Two questions. The first is to ask why he is publicly criticising players ? Ryan Sessegnon has taken a buffeting from him in recent weeks - the latest being in his press conference yesterday when he said that Ryan needs to be "nastier". And today in a Guardian article when it was Tom Cairney's turn - "When you [Cairney] are in the middle and lose the ball you have to work hard to regain the ball, in that position he stops. No. That's no good." By all means have an open dialogue in house but to do it in public can surely only affect team spirit/morale. The second question is to ask whether Ranieri's reading of the situation is correct? Have a read at his justification on Cairney in the article: https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ester-united-claudio-ranieri?CMP=share_btn_tw To me that says more about Ranieri's failings than Cairney's. His five at the back has been good on paper only, and turning offensive shortcomings on Cairney smacks of self justifying blurb. Won't even get into him playing Cairney out of position .. .. or, of him not playing Sessegnon at all. Strange that he's picking on those two players specifically. My own view is that Ranieri has lost the plot and is in total defensive (sic) mode.
To be honest, I think Ranieri has a point. I have long thought our build up was too slow, even the little I saw of us last year, and whenever the Señora and I have gone she is always asking why they never pass forward and are forever passing sideways and backwards. Her definition of Fulham is that they get to the 18 yard box, get scared and then play it backwards again rather than pushing on - so I can't fault him for trying to do something about it. Cairney is frustrating full stop and sometimes seems more concerned with keeping his hair in place than getting on with the game and even before Ranieri arrived I was a bit surprised that Sess didn't take on the division. Much was expected of him, not just by us, but by other clubs and, probably, the FA. He hasn't delivered which makes you wonder if he is really a Premiership quality player - I understand that his England buddies Mount & Fodden, when they play of course, look the real deal, the same of which cannot really be said for Sess this year. On the upside, I doubt if anyone will make a big money bid for him during the summer as he has wasted his opportunity in the shop window. The thing that has shocked me more than anything with the matches that I have seen this year - and I have not bothered with watching anything since Christmas as their play isn't worth the price of a beer in a bar - is just how much of a mess this team is. It has little quality at the back - Ream is no Premiership player, or that idiot from United - Fosu- Whatever. Seri and Anguissa are the sort of players who can't play in England - the game is too fast and physical for them and if they are products of the Tony Khan system of player purchases we are in trouble for years to come no matter who manages us. I heard the other day this self-same system rated Djalo as the next tier down from Messi and Ronaldo, which is so ridiculous as to be almost unbelievable and should have given even its most ardent adherent second thoughts - where is Djalo now, by the way? I know he hasn't made it into the Real Madrid or Barcelona squads this season so he must be skinning Ronaldo in Seria A, no doubt. We don't see a lot of Italian football out here.
Djalo is typical of the recruitment policy Fulhaman. And indeed underlines the confusion around the Club at the moment - Fulham seem to think he's still at Extramedura (in the 'Out on Loan' reports) while Extrmamedura are insistent that they've ended his loan early. Don't disagree with some of the comments you make about Cairney and Sessegnon. My main complaint about Ranieri though is his making comments in public. Some of which are frankly bizarre. A wee example: "Yes I know, Ryan [Sessegnon] is a good player but in this moment is not at the best of his fitness and form. For this reason I played with Joe Bryan." And what was he doing yesterday bringing on Cairney and Sessegnon ten minutes from the end when 3-0 down ? Mocking the fans ?
Sounds like this may be a good deal for you, especially of you need to generate some cash if you go down. Manchester United are planning a £50m move for Fulham's 18-year-old left-sided player Ryan Sessegnon. (Sunday Express) Problem we'd have is that we have little to sell. There again, we haven't spent much.
I think that the players are low on confidence about the tactics they are being asked to play, you can see after we concede the 'this isn't working again' attitude kick in. Playing Schurrle, who he admits had been suffering from flu before the Man Utd game, in the team ahead of fully fit players like Cairney or Sessegnon, then brings on Christie as sub for him, seems Ranieri is out to prove a point to fans, but is failing miserably. Ranieri comments on the defensive qualities of Cairney & Sessegnon but favours Schurrle who has no defensive quality what so ever and I can't remember any goal assists or him having an outstanding game (even when he has scored 'a worldy'). All the media regurgitate the Report of Fulham Fans chanting 'You don't know what you're doing' at Ranieri due to as Ranieri reporting not wanting Schurrle taken off !!!! Ranieri is oblivious that it was for who he was putting on as substitute.
