Early Season Problems (merged with similar threads)

[zzamora]

Schwarzer-Good game, looked solid

Riise-Looked good, calm, probably shoudlve scored
Hangeland-solid, calm, good performance.
Senderos-solid,calm, shackled bent well, lack of communication at times but can pass it.
Hughes-ok, out done for pace at times, but worked hard and can cross it.

Duff-hard working, good performance
Murphy- lost the ball a bit but looked ok, and set up some great chances
etuhu-one word-useless. Lost the ball, past it backwards.
Demps-good, hard working, unlucky not to get more ball

Zamora-did ok, probably shoudlve scored tbh. worked hard.
AJ- again ok, still hitting it in the air to him, use his pace!

dembele-looked ok, but tired. still got the spark

[Lighthouse]

The point is that we are Fulham. We are not that little club who should be proud to be in this division. We are here by right. So we have players that should have done better than some of the ones picked today.

The same could be said for Villa. Look at the money spent, the talented players they have. Yet they were clearly second best in the second half. What was the Villa tactic of making no effort to push the ball forward in the last five minutes all about?

We are a good side and can play better. Much better. Our problems are the ones we have had for some time. The players bought by Jol are clearly just squad players, BAR RIISE. Otherwise why not bring on one and at least name the other. Kelly and Baird both  on the subs bench. Why was that?

The team was poor without being let down by players. Except Etuhu who is not playing well. His defensive duties are poor. Fouls given away, short passes and allows players to pass him, often on the wrong side of players. Murtphy has to work twice as hard with Etuhu by his side.

So no not as bad as awful. Not as good as we should have been.

[RidgeRider]

I've not seen any of the match today but from what I've read on here it sounds as if we were awful and the usual criticisms about Aj, Murphy and Etuhu are being levelled.

Contrast this to the BBC report and it sounds like we would have won if it wasn't for Given.

I would be a lot more upset/worried if I was a Liverpool/arsenal/Rangers fan. The only expectations of Fulham are our own- we are our hardest critic so as it's the first league match let's all take a deep breath and hope that we put in a better performance on Thursday.

Jimpav I just finished watching the match and though I have not read the other game threads, we were not bad at all. We created plenty of chances, AJ had a pretty decent match and yes Given did stop a couple of good shots.

Villa stayed resilient and have much better personal than I thought going into the season and even without Young, the addition of Given will make them tough to beat.

Would have like to win but we controlled the ball for good parts of the match and even showed a bit of skill a teeny bit of flair on a couple of occasions. No panic here though I am sure when I read the other threads there will be some moaning.

[ScalleysDad]

If it helps the Villa fans I walked back to the station with were close to jumping off the bridge.

[The Bronsons]

Maybe the negative reaction is because Villa were actually pretty bad. We should have put them to the sword, and didn't. Riise was good but there were a few occasions when he was caught upfield and we were suddenly 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 to a counterattack. Do that against Man U or Chelsea etc. and we will get thumped.

As it is... Villa on that showing have more to worry about. But we have cause to worry too. As usual.

[RidgeRider]

Some simple swaps will solve the problem.

1) Sidwell for etuhu.

2)Baird for senderos.

3)Dembele for AJ.

Simple.

I had absolutely no problems with AJ today.

Me either. I'm starting to think the AJ bashing is just a habitual thing. I thought he played pretty decent we just didn't score however service was decent on the wings and ok up the middle. I thought we created chances but couldn't put them away partially due to good keeper play by Given. Wasn't a bad performance at all.

[SmithyFFC]

Personally, I dont see what AJ offers. Dont get me wrong, he works bloody hard every week, but, he has very little pace left, cant hold the ball up or beat a man and so of his shots on goal are tame to say the least...

[ScalleysDad]

The best of BZ came when he was The Man. He was the target man and he either held up the ball for the reinforcements or had a pop. The BZ/AJ pairing only works in short flashes and thats not enough. The three consecutive long,high balls up to AJ who was being marked by Dunne summed up our inabilty to learn as the game unfolds. Murph used to do that. 

[ImperialWhite]

Possession
Fulham 55% ~~ Aston Villa 45%

Attempts on target
Fulham 9 ~~ Aston Villa  1

Attempts off target
Fulham 5 ~~ Aston Villa 6

Corners
Fulham 2 ~~ Aston Villa 3

Fouls
Fulham 10 ~~ Aston Villa 18

Those look like the stats of a team in top to me.

[RidgeRider]

me too. Not sure what all the moaning is about. Would have been great to nick a goal but we played a decent match nonetheless

[ImperialWhite]

First half Murphy and Etuhu were outplayed in central midfield because we played a rigid 4-4-2 and they were outnumbered.

Second half Duff and Dempsey moved inside, we were more fluid and we pushed forward.

All the goal threat came from us with Villa offering very little.

I like the fact that Jol changed things at half time. I think we'll see gradual improvement over the next few weeks.

Pretty much my reading of it.

Murphy and Etuhu looked poor first half, but then they would do - so much pressure they're bound to make mistakes. Second half they played fine for me.

Had Given had an off day today we'd probably be looking at 1 or 2 nil and we wouldn't all be so hysterical.

[ImperialWhite]

Not the best £30 I've ever spent sure, but I'm not going to panic yet. Besides, this is like what, the 10th draw of the last 12 meetings between us*?  Fulham vs Villa IS a draw. The gamblers amongst us that didn't have money on it should be ashamed.

*9th draw of the last 13 meetings, apparently.

[LBNo11]

...I get seriously cheesed off when people say people are 'moaning' - not everyone sees the best in everything, and not everyone beleives stats show the full picture, for example, AJ's powder puff attempt on goal WAS on target but was never going to hit the net.

If by saying I am not happy with certain players' contributions constitutes moaning then yes I am moaning - personally I feel am just stating my point of view having watched a very disappointing game with a distinct lack of a cutting edge...

[ImperialWhite]

...I get seriously cheesed off when people say people are 'moaning' - not everyone sees the best in everything, and not everyone beleives stats show the full picture, for example, AJ's powder puff attempt on goal WAS on target but was never going to hit the net.

If by saying I am not happy with certain players' contributions constitutes moaning then yes I am moaning - personally I feel am just stating my point of view having watched a very disappointing game with a distinct lack of a cutting edge...

6 of one and a box of eggs the other and all that. (I get cheesed off about people moaning about moaning about moaning...).

Wasn't a great game (obviously - I was as bored as the rest of us) but it wasn't a disaster either. I'd merely argue that it wasn't such a poor game that with a wee bit of improvement, it couldn't be turned into a 1 or 2 goal win. Besides, although no one was deemed worthy of a stand out performance, the Beeb and Guardian write ups hint that Given probably had one of the better performances of the match, which says a little something at least.

PLUS, I'm trying to learn from last season, when by the time I'd learnt to admire Hughes, he'd resigned. Managers take time to bed in.

[Lighthouse]

I moan at the sky be it cloudy or fair
I moan at my life and my life is still there.
I moan at the hate that comes out of where?
I am glad I still moan, it means I still care.

[clintclintdeuce]

that bad no.... could have been miles better, you betcha.

[HatterDon]

me too. Not sure what all the moaning is about. Would have been great to nick a goal but we played a decent match nonetheless

Well, for starters, we are the home team. Then, we have a stronger squad. THEN we were the only side looking for a positive result.

That's certainly something to moan about, I would have thought.

[os5889]

Some simple swaps will solve the problem.

1) Sidwell for etuhu.

2)Baird for senderos.

3)Dembele for ZAMORA.

Simple.

Thats closer to the truth!

[leonffc]

Personally, I dont see what AJ offers. Dont get me wrong, he works bloody hard every week, but, he has very little pace left, cant hold the ball up or beat a man and so of his shots on goal are tame to say the least...

My opinion exactly. As it has been since he signed!! He might be ok as an impact player when defenders are tired but i think he upsets our team play. I agree with every point you made about AJ but you missed the bit that AJ spends most of his time wide or by the corner flag (where, as you say, can't beat the defender to get out) and not enough in the box. Bobby is twice the striker when AJ isn't around. Surely Jol needs to look at the bigger picture, not just 'AJ's a good player'?

[Quills]

A wasted opportunity but given it's early days yet and other teams were drawing, as someone else said of us last season, like Rolf Harris on acid, we can't get too despondent about the result.  And if it serves as a wake up call ahead of Dnipro then that's exactly what we need. 

But looking to the rest of the seasons I can't see how Etuhu is being picked ahead of Sidwell.  And AJ, well, I'm going to take some convincing.