A weery eyed good morning to one and all, So we have made 5 signings and personally I think we have done some good business. The last interview I saw with Big Mart he sugested that our weakness was that we were conceeding too many goals. I think he has addressed that with these signings: Enoh and Frimpong - solid no nonsense tacklers who will provide cover for the defence and hopefuly be able to distribute the ball whilst in possession. Manolev - on first impressions cover for Kelly, but as has stated by a bulgarian fan on a prevoius post and much better right winger. Competition for Duff and Dejagah ? Maybe Baird will be cover for right back ? Emanuelson - Pick of the bunch, supposed to be great going forward a real asset to the club. Left sided winger but can play at left back as well. Chris David - sounds a real talent, Jol pointed out he will need time to adjust to life in english football, I suspect Frimpong has been bought in to give David that time, but would expect to see him playing first team football next season. How will Jol set the team up ? Schwarz Riether Hughes/Senderos Hangeland R/R Sidders Enoh Duffers Ruiz Emanuelson Berbatov Schwarz Reither Hughes/Senderos Hangeland R/R Enoh Sidders Emanuelson Ruiz Berbatov Rodders There are lots of potential set ups now for Jol but I think we are in a much stronger position now adn I look forward to watching us move on and retain our premiership status, Good luck to all the new comers.
Agreed. We've strengthened the squad without paying out any fees. Apart from Manolev, have we got options to buy on any of the loanees? The only danger is that they make a great success of themselves and then never wear a Fulham shirt again after May. That's my only reservation about so many loans. The one real disappointment was the way Steklenberg fell through, with no time for us to get an alternative in. I had mixed feelings about signing Jack Butland anyway, good as he is. Signing a number 1 keeper who is that young would be like an admission that none of our young hopeful keepers are ever going to be good enough, and I'm not sure that's the case. I'm not sure how we'll line up once the new boys have settled a bit (I doubt we'll see most of them on Saturday), but we've certainly increased our options, particularly in midfield. Good job.
Solid business and covering the gaps we have. Captain Enoh has the option to buy too. Think we cab have various formations depending on opposition. Probably we will start seeing the phase out of Duff. We will be moving to a more 4 - 3 - 2 -1 or 4-3-3 formation I have the feeling. Schwarz Reither Hughes/Senderos Hangeland R/R Enoh Sidders/Kara Emanuelson Ruiz Berbatov Rodders/Petric
My understanding, based on club press releases, is that we have options on Manolev, Enoh & Riether. In effect we have purchased the three of them on credit. I agree that we had a solid window. We sold Kelly and have Baird/Manolev to cover for Riether. We brought in Manolev and Emanuelson to give us some more edge going forward and Frimpong/Enoh to stiffen our midfield. I will be very interested to see what happens with Sidwell. Kara has consistently outplayed him for the past month and we now have some real competition for their places.
Agreed, and lets not forget our other 'new' signing - a fit again Simon Davies, who will be keen to show that he's worth a new contract in what's left of the season.
Also agree Surlyc. Additionally Bryan might find himself fighting for a place and I doubt if we'll see too much of the Ruiz/Berba midfield combination in future. Kaca however is the one most likely to lose out - at least for the rest of this season. With 5 players on loan (albeit 3 of them with options to buy) and a heck of a lot contracts expiring, the summer will be a major re-building exercise. But that's for another thread and another time. For now the important thing has been strengthening the defensive part of midfield, together with giving Jol options/cover.
Big Mart has done well under considerable pressure. The new boys are technically very good and I'm sure they will fit in perfectly. Finally I can see some final third action coming to fruition and the ball being passed forward! Thank god none of turned up at Motspur Park without permission from their home club! That would've been embarrassing!
