I love looking back on last year, just to get some perspective really and also to show what a good job, IMO, Big Mart is doing. It's well documented from me that I think he is very Fulhamish and the right man for the job and I also understand the frustrations of some of my peers on this board. For me, he's a top man and give him some time. DR has posted an incitelful (spelling?) comment about some clarity in how he wants Fulham to play and I can only see further progression in the next coming months. I hope January is successful in terms of points. 2011 Won 5 Drawn 8 Lost 7 Points 23 Goals for 22 Goals against 26 2010 Won 3 Drawn 10 Lost 7 Points 19 Goals For 19 Goals Against 26 Now don't forget the season started 30 June for Europe qualification. I think the fact we've been playing since July is amazing (it also makes Stoke's achievement of progression and table position terrific also) and proves we are on the right track. I also thought that having played at the weekend along with Arsenal we looked sharp for 90 minutes (except Captain Murphy who did look tired). Any thoughts, and apologies for posting the same kind of thread repeatedly.
Fully support these comments craving. People quickly tend to forget that last season we were in the bottom 3 on boxing day and the results and performances only improved after the debacle at home to West Ham. It may turn out that we cite the Man U and Odense home games now as the turning point in our season though that remains to be seen. What is clear to me though, as others have argued on other threads that Jol has had the same sort of problems that Hughes had, that being rejuvinating and putting his own stamp on a successful but ageing and possibly quite stubborn team, hence talk of dressing room splits. Hughes led us to 8th last year despite all this and Jol has so far done better than Hughes at this stage last season, suggesting theres not reason why he can't go on to exceed what Hughes did and hopefully stick around for much longer. I just hope that if we were to lose to charlton or blackburn in the next couple of games, people don't revert back to blaming Jol and consider the good things which he has gradually put in place at the club.
Very interesting (and encouraging) stats. I think part of what Robes is saying is that this might be a false dawn - ie. we might lose to either or both of Charlton or Blackburn (although we shouldn't if we play like we did in the 2nd half against Arsenal) but even if it is we are making progress in the right direction. I like Jol and I like the players he's brought in (I even like Sa!) and I like the way we've played in the last few (successful) games - ie. the attacking midefield in front of the solid but forward looking defence. I think if Jol sticks around and brings in more of "his" players then we'll just get better and better.
Penguin, judging from Sa's goal against Norwich, there's more to his game than some of us thought. He's far from the finished article, but at least he's showing us that there might - might - be a decent player in there. He's been compared to EJ before now. Would EJ have ever scored a goal like that? I doubt it. I don't see Sa as a regular starter any time soon, but he's worth giving time to and could be a decent squad player this season and who knows what in the future. I still want us to sign a new striker in this transfer window though, even if Bobby stays and plays like he did last night, but the signs for the future are good on many levels.
The future is bright, the future is orange. (Jol bring Dutch orange their colour.) Stats are favouring Jol but I think he has a better squad than last year and better players. The team is improving and they adjusting themselves to a new faster type of football. Don't think we are going to slip against Charlton and wil give Blackburn a good game. Football is not what it was a few years ago. There is more science to it at all levels and teams are playing better.
Yes. Sa is the squad equivalent of EJ or Elm of Woy's team - a significant improvement in squad quality I would suggest
Cheers guys. I agree that perhaps there will be a couple of slip ups in the coming weeks but the foundations are there. I loved it when Hodgson was in charge and what he did with our team but I think Jol could do the same for us. Also, I'm not sure how different the current squad is to what Hughes had. A couple of exceptions not many.
Captain and Tosh - I agree about Sa. I'm not saying I want him to lead the line every week but he is young, keen, already passionate about the club (he is very active on twitter) and, as you say, a good squad player who will hopefully be backing up some new 20-goals-a-season strikers in a couple of weeks time (ok I'm getting carried away now but you know what I mean!)
Some of the venom directed at Sa on TIFF and others is a joke - he's had about three starts and the usual suspects chime in with "he's simply not good enough". You'd think after the previous treatment of Bobby, Baird, Senderos even - people would learn to give players far than a couple of hundred minutes of playing time! WFIW, I thought Sa had a great game Vs Chelsea in the Carling cup,held the ball up well and could have scored a couple. I am happy with Jol in what is bound to be a season of rebuilding, and phasing out the old guard whilst blooding the new.
COULD have scored a couple sums him up perfectly. He gets into decent positions as we saw in both games against Chelsea, but he seems to have been taking shooting lessons from Moussa on the training pitch.
He certainly has potential and maybe I have spoken too harshly of him before but for me he just doesn't look like a player who can do a job for us week in week out. A bit like Kamara in that respect.
We were all banging on about how Ruiz needed time to get used to thing in the Prem (and rightly so) and Sa is no different. He hasn't had as much games but I see enough glimpses of quality to think he'll fit in sometime in the future.
Sa is completely different. Ruiz came with a reputation and a large price tag, I think most of us were expecting him to hit the ground running like other strikers from the Dutch league (Kuyt, Suarez, RVN) whereas Sa had been a disappointment at his previous club. Ruiz had the quality and potential to adapt to the PL, I'm not sure Sa does.
But either way, he needs to be given time to settle in before making too much of an opinion on him. It's hard for a young player to play a handful of games and be a revelation. Even a loan spell could do the trick.
I agree that a loan spell would probably do him the world of good but due to us lacking in striking options that doesn't really seem feasible right now.
