You will still probably do the double on us even if you had Ronald McDonald in charge, we never beat you lot and i will be going to the cottage on 18th October expecting the usual.
Magath seemed to make his mind up on Burn a long time ago and he doesn't look like changing it and I think if he had his way Burn could be gone by the end of this month, even if just on loan, which would be a shame as he's proven in this league from his time at Birmingham and clearly defence isn't a strong position for us at the moment going by the start of the season. If Felix is to stay it'll be interesting to see how he goes about his team selections in the coming weeks after today's embarrassment. Will he now turn to players that he hasn't so far given a chance? Tunnicliffe? Trotta? Mitroglou? Kaca? (who did get game time today). I still say we need to sign one maybe even 2 new midfielders into the team, ones with experience of this league and of decent quality cos the ones signed so far are doing nothing but making up the numbers.
Sherwood's record at Spurs includes 10 defeats in 28 games. That seems an awful lot for a club in their position. Also, he showed a lot of inexperience in letting the media lead him into criticising his own players publicly. I wouldn't be keen. Eddie Howe is very unlikely to leave Bournemouth for another Championship side. When he left the Burnley job, it was because the distance from his South-coast family home was too much. His wife refused to uproot herself and the kids when he left Bournemouth the first time. I think it would take a lot to make him leave again, although I could see a London club who are established in the Premier League tempting him in a few years if it becomes clear that Bournemouth won't make the step up. As I've said before, he's an exceptional manager with a particular gift for spotting and developing unsung talent. However, I've always felt it to be a bit inappropriate to speculate about potential managers when there isn't actually a vacancy (yet).
If Khan does realise that we are seriously struggling with Magath then he needs to make it clear to Alistair Macintosh that we need someone with who has at least 4 or 5 years of experience as a manager, preferably, with some experience in the championship. The candidate must have a clear vision of his style of football and be able to coach the players to fit that vision. In an ideal world that person would have not long finished playing, ie within the last 10 years. Under Jol and Magath we do not seem to have a clear direction that we are moving in, no tactical style that you could say ' that is how fulham play '. I would also argue that with the exception of perhaps the original Dembele neither manager managed to coach the players to become better players. They simply tried to get them to fill spots. I can think of 2 managers in particular, Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rogers, who have improved players to improve the overall performances of the team. Roy did that for us and look where it took us. It is a big ask for any club to unearth a gem of a manager but if we ever needed one, now is the time.
Magath stays. I don't care if he takes us the brink of relegation (again). We're building for the future, not quick start to the Championship season. When you build up a team from scratch, you're bound to have a poor start, but there was no alternative to scrapping the whole lot of players from last year and rebuilding with quality youth. It may take time, but I'm confident Magath will turn things around. From the short replay I saw this morning on the Football League Show, there was way too much ball watching going on in the midfield and defense. We deserved the hammering.
The Mirror are reporting that we're lining up Tim Sherwood. Very skeptical about this - six months in charge of Spurs and a good reputation as a coach is not enough for me. He doesn't have much more experience than Meulensteen. I know that's not everything, but with Sherwood there seems to be a big risk of another three manager season if things don't start to improved. Felix's post match comments yesterday were interesting. He did concede that we need more experience and hinted that some of the players we're all expecting to leave might have to stay and play. We don't know what brief he's been give for the season. If it was "build a promotion winning team and we don't care how you do it" then the selections and transfer policy so far have been questionable. If it was specifically to build a team with the academy players and put resources into signing players for the future, then he may just being doing what he's been hired to do. Still doesn't explain using players out of position, though.
Having watched 3 of our 4 last games, i honestly cannot see under the present managerial /coaching techniques and tactics the team is told to play under, where we would pick up points, especially in our next 6 games which take us up to the end of September Brentford A lucky to get a draw. Cardiff H 0 points Reading A 0 " N/forest A 0 " Blackburn H draw Birmingham A 0 ". I do so hope that I am wrong with the aforementioned predictions, but if not relegation is staring us in the face.
The main problem is that we don't have a formation that we can build on... Is it 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 4-1-2-1-2 or 4-1-4-1 the players have no clue... Burgess is trying but gets easily pushed over... Stafylidis is a LB but when goes forward there are no wingers... Roberts can find anyone to pass the ball... Parker is trying to hold everything but failing... Woodrow plays with his back to the goal which does not work... At least he is trying. For all his sins Ruiz could provide some answers. The championship is not PL and moves a bit slower... Mitroglou is strong and can be a threat in the box... Dan Burn can clear the aerial balls and has weathered in the Championship... Amo can be a tough CB or LB... For one reason or another Felix has lost the plot. They need to be given a chance if to believe his systems about players be given an opportunity.
To his credit, there's no way Khan dumps Magath after just a few games. You can't create a team from nothing and expect it to start winning immediately. Magath knew that things would get worse before they get better, and he would have warned Khan. It's going to take time; and Magath will still be here come Christmas.
Changing manager AGAIN may not help - some of the names suggested might stabilise us, but will not get us back to the Prem. To some extent, this feels like Jol all over again, we'll be getting to #JolIn & #JolOut. The clear-out appears to have been excessive - I do regret the extent of it, especially the likes of David Stockdale, Steve Sidwell etc. The reality is that the bed has been made for us and there is little choice but to live with it - Felix either turns it around or we are back to League One. Football is a long-term deal (and not just one-way: 1995 in the bottom division; 2010 Hamburg). This season will seem a very long one and I see no choice but expect 2-3 more months in the relegation zone - at least. Glass-Half-Full is really challenging sometimes. COYW!
While I take your points, all of our problems on the pitch can be put down to Magath. Lack of game-plan, players playing out of position, wholesale starting lineup changes every game, players being frozen out... None of these are conducive to a successful team. I don't think anybody expected us to be the best team in the league but we expected more than four straight defeats. The most depressing thing is each performance is worse than the last. I'd rather Magath succeed than us sack yet another manager, but it really doesn't look good.
Agree Bidley and especially about the situation on the field getting progressively worse. Off the field equally of concern is a report that Parker âconfronted the Manager after the Derby game but Felix walked away without speaking to the playersâ. The same report said that Felix âscares the youngstersâ and that [the players] âare unhappy about three training sessions per day with only the last one (at 1700) involving any ball playâ. Now I know that was from the Mirror - a pinch of salt and all that. However, there is a recurring theme and the Independent also have a story about Felixâs âdictatorialâ style: âMagath insists on reporting to the American directly and speaks to him [Khan] every day, by-passing the clubâs chief executive, Alistair Mackintoshâ Here is a link to the full Independent article, which paints a very bleak picture - http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...is-season-scream-its-not-working-9690016.html
If we're going to sack him we've got to do it now and my choice would have to be Kit Symons. If we're going to go down the route of relying on youngsters (which we clearly are) then we've got to put a man that can get the best out of them in charge. In Kit we've got a man who can step into the job immediately, he knows the youngsters and they know him. He'll know which ones are ready for first team football and which ones aren't. Felix is just playing all of them at separate times and hoping they can step up. All of those youngsters cannot be ready for this standard and type of football. I remember an interview with Huw Jennings (I think, possibly could have been Malcolm Elias) where he talks about 'stepping stones' in the development of young players. Somebody mentioned that this is where we possibly went wrong with Kerim Fre, we threw him in the deep end too early and expected him to cope. We risk doing the same with some of the current crop if we don't have a manager who knows the capabilitie and limitations of the players. There's only a few days left to get in the players we need. I'm not at all convinced Felix knows what we need. I can't see how any manager could let us go so long without bringing a quality midfielder. We've signed 6 defenders and only 1 noteworthy midfield signing. My ideal scenario is we sack Felix, promote Kit and buy at least one quality midfielder. If the reports are true and the players dislike Felix so much then simply sacking him could be the lift the players need.
FulhamIreland Kind of warming to your suggestion of Kit, as manager would need a top assistant though. As much as I have little admiration for Ali Mac and if the rumors are correct about being by passed in club discussions this is no way to run a business..
