signs of improvement?

[kendeh]

I know that a lot of the clubs supporters are worried that this might be the year we go down, but what worries me more is that we cant replace players who are past their best until January and although we cannot reveal our targets we should give the supporters hope that reinforcements are on there way.The media says that Fulhams squad is the oldest in the division and we know that skill and youth can be more than a match for age and experiance, as evidenced at Southampton. I would prefer a blend of both, but we do have to replace a lot of the older players who are not up to raising there game to match our circumstances. So my message to Shahid Khan is show us your ambition matches ours.

[The Old Count]

I was there and I have to say that it looked pretty much the same which is why I am so disappointed.
We played well for fifteen minutes and OK for a further thirty but we did that against Stoke, Cardiff, West Brom and Palace.
Hughes wasn't much better than Senderos (who would have been crucified on here, by the way, for an own goal). Boatang not too different from Sidwell.

We did look a little more energetic and committed but, once again, there were players who looked uncomfortable in the positions they were being asked to play in.
On the bright side, I had a good drink in Wandsworth on the way home.

[Basil]

I noticed no discernable difference yesterday. Only thing was Swansea not as good as previous three opponents so we less outclassed. Still very deservedly beaten by a mid table team at home. Staggering how Dejagah does not play. Simply dont understand it.

[Aaron]

In my mind, the jury is still out..

It looks like RM was able to influence team selection and our formation as the approach yesterday was different to anything we've seen so far this season.  For the first ten or fifteen minutes we looked like we might actually be playing rather well but I think this has more to do with the fact that it took that long for Swansea to work out why we weren't the same team they'd watched in every match video for the season to that point.  Once they'd sussed the change was largely superficial, the result wasn't really in much doubt.

Fitness, confidence and a change in attitude from some (most) players is what we need as much as anything else right now and none of these things over overnight fixes so I think it's too early to tell. 

We're like an oil tanker that's already set out to sea..  When you're in the preseason, still in the harbour all the little tug boats can poke and prod to make sure you're facing in the right direction, but once you're under your own steam it takes an age to get you to turn around again.  Unfortunately for us the little tugboats in preseason left us pointing directly at the Alaskan seabird colony and nobody noticed until we'd started steaming towards it at full power.  We just have to hope the course correction is going to take hold before we plough headlong into all those little terns and puffins.

I think I saw sufficient movement though to believe if we could get a few results on the board in our next couple of games, make some serious moves in January and show a bit of belief that we could be capable of staying up so  long as one of the teams above us has a total implosion..  But we have a pretty horrific run of fixtures coming up with West Ham, Spurs, Man City and Everton in the next month..

[nose]

there is no question we looked better yesterday. in the context of being a well placed mid table team we could reasonably have said that was a bit of bad luck and we should have won. But as it is we are in the bottom three, another unpaletable home defeat has a worse resonance.

bent was unlucky to not hit the target but at least we have a player that is in the right position at the right time and we can lament missed chances, rather than have none at all. another day would have seen bent with a hat trick, i was encouraged, unless the dutch idiot drops him which i suspect he might.

parkers was very impressive and showed the value of having a proper captain, at hlaf time he went over to stekkers to congratulate him on the great save with his feet. that's what a captain does and he continued to lead by example all game.

Boeteng made a big difference but the foolish booking made him nervous but again encouraging.

what was bad was ruiz, what a waste of space and not replacing him with tarrabat IMO cost us three points. AT may be selfish and a bit of a loose cannon but he has bags of enthusiasm and takes the game to the opposition, they can't just leave him be, he is a handful. Ruiz is a child lost in a department shop looking for his mum. the game passes him by and he seems to be in another world, not able to join in with the rest. add to that he is too lightweight, slow and ponderous and we are down to 10 men.

Swansea are a good team and improved in the second half, we didn't adjust fast enough, jol sat on his hands rather than make changes, he remains the problem... we need him gone.