Hello and we do actually have an experienced team if we want.

[FulhamStu]

Hello to you, my name is Stuart Roberts.  I expect I know some posters on here.  I have been around TIF since it was set by Paul Thorpe posting under StudownSouth (when I lived in Hants) StuinCT (when I lived in the USA) Strobe (when I moved back) and now FulhamStu (a name given to me by my mates here in Shropshire)  I remember when this forum was first set up and have come over to give it a try as TIFF has become like the old messageboard used to be (full of strange people) !!

Anyway, for my first post I wanted to talk about the perceived lack of experience in the team.  We could put out a team of all over 25's, this would not be our strongest team, but not too bad and with a few youngsters a very good one (in my opionion).  So I am not sure, we need much more experience.  What we do need is a very good central midfield player - but you all know that :o)

-------------Stekelenberg-------------
Zverotic-Hoogland-Amorebieta-Voser
---Dejagah------Parker-----Chihi
-----------------Ruiz-----------------
---------Mitrolglou---McCormack--------

Bench to include Stockdale and Rodallega

So sustitute in the above, Burn for Hoogland.  Stafylidid for Voser, Voser of Hoogland for Zverotic and Eisfeld for Chihi, plus dd David if Ruiz leaves and Rod or Woodrow if the Bubble goes.

[RidgeRider]

Welcome to the board Stu.

[Lighthouse]

Yes I agree and the old adage of 'if you are good enough you are old enough' is also true. But we do need IMO another central defender. Amo if he stays and the youngster, even with the back up, I feel still needs strength. Plus a keeper if they all go off and as said a DCM or a play maker.

I was wary of the lack of wide players but it looks as if our diamond type formation will mean attacking full backs and no need for wingers.

So the age of the team doesn't bother me. The strength of the squad doesn't bother me. But the actual strength of whatever our team 11 will be still is worrying.

Anyway welcome FulhamStu and everybody is strange which ever MB they are on.

[H4usuallysitting]

Afternoon - fine place Shropshire

[Fernhurst]

 Hmmmmm not sure we are ready for sensible posts like this Mr Stu, thought provoking.

Welcome to apex of Fulham FC message boards.

Fernhurst

[Sammyffc]

hello Stu, nice to see you join FOF, i made the straight swap from CC on the fulham site when it shut down to here and have never looked back ...... :beer:

anyway,

i do personally feel that we need experience but i don't know in what position we need it . Scotty P is experienced enough and hoogland/voser are seasoned senior players. I wouldn't want to drop any of our top youth players just for a mediocre player who will just add experience which in fact might not mean anything to us. Is experience that essential ?

I notied in LVG's Manchester United press conference he said experience isn't necessary. As he said about Clarence Seedorf  as he gave him his debut at 16 and said he acted more mature and experience than anybody else on the pitch , 10 years his senior '' You have to know, I am not always convinced of the experience of players," he said. "It's very important we have experienced players but not always in age and not only football experience but also as a human being. Because my philosophy is not just the football player but [the individual] in total. [In that respect], there are not so many experienced players.

So, im not really sure haha !

[grandad]

The trouble with "experienced" players is that they can become lazy, looking for the easy pass, not chasing 50/50 balls, not giving 100% all the time, just relying on making enough of an effort to keep their status.

[filham]

knows

Hello to you, my name is Stuart Roberts.  I expect I know some posters on here.  I have been around TIF since it was set by Paul Thorpe posting under StudownSouth (when I lived in Hants) StuinCT (when I lived in the USA) Strobe (when I moved back) and now FulhamStu (a name given to me by my mates here in Shropshire)  I remember when this forum was first set up and have come over to give it a try as TIFF has become like the old messageboard used to be (full of strange people) !!

Anyway, for my first post I wanted to talk about the perceived lack of experience in the team.  We could put out a team of all over 25's, this would not be our strongest team, but not too bad and with a few youngsters a very good one (in my opionion).  So I am not sure, we need much more experience.  What we do need is a very good central midfield player - but you all know that :o)

-------------Stekelenberg-------------
Zverotic-Hoogland-Amorebieta-Voser
---Dejagah------Parker-----Chihi
-----------------Ruiz-----------------
---------Mitrolglou---McCormack--------

Bench to include Stockdale and Rodallega

So sustitute in the above, Burn for Hoogland.  Stafylidid for Voser, Voser of Hoogland for Zverotic and Eisfeld for Chihi, plus dd David if Ruiz leaves and Rod or Woodrow if the Bubble goes.

But Zverotic, Ruiz and Amorebieta have already shown that they are not up to match winning standard, who is Chihi and as for Mitroglou the least said the better.

The problem right now for most of us is that Felix has given us no idea what his intended starting line up is, lets hope he knows, and his team has not even played a pre season game at the Cottage. We are all completely in the dark about our team and it seems we will have to wait until the first match to see how strong or weak we are.

[Johnh]

Jack Rodwell or other cm of that sort of standard is what we probably need and be ambitious enough to go after on a loan deal, I feel you are right, we do have a decent squad, two players of real quality would finish it off.

[Forever Fulham]

When I think of "experienced" players, I think of those who have plenty of time in games at the league level within which the team is currently playing (or higher level!) in situational football.  When I use the term "situational football", I mean game time, not practice time.  The two types of experience are different.  When you have too many youngsters, no matter how talented they are, they don't have game time experience at this level (let alone EPL level).  And you are trying get back to EPL ASAP.  They will get that experience over time, once thrown in.  But at what cost to the club's timetable to quickly return to the EPL.  So you need players in their mid to upper 20s (maybe even early 30s) to stable the ship once the whistle blows and the ball is kicked and you are facing grown men out to run you over and punch it in.  My fear is that we threw the baby out with the bath water.  We went from old to too young.  Quality experienced players are leaving or have left.  Who are taking their places?

[Twig]

knows

Hello to you, my name is Stuart Roberts.  I expect I know some posters on here.  I have been around TIF since it was set by Paul Thorpe posting under StudownSouth (when I lived in Hants) StuinCT (when I lived in the USA) Strobe (when I moved back) and now FulhamStu (a name given to me by my mates here in Shropshire)  I remember when this forum was first set up and have come over to give it a try as TIFF has become like the old messageboard used to be (full of strange people) !!

Anyway, for my first post I wanted to talk about the perceived lack of experience in the team.  We could put out a team of all over 25's, this would not be our strongest team, but not too bad and with a few youngsters a very good one (in my opionion).  So I am not sure, we need much more experience.  What we do need is a very good central midfield player - but you all know that :o)

-------------Stekelenberg-------------
Zverotic-Hoogland-Amorebieta-Voser
---Dejagah------Parker-----Chihi
-----------------Ruiz-----------------
---------Mitrolglou---McCormack--------

Bench to include Stockdale and Rodallega

So sustitute in the above, Burn for Hoogland.  Stafylidid for Voser, Voser of Hoogland for Zverotic and Eisfeld for Chihi, plus dd David if Ruiz leaves and Rod or Woodrow if the Bubble goes.

But Zverotic, Ruiz and Amorebieta have already shown that they are not up to match winning standard, who is Chihi and as for Mitroglou the least said the better.

The problem right now for most of us is that Felix has given us no idea what his intended starting line up is, lets hope he knows, and his team has not even played a pre season game at the Cottage. We are all completely in the dark about our team and it seems we will have to wait until the first match to see how strong or weak we are.

Interesting post from Stu but i do share your concern that we have no idea what Felix' preferred team is and sadly neither do the players.  I think we a have decent squad but we don't have a team.  It looks like Felix will need four or five games to sort out his formation, tactics and starting 11.  That may mean waiting another year for promotion.  Late off the starting blocks I think?

[jags24]

I think we learned from last year that some of these "experienced" players become jaded and really don't care much about the team or the result.  They will say the right things, but once you get to the 75th minute they are tired and stop caring or running hard.

[MasterHaynes]

Welcome Stu, I'm with you I don't believe we are short of experienced players.We shouldn't underestimate the value of the'experience' our youngsters bring. This is a group of very successful footballers, anyone who has watched them have seen the team spirit and self belief in themselves and each other. This is a large group of individuals who believe they can win every game and often have. They have done the opposite f the first team regularly - winning in the last minutes of a game instead of losing. This self belief and winning mindset is contagious and I'm sure its one of the reasons so many are involved in pre-season first team training. Sometimes 'experiencr' brings fear which is why we back pedalled so often. lining up on our 18 yard line so often in the last 20 minutes of games. I have every confidence in our youth showing this league what they can do.

[Forever Fulham]

Welcome Stu, I'm with you I don't believe we are short of experienced players.We shouldn't underestimate the value of the'experience' our youngsters bring. This is a group of very successful footballers, anyone who has watched them have seen the team spirit and self belief in themselves and each other. This is a large group of individuals who believe they can win every game and often have. They have done the opposite f the first team regularly - winning in the last minutes of a game instead of losing. This self belief and winning mindset is contagious and I'm sure its one of the reasons so many are involved in pre-season first team training. Sometimes 'experiencr' brings fear which is why we back pedalled so often. lining up on our 18 yard line so often in the last 20 minutes of games. I have every confidence in our youth showing this league what they can do.

I hope you're right.

[Deanothefulhamfan]

Hello and welcome to the board....

I look at our team, and feel very confident... We have a young squad, but I would much rather have the young squad which has pace and enthusiasm, than an experienced squad who are slow and show no fight.... Exactly what we had last season

As you point out in your post we do have experienced players within our squad, should we need them, I think we will certainly go after a bit of experience and feel that is the end of our young purchases this summer, but my god I am excited for this coming season.

[AUSFFC]

I agree with you Stu and everyone else, yes experience can be of an advantage, but looking back on last years 'experienced'  players I think we can all agree they were probably the ones letting us down... I think lets look forward to our youngsters and have faith in them, aswell as maybe adding a little bit of experience like parker?

but ye lets use the youth

[alfie]

knows

Hello to you, my name is Stuart Roberts.  I expect I know some posters on here.  I have been around TIF since it was set by Paul Thorpe posting under StudownSouth (when I lived in Hants) StuinCT (when I lived in the USA) Strobe (when I moved back) and now FulhamStu (a name given to me by my mates here in Shropshire)  I remember when this forum was first set up and have come over to give it a try as TIFF has become like the old messageboard used to be (full of strange people) !!

Anyway, for my first post I wanted to talk about the perceived lack of experience in the team.  We could put out a team of all over 25's, this would not be our strongest team, but not too bad and with a few youngsters a very good one (in my opionion).  So I am not sure, we need much more experience.  What we do need is a very good central midfield player - but you all know that :o)

-------------Stekelenberg-------------
Zverotic-Hoogland-Amorebieta-Voser
---Dejagah------Parker-----Chihi
-----------------Ruiz-----------------
---------Mitrolglou---McCormack--------

Bench to include Stockdale and Rodallega

So sustitute in the above, Burn for Hoogland.  Stafylidid for Voser, Voser of Hoogland for Zverotic and Eisfeld for Chihi, plus dd David if Ruiz leaves and Rod or Woodrow if the Bubble goes.

But Zverotic, Ruiz and Amorebieta have already shown that they are not up to match winning standard, who is Chihi and as for Mitroglou the least said the better.

The problem right now for most of us is that Felix has given us no idea what his intended starting line up is, lets hope he knows, and his team has not even played a pre season game at the Cottage. We are all completely in the dark about our team and it seems we will have to wait until the first match to see how strong or weak we are.

Interesting post from Stu but i do share your concern that we have no idea what Felix' preferred team is and sadly neither do the players.  I think we a have decent squad but we don't have a team.  It looks like Felix will need four or five games to sort out his formation, tactics and starting 11.  That may mean waiting another year for promotion.  Late off the starting blocks I think?

and this is the sort of thing that makes me mad, none of us know what the preferred team is, but i would think that Felix has a very good idea and you don't know that the players are not aware, how many training sessions have you attended or team meetings. i get so fed up with people making assumptions without knowing the facts.
This is not meant to offend or annoy you it just gets on my nerves thats all.

[The Equalizer]

Hey Stu! There's a blast from the past! Welcome aboard!

[FulhamStu]

knows

Hello to you, my name is Stuart Roberts.  I expect I know some posters on here.  I have been around TIF since it was set by Paul Thorpe posting under StudownSouth (when I lived in Hants) StuinCT (when I lived in the USA) Strobe (when I moved back) and now FulhamStu (a name given to me by my mates here in Shropshire)  I remember when this forum was first set up and have come over to give it a try as TIFF has become like the old messageboard used to be (full of strange people) !!

Anyway, for my first post I wanted to talk about the perceived lack of experience in the team.  We could put out a team of all over 25's, this would not be our strongest team, but not too bad and with a few youngsters a very good one (in my opionion).  So I am not sure, we need much more experience.  What we do need is a very good central midfield player - but you all know that :o)

-------------Stekelenberg-------------
Zverotic-Hoogland-Amorebieta-Voser
---Dejagah------Parker-----Chihi
-----------------Ruiz-----------------
---------Mitrolglou---McCormack--------

Bench to include Stockdale and Rodallega

So sustitute in the above, Burn for Hoogland.  Stafylidid for Voser, Voser of Hoogland for Zverotic and Eisfeld for Chihi, plus dd David if Ruiz leaves and Rod or Woodrow if the Bubble goes.

But Zverotic, Ruiz and Amorebieta have already shown that they are not up to match winning standard, who is Chihi and as for Mitroglou the least said the better.

The problem right now for most of us is that Felix has given us no idea what his intended starting line up is, lets hope he knows, and his team has not even played a pre season game at the Cottage. We are all completely in the dark about our team and it seems we will have to wait until the first match to see how strong or weak we are.

Interesting post from Stu but i do share your concern that we have no idea what Felix' preferred team is and sadly neither do the players.  I think we a have decent squad but we don't have a team.  It looks like Felix will need four or five games to sort out his formation, tactics and starting 11.  That may mean waiting another year for promotion.  Late off the starting blocks I think?

and this is the sort of thing that makes me mad, none of us know what the preferred team is, but i would think that Felix has a very good idea and you don't know that the players are not aware, how many training sessions have you attended or team meetings. i get so fed up with people making assumptions without knowing the facts.
This is not meant to offend or annoy you it just gets on my nerves thats all.

knows

Hello to you, my name is Stuart Roberts.  I expect I know some posters on here.  I have been around TIF since it was set by Paul Thorpe posting under StudownSouth (when I lived in Hants) StuinCT (when I lived in the USA) Strobe (when I moved back) and now FulhamStu (a name given to me by my mates here in Shropshire)  I remember when this forum was first set up and have come over to give it a try as TIFF has become like the old messageboard used to be (full of strange people) !!

Anyway, for my first post I wanted to talk about the perceived lack of experience in the team.  We could put out a team of all over 25's, this would not be our strongest team, but not too bad and with a few youngsters a very good one (in my opionion).  So I am not sure, we need much more experience.  What we do need is a very good central midfield player - but you all know that :o)

-------------Stekelenberg-------------
Zverotic-Hoogland-Amorebieta-Voser
---Dejagah------Parker-----Chihi
-----------------Ruiz-----------------
---------Mitrolglou---McCormack--------

Bench to include Stockdale and Rodallega

So sustitute in the above, Burn for Hoogland.  Stafylidid for Voser, Voser of Hoogland for Zverotic and Eisfeld for Chihi, plus dd David if Ruiz leaves and Rod or Woodrow if the Bubble goes.

But Zverotic, Ruiz and Amorebieta have already shown that they are not up to match winning standard, who is Chihi and as for Mitroglou the least said the better.

The problem right now for most of us is that Felix has given us no idea what his intended starting line up is, lets hope he knows, and his team has not even played a pre season game at the Cottage. We are all completely in the dark about our team and it seems we will have to wait until the first match to see how strong or weak we are.

Interesting post from Stu but i do share your concern that we have no idea what Felix' preferred team is and sadly neither do the players.  I think we a have decent squad but we don't have a team.  It looks like Felix will need four or five games to sort out his formation, tactics and starting 11.  That may mean waiting another year for promotion.  Late off the starting blocks I think?

and this is the sort of thing that makes me mad, none of us know what the preferred team is, but i would think that Felix has a very good idea and you don't know that the players are not aware, how many training sessions have you attended or team meetings. i get so fed up with people making assumptions without knowing the facts.
This is not meant to offend or annoy you it just gets on my nerves thats all.

Mate - I am not predicting the team, I am just stating a fact which is we have experienced players in every position if we want to use them.   Thanks all my friend.

[the nutflush]

Burn in for Amorebieta.  Please no more Amorebieta.