Yes, a tad late and first up is Kit's internal interview - [video=youtube;RM4dhE4XnC0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RM4dhE4XnC0[/video] Instincts say, why change? Although ... during the interview there was just a hint, and a slight pause before moving on to tactics that he might be thinking about a modification or two. Alluding to it being an away game. B'oro have a really good defensive record primarily because of their CB pairing. Could/should we play 4-4-2 with Hugo and Smith up front to disrupt them? And if so, what would McCormack role be? Who drops out? Surely not MOTM Bryan? Well, there are no injury or fatigue worries that we know about so Kit has the full squad to play with and I think the key was his emphasis in the interview about how good the shape was against Bolton and "units" workng well together. So no change it is ... with the option of bringing on Smith as an impact sub (in preference to Cauley because of the physical side of their two CBs). ...............Bettinelli................ ...Hoogland..Bodurov..Burn..Amoebieta.... .....Christensen..Parker...Stafyilidis.. ...........Ruiz...............McCormack.. ...................Hugo...........
Yep I'd have to agree, no change. If we're leading in the second half I'd be tempted to bring on Smith for Hugo to hold the ball up with McCormack feeding off his scraps. Ruiz will find him 9 times out of 10 with his passing. However I worry about Smith's touch, it's the reason he got sent off in the Reading game. Not playing since then can't have done him any favours so Cauley could potentially do that job for us instead. I really wish we had more midfield cover to come off the bench. All we had in the last game was Hyndman, hopefully David and/or Eisfeld make the bench for this game. It's going to be a tough game and I think how well our defence plays will decide whether or not we get anything from it. I fancy us to score a goal or 2, we just need to keep them out. I'm optimistic but not getting carried away, if we could've hand picked two games after Doncaster then Birmingham and Bolton would have been right up there on a lot of peoples lists. I predict a score draw, which I'd be very happy with.
Wouldn't it be Fulhamish to go 4 wins on the spin! I'd go with no changes as per 58. It depends on the match situation. But if we find ourselves down a goal I think we have the bench to change things up a bit. if we are defending a goal lead ten that's when I worry about cover but having said that Hoogland can sit back, Staf can too and with Bodurov and Burn (a partnership that I think works well, Bodurov for me is great) maybe it's not to bad afterall.
Taken from Vital Football blog. Spot the error. I`m not sure if any side has started a Championship season as poorly as we have and still gone on to get promoted, but that is our aim.Three wins have harvested nine points and the dark days of Felix Magath seem a long time ago.Kit Symons has been a breath of fresh air as Fulham seeks to steady the ship and then head for higher things. Read more:*http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=372533#ixzz3FBHILWik Muppet!
First half 65% possession but zero shots. You can see from this heat map where all our play was: please log in to view this image Second half 49% possession. However nine shots, although only two on target. Those two - a Hoogland header crashing the cross bar and a Christensen shot stopped on the line - came when were one down. A bit of luck could have made all the difference. As a tad more composure in front of goal (again) by others could have done.
I listened to Gentleman Jim this afternoon. Sounded like a decent performance against a well organised and difficult to break down opposition. They took there chances, and on this occasion we didn't. It sounded like Amorebieta took a bad knock, so I hope the international break gives him time to recover.
It's all about taking your chances, the more chances you make, the more shots on goal, the better the chance of scoring, but at the moment it still seems to be a struggle for us to create the openings. I'm hoping that we will get our home form back to where we become a bit of a fortress where top teams again come to us thinking that a draw is a good result for them. I sometimes feel that teams who have a lot of possession, unless there is a end product of a few goals, slow their game down giving the opposition time to get back into their defensive formation. It seems a lot of home teams are prepared to give the opposition possession to be able to use quick counter-attacks, we did this in the 2nd half against Bolton.
Right, ive had enough. Sack Symons! What the hell has happened since Wednesday. Too much cheese, too much training? Seriously, before I get slated, we were undone by a bit of sloppy defending which against lesser quality teams we get away with, against better teams we don't. Also, we had some glorious chances to score and didnt taje them. Credit to Boro, they were organised and will do well this season.
Kit or whoever may take over have a difficult task, to galvanise our existing squad into a mid table team, we don't want at the end of Jan once again to be in a relegation dog fight. When the January transfer window opens the incumbent manager can hopefully acquire players of his choice, should he feel it necessary to do so For me a couple of quality defenders must be our priority
Agreed. Although the Bodorov/Burn combo is pretty good. Im sitting on the fence I know but Bolton had chances but didn't take them. Sloppy defending on each occasion.
Just watched The Replay on the Club site. Jeez our defending was awful - sorry, but Nik Bodurov just doesn't cut it for me. http://enabledware.bc.cdn.bitgravit.../153/6124_13_Middlesbrough_Extended_2_800.mp4 Separately, the Club say that Nando Amorebieta has a medial knee ligament injury and although early signs are that it's not a serious injury he won't be back in training for two to four weeks. Cuts down our options in the back four for the Norwich game. Presumably there will be a simple switch of Stafylidis at left back for him but with Amore out Hutchinson is the only other obvious CB contender. He was limbering up on the touchline before this game but didn't make the bench (presumably carrying an injury from training) and explains why we had no defenders as a replacement when Amore went off.
