought we would have done so from the off but the players just seem to be sleepwalking down the league. I was no big fan of Kit's time in charge so don't have any sort of axe to grind, by the way, and I do like Slavi and hope he is given time. On Madl - yes, from what I have heard, not seen him - will hopefully be at the cottage for the first time since October on Saturday - he does seem to be an asset.
Symons never inspired me with his motivation of the team, he seemed out of his depth in stepping up, the problem I had was his insistence on a slow possession build up allowing opposition to get back and defend in numbers. He seemed to be out-thought in tactics, many a time we had second half disasters. After a reasonable run of results in October a few games later he was sacked (you can only guess because the penny had dropped we weren't going to get top 6 with him), but then complete disaster months waiting for anyone to take over while falling down the table. The club has never rectified the problem of having no proper defensive midfielders or decent quick wingers to allow to attack with speed. Jokanovic for all his reputation hasn't had a significant effect, our attack can still score but our defense is still as bad at giving away goals easily. I still think we don't play as a unit. SJ has confused me more than once with his tactics that don't make sense, also I don't understand the points he tries to make in after match interviews sometimes.
Me neither, to be honest. I find he tends to say the same thing about standing up and being strong and playing well but sometimes he goes off about something and I have no idea what his point is at all.
could it be that really we are pants? Could it be we aren't as good as everyone thinks we are? Once we accept this and the players do there could be a light bulb moment. I'm not saying we're terrible but we are in the position we are for a reason. You can blame the fact we had no coach for 7 weeks but the players still had training, still got paid, fans still went to see them, they still had to do their job. We have been poor (wit some bright moments) all season, not just since SJ has arrived.
I've not posted on here for an age, and not been to many games this season because from where I live I can't face spending £100 on train fares and match tickets with a whole day written off to watch total incompetence. There is something seriously wrong with our club, and I can only see this season ending in a second relegation in 3 seasons. One of the many things that perplexes me is that we spent £3m or whatever on Ream & Stearman in the Summer. They both arrived with decent reputations and yet neither are apparently good enough to feature in the fifth worst defence in the country. I've heard good things about Madl, Amorebieta - for all his faults - has played at a higher level, and Burn is being linked with a move to Stoke. As a collection of individuals, then,we surely don't have the worst group of defenders in the league but the evidence suggests otherwise. So, can those who see more of Fulham than I do shed some light on why we're continuing to leak like a sieve? Are the players really that bad? Is it the system? Or the coaching? Whatever the problem is, for my very distant vantage point Jokanovich doesn't seem to be sorting it out and - with 3 wins from the last 24 games - I think we're going down.
The problem is simple. We play with 2 up front who don't want to be here. Drop Dembele for sure! He scores but not sure he is interested. O'Hara is not living up to expectations. Bring LVC in if match fit. People who don't want to play should be shown the door and not play even for the reserves! Simple. They are like cancer and spread the rot!
Slavi now on a par with Magath. The person we got rid of to quickly was Meuleson who was not given any chance, would he have proved himself who knows. Footnote ,scrawled on the gents in the riverside stand was the words " Riggs office" or the place where this idiot should be.
I'd agree about Rene rosc, if .. and it's a big if .. the powers that be hadn't brought in 'the crab' Wilkins and Curbs to support him. Rene and Kit were doing fine, beginning to blend youth and experience, and if only that pair had been given a chance who knows. Spilt milk now though and we're where we are.
Totally agree, at the time I would have been happy keeping Meulensteen even if we were to be relegated see what he could do with the players left, but I too thought Wilkins and Curbishly were mistakes, two ex-managers who could well have confused the atmosphere in the camp. Like you I liked Meulensteen, I think the Hull away game got him the sack. The Magath appointment was just shear madness and who ever recommended that should no longer be involved at the club.
erm, on current form we are going down. I seem to remember Muelensteen being a little 2 faced and quick to deflect any blame from him when things went wrong. I could be wrong, he wasn't perfect - a good coach but not a good manager.
AS you say good coach, which is what Riggs masterplan requires at the moment, (good managers need not apply!!!). I do remember him castigating the older experienced players for not being composed under pressure and not giving enough effort, which he was right as they were trying to walk their way through games. How much he was involved in the Mitroglou purchase debacle who knows.
There are a lot of teams who like ourselves seem to give up playing if a team goes 2 goals up....if you got a cushion, it should be easier to defend better and dominate games....our problem is when we are on top, most games we haven't got that 2 goal lead..we give a goal away and our confidence goes...there have been a few games where Fulham have been able to go on to get 3-4 goals and dominate the game, but not recently....as soon as we let a team equalise or go 1-0 up you see the players shoulders drop and the crowd are the same, with 'oh no not again'. We have to face it there is no confidence that with what we've seen from SJ he has had the rejuvenation effect and we could well struggle to avoid relegation, unless we get a run of good results. I was hoping after the QPR game that things would push on, but that hope was dashed.
