I feel the problems we are now experiencing are due to a number of issues, some around money and some around poor strategy and decision making. I am not talking about on the pitch but Fulham's off the pitch activities.
Last season we had one of, if not the the highest wage bills in the Championship yet dipite that and having won promotion, we entered the close season with a paper thin squad, partly down to the number of loans that went back to their owning clubs.
The chairman did massively put his hand in his pocket and invested a lot of money. Frankly he had too as the squad was so small. If we had lost to Villa I fully expect we would have said goodbye to Tom, Sess and certainly got nowhere near bringing in Mitro and been consigned to the Championship or worse for a long time.
It seems to me, the strategy was to recruit players who would have future sell on value. We spent big on a young player who could have sell on value but generally not players with Premier League quality.
Most of the big money went on 4 players.
Anguissa, Seri, Mitro and Mawson.
We already had Mitro so that was net nil. We added Max, Bryan and a few others then as the previous season bought in a load of loans.
When you consider we lost so many including Fred for nothing, it's really not the great squad we all had hoped we had acquired. Seri and Anguissa were both risks, both may still come good and I think they will, however we don't have time to integrate players into the Premier League. Mawson was injured and the loans were allowed to come here on loan for a reason as we are finding out.
So despite spending big, we had no choice and big money was spent on the wrong priorities. We need leaders and experience, we have managed to create a defence that is inferior to last season and we were never great defensively even then. The right players in the Premier League are hugely expensive, not just the transfers but the wages. We wanted to play attractive attacking football but we are just not good enough to do that and win.
Cardiff are outperforming us through grit, knowing their strengths and considerable weaknesses and making the most out of what they have got. We are a muddle. Ranieri needs to be given full reign to bring in the right 3 or 4 players we need. The squad that remained from last season are way below the required level to win in this league, the new players have added some positives and some negatives but they were not what we needed. Tony and Shahid need to be very honest with themselves and we can get out of this. It will be very difficult but impossible if they don't get it right in January.
It was always going to be difficult, having to bring in so many new players- to put a team out, many without Prem experience, with the season about to kick-off.
I any window there's always a percentage of players who don't make it with the new club - for a number of reasons. We maybe have a few despite the big money spent, but can we really tell - thrown in at the deep end, trying to gel, then when results don't go your way, confidence starts to dive, the manager keeps changing things, trying to find a winning formula, then gets sacked in a desperate effort to stave off very costly relegation.
The new manger, also has a tough job on his hands, but has mostly shown he's up to it so far, but he and the players have their work cut out to avoid the drop, with maybe some reinforcements in Jan, with CR stating exactly what he's looking for, and maybe making recommendations from his experience of available, experienced, players. and I think they will do it.
FulhamStu and Ray Smith, I was discussing these issues with my eldest son only this morning, and he agrees with you and said to me more or less what you both are saying.
For me, We are reaping what has been sown, however, the positive news is, that despite yesterday's massive disappointment, and mediocre passionless performance, especially by certain individuals. We have enough matches to put this right. But only with the help of the January window, and a lot of analysing by CR.
But this recruiting crisis caused by the nitwit handling process by the Chairmans son, will not disperse until he is dispersed.
Quote from: Woolly Mammoth on December 09, 2018, 03:01:48 PM
FulhamStu and Ray Smith, I was discussing these issues with my eldest son only this morning, and he agrees with you and said to me more or less what you both are saying.
For me, We are reaping what has been sown, however, the positive news is, that despite yesterday's massive disappointment, and mediocre passionless performance, especially by certain individuals. We have enough matches to put this right. But only with the help of the January window, and a lot of analysing by CR.
But this recruiting crisis caused by the nitwit handling process by the Chairmans son, will not disperse until he is dispersed.
We don't really know what goes on behind the scenes but I am sure the businessman that our owner is, he is trying to get value. The problem is that his is leading us downs road back to the championship. Forget no over 28 players, the strategy needs to change, even if it's only for this next window. Our scouts are football people, the coach and manager has a say, it's not all down to stats boy. I suspect the real issue is the strategy. It's all well and good having a long term plan, right now we need a short term fix.
For me it is the same problem that has burdened us to some degree ever since Khan took over, and that is the failure to recognise the value in signing players earlier in the summer.
Mackintosh et al seem to think they're playing Championship manager. They've signed Anguissa, Chambers, Rico and Mawson who all look very good on paper. But in real life it takes 3 months for Mawson to get fit, Rico to settle and for us to work out that Chambers is better at DM and Anguissa either can't play DM on his own or just isn't any good.
Similarly Fabri and Fosu-Mensah on paper are slight upgrades on Button and Kalas but in reality have added substantially nothing, and those two extra new faces has just diluted the team spirit built up over the last two years.
The tragic thing is it's an entirely predictable outcome of putting accountants and inexperienced wannabe statisticians in charge of recruitment, instead of experienced football people.
FFS just let the manager tell you who he wants in May and get 60-70% of them in by the end of June.
It's super simple. We were the worst team to come up. People will say we were much better than Cardiff but we weren't. They were above us for the vast majority of the season including the final table.
Why should we therefore expect to be in any other position than what we find ourselves in? It was plain naivety to think we were good enough to play the same style of football in the Premier League. Do I think we will go down? I think it all comes down to January. It's blatant we need a much better RB and a good CB to join Mawson. If Chambers continues to play well at DM I think we're okay there.
If we get a solid CB and RB in Jan, they actually fit it and perform, we won't go down. If we don't, we'll be playing QPR again next season.
The root cause of our current situation stems back to when we breached the FFP rules. We were not able to invest then on players even though our owner had untold wealth to do so. We were then left with having to create a squad half full of loan players, some of whom were good but some only as squad fillers. The miracle happened when we gained promotion only to be left with 13 players on 1st July. We could not make early signings as we did not know which division we would be in. This put us well behind all other teams in recruitint possibly our 1st choices. We were left on the last day of the window scrabbling around for players.
Starting pre season without a full squad together with injuries & a suspension hit us hard from the 1st game. We have played catch up all season so far & still do not have a settled starting lineup.
Time is needed but even this is running out. We just have to put our trust in Ranieri that he can sort things out before the end of the year & press our owner to once more invest. The future rewards for maintaining our status are huge & must be worth more investment in the right players.
As others have said we were always going to struggle with the thin squad and the introduction of players who had never played in the Country. Along with the stubborn coach who insisted on playing the same way for too long with players that didn't really fit the system. We are now left with the remnants of any hope of staying in the Prem. All that work getting back here could be thrown away because of again poor leadership and poor signings that haven't worked.
Like every other fan we hope the new manager can guide us into safety. Like many of us I have been impressed by the way we as a team have looked. The first half yesterday was the first really poor tactical and effort display we have seen. Although I know a minority will say we are as bad as we have been all season.
There is still time and we hope for the right players coming in to help in January. But the real disappointment has been the collapse in form of out midfield new signings. Our defence as well continue to look to be strangers to each other. Time is still on our side. But the sands are running out.
JoelH5.
I agree with you we need a good old fashioned centre half.One who can head the ball clear of our penalty box. One who can tackle without getting booked. One who can pass the ball to his team mates instead of the other team.
I also agree about the need of a right back with the same skills as above.
Quote from: Statto on December 09, 2018, 04:11:45 PM
For me it is the same problem that has burdened us to some degree ever since Khan took over, and that is the failure to recognise the value in signing players earlier in the summer.
Mackintosh et al seem to think they're playing Championship manager. They've signed Anguissa, Chambers, Rico and Mawson who all look very good on paper. But in real life it takes 3 months for Mawson to get fit, Rico to settle and for us to work out that Chambers is better at DM and Anguissa either can't play DM on his own or just isn't any good.
Similarly Fabri and Fosu-Mensah on paper are slight upgrades on Button and Kalas but in reality have added substantially nothing, and those two extra new faces has just diluted the team spirit built up over the last two years.
The tragic thing is it's an entirely predictable outcome of putting accountants and inexperienced wannabe statisticians in charge of recruitment, instead of experienced football people.
FFS just let the manager tell you who he wants in May and get 60-70% of them in by the end of June.
I have to say, this is looking increasingly like a great summary !