Fulham were 17th...

[CaptainMorgans]

This was the view of the Fulham fans before that 5-4 game

Pre-Match View From Fulham — The View From

“Tough, tough game this, and one I'm not looking forward to. Typical, tough, physical, well drilled side that we always struggle against, and on top of this, they are playing with confidence. Not quite sure what they're feeding them up there, possibly just good tactics, confidence, and a desire...

roysviewfrom.com

A lot of their comments hint at having players that are underperforming, alluding to being good on paper etc.

Whereas I don't think we are good on paper. I think a lot of our players are poor.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

..when they beat us 4-5, still plenty of games left to play.

Oh please!....We’re shite, and every other team in the league knows it.

 

[Roygbiv]

A lot of their comments hint at having players that are underperforming, alluding to being good on paper etc.

Whereas I don't think we are good on paper. I think a lot of our players are poor.

People think this squad should be top 6 too. I personally think for all the talk of tactics our players simply aren't good enough

 

[BettingBlade]

People think this squad should be top 6 too. I personally think for all the talk of tactics our players simply aren't good enough

Weve gone from a system where it was very much round pegs in round holes and everyone knew their job. Players that fit a system like a well-oiled machine. The way we played under Wilder naturally meant that our individual players may not be that versatile, particularly some of the older contingent.

Under Wilder you could make a case for the squad being top 6. Under Slav, the players dont fit the system, or at least theyre not the players he would ideally like. On that basis, I dont think our squad is good enough to mount a serious promotion charge as it stands, not on paper anyway.

 

[1889]

The only way we’ll be anywhere near the play offs, is if Slav brings in about six quality additions in January.
That isn’t going to happen, in fact I think it’s would take two or three seasons before we have a squad anywhere near the top of the Championship and I’m not sure Slav will stick around that long tbh ?

 

[HoodedClaw]

If we don't go up this year, we aren't going up anytime soon unless PA finds some cash from somewhere.

I don't see how we fund a quality squad re-build, parachute payments will be used to cover wages and mortgage payments and we have few to no saleable assets of any value.

 

[jono_t2000]

Weve gone from a system where it was very much round pegs in round holes and everyone knew their job. Players that fit a system like a well-oiled machine. The way we played under Wilder naturally meant that our individual players may not be that versatile, particularly some of the older contingent.

Under Wilder you could make a case for the squad being top 6. Under Slav, the players dont fit the system, or at least theyre not the players he would ideally like. On that basis, I dont think our squad is good enough to mount a serious promotion charge as it stands, not on paper anyway.

You pretty much summed up what I was going to say. We were playing back then with a fairly unique system other teams couldn't handle and Wilder was man managing the team to perform better as a whole than the sum of it's parts.

Alot of players we signed alot of the time i remember reading Roygbiv view from and they thought they had our pants down and were mediocre championship players.

Maybe in reality when that whole system is broken down the individual sums are just average championship players..

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Fulham had a good squad, we don't.

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

I feel so so negative about us at the moment, yet we’re only 6 points off the playoffs.

I’m not bothered about promotion, sounds daft but I’m not. We’d be terrible again in the Premiership, we’re rubbish in the championship. I just want to see us perform better, put up a fight vs all competition and fight for the shirt again.

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

Ive just heard that United are 17th now after last nites games,does this mean we will be promoted,its like a fairy tale coming true.

 

[Vikkster]

Said it numerous times already mate and I’m still not panicking
Top 6-10 at Xmas , few bodies in / out Jan playoffs end of season
Up in 2 ( seasons)

This

 

[dublin 10 blade]

Fulham had a good squad, we don't.

Fulham had a good squad , had a good few loans as well
Then destroyed that “ good squad “ with the DOF spending over 100 million on players in the prem which our current manager didn’t want and took the blame for and got sacked for

 

[dublin 10 blade]

People think this squad should be top 6 too. I personally think for all the talk of tactics our players simply aren't good enough

Absolutely Roy , our team right now isn’t good enough, for every Stoke / Peterborough
There will be a Millwall / Birmingham
We simply do not have the quality players now
We did and as everything in life it reaches its natural end
At least 6 of our players need to be thanked and let go
Up in 2 ( seasons)

 

[bertieblade]

Wilder got the players to perform better than expected then bought badly lost his way and gave up. Leaving the present manager with a worse squad as they had got older, lost confidence and the Wilder additions were not fit for purpose.
mid table with an outside chance of play offs dependent on the JTW

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

We're not going down
We're not going up
We're Sheff Utd
We don't give a..

 

[CPB]

I'm going to buck the trend here and say we do have enough within this squad capable of gaining top 6.
I'm not saying the squad doesn't have it's issues and that we don't have players which although may have been heroes in the past are coming to the end of their time here.
But the squad is capable, if a little unbalanced still!

All about consistency and that little bit of luck. (I know you make your own luck too).
We are still I feel finding our feet still, and the side shows periods of clever incisive play. Our downfalls need little explaining I feel.

If you take the matches since Peterborough which is 8 league games we've achieved 13 pts, which is 1.625pts per game.
And you could argue we were value for a point vs Bournemouth and a point vs Millwall. (All 3 were possible if not for sending off).

1.625 pts per game gives us another 53 points for the 33 games left. Which would leave us on 68pts and just shy of top 6.
So improvement needed of course but not actually that much potentially.

Top 2 are gone, just can't see us getting consistent enough to average about 2.2 pts per game from now till season end.

 

[Kenilworth]

I saw a comment yesterday that Slav teams seem to turn a corner after christmas.

I think you mean the “Gifting Season”

which is an apt description for the performances to date from our midfield, defence and keeper.

 

[guancheblade]

I saw a comment yesterday that Slav teams seem to turn a corner after christmas.

Slavisa 'Bassett' Jokanovic

 

[MJM]

I saw a comment yesterday that Slav teams seem to turn a corner after christmas.

This is their form from just before Christmas. A final day defeat to Birmingham. 23 unbeaten and 18 wins in the process.

Somehow can't see that happening with us.

 

[Willglynning]

This was Fulham's season when they went up- so they were doing better than we are at this point of the season.
It's largely irrelevant given how much better their squad was then than ours is now.

 

[Kenilworth]

We have gone from being an irrelevance to football to a bright shiny beacon for a short period and are now well on the way to being an irrelevance, again.

Our recent success was based on a team performance whereas the current “plan” is about individual sparks of brilliance to make a difference. The latest "upturn in form" has been solely down to the introduction of MGW and Ndiaye. We didn't pose any type of threat before that. When they are on song we're in with a chance. If they are not (or negated by opposition tactics) we flatter to deceive with a slow build up to the final third and then go limp .... and then we all too often succumb to the inevitable sucker punch.

The main issue I see with this "strategy" is that we will not recruit the quality of individual required to run with it and to make it a success. Parachute payments are merely paying off the high level of contracts that were (rightly) awarded to players as a reward for previous success, plus funding a collection of non-contributing, under performing, millstones. As things stand now I just don’t see where the level of future investment required will come from so, as a club, we will have to rely on the academy, which (despite being a disproportionately successful enterprise) has been underfunded and neglected (the state of the facilities) which will make it harder to attract new recruits until this is addressed.

If anyone thinks this existing squad and the tactics they are asked to execute will just click, all of a sudden, I believe you’ll be waiting for a long time. I see no evidence of that over the season to date. 6 defeats in 13 is shite. We are soft as shit playing in a big boys league.


So, is Slav is in a holding pattern until January comes and the transfer window opens? Persisting with a pattern of play that is clearly not suited to the squad he has inherited but content in throwing away points by only concentrating on a style of play (I still can't see a pattern other than relying on individual players doing something on their own) and not taking into account the strengths of the opposition (we get regularly bullied by teams who press and go at us) and counteract that (e.g. long throw so add some height and heading ability to the team). If so, how many players do we need to change to make the current “system” effective? 2? 3? More?

Adding a couple of wingers to this team might inject some pace and individual brilliance but it’s not going to alter the soft as shit underbelly. In reality, it might actually make it worse; adding players who are less defensively minded could expose our weaknesses even further. Is he planning to loan / purchase central midfielders that have a physical presence not to get bullied as well as the guile and the skill to make stuff happen? They are like rocking horse shit and are very expensive. He's gone, out of necessity, for the cheap option of cover with Adlene Guedioura but he doesn't seem to feature much. Seems a waste of a shirt.

How is he going to resolve the striker situation? 6-7 strikers and only playing Billy on his own, up front. Is he banking on Moose being fit? Burke inexplicably transforming into an actual footballer - once he comes back out of his wardrobe? Slav seems to have written off McBurnie and Brewster - and based on their contributions I cannot question his decision not to play them.

The overriding observation I have is that I cannot see any purpose or direction or progress towards something better. It looks to me to be nothing other than appearing to follow a football by numbers approach (Weir and Adkins were guilty of this). What I mean by that is that it's a reflection of the current coaching trend, the latest style being adopted by the most successful teams (with the better players) which means that you have to do stuff better or quicker than the other team following the same formula. The only way you can reach any level of success with that is by having the best players. We haven't and we are very unlikely to do so, which means we are very firmly back on the road to consistent mediocrity.

Nice whilst it lasted.

 

[ATL Recs]

We just need to keep picking points up until the January window. I can then see us doing some trading with players like Berge, Burke, Freeman and Robinson leaving and possible loans of Brewster and mcburnie. Leaving us with funds to bring in a winger and physical, ball winning midfield player.

two wingers please

 

[Champagneblade]

..when they beat us 4-5, still plenty of games left to play.

It's like advocating never getting enough shopping in, because one time 2,000+ years ago, Jesus fed 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fishes!