What do Fulham fans want ?

[FulhamStu]

After our play off win, Parker made it pretty clear and was generally supported by Tony Khan,  and others including players, saying that this time round we would not make the same mistakes as last time, that we would not make wholesale changes to the squad, stick together and be a united front.  This was generally supported by fans and Tony Khan reiterated that we will not spend a fortune and I thinks this was also generally supported by those comments as long as we recruited where we had a need.

We all know we need a central defender, a right back and cover for Bryan, well 2 of those 3 things have or very nearly now happened and we are told by people in the know that we have and are trying hard to sign a central defender.  Everyone was desperate to sign Reed and we have done that.  Many fans would like another striker and we are connected to a number of good potential players, quick and with quality.

Yet, despite all the above, as often as not, posts on here by our fans are unhappy because we are not signing £30 million players, that we need far more new players in and that basically the players that got us promoted are not good enough.

I did read we should upgrade the goalkeeper, not by many I grant you but we have acquired a seriously big upgrade on Betts that will really help Rodak develop. That for me was not a priority but I will take it all the same.

I know this central defender is very important, but they are hard to find.  If we start with Ream so be it our midfield looks very strong and will hopefully provide much better cover this time round.

You can't have it both ways, but it seems many fans want to keep our squad together yet sign loads of expensive imports.

One thing I think has held true is support for Parker, I do wonder however how long that will last when we lose a few games.    I will say this now, we must stick with him, changing the manager this season will be a very bad move in the long term.

[Lighthouse]

First of all all these things you mention are true but it has taken a long time as it always does to bring in players we knew we needed. The change over from last season to this has been so short as to be meaningless and so fans are frustrated that everything wasn't done yesterday. That is the way of the fan.

We don't look to be making wholesale changes and now would like a centre half that is good enough to play alongside Hector and another forward who can play in that central role if needed. But fans are on the whole just wanting to see things done for the start of the season. We know that isn't going to happen but that is the frustration. Plus there is always that fear of repeating what happened last time we were here. Fear and frustration but overall glad not to be making too many stupid changes and hope the side that got us here can keep us here.

[General]

For a long time we've been linked with and even in negotiations with a lot of good players who've gone on to be signed elsewhere.

It is my understanding that we were for instance in negotiations with Watkins but weren't willing to pay the sum villa were.

The frustration will be and always come from knowing we need glaring areas of the squad added to (lcb, rw and striker are a minimum for me still), but whilst all the noise is good its allowed for fans to get frustrated by names coming and going and positions looking weak.

Don't forget we left it to the last moment the last two summers to bring in some players like zambo, Rico, Hector etc and so there's a precedence of our transfer dealings happening last minute or very late on.

Would we have gone up automatically with Hector signed earlier? I'd say yes.

There's nothing wrong with criticism it tends to be followed by passion and most people passionate or detached emotionally are all saying the same things re what we need. They're just saying it differently.

[WindyCity]

Agree with most posted here.  BUT, it's not like we never knew we needed upgrades for the back four, especially at CB.  This is nothing new, and I would dare suggest FFC should have/could have upgraded over the past 3 seasons or so.  And yet they have never really addressed the backline over this period of time, save Hector.  (And Hector did have a poor run after the Covid restart, and, as we all know, has not been prem-tested.)  Even during our last promotion season we were always susceptible in our defense.  And going into that last prem season totally unprepared defensively. 

So, we still have a gaping hole, and a quality CB should be high priority.  I do like some of the upgrades to date so far, and the team has generally stayed intact with our promotion side.

I'm not overly concerned about the Arsenal result, hope the boys put on a good show, a good fight, regardless the outcome.  What I am much more concerned about are the following 6-7 games where we should be competitive and have real point gathering opportunities.  A slow start would be disastrous.  But I'm not gonna shade on those who complain FFC hasn't done enough to secure an improved backline, because this has been a need for a number of years.

COYW!

[Sting of the North]

Agree with most posted here.  BUT, it's not like we never knew we needed upgrades for the back four, especially at CB.  This is nothing new, and I would dare suggest FFC should have/could have upgraded over the past 3 seasons or so.  And yet they have never really addressed the backline over this period of time, save Hector.  (And Hector did have a poor run after the Covid restart, and, as we all know, has not been prem-tested.)  Even during our last promotion season we were always susceptible in our defense.  And going into that last prem season totally unprepared defensively. 

So, we still have a gaping hole, and a quality CB should be high priority.  I do like some of the upgrades to date so far, and the team has generally stayed intact with our promotion side.

I'm not overly concerned about the Arsenal result, hope the boys put on a good show, a good fight, regardless the outcome.  What I am much more concerned about are the following 6-7 games where we should be competitive and have real point gathering opportunities.  A slow start would be disastrous.  But I'm not gonna shade on those who complain FFC hasn't done enough to secure an improved backline, because this has been a need for a number of years.

COYW!

After last promotion they did address the backline. Or what else do you call adding Mawson, Chambers, MLM, Bryan and Fosu-Mensah? It can of course be argued that they didn't address it very successfully, but that is of course an entirely different matter. 

[WindyCity]

After last promotion they did address the backline. Or what else do you call adding Mawson, Chambers, MLM, Bryan and Fosu-Mensah? It can of course be argued that they didn't address it very successfully, but that is of course an entirely different matter.

Point taken, I guess I had been thinking more about the 'results'.

[General]

Agree with most posted here.  BUT, it's not like we never knew we needed upgrades for the back four, especially at CB.  This is nothing new, and I would dare suggest FFC should have/could have upgraded over the past 3 seasons or so.  And yet they have never really addressed the backline over this period of time, save Hector.  (And Hector did have a poor run after the Covid restart, and, as we all know, has not been prem-tested.)  Even during our last promotion season we were always susceptible in our defense.  And going into that last prem season totally unprepared defensively. 

So, we still have a gaping hole, and a quality CB should be high priority.  I do like some of the upgrades to date so far, and the team has generally stayed intact with our promotion side.

I'm not overly concerned about the Arsenal result, hope the boys put on a good show, a good fight, regardless the outcome.  What I am much more concerned about are the following 6-7 games where we should be competitive and have real point gathering opportunities.  A slow start would be disastrous.  But I'm not gonna shade on those who complain FFC hasn't done enough to secure an improved backline, because this has been a need for a number of years.

COYW!

After last promotion they did address the backline. Or what else do you call adding Mawson, Chambers, MLM, Bryan and Fosu-Mensah? It can of course be argued that they didn't address it very successfully, but that is of course an entirely different matter. 

And therein will lie the proof of the pudding as to weather any lessons have actually been learned.

So far we look like we're doing much of the same stuff transfer wise

Lots of similarities

Rico/areola

Lemina and reed / seri and mlm

Bryan / Robinson

It'll be down to how focused and settled the old new players are and how parker sets expectations and motivates and manages.

[filham]

We have Hector, Ream, Odoi and MLM. as centre backs. Really would like to se a new centre back added then the pressure is on Parker.

Four points from those first three games would be more than I am expecting and would keep me happy.

[Sting of the North]

Agree with most posted here.  BUT, it's not like we never knew we needed upgrades for the back four, especially at CB.  This is nothing new, and I would dare suggest FFC should have/could have upgraded over the past 3 seasons or so.  And yet they have never really addressed the backline over this period of time, save Hector.  (And Hector did have a poor run after the Covid restart, and, as we all know, has not been prem-tested.)  Even during our last promotion season we were always susceptible in our defense.  And going into that last prem season totally unprepared defensively. 

So, we still have a gaping hole, and a quality CB should be high priority.  I do like some of the upgrades to date so far, and the team has generally stayed intact with our promotion side.

I'm not overly concerned about the Arsenal result, hope the boys put on a good show, a good fight, regardless the outcome.  What I am much more concerned about are the following 6-7 games where we should be competitive and have real point gathering opportunities.  A slow start would be disastrous.  But I'm not gonna shade on those who complain FFC hasn't done enough to secure an improved backline, because this has been a need for a number of years.

COYW!

After last promotion they did address the backline. Or what else do you call adding Mawson, Chambers, MLM, Bryan and Fosu-Mensah? It can of course be argued that they didn't address it very successfully, but that is of course an entirely different matter. 

And therein will lie the proof of the pudding as to weather any lessons have actually been learned.

So far we look like we're doing much of the same stuff transfer wise

Lots of similarities

Rico/areola

Lemina and reed / seri and mlm

Bryan / Robinson

It'll be down to how focused and settled the old new players are and how parker sets expectations and motivates and manages.

Do you care to delve a little deeper into those alleged similarities and also explain why those are all mistakes, because to me they seem mostly extremely superficial at best?

[AnOldBrownie]

What do I want?

Spend £50 million on Luis and a LCB to shore up our defense.

That's it.    Get those two players...maybe move Seri on for an attacking winger... I'm good.

[Statto]

IMO we needed an LCB, RB, and a forward. I agree we didn't want a huge number of new faces.

So far,with Aina we've signed a GK, LB, two RBs and a DM. So one player we needed and four we didn't.

As far as I'm concerned, TK is doing the worst of both worlds - he's already managed to bring in a lot of (five) new faces, but failing to fix most of our biggest weaknesses.

FWIW I'm actually happy with our business. I believe all the new signings will strengthen us and I remain confident that we'll fill the other gaps in due course. But let's have it right, the signings so far have clearly just been opportunistic, and not following any sort specific, targeted plan.

[FulhamStu]

IMO we needed an LCB, RB, and a forward. I agree we didn't want a huge number of new faces.

So far,with Aina we've signed a GK, LB, two RBs and a DM. So one player we needed and four we didn't.

As far as I'm concerned, TK is doing the worst of both worlds - he's already managed to bring in a lot of (five) new faces, but failing to fix most of our biggest weaknesses.

FWIW I'm actually happy with our business. I believe all the new signings will strengthen us and I remain confident that we'll fill the other gaps in due course. But let's have it right, the signings so far have clearly just been opportunistic, and not following any sort specific, targeted plan.

So you were not bothered about signing Reed, you felt fine with Odoi as backup to Bryan.   Really ?  Why is getting Lemina to give another upgrade to our midfield opportunistic.   I would agree about the keeper upgrade but other than that, completely disagree.    Of course, we need a LCB.   Give me a top LCB and I will be happy for now.  That's one to go with 3 weeks left and we have spent bugger all.

[Statto]

Give me a top LCB and I will be happy for now.  That's one to go with 3 weeks left and we have spent bugger all.

So you're content to go through this season with Knockaert starting every week and no backup for Mitrovic? Oh but it's ok, we've got eight FBs and a new GK so we'll be fine.

Come on

[Matt10]

I think if we say it's TK's plan it loses credibility, however if we say it's Parker's plan it's considered legitimate. Parker himself said in the interview that he wants competition. With each of those signings, we've done that. That's the plan - and it has been achieved at this time. I think the LCB should have been highest priority, but we have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. We do know that Parker is all about the player mentality and their sense of togetherness though, and I feel even better knowing that he's the one to qualify our incoming players further.

I also hope for a LCB. It's a position in very high demand though, but you look at most of them and they seem attainable from the outside. It must be something else. Regardless, the window isn't over, and we haven't even seen Ream play yet. Exciting times.

[FulhamStu]

Give me a top LCB and I will be happy for now.  That's one to go with 3 weeks left and we have spent bugger all.

So you're content to go through this season with Knockaert starting every week and no backup for Mitrovic? Oh but it's ok, we've got eight FBs and a new GK so we'll be fine.

Come on

Ideally I would like Messi and a few other strikers and i fully expect we will sign at least one more striker, however if we get a top central defender, yes I will be happy and Kamara would be my choice of Mitro backup, we have plenty of forward players, and hopefully soon, 2 decent rightbacks and 2 decent leftbacks.