Indeed rosc. In his post-match interview Jol said, âWe were still in it which was a positive thing but there was no conviction in our possession; we couldnât link up from the back to midfield and we couldnât get the ball forward. We lack a bit of urgency sometimes.â I understand Jol's frustrations and the philosophy of how he wants the team to play. But on his own admission the current tactics/system is not working. We are playing as individuals not as a team and the responsibilty of creating strucure and purpose is Jol's.
We are toothless up front and we pack the midfield with too many players who keep falling on each other.
'I rest my case' is a legal phrase used in court (and bad court-based films and tv shows) when a lawyer (generally, I think, the prosecution, but I may be mistaken about that) has finished his argument and is going to let the other side put their response. Yes, we have improved in the last 18 months. Admittedly, in the last two or three we've also got a lot worse! The point is, Jol isn't a manager who has consistently failed. The football we played at the beginning of the season - both before and after Dembele went (not immediately after, but certainly some of the time without him) was fantastic. The Norwich game on the opening day was probably the best 90 minutes I've seen from a Fulham side. For all that I loved Roy Hodgson, under him we never played anything like as well as we have on our best days under Jol. None of that is to say that there isn't a problem now, but it does suggest that Jol isn't the basket case you seem to see him as. Clearly, there must be reasons why things are going wrong. As others have suggested for several weeks, the centre of midfield is an issue that needs fixing, as is Berbatov's failure to lead the line and the sudden frailties in the back four. Personally, I think that if we fix the first of those, we fix the second and everything else as well. The thing that Jol does have to take responsibility for is not finding an alternative way to win when the midfield isn't doing it's job. If he's guilty of anything it's stubbornly sticking to plan A when things have been falling apart. I'm quite willing to admit Jol isn't perfect, but you seem dead set on ignoring any of his merits and just hounding him out of the club as quickly as possible. I think that would be a mistake that we would quickly come to regret. So, going back to 'I rest my case' meaning what it says, how about you rest your case and stop criticising Jol until well after the end of the transfer window so that Jol can answer your criticisms on the pitch?
This is where my grievances lie with Jol also. Every FFC fan can see that Ruiz and Berbatov cannot play with one another yet he persists with both, I understand that leaving out one of our two best players would take a lot of balls, but he's explored other positions they can play and it hasn't worked, so one needs to be dropped. I'm also beginning to find his post match interviews nauseating. It's the same stuff every time, 'We tried to play our football but couldn't' When Plan A fails Martin, we must go to plan B, if there is one.
Haha of course not. Just simple math. Dempsey and Dembele + Kelly. That is hoping that the money hasn't all been blown on a fancy new stand.
Maths (one of my my personal annoyances, nothing personal) Just because we brought in money on transfers, doesn't mean it's there to be spent. I'd be surprised if it wasn't, though.
Well Jol said a few days before the window opened that there was money to spend from the Dembele/Dempsey sales, so like you, I'd be surprised if Jol wasn't given a large chunk of that.
We all would be Bidley, especially with the carrot of an extra £40m+ in TV revenue next year. How much could be available is debatable. For instance, MAF has to be paid £10m each year as part of his loan agreement - although we did have an extra £5.5m in revenue from season 2011/12 which covers half of it. Even allowing for that, Bandit's estimate can't be far off. Another point I'd make is this. If we don't spend the money brought in by transfers, we will pay tax on it.
I beg to differ with the bit I've highlighted, Bandit. They can play together, as they showed earlier in the season. The problem is that they need the right platform from the rest of the team, and that isn't happening at the moment. Will it be different with Frimpong in midfield? Will it be different if Diarra gets back to fitness? Or if we sign Boateng or someone else? Perhaps. I agree that with the team as currently set up, they aren't working so an alternative is well worth looking at, but that's very different from saying they 'cannot play with one another'. When the midfield behind them is right, those two are a combination who can cause problems to any side. It may be worth changing them at the moment, but that doesn't mean it's a failed experiment that shouldn't be returned to. And please don't speak for all of us when what you mean is that it's something that you personally feel very strongly. Every FFC fan hates that (whoops!).
Apologies Captain, certainly didn't mean to put words in your mouth. I follow Fulham fans on here, on Twitter and on Facebook and the overwhelming majority seem to want either Berbatov or Ruiz dropped, preferably the former, as their partnership at the moment is not benefiting the team. That was all that was meant. I know not every FFC fan will think the same way, but it has been identified by I would like to think the vast majority, that there is a problem there.
Apology accepted, Bandit. And I agree, it's clear that things aren't working at the moment, and when I said 'your personal opinion', I didn't mean that I thought you were in a minority! Where I disagree is the idea that they can't play together. They can, and once we get the midfield sorted out I'd like to see them do so again.
