I was listening to Monday night club on Radio 5 earlier and Ian McGarry made a comment that the Fulham players were 'not playing for their manager'. Not sure how many Fulham games he's actually seen lately, but - with one well publicised exception - I'm not sure I recognise this description of our team. Certainly not last Saturday anyway - I can't think of one player against Bolton who didn't put in a good shift and the fact that all 11 played the full 90 minutes suggests Jol was happy enough with the effort they put in. I just wonder how much of the stories about internal rifts and dressing room disquiet is being blown out of all proportion by journos who haven't actually seen us play in recent weeks. I don't see how players who aren't trying can draw at Arsenal and beat Liverpool.
I suspect Ian McGarry's knowledge of Fulham is similar to the majority of the media, in that they would need a guide dog to show them the way to Craven Cottage. Most of them regurgitate the same rumors without any real journalistic skill. I suspect one disgruntled player equals the squad to them.
It's not hard to see how he has come to this conclusion, with all the negative stories coming out of CC regarding Jol and Zamora, but it is an uneducated conclusion. We of course have a more accurate interpretation but this is purely because we only make the effort to read the news about our team, Fulham.
Clearly MJ is trying to make changes, so there's a little bit of substance, but just like papers overhype their copy, the radio also needs a bit of controversy to keep it's listeners. Let's ignore it - next week it'll be one of the many other clubs with internal strife of one type or another.
It's like todays Fulham story in the papers 'Zamora told to train will Youngsters' 'Bobby Zamora was told to train with the youngsters yesterday' ..... Those who had not been invovled in Saturdays match, were given a harder work out with the youngsters. So now the other media have picked it up and the bust up with Jol theories have surfaced. Not trying to say Jol and Bobby are the best of friends but you couldn't make it up or you could if you were the media !!!! I still think that Zamora has been tapped up, only reason I can think off for his lack of performance.
The Mail's report on Zamora training with the reserves is hilarious: "He has been used sparingly by Jol since the Dutchman arrived at Craven Cottage and the pair’s relationship is described by Fulham insiders as 'cordial'." Cordial, eh? What a damning assessment! Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...mora-train-Fulham-reserves.html#ixzz1h4GPBUWT
I like Jol, he just says it how it is: 'I'm sure there will be one or two in the starting XI who don't like me, but it's about doing the business for the club. You can't keep all of them happy all of the time.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ulham-players-dont-like-me.html#ixzz1h4aQiDfq
If playing in 25 games already these season is being used "sparingly" (as BZ has), I wonder what happens to the people MJ plays too often. This is a case of a "journalist" trying to make conflict where none probably exists. I love the UK, but there's something wrong with the brand of journalism that's being practiced. I was a reporter in the States for five years; if a US-based reporter wrote a story like the one mentioned above, he'd be sacked (fired) on the spot. That's not to say that news and sports coverage in the States isf perfect, but at least there's no tolerance (except Fox News) for making stuff up.
Actually I think the players do not like Jol because they had to play so many games... That's the problem. For once they had to work hard for their money!!! Can I write an article about it?
Agreed FFCM. I've always thought the 'unrest' was about senior players (Dempsey) having to kick off in June. Not at all sure why Jol didn't recognise this and play effectively a reserve team in most of those early Euro games. They added nothing by way of a learning process (a la Jol) and I doubt if many fans would have grumbled either if we hadn't progressed. So far as the media speculation about BZ being 'ordered to train with the reserves' goes, Jol explained the position clearly today - "No, there is no reserves yesterday because we have a game today," Jol said. "We always train with a rest group (those not involved in the match against Bolton) so Aaron Hughes was there, [Pajtim] Kasami, [Marcel] Gecov. All the players who were not involved in the game. "There is no rift, Bobby is Bobby. He was fine on Monday, he trained with all the players who didn't start. Those 14 did a session to load them, and he was fine." The speculation has seen Zamora linked with a host of Barclays Premier League clubs, including QPR, Tottenham and Sunderland. "I'm not concerned," Jol said. "For me it's not a big problem. I'm only concerned that this sort of thing is coming up all the time. I don't know but for me there is no problem." By the by Sidwell wasn't included - he is still struggling following his operation. The club say he is still in the hands of the medical staff and hope he can be back in training next week.
Cottager58, I agree. For me playing in the Europa League was to get the second team to gel and gain on experience as well as trying various styles of football. As it proved the second team was the one that cost us the qualification in the second round. In addition we can't ignore the income and publicity from those games. I would not have mind if we have gone out playing the reserves, but the way we were knocked out I do... I disagree on Dempsey as he was given a month off following their summer games in America.
I'm always happy to have people agree with me, Madness, but I don't think I've commented on this thread yet. Perhaps someone has started the Christmas drinking a little early...
