Match Thread

[Bassey the warrior]

Good last half an hour, plenty of promise once everyone has settled. Parker was outstanding and Riether played some lovely balls, Karagounis did well and Taarabt was dangerous. Bent made some good runs and did very well to get in the right position to score. Was interesting to see Kacaniklic come inside quite often, having the ability to roam could work out quite well for us.

[TWFL]

Sidwell is awful. Duff has lost it. Riise not good enough. Berba, apart from the assist, didnt do enough.


Positives: Kasami, Taarabt and Parker looked good. Pleased for Bent with the goal.

[jarv]

Strange game. Some decent performances but some dreadful positioning and defending. Never been a fan of Jol and nothing has changed my mind. Fulham seem like the easiest team to prepare for. The problems are there for all to see. 1. Jol's never changing tactics (which don't work) and 2. Just don't work hard enough when we don't have the ball.

Parker and Bent could be the saviours this season.

[fulhamking]

We really haven't been bad at all.

getting destroyed on the counter because both sidwell and parker went forward at the same time.

Sidwell was taken off

He should have never been on. Sidwell is Championship quality at best. Shockingly poor mid. Parker did well for a first game. Him and Boateng till the end of the season please.....
Almost forgot. Please someone tell Duff he has passed it 234 years ago. For God sake, Jol sort it now, mate

[Mhbruce]

I personally thought rise made a few good tackles and deflections, but was poor going forwards, all in all though I thought we deserved more than what we got, especially last ten minutes, if it wasn't for arsenals defence we could of got back in

[the nutflush]

Sidwell was piss poor today.  I cant believe Im saying this but maybe Karagounis needs to start instead of Sidwell.  No more Duff either.  Dejagah slots straight in on the right, Bent starts instead of Kasami (who was good) and we look a lot better.

[God The Mechanic]

Good last half an hour, plenty of promise once everyone has settled. Parker was outstanding and Riether played some lovely balls, Karagounis did well and Taarabt was dangerous. Bent made some good runs and did very well to get in the right position to score. Was interesting to see Kacaniklic come inside quite often, having the ability to roam could work out quite well for us.

Kaca needs to offer width, especially if Dejagah isn't playing.  Far too many of the players who are played wide ant to come inside, which gives the full backs less protection and crowds the middle.  The latter wouldn't be an issue if the team had better passers, but the ball gets turned over so much.

[Craven Mad]

Positives of the game: Bent scored and looks like the goalscorer we've been looking for, Parker was very tidy, Tarbs had a positive impact (but was in the wrong position to be effective), Kasami looks really up for it this season. So effectively, we have 4 new players (I know Kasami isn't new, but this may be his "breakthrough" season)who all look better than what we had last season. Reither, Kaca, and Riise (controversial??) also played fairly well.

Negatives of the game: Jol doesn't know how to lineup the team, Berbatov looks increasingly disinterested and destructive, we still lack talent in the middle of the park, Duff has lost it, Stockdale can't catch a ball (in fairness, I imagine the rain had an ENORMOUS effect. His kicking was very good though), Sidwell continues to look lost in the premiership, we have no structure in attack.

We have a great squad, and I'm praying that this is simply a 'teething' period before Jol finds the best team. I think that 90% of the problems can be solved once we have found the right formation/first 11. But, when it comes to Jol, it does always seem to be a case of "tomorrow, tomorrow".

[Zu-Meister]

Sidwell is awful. Duff has lost it. Riise not good enough. Berba, apart from the assist, didnt do enough.


Positives: Kasami, Taarabt and Parker looked good. Pleased for Bent with the goal.

yeah, basically agree with this.

[Bassey the warrior]

Good last half an hour, plenty of promise once everyone has settled. Parker was outstanding and Riether played some lovely balls, Karagounis did well and Taarabt was dangerous. Bent made some good runs and did very well to get in the right position to score. Was interesting to see Kacaniklic come inside quite often, having the ability to roam could work out quite well for us.

Kaca needs to offer width, especially if Dejagah isn't playing.  Far too many of the players who are played wide ant to come inside, which gives the full backs less protection and crowds the middle.  The latter wouldn't be an issue if the team had better passers, but the ball gets turned over so much.

Of course he needs to offer width but drifting inside every once in a while is good too, makes him harder to mark. Arsenal's wingers do this and Podolski did it brilliantly.

[God The Mechanic]

I personally thought rise made a few good tackles and deflections, but was poor going forwards, all in all though I thought we deserved more than what we got, especially last ten minutes, if it wasn't for arsenals defence we could of got back in

Arsenal's defence was utterly makeshift though.  Jenkinson ain't great, Sagna was a right back at centre back and Mertesacker has the turning circle of the moon.  Merte wasn't tested enough and pulled out of his comfort zone, Sagna wasn't isolated enough.

[hesedmedia]

Sidwell definitely overshadowed by Parker, whose passing and off-the-ball movement made Sidwell look like the one that hadn't played with the side before today.

[ffcbulgaria]

i'm looking forward to the return of Dejagah, we surely need pace on one of the flanks at least and who else can do it better than him?

[Craven Mad]

I agree with this, from Martin Keown on the Beeb:

Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown at Craven Cottage
Fulham 1-3 Arsenal
"There is a lot of work to do for Fulham, as they do not even know their best 11 yet alone what system they will play."

[Bassey the warrior]

One final point before I head off, we took 15 shots today, far more than we usually did last season. That's promising. Hammering Burton will put us in good stead to get a result against the Toons.

[fulhamking]

                 Stek
Riether  AMorebietta  Hangeland   Briggs

          Parker        Boateng  

 Ruiz                                Taarabt
                  Berbatov

                    Bent

[God The Mechanic]

Of course he needs to offer width but drifting inside every once in a while is good too, makes him harder to mark. Arsenal's wingers do this and Podolski did it brilliantly.

The thing is he doesn't seem to do it every now and again.  The number of games I was watching last year when the ball was BEGGING to be played out wide, only for Kaca as the left winger to be closer to the right touchline was infuriating.  If there's rotation of players, and someone else is there to fill in fine.  But it looked as though they were trying to overload, but without actually loading.  They were just kida standing there, out of position and not offering enough.

[fulhamking]

One final point before I head off, we took 15 shots today, far more than we usually did last season. That's promising. Hammering Burton will put us in good stead to get a result against the Toons.

More than half of those were by Taarabt

[Craven Mad]

                Stek
Riether  AMorebietta  Hangeland   Briggs

          Parker        Boateng  

 Ruiz                                Taarabt
                  Berbatov

                    Bent

Largely agree with this, assuming no injuries, with Kaca/Dejagah used when we need more width and pace. I may consider swapping Tarbs (or Kasami) for Boateng, and then put Kaca on the wing - he always looks dangerous.

[Enter the Frei]

I personally thought rise made a few good tackles and deflections, but was poor going forwards, all in all though I thought we deserved more than what we got, especially last ten minutes, if it wasn't for arsenals defence we could of got back in

Arsenal's defence was utterly makeshift though.  Jenkinson ain't great, Sagna was a right back at centre back and Mertesacker has the turning circle of the moon.  Merte wasn't tested enough and pulled out of his comfort zone, Sagna wasn't isolated enough.

It wasn't utterly makeshift. I'd argue we actually had more injury problems in our defence than arsenal did. They basically had one member of their first choice back 5 missing and they defended pretty well IMO.