Usually I want Fulham to compete seriously for everything that gets put in front of them - but this year I'm not really bothered about the cups - I just want the team to get fully sorted out, improved and climb the table. I'd have to say that I think talk of play off places is premature but it's clear that the heavy match load of Championship football is something we could really do without.
I'm not at all sure I'd have relished facing up to Chelsea under the current circumstances
they get the extra game, we don't.
If you're winning you need to carry that feeling on. Regardless of who Kit picks Saturday, Wigan go into the game knowing we suffered a heavy defeat at home. I think Kit made too many changes for the Derby game. Did he really need to rest Bettinelli for instance?
"Did he really need to rest Bettinelli for instance?"
Yes. At the moment he (and Parker) are our two most important players, because of the absence of good enough cover for either. If Bet. got injured we'd be playing the clown until we can get another decent goalkeeper in during January.
Bothered by the score? Yes as it shows how far off a top championship side we are. Bothered about the result? Not particularly. We need to focus on the league.
Don't mind about the result as realistically we were never going to win it, but worried about the 2nd half performance/tactics.
Yes. Insult to those that bothered to turn up. Also, you can't choose the games you play to win. Anything less than a win at Wigan makes the experimentation futile and anyway, why wouldn't we want to do well in Cup comps? I find it astounding that we, who have never won anything, feel it's ok not to try to progress in domestic cups. Absolutely pathetic.
Not bothered in the least. Good runout for bench players. Helps them get some match fitness.
Quote from: RidgeRider on October 30, 2014, 01:03:04 PM
Not bothered in the least. Good runout for bench players. Helps them get some match fitness.
Doesn't help their confidence though!
Quote from: Sgt Fulham on October 30, 2014, 12:45:26 PM
Bothered by the score? Yes as it shows how far off a top championship side we are. Bothered about the result? Not particularly. We need to focus on the league.
Oh yeah, because we played our strongest 11 didn't we...
Not the best result for our confidence, agreed and would usually big up the benefits of a winning streak but I'm not surprised Kit fielded a lightweight team - not particularly fair on those who paid money to go though. That said - we did take the lead - just folded second half - that needs addressing
Not bothered. I was there and loved the first half. 2nd half was rather depressing though. But it was cheap!
With our current team we are never going to win a cup. Safety first, then push for playoffs.
Clearly he said to Khan: I'll experiment (Felix Bingo again) and it may backfire, but we have no depth. I assume you don't mind? Khan replies: no, carry on, the job is yours tomorrow anyway.
Quote from: BestOfBrede on October 30, 2014, 01:13:11 PM
Quote from: RidgeRider on October 30, 2014, 01:03:04 PM
Not bothered in the least. Good runout for bench players. Helps them get some match fitness.
Doesn't help their confidence though!
Bench players are already searching for confidence at some level, otherwise they would be starting. Some said 8 changes to the lineup, but I saw 9 changes. Wasn't even close to our starting XI, those are the players we need to worry about their confidence. Those players were not dented in the least.
Quote from: RidgeRider on October 30, 2014, 01:23:29 PM
Quote from: BestOfBrede on October 30, 2014, 01:13:11 PM
Quote from: RidgeRider on October 30, 2014, 01:03:04 PM
Not bothered in the least. Good runout for bench players. Helps them get some match fitness.
Doesn't help their confidence though!
Bench players are already searching for confidence at some level, otherwise they would be starting. Some said 8 changes to the lineup, but I saw 9 changes. Wasn't even close to our starting XI, those are the players we need to worry about their confidence. Those players were not dented in the least.
True, but we need the bench to have confidence for when they are called upon.
Really bothered? no
Bothered? yes. for the reasons already stated + I had wanted to see how far we had progressed from the 1-5 from earlier in the season. Will have to defer that progress report until 28th February when we will be playing our first IX and Kit will have had a further 4 months of building us up from the Magath debacle
Yes, I'm concerned that too many fans are looking at this result as a needless cup tie, and that Kit deliberately rested players.
For me, he got it horribly wrong, both tactically and in his team selection. Players like Burn and Bettinelli should be able to play 2 games a week, so why weren't they included?
Arthurwory and Hutchison was a recipe for disaster even before the game kicked off, and even though we went 2-0 up, I still felt we'd get murdered.
For me, this was down to inexperience more than anything else, but hopefully something not just the youngsters, but Kit will learn from.
Regardless of being in the cup, or not, a 5-2 home spanking isn't the way forward, especially when we're a Club trying to build confidence.
Quote from: Sgt Fulham on October 30, 2014, 12:45:26 PM
Bothered by the score? Yes as it shows how far off a top championship side we are. Bothered about the result? Not particularly. We need to focus on the league.
It was good to see how our reserves and up and coming youngsters are. To be able to go 2-0 up against possibly the best side in the Championship is good news, it is only their strength from a virtually full strength team and the number 7 who was the best player on the pitch by a long way which swayed it in their favour.
Yes I was bothered. Thought conceding 5 goals in 20 mins at home a embarreshing fiasco. I think Kit gambled on Derby not fielding a strong side, which backfired , or he didn't want to progress to the next round. All I can presume is that Kit knew he had the managers job and needed to rest players, or he would have tried to get a result. As mentioned by other people I hope our confidence is not too dented.
Bothered?
Yes
There is no excuse for taking a 5-2 hammering.
I like Kit, but like so many other occasion's he looks paralysed when a substitution is desperately needed.
Losing like that makes the fans feel ( I'm one of them) mugs for paying £15 to venture out on a cold Tuesday night to watch what was effectively a training squad get taken apart.
It does nothing for the confidence of the kids.
Nothing for the confidence of the locker room blowing a 2-0 lead.
We could have brought on parker and mc Cormick 5 minutes into the second half and had a very different result.
Quote from: Oakeshott on October 30, 2014, 12:44:03 PM
"Did he really need to rest Bettinelli for instance?"
Yes. At the moment he (and Parker) are our two most important players, because of the absence of good enough cover for either. If Bet. got injured we'd be playing the clown until we can get another decent goalkeeper in during January.
So Bettinelli did not play incase he gets injured, so what if he gets injured on Saturday against Wigan are we still not in the same position?. using the argument
"what if" because that can apply at any time anywhere.
Quote from: GrahamG on October 30, 2014, 12:56:21 PM
Yes. Insult to those that bothered to turn up. Also, you can't choose the games you play to win. Anything less than a win at Wigan makes the experimentation futile and anyway, why wouldn't we want to do well in Cup comps? I find it astounding that we, who have never won anything, feel it's ok not to try to progress in domestic cups. Absolutely pathetic.
I agree with that.
I can't believe some people are saying that we will never win a cup with this team.
Ask Wimbledon, Wigan, Rochdale and Bradford fans that.
And we were in 2nd Division last time we got to the FA Cup Final ?
We had a player who for the first time sampled life in the first team. That was good. The result was poor but am I bothered? Not that much. We really will have to learn that this squad is poor compared to the past. Kit is doing a wonderful job and we are out of the bottom three. Let's hope we can stay there. But talk of promotion and cup wins are really so far wide of the mark.
Let us try and concentrate on not going down this year. Fans must remember we had one point from 7 games and the worst start in our history. Let's just try and compete in the league.
Quote from: shnlwswlkr on October 30, 2014, 01:18:16 PM
Quote from: Sgt Fulham on October 30, 2014, 12:45:26 PM
Bothered by the score? Yes as it shows how far off a top championship side we are. Bothered about the result? Not particularly. We need to focus on the league.
Oh yeah, because we played our strongest 11 didn't we...
Do you really think our strongest 11 would have won the game?
Quote from: Sgt Fulham on October 30, 2014, 02:59:46 PM
Quote from: shnlwswlkr on October 30, 2014, 01:18:16 PM
Quote from: Sgt Fulham on October 30, 2014, 12:45:26 PM
Bothered by the score? Yes as it shows how far off a top championship side we are. Bothered about the result? Not particularly. We need to focus on the league.
Oh yeah, because we played our strongest 11 didn't we...
Do you really think our strongest 11 would have won the game?
Maybe, maybe not but I doubt we would of folded so easily and it would of provided necessary insights into the gulf between us and the top of the league. If you want to built understandings between key players you need to play them.
It's past now hopefully we can get back to winning ways on Saturday.
Yes I was extremely bothered. Having spent over £100 on hotel and travel from Manchester I was hoping for the possibility that we might reach the quarter-finals. There may have been an argument for resting a couple of players but not wholesale changes. Derby who are pushing hard for promotion didn't have a problem with fielding a very strong side.
Quote from: Sgt Fulham on October 30, 2014, 02:59:46 PM
Quote from: shnlwswlkr on October 30, 2014, 01:18:16 PM
Quote from: Sgt Fulham on October 30, 2014, 12:45:26 PM
Bothered by the score? Yes as it shows how far off a top championship side we are. Bothered about the result? Not particularly. We need to focus on the league.
Oh yeah, because we played our strongest 11 didn't we...
Do you really think our strongest 11 would have won the game?
If our reserve team can get ahead 2-0 then yes, our strongest 11 would of been able to hold that lead I reckon. We may have even been more than 2 up by half time with our strongest team.
Heck, yes, I'm bothered, and so should we all be. I don't want excuse mongering. What I'm hearing is:
One extra game we won't have to play.
It's a distraction from what we need to be focusing on--league table standings.
We need to save our strength and energy for what really matters, etc.
That's just rationalizing a loss to make it palatable. The fox can't reach the grapes, but that's ok; they must be sour anyway (apologies to Aesop). Every win means something. Every loss means something. Self-belief is built brick by brick, game by game. Losses can be learning tools, but they can also be a cancer. This team went up strong against Derby in the first half. Rocked them onto their heels. Then we gave away 5 unanswered goals. 5 goals! I understand the desire to trivialize the loss by suggesting it was doomed from the start by the lineup inserted. But why fracture the confidence of team members by not playing to all out win, by not making key and timely substitutions, by not making timely formation/playing style adjustments during the game. We were on a roll. Now this... So, yes, I am bothered by the extent of the loss, losing the way we lost. Will it reverberate into the next few games? I sure hope not!
Quote from: Sgt Fulham on October 30, 2014, 02:59:46 PM
Quote from: shnlwswlkr on October 30, 2014, 01:18:16 PM
Quote from: Sgt Fulham on October 30, 2014, 12:45:26 PM
Bothered by the score? Yes as it shows how far off a top championship side we are. Bothered about the result? Not particularly. We need to focus on the league.
Oh yeah, because we played our strongest 11 didn't we...
Do you really think our strongest 11 would have won the game?
Yes, and we will do them at home in the league.
I am really pleased that some of the later posts take the view that it was not acceptable and yes, some of us are bothered. To those that aren't bothered I struggle to see what joy you can possibly hope to get from your support. We all crave league success but without the odd bit of cup romance on the side it's all a bit sad.
I was very disapointed with the derby game.
There were some pluses but the biggest negative was that you cannot play any game without a leader on the filed and making ruiz captain was a very bad joke as was ruiz all round performance. The sooner he goes the better, the needless free kick leading to the penalty showed a complete understanding from a so called experienced player. he continues to caught in possession, dawdles when h should hurry and showed no leadership qualities whatsoever.
I thiought playing two inexperienced centre backs (in that thye have not played together before) a disaster waiting to happen and unfortunately hoogs decided to have a poor game. Williams was very second rate althiough he tried but roberst necver got on the ball enough.... Kit got it wrong, we could have and should have won.
Mark it down to experience, i still love and every confidence in the manager, but he got that wrong IMO.
Quote from: SouthWest6 on October 30, 2014, 01:45:19 PM
Yes, I'm concerned that too many fans are looking at this result as a needless cup tie, and that Kit deliberately rested players.
For me, he got it horribly wrong, both tactically and in his team selection. Players like Burn and Bettinelli should be able to play 2 games a week, so why weren't they included?
Arthurwory and Hutchison was a recipe for disaster even before the game kicked off, and even though we went 2-0 up, I still felt we'd get murdered.
For me, this was down to inexperience more than anything else, but hopefully something not just the youngsters, but Kit will learn from.
Regardless of being in the cup, or not, a 5-2 home spanking isn't the way forward, especially when we're a Club trying to build confidence.
Taking this past 7 days in isolation, you are correct, but our calendar is 5 games in 15 days from Oct 18th thru to Nov 1st, and so resting players that are needed to maintain our league push must be considered paramount.
"So Bettinelli did not play incase he gets injured, so what if he gets injured on Saturday against Wigan are we still not in the same position?. using the argument
"what if" because that can apply at any time anywhere"
Obviously. But missing unimportant games reduces the overall chance. IF we get drawn at home against a non league side in the Cup, I'd be happy for him to be rested again.