Why so much uncertainty/negativity?

[NickWba20]

Good morning all WBA fan here (don't shoot I come in peace) last night I thought I'd pop online and see if I could find any reliable Fulham fan forums as I wanted to see what your fan base thinks of the promotion race heading into the final nine games. After looking at a couple of different threads I have noticed the majority of people's focus on here seems to be about just staying in the play offs not about catching us or Leeds. Now I know you have some very tricky games coming up (Brentford, Leeds, Forest, QPR, Us) but why do so many of you feel that way? Yes we are six points clear (effectively 7 with the superior goal difference) but do you genuinely believe its all about keeping the points ticking along and just getting those play offs? I'd be interested to hear your opinions as you lot are the ones who watch Fulham week in week out.

[bill taylors apprentice]

More disappointed than anything else considering the squad and the clubs stated ambition.

Most games won have been in the balance until the final whistle despite the possession and supposed quality of our team.

We seem to be in the hunt for promotion despite our efforts to play safety first football.

We are waiting for the spark to ignite our performances.

[NickWba20]

 I've said to people that with you lot needing two wins and a draw and us to lose three games for you to go above that I believe four more wins will do it for us that virtually means you have win 6 of your last 9 minimum. I wish it were both you and us going up and Leeds back in the play offs saying that they have a tricky game on the weekend against Cardiff.

[f321ffc]

You don't need the fingers of two hands to count the games we have been convincing in this season, with the squad we have we shouldn't be struggling to score more than one goal per game.
We need to attack with pace instead of tippy tappy sideway and backward slow build up.
With the games we have left I feel it's still in our own hands but we need to be more adventurous in attack.

[Holders]

I think it comes from a feeling of underachievement, starting with the opening game against yourselves and particularly the points dropped against Luton and Barnsley (0-3 at home). Some put this down to the manager's tactics and relative inexperience. Maybe, but I think we all agree that the squad is under-performing.

I'd agree with the poster (must be on another thread) who said that he'd rather it were you and we who were going up automatically. Fulham has an interesting history with WBA going back to the 80s; we seem to be similar sporting-minded teams and I have a quiet regard for WBA dating from that time.

[Sgt Fulham]

For a team that can bring Knockaert off the bench we are well below par. I'm sure you can relate given last season.

[Milo]

Only saving grace is that we are starting to play better

[Statto]

I also have a soft spot for West Brom, but nonetheless our squad this year is at least as good, probably better, and this West Brom team has dropped so many points, it's a crime we're not in the top 2

[toshes mate]

You don't need the fingers of two hands to count the games we have been convincing in this season, with the squad we have we shouldn't be struggling to score more than one goal per game.
We need to attack with pace instead of tippy tappy sideway and backward slow build up.
With the games we have left I feel it's still in our own hands but we need to be more adventurous in attack.

I think the emboldened part of your comment has been the whole crux of our season.  We cannot discharge performances that logically follow a rising trend of improvement in the areas that make opponents more wary of us.  The only saving grace has been the evidence that other teams have also faltered when seemingly going well. At the moment I'd not be surprised if the top six looks very different by Easter if some of the challengers playing arguably better football than us get it properly together at this crucial time of the season.  We really do need to have the intent to win every remaining game this season and be set up and psyched up to deliver that.

[alfie]

I'm still struggling to understand why we are considered to have the best squad in the league, apart from Mitro, Cairney and now Hector, I think the rest are good players but not more than that, Knockhart work rate is fantastic but does very little with the ball, Cav, he scores a couple of screamers but not much else, let's face it we get loan players for 1 of 2 reasons
1. They are young and earning good playing experience.
2. They are older players that cannot/do not fit in to their parent clubs squad.

I think ours are definitely no.2.

Just my opinion, not looking for argument if others don't agree.

[One Martin Thomas]

Team we see week in and week out doesn't add up to the sum of its parts ! That's what ultimately is annoying me !

[colinwhite]

Same old comments keep getting churned out .Side ways tippy tappy football? Have you watched our games of late. We have upped the tempo and are playing much more direct ,whilst remaining solid in defense.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Same old comments keep getting churned out .Side ways tippy tappy football? Have you watched our games of late. We have upped the tempo and are playing much more direct ,whilst remaining solid in defense.

Since January we have averaged 1.083333 goals for each game.
That's not impressive for a team with promotion ambitions.

[RAF_Fulham]

Since January we have averaged 1.083333 goals for each game.
That's not impressive for a team with promotion ambitions.

Just curious, but what is the average conceded compared to this?

[colinwhite]

Bill ,since january we lead the form tables. Why are we we all obsessed with scoring shed loads of goals ?

[Whitestone]

Bill ,since january we lead the form tables. Why are we we all obsessed with scoring shed loads of goals ?

It's quite simple really. Goals win games. Just take yesterday as a example. We played really well, were the better team on the day and only managed a draw. Some might say it was a good away point. I don't see it that way, particularly at this stage of the season against an out of form side. It's not the first time a game has played out this way and there's no doubt in my mind that a lack of goals is the reason that we aren't in the top two.

[filham]

We are too short of the goal scoring ability to be considered for automatic promotion. We are currently playin a very tight game that results in the odd goal home win and an away point, this at best may give us a play off place but is not going the achieve automatic promotion.

[colinwhite]

Fair enough Whitestone ,agree with you ,but thats not the same as claiming we play ticky tacky unadventurous football(which is what my original comments were directed towards ). We havent been putting the ball away,but the football of late has been good.

[FFC1987]

Howdy and welcome to the forum.

Personally, and I represent absolutely no one but I just don't see us winning key games that we absolutely need to win. We seem to have a pressure spot wherein every time we can get close or even nearly overlap one of you guys, we drop the ball massively. I think we'll be solid in all games towards the end of the season and pick up good results that usually, we'd classify as good results, in games like WestBrom and Leeds, probably even Brentford, but it'll be draws, maybe the odd win. We dropped too many points in games against teams in bottom half, particularly Barnsley and in games like Bristol, Charlton and Millwall where ideally, we needed to bridge that gap, to recoup points in 'unlikely' games, particularly with wins, we just seem to either settle for a draw and consider it a good result, or implode completely against lower tier opposition. I think we dropped too many points before christmas and gave ourselves way too much to do as well but that's again, just my opinion.

Our ambition pre season was top 2, we're 3rd so on paper, obviously not far off but a playoff place for us would be in my opinion, a failure with this squad. This forum consistently argues whether this squad is actually that good but again, on paper, we have big performers and players of the season, nearly across the board or at least players with a good CV for this level at the minimum, so with a competent experienced manager, I don't think its unreasonable to believe we should be doing better. We have the biggest wage bill or one of, the biggest valued team in the market and I still believe this, the best squad so anything other than top 2 is a bad result for us even if we go up via the lottery that is the playoffs.

Right now, I'm personally not confident in this team to perform and win consistently enough to get top 2 let alone 3 really tough games in the playoffs but I doubt that's a popular or majority opinion among us lot and i'll likely be called out as a drama queen, or not a real supporter for suggesting it. That said, its an enjoyable league, the last games will be a nail biting thrill fest no doubt and even if you think the football is sideways, backwards, slow and drab, it'll still be edge of your seat stuff so as first world problems go, particularly in the current climate, its not really all that bad.

As an last addition, I also believe, like others, that with a more competent experienced manager like yours or Leeds, we'd be sitting likely in your position or Leeds, rather than chasing a 6-7 point deficit. That being said, maybe not, maybe Parker is overachieving with this squad......

All the best for the rest of the season, may the best team win that automatic spot and thanks for dropping by.