There are several similarities between our start this season and Fulham last year, they were leaking goals at the back and lacking upfront and looking vulnerable all the way through the season. It seems we have a long hard season in front of us...
Probably time to start putting Conference postcodes into the sat nav: http://www.footballgroundguide.com/conference/
I think we're all getting too pessimistic too soon. This is still a team that is coming together. Losing Barton and Mutch together with no Sandro left a significant gap to fill in our midfield. Mutch looked like he was really coming into the game yesterday until his injury. Vargas too will come good. His energy and movement around the box in the 1st half were encouraging and I think he will fire alongside Charlie. Isla in defence was the biggest disappointment yesterday, taking too long on the ball and being caught out in possession as a result. He was culpable for both goals. Going forward there were some positive signs particularly with his interplay with Vargas (sitting in lower school end on L hand corner so saw a lot of what was occurring down our right in 1st half). Niko was outstanding and looked a much fitter and hungrier player than the player we saw last year and his free kick was sublime. Traore is also beginning to look the part more in defence. His pace and the height of him jump saw us out of trouble on a number of occasions. If only he could improve his final pass going forward as he looks a handful.
I would say for 95% of promoted sides, their first couple of seasons (provided they stay up), are long hard seasons. It wasnt ever going to be anything else.
No offence but come on... you're not mystic meg and in your inability to predict the future you instead opt for the most pessimistic prediction?
Think we are getting ahead of ourselves here, we do not expect to rolllover teams at home, stoke are a decent outfit strong & good on the break, in the would settle for draw, it's going to be a tough season but we seam to slag off & get disheartened after poor result or performance, what are people expecting?
We have had three home games which we should be aiming to win against Hull, Sunderland and Stoke if we are going to reach 40 points, we have taken 4 out of 9. We now go into a difficult stretch of matches with some fairly obvious defensive frailties. Put it this way, when was the last time you came away from Loftus Road thinking 'That was a fantastic performance'? And that's after a season in the Championship. I think we have to go back to our win over Arsenal when Hughes was the manager. It's hard to be optimistic when we see the same uninspiring performances and our away form has me dreading some of our matches at the top clubs...
Our usual mix of pessimists and optimists here but having sat through a dreadful performance yesterday (considered winnable by most) and on the back of abject surrender at Old Trafford and White Hart Lane it's hard not to side with those who fear the worst. There is no cohesion to the team at all and many individuals simply don't look up to the task (my list from yesterday: Isla, Ferdinand, Phillips, Austin). Certainly our midfield injury problems didn't help but we seem to lack the tactical brains in the back room to get round this kind of thing.
More than a few but we were at least ten places further up the league last season. You're talking about last season in the Championship, right?
I said last season Fulham were very much like us the season before when we went down. I would say we're in a much better state now than when we were relegated. To early to panic Soop, keep the faith mate.
What head-in-the-clouds asshole would possibly think otherwise of a side that's just been promoted? (no offence Soops)
I think you can call it pessimistic to assume that we're at the best of our form and project that forward for the rest of the season while assuming the winless teams below us will all improve. If it was that predictable then we'd only need to play one game a season, make the assertion that we wouldn't pick up another point and then start planning for our next game in the league below. Lots of time left, lots of points up for grabs and no need for widespread panic. A late goal to rescue a game can also do wonders for confidence and morale. Would I take 17th place now? Yes. Is it wildly unachievable? No.
Was always going to be, I don't think anyone even TF thought otherwise but one thing for certain, what they will need is the supporters behind them.
Cheese, anyone - at least this approach isn't part Harry's playbook.....perhaps we could add Magath to our coaching squad? Felix Magath recommended 'ridiculous' cheese treatment Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy describes former Fulham boss Felix Magath's recommendation to use cheese to treat an injured player as "ridiculous". Former Fulham skipper Murphy confirmed a story appearing in a Sunday newspaper that Magath recommended defender Brede Hangeland treat an injured thigh with a block of cheese soaked in alcohol. Murphy says the bizarre story was indicative of the way the German coach lost the faith of his experienced players and explains why the Cottagers fired Magath this week after finding themselves "in a world of trouble". Fulham say farewell to Magath and the crazy world of Felix the madcap For Fulhamâs players it was a bewildering world during the Germanâs reign but perhaps he would have survived if he had proved himself a brilliant tactician or motivator. please log in to view this image http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29302031
