The news I guess we were all waiting to hear is about Marcus Bettinelli. In his lunch time confrence today Kit said, “he’s fit!”. However, Amorebieta, Hoogland and Kavanagh are still out. Lots of talk about improvement and working hard on the training pitch … and Hugo being singled out for “playing better than he’s ever done". On Chris David he said that “he has to work hard to get back in the team - it’s a team that’s playing well“. Well that means little, if any, change. The only questions are; the usual one as to whether Bryan has survived his travels and who comes in as attacking midfield? The starting line-up I’d go for then, is: ……………..Bettinelli…… ..Zverotic…Budorov…Burn…Stafylidis… ……..Christensen…Parker…. ……………….Ruiz……… ……Williams………McCormack.. ……………..Hugo…..
Seems the most likely starting line... I would dare to play Hutchison and maybe David in place of Ruiz if he is jet lagged!
Have Cost Rica played since last week? I can only find the draw against Uruguay, in which Bryan scored. I'm expecting the line-up named by C58.
I suspect Cottager's line up will be correct, although I'm still harbouring hopes that Pat Roberts will start getting more gametime, even if only to convince him that it's in his best interests to stay with us in January rather than making a move.
Agree C58 should be the line-up barring travel from internationals. Worrying for me is the goalkeeper situation, with the backup on the Bench being Kiraly. Is Bettinelli fully fit, might be a thumb injury but not good for a goalkeeper. Why the club hasn't gone out and got more cover, even if it's for a couple of months, just incase. Recall of Stekelenberg ?
He hasn't managed a game for Monaco, and I'm sure I read somwhere that we don't have a 'January recall' option in his loan deal. Despite Kit's assurances yesterday I'm still a bit concerned about Bettinelli for tonight. The tweet from him that you posted on the other thread SuperBri wasn't nearly so encouraging and I wonder if the Club are Playing a bluff game?! Hope not. Kiraly probably wasn't to blame for the goals in the Derby game - although a keeper that stands with his hands behind his back at a penalty kick is a tad weird - but he doesn't generate any confidence.
Yes, disappointed. I'm really pleased with Ross Mc, i don't think Kit is getting the best from him though. He played deeper than I think he should for the first hour or more; and although I agree his free role is very effective (he is a very insightful player) = I'd like to see him further forward. This might mean a change in Hugo's role - but he is very mobile too - just not as constructive/intelligent as RMc.
Same comments from me ~ 2 defensive tackling full backs required, no matter what combination is formulated what we have is not good enough. very disappointed, this match could have been ours.
We never turned up! Brentford won fair and square! Our defence is leaking from every side! Started thinking that if West Ham offer £4m for Burn to take it and run... We couldn't play more than 3 passes... Parker went missing tonight!
Agree Madness. We certainly didn’t seem to be as ‘fired up’ as Kit predicted and what is so frustrating is that when we play with that mind set, the final ball is always a lump forward. That wasn’t all that frustrated though; the (yet again) ridiculous failure to win our own throw ins; the midfield backing off .. backing off.. ; and worst of all, both full backs consistently leaving the opposition wing man free. This last point is as baffling as it is frustrating. Why do the backs always drift inside following play on the opposite side of the pitch? A lack of concentration, or on instruction. or simply a lack of football nous? Whatever Kit and his coaches need to sort it out. Sticking with Kit. His substitution was wrong - Ruiz should have come off but Eisfeld was not the man to bring on - and (yet again) badly timed. Equally he should have made at least one other - wee Georgie wasn’t at the races tonight. Altogether a disappointing night and some very, very average performances.
Lots of work to do still, and with one game a week for a while now I hope Kit can use the extra time on the training pitch to good effect and sort out the defence. We looked unprepared in the first half. Brentford were alway going to come out of the blocks fast and we had no answers. The passing was poor, we were second to every ball, and it was only the excellent Bettinelli who kept us in the game. The second half was better (couldn't have been worse), and we'll always score goals at this level with Hugo and McCormack. We really needed a big strong defensive midfielder to come on at 1-0 up but instead we got Eisfeld which I felt was the wrong call. Our subs bench is great for chasing games but we're too short of options for holding onto them. Brentford, on the other hand, showed why they're in the top four and deserved the win although losing at Brentford feels like my Fulham support has come full circle after 22 years! One final thought - and I'm not saying this affected the result tonight - but many more defeats following an international break and Kit needs to reconsider his Wales role.
Such an unfortunate namesake. I didn't see that game, but I'm disappointed at the result. Still, we press on.
I was impressed with the keeper he kept us in the game. As mentioned the FB's not good enough. Elsad Zverotic should not be anywhere near this team - he made a cardinal sin on the first goal. Get Chris Baird in ASAP. The back 4 still worry me. Burn seems to get booked every game as well and misses Brighton. Up front we look dangerous especially on the counter. McCormack is a quality player at this level. Ruiz struggles out wide and offered very little when we changed the formation. He's got something for sure we just don't see enough of it and consistently. Symons should have made changes and earlier but we are lacking players with different qualities off the bench. I think Brentford were excellent, first half they could have been 3 up. Makes it all the more disappointing after we took the lead. The lad up front Gray hassled us. I still believe we deserved a point.
