Very frustrated â no thanks to Sky Iâve been without broadband since Tuesday. The withdrawals have set in though, so here I am in the local library. Donât know if Felix had a press conference this lunchn time and as I say have been a bit out of touch this week. Suppose that means Iâm pretty much like everyone else in second guessing Felix for tomorrowâs line up. However Iâm going for minimal change; a little more offensive and a little more experience. .....................Joronen.............. ..Voser...Hutchinson..Bodurov...Stafylidis... ..........Hoogland....Parker.... ...................Hyndman... .....McCormack..............Eisfeld.... ...................Woodrow.... Realise Pat Roberts made a significant impact when he came on against Ipswich but feel, at this stage, heâs better as an âimpact subâ (albeit earlier than last week). Donât know how Chris David is injury wise, but Iâd leave him out anyway. Heâs too âTaarabtishâ for my likeing.
Cottager I like that formation and team would be happy with that!!! As I mentioned before I was at Millwall Leeds last week and Millwall looked very good, although this could have been down to Leeds who were seriously bad to the point I worry for them and there fans were booing after 45 mins of the opening game. Millwall did however player some decent passing Holloway football and might not be quite as physical as you would expect which may help us. They had a guy in the number 10 role named Martin ( poss David Martin?) who ran the show he was wearing Pink boots can't miss him, also Fuller gave there centre halves a torrid time physically Hutchinson has to learn from last week or he he will get the same treatment.
Pink boots? A Millwall player? Times have changed in that part of London since I was last around there.
I've been thinking about the criticism that the team have to adapt to the physical nature of the Championship. It won't happen, but there's a case for including Burn in the early weeks of the season. Unlike any of our other centr backs, he is used to playing at this level, thanks to his loan spell at Birmingham last season. It's a shame that Felix doesn't seem to rate him as he could help the others to acclimatise a little quicker. I agree with Cottager that Roberts might be better as an impact sub for the time being. In that regard he reminds me a bit of Paul Brooker from the Micky Adams days. I'd like to see Eisfeld in for David, but the biggest issue from Ipswich was the forwards. If McCormack isn't fit, perhaps he shouldn't start. Does anyone know when Taggart is likely to be available? I'd like to see him start when he's ready.
If McCormack isn't at full fitness yet then I'd like to see Rodallega get a start. I've always liked Rodallega but for whatever reason he has never had a right good run of games at Fulham since he came. Also just to give a bit of experience up top beside Woodrow/Dembele. I heard rumours he could be leaving but he'd be useful to have and I really think he could score goals at this level.
I like Roda too, he shows a lot for the ball and puts a shift in but I'd prefer to see him move on. We've invested heavily in strikers and have good academy prospects and he is not on an upward trajectory, plus his wages must be disproportionate to his contribution. The first team is still a mystery to me - based on last week I'd move Burgess back to CB in place of Hutchinson and bring in either Roberts or Eisfeld.
Since I have no idea which experiment Magath will use this week What could have been Stockdale Hoogland Hangeland Burn Stafylidis Sidwell Parker Tunnicliffe Ruiz Rodallega Woodrow Subs Bettinelli Hutchinson Eisfeld Burgess Roberts David Dembele McCormack Kacaniklic Mitroglou
This is the team I'd like to see: -------------Joronen------------ Voser---Hutch----Bodurov---Staf ------------Hoogland------------ ------Parker---------Hyndman--- -------------Eisfeld------------- ----Woodrow-----McCormack---- I really like the idea of Voser and Stafylidis getting up and down the wings and with Hoogland at the bottom of the diamond he can drop back into the defence if we do get caught out up the field. I agree with the comments on Roberts, he'll be very effective running at leggy defenders who's only option is to hack him down in and around the box. Even if David is fit I'd start Eisfeld, he looked a lot more well rounded and linked up very well when he came on. P.S. not sure if it has been mentioned on here but Matty Briggs will be suspended for the game after scoring the winner and getting sent off in Millwall's League Cup match during the week. He must have been fearing a Felix backlash after his comments and did what he had to do to avoid it.
And then I see this: http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2014/august/15/mccormack-update I'll swap McCormack for Hugo in my line-up. It'll probably someone random like Trotta now.
While I'm sorry to hear McCormack isn't fully fit yet, I'm glad that it looks like he won't start if that's the case. I've never been convinced by Hugo, but he might do well at this level. I'd rather see Taggart plus either Woodrow or Dembele if all of them we're fit. Really looking forward to seeing the new look team in the flesh today.
-------------Joronen------------ Hoogland---Bodurov----Burgess---Staf ---Christensen----Parker---Hyndman--- ----G.Williams-----Eisfeld----------- -------------Hugo------------- Interesting team again! I'm actually pretty happy with that team though; only strange move is Williams ahead of David.
I have a horrible feeling we'll see results like this often this season - well organised opposition gets the goal and then sits back and makes us work. We need to play two up front and we need to get wiser all over the pitch. Positives to take again, but all in all rather frustrating.
Huge impact factor the keeper in the goal. That would not have happened if we had a weathered keeper. Other than that a lot it positives to take from the game. Only thing is we have to be cautious as it won't take long to be at the bottom with no hope coming out of there!
Don't worry about us m8,worry about them with no points.We played very well today and beat the league's form team who prior to today had won 9 of there last 11 championship games.I do worry about Fulham doing a Wolves
Watched your game on the box in Fulham - if you thought you played very well, it shows how bad you have been - Boro had 60% possession, a perfect goal not given, and should have had 2 pens - you still looked like a relegation team
You must have been watching man u or your guide dogs barking the wrong action. our keeper never had 1 save to make.
What you on about TC,There was no fouls or appeals for a pen.Good honest players who don't dive on both sides,unlike your divers.
At the risk of turning this back into a discussion about Fulham, I wasn't too distressed by today's performance. We looked a lot better when we had two strikers in the second half, and McCormack combined well with Hugo. There were more good displays from the youngsters, notably Williams, Hyndeman and Stafylidis. Although Burgess seemed to blame himself for the goal, he didn't have a bad game overall. Matches like this are how our talented youngsters are going to turn into talented seniors, and we have to expect some mistakes along the way. I liked Eisfeld again, Bodorov looks the ideal old head to nurture the younger centre backs, and Hoogland looks good too. I disagreed with all the flack Parker got last week, although he was guilty of slowing things down too often. He was good again today, I thought. Christiansen was disappointing. I had been looking forward to seeing him, but thought some of his passing was a bit sloppy. I wasn't surprised when he went off for McCormack. Talking of whom, he looked a lot better than against Ipswich. Hopefully it won't be too long before we see the player the club paid all that money for. Finally, Pat Roberts. I don't think I've ever seen a seventeen year old get a response like that from the crowd. He looked great, although as time went on Millwall got better at steering him sideways and infield rather than letting him drive into the box. He needs to make sure that his dazzling runs actually get into areas where he can hurt the opposition. That's not a criticism - I thought was great. It's simply a recognition that as good as he is, he's still not the finished article. For that we might have to wait until he's at least 18! In summary, 0 pts out of 6 is disappointing, and the next few games aren't the easiest, but we always knew the team would take time to develop. We'll start getting points on the board soon enough, and the second half of the season will be 10-20pts better than the first.
