[Archived] Fulham - Sunday 13Th September

[Gav]

We should have won on Sunday, we dominated the second half even more than they donated the first!

But that doesn't gloss over the fact we lost, never turned up until H/T and the defense is awful.

[Amo]

It was a good decision by Bowyer to play Steele, however it was a joke of a decision to drop him for the first five, knowing full well he was probably going to change it after a handful of games.

There has to be continuity, particularly in key positions like GK.

Bowyer likes to shuffle the deck, problem is he always picks the same jokers.

[DE.]

I commented at weekend but just how many times this season have we had to resort to throwing the kitchen sink late on and the ineffective tactic of throwing Duffy up top?

certainly every game I have seen this has happened, it's like a token effort to show how much we want to win when in reality we've never been set up to win!

Yep, and teams seem happy to sit back and let us come at them - I assume because they know we're poor in front of goal and they have a good chance of not conceding and potentially hitting us with a sucker punch on the break, like Fulham nearly did towards the end on Sunday.

[bob fleming]

Has Bowyer discussed the change?

I've not read much from him for a while.

Good question Gav.

Has this really not been asked by the Lancs Telegraph? I still get it but don't even read it. It's garbage.

Does anyone put any semi difficult questions to the manager anymore?

Here's some that really shouldn't be beyond the wit of even the most mediocre of journalists...

1. Marcus Olsson was much improved last season, in fact he was player of the season. Why has he been dropped this year?

2. What is your thinking behind the constant rotation of goalkeepers?

3. Pre season you played the "fashionable" 4-2-3-1 formation in every game. Why revert back?

4. How does Derek Shaw assist you in your job?

[Gav]

Good question Gav.

Has this really not been asked by the Lancs Telegraph? I still get it but don't even read it. It's garbage.

Does anyone put any semi difficult questions to the manager anymore?

Here's some that really shouldn't be beyond the wit of even the most mediocre of journalists...

1. Marcus Olsson was much improved last season, in fact he was player of the season. Why has he been dropped this year?

2. What is your thinking behind the constant rotation of goalkeepers?

3. Pre season you played the "fashionable" 4-2-3-1 formation in every game. Why revert back?

4. How does Derek Shaw assist you in your job?

Exactly bob, hardly controversial questions those, just questions with a purpose instead of ones to blow smoke up the clubs backside.

Once upon a time the local paper played an integral part in the football clubs dealings on and off the pitch. Even during Kennys time when he made Ewood a closed shop the paper still played a big part.

Surely the papers nothing to lose, they get told nowt anyway, the local reporters could make a name for themselves if they just grew a pair and started to ask the questions we want answering, but it's seems they're more interested in keeping the peace rather than asking difficult questions.

The owners have sh1t on the fans, the paper is doing the same in my opinion.

[LDRover]

Indeed.

We're currently in the relegation zone in danger of dropping into the 3rd tier. However, if you didn't know that and went off the LT coverage alone you'd think we were in the top 6.

[Tom]

I've asked Paul Wheelock to ask about Olsson but he didn't respond

[Waggy76]

1 Bowyer did not sign Olsson , he did Spurr..

2 No idea totally defies logic !

3 As above ..

4 The 64000 dollar question !

[JBiz]

Has anyone mentioned that in this spell, Raya has become a "fully fledged" member of the squad as in he takes up one of the 25?

If that's not part of the rules, I apologise - however it seems ridiculous to have 3 keepers who have over 5 senior games each. Surely loaning one out would be a better idea if that's the case.

[Waggy76]

Has anyone mentioned that in this spell, Raya has become a "fully fledged" member of the squad as in he takes up one of the 25?

If that's not part of the rules, I apologise - however it seems ridiculous to have 3 keepers who have over 5 senior games each. Surely loaning one out would be a better idea if that's the case.

Very true but the signing of Steele in my view was very odd !

[philipl]

We were simply set up all wrong against Fulham.

The manager had two weeks to get us sorted out and we were a disorganised shambles for the first 25 minutes.

This defeat is chalked down to Bowyer and nobody else.

[tomphil]

Only issue with that Gav, is that Raya kept a clean sheet in the previous game, and was then dropped. It won't do much for his confidence I'd suggest.

Which adds weight for me to the idea that it was pre planned and he's sat them down and said "we'll give David the first 5 up to the break then Steeler your back in till the next one" or something along those lines. Endless times players have been dropped just when they hit a bit of form and strikers dropped or rotated despite scoring.

There has to be more to it than just naivety from the gaffer surely.

[JBiz]

Very true but the signing of Steele in my view was very odd !

In hindsight- it's easy to say that, but at the time we had Kean, Robbo and Eastwood. We all agreed at that time that neither Kean/Eastwood was good enough for 1st choice and with Robbos wage, form, recent illness, last year of contract etc- we probably needed another. Raya was on loan at southport I think.

Steele was proven at this level, frozen out of his club, available for free at the end of the season and ultimately another one of these loan before you buy deals we have done. I'd rate that as a good deal.

I can see logic in playing Raya this season if he's looking up to it as Steele hasn't exactly been "friedel-esque" but who has since? I find it hard to see logic in dropping him after 5 games unless he's discussed it with both keepers as some sort of development idea.

As many said, swapping between both will affect confidence unless it's been planned but it would make me feel uneasy to see us choosing the lesser in certain patches just to enable better development.

The other alternative is GB basically bottled playing Raya because the Bolton draw instead of win turned what could've been an average "bowyer esque" start into a pretty damn awful one. Bottled it in a sense that he felt safer with Steele and therefore his better option.

It's all speculation mind, maybe a loan has been lined up for Raya as a season playing 30+ games as number 1 in the league below would be better than 10 games over 12 months for us IMO

[bob fleming]

1 Bowyer did not sign Olsson , he did Spurr..

2 No idea totally defies logic !

3 As above ..

4 The 64000 dollar question !

1. Nonsense, he played him last year after all. Maybe he's due a bonus or something after so many games. That old chestnut.

2. Great shout from jbizzle. It's as though someone is doing it on purpose.

3. See above.

4. This guy is getting away with absolute murder. The one link to Agnew, Kean and Anderson. He messed up Preston and that's the club he supports. Meanwhile venkys remain silent, bowyer is left to take all the flak. And let's be honest, as I was trying to put out there, if he isn't picking the team, then he too deserves all the stick he gets for putting up with it.

Something's very wrong at the club. Understatement. You could justifiably sack bowyer tomorrow. Leaving Derk Shaw to find a successor? Really? Honestly? The man's a liability.

Why aren't venkys listening as we sit in the bottom three? It's the Self Preservation Society.

"Oh, you don't want to listen to the fans Madame, oh no".

IMO, they are too busy running 50+ other companies to notice. Incredible really. If it was the money surely they'd have sold Rhodes two years ago.

I wonder, there were rumours that they never knew we could be relegated. I wonder if they know how much promotion would be worth? I wonder if Derek has told them? Or I wonder if Derek is quite happy saving a few quid here, a few quid there. Maintaining the status quo, quite happy to see us do badly. Is it in his interests to see another manager come in? Another manager might tell it like it is after all. It's just not worth the risk Derek is it?

Who didn't allow Berg to bring in his own men by the way? He was totally isolated.

Anyway, we could have walked it on Sunday, Rhodes could have had a hat trick on another day and the linesman really should have spotted that ball was over the line. But it's a results business. No points tomorrow and no win on Saturday and it's surely time. Then it'll be over to Derek. Deep joy.

[G Somerset Rover]

Has anyone mentioned that in this spell, Raya has become a "fully fledged" member of the squad as in he takes up one of the 25?

If that's not part of the rules, I apologise - however it seems ridiculous to have 3 keepers who have over 5 senior games each. Surely loaning one out would be a better idea if that's the case.

I could be wrong but I don't think Raya counts towards the 25 as he is under 21. Which makes his axeing after a clean sheet even more baffling.

Great post by the way, Bob. It's all just very, very depressing. They seem content to let us nosedive to league one.

[mustard]

1. Nonsense, he played him last year after all. Maybe he's due a bonus or something after so many games. That old chestnut.

2. Great shout from jbizzle. It's as though someone is doing it on purpose.

3. See above.

4. This guy is getting away with absolute murder. The one link to Agnew, Kean and Anderson. He messed up Preston and that's the club he supports. Meanwhile venkys remain silent, bowyer is left to take all the flak. And let's be honest, as I was trying to put out there, if he isn't picking the team, then he too deserves all the stick he gets for putting up with it.

Something's very wrong at the club. Understatement. You could justifiably sack bowyer tomorrow. Leaving Derk Shaw to find a successor? Really? Honestly? The man's a liability.

Why aren't venkys listening as we sit in the bottom three? It's the Self Preservation Society.

"Oh, you don't want to listen to the fans Madame, oh no".

IMO, they are too busy running 50+ other companies to notice. Incredible really. If it was the money surely they'd have sold Rhodes two years ago.

I wonder, there were rumours that they never knew we could be relegated. I wonder if they know how much promotion would be worth? I wonder if Derek has told them? Or I wonder if Derek is quite happy saving a few quid here, a few quid there. Maintaining the status quo, quite happy to see us do badly. Is it in his interests to see another manager come in? Another manager might tell it like it is after all. It's just not worth the risk Derek is it?

Who didn't allow Berg to bring in his own men by the way? He was totally isolated.

Anyway, we could have walked it on Sunday, Rhodes could have had a hat trick on another day and the linesman really should have spotted that ball was over the line. But it's a results business. No points tomorrow and no win on Saturday and it's surely time. Then it'll be over to Derek. Deep joy.

Tbf, he only played him because Spurr was injured.

I could be wrong but I don't think Raya counts towards the 25 as he is under 21. Which makes his axeing after a clean sheet even more baffling.

Great post by the way, Bob. It's all just very, very depressing. They seem content to let us nosedive to league one.

You're right Gavlar. Over 21 and 5 league starts.

http://www.football-league.co.uk/news/article/2015/football-league-ffp-guidance-2632728.aspx

[DE.]

Tbf, he only played him because Spurr was injured.

Yep.

I wouldn't expect Bowyer to be going anywhere even if we lose tonight. He's got his feet well and truly under the table and isn't leaving any time soon imo.

[windymiller7]

Tbf, he only played him because Spurr was injured.

You're right Gavlar. Over 21 and 5 league starts.

http://www.football-league.co.uk/news/article/2015/football-league-ffp-guidance-2632728.aspx

Even if he was over 21, I think the cut off date is the end of the previous season otherwise you could have a situation where you'd have to bin players mid season due to the kids totting up appearances.

[Blue blood]

Even if he was over 21, I think the cut off date is the end of the previous season otherwise you could have a situation where you'd have to bin players mid season due to the kids totting up appearances.

Pretty sure you're correct.

[mustard]

Even if he was over 21, I think the cut off date is the end of the previous season otherwise you could have a situation where you'd have to bin players mid season due to the kids totting up appearances.

Pretty sure you're correct.

The established member thing only relates to signings. Take our scenario now, we have 22 established players and thus, two squad places available. If we started a youth player who is over 21 in 5 games, he would become an established member of the squad and thus we'd have one squad place available. If we did this with another two youth players, we would have -1 places available (i.e. we'd be one over our 24-man squad). We'd then need to shift two players IF we wanted to bring another in. We can play whoever we want who is already signed on, and if that meant they became established players then so be it, we would just be unable to register (sign) any new player until we got the numbers down to sub-24.

Worth noting, anyone we sign now automatically becomes an established player. The over-21 and 5 starts only really applies to youth/those signed to the club before the embargo hit. I'd imagine most of our over-21s are already classed as established players, bar maybe O'Sullivan and perhaps Lenihan.