The bad news is that Mitro is a big doubt. Watford are pacy, terrific on the break and, as the Boss said in his press conference today, "streetwise". With ambitions of making a Euro spot, they won't be lying down for this one. Looks like Holebas (who for a left back get his fair share of goals) will be back. For us it's do or die night. The team we put out has to be full of players who believe in the shirt. Regrettably, not for that reason but because he has quite simply looked 'lost' in recent games, Tom Cairney's inclusion is in question. The likes of Tim Fosu-Mensah however is straightforward - is he really a 'professional' footballer? - and shouldn't be anywhere near the team sheet. Could/should we bring in a few youngsters? I'd suggest, given they haven't had a chance yet, this isn't the one to 'test' them. As much on a wing and a prayer as anything, going to include Mitrovic. And to remind myself to add up to ten, going for a 4-3-3 formation (well, sort of): .........................Rico... ...Odoi....Chambers...Ream...Bryan.. ....................McDonald... ..............Anguissa.....Seri... ......Babel ....Mitrovic...Sessegnon..
I suppose Watford's line-up and performance could be effected by their FA Cup appearance even though it is Sunday. If we showed our intention to get stuck-in for a change, a few of their players may not fancy it. I'd like to see us start to bring in a few youngsters in these last few games. I'd ditch Seri for O'Riley or Edun and if Mitrovic is not fit go for Babel up front with Ayite and Sessegnon as support.
The man out there tonight is Roger East. East failed his pre-season fitness test. The powers that be didn't allow him a Premiership match until September and indeed he's been given only 7 in total so far. That first game for him was ours - the 3-0 defeat up at Goodison. Mentioned in the City thread that Kevin Friend was a bit of a penalty king well, so is this geezer. He's given 5 in his 7 games. One was in that game against Everton - to the home side. East actually turned down the opposition's claims initially but then bowed to a lino who reckoned Denis Odoi had shoved one of theirs. Justice done though - Sigurdsson hit the bar. Only 3 got booked, all ours. Christie. Odoi and Odoi. For the record East has handed out 32 yellow in those 7 games.
Good first half but once Watford made a couple of changes we could not adapt - same defensive issues, low confidence, lack of concentration - so similar to all too many of our games. We've done better in last few games but our frailties are there for all to see. Championship here we come.
#Fuxit and no delay. But to end on a cheery statistic: With Ryan Babel's goal, Fulham have become the 17th club to net 600 Premier League goals in the history of the competition
Unlucky guys. Think it's likely we'll be joining you but we're still in there swinging at the moment. Sunday's result against Chelsea was a bit of a kick in the teeth though. What will the approach be next year? Try and play the football that got you up or become a bit more conservative? Will you keep most of your squad?
Its been inevitable for a few weeks now but sad to see the end of the competition for us. We lacked many things this year in sharp contrast to last season, players not as good as we had hoped at this level, our tactics too much the same, added to this little good fortune and a great deal of bad. Time to play without some fear and gain some shreds of credibility, moving on to join the host of contenders in August so to get to our goal again. A lesson learnt from failure is called experience, lets try to build on that. I was heartening to hear our fans tonight at the end "We love you Fulham, we do, we love you Fulham we do, we love you Fulham we do, OH Fulham we Love You!!" COYW's
Can't disagree with any of the above. A season of missed opportunities, but many of our problems were of our own making. The repeated comment in the media about how we should have given the players who took us up more of an opportunity ignores the fact that too many of them were on loan and therefore weren't ours to keep for the Premier League. That's one lesson that I hope the club learns - loan players can be useful and valuable, but too many of them at a time is counterproductive in the long term, even if we loan them in for repeated seasons like Kalas and Piazon in the Championship. We need more permanent signings, and to make sure that the people we bring in are the people that the manager - not anyone else - wants. We can point to bad luck, but no more than any other team who goes down. Was Jokanovic too naive in sticking to his principles? Maybe, but I'm glad we tried to play our football. Was Ranieri a bad appointment? In retrospect, very possibly, although he started well and when he was appointed I seem to recall that the general feeling (which I agreed with entirely) was that he was a really good appointment and probably the best available to us. Priorities going forward: make a decision on a manager; find out which of the star names are willing to roll their sleeves up and stay, and which ones want out; start introducing some of the youngsters who might feature next season into the remaining league games - Steven Sess and Matt O'Riley certainly should get some gametime, and maybe two or three others (although not too many at a time, so they can have the benefit of the older, wiser heads around them.) And try to finish the season in a way that restores a bit of our wounded pride and gives us a platform for regrouping quickly. According to Gordon Davies, there are rumours that Cairney and Mitro want to stay https://www.lovesportradio.com/news...ive-been-told-cairney-and-mitrovic-will-stay/ . I'm not sure I'd put too much weight on that, as there is bound to be interest in the pair of them, plus - of course - Ryan Sess, but it would be such a boost to the club if either or both were to let it be known that they're going nowhere. As to CCFCremote's question, it's impossible to answer until we know who is going to be manager next year. We've changed manager twice since playing 'the football that got us up', so we can't expect to go back to that, but I hope we go for someone who will build a team to play attractive, attacking football - I'd rather be entertained and thrilled than be successful, although in the best of all worlds we'll get both. Will our defence be so poor against a lower standard of opposition? Again, part of that will be down to Scott P or his successor, but I suspect that there's less tinkering to be done at the back than we think once we're not up against Premier League players every week.
Agree with that. Certainly attacked well and looked tidy/pacey at times but like you say we made a couple of changes/others decided to wake up a bit and we took control. You probably don't need to tell me where your problems have been! Shame to see a local team go as its a good trip to the Cottage and your fans were very good.
