Spot on. There is no leadership. No command on the pitch. The players at points look lost. We need someone to take that role and Brede is not the person. Definitely we need midfield. Not a forward.
I have to agree with C58. Highlighted by Chris Baird telling MJ that he should swop with Diarra, after the latter had a second argument with Riise. In the second half Berbs then even Ruiz trying to gee people up. C O Y W
A really poor game yesterday- we struggled to get a grip and Everton cut through us with ease. On our side I thought Reither and Baird had decent games- Duff wasn't too bad and Kaca had a penalty shout in the second half (would have been a soft decision but there were hands on him). I think Schwarzer's distribution is a factor in our inability to build through the midfield. He is the complete opposite to Schmeichel of old, who would release it very quickly down the wings to start a counter. Schwarzer tends to hold on to the ball, let both teams settle and then launch it up the pitch. I can see how this would have been effective at M'boro and in previous Fulham teams when Bobby Z was up front and could work with the high balls- but it seems a ridiculous tactic when the two up front are infinitely better with the ball at their feet. Ruiz, particularly, is not going to be able to do too much with the high balls. He's still a very good shot stopper and did well with the corners yesterday (although Felliani shouldn't have been able to beat him at the near post for the second) but he offers very little in terms of building play. What compounds the problem is Hughes having similar distribution issues, he tends to lump it up on the right hand side. Another issue was the two strikers tending to drop deep. Toward the end, when we were chasing the game, we had all 11 men in our own area defending corners with no outlet should we break. In open play neither Berbatov or Ruiz were posing a real threat to defenders without the ball, they cantered toward the defender in possession but without any real intent. We did well to get the point though- a lot of the players didn't look up for it and I didn't expect us to level when I saw the players body language when it went to 2-1. As much as I don't rate Sidwell, he does put a shift in.
I noticed we played a lot of balls right back to Schwarzer, which only compounds his distribution problems.
Here's one for the older heads. Does anyone remember Mark Walton? Now there was a keeper with distribution problems! Apart from that, I rated him for the level we were at back then.
I only remember him from Championship Manager 2 97/98! He was alongside Andre Arendse and Maik Taylor. I still play that sometimes...
Just bought Football manager 2013. Thought I'd have a crack at doing MJ's job. Felt a bit bad about ousting him but bloody good game. Never played any of the series before but very impressed with it.
Isn't it funny when you nick an equalising goal in the last minute you feel better than when you have been the best team but have a last minute goal against you, like at Southampton and Reading. Thought Everton were getting too much joy against Riise in both halfs, but to sub him and then put Duff and then Baird in his place was just asking for trouble. First half Kacaniklic just wasn't in the game, didn't do Riise any favours in being slow to cover. Think we got unsettled, trying to change people round at leftback. For me Ruiz was picking the ball up too deep in defence, he should be doing his stuff as an attacking midfielder behind Berbatov. Everton played well and you can see why they have started to climb the league, Fellaini got away with a lot of nudges, and fouling which was frustrating as the Ref was inconsistent in giving us freekicks for the same thing. Thought Mirallas and Pienaar were their best players. Teams have worked it out that Schwarzer's kicking is not great, and have put pressure on the back 4 to pass back to him, and not play out from the back.
I play most of the releases but have been going on 2012 for quite a while. I'm in the year 2034 with Fulham (started with them) and all of the players are now regens haha. Have of course won everything How are you doing on it?
Certainly we were relieved to get a point at the end – Hence, the Fulham celebrations and understandable frustration of David Moyes. Everton are a good side, quite underrated, with Pienaar and Fellaini really driving them on. They had many chances to so 3 or 4 up, but Mark made some good saves (for which I will forgive the kicking out) and, frankly, many of Eveton's opportunities were off-target. While Fulham were behind them for most of game we did still have a few chances apart from Sidwell’s goal: a beautiful left-wing cross along the 6yd line, Brede’s header, Berbatov's close chance etc. Moyes was concerned enough to bring on Distin in the 89th minute. And even Alan Hansen commented on MOTD that we did not give-up (praise indeed!). We have been concerned about Fulham dropping points in the last few minutes of matches, so even though we got an undeserved point, I’ll take it. No doubt, MJ will have noted the issues of leadership, clarity of midfield roles etc and he does need to address playing out from the goalkeeper since more teams are pushing up on us. My glass remains it’s half-full as usual, despite being out played yesterday, so I’m still hopeful of a point at Arsenal - Now there’s a team with problems! C O Y W
I put it down to the way he plays and we should have aware/ready for it. Where I would definitley agree with both is the ref's inconsistency. And Everton's plan certainly worked. Here is a schematic showing Schwartzer's kicking efforts ('successful' means it went to a Fulham player, not that it neccessarily gave us control of the ball and in fact half of them were flicked-on to an Everton man) - please log in to view this image
Here is a video of the match highlights - http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2012/november/05/match-highlights
Only just started so into my first season with Sevilla but going okay - top of the league and still in the Kings Cup.
I stopped Championship Manager a few years back as it was just too addictive. In the 96/97 one - the Micky Adams promotion season - I managed three successive promotions with Fulham in my first three seasons, won the League cup in my first Premier League season, then won the title the following year. In another game I won back to back European Cups with Hearts. I found that as the game got more and more complex with later versions, it just took longer and longer to play out a season - another reason why I stopped. I imagine it almost plays in real time now.
