At least someone out there is talking some sense

[Admin]

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/fulham/id/1180?cc=5739

Fulham fans have patiently endured a low-key summer, unsurprisingly perhaps with the disruption dictated by ownership of the club moving into new hands. Preparation for the new season saw the club take on three sides of some stature in European football -- top sides from the Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A.

Jordan Mansfield/Getty ImagesThe body language of Fulham manager Martin Jol during Saturday's loss to Parma does not convey optimism for the coming season.

Fulham failed to beat any of them, and Saturday's 2-1 loss to Parma at a sun-kissed Cottage gave a stark reminder that last season's deficiencies have not been addressed. Fulham are yet to pay a fee for anyone under new owner Shahid Khan, but that fat wallet of his needs to come out soon or Fulham are in trouble.

If you wanted a litmus test as to where Fulham are currently falling short, the friendly with Parma laid out precisely how bare is the cupboard. This was a re-run of Martin Jol's team that worryingly nose-dived last season after a bright opening and came dangerously close to the drop zone following an awful run-in from March. Even before then, we had witnessed plenty of games where the gaffer's preferred 4-4-1-1 too often ended up with the Whites looking as if they were playing a 4-6-0, with the opposing keeper hardly being tested.

The opening phase of Saturday's friendly provided a re-run of last season's broken system. Fulham started brightly enough, easy-on-the-eye passing with fluidity on the deck, looking organised at the back. Steve Sidwell pulls out a plum with a stunning early shot from range to put Fulham ahead.

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Midway through the half, Parma begin to take control as all Fulham's home possession fails to really open up the away side. And so it goes with this current style, with no incision or inspiration, and no Plan B -- Fulham's game just falls away.

While we must cut Jol some slack from the way the club have failed to provide him with lavish funds for new blood, the Dutchman's inflexibility, reluctance to abandon a failing system, and unimaginative football must surely call into question his suitability for the job going forward, while his record in the market is chequered.

The 4-4-1-1 must be abandoned. Fulham are slow enough as it is in moving the ball forward. They need less touches on the ball, not more. By no means am I suggesting we go long ball, but look to Everton's energetic style as a prime example of how to mix it up and get the ball into dangerous areas. Fulham simply do not carry enough goal threat -- pure and simple. Trotting out trite remarks to the press amplifying what we can all see only makes Jol look foolish.

The over-reliance on Dimitar Berbatov for goals was risky enough last season. Once he went off Saturday, Hugo Rodallega's second-half contribution was frighteningly inept in every department, underlining how urgent is the need to secure a quality striker within the next week.

Next to the current vacuum in midfield. Fulham have never recovered from the loss in rapid succession in the past 12 months of game-changing midfielders -- Danny Murphy, Clint Dempsey, Mousa Dembele and Mahamadou Diarra. Bryan Ruiz needs to come out of the team with immediate effect. Major reinforcements to midfield are desperately needed NOW. Fulham also need a strong leader on the pitch to captain and galvanise the side. They are mentally not tough enough. Fulham have some enterprising wingers at the club. The board need to focus on who they will put faith in and who can be off-loaded.

I would like to see Fulham try 4-5-1 with Ashkan Dejagah and Alex Kacaniklic perhaps coming off the bench to spark something. I am mystified as to why Damien Duff has been given another contract, or why John Arne Riise and Pajtim Kasami should even feature when both are about to be shipped out.

Sidwell is not of the standard to last 38 matches as your main man in midfield even though I cannot fault his attitude and he will chip in with the odd goal. Of course, as we have all known for an age, and Jol has finally conceded, Fulham need to find a decent left-back -- and quickly. More inept transfer dealing.

Considering professionals have all been playing the game in an organised capacity since schooldays, it's the least to expect they can stroke passes around the pitch over 20-30 metres. Ruiz can do that all day long. But to what effect? In the days of Johnny Haynes, in what was a fairly modest side, you heard this purr of appreciation and ripple of applause swell from the stands routinely as precision passes arrowed up to their targets. At least 10 times in each half. Saturday? Hard to recall a single moment of inspiration drawing gasps from the throat apart from Sidwell's rocket and one luscious dummy from Dimi.

The rest was mundane, laboured, uninspiring. Parma should have had more. Over to you Mr. Chairman. Time to call in the cavalry. No more loan deals (Giorgos Karagounis is a clown) or short-termism. Serious investment in the side is long overdue. Opinions expressed at the ground and on all message boards since suggest supporters all recognise the glaring deficiencies -- even Ruiz acolytes are melting away. Please tell us what do the board intend to do to stop the rot?

[Classic94]

Absolutely spot on.

[btings]

The situation is pretty bad if Phil Mison sounds remotely sensible.

[epsomraver]

Agree with all except the bit about George, he is no clown and at least he is not frightened to have a go.

[Holders]

Agree with all except the bit about George, he is no clown and at least he is not frightened to have a go.

Totally agree with you, that's not right.

[RidgeRider]

Agree with all except the bit about George, he is no clown and at least he is not frightened to have a go.

Agreed. He works hard even if he isn't the player he was.....I'm sure he adds a ton at Motspur for the younger and not so younger players as well.

[rhyspabsolom]

 What a load of old ******.

[Enter the Frei]

I'm sure he does a lot of good off the pitch, but he's not good enough anymore and does act like a clown on it.

[Patrick]

Agree with all except the bit about George, he is no clown and at least he is not frightened to have a go.

Totally agree with you, that's not right.

+1000

[EJL]

Spot on.

[ToodlesMcToot]

Agree with all except the bit about George, he is no clown and at least he is not frightened to have a go.

Author had me right up until that bit of nonsense. Makes me go back and question the validity of every other opinion - even though I agree with them.

[BarryP]

Agree with all except the bit about George, he is no clown and at least he is not frightened to have a go.

Author had me right up until that bit of nonsense. Makes me go back and question the validity of every other opinion - even though I agree with them.

Why? I can't understand the Karagounis love in and never could. He runs around a lot but was the one player that was definitely less effective than Ruiz on the pitch last season. I wouldn't call him a clown but ineffective is certainly fair.

Mison is spot on with this article.

[ToodlesMcToot]

Agree with all except the bit about George, he is no clown and at least he is not frightened to have a go.

Author had me right up until that bit of nonsense. Makes me go back and question the validity of every other opinion - even though I agree with them.

Why? I can't understand the Karagounis love in and never could. He runs around a lot but was the one player that was definitely less effective than Ruiz on the pitch last season. I wouldn't call him a clown but ineffective is certainly fair.

Mison is spot on with this article.

Simple. He was the only player, for me, he was one of the few players on the field who demonstrated the heart, desire to win, and leadership on the field every game he was involved in. Reither aside, I can't think of a single other player who was around for the entire season that I could say that about.

Ineffective is not a word that I would use for him as I saw impact to the game when he was involved. That impact might not have been registered in goals necessarily, but there was a certain steel that was there to my eye.

He is definitely no clown. I will concede that I don't like the play acting element to his game. At the same time, we were on the cusp of having a dire season last year and finishing far lower than we did. We needed every little advantage we could get IMO, and if his rolling around didn't give us much of an advantage in the goals department it certainly helped in breaking the flow of the game which we were often not up to.

The author lost me, for the most part, when he called Kara a clown. My thoughts were "how could someone who obviously paid at least as much attention to Fulham's play as I did come to that conclusion about that player?" It's just a poor assessment in my opinion. If the author wants to say that certain aspects of Kara's play are clownish, then say that. But, to call him a clown when, at 34, his contributions to the season were as much as they were I think doesn't agree with reality.

[SKSW6]

Agree with all except the bit about George, he is no clown and at least he is not frightened to have a go.

Author had me right up until that bit of nonsense. Makes me go back and question the validity of every other opinion - even though I agree with them.

Why? I can't understand the Karagounis love in and never could. He runs around a lot but was the one player that was definitely less effective than Ruiz on the pitch last season. I wouldn't call him a clown but ineffective is certainly fair.

Mison is spot on with this article.

Simple. He was the only player, for me, he was one of the few players on the field who demonstrated the heart, desire to win, and leadership on the field every game he was involved in. Reither aside, I can't think of a single other player who was around for the entire season that I could say that about.

Ineffective is not a word that I would use for him as I saw impact to the game when he was involved. That impact might not have been registered in goals necessarily, but there was a certain steel that was there to my eye.

He is definitely no clown. I will concede that I don't like the play acting element to his game. At the same time, we were on the cusp of having a dire season last year and finishing far lower than we did. We needed every little advantage we could get IMO, and if his rolling around didn't give us much of an advantage in the goals department it certainly helped in breaking the flow of the game which we were often not up to.

The author lost me, for the most part, when he called Kara a clown. My thoughts were "how could someone who obviously paid at least as much attention to Fulham's play as I did come to that conclusion about that player?" It's just a poor assessment in my opinion. If the author wants to say that certain aspects of Kara's play are clownish, then say that. But, to call him a clown when, at 34, his contributions to the season were as much as they were I think doesn't agree with reality.

Exactly. On top of what you said, highest pass completion of any player last season (90%), and he gets called a "clown" for it. Never liked Phil Mison, and definitely not changing my opinion after reading that.

[RaySmith]

This bloggers opinion of Kara is indicative of how much  he knows about football and Fulham, ie - very little.

[supersimmo123]

The big problem we have is Ruiz, if we drop him i think most of our problems are solved, he slows the rythm of our play down, 4-4-2 with a new striker in and no ruiz and a CM and we will be fine.

[Fulhampete]

Don't let one I'll advised comment blind you to what else was said. This is the best surmise of our current position that I have read and exactly reflects my own opinion. If we cannot get someone to take the goal scoring onus off of Berba and someone to organise the onfield play we are going backwards. This will be emphasised by the strengthening of some of our closest competitors.

[ToodlesMcToot]

The big problem we have is Ruiz, if we drop him i think most of our problems are solved, he slows the rythm of our play down, 4-4-2 with a new striker in and no ruiz and a CM and we will be fine.

There were plenty of times last season that I would have said that about Berbatov.

Personally, our problems with speed of play or assertion in the opposing half is less about who we have than they are about who we don't have.

[ToodlesMcToot]

Don't let one I'll advised comment blind you to what else was said. This is the best surmise of our current position that I have read and exactly reflects my own opinion. If we cannot get someone to take the goal scoring onus off of Berba and someone to organise the onfield play we are going backwards. This will be emphasised by the strengthening of some of our closest competitors.

If this was directed toward me, there's no need to worry. I'm not blinded to anything by the comment. I did say that I agreed with him for the most part. I was questioning how I COULD agree with someone who would make that statement about Karagounis. It's so far off the mark.

[epsomraver]

The big problem we have is Ruiz, if we drop him i think most of our problems are solved, he slows the rythm of our play down, 4-4-2 with a new striker in and no ruiz and a CM and we will be fine.

There were plenty of times last season that I would have said that about Berbatov.

Personally, our problems with speed of play or assertion in the opposing half is less about who we have than they are about who we don't have.

I believe they are both the problem. I have said loads of times in the past that Ruiz is hampered by Berbatov's constant being in an offside position which stops any forward play, they cancel each other out.