It was a short and sweet press conference today from Felix. He said that he was content with the transfer window - “Mitroglou had to go for the benefit of both parties” and although “Ruiz is disappointed not to be playing at a higher level, he will be involved.” Believe he's still with Costa Rica however so won't feature in the Reading game. Specifically on Matt Smith he said - "I was searching for a tall player who is a good header. Smith is very strong and tall, and that is what we've missed." About Saturday’s game, he said that we have to be cautious against a very good Reading side. And that was it; leaving us guessing as usual. There’s no doubt though that the caucus of his team is now the one that started against Cardiff. With the (minimal) late transfer window changes the only question really is whether Smith will come into the side. But as normal, who knows! The side I’d go for is: …………………Bettinelli…………….. ………….Bodurov……..Burn……….. ..Voser…………………………Stafylidis.. ………………..Hoogland………….. ………….Parker……….Hyndman…….. …….David………………McCormack… ………………..Smith……… With Pat Roberts and Cauley Woodrow to come off the bench and give them a roasting in the last half hour.
That's our best team 58 for sure. Average age is? A smidge under 25! Replace Parker (the old man) with Lasse Vigen Christensen and it's 23.5! Does anyone know the youngest team in the Championship?
And here is a video of his press conference: [video=youtube;cy9z4NGV95o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy9z4NGV95o&feature=player_detailpage[/video]
I think there's a mistake in your maths, Craving. Adding Matt Smith means we're even older than we were last year. By the end of his stint in Doctor Who, we were told he was around 2000 years old, which by my reckoning puts the average age up to over 200. Dropping Parker for LVC won't make a lot of difference to that! We seem to have settled on our strongest line up now, with the only debatable selections being the goalkeeper and the midfielder at the top of the diamond. David, Roberts, Eisfeld and Ruiz all have claims for that role, although it sounds as if Ruiz isn't in contention this weekend, and I'd be surprised to see Roberts starting many matches just yet.
No grand surprises in the line-up: Kiraly; Voser, Bodurov, Burn, Kavanagh; Hoogland; Parker, Hyndman; David, Smith, McCormack Must admit I can't see that Bettinelli did anything wrong against Cardiff and for the moment will keep an open mind about Kiraly. Stafylidis is the one I really didn't expect - he's on the bench! Subs: Stafylidis, Hutchinson, Zverotić, Rodallega, Roberts, Christensen, Bettinelli Note, Cauley Woodrow.
1-0 down, Smith sent off, unable to access the Fulham website... I think I might be done for the afternoon already.
3-0... The ship is sinking once more... Not much to expect when down with 10! But this is not an excuse....
Ditto. Although I hear we're now down 3-0. As are Newcastle. Pardew anyone? At least he's a Fulham fan (allegedly).
I'd take Pardew over Magath, for sure. Pardew has his own issues (mainly the perception that he's something of a yes man to his respective chairmen) but being hated by his players is not one of them. I'd be surprised if Ashley pulls the trigger but if he does we should get right on that.
I give him the next 2 home games. Anything less than 4 points and he should be gone... (I typed 6 but thought may be too harsh!)
Has anyone feedback from seeing the game? Should Smith have been sent off? From the stats we had 3 bookings and a red with 9 fouls, they had 1 booking for celebrating yet and fouled us 19 times, which seems bias, maybe. We subbed the 2 guys on yellows at HT, so was tis to prevent the ref from sending them off as well? Maybe I clutching a straws but had we of kept 11 on the pitch we had a better opportunity.
I hate changing managers regularly and had advocated keeping Magath but now I would like a change on the provision that the board have a long hard think about who to bring in and think about it as a long term appointment! We have the squad, facilities, infrastructure and finances to be very competitive in this league and we are under performing massively. We should of brought in a solid experienced no nonsense centre halve and didn't and a holding midfielder in the mould of Diop in his pomp (ie a beast) Pardew mentioned above funnily enough I said just after the final whistle I'd take him Tigana, Pardew or Hoodle I would be happy with or a young manager Lee Clarke or John Collins.. How about Kit Symons????
AgAin another hugely disappointing result. Obviously we were not helped by the sending off early in the game but more points go to the wayside. I have been looking at some stats and we are doing well generally with the possession stats, in most of the games we have had the more of the ball. However, we do not get too many shots on target. With our poor ability to defend and poor shot accuracy, it begs a question as to what is being done in training. It has been well documented that Felix works a lot on the physical side of training, I wonder if he needs to be doing more work on actual football training, shooting, defending etc. If he were willing to take the job, I think Steve Clarke would bring some much needed man management to a team that must be very low on confidence and self esteem as well bringing some quality football coaching.
Froggy I agree... I am sitting on the fence regarding progress of this team. Was really positively taken back by the display against Cardiff. Today another hammering, don't care 10 or 11, and sitting comfortably at the bottom. Can't disagree with some fans calling us the laughing stock... People say that a new manager will not know the best 11. Magath just coming close to finding out himself! Too many managers. I agree, time for a new CEO at the same time. Do I agree with some of the players released? No I don't as they were useless! I will give Magath the next 2 games only on the basis of the performance against Cardiff! After that he will be 8 games in the season. No excuses. His team, his methods, his fault. Simple!
Well, according to the rather belated post by the Club, Felix will certainly be here for the Forest game on Wednesday. And like that Braveheart, Robert the Bruce, it's "Try, Try and Try .... Again" "“Everybody is frustrated, me too, but the players also, but we have to work on this situation and we work now on the defeat tomorrow and the day after,” he added. “We have to prepare for Nottingham because it is another game and another tough game and we have to win." “I can understand the fans are frustrated. The fans have supported us very well. I enjoyed it last season that when we were down the supporters were always on our side, and that was great. I know the fans are disappointed, and I can understand that. We need the first win. We have to try to get it against Forest. We will work on it and we will try.” Also seems as though he's trying to holding himself just short of having a go at the fans. As Jol did. And sorry this is just so reminiscent of that time after the Cardiff game .. which is when said Jol should have gone. Here's a link to the full text of "The Manager's Reaction" - http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2014/september/13/manager-reaction
