At his press conference today the Gaffer stressed that we need to be "more clinical and press more". In a way that might be helped since he'll be without front men Aluko and Ayite. Giving him the option of bringing in runners from the middle like LVC and de la Torre. With Madl back he has a wee decision or two at the back. Sigurdsson will play and Kalas has been one of the few who have impressed in the last two disappointing games. So, play all three and go 3-4-2-1? Doubt it. Although the team I think he'll start with could adopt that shape during the game: .........................Button..................... ..Odoi.....Kalas...Sigurdsson...Malone... .............McDonald...Jozabed.... .....Kebano......Cairney.........LVC.. .................Martin....
I like the look of that team, C58. I was calling for LVC on Tuesday night. He has his issues, but he is much more direct and willing to 'have a go' than our new boys and that is exactly what we need sometimes. I thought LVC changed the game against Cardiff and (along with Matt Smith) contributed to our late change in tempo and equaliser in that game. I'd suspect he'd be on the right though, with Kebano on the left. Madl was so bad in the first half against Birmingham that I'd start Sigurdsson now until there's a reason for a change at the back, aside from the standard Malone/Sessegnon job share. If Martin is no more match fit than on Tuesday then I'd pick Smith and if Parker is fit he plays, although starting to give Jozabed more gametime would be a good thing for the long haul.
They're both injured. Not sure what Aluko'sproblem is. Ayite however has a badly damages ankle and could be out for 4-6 weeks - a bit more about him in the Physio Table thread.
Cheers Cottager. Hopefully Aluko isn't out for too long, i like him and he's always a threat with his pace. Shame about Ayite as well, speedy recovery to him. Should be a chance to see more of Kebano and for someone like LVC or someone else to come in and take their chance.
One positive if Aluko is missing is that it might mean Cairney gets played in the centre where he belongs, rather than on the right. I agree with Surly about LVC right and Kebano left being a better fit than the other way around.
I'd like to see Madl play alongside McDonald if Parker is out. He could slot into a back 3 when fullbacks go forward, and also it might release McDonald at times to play a more forward role with his accurate passing. Not sure Martin is a lone striker type of player, Smith is. I have a feeling Johansen or Jozabed will be picked before LVC, or you could even try Sessegnon who seems to like shooting, scoring goals, and getting forward more than he does defending
I too thought LVC would have been ideal to come on against Burton for his move direct approach. I didn't see him at all on Tuesday and not sure he was even on the bench.
Think we're all as one on Cairney. LVC wasn't on the bench on Tuesday. Assuming he does play tomorrow, I'm going to debate the LVC and Kebano positioning. On 'Copa' Kebano, I'm basing my selection on his performances against Cardiff (came on at half time on the right) and Burton (spent the first hour on the left before being subbed). He was really effective in the Cardiff game, when remember we were down to ten men, and kept pushing wide; a real handful. Against Burton he was pretty anonymous and when he did have the ball, checked back or cut inside to an already congested midfield. LVC, while a natural right footer, is one the few who can use either foot and he tends to run directly whichever side he's on. Also he gives more, and better, defensive cover which might be needed on the left if Jozabed plus either of Malone or Sessegnon play.
Confusing your blues, C58. LVC came on against Cardiff on the right, with Cairney going to the middle and Aluko to the left. Kebano came on against Birmingham, although it doesn't change your point. I think the issue with Kebano on the left against Burton had as much to do with the ineffectiveness of Martin as any fault of Kebano's. Whichever side they start on, the more important point is that LVC and Kebano should start out wide based on this evidence to date.
You are of course correct Surly and I meant B'ham not Cardiff. Whatever, I'll settle for your last point.
The man in charge tomorrow is Steve Martin please log in to view this image We've only seen Mr Martin once, the 2-1 defeat away to Ipswich back in August 2014. He booked three of theirs. Wigan on the other hand have seen a fair bit of him and have picked up on his name, referring to him variously as a Joker, Stafford's own funny man and worse. That may be something to do with the four games he ref'd when they were last in the Championship and they failed to score in any of them. Does seem a bit harsh though since they won the two games he ref'd for them in League 1 last season and indeed gave them two penalties in the game against Sheffield United. Although that Great Ball of Fire Will Giggs missed one! In terms of discipline Mr Martin is quite modest with only 22 yellows and no reds in his 7 games so far this season. Last term was quite similar with 83 yellows and 5 reds in 38 games. With the ridicule that Dan Burn has suffered from Wigan fans since he joined them wouldn't it be ironic for the Wigan lot if Dan and their favourite comedian, Mr Martin, clashed tomorrow?
You make a good argument for Kebano on the right and LVC on the left, Cottager. I think I'd still prefer them the other way around, but that possibly reflects that the only two games I've seen this season were Cardiff, where (as Surly says) LVC was very effective coming on on the right, and Blackburn where Kebano had an absolute stormer on the left.
Button, odoi, kalas, sigurdsson, sessegnon, parker, mcdonald, jozabed, cairney, kebano, martin. Subs - betts, madl, malone, tunnicliffe, piazon, woodrow, smith.
Is LVC injured, or did he upset Jokanovic in someway? I've not seen anything from Jozabed yet to convince me he should start ahead of LVC... in fact Jozabed seems a little bit like Kasami as we seem to just plug him in wherever there's a space in the team. Bit worried about where the goals will come from this season at the moment!
Hard to know what to make of this early part of the season, in a way I'm happy with it if we're to compare it to where we were this time last season, but also feel frustrated as I feel we could have done so much better in our last few games. Seems like the international break came at a bad time for us, maybe just interrupted the rhythm a wee bit since we haven't won a game since and some of the performances haven't been as good. As had been mentioned already I'm also worried about where our goals will come from this season, I'm sure all the attacking players will all chip in but we now lack that prolific 20+ a season striker. At the moment we're averaging 1 goal per game, that needs to improve. On the flip side we now look much stronger in defence, only conceding 6 goals in our 8 league games, by Fulham standards thats decent! We now seem to have a good balance to our team and overall we have a very good squad capable of competing and being a threat in this league. A strong defence and some very good attacking players, but I think its fair to say we are 1 quality striker away from being serious contenders in this league, not to say we won't achieve something this season but that one quality striker would go a long way to helping us do it.
Been in Oxford for a Graduation Ceremony all day so can only go on the Gaffer's post match comments and bits and bobs picked up elsewhere. The basic stats being one of the elsewhere's and I guess speak volumes for our performance - 54% possession and only 5 shots (1 on target). We apparently created zilch chances for Martin and subsequently Smith/Woodrow.when they came on. Our three midfielders behind them - Cairney (on the right), Jozabed and Kebano (on the left) - have to shoulder the blame and were apparently very poor. Jozabed being subbed, along with Matin, for Smith and Woodrow after 65 minutes; which was probably tactical. However, Cairney being replaced by Tunnicliffe with something like 15 minutes left appears mostly to have been down to Tom's lacklustre performance. Guess keeping a clean sheet is a plus but as Surly and FAB say the lack of goals (or more significantly creating chances) is indeed worrying. PS Good old Dan Burn apparently played his socks off!
There is a good fairly in depth report posted by Danny Fullbrook, in the hammy end it does not paint a very good picture of our performance but makes interesting reading
Think it was by Dan Crawford rosc. But yeah, interesting and quite damning. Well worth a read - here's a link http://hammyend.com/index.php/2016/09/fulham-frustrated-by-wigan-stalemate/
I think Jokanovic still seems to be experimenting with the forward line. I don't understand why he thinks Chris Martin can play the lone striker role, when that isn't his strength. In reality we only have Smith to play up front alone, but he lacks the turn of speed like a Saha, so most defences know he is not going to turn and out run them. I'm not sure why Cairney keeps on being played out on the wing, which again is not his best position. With this slow possession football SJ wants to play, it seems to me the players are always wanting to take one touch/pass too many, there's no instinct when they are in a shooting position to go for a quick instant shot, they seem to want to take an extra touch or pass. Very Frustrating.
