One thing I felt about yesterdays game was in the second half for the last 2 subs, the team became disorganised. Ruiz came on for Kacaniklic and really pepped the team up playing just behind the attack linking the midfield for about 10 minutes. But then he started playing deeper to pick the ball up, and was crowded out. Frei came on for Dejagah but played on the left with Rodallega having to go on the right, then Karagounis came on for Him and Ruiz was pushed out wide right, and both he and Frei were just isolated by the Saints defense. As a team we became very dis-jointed. I still don't understand why the defenders pass back to Schwarzer to kick hopefully up field. Surely they have better skills to be able to do that themselves. My MOTM was Sidwell did his job of Box to Box and getting stuck in to their midfield. Thought Senderos did well considering his other performances, he was the one shouting the orders to the defense. But Riise went further down hill, his tackling was non-existent. Schwarzer was unlucky with the penalty, but he has lost that bit of quality. Berbatov what did the tee-shirt mean ? and he looked knackered/disinterested in the last 20 minutes so why wasn't he taken off instead of Rodallega.
I agree with most of what you said SBM, but I wanted to respond to this point. Our defenders/Schwarzer keep hitting the ball long because there is never an available pass in front of them. We end up trying to force the ball down the flank or putting long balls up to Berbatov because Baird/Sidwell are constantly in a poor position for accepting a pass. In order to make themselves available they drop deeper and deeper which means the passes are sideways at best and we have a yawning gap in the middle. It is easy to blame Schwarzer for his poor kicking, but the reality is that our midfielders don't give our defense any other option.
Good points SurlyC. However there were a number of occasions in the first half when JAR was completely free on the left and Schwarzer chose to ignore him. Also there is the question why he always takes so long to release the ball? Although not helped by so many of our players being static, it gives the opposition all the time in the world to get organised? His kicking is something I've moaned about for two years now, so it's not going to improve anytime soon. What I can't understand is, if you watch him in the warm-up session, he kicks accurately (with the top of his boot) straight to whoever is waiting on either wing - yet in the game he hits it (with his instep) high and with back spin not reaching the player he seems to be aiming for.
I am certainly not defending the quality of Schwarzer's distribution, C58. I've said for at least 2 years at this point that Schwarzer's distribution is the weakest area of his game. I just wanted to point out the apparent reason as to why he tries to kick the ball long the whole time when we don't have the players to play that way. Riise was also guilty of passing the ball backwards nearly every time he received it, which doesn't help Schwarzer much. That said, you make a good point about his pre-match kicking vs his in-game kicking. I can only assume it's psychological.
Been away for a while but followed Fulham from afar, yesterday made it down to Craven Cottage- thought I had gone back in time- long balls up the pitch, no ability to maintain possession- baird looking lost, all it needed was Sanchez on the touchline and the memory was complete. There are so many things that need addressed- I think Jol knows this and has become a bit demoralised. One of the major issues, from my perspective, manifested in what Berbatov had scrawled on his t-shirt. We're not playing like a team and Jol is too obvious with his 'favourite' players. Time is up for Schwarzer- he's been a great servant but there are better options out there. At some point yesterday, as he hoofed it up the pitch to groans from the home crowd, he should have realised that he doesn't have to do that every time. Scream at the back four, get them fanned out and play it on the floor. Hangeland looks too casual, he needs a new defensive partner to give him a kick, he also needs to be stripped of the captaincy as he has no leadership ability whatsoever. Senderos should be sent down a deep hole with a short rope. Midfield is not good enough, we need more quality. It's not looking good although I hope we can improve the team in January- Southampton at home is a game we should be winning. The most worrying thing is that our starting team yesterday- bar Berba, looked like a relegation contenders 11.
Exactly! Complaining about Mark's kicking is about the EFFECT of our current play rather than the CAUSE - too much backward play with a midfield not moving forward make themselves available for a pass consistently enough. Swansea will try to exploit this on Saturday, so MJ has to get the players to work at it.
Here is the Club's video highlights of yesterday's game - http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2012/december/27/southampton-highlights
