calm.

[michaelread]

Put yourselves in perspective. We started the season ticking. Why? We had moussa dembele. We had a fit squad, plus moussa dembele. That is what we are missing right now, a central midfielder who makes the other central midfielders panic a bit. We don't have that. Diarra isnt that, Karagounis isnt that, and sure as hell sidwell and baird are not that. If you dominate the midfield, you will win a football match*. We can't dominate the midfield because we don't have a player like that.

Lets list out the players that we currently have who are performing at a good enough level to say that we don't need to improve on their position this window.

1. Berba
2. Ruiz
3. Reither

Thats it. 3 players. All Jol signings.

There is no need to worry, there is no need to fret, just yet. Why you ask? Because we will not get relegated. It wont happen, simply. We will probably finish 13th or something but we will not be relegated, we are to good for that, and after january we will be even better. Anyone involved in team sports at any level knows that if confidence and morale is down, your performances drop. The good thing about that is, it often only takes one win to put a positive spin on everything else.

We are lacking a few things, and we need to address those things sooner rather than later.

We are lacking a real captain that is universally admired in the squad. It is plain to see that brede is not captain material. He's the poster boy of the club, yes, but he does not have that presence that Danny did. When you look around the rest of the squad, there is actually nobody I would give the armband to. So, I say give it to the keeper, whoever is in goals, and make sure he knows it's a token armband, and have 0 captain. Make someone stand up and EARN it. Sometimes someone saying the right things at the right times can be the catalyst for just as much success as someone playing the right passes at the right times.

We are lacking a central midfielder that can provide what moussa provided us. And being realistic, we aren't going to find one without spending a bit of cash this window. Personally, I hope Mo gives Jol a little bit of cash to work with. The 15 from moussa and then some. Id like to see a real game changing, 10m plus midfielder with a presence come in, and another central defender. I don't think goalkeeper is something we need to fix this season. In my opinion, I would play Schwarzer until we have 40pts, and then I would play Stockdale to truly evaluate whether or not he is worth our time arguing with each other about. We can fix GK up in the summer.

And I hope that keeper is on a free, because this then gives Jol some more cash to spend, on bringing in players that he feels are likely to work well in his team. His track record so far has been excellent in the window, so we have nothing to be worried about at the moment.

So, in January, we can hope for a few good things, but should EXPECT a few more that aren't so good.

Positive: We are going to be bringing in some new players. Some good, new players. They are going to change the dynamics of our squad, and we might even find a captain material amongst them.
Negative: Those players aren't going to gel immediately. We're two days from the window, but we might not sign until the middle of jan, or even the end. Please give the new players, and the team, and jol, a few weeks to put it all together. Buying new players doesnt mean immediate success, but if implemented correctly, it does mean long term success. Football is about investment. Investment in youngsters and in currently good players. But remember that word. INVESTMENT. When you invest, you don't expect your fruitions to come immediately. So don't expect the same from Fulham.

I hope that those of you who do have the privilege of getting to watch our beloved FFC in the flesh each week, please get behind the team. Give them all you have because you are the 12th man. Your voice at the ground influences all 25 on the pitch, the 22 players and the 3 active referees, both negatively and positively.

And for those of us that dwell on forums and watch our team through grainy streams and bleary eyes at all times of the night, put into perspective what is truly going on around your football club. It is ok to be upset and frustrated. But we are definitely rebuilding. Had moussa been at ffc still and stayed healthy, we would be doing the west brom at the moment.

Our time will come to shine again, and it may not be until next season. But this year, we WILL survive and will stay up, our squad is too good for anything else to happen. And then hopefully in july/august 2013, we see some brilliant players coming in in that true Jol mould, with no european worries to hold us back, no big name players walking out, only walking in, and our squad coming together in the way the big dutchman has envisioned it, and we can all go back to talking about the hottest 40+ year olds we know, like the FoF we all once loved.

Stay patient, and stay calm, and stay realistic. We have a storm to weather, and to be totally honest, it's actually NOBODYs fault (but lets blame mark hughes for putting that clause on moussas contract).

We'll stay up, and we will bring in quality over the next two windows, and this time next year, we will be a sight to behold.

[CurryForMario]

Completely agree. If you compare our team to Readings, Southamptons, Aston Villa's, QPR's Situation - we are definitely not in as bad of a situation as them. Once we get a few wins under our belt everyone will forget we were even thinking of relegation.

[MJG]

We are not too good to go down based on the form from the last dozen games. The only reason we have not dropped into the botton 5 is the good start we had (thank god) and the others keep beating each other or getting freak results. We are not doing either of them.

Yes it could all turn around and we have a great second half of the season and end up on 50 pts. But I dont see anything at the moment to show we will do that. Yesterdays second half (second Half remember, not first) was all gung ho stuff, but why after 3 listless performances do we all of a sudden do that. And that was against a swansea side that I think made half a dozen changes as well.

I suspect we will stay up, but when we look at the finished table will look at it as a wasted season. One where if we had been on our game we could have got the 7th or maybe that 6th place at a push.
Jol has had 3 transfer windows, hes now entering his 4th. For any manager now days to have 4 windows is rare. By the ned of it he needs to have his players and team in place and also for me get some bloody young players. we are so slow with no urgency.
Oh wait who are we linked with...a 30 year old centere back from Germany, ah well.

[Ron Sheepskin]

Great post. Couldn't agree more - knee jerk reactions are not the answer.

[michaelread]

the point of this, basically, is to hopefully put a positive spin on what is a bad situation, and to remind people that the next month is when jol can really earn his paycheck. i for one believe he will, and i dont believe the situation that we are in is a result of his management, i believe it is some poor timing, and a big shift in the way the team plays. dempsey, dembele, and murphy leaving is one of the biggest things to happen in fulham history.

[Enter the Frei]

Every team goes through runs of form, but we've let our poor form go on for too long so we've dropped into a position in the table that leaves us looking over our shoulder.

We just need to get our confidence back and get the team playing again. We've got one point from the last four but yesterday was the only game where I really felt hard done by by the result. Maybe the second half can be a turning point because we really looked up for it and where by far the better team against a decent Swansea side.

[McBridefan1]

A calming influence with youthful vitality, from the land of Oz. Well said M-Red...

[HatterDon]

I have a slight quibble for my Australian friend. It's hard to include Riether in our "plus" category. He's a loan. We have no control over him after the end of the season, and his play is such that we won't be able to afford him then. I'm glad we got him. I just wish he had signed on a permanent contract rather than a loan.

As a matter of fact, much of our squad is capable of leaving the side at the end of the season. I'd like to see the board more interested in the long view.

[Lighthouse]

I well remember Arthur Lighthouse my Great Great Aunties last words as she sank beneath the waves. ' Titanic will never sink because of a bit of ice glug glug glug'

[NogoodBoyo]

Well said that michaelread.  Hurrah for the optimists.  Too early for pessimism.  That can come in March or April.  Even then we could have another great escape to keep us all happy.
Nogood "always look on the bright....bright eyes, isit, or bright side of life, isit" Boyo

[HatterDon]

I well remember Arthur Lighthouse my Great Great Aunties last words as she sank beneath the waves. ' Titanic will never sink because of a bit of ice glug glug glug'

You should never stop mid-Atlantic to take on a little ice.

Hatter "Arthur Lighthouse is better than none" Don

[NogoodBoyo]

HD scores a cracker with a lovely assist from Lofty the Lighthouse.
Nogood "bring back the old board's sense of fun in all the shenanigans, isit" Boyo

[NogoodBoyo]

But who was Realistic back in the day?
Nogood "always bothers me that, isit" Boyo

[Berserker]

Who is Realistic now, is he lurking in the ether somewhere on FOF!

[Edwatch_Winston_Malone]

[domprague]

Well said. We should also remember that Berba, Reither, Karagounis, Petric, the man from Tehran and Rodders are all new signings. Takes time to assimilate that number of players.

[NogoodBoyo]

Who is Realistic now, is he lurking in the ether somewhere on FOF!

Good question.  And whilst you're at it, I still want to know who Ostrich Watch morphed into on here.
Nogood "this question should be asked in the house. isit" Boyo

[Jimpav]

Well said. We should also remember that Berba, Reither, Karagounis, Petric, the man from Tehran and Rodders are all new signings. Takes time to assimilate that number of players.

Another good point on a very level headed thread.

We can also add Richardson to the new signings. Both him and Rodders get slated regularly on this board but as you say it takes time to adjust. Look at Bales career at Spurs- he was derided and seen as a jinx- he hadn't played in a match where they had won. 3 years later and he's one of the best players in Europe. Patience is a virtue.

[michaelread]

Well said. We should also remember that Berba, Reither, Karagounis, Petric, the man from Tehran and Rodders are all new signings. Takes time to assimilate that number of players.

Another good point on a very level headed thread.

We can also add Richardson to the new signings. Both him and Rodders get slated regularly on this board but as you say it takes time to adjust. Look at Bales career at Spurs- he was derided and seen as a jinx- he hadn't played in a match where they had won. 3 years later and he's one of the best players in Europe. Patience is a virtue.

exactly. we lost dembele, dempsey and murphy. the core of our side, which is a big mental blow to the players. not to forget that we also lost bobby, aj etc under the jol reign, and are bringing through exciting youngsters. This season SHOULD have been about pushing on with dembele and doing well, but we lost him, so it cant be.

So now it becomes about survival, which i am 100% convinced we will achieve, and some more squad strengthening from Jol. We might not have wanted it to take this long to rebuild, but the fact of the matter is, we lost players unexpectedly, and thus have to adjust as a squad. It sucks to watch us play bad, but hopefully berba sticks around for next season, when we will have plenty of good players at our disposal, and we can make a crack at the top 6.

We have a wonderful chairman, an incredibly gifted CEO, and a great coach, with a solid fanbase and a secure financial position. We just need to rebuild, and unfortunately, losing Dembele means we have to take two steps backwards to go forwards, rather than the one we had initially hoped.

[ScalleysDad]

I must have gone to different games at the start of the season. Dembele only played twice for us, fairly average against Norwich but the team ethic showed up, and an absolute stormer up at Old Trafford when we saw the first woeful individual performances by those still underperforming. We were hoping he would see out the transfer window being average but as the final whistle blew to the relief of the Manchester faithful we knew that was that and he would be off. Are we really still referring to his departure as a key element in our current problems eighteen plus games on? Blimey if we are.