Rene Meulensteen says Fulham need new players to stay up

[the nutflush]

          Stekelenburg
Reither Hangeland Lescott Buttner
        Boateng   X
Dejagah    Dempsey   Kacaniklic
             Bent

Who is X?  Anderson?  Other than that I'm out realistic ideas.  

[Gozorich]

I like the tone in that quote.. 

It sounds like it's being directed firmly at those clutching the purse strings, hopefully they take heed.

I really doubt that he would've come without assurances that Fulham invest in the roster. He had the power to demand it in the negotiations.....obviously, since he is still with us while the man who brought him in has been fired.

However, it does nothing to hurt his position to say these things in the the way that he has.

Jol and Hughes both appeared to have similar discussions before agreeing to take the job though, it didn't seem to pan out the way they thought it would on paper either..

But they presumably had their discussions with Al Fayed, that monument to truth. Hopefully Khan wont be so devious.

[the nutflush]

          Stekelenburg
Reither Hangeland Lescott Buttner
         Boateng   X
Dejagah    Dempsey   Kacaniklic
              Bent

Oh I left out Kasami.  Maybe he slots straight in there. 

Who is X?  Anderson?  Other than that I'm out realistic ideas. 

[the nutflush]

          Stekelenburg
Reither Hangeland Lescott Buttner
         Boateng   X
Dejagah    Dempsey   Kacaniklic
              Bent

Woops I left out Kasami. 

Oh I left out Kasami.  Maybe he slots straight in there. 

Who is X?  Anderson?  Other than that I'm out realistic ideas. 

[the nutflush]

What Im trying to say is I left out Kasami.

[tonynorton]

Its all good and well taking about investment and january but its going to hard for us to bring in top quality players when we are in the bottom three!!

[premFlem]

I hope Rene can avoid the mercenaries and journeymen out there, old arry up the road last season couldn't with all his experience.

[Bassey the warrior]

I like the tone in that quote.. 

It sounds like it's being directed firmly at those clutching the purse strings, hopefully they take heed.

I really doubt that he would've come without assurances that Fulham invest in the roster. He had the power to demand it in the negotiations.....obviously, since he is still with us while the man who brought him in has been fired.

However, it does nothing to hurt his position to say these things in the the way that he has.

Jol and Hughes both appeared to have similar discussions before agreeing to take the job though, it didn't seem to pan out the way they thought it would on paper either..

Both spent on players in their first season. After that, for Jol, something about transfer policy changed. We started bringing in freebies (who were freebies for a reason).

Karagounis has been quality to be fair.

[Holders]

Rene has seen that we need new players after being here about two weeks. That, by contrasting with Jol who was happy that he had got all his targets, is telling in itself and augers well for the future, albeit in part accounting for our present position.

As I and others have said, we must trust that player recruitment was a factor in the discussions.

[Cravenawin]

Think we need more than just a LB, CM and Striker to be honest. Add to that a good quality central defender as Hangeland has been poor for the best part of a year now. Could always bring Dan Burn back.

[Deanothefulhamfan]

I would take 9 new players right now....

[the nutflush]

Think we need more than just a LB, CM and Striker to be honest. Add to that a good quality central defender as Hangeland has been poor for the best part of a year now. Could always bring Dan Burn back.

Yes its obvious we need much more.  But its not really going to happen in a January window is it?  This is Fulham after all.  I think we would be doing really well to get a LB CM and a striker in one window.  Anything more is a bonus. 

[TonyGilroy]

I don't think we should be taking public statements too seriously.

Everyone's going to be saying the right things but we actually know nothing of what's gone on behind the scenes.

Did Rene come here to be manager? Does he want to be manager? Are the club investing in him long term? Actively seeking a permanent manager or is Rene on trial?

No one knows whether he has what it takes to even be a good manager. Time will tell on that if we give him the opportunity.

What I think we do now know is that Khan wants to avoid relegation and he can't be in any doubt that the squad needs strengthening. Tony Gale recognised our problems - we have quality but what we lack is legs. People to put in the effort and up the intensity and it may not cost a fortune to bring in those types.

It's guys in their early mid twenties who may be in the Championship or missing out at bigger clubs to bigger names. Hull did well to get Livermore and Cardiff Caulker. Those are the types we need and they may be gettable without breaking the bank.

Whisper it but the type of player who kept Stoke in this league over the last few years.

[ToodlesMcToot]

I like the tone in that quote.. 

It sounds like it's being directed firmly at those clutching the purse strings, hopefully they take heed.

I really doubt that he would've come without assurances that Fulham invest in the roster. He had the power to demand it in the negotiations.....obviously, since he is still with us while the man who brought him in has been fired.

However, it does nothing to hurt his position to say these things in the the way that he has.

Jol and Hughes both appeared to have similar discussions before agreeing to take the job though, it didn't seem to pan out the way they thought it would on paper either..

Both spent on players in their first season. After that, for Jol, something about transfer policy changed. We started bringing in freebies (who were freebies for a reason).

Karagounis has been quality to be fair.

He has. 100% agree. But he cannot run with PL midfielders. It's not for lack of effort either. His legs won't do that job anymore.

I wasn't saying that they (the freebies) are poor players, but that there are reasons why they were free. Diarra for instance was breaking down. We squeezed as much out of him that could possibly be gotten and he broke down. Boateng is a good, strong Dmid, but to my eye is a red card waiting to happen. And with the exception of one good stint, still hasn't appeared to be up to the speed of play when I've seen him.

I happen to believe that with a little more spending we could've had younger players with more to prove who were more capable of putting in a 90 minute shift and put pressure on our starters. None of the three I've mentioned have looked like a threat to anyone's starting position this season.