Slavisa needs to figure out his squad now. Right now. His style is great, I love the ambition, but for the love of God figure our your starting 11. Today was a 3-0 loss to the Champions away from home and so, I hate to say it, I'll take it. What seems to be a carousel of starting 11 players needs to end, we cannot be dropping points due to "experimentation" when we start playing Cardiff, Southampton, Huddersfield, etc.
- Mike
If I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath.
Slavisa Jokanovic warns Fulham fans to expect 'more changes' as he gets to know his new players
The head coach isn't concerned with finding a best XI this season - instead wanting to set the team up for each game
Slavisa Jokanovic isn't concerned with finding out what his best Fulham XI is - but will instead play what he feels is the best suited side for the game ahead of them.
The club signed 12 new faces in the summer and Jokanovic has yet to name an unchanged side this season and he gets minutes under players' belts, while at the same time discovering what his new recruits can do.
Last season saw the head coach settle on an XI towards the second half of the season as the club went on a 23-game unbeaten run in the Championship which eventually saw them promoted to the Premier League via the play-offs in May.
But that won't be the case this season as Jokanovic looks to make sure Fulham can compete in the Premier League, insisting instead that his main priority is to find out what his best XI is for each individual game, rather than a best XI for the entire season - starting with this weekend's game with Manchester City.
He said: "We are a Premier League team for four games now and I cannot complain about my situation, but it's a famous word for football managers in football - 'we need the time', if you say time is over, it's over.
"It's not a question about the best starting XI, it depends on my squad and I try use different players in different games.
(Image: Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
"I need to discover still what I have in my hands and I try give some players a chance to compete, we must follow how we are working on the training ground but training and competition is two different situations.
"I never talk about my best XI or something like this for the whole season, I am going to choose my best XI for starting the City game, what I believe is the best option for the team.
"Probably I will choose the best XI to finish the game and the possibility exists that I am going to try to find the best XI for the Watford game, and the next game after that.
(Image: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
"The process is never done and you cannot expect from my side that I will tell you now that I have a best XI, in football I believe it depends on many things, it depends on the level of my players, depends on our situation and what we want and opposite team and many things.
"This process is never complete and at the end, I am not worried about finding my best XI for all the season.
"I am always worried and I am working through the week to find my best XI to start different games."
Until we get Ream back and Mawson fully up to match fitness (needs a couple more games in my view) I don't think we will see a settled back four. I have argued since July that a downside of our late transfer dealings would be lack of team cohesion and our ill luck with injuries to defenders has compounded that problem. Hopefully by early November we will be much more solid.
Quote from: Twig on September 15, 2018, 05:33:29 PM
Until we get Ream back and Mawson fully up to match fitness (needs a couple more games in my view) I don't think we will see a settled back four. I have argued since July that a downside of our late transfer dealings would be lack of team cohesion and our ill luck with injuries to defenders has compounded that problem. Hopefully by early November we will be much more solid.
Spot on
It is a difficult situation. To play the way we did last season was fine. This season we give the ball away cheaply on the breakaways which leaves so much space for the pacy counter attack. We just don´t seem to be solid or quick enough enough to stop the runners. They are through us in a flash. I admire Slavisa for wanting to continue with his philosophy but there are going to be games where we will just get battered or not have any impact.
Slav will continue I think to change the line up,and in slav I trust even with days like today I think even now we are better than Huddersfield and west spam.
we will improve further.
Slav the 'builder'
Can he fix it ?
Yes he can !
In Slav I trust !!!!! COYW !!!
Quote from: maoconnor on September 15, 2018, 05:18:57 PM
Slavisa needs to figure out his squad now. Right now. His style is great, I love the ambition, but for the love of God figure our your starting 11. Today was a 3-0 loss to the Champions away from home and so, I hate to say it, I'll take it. What seems to be a carousel of starting 11 players needs to end, we cannot be dropping points due to "experimentation" when we start playing Cardiff, Southampton, Huddersfield, etc.
- Mike
Or even Watford, lose that one and things will begin to look out of control.
Quote from: filham on September 15, 2018, 06:54:44 PM
Quote from: maoconnor on September 15, 2018, 05:18:57 PM
Slavisa needs to figure out his squad now. Right now. His style is great, I love the ambition, but for the love of God figure our your starting 11. Today was a 3-0 loss to the Champions away from home and so, I hate to say it, I'll take it. What seems to be a carousel of starting 11 players needs to end, we cannot be dropping points due to "experimentation" when we start playing Cardiff, Southampton, Huddersfield, etc.
- Mike
Or even Watford, lose that one and things will begin to look out of control.
Only to some ......
Quote from: Twig on September 15, 2018, 05:33:29 PM
Until we get Ream back and Mawson fully up to match fitness (needs a couple more games in my view) I don't think we will see a settled back four. I have argued since July that a downside of our late transfer dealings would be lack of team cohesion and our ill luck with injuries to defenders has compounded that problem. Hopefully by early November we will be much more solid.
I agree and, with their return, Joka needs to settle on a consistent lineup and be done with his experimentation ( starting with moving Sess out of the back !!!)
Funny as during our 23 game unbeaten run, the team barely changed.
Consistency helps.
Quote from: Facts Not Fiction on September 16, 2018, 08:33:04 AM
Funny as during our 23 game unbeaten run, the team barely changed.
Consistency helps.
Agreed
Think like last season slav will settle for a consistent back 4 when everyone is tuned in to slavs system and when all are match fit and with the exception of mitro can see regular changes midfield and wide players on a regular basis.
Quote from: filham on September 15, 2018, 06:54:44 PM
Quote from: maoconnor on September 15, 2018, 05:18:57 PM
Slavisa needs to figure out his squad now. Right now. His style is great, I love the ambition, but for the love of God figure our your starting 11. Today was a 3-0 loss to the Champions away from home and so, I hate to say it, I'll take it. What seems to be a carousel of starting 11 players needs to end, we cannot be dropping points due to "experimentation" when we start playing Cardiff, Southampton, Huddersfield, etc.
- Mike
Or even Watford, lose that one and things will begin to look out of control.
Slav will not allow a loss to Watford
Since Hangeland left we have been crying out for that big, strong, commanding centre back. I thought we may have signed one this summer but now I wonder. It seems we may just have got our hands on quick little ball players similar to Odoi.
Surely a player like Bryan must have his confidence shot by being dropped for no apparent reason.
Slav did this "Slav Bingo" thing last season, making seemingly random selections, and we got pasted until he eventually stopped messing around and put Sess forward.
I'm worried that if he doesn't settle on a first XI soon, we'll be down in the relegation spots and have a bunch of demoralised players.
Sounds like Slav has tactics he believes in and know works and a style of management he wants to approach each game with -(one by one), and that by experimenting or using players he thinks will be better suited to the teams we play or the style he ultimately wants to pursue he clearly thinks a) we have enough about us to stay up ... and b) he wants to use those tactics and this approach to show the owners where our team or squad may be falling short.
Personally I still think he could have played the game he wanted to and got a better results today with MLM and Zambo starting instead of Odoi and Johansen.. I get on pace alone why he put sessegnon in instead of O'brien and think that could've been a mistake as I think Bryan is more disciplined and what he lacked in pace could've been resolved with a more astute and defensive approach but with so few expecting anything from the game I suppose why not risk it?
Slav is clever and next week will be a test against a team that will finish mid table. Slav never played to beat City. In fact he knew we would lose. We don't have a bad squad this season, so he he switched it around to keep Watford guessing next week. Next week I expect him to play his best eleven
The sad thing is the majority of our errors leading to goals have been unforced, last season we would have got away with them but against the likes of City and Spurs it's a different matter.
And as for dropping and switching players, if the manager is a good manager and explains his rationale and the players buy into his vision then the camp will be more than happy.
