[Archived] Fulham Preview

[modes98]

They both challenged for a 50/50 header, collided head-on and both went down.

Personally, I didn't see it as a foul, just a collision of heads, but if the ref is both seeing it as a foul and giving a card, it should probably have been a red rather than a yellow.

Hoilett made it first and then Schwarzer took him out. It's a foul everyday of the week. You can't take someone out just because you have a chance of getting the ball. Players get booked for being half a second late of people thesedays.

[arbitro]

They both challenged for a 50/50 header, collided head-on and both went down.

Personally, I didn't see it as a foul, just a collision of heads, but if the ref is both seeing it as a foul and giving a card, it should probably have been a red rather than a yellow.

How could it have been a 50/50? Junior clearly won the ball which was clear from the fact the ball was going towards goal. The fact he was given a yellow card means that the referee deemed it as reckless. If that wasn't serious foul play or endangering the safety of an opponent then I don't know what is.

[Ericcentre]

Anyone actually know what was going on with the captaincy today?

[roverandout]

kean just does a lucky dip before each game to see who gets it.

[Commondore]

Because Junior hung him out to dry

Agreed, for all the excitement Hoilett causes going forward he really exposes whoever is playing behind him. He needs to work on that, and we need a solid player in central midfield with enough positional sense to be able to spot when he needs to help a struggling full back.

[ABBEY]

Anyone actually know what was going on with the captaincy today?

Samba doesn't deserve it for pimping himself to arsenal.

[des]

watch the game, we need new full backs and a new holding midfield player then we might have a chance

[AggyBlue]

Agreed, for all the excitement Hoilett causes going forward he really exposes whoever is playing behind him. He needs to work on that, and we need a solid player in central midfield with enough positional sense to be able to spot when he needs to help a struggling full back.

Duff put in lots of crosses today, most straight to Robbo. I'm just grateful he wasn't playing on the left where his crosses would have been much better.

The formation we played today exposes both fullbacks which isn't good considering they are our weakest positions.

[Sparky Marky]

Givet is simply useless

[AggyBlue]

Samba doesn't deserve it for pimping himself to arsenal.

Samba didn't seem himself today, perhaps he's going to sulk until January

[47er]

watch the game, we need new full backs and a new holding midfield player then we might have a chance

You're right of course. All said during the Transfer Window but not acted on by the club.

[frosty]

Givet is simply useless

Second half he was blocking, clearing everything! He looks much more assured at CB, it's fair to say.

[jim mk2]

watch the game, we need new full backs and a new holding midfield player then we might have a chance

The loss of J Jones is proving almost as damaging as the loss of P Jones, plus the best right back in the club (Emerton) has been allowed to leave and has not been replaced. Obvious to most fans so why cannot the manager see it ?

Second half he was blocking, clearing everything! He looks much more assured at CB, it's fair to say.

Despite his poor performance in the first half Givet's still the best left back we have in my opinion. He should stay there.

[Pinch]

Agreed, for all the excitement Hoilett causes going forward he really exposes whoever is playing behind him. He needs to work on that, and we need a solid player in central midfield with enough positional sense to be able to spot when he needs to help a struggling full back.

For what it's worth, Hoilett's failure to provide Givet w/ cover must have stemmed from some sort of (failed) tactic, no? Hoilett was the outlet for the vast majority of the attack/counterattack, esp. in the first half. Likewise Fulham was constantly using Duff down the same side.

Neither Hoilett nor Duff were doing much tracking back, but we looked much the worse every time we were streched down that flank b/c Duff was linking up well w/ Dempsey and Zamora.

[rog of the rovers]

A point more than we got at Craven Cottage last season.

Not brilliant, but 1 point nonetheless.

Hope a full week's training can get the boys fired up for the Arsenal game next week.

[Pinch]

Despite his poor performance in the first half Givet's still the best left back we have in my opinion - which is why he should stay there.

I think Givet's best position is CB, but what other option do we have at LB? Olsson, but he is so much better in the midfield.

All in all, we are way too thin on both fullback positions.

[Rover The Seas]

I'm surprised there's so little mention of Rochina. I thought he looked excellent for long stretches and may well have been the only bright spot in an otherwise average performance.

[Kremmin]

I'm surprised there's so little mention of Rochina. I thought he looked excellent for long stretches and may well have been the only bright spot in an otherwise average performance.

Agreed. Thought he was clearly our best when he was astonishingly replaced by an even more astonishing substitute.

Had to be the Yak or Simon for Rochina, surely.

We were absolutely butchered in midfield in the second half. Hopefully, it's just because Petrovic is finding his feet because if this is the best he's got, we're in trouble. Zonzi ok .. just.

Thought Dann made an encouraging start, save for that shocking pass in 1st half which almost cost us.

Robbo brilliant as usual. Junior lively all day until poleaxed.

Blah the rest.

[Veevs]

Tactics

Tactically we looked pretty poor out there today, and this seems to be a running issue under Kean, we don't cover either fullback and the space down the left and right in front of the fullbacks is daft since we no longer have the likes of diouf and peders (not the worlds greatest but experienced enough to be able to do that little extra work) tracking back and no one in defensive midfield provides that cover (Dunn and Nzonzi seem incapable of providing the required support from midfield unlike the PJ/JJ/Nzonzi partnerships that gave us the freedom in our better games under Kean).

We also dump so much through Jnr (has he signed a new contract yet) that opposition teams might as well just mark him out the game to completely snub any attacking threat we have, Rochina also strikes me as one selfish kid (with brilliant flashes at times) he can't seem to find a pass for any of his fellow players, Goodwillie simply not experienced enough to play the target man role (ever noticed why the big target men in the game always have the better games in their careers towards the end.. e.g. Kanu, Heskey, Crouch, Ferdinand, Davies etc etc) and finally Petrovic looked lost out there today I just get the feeling we have not drilled any tactics into the lad (or any player for that matter).

Leadership

We simply have no experienced leader type players outside of defense, Dunn bless him is not really a major communicator on the pitch and when he has so many young lads around him we are bound to tactically suffer.

Also has anyone else noticed that our most experienced players are the ones who are failing the most under Keans management? How are kids to be effective if Salgado, Dunn, Peders, Roberts and even Givet (when out of position) seem utterly lost and out of sorts mentally. It seems utterly amazing that all our players with experience appear to of lost the ability to motivate/calm/command those around them.

Fitness

Fitness is an issue I am suprised has not been discussed more on here.. yet more hamstring and muscule injuries points to the fact that the rumours Kean has drastically cut training sessions are true, every game under Kean we drop of the pace quickly in the second half and the beginning of this season really highlights this is a massive issue there are both to many injuries and way to many players seem to be dieing come the second half of matches (excluding the two who went of injured Givet had cramp, Goodwillie had a hamstring, Salgado looked warn out, Nzonzi was lacking even more concentration than normal etc etc and humerously the chap who looked the fitest only signed a short while ago and that was Dann).

NZonzi

Anyone else beginning to get frustrated with Nzonzi? Might just be the tactics we played but he has been playing awful of late and can't seem to do the defensive midfield role without a box-to-box or fellow defensive midfielder partner. To me he has the attributes of a central defender who failed there due to a lack of concentration.

Motivation

For me Kean is way to pally with the players, if rumours are true that we have cut training sessions then this is one of the root causes of our current issues the players simply are not drilled enough nor fit enough to do their jobs effectivly and follow the tactics. I also can't see him being able to motivate the players.. I simply can't imagine Kean (especially given his praising of players at the end of the match live on TV) actually dressing the players down for poor performances nor sitting them down and going through the issues with them.. this article from Bosnich talks of how SAF goes about his job (What makes SAF tick) can you imagine Kean actually doing that with 'his' lads...?

Overall

Only solution I can see now is to get rid of Kean asap as these tactics failed without question, fitness looks horrific and our experienced players deviod of confidence.. I personally reckon that if we offered Hughes a major salary for one season while we find the long term replacement he would take it especially given that none of the top jobs look likely to be available any time soon (Strangely Wenger and Arry the most likely of the top ones but those look extremely doubtful).. Or maybe try for someone major experienced like Bernd Schuster (never know he might be able to drag his pal Guti with him) we seemingly now have his sort of attack minded players.

[waggy]

watched the game at home,i thought we played well in the 1st half until givet made a halfhearted clearence and zamora scored.givet was getting the run around why was there no instruction to a midfielder to help him out v duff?the loss of samba and dunn in the 2nd half made the traffic oneway,we just let fulham play,nzonzi was strlling round like a pub game.a lucky point that willgive keano another 4 games to get another one

[Miker]

Spot on.

Tactics

Tactically we looked pretty poor out there today, and this seems to be a running issue under Kean, we don't cover either fullback and the space down the left and right in front of the fullbacks is daft since we no longer have the likes of diouf and peders (not the worlds greatest but experienced enough to be able to do that little extra work) tracking back and no one in defensive midfield provides that cover (Dunn and Nzonzi seem incapable of providing the required support from midfield unlike the PJ/JJ/Nzonzi partnerships that gave us the freedom in our better games under Kean).

This has been a massive concern for a while under Kean. Givet and Salgado were normally fairly solid under Sam, except for the odd game. They look completely ragged now under Kean and are often forced to do too much work in defence where they're not being offered any support or cover whatsoever. There isn't enough fluidity about the team. We seem to be setup with half the team defending, and half the team attacking, there's little support offered to one another, which is just shocking for any professional team.

Leadership

Also has anyone else noticed that our most experienced players are the ones who are failing the most under Keans management? How are kids to be effective if Salgado, Dunn, Peders, Roberts and even Givet (when out of position) seem utterly lost and out of sorts mentally. It seems utterly amazing that all our players with experience appear to of lost the ability to motivate/calm/command those around them.

This is a shocking indictment on the current regime. The only player I really saw shouting out instructions was Dann last night, the rest of the experienced players just seem lost and lazy.

Fitness

Fitness is an issue I am suprised has not been discussed more on here.. yet more hamstring and muscule injuries points to the fact that the rumours Kean has drastically cut training sessions are true, every game under Kean we drop of the pace quickly in the second half and the beginning of this season really highlights this is a massive issue there are both to many injuries and way to many players seem to be dieing come the second half of matches (excluding the two who went of injured Givet had cramp, Goodwillie had a hamstring, Salgado looked warn out, Nzonzi was lacking even more concentration than normal etc etc and humerously the chap who looked the fitest only signed a short while ago and that was Dann).

I wanted to comment on this for a while, but don't know enough about the team's training regime to make any legitimate assertions. However, what has been clear to me is that when Ince came in our fitness went to the dogs as well and we had absolutely horrible injury problems until Allardyce stepped in and turned it around. Under Allardyce our fitness worries were greatly reduced, whether by luck or clever management, but it was one of the most pleasing aspects of Allardyce's reign for me. Under Kean we seem to have gone backwards to the days of Ince again.

NZonzi

Anyone else beginning to get frustrated with Nzonzi? Might just be the tactics we played but he has been playing awful of late and can't seem to do the defensive midfield role without a box-to-box or fellow defensive midfielder partner. To me he has the attributes of a central defender who failed there due to a lack of concentration.

To be honest I thought he did well last night in the first half. I have no idea about the second half... we were so useless that half that nothing sticks out in my memory, least of all N'zonzi's performance in it.

Motivation

For me Kean is way to pally with the players, if rumours are true that we have cut training sessions then this is one of the root causes of our current issues the players simply are not drilled enough nor fit enough to do their jobs effectivly and follow the tactics. I also can't see him being able to motivate the players.. I simply can't imagine Kean (especially given his praising of players at the end of the match live on TV) actually dressing the players down for poor performances nor sitting them down and going through the issues with them.. this article from Bosnich talks of how SAF goes about his job (What makes SAF tick) can you imagine Kean actually doing that with 'his' lads...?

You don't have to berate and demean players for poor performances, but you can't just tell them "we did well boys, better luck next time" after every game. I don't know how he could possibly "have the dressing room" or "the support of the owners" because his charisma is close to zero and he talks utter rubbish. I can't see how he could possibly have the ability to motivate, inspire or persuade players to do anything. There's a limit to "positivity", at some point he needs to stand in front of the players and say "that was God awful, you have a responsibility to this club, to its fans, to its colours and to its history to go out there and win that game. Now stop running around like a bunch of limp dick spastics and earn the wage you're paid." Problem is Kean will never say that because he knows his tactics are ######, he's ###### and anything he says is grade A bullshit. So all he can do is pander to the players' laziness and egos with his positivity garbage. The only solution is to GET RID.

Overall

Only solution I can see now is to get rid of Kean asap as these tactics failed without question, fitness looks horrific and our experienced players deviod of confidence.. I personally reckon that if we offered Hughes a major salary for one season while we find the long term replacement he would take it especially given that none of the top jobs look likely to be available any time soon (Strangely Wenger and Arry the most likely of the top ones but those look extremely doubtful).. Or maybe try for someone major experienced like Bernd Schuster (never know he might be able to drag his pal Guti with him) we seemingly now have his sort of attack minded players.

Yes, yes and a million times yes.

[waggy]

Bloody ell yet again will mention the rumours they have cut training.. this is a joke, the lads in every game this season have looked unorganised (even Everton we passed allot but didn't have the organisation to finish them off) and most importantly unfit... Formica faded, Goodwillie looks like a hamstring, Dunn hamstring, Givet had cramp in the second half, Samba out, Nelsen out, Peders out.. Tactically Petrovic looked lost, Lowe on for Rochina wth, No cover again for fullbacks yet another horrid performance in the second half.

PLEASE VENKYS SACK THIS FOOL.

venkys will never sack the YES MAN

[imy9]

imy you change your mind about kean more often than beckham changes his haircuts.

at what point have I changed my mind, please point it out for me.

Gave him a chance and then wanted him gone after fulham game last year.

[newfan]

As I posted 10 mins in, the fitness was terrible, a number of players looked well out of condition and that's just not acceptable. The absolute basics should be to get a team both physically and mentally fit.

I think the reason may be that there is a big hole in midfield so the likes of Hoilet, Formica , and rochina(who covered for salgado most of times)have to work their socks off running the whole pitch either defending or attacking. I think team will do well in 4 4 2 formation.

[imy9]

How about if we extrapolate from our past half-season worth of results?

Last 19 Prem games...what would that give us?

I know what it would give us, you cannot however see the issue with extrapolating a seasons results after 4 games? You honestly think we will end up with 10 points our arsenal and spurs 38 points?