Next 4 games make or break....easy games?..merged

[Army Bloke]

 Hi chaps - long time reader this board and member of various other Fulham boards for donkeys now - mostly by the same user name so some of you may or may not recognise it - anyhow, bottom line is since Rene came in, we're a better team.  Back four look a bit fragile but it's more probably shell shock than anything else and I think that come the end of January, we'll be mid table or thereabouts on about 25 points...have I been  :wine: you ask?  Well look at the next 4 games.
Thursday away to Norwich - I can't see anything but 3 points here if we take our current form to Carrow Road.
Saturday away to Hull - we'll drop points here but I think we'll get a draw.
New Years day home to West Ham - 3 points as they are one of the 3 teams in the league worse than us...
Sat 11th Sunderland home - see above

My thinking is without any major transfers in or out in January but I think in Rene we've got the right man and he probably knows a few people to bring in a few decent loan signings to turn this around.  If we get my predicted points above and bearing in mind that 9 of those points are from teams around us, I can see us out of trouble by end of January...now where's my pint... :beer:

Cheers!

AB

[Army Bloke]

I forgot to mention - give the under 21's a run out at Norwich in the cup as well...do them good and give the lads a bit of a break.

[SP]

Here's hoping you're right.  I can't see any reason to believe we will win at Norwich, I think it'll be a draw & I'd be happy with that.  Hull are doing well & are hard to beat at home  WHU have a nasty habit of undeserved wins against us & Can't Control is likely to be playing.  Sunderland is a great opportunity.  The addition of Clint should help.

[bulgariawhite]

There are no easy games. They are there to win if you are good enough!!!!

[JackyFulham90]

None of these games are easy no game is easy but we have the quality to pick up points, I see us getting 8 maybe 10

Norwich 1-2 Fulham
Hull 1-1 Fulham
Fulham 2-2 West Ham
Fulham 2-0 Sunderland 

[RaySmith]

There are no easy games. They are there to win if you are good enough!!!!

Agree - but hopefully we will get some much needed points if we perform as we have been.

[St Eve]

none are easy so if we can pick up draws away and wins at home i will be happy

[YoungsBitter]

My only concern with next 4 games is the injury/problem with Senderos as just have same confidence with Amorebieta, as strange as that is to actually type ;)
I think we have choices in midfield, up front and on the wings and think we can rip opposition defences apart now especially the likes of Norwich and Hull. But with a shaky non commanding goalie and very thin defensive cover we have no room for error at the back. Maybe RM gets some money in Jan for a new center back. Hughes, thank god, has played very well but his tired legs missing the cross from Negrado let Milner have an open goal.

[MJG]

How about Reither's tired legs not getting back to Milner?
To be fair on Hughes he was at full stretch for that pass, an inch close he may have cut the ball out. But its close margins like that all the time in this lge.

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[Ichabod Magoo]

4 easy games?  This isn't the Swiss league.

[leonffc]

How about Reither's tired legs not getting back to Milner?
To be fair on Hughes he was at full stretch for that pass, an inch close he may have cut the ball out. But its close margins like that all the time in this lge.

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Glad I'm not the only one to notice that. Riether was nowhere near Milner when he should have been tucking over to cover Hughes who had to try and cover the space around the near post.
Although, let's be fair, Negredos body shape hardly looked like he was about to play the pass of the season!!

[Fernhurst]

4 easy games.......

Oh dear I do wish you hadn't said that!!!

[Slaphead in Qatar]

EasIER games. No game is easy,  our next 4 opponents are also fighting for their lives.

[Burt]

If we were still being managed by Jol and playing his brand of (ahem) football we may have scraped a point or two out of these.

Assuming the improvements we have seen under RM are sustained, I can see two home wins, and hopefully a draw or two from the away fixtures.

The minimum requirement has to be beating West Ham and Sunderland though.

[Julius Geezer]

I can't see any reason to believe we will win at Norwich.

One reason is the way we have been playing under Rene - organised, committed, positive, disciplined.

[The Equalizer]

I don't think that it's a case of wanting to win these games anymore, we simply HAVE TO win these games. We've already played a lot of 'easy' teams this season, and several of those at the Cottage too. We haven't had the results go our way. These games we need to win because our chances against anyone in the top 10 are very limited, even under this revival under Rene.

[Victor Meldrew]

I can't see any reason to believe we will win at Norwich.

One reason is the way we have been playing under Rene - organised, committed, positive, disciplined.

True, but we are still giving away goals early / late in games, especially from set pieces, and stupid defensive errors. These have only been papered over due to us playing against top 6 opposition. It's all fair and well calling these 'easier' games, but if we go to Norwich / Hull with all the huff and puff and do exactly the same against sides like this, we will lose. Sorry to sound 'negative' again, but that's the cold hard truth.    

[Victor Meldrew]

I don't think that it's a case of wanting to win these games anymore, we simply HAVE TO win these games. We've already played a lot of 'easy' teams this season, and several of those at the Cottage too. We haven't had the results go our way. These games we need to win because our chances against anyone in the top 10 are very limited, even under this revival under Rene.

I wouldn't call it 'several'. West Brom and Cardiff could be classed as easy, Swansea, well, they've beaten us 3 times on the bounce now at the Cottage and are not a poor side any more. We've beaten Stoke, Villa and Palace away, also lost to Soton who are up there competing with the top 6 after spending 60 million quid. The rest have been Manchester United, City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton, Chelsea, Spurs oh, and a really poor showing away to West Ham.

To be fair, we've not had the rub of the green when it's come to fixtures this season, but I don't tend to see that as an excuse. The fixtures have only become harder because we as a club, have allowed others around us to strengthen, where we haven't.   

[Burt]

I think the big difference that RM has made is instilling a belief that we are competitive once more. It is unfortunate that he has had difficult fixtures since taking over, but if the team maintains the spirit that they have shown in recent matches then we will start picking up the points.

To Mr Meldrew's point, I agree that the defence are a bit rocky at times, but this has been against some of the best attacking line-ups in the league. I would like to think that the solidity we showed against Villa will be what we see in our next few fixtures.

[filham]

These next four games are critical and it is essential that we record more than "improving performance notices" from them, we are desperate for points on the board. To suggest they are easy is ridiculous, they will be tough relegation battles each requiring full commitment from all of our players.

We have all been saying that we need a new player up front and in centre mid. in fact the real big worry for these next four games is our back four which without Hangeland is looking very weak. Senderos is now injured and opponents will see Fulham as a match where goals are there for the taking. We have conceded more goals than any other team in the premiership, difficult to see how we can tighten things up without a new signing.