Ahead of schedule but to coincide with the team picture, the Gaffer talked mostly about being pleased with the transfer window in today's press conference. "The players who started the beginning of the season did a very good job. I'm happy with them and happy with our new signings. We now have a stronger, deeper squad. We have more quality." He also acknowledged that we have 7 games in the next 21 days and reckoned that all 14 of the new signings will play some part over that period. The first of those matches, against Birmingham will be tough - we know they will sit deep and try to hit us on the break. They've got a powerful forward in Donaldson and brought in two skilful, quick and direct guys in Adams and Stewart during the window. Also their 3-0 drubbing of Norwich last time out must have the old confidence rocking. Think the conudrum over the Gaffer's team selection is more about which format he plays rather than individuals. To try and play a high game will he go 3-4-2-1? Or to try and draw them out will he stick with his preferred 4-2-3-1? I'm plumping for the latter, in which case the only debate is surely the CB pairing. Take your pick of any two from Kalas, Sigurdsson and Madl then. Me, I'm going for him to start with: ..........................Button.............. ....Odoi.....Kalas.......Madl......Malone.... ...............McDonald...Parker..... ....Cairney......'Copa' Kebano....Aluko... ......................Martin........... With a raft of attacking players on the bench to bring on as needs. And bearing in mind the next game on Tuesday, again at home, against Burton. Which with respect and acknowledging their good start, is a more likely match to introduce some of the new blood.
Not sure I can even have a stab at this one, so many questions to answer Do you play your new £4 million centre back or stick with the current inform pair Does Ayite come back in for Kebano Do you play both Ayite and Kebano if so where does Cairney fit Does Martin come straight in Does Johansson come in for Parker Sess or Malone Do you go Odoi left back, Kalas right back with Sig and Madl centre back
I agree with Cottager about the formation and the front four (though I think Kebano will be on the left and Aluko in the centre). I think Johanson might start in place of Parker and Sigurdsen could come in, possibly for Kalas rather than Madl. Then again, I'm usually wrong about the line-ups.
The only certain thing we know about the team to face Birmingham is, we will have 11 good players in the team and another 11+ in support. Something we haven't had in recent memory. And I would not be unhappy with whoever starts the game, or that finishes it, and I don't recall thinking that before.
I think that line up is just about right C58 If Ayite is fit may be he'll get the nod over Kebano and you'd expect Martin, to play but a combo of Martin & Smith in the last 20 minutes would liven things up for their center backs.
Agreed with the line up. I think Kebano will start for sure. I really like Jokanovich. He's really grown on me. I was at his first home game against Wednesday last season and I thought here we go. But looking back on what we had and what we've now got, we are a million miles away. I fee confident that we can do well and I really think he was worth waiting for. I'd love another 3 points. Settle for 1, don't want to get my hopes up, I'm a Fulham fan after all!
The man in charge today is Tony Harrington please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Mr Harrington has ref'd Birmingham once before, when the lost 3-0 away to Sheffield Wednesday last year. Likewise we've only seen him once, in a 2-1 win at home to Blackburn again last season. He booked five players in that game; four of theirs and Jamie O'Hara for us. Five cards seems par for the course since in his five games this season Mr Harrington he's handed out 25 yellows. Last season Teesider Tony actually reined himself in a bit only managing 72 yellows and 3 reds in 30 games.
Tampered down a bit. Sure Mr Harrington and Mr Blunden (yeah, that is his correct name) didn't do us any favours but we didn't do ourselves any either. In the first half our passing was far too casual at times. And the Gaffer blundered by making the tactical substitution of Johansen after half-an-hour. Apparently Stefan only played because Scotty Parker dropped out at the last minute and I can understand the boss wanting to "shake things up". And no way could he have forseen Madl being sent off just before half time. However, it was the wrong substitution. If he was going to make a change it should have been 'Copa' Kebano for Floyd Ayite. He compounded that by bringing then bringing Kebano at the start of the second for Smith. In my view that was the time to bring on Sigurdsson and Kebano for Smith and Ayite. It gets a bit complicated to explain to be honest but the last 30 minutes was our best period with Cairney in the middle and Kebano on the right. Not taking anything away from Jozabed - who was the one brought on in the first half for Johansen - he did fine, especially second half. But for most of the time our play was too narrow. I realise I'm still not explaing where I'm coming from very well, so I'll leave it at this: The Gaffer got the team selection (slightly) wrong and his subs (badly) wrong. Cairney, not for the first time, was poor first half but so good in the second when he went into the midddle and Kebano should have started - he was a right handful when he came on. Oh, and why oh why did our two best chance to score in the second half have to fall to Malone!?
Must say i was very disappointed with today's game , we keep reading ,hearing , we string together more passes than any other team in this division,but is all happening around our area, leaving the remaining third the oppositions area very bereft of scoring chances To days stats Fulham 64% of possession, but Birmingham had 25 shots on goal to our 12, something we need to address if we wish to be contenders. Yes Cottager very difficult to explain to days match , no disrespect , but Birmingham will not be the best team we will meet this season,so rectification must be swift.
Gary Rowett has revealed his tactics to keep Tom Cairney quiet - “Cairney’s a good player and with [Denis] Odoi giving some real good width as a full-back, we knew we had to block that inside space,” Rowett said. We changed [Robert] Tesche and [Maikel] Kieftenbeld over, so Maikel played Cairney’s side and we had a little bit more of a defensive mindset around the pockets Cairney wants to get in." Yeah right. Read that to mean, "clobber him a few times in the first ten minutes before the ref thinks about cards and if he comes a bit deeper, No 9 you can take that job." Rowett went on to explain some more of his thinking - “We felt perhaps [Chris] Martin might have started up front. With [Matt] Smith starting, we just felt as though we had an opportunity to play a little bit higher up the pitch, because he’s perhaps going to find it harder to run away from you. We certainly didn’t want them high up the pitch, delivering balls into the box. I was slightly surprised they took Smith off. I can understand why Slavisa did it – with 10 men you need real mobility on the pitch – but again it gave us the opportunity to play a little bit higher because they didn’t have any physical presence up there." Yeah spot on. Read that to confirm he was a step ahead of the Gaffer on tactics all the way. Rowett also commented on the absence of his old mucker - “Also, Scotty Parker not playing perhaps made a difference to their balance defensively in the first half.” Yeah all in all, you get an inkling of why he's a half decent manager.
