The creative spark...

[colinwhite]

 When we were playing our best football last season we were able to score goals for fun. It was clear that Joka had us
clicking on all fronts,with goals coming from lots of players in the side. Flowing fotboll with malone at left back bagging 8 goals,which says alot. In the last couple of games we have been struggling so what has happened to our creative spark?

Well Slavisa hasnt become a poor manager overnight, and the  squad in all has improved in my opinion.I dont believe the `loss`of Martin is in any way significant so what has happened to our creativity?
The obvious answer is that Cairney has been carrying an injury and is clearly not fit. Tom is so cool on the ball and like no other player in the side finds the gaps in opposing defenses.His ease in possession and allows Johansen to be box to box and freedom to make the runs he is so good at. Confidence levels are higher with TC on form and in the team and this allows our fast players to do what they are good at.
But there is more to it than just the loss of TC. Ayete and Alukos contributions seems to me to be very underestimated.
Aluko´s end product may not be good enough, but there is so much more to his game than that. Aluko in particular is the one occupying more than one defender at a time , and his abillity to beat a player with skill and trickery is something that we dont have in abundance elsewhere in the side. (It would be crazy to sell him ,despite his deficiencies sorry Danny!).
Aluko  along with johansen are also our best turnover players - Players who win the ball back quickly in the opponents final third  after loss of possession. These are situations where if sucessful teams are caught in state of attacking shape rather than having every player in shape to defend. Ayete is also slippery and difficult to handle for defenders .He doesnt stay wide and is difficult for defenders to pick up. When Aluko and Ayete play in our front three they are not "wingers " in the traditoinal sence; they come in off their lines and and interswitch positions constantly. Kebano is the only winger we have in my view. Piazon does the job but really wants to be more central.
To summarise what Im trying to say : the loss of Cairney shackles Johansen to an extent, Ayete`s injury and Alukos issues (or form loss at least) have reduced our creativity and more importantly fluidity which has  effected confidence throughout the side.
Anyone who has ever done any coaching knows that it is alot more difficult and takes more time to build an attacking structure than to  fix a defense. Integrating the new signings and Fonte in particular may take time.
If we can get Tom back to his best form and recapture the fluidity of our wider players it will make it alot easier for Fonte and Kamara to integrate . As fans we need to be patient and what ever our personal feelings ,put the team first and get right behind the boys .
Come on You  Whites !!!

[grandad]

 :plus one:  092.gif

[Southcoastffc]

Largely agree but demur slightly re TC.  There were a number of games where TC last season went missing or was so closely marked that he wasn't influential (of course that in itself is a tribute to him) but my point is that it's not all about him.  Johansen, Aluko, Ayite, Malone (and Sess) all were able to provide the spark last season.   I'm NOT criticising TC but it's not all about him.

[toshes mate]

I still hear the comments in my memory that Fulham were 'a one man team'.  I never saw it that way since even the best players cannot beat another side on their own, no matter how much the media will praise those players who turnover more revenue to their coffers.  Football is a very simple game, keep the ball, score more goals than your opponent, and you win every time.  Fulham, as a side and no matter who played the main or supporting roles had that regime operating as if they were born to do it during the period December 2016 to April 2017.  Our run started when CM threw his toys out - an adverse event.  It tailed away a little in May when lack of squad depth did, perhaps, take its toll.  But perhaps it was just that mountain to climb to the play-offs, was the peak of ambition, and mentally the lads had nothing else to give for the play off games.

Perhaps this season we should expect an adverse event to get the lads fighting.  Perhaps we need to be in the bottom three to ignite the flame that our coaching staff ignited last time.   I think it is far too simplistic to look at players who are not firing for whatever reason, injuries, fitness, etc and instead look towards those who can ignite the flame, players like Malone, Fredericks, Aluko, Ayite, Kebano, Sessegnon, Johansen, and even Martin, who did get us off our seats last term.  Malone was an inspiration at the start of last season but I don't see anyone taking over that mantle this time around and that is what is missing.   You have to want to be better than your opponents and show them that and that is where leaders come into the mix.   We don't seem to have a leader.

[colinwhite]

Its not all about TC ,but he gives us something we otherwise dont have. Just like Aluko in his way and Ayete in another way. Their absences have both direct and indirekt effects. The leadership things is perhaps valid ,but a different issue to that of crerative spark. I dont see that we have lost much of that (creative spark or for that matter leadership) with the departures of Malone and Martin.

[RaySmith]

Good posts Colin
.
I suppose that flowing style that was so successful last season hasn't really gelled at the moment. WE have new payers in,  new even to this league, even English football, and injuries to key players.

Form isn't like a tap that you can just turn on, sometimes the pipes  are blocked for some reason, however much effort is put in, but I feel the changes in playing personnel are mainly positive, and things will start coming together and we will start putting  some good performances together that are like the Fulham of  the latter half of last season.

As it is, we have seen positive performances this season already - at Reading - a point with 10 men, and a  good, battling point at Leeds in a full blooded encounter in a hostile atmosphere, keeping a clean sheet.

Really, Sheff. Wed. was the only poor performance, and that wasn't that bad, just conceding  1 well taken and  maybe poorly defended goal, and missing a hatful of chances ourselves, as we did in the week. I feel our players will soon start turning these chances into goals..

[Whitesideup]

It's not quite working at the moment is it? And yes, Tom's form is important. What was great last year was the balance of the three in midfield, the strength of Mac, the energy and attacking desire of Johansen, and the creativity of Tom. This was then augmented by the attacking presence of our full-backs. Our front line offered a threat as well, but in a way, that's what you expect from a front line.

But this year, it's not quite there. I still maintain that but for a couple of moments, we could have had another four points at least, but in a way that would hide the fact that we have not yet achieved the fluency of last year. I believe that Joka is a top manager and that we will improve. Unfortunately we play Ipswich at a time when they will have more confidence and self-belief than they have had for at least three or four years. It will be tough to recreate last year's superb performance, but if we get the break (or breaks) we need, then anything is possible.

[Southcoastffc]

As ever, it's fine margins. If Sess, having made a great run and having received a perfect through ball, had looked up and seen Fonte no more than 3 yds out or had buried the ball in the net we could well have gone on to beat Sheff Weds handsomely and all would be well.

[RaySmith]

As ever, it's fine margins. If Sess, having made a great run and having received a perfect through ball, had looked up and seen Fonte no more than 3 yds out or had buried the ball in the net we could well have gone on to beat Sheff Weds handsomely and all would be well.

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Sometimes a spark can take time, hard work and luck to catch hold, get the fire going. The wind can blow the park out, or a sudden downpour drown it, but you have to keep persevering, doing the right things on the training pitch, and during games, and the spark will eventually  catch, take hold, and the fire is suddenly a roaring blaze, with us fans standing around  warming their hands on the  flames-

and shouting with glee as the team burns with brilliant intensity, where every pass finds a Fulham player, and every shot hits the back of the net, and the opposition is reduced to smouldering ashes.

[colinwhite]

Eloquent  Ray !

[Southcoastffc]

 :plus one:  Crikey, thought I was reading James Joyce for a minute.  :003: