[Archived] Fulham At Home

[tomphil]

We were solid in the first half against Hull - second half their £14m striker force, all ably supported by £8m signing Livermore - showed what money can buy, You can add Huddlestone - £4.5m and lots more to a squad which is premiership quality with wages to match. Against this we have Rovers - a team in transition - whose biggest transfer (of those playing) was probably Marshall at just over a million. Oh yes - missing Hanley and Graham - with Apkan pulling out just before the match.

Personally I'll reserve judgement - and recognise the quality of forward Hull had on display.

But Leeds managed to draw with the very expensive Boro tonight ? Not starting a row but based on that theory it's a banker for Fulham tomorrow night. No wonder no one is buying tickets for West Ham as we've no chance v them either.

Sorry but those excuses are straight out of the Bowyer handbook, it's 11 v 11 remember. No doubt the late withdrawals affected things but the tactics should have been altered to suit what was available really. Hull have quality but they were no great shakes at all until they were gift wrapped the first goal. The lack of effort and fight was the biggest difference between the teams imo.

[chaddyrovers]

But Leeds managed to draw with the very expensive Boro tonight ?

Yes they did BUT for me, Boro dont have Hull experience and espically their PL experiences.

Hull City squad is over 70 mil in transfer fees spent. Its mostly their PL squad from last season

First half was even Rovers and Hull but Hull's experience came to the front and they step up their game to win it second half

[RevidgeBlue]

But Leeds managed to draw with the very expensive Boro tonight ? Not starting a row but based on that theory it's a banker for Fulham tomorrow night. No wonder no one is buying tickets for West Ham as we've no chance v them either.

Sorry but those excuses are straight out of the Bowyer handbook, it's 11 v 11 remember. No doubt the late withdrawals effected things but the tactics should have been altered to suit what was available really. Hull have quality but they were no great shakes at all until they were gift wrapped the first goal. The lack of effort and fight was the biggest difference between the teams imo.

Exactly. You'd think Hull were Barcelona the way some people are going on. The other thing is that injuries are part and parcel of the game so you ought to be able to cope with injuries to any given player.

I hope if nothing else that everyone is available tomorrow night then if it does go wrong we know exactly where we stand and we won't be treated to any more lame excuses about how you'd expect to be beaten because they're top or how it somehow doesn't really matter because certain players were missing etc etc.

[tomphil]

Fact is though Chaddy Hull are playing in the Championship and Prem experience or ability doesn't always guarantee success in this division. We should know as do an awful lot of other teams that come down. What about QPR ? How many teams come down, retain players yet don't go back up ?

It takes more than that, Hull are beatable and won't go and win every game the rest of this season I don't reckon. If you can't afford quality or flair you have to try and match it with workrate, guile and sometimes smart tactics. We didn't.

[VinjayV4]

The other thing is that injuries are part and parcel of the game so you ought to be able to cope with injuries to any given player.

I hope if nothing else that everyone is available tomorrow night then if it does go wrong we know exactly where we stand and we won't be treated to any more lame excuses about how you'd expect to be beaten because they're top or how it somehow doesn't really matter because certain players were missing etc etc.

From certain posters on here indeed but must note Lambert didn't use that as an excuse.

[RevidgeBlue]

From certain posters on here indeed but must note Lambert didn't use that as an excuse.

No, you're absolutely correct. If we'd performed as well as Lambert has spoken by and large from the second he walked in the joint we'd have won every game 3-0.

Unfortunately points are won out on the pitch not in "pressers".

[Tom]

Shocking from our point of view but the double nutmeg run from Hernandez was a thing of beauty

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Lenihan is defensive midfielder and not a centre half.

That's why I would play Henley at left back and Marshall at right back until the summer when we can sign a left back and right back to allow Marshall to play on the left side of midfield

But he isn't playing as a defensive midfielder, Evans is.

IMO Lenihan struggles in midfield but looks composed at centre half. If he continues in midfield in this struggling team I think it could destroy him as a player zapping any confidence he may have. I concede he may be OK in the Evans' role.

Henley is a player who easily loses confidence so better to play his natural position and have Marshall offer him a bit of protection. This is basically what Spurr is lacking on the left hand side.

[philipl]

If we don't win tonight, the question has to be asked, when do we start winning???

[sharpysharps]

But he isn't playing as a defensive midfielder, Evans is.

IMO Lenihan struggles in midfield but looks composed at centre half. If he continues in midfield in this struggling team I think it could destroy him as a player zapping any confidence he may have. I concede he may be OK in the Evans' role.

Henley is a player who easily loses confidence so better to play his natural position and have Marshall offer him a bit of protection. This is basically what Spurr is lacking on the left hand side.

Valid point on Lenihan, he has played his best games for Rovers so far at centre half.

[Lancaster Rover]

Why does everything have to be so polar on here, Hull aren't Barcelona but they are by far and away the best side I've seen at Ewood in the last 18 months. They looked strong, professional and composed all over the pitch. They have spent a lot of money and spent it wisely. They are currently a much better team than Rovers, they're the facts. Losing to Hull isn't the game we need to judge where we are at, performances and results against the teams from 8th downwards are the ones that count. Big Sam would have had Saturday's game down as a 0 pointer, however with that said I thought we matched them in the first half and was fairly happy with the performance at half time, we didn't rip up any trees but we competed well. The second half was very poor though, I can accept getting beaten by a better team but what I struggled with was the nature of the goals and basic errors being made. Barring the goal at Reading I think pretty much every goal conceded during Lamberts tenure has come from a poor individual error. Its very hard to cut out such terrible individual mistakes as they're being made due to some players being substandard.

[G Somerset Rover]

25 goals scored in 29 games this season. One for the statistician's out there, but have we ever scored fewer goals than games played in our league history? I know in 98/99 when we went down for the first time we were even stevens on that front (38 from 38).

[JAL]

Drop Brown from the squad

Drop Lenihan

Drop Evans if Akpan is fit

Hopefully Hanley is fit to play.

Play Marshall further forward

Play Conway too.

Give Spurr a reprieve

As for who plays upfront and at full back that what the manager gets paid for.

[davulsukur]

Why does everything have to be so polar on here, Hull aren't Barcelona but they are by far and away the best side I've seen at Ewood in the last 18 months. They looked strong, professional and composed all over the pitch. They have spent a lot of money and spent it wisely. They are currently a much better team than Rovers, they're the facts. Losing to Hull isn't the game we need to judge where we are at, performances and results against the teams from 8th downwards are the ones that count. Big Sam would have had Saturday's game down as a 0 pointer, however with that said I thought we matched them in the first half and was fairly happy with the performance at half time, we didn't rip up any trees but we competed well. The second half was very poor though, I can accept getting beaten by a better team but what I struggled with was the nature of the goals and basic errors being made. Barring the goal at Reading I think pretty much every goal conceded during Lamberts tenure has come from a poor individual error. Its very hard to cut out such terrible individual mistakes as they're being made due to some players being substandard.

Not at all. Sam gets his teams to be strong at home. Most of the time, the better teams in the league have tough games at an Allardyce side.

If it was Hull away, then yeah, 0 points.

[den]

Why does everything have to be so polar on here, Hull aren't Barcelona but they are by far and away the best side I've seen at Ewood in the last 18 months. They looked strong, professional and composed all over the pitch. They have spent a lot of money and spent it wisely. They are currently a much better team than Rovers, they're the facts. Losing to Hull isn't the game we need to judge where we are at, performances and results against the teams from 8th downwards are the ones that count. Big Sam would have had Saturday's game down as a 0 pointer, however with that said I thought we matched them in the first half and was fairly happy with the performance at half time, we didn't rip up any trees but we competed well. The second half was very poor though, I can accept getting beaten by a better team but what I struggled with was the nature of the goals and basic errors being made. Barring the goal at Reading I think pretty much every goal conceded during Lamberts tenure has come from a poor individual error. Its very hard to cut out such terrible individual mistakes as they're being made due to some players being substandard.

This is a good post. If we are looking to pick any kind of "positive" - and this is a strange positive, we have consistently lost to the better teams in this league since we were relegated, even with Rhodes in the team who many seem to think was a big miss on Saturday.

[chaddyrovers]

Drop Brown from the squad

Drop Lenihan

Drop Evans if Akpan is fit

Hopefully Hanley is fit to play.

Play Marshall further forward

Play Conway too.

Give Spurr a reprieve

As for who plays upfront and at full back that what the manager gets paid for.

Conway? Why? Out of form massively since signing a new contract.

Wouldnt drop Evans or Lenihan either.

I would drop Spurr. And play Henley there.

And I would play Grimes in the diamond shape midfield.

[K-Hod]

I don't like this diamond midfield, as a rule really, I'd rather we had some width. Conway has been off the boil for a while and it doesn't work with him on the left as he always has to cut inside to make a cross, but as he isn't that quick it becomes very predictable and ineffective imo. On the right he'd be a lot better. In any case, our wingers always take far too long to get a cross in, but this has been a problem for a long time.

[Rover_Shaun]

What reason is there to expect a "hammering" though based on the whole season thus far?

Like Leicester getting gubbed 5-2 at home?

[JHRover]

We haven't been 'hammered' all season long. The only games where we have lost by more than one goal have been MK Dons away and Hull at home, and MK Dons had a man advantage for 85 minutes.

I'm not quite sure why anyone would expect a mediocre Fulham side to come and 'hammer' us at Ewood.

I appreciate they had a good win against QPR on Saturday, but that doesn't immediately mean we should be quaking in our boots at the thought of the mighty Fulham coming to town. They are a bang average side and have been all season. Their results have generally been the opposite of ours in that they score goals by the bucketload but also concede at an alarming rate, whilst we can't score but also don't concede very many either.

It's a huge game and one we simply have to win.

[frosty]

25 goals scored in 29 games this season. One for the statistician's out there, but have we ever scored fewer goals than games played in our league history? I know in 98/99 when we went down for the first time we were even stevens on that front (38 from 38).

04/05, Hughes' first season (well, he was in charge from September onwards). 32 from 38.

[Mike E]

04/05, Hughes' first season (well, he was in charge from September onwards). 32 from 38.

Bodes quite well then tbh...

[Lancaster Rover]

We haven't been 'hammered' all season long. The only games where we have lost by more than one goal have been MK Dons away and Hull at home, and MK Dons had a man advantage for 85 minutes.

I'm not quite sure why anyone would expect a mediocre Fulham side to come and 'hammer' us at Ewood.

I appreciate they had a good win against QPR on Saturday, but that doesn't immediately mean we should be quaking in our boots at the thought of the mighty Fulham coming to town. They are a bang average side and have been all season. Their results have generally been the opposite of ours in that they score goals by the bucketload but also concede at an alarming rate, whilst we can't score but also don't concede very many either.

It's a huge game and one we simply have to win.

This, the line between us winning and losing this season has been so fine its untrue. We've been poor and unimaginative in large swathes but nobody has gubbed us, if we could just get closer to a balance between defence and attack we would be much further up the table. Again it comes back to individual errors costing us, we have scored so few goals that going behind leaves us with such a mountain to climb, although you could argue that the amount of individual errors in front of goal is equally to blame as the individual errors when defending our own goal.

[JAL]

Conway? Why? Out of form massively since signing a new contract.

Wouldnt drop Evans or Lenihan either.

I would drop Spurr. And play Henley there.

And I would play Grimes in the diamond shape midfield.

Conway plays because Benett hasn't been any better.

Diamond shape get back on your play station.

[chaddyrovers]

Conway plays because Benett hasn't been any better.

Diamond shape get back on your play station.

Jal, we have played that formation in the last 2 games.

I leave you to the playstation fun Jal.

[onlyonejackwalker]

Jal, we have played that formation in the last 2 games.

I leave you to the playstation fun Jal.

Why don't you two give the rest of us a break?

Agree with KHod. Much pefer width and proper wingers than a narrow diamond. I also like fast full-backs that can get up and down. Pathetic how we have addressed the full back positions this last few years.