Several changes need to be made for our next game Firstly, Dembele NEEDS to be dropped. We looked so much better with Zamora and AJ on the pitch, both played huge parts in the equaliser. Dembele is utterly useless, yet the commentators seem to adore him. "He's so skillful" "He's great with the ball at his feet" "He finds space so easily" What good is all that if his final shot is pathetic. I've never seen such a selfish player at FFC. He seems to be flashing the skills looking for a better club to join. Well, with anymore performances like that then I will gladly give you the taxi fare. Also, Dempsey's attitude absolutely stank. To not shake hands with AJ was disgraceful. He was another who was woeful today, the chance he missed in the first half was shocking. I don't think he's mentally recovered since that penalty miss against Chelsea. A few high points from the game, but not too many. Davies looked superb, but he was up against a makeshift left back. Both Zamora and AJ did well when coming on and I thought Salcido had a decent game, but apart from that, not much to shout about. Gudjohnsen, Hughes, Dempsey, Dembele and Murphy all had shockers and Schwarzer didn't look too impressive either. If we are going to break this hoodoo away from home then Wolves are one of the team that we should be beating (no offence Wolves fans). Here's the team I would start in the next match GK: Schwarzer (only just) RB: Baird LB: Salcido CB: Hangeland CB: Hughes RM: Davies LM: Duff (if fit, if not then Kakuta) CM: Sidwell CM: Murphy (only because we have no-one who can play his role) FW: Zamora FW: AJ Suggestions welcome.
Interesting points Bandit. The BBC report of the game says Salcido had a good game along with Gudjohsen, Zamora and AJ. I read that first and thought we must have been quite good. Then I read your report. Hughes's after match interview is quite good. He reckoned that we created quite a few chances in the first half before wolves got their goal and if we had taken one of those we would probably have gone on and won. And he was sent off for "abuse of the water bottle" - of all things.
Hughes is right, we dominated the opening 20 minutes, Wolves scored with their first foray into our penalty area. Salcido was denied with a great save, Dempsey missed an absolute sitter about 4 yards out and Dembele as usual got into good positions but ended the run with a woeful finish. After Wolves scored they sat back an awful lot, hoofing the ball up field or into touch, not to mention the blatant fouls. I thought Gudjohnsen was OK, should have done far better with the one chance he created for himself instead of blazing high and wide. But no way would I start him next week.
Bandit, I have not seen any of the highlights of today's game. I have to say that from watching the sky pundits we created some good openings but squandered these. I only really got the second half info. It seems Dempsey had a few but to no avail. As for Dembele, the juries out on him. I still cannot get away from the fact that he is such as skillful player that draws defenders. Is it him or the movement of others that is the issue. If he is drawing defenders and creating space are we not getting players in the spaces that are opened up? For me he plays too high up the pitch, he would be better used in the middle of midfield, but can he defend though? It is his first season in the prem and at Fulham, so I will not be making too many judgements until the middle of next season. I would however, like to see Gera deployed again with BZ, they were so intuitive together last season. I am getting seriously P****D though with our inability to get wins away from home. So far this season our away results are as follows: Wins 1 Draws 10 Losses 8 I have to feel that this is better than the last season. The losses were against: Man Utd Everton Liverpool Tottenham Arsenal West Brom Stoke ( cup ) Chelsea. Now as p****d off as I am, these losses are against teams that we would have to be playing really well against to win. The difficulty comes with the draws. Is it bad defending or poor finishing that has cost us these games. For me we have created enough to look to win some of these. Again, I only see MOTD so my info is not from the actual game. Hughes must be doing something right as 13 points away from home is better than years gone by. As annoying as this poor away record is, my head is telling me that Hughes is working hard to improve this situation and that hopefully in the summer he can improve our chances by introducing some new talent. Pace is the essential ingredient and youth. We will have to wait and see what he can find. Well done to Simon Davies today who was supposed to be good. Nice to see him back in the starting 11. COYW
Dembele is incredibly skillful, he always manages to get goal side of his defender, but that's where the good news ends. He hates passing to other people it seems and would rather do a Lionel Messi and take on everyone. I don't have anything against losing away to the big teams, but against teams below us surely these draws must be two points dropped and one gained?
I was at the game today, and was not so harsh on Dembele. Given that Bobby and AJ were on the bench (not sure exactly why), Dembele did a fair shift, especially in the first half. If Clint (who had a poor day) and others had put away their chances in the first spell, Wolves would not have had a look in, not so different from a couple of home matches where we got nothing from dominating the first 20-30 mintues. I must agree about Simon Davies today - admittedly he was up against a weaker defender, but he looked lively throughout the day. Another worth a mention was Steve Sidwell who put in a good shift, dispite getting booes from the home crowd. Looking at Froggy's list, the team it was really upsetting to lose to was WBA, but having gone to that game also, I remember our very makeshift team just not being able to hold onto to the lead. A number of away draws (which I did not get to), we should have converted into wins, like today. However, I still feel a lot more confortable coming away with MH than Roy. Sunderland won today and will be up for 3 points next week, so I'm less confident about getting 3 points on my next trip up-north. Still - 3 points on Wednesday!
I'm not surprised Sunderland won today, Wigan are very hit and miss, great one week, awful the next. At least they gave Brucie some more injury worries ahead of our game against them. I heard today that Sunderland don't have a recognised striker to start with against us, Campbell, Gyan and Welbeck are all out I think. Again this is a game we should be looking to win. If Dembele had a decent shot on him he would be one of the best players in the league. Also, I noticed today that none of the midfielders shoot from outside of the penalty area. They all look to play mit out wide or lift a ball over the top. I miss having someone like Bullard who wasn't afraid to just smack it from 25 yards :/
Zamora had a reaction in his leg apparently, that was the rumour going at the ground. I agree with that team sheet Bandit. Down to the final detail. In fact I was planning to post the exact message about the teamsheet myself.
I heard he was injured in the warm up? In that case it's understandable why Gudjohnsen was picked to replace him after his cameo appearance against Utd. Today just goes to show both him and Kakuta are much better as impact players coming off the bench.
When I saw the headline of this article I thought it'd be about how we totally dominated this away game yet still didn't come away with 3 points. To go on about Dembele, who played OK but was still exhibiting some of the faults many of us have expressed in another thread, seems over the top though bandy. It's funny actually because early in the season at the Cottage I remember seeing him warm up on the pitch and he was such a hot shot I said to my boy I wished I'd put a couple of quid on him scoring, which of course he did. So it's there somewhere in him. Possible reason: is the Prem much more physical than he expected and his head down approach because of that? I don't know, I'd be interested in others' views.
I watched the whole match online, and thought we played pretty well. We were carving them up for the first 20 minutes and let in a goal against the run of play. After that, Wolves got everyone behind the ball and made it hard for us to break them down. I think a lot of teams would have struggled under those circumstances. Just because they're in the bottom three, Wolves aren't a bad side and have had some good results at home this season. Our inability to win away from home remains enormously frustrating, but I don't think that was down to any lack of effort and endeavour yesterday. I was a bit baffled by the selection up front. Ok, so Zamora was carrying a knock but I didn't really understand Gudjohnsen starting over Johnson, unless it was just to have more of a look at him to decide whether to sign him permanently in the summer. I thought Gudjohnsen started poorly but got better and did ok. If Zamora is fit, I agree with Bandit that he should start alongside AJ on Wednesday. Dempsey's petulance annoyed me - if you miss a glaring opportunity from six yards out and aren't making much of an impression on a game then you're going to get substituted. I hope he apologised in the dressing room after the match. He's still our leading scorer, though, so I'd still play him against Bolton. As well as results away from home being poor, we have also only won two games all season against teams currently above us in the league. If we're going to end up with the top ten finish Hughes keeps telling us we'll have, that needs to change - starting on Wednesday.
What did Dempsey do when subbed? I didn't quite see. He took a long time to get off the pitch from what I noticed. Dembele is somehow slow to pass. When we want to play a quick game Dembele leans on his outer leg, turns and passes. That is slower than a passback or a turn. He doesn't get the right mix of skill, turning and passing. Its a tactical approach that's missing. He needs to be coached. I say drop him till the end of the season and give him time to refine his game. Because when he comes back he will be lethal. We didn't have a centre man yesterday, that was the problem. At one point Sidwell was the player furtherest up. When Zamora and AJ came on Dembele went back into the midfield and suddenly played better. He doesn't like the responsibility of getting goals. Zamora and AJ were starting to connect when AJ got his injury. I think its time to put them in the line up together again.
A few points Rocks, the point of this thread is entirely about how we dominated but didn't take our chances. I've just highlighted the people responsible for that. Wolves did put a lot of men behind the ball, but yet we still managed to create 4 or 5 very good chances, but didn't take them. Dempsey and Gudjohnsen being the main culprits. FFC4L When Demps was taken off he walked straight past Johnson without shaking his hand, don't know whether this was because he was angry at Hughes or at himself but show some respect man, you had a poor game and your replacement got us a point. The pundits surprisingly seemed pleased with what we delivered yesterday. Charlie Nicholas said he genuinely enjoys watching us play football, some of our passing and approach play was top class yesterday there's no doubt, we just needed a goalscorer like AJ to start from the off to convert some of the chances created. Hansen and Shearer on MOTD said that we will "always be safe" from relegation. I thought that was nice. Also, us on before Liverpool's 5-0 win over Brum? Shocking!
FFC4L - Dempsey skulked off the pitch without shaking AJ's hand and was obviously in a sulk about being substituted. It may just have been frustration at his own performance, but wasn't very respectful.
Yeah, you worry about our boy Clint, is he unhappy, and will that mean he'll look for a move in the summer? Totally agree that yesterday's strop was not an example of team/squad solidarity.
I wasn't there and am relying on Radio 5 Live's commentary, plus Match of the Day for my observations. Fulhamish, I think when Johnson and Dembele have played together, neither of them really fills Bobby's role in holding the ball up and providing a focal point to the attack. AJ is a willing runner down the channels, but not really a targetman in the same way. Gudjohnsen has played that role elsewhere in his career and looks like the best alternative we've got to Bobby at the moment. I'd be interested to hear what those of you who saw the whole match made of that element of his performance. When we were first linked with him last season, before he went to Spurs, I was quite excited. As it is, I'm still not convinced that he's got it in him to recapture the form of his younger days (which probably sums up many of the rest of us!)
Gudjohnsen spent most of the game backing up Dempsey at left wing. Did nothing of any substance in the centre. Davies played really well, but I feel maybe Dembele and Duff would be a great combination on the wing. Dembele did a good job in Belgium on the wing. Dempsey can be an impact player off the bench with Kakuta and Davies etc. We have a really solid team but just not a solid starting XI. Hopefully that will start on Wednesday. COYW
Thinking about it, the way we played and with Salcido bombing down the wing like he did yesterday (He played well both attacking and defensive wise) we can even think about points in May in those 3 tough matches. Considering the toughest 2 are at home maybe points are possible. It looks like Hangeland is back on form too. A bit more bite up front could make all the difference.
I can't disagree, Bandit. Dempsey's attitude was poor, along with his finishing. There's no excuse for that. Team above self - that's the rule. It may have been frustration, too. Dembele was productive, but missed his chance, too. Might be time to rest them.
I can't disagree, Bandit. Dempsey's attitude was poor, along with his finishing. There's no excuse for that. Team above self - that's the rule. It may have been frustration, too. Dembele was productive, but missed his chance, too. Might be time to rest them.
