[Archived] Fulham On Saturday 27Th August

[Dreams of 1995]

Anybody that tries to claim Coyle is tactically astute and can set up defensively has been watching the games with their eyes closed. Proof is there: we've got the 2nd worst goal difference and sit bottom of the table winless.

He's shocking at setting up a team. Has got it wrong on almost every occasion this season.

[JBiz]

Coyle is a cr@p manager, no doubt about that, but when you have your captain and his defensive partner sold from under your nose and have to rely on a team full of free transfers, loans and academy players, you're going to struggle to organise them, set them up as a team, its almost impossible really.

If he manages to get a settled first 11, you're looking at Christmas before they 'bed in' and that quite simply is a recipe for disaster, once again created by those 3 idiots in Pune.

Its going to be a long season.

'venkysout

Yea I know Gav - I also think the club has probably done the best it could with no money to get players in - Greer is a good player at this level, other lads looked secure too - I like Byrne, Gallagher etc - still on fence with stokes but I can't see what feeney offers.

It's not an excuse for basic errors though. We are drawing at home, we are bottom of the league and still haven't won. We take off the only passing central midfielder we have (Guthrie, who took a knock and generally played poorly anyway) and replace with Lenihan!!

Surely anyone regardless of quality would think we need to get a goal here and try changing the shape.

We had Byrne and Samuelson on the bench, why not give one a chance?

It's not fair to put the whole shabbang at Coyles door but he is making decisions that aren't helping!

His "keanesque" comments don't help either - anyone who knows me from here, knows I can't stand comparing people to that cretin Steve Kean, but essentially sounds the same and has us similarly unorganised!

[ABBEY]

If you listened to k%%n and chimp heads voices tones etc you would be able to tell who is who.. It's scary

[tomphil]

I completely agree that the owners are working against him and he has little or no chance of being successful - and this season success is finishing fourth of the bottom. Yesterday was a game we need to take something from. If it couldn't be a win we needed a draw and the team should have been set up in such a way that we were hard to beat. The classic 'two banks of four' with the front players dropping back when we don't have the ball and then the midfield and front men moving forward together when we do have the ball. Sadly, we still aren't doing that. Graham and Gallagher are stranded up front with little or no support. The wide players hug the touchline when we haven't got the ball and we need them coming inside to deny space to the opposition. Fulham moved around the pitch as a unit whilst we moved around as individuals - that was the difference for me and ultimately it cost us.

Bang on about the owners etc and his situation is very difficult when all's said and done but it's not rocket science that we should be setting out like you suggest when bottom of the league. That is soley down to him on a match day but he doesn't set them up that way and probably has no idea how to. I don't think he's ever used that approach and what we see from him is just what Bolton & Wigan & Houston fans said we would.

Things are difficult at Rovers of course but there will be teams with squads as weak if not even weaker in this div and we've got to better them. No sign of it with this fella since he set foot in the door.

An awful situation but a poor poor manager contributing to it as well.

[Ricky]

No one has said a manager makes NO difference Ricky.

I responded to a comment saying that an ordinary team had never won anything. I believe that a good manager can get a lot more out of an ordinary / average squad than a poor manager.

I think we both agree on that den. I guess what we disagree on is how much extra they can get out of the team.

Would we still be bottom of the league with this group of players under a better manager? Truth is we don't know but I'd argue that we wouldn't be in quite such a poor place.

[blueboy3333]

I'm sure Coyle alluded to lack of finance on the highlights thing on Channel 5 last night. Maybe the Venksters will see it and sack him for insubordination.

He should go now (mainly for letting Graham get so fat) but he'll get another month. We won't have won by then even though we probably have better players than the likes of Barnsley.

[AggyBlue]

Fulham built their game around the basic pass and move formula. Largely they played short, intricate passes, and wove their way in and around our midfield without us getting near them. In contrast, too many of our players were looking to hit long, sweeping passes which more often than not landed at the feet of an opponent.

Did you watch the subs at half time?

Fulham subs spent half time playing one touch piggie in the middle inside a small circle, supervised by a coach.

Rovers subs spent half time strolling around blasting the ball 30 to 40 yards to each other.

Says plenty about the footballing culture difference between the clubs.

[Al]

We lost Chaddy! His tactics cannot have been right for us to lose a game. Looking at the stats would indicate that Fulham pretty much controlled the game.

Go to the match if you want to comment. The stats tell you nothing. It was a very even game.

[Mike E]

I can't think of one example of an ordinary side winning anything. Players outweigh managers ten fold.

5 of the famous European Cup winning Nottingham Forest side under Clough were languishing in the second division when he first took charge.

Clough did very similar at Derby, too.

Leicester last season.

Rovers, when we won.

Hellas Verona won Serie A in 1985 with an average, thanks to Bagnoli. They beat Inter with Ruminegge, Juve with Platini, Roma with Falcao, and Napoli with some Argentine midget.

Sampdoria did similar in 1991 under Boskov.

Nantes won Ligue1 in 1995, with a strikeforce of Ouedec and Loko (who?)

Deportivo La Coruna winning La Liga in 2000 (Real Madrid's Galacticos notwithstanding).

Van Gaal winning the Eredivise with AZ Alkmaar in 2009.

Schteve McClaren's remarkable escapades at Twente.

Montpellier winning Ligue 1 in 2012.

Atletico Madrid winning La Liga in 2014.

I'm sure there are other, less well-known, examples too, but Stuart is absolutely correct imo.

[Parsonblue]

Did you watch the subs at half time?

Fulham subs spent half time playing one touch piggie in the middle inside a small circle, supervised by a coach.

Rovers subs spent half time strolling around blasting the ball 30 to 40 yards to each other.

Says plenty about the footballing culture difference between the clubs.

It happens every game Aggy. The group I go to matches with were talking about this in pre-season when we noticed it. Since then we have been watching what other clubs do and it really is eye opening. We seem so disorganised at times in comparison to other clubs. Quite why one of the sports science staff - and heaven knows there are enough of them - can't organise a proper warm up at half time is a mystery.

[chor808]

Ok I went on after kid and dad pressure. Whoever gave me two free tickets in front of the tickets office thank you very much.

I've not seen any games live this season so I cannot say if it was an improvement, we battled and showed some effort, Fulham looked the better of the two sides and pegged us back a lot without much goal threat. I watched Lowe closely and he was lucky not to give away a couple of goals in the first half, he was trying no doubt but looked slow of thought and got caught out. The rest of the defense looked just Ok.

We are a poor side no mistake, 0-0 would have been classed a success and that really tells you where we are. Loans are fine if you have a solid core to the team but we don't. Once the weather changes, cold, wet, bottom of the league let's see if the loans guys fancy it.

I agree with others that Coyle is a real hate figure, I also cannot listen to him or read the rubbish he talks anymore. He got zero abuse at the game. Venkys out rang out from at least three sides each time it started up and plenty of uncle Jack chants. All in all the crowd got behind the team.

By the way I think my lad enjoyed the pre match match in the fox and hounds beer garden more than the real game.

[the original david brent]

I noticed Stephen Hendrie wasn't even on the bench yesterday. Anybody know if he was injured or just dropped completely?

[Hasta]

Right I've had a day to let yesterday's game settle in my head and I will try and cut through the hysteria and give an honest assessment for those of you that didn't attend and are being told you can't have an opinion.

In brief, we put a decent amount of effort in and deserved a point. However we created one solitary chance and if any team did deserve to win it, it was Fulham.

On the positive side, I thought the two new boys settled into the back 4 well. Lowe was poor again though and, as Marshall was non-existent further forward, I'd get him back to full back.

Conway, whilst never going to be anything more than a decent Championship player, is clearly the most talented of the central and wide players. However Guthrie and Akpan were both no shows who neither got their foot on the ball or harassed the Fulham midfielders to win it back. Central midfield is the one area we have never downgraded apart from Cairney, the reason being it has never been good enough to be sold for any value. I'm not saying the effort wasn't there yesterday but the ones that played simply aren't very good.

Gallagher and Graham again didn't do very much. Graham got and missed the one chance straight after half time ( I was right behind it and wasn't sure the keeper got a touch). Stokes looks to be a bit more direct but, despite his early goal spree this season, the jury is still out.

A special mention to Tom Cairney. Thought by some to be too slow and one footed for us, he was the most composed footballer on the pitch by a mile. Apart from a couple of wayward shots, I can't recall him giving the ball away at all. If he had a right foot he would certainly be playing a level above.

Some might say it was an improved performance. Well we couldn't possibly be as bad as against Norwich all season. However the fact we played a very average team at home, couldn't get much of the ball, and are trying to big up the fact we may have deserved a point says it all. Yes I know we have sold the defence but the lack of any cutting edge can't be blamed on the departures and we never had one decent spell of pressure in 90 minutes. Coyle unfortunately doesn't have the tactical knowledge, the motivational skill or the luck to do anything at this club. Unfortunately I'm now fully in agreement that until we get different people picking the manager, him leaving would just see another planted stooge to do these dark deeds. Standout candidate my arse.

[booth]

It's not fair to put the whole shabbang at Coyles door but he is making decisions that aren't helping!

That.

[J*B]

Coyle knew what he was coming into he can have no complaints. The prick.

[Tom]

Chaddy I know we've chatted on Twitter and I said it was better than what has gone but in no world can coming close (and failing) to a 0-0 at home with about 2 shots on target be classed as a manager proving his tactical nouse.

We looked more solid but created very very little and then lost the game when he made a sub that made no sense at all.

[Al]

Chaddy I know we've chatted on Twitter and I said it was better than what has gone but in no world can coming close (and failing) to a 0-0 at home with about 2 shots on target be classed as a manager proving his tactical nouse.

We looked more solid but created very very little and then lost the game when he made a sub that made no sense at all.

Absolutely. Bringing on Feeney was a substitution merely for the sake of making a substitution and considerably weakened the team. I suppose after signing Feeney Coyle feels he has to justify his decision by playing him. Trouble is, as well as costing us the point, if Marshall has any doubts about wanting to leave hooking him for a loser like Feeney will only convince him that his future would be better elsewhere.

[rog of the rovers]

Rovers 3-2 Bournemouth - Rhodes, Hanley, Gestede

August 23rd 2014, our last league victory in the month of August.

[grizfoot]

Improved but still not good enough. We seemed content to sit back in two banks of four and knock balls long to the two strikers, even towards the end of the game there wasn't much urgency to get the winner. The substitutes stank of a manager who was scared to lose the game rather than try to win it. Byrne and Samuelsen would have been the obvious more proactive choices. The late goal was cruel, we defended well throughout the game, new boys Hoban and Williams both had solid debuts and our back four looked improved. Now we just need to sign a right-back (or move Marshall there if he's staying) and we will have done a decent job of patching up our back four. I don't like to continuously pick on individual players but Lowe again for me was the obvious weak point defensively. Williams showed what having a proper defender at fullback does for you and he seemed to block more attempted crosses in this one game than Lowe has done all season.

There's no doubt that with the players we've got now we've dropped another level. It was sadly ironic that the player who started the fire sale of the best players in the half-decent Championship side we once had popped up with the winner. The worrying thing is that Coyle can say we looked like a good side, when we only created two chances of note in the entire game, one which Graham managed to fashion for himself first half and then the one he had at the start of the second half. Other than that we didn't threaten the Fulham goal, they looked the far more composed team in possession and it looks like we are going to have to get use to playing on the back foot and counter attack at home.

On a positive note I thought the fans were brilliant considering the quality of game. Chants of "Venky's Out" and "Uncle Jack's.." totally behind the team and the players but completely against the owners who have created the situation we find ourselves in.

[Ricky]

Ta but no ta Al. Said about three years ago that Venkys wouldn't get a penny more of my money and I standby it. Funny that I say he got the tactics wrong and you have a go at me, Tom says the same and you agree.

[Al]

Ta but no ta Al. Said about three years ago that Venkys wouldn't get a penny more of my money and I standby it. Funny that I say he got the tactics wrong and you have a go at me, Tom says the same and you agree.

You said that he got the tactics wrong without seeing the game which is what I pulled you up on. Tom had a legitimate opinion.

[Ricky]

Fair one Al. I think my point was more that I didn't think he could be deemed to have got his tactics right if we'd lost the game. In my eyes the first sign of getting the tactics right is walking away with three points in the bag.

[tomphil]

Right I've had a day to let yesterday's game settle in my head and I will try and cut through the hysteria and give an honest assessment for those of you that didn't attend and are being told you can't have an opinion.

In brief, we put a decent amount of effort in and deserved a point. However we created one solitary chance and if any team did deserve to win it, it was Fulham.

On the positive side, I thought the two new boys settled into the back 4 well. Lowe was poor again though and, as Marshall was non-existent further forward, I'd get him back to full back.

Conway, whilst never going to be anything more than a decent Championship player, is clearly the most talented of the central and wide players. However Guthrie and Akpan were both no shows who neither got their foot on the ball or harassed the Fulham midfielders to win it back. Central midfield is the one area we have never downgraded apart from Cairney, the reason being it has never been good enough to be sold for any value. I'm not saying the effort wasn't there yesterday but the ones that played simply aren't very good.

Gallagher and Graham again didn't do very much. Graham got and missed the one chance straight after half time ( I was right behind it and wasn't sure the keeper got a touch). Stokes looks to be a bit more direct but, despite his early goal spree this season, the jury is still out.

A special mention to Tom Cairney. Thought by some to be too slow and one footed for us, he was the most composed footballer on the pitch by a mile. Apart from a couple of wayward shots, I can't recall him giving the ball away at all. If he had a right foot he would certainly be playing a level above.

Some might say it was an improved performance. Well we couldn't possibly be as bad as against Norwich all season. However the fact we played a very average team at home, couldn't get much of the ball, and are trying to big up the fact we may have deserved a point says it all. Yes I know we have sold the defence but the lack of any cutting edge can't be blamed on the departures and we never had one decent spell of pressure in 90 minutes. Coyle unfortunately doesn't have the tactical knowledge, the motivational skill or the luck to do anything at this club. Unfortunately I'm now fully in agreement that until we get different people picking the manager, him leaving would just see another planted stooge to do these dark deeds. Standout candidate my arse.

From what I've seen of Cairney since he's been at Fulham he definitely seems a better all round and harder working player than he was when he was here. Always had that quality about him and a good football brain but the effort and desire often seemed missing. Make of that what you will......

[RevidgeBlue]

I completely agree that the owners are working against him and he has little or no chance of being successful - and this season success is finishing fourth of the bottom. Yesterday was a game we need to take something from. If it couldn't be a win we needed a draw and the team should have been set up in such a way that we were hard to beat. The classic 'two banks of four' with the front players dropping back when we don't have the ball and then the midfield and front men moving forward together when we do have the ball. Sadly, we still aren't doing that. Graham and Gallagher are stranded up front with little or no support. The wide players hug the touchline when we haven't got the ball and we need them coming inside to deny space to the opposition. Fulham moved around the pitch as a unit whilst we moved around as individuals - that was the difference for me and ultimately it cost us.

Kevin Gallagher remarked on this on Tuesday night Parson. He said Crewe were playing 4-4-2 "properly" i.e. the team all pressing as a unit denying us space and the wide players tucking in to help the midfielders whereas we were playing as individuals rather than a team, i.e. standing off the opposition and giving them too much space and the wide men hugging the touchlines and not tucking in to assist the midfield.

I do find it slightly ironic though that when it's Gallagher and Graham up front it's the rest of the team's fault for leaving them isolated and without support whereas when Rhodes was in the team it was allegedly his fault for being invisible and failing to hold to hold the ball up etc etc.

From what I've seen of Cairney since he's been at Fulham he definitely seems a better all round and harder working player than he was when he was here. Always had that quality about him and a good football brain but the effort and desire often seemed missing. Make of that what you will......

Undoubtedly didn't play to the very best of his potential when he was here. Very few if any of them did under Gary Bowyer.

[MickeFIN]

people who say that we play better yesterday is totally crap story ,only defence play ok but fulham was @#/?...

the true is we have 1point of 15points and how many shooting opponents we had this season games, not many, i had watch all these crap games at rovervision all minutes, and i totally see different what many people say here.

we are totally doomed, sack that muppet and take venkys with you!

up the rovers

bring back Tony Parkes!