Fulham are ranked: 11th at shot quantity 17th at shot quality 19th at scoring %. Here's a link to the full table of data for all the Championship teams http://www.lowedownstats.com/index.php/championship/team-good-bad/
Dispiriting rather than offensive. I was expecting something about where we rank for heaping abuse on linesmen, or foul-mouthed tirades in front of young children.
As I'm sure you realised Captain, the term "offensive" was used in the original post as being the opposite of "defensive". However data on the other stuff you mention would be good, not least because we're supposed to be a 'Family Club'. And it was certainly dispiriting last night to hear the abuse being hurled at our youngsters simply because something they tried didn't come off. Mind you the main culprits were strangers to my bit of the JH and I suspect had de-bunked from the Hammy End for the night.
As you suspected, Cottager, I was being playful. That said, I agree with you about the tone that some of us take at times. Is it me, or have we as a set of supporters become quicker to boil over at our players over the last (admittedly, at times horrific) few years?
Fickle we are for sure, Captain. Why, is quite complex though. You could blame it on Sky and fan's resentment at the £m a week wage packet that players get; the "we fork out on inflated ticket prices to pay your wages" syndrome. However, derogatory banter has been around forever, even before the time of Johnny Haynes becoming the £100 per week man. One phenonomen is that fan's direct the abuse at their own players. Somerthing stupid by the opposition attracts derision but rarely abuse. Is this some kind of in-built conceit formed by the boyhood dream of scoring the winning goal for your team in the Cup Final? Now being expressed in a harsher, 'macho' version of "hell, even I could have (fill in the blank for whatever it was the player did wrong)". Or is it because of the burst illusion (maybe that should be delusion) that the imagined super hero isn't that after all: the non-acceptance that everyone is human! Another phenonomen is that the worst abuse comes when the team is struggling. I remember one game where the side was something like 3-0 up when Andrew Johnstone, I think it was, scooped the ball over the bar from 5 yards in front of an open net and the terraces fell about laughing. Yet, when the team is say, 1-0 down and finding it hard to get into the game the boo-boys come out. Exactly when the crowd should be getting behind their team to give them a lift. What kind of perverse 'team bonding' is that? I honestly don't know why it happens. Although I really ought to, being a malcontent myself (mentally at least if not vocally). One thing I do know is that the humour in the 'banter' is so much less than it used to be.
I'd never direct any abuse to players on the pitch. Self defeatimg. I might have a moan on here though!
