I watched the game against Palace. We won it because of luck and their confidence just plummeted. Other than that we had nothing to offer... The performances under Sanchez are coming to my mind!
That was shocking, but I had a feeling we've have that kind of game. We were extremely lucky, taking three points from Stoke in that dreadful performance. Our win against Crystal Palace was deserved, but Palace are a very poor team, and their wretched performance created the illusion we're better than we are. I think Fulham has serious problems right now, and I'm not sure what will turn us around.
Senderos was diabolical Saturday, but Sky's post-game analysis focused attention, rightly, on Berbatov's laziness and his little on-field tantrums when he didn't get the ball.
Frankly, I think the best thing for the team right now would be for Berbatov to suffer a nice hamstring injury, anything really, to get his prima donna a$$ off the pitch and out of the dressing room. He's got amazing talent, but he also seems to bring a corrosive effect to the team.Cottager58 said:Would give an eye tooth to have been in the dressing room at half time on Saturday. I wonder how Jol explained to Riether that he was the one coming off?
"It is nothing to do with Berbatov or Bent, it has to do with the application and organisation because if you communicate with each other you come away with results.
If you play like we did today and don’t talk together we looked like a team of strangers. We have worked together now for a couple of months and we have to do better
The incident with Berbatov and Scott Parker, I think that’s a good thing because you have to tell him that is what you should do, that is what you have to do and that is what happened."
Jol's statements as reported on Talksport - does this make sense to anyone?
As I said in the post in the 'Team v Southampton' thread about his statements on Talksport - they ask serious questions about Jol's ability to manage at the moment.
I think Jol's going to be the next EPL manager to lose his head, but I can't put my finger on any catastrophic errors he's made along the way. Rather, I think it was a tide of factors - forseeable but largely unstoppable - that's lead to the team's current problems, including the loss of three top players and the continued aging of the others (plus Senderos sucks!). With limited financial resources and the relentless need for points, Jol never had a chance to overhaul the team and prevent what's happening. It's like Jol's been so busy bailing out the boat, he never had a chance to pull it out of the water and fix the rotting hull.
He's wasted a fair amount of his limited resources - not saying he has brought in bad players, but they have been in the wrong position (Stek and Bent excepted)
Parker & Diarra - should have released Sidwell or only brought one of the two in, one of them = a waste of wages
Taraabt - another waste of wages, already have cover in that position
Amo - we needed a right centre back, not someone who plays Hangeland's position
Zvetoric - although he covers a few positions he's primarily a right back- given that Hughes has been getting the nod there we should have released Riise or Richardson and brought a new left back in.
Argument also that with limited resources Schwarzer could have got his extension for one more year and Stek not brought in (although maybe a bit harsh). GK was an area we needed to improve, but I'd put LB, CF and CM ahead of it in terms of need.
Given how much we spent on Ruiz I can understand why an owner would be hesitant to back him. By the end ALF wasn't putting any of his own money in and used loans from Vibrac Corp.
Silkship I agree with almost everything apart from Sidwell and Amo. Sidwell is solid and he plays for the team. Amo maybe Hangeland's replacement if they noticed that he has some problems.
Diarra, Taraabt, Boateng and Stekelenburg could wait... You forgot Boateng that we chased so much and he is warming up the bench. Riise should have been sold or loaned.
I don't see him having any vision for the club which surprises me because (although in hindsight its naive to expect, particularly on part of the club) I though he was in for long reign.