I disagree, Robbie. You are right to the extent that the final decision is, of course, the Board's. But if they put themselves on a course which clashes with the majority of the fans, our club is in deep trouble. Blackburn springs to mind. You can also say that nobody knows for sure what the majority of the fans think and feel. Again, you're right in an obvious sense. All I can say is that the only evidence I have to go on are the message boards I look at, and there has been a definite move off the fence over the last few weeks. Let's see what happens today (Wed). If he survives today, he's got at least the Hull game. I personally think that's fatal procrastination; you think it's being calm and refusing to panic.
Why do you assume that allowing the fans to dictate will not plunge the club into even greater trouble than would ensue from sticking to what the board believes is best? Of course any board wants to carry the fans with it, but not necessarily at all costs.
Do you really think you know better than CH about who needs a rest? Every player's condition is monitored in detail day in, day out. If we assume that Redmond and Snodgrass will both feature against Hull on Saturday, you can be sure that the physios passed them as fine to play against Fulham. Far from needing to be rested, the condition monitoring most probably showed they DIDN'T need to be rested, or needed it less than others. I'd rather CH acted on the physiological data rather than the subjective impressions of watching fans.
I think VC point is neither are cutting it at present, maybe its their mental attitude or what ever but in typical CH fashion the favourites get there spot in the team, i agree who do we replace them with but Ch has built this team so if they arent suitable and there are no replacement then only he is to blame, ultimately it all now comes down to hughton IMO
Am I the only one who thought snod played pretty well last night? I also thought bj was decent and rvw looked up for the fight when he came on. Have to agree with earlier poster regarding the team sheet being a suicide note. If as ch says it is a crucial game then why not put out a strong team. I would like to go on record as saying Whittaker had the worst game at rb that I have seen in a long time. Can't pass can't tackle and out of position all the time. Truly dire. I still think ch will hang on in until Saturday as if we do win then he can argue that the team selection was justified to rest key players however were we to lose on Saturday then I suspect a man of honour may elect to fall on his sword.
I thought I was on your ignore list Actually selecting a team to play is, unlike any line up any of us might propose on here, not simply a matter of choosing from a list of names. It is a matter of balancing a host of different factors very few of which we are privy to. All I'd say about the line up last night is that several people on here said they liked it and/or it was stronger than they had anticipated (reflecting CH's statement that he would field a team capable of winning the tie). In addition to which there was a general desire for Fox to be given another chance, which he was. In the event the selection was not the problem, it was the inept performance put in by several of those selected. As I think Tipsy said earlier in the thread, the players have to shoulder a great deal of the responsibility (as also the West Ham players in their cup game). Like the West Ham players, ours have a chance to redeem themselves on Saturday. Let's see what happens.
I didn't hear CH say it was a crucial game. I only heard him say it was a game they wanted to win. At the same time he said he would make use of the squad (i.e. he wasn't going to play the "first" team). When the team was announced, several people on here actually commented that the selection (team and bench) was stronger than they had anticipated. Also, virtually everyone on here wanted to see Fox given a chance. (I agree Snoddy was far from the worst, and also about Whittaker.)
His passing was mildly better, but decision making woeful as per usual, there was a brilliant ball played to him in the second half, he had acres of space with few defenders in front of him, the penalty area was all but empty of defenders but instead of attacking the goal he ran the ball out far right of the goal line to cross back in, this gave fulham 2-3 more seconds to fill the box with players, this was one of the rare chances in this game we had them on the counter but ended with nothing not even a shot on target. Summed the whole game up for me.
Snodders was god-awful with disrupting our attacks as yellowfever says, but he did look slightly busier so I'd tend to agree. Both Whittaker and Garrido were dreadful. Fox was diabolically bad, looking terrible on the ball. RvW was probably our most effective player even though he came on late - he had some nice interchanges with the wingers and Johnson, though he was forced to drop deep to get involved which was part of the problem.
I think last night the defence is one you'll never see played together this season again. The full backs are both woefull, Martin is not a CB especially when there was one on the bench? And then we come to Bassong. If he's not a candidate for a break then I'm a china man! He spent more time in there box than ours !! For a manager who's supposedly defence minded he doesn't seem to be getting close to getting that right, I just hope new recruits can be brought into the defence before Hull.
I don't think it's about the fans 'dictating' the future of the club. But any board HAS to carry the fans with it, not merely WANT to do so. Unhappy fans will impact on the performances in a major way, whether they're protesting aggressively with banners and invective or sitting there in sullen silence and killing the atmosphere. A football club cannot be successful without its fans onside. Again I'd point to Blackburn as evidence of this. To be honest, I worry a little about how you see the role of the fans. We seem to be little more than a claque to you, who should stand there and enthusiastically wave our yellow and green scarves, or extras in a blockbuster movie who are merely there to fill up the space. I know this is the way football is going - I'm not stupid enough to not know that the people who go to matches today are much less important financially to a big club than TV money or T-shirt sales in the Asian market - but we shouldn't just accept this process as the inevitable future of football. The idea that a club 'belongs' to its fans may nowadays be something of a piece of sentimental rhetoric, but, even if we have entered the world of clubs as 'brands' and fans as 'customers', we still have some power and influence and I think we have a right to exercise it.
My mates that were at the game and I just found it laughable in the end last night how poorly we were playing. It's been said a lot on here lately, but the word 'toothless' really does sum up our attacking play. When RvW and Becchio came on and Fulham were sitting back, they were BOTH coming deep to get the ball and try and get in the game because we didn't have anyone in the middle of the park that seemed to be able to pick them out! Massive credit to the travelling fans though - plenty of noise coming from us lot even when we were 3-0 down (although granted it doesn't take much to drown out the Fulham lot).
does anyone else think Fox did ok? ok some other bits of his game are lacking, but it was nice to see someone pass the ball accurately nearly all of the time rvw and bradley did well, and you can't blame Josh but all the others - especially the shakey defence, well......
On the contrary, Blackburn illustrates the huge damage that a club's fans can do to the club they call "theirs" and purport to love. The Blackburn fans did indeed attempt to dictate to the owners. There is indeed a lot about the fan culture in football that I think football would be better without. A great deal has been achieved by way of ridding football of violence, but there is much else that needs exorcising too. I have a lot of experience of rugby union and the contrast is startling and all in favour of RU. Do you think the fans of RU clubs are like extras in a blockbuster movie just there to fill up the space? Your dichotomy is a false one, which I completely reject.
I cant stand all this business about Fox - he quite simply isnt a premier league player. Yes on his day he is a fantastic passer of the ball but he lacks in too many areas to be played in the premier league. You might get away with him in a 5 man midfield but for me he isnt good enough. Saying that, Whittaker had one of the worst performances I have seen in a yuellow shirt for a long time last night.
From where I was sat he wasn't great. Played a couple of pretty cross-field balls but other than that he didn't really offer too much creatively, and the less said about his defensive positioning at times the better.
His passing was ok, but there was that aaaaaaaaaawful free kick towards the end of the game!, wasn't exactly wowed by him, I think he's too hot and cold for me.
