Who would you keep?

[domprague]

I thought I would try a bit of devil's advocacy with a serious purpose so bear that in mind when you bite my head off.

Which players in our current squad would you keep at the end of the season and why?

I'm not sure how many would be on my list. In fact, you could make a good case for getting rid of most of them.

Too old/injury prone for another full season - Schwarzer, Duff, Karagounis, Diarra, Davies, Petric and Riise.

Never going to be consistently good enough - Kacaniklic, Rodallega, Frei, Senderos, Riise and Briggs

Are they interested enough - Brede and Berbatov

Worth keeping but need to be consistent and/or have a clear role - Stockdale (is he our goalie of the future or just Schwartzer's sub?), Ruiz and Richardson

Appears to have no future at the club under Jol - Kasami

Dejagah - not sure about him. Hoping he isn't another lightweight winger.

Reither - worried that his great runs forward come at a cost of leaving the back door open. I'd like to see him make more effort to get back.

Baird - have been a big fan but was embarrassed by his 'cross' yesterday.

That leaves Sidwell - as long as he's not expected to be creative - and Hughes.

As I said, I'm aiming to stir up some debate but I think we have a lot of clearing out to do.

We are at our best when we find prospects such as Dempsey and Dembele and develop them or when we rejuvenate a player with talent who has fallen out of favour elsewhere - Murphy and Duff.

Right. Let the bloodletting begin.

[jarv]

Kind of summed it up sir. Clearly need 3 new back 4 players, 2 new midfieldrs (Sidders type) and at leat one decent striker. Only one as long as berbatov stays, otherwise two.
They say good players don't go bad overnight. They sure do at Fulham (this season).

[Humbled]

Kind of summed it up sir. Clearly need 3 new back 4 players, 2 new midfieldrs (Sidders type) and at leat one decent striker. Only one as long as berbatov stays, otherwise two.
They say good players don't go bad overnight. They sure do at Fulham (this season).

if we was to get relegated i would keep Berbatov!!!

[Edwatch_Winston_Malone]

I wouldn't lose sleep over any of them leaving...

[Sheepskin Junior]

Lose:
Schwarzer, Hangeland, Riise, Kasami, Diarra, Berbatov (too lazy and arrogant for me)
Keep:
Stockdale, Riether, Hughes, Briggs, Duff, Baird, Sidwell, Richardson, Frei, Kacaniklic, Rodallega, Karagounis, Petric and everyone else.

[Jambo]

 :028: :028: Here goes!

Time to go:

Schwarzer- Still has ability but has looked his age at times this year and at 41 next season we really should look to move on
Somogyi
Riise- think we may have seen his best days
Hangeland- Just not the player we all know and love this season, not looked as passionate of focused this season.  Don't think he wants to be here
Diarra- I think he is quality but I'm not convince he is 31 and his injuries makes it hard to form an argument to keep him on the wage bill
Kasami- None of us have seen him in about a year, can only assume he is not good enough, probably best for him that he moved on
Davies- For much the same reasons as I've said for other, seen the best of him and injuries make him a passenger
Karagounis- What a guy. Passion in spades but is only good for 60-70 mins now so a year on the top flight might be a year to far
Rodallega- a free that we took a punt on, it didn't work.


Keep-

Stockdale- If we don't get a keeper, ready made number 1
Etheridge- Number 2 if the above is number 1
Hughes- Still gives everything, not sure how much longer he can be considered a automatic starter
Senderos- But only as a back up, not as part of a first choice middle 2
Riether- Sign him up, best RB since Finnan
Baird- But only because he can play in a number of positions
Briggs- Is he good enough?  Next season will be his defining one
Duff- Still fit as a fiddle but I think we would accept not as good as he was, could still do a job in the odd game
Kacaniklic- See Briggs, I'm not convinced but he has age on his side
Richardson- Can see him as our regular LB this and next season
Sidwell- Having his best season for us this year
Dejegah- Shown spots of what he can do, needs to improve final ball
Frei- Always liked him, bags of potential.
David- "one for the future" apparently
Ruiz- Our chief creator and just a good footballer.  Still think we are yet to see the best of him.
Berbatov- A player that shouldn't be at Fulham because he is to good for us.  People saying we are better of without him  fp.gif
Petric- Next season as an impact player from the bench, would he be happy with that?

Ones to watch:

Jack Grimmer
Ronny Minkwitz
Muamer Tankovic
Cauley Woodrow

So by my reckoning:

                    Stockdale (maybe)

Riether     Hughes (maybe)    ??????   Richardson

                      Sidwell        ??????

        Ruiz                Berbatov             Frei

                            ??????????

:028: :028: :028: :028: :028: :028: :028: :028: :028: :028: :028: :028:

[A Humble Man]

A new team in the summer then and do a QPR.  I don't think so.

[Jambo]

A new team in the summer then and do a QPR.  I don't think so.

Only 3 or 4 decent signings for me

[Classic94]

Lose: Schwarzer, Somogyi, Riise, Hangeland, Senderos, Baird, Kasami, Diarra, Davies

Keep: Stockdale, Etheridge, Reither, Briggs, Hughes (not as a starter), Sidwell, Karagounis, Richardson, Duff, Frei, Dejagah, Kacaniklic, Berbatov, Petric, Ruiz, Rodallega, Trotta

Also, bring in 5/6 new signings and a couple from the youth: Smith, Burn, Grimmer, Williams, David, Minkwitz, Donegan, Banya, Mesca, Tankovic, Woodrow etc.

[jarv]

I agree with Jambo, just about spot on.

[Burt]

Likewise... Pretty much agree with Jambo's list, the only one I am struggling with is Richardson, who has yet to do it for me, although did show a bit more yesterday.

[CurryForMario]

A new team in the summer then and do a QPR.  I don't think so.

Completely agree. A few new faces in and steady building is the best option.

[JackyFulham90]

We have good quality in the squad but we need to bring in a creative centre mid & a centre back, we are not far from being a good time, I certainly do miss the Fulham taking the game to teams like at Reading & Arsenal

[domprague]

I wasn't suggesting that we do sell them all. Whay I meant was that there are vew few players that you would want to keep and that's worrying.

A new team in the summer then and do a QPR.  I don't think so.

[A Humble Man]

This is all idle speculation any way as Jol has said he has no money so it free transfers and out of contract players and you do not get many of those in January as most contracts start and end in the early summer.

[domprague]

@A Humble Man
My point is not that we should flog them all. What I'm saying is that our squad is pretty poor when you look at it on paper. Spurs have cherrypicked our best players and what's left looks thin.

[hn4fulham]

I honestly don't think we have that bad of a group of players. Definitely not the bunch that could get us to the heights of previous couple of years but with the right manager, we could be a good mid table team. The problem right now is we have players with abilities that are not playing to their best, players who played well for us in the past who are under performing, and players who are simply not motivated. Say all you want about these players make a bunch of money and being professionals they need to be able to perform without having to be motivated by their managers...the fact of the matter is, they all need guidance and proper management. Otherwise, this football world would not have managers who command such a high pay.

The way I see it, the most important signing right now is a helper for Jol.  If we could bring in Murphy, that would be a winner. Jol needs some serious help. Jol is experienced and all but he has no clue what Fulham is about and what our seniors and their fighting spirits are all about. That is if he hasn't pissed our core group of players off too far already.

In the summer, we need to look for a different manager who gets our culture and manage to our strengths based on our finances.
Jol is struggling to get it and you can tell from the players' body language that the team is a bit lost and detached from the club at the moment.