Folks seem to have started calling the new boss Slavi, which does seem a little more friendly than Joka. Mind you he wasn’t exactly ‘friendly’ himself in his after match comments following the Rotherham game; “could have played better”, “could have been more aggressive and committed” among them. So does that indicate he’ll make changes? It’d be a shade presumptuous to try and read his mind this early but one position is fair game for debate – Woodrow v Dembele. The rule book says don’t drop the man in form and Cauley’s two goals plus an assist on Tuesday as opposed to Moussa’s mini drought of none in his last three, would suggest Woodrow. Unless you take into account how poorly organised we were in these three Moussa games, compared to the more balanced and offensive team Cauley had around him against Rotherham. Difficult choice for Slavi?
I guess the question would be why change a winning team. But Sheff Wed are a better team, and in the Away game I remember we let in 3 goals from corners and free-kicks, but we did give them a fright in the 2nd half to come back to 3-2 and almost score near the end. The two players that I thought need changing from Tuesday are Ream & Parker both slow the game and lose balls. Against Wednesday Parker will have to be at his fittest as their midfield is strong, and the wingers are quick so I worry about Ream needing backup if Kacaniklic doesn't track back. One thing I noticed Lonergan when he takes goalkicks kicks to the opposite side that the linesman is on. Why? Against Rotherham Woodrow was getting fouled by Rawson but the linesman didn't flag it as it was clever fouls, if it's nearer a linesman then we might get more freekicks near the area.
Hopefully Slavi will soon become Midas! When he has had some game time Mattila has had good reviews and I think he may fit into the Slavi way of playing. I'd like to see him given a proper run out. I don't see our new man being sentimental and will bring the changes needed, so this could be the last of Scotty I feel. Also Matt Smith fits the bill. Does anyone know what formation Slavi has preferred in the past? The same as the last game isn't what we need and it is a joy to now be thinking differently and with optimism.
The good news stories are that he and his analyst, Alberto Escobar (who is with him here and now) put a lot of time in studying the opposition and Slavi varies the formation dependent on that. Broadly though he likes 2 up top - he was the one that paired Deeney and Ighalo at Watford - and he switches between 3-4-1-2, 3-5-2 and 4-3-1-2.
Fulham have been bolstered further by the attendance of Cravingawin at the Wednesday game. The manager was said to be 'delighted' he will be in the crowd roaring the team on at the pre match conference the Eight Bells last night! Hopefully he's a round peg in a round hole type of chap! It would make a change.
Slavi obviously loves his numbers and tactics. Here are quotes from him in the local paper today: “Fulham have strange numbers. Generally football is numbers but mathematics is very simple. If you try and observe it's many strange things. Fulham score more goals than teams in the Championship but conceded more goals. Fulham made five fouls. This is very strange for a Championship team. If you compare how many times Fulham have shot at goal. It's a strange number too.” “Generally, this team have quality goalscorers and offensive players. We need to find the balance. We don't have the balance. We're a little bit confused and need to play football with more guarantees.” “Generally, I am not a coach who prefers one system or another. I try and find the best solution for my team. When I find a solution I can change the schedule to help my team. If you're going to defend and attack. I generally find a way for us to win the points.” Defending set pieces has been our Achilles heel all season and Slavi has clearly recognised this but picks up on something at the other end that none of us have mentioned. “Yes, we intend to work on it. We've conceded 17 goals from set pieces. That is enough. We need to be more concentrated and more strong in this situation and be real men. Strategy at set pieces is important and we need to improve defensive set pieces and offensive ones.” “We've not scored any goals from a corner or a free kick. We need to try and improve ourselves.”
Hopefully he likes Hyndman and gets him on the set pieces, he was putting in some great deliveries in the last game. Will be interesting to see how things develop with O Hara under him.
Know it's part of Hyndman's awareness and looking for options but rather he'd whip it in instead of passing short at corners. Mainly because his team mates don't then know what to do next. Guess with time on the training pitch Slavi might get them more organised and working to a plan. So far as O'Hara goes, reckon he'll struggle to find a starting place unless he loses a few pounds.
Neat observation SuperBri. To be fair I thought Mr Hooper and his associates had a decent game - a bit of a rarity this season. Tomorrow we have the absolute rookie Kevin Johnson. He's only ever ref'd one Championship game; Wolves v Blackburn in January 2015. Don't know if the lower Leagues are more rough and tumble but Mr Johnson seems a bit of a disciplinarian having dished out 53 yellows already in his 16 games this season and 95 yellow plus 5 red in 28 games the season before. Let's hope he keeps his hair on in his annual outing to the Championship.
It annoys me because it is something Curbishley should be looking if he is the adviser. Our Keepers for me also kick to high, this give the defender an advantage to time his leaps. If they keep doing it then we have to set up to get the second ball or at least put pressure on the player who has the ball before they can settle. Our obvious Achilles heel is still corners and free-kicks. A rookie ref isn't good with an expected 3,000 Wednesday fans to influence him. Let's hope he is unbiased and consistent.
Yup - distance rather than accuracy. Stockdale's the only one going back to Van der Sar that I can recall who kicked with a low trajectory. And you do wonder about the coaches, since kicking is as important (they do it more often) as all this bouncing back up after they palm the ball out. Something else that niggles me a bit is the way, when we take a goal kick, they all shuffle over to the same side of the pitch and you end up with 20 outfield players in something like 10 square yards. Why, sometimes at least, don't we spread out and have someone on the opposite wing. Okay I realise that could expose you to a quick break if the ball's lost but if you know the plan you can be ready for that with half the team ready to go forward and the other half ready to cover back. As I say, it's at least a plan rather than a hopeful punt into a melee of players, usually ending in a throw in at best - and you know how good we are at those!
So did anyone who was at the game notice anything different about the way we played? Has "Slavi" put his mark on the team or are we still the same old fulham? Obviously the result aside, it would be good to hear that we looked like a better team today, but baby steps I suppose, it won't all just change overnight.
It's yes and no again Fabio. I was very curious to see how we would line up when the team was announced - it turned out to be 4-1-2-3. And, certainly in the first half, while we looked more solid (with Matilla in front of the back four) it didn't really work (with two left footers - O'Hara and Kaca - on the right and McCormack stuck out on the right). We needed a goal to bring them out. Unfortunately it went the other way and yes it was a cracking shot from Wallace but dear, oh dear Tim Ream. No attempt to get close and tackle. We struggled to make any impact after that. The stats tell it all - 70% possession and 1 shot on goal. And this is where the "same old Fulham" comes in - sideways/back/sideways and so on, and so on. Both fullbacks must take a hefty share of the blame and especially Ream who was bereft of any ideas. Slavi's first change - Parker for O'hara - was an obvious one with O'Hara pretty poor and should have come at half time. The other two with about 15 minutes left - Garbutt for Matilla and Woodrow for Kaca - did nothing to improve our effectiveness and if anything the reverse. But .. while at times we were boring, we also had occasions of good football, looked more of a unit than of late and credit has to be given to a well organised Sheffield side and their superb defence. So I've come away a bit deflated and at the same time optimistic. That might sound daft but there was an inkling of something good often enough to give me confidence that Slavi will learn from this game and given a wee bit of time will sort out the problem areas (and importantly, problem players).
The best way to find out if Slavi has learned anything today would be for us to play against the same team next week and see if he can make the necessary changes to get a different result. Oh, hold on a minute......... Here's hoping that with time things can come good. We definitely have the makings of a good squad here, I don't doubt that, it's just about getting the best out of them and have them playing as a team.
Just a quick note on the subs made today. Was surprised that Matt Smith didn't get on the pitch, we were chasing the game so surely he'd have been a good option in the last 10-15 mins for us to go a bit more direct. I've said before on here, a lot of successful championship teams over the years have all had a big target man, the direct route seems to work in this division, I just think we are missing a trick by not playing Smith more.
One of those things we'll never know Fab. I could see what he was trying to do - played McCormack left, Woodrow middle, Dembele right - aiming for one/all to run behind them. Unfortunately we didn't have the guile today to get through their first line in the middle and both our full backs were hopeless going forward.
Except for Mattila having a good game as DM (not sure why he was taken off) it was the same old slow build up with possession football going nowhere. Really didn't see an improvement and personally I thought the substitutions were bizzare and did nothing. my MOTM goes to Hyndman another positive passing performance, with Stearman and Mattila doing well. Lonergan made 2 great saves in the 2nd half to keep us in the game, but his kicking was atrocious (as C58 says this needs to be addressed by the Coaches). Ream, Richards, Kaca, and O'Hara were poor the rest mediocre. I guess those left out from the winning team like Fredericks and Cairney were injured. Question Do you think McCormack is becoming another Jimmy Bullard..ie getting in the way of others, by trying to hog the play, coming back into defense to pick the ball up ?
Definitely over anxious to be involved and took or fiddled around the ball at (instead of being in the box) a number of free kicks not in his domain. Don't know if you noticed O'Hara studiously practicing free kicks from the right during the warm up? In the match he ended up only taking one which Burn (think it was him) got his head on and could have done better. Don't know if it was the Captain thing again with McCormack - he had the armband for the first 60 minutes - trying to lead by example instead of leading from the front.
On a social note. Didn't realise he was quite so tall and the scarf was a nice touch. please log in to view this image Also extremely pleasing that he, Escobar and Gray all took part in the warm up.
Have more to say about the game but felt Ross let his manager down in the second half today and once again showed he has little control of himself. Clearly he was frustrated at being on the left, in the second half he didn't even bother playing out there and then should have been sent off for a reckless challenge from behind on the keeper. I don't know how Joka feels but to me it was all a bit Charlie big balls from Ross. It's a tricky one, he's top scorer and clearly a decent player but he doesn't fit the 4123 formation, which I've been keen for us to play for a while now. He isn't in my opinion a captain or a team player - but maybe we need him to drag us through the rest of season given how much of a mess we find ourselves in. This has been our problem since Roy went, indulging egos and not playing as a team. Ref was pretty shocking and let the game be held up for no clear reason as we started to build momentum. I like what the new manager tried to do, just think some players let him down, others just not good enough. Matilla, although he made two bad mistakes, the first real DM I've seen since Etuhu.
