Positives and negatives from today

[farfouille]

Positives:

- Our defense overall: both Arsenal's goals were not due to our mistakes in defense, i.e. not that we played bad, they just played well.
- Steks and Hangeland back from injuries and in shape: we clearly needed you guys, please stay fit!
- Burn: not sure why Rene says he has a bright future, he has a bright present, FFS!
- Richardson: anyone able to stop Sagna is a good left back for me, played surprisingly well.
- Dejagah: Rene finally preferred him over Duff.
- Berbatov: great performance, I can't recall a wrong decision, he even tried to win some balls in his weird style, by pushing people around.

Negatives:

- We lost. Expected, but we lost.
- Parker lost his captaincy to Hangeland. Why? Is it because of Rene's obsession with clean sheets?
- Dempsey adds nothing and just stands in the way of Kasami and Taraabt.

One additional positive for me - for the first time this season I finally know my perfect starting 11:

               Steks
Riether-Hangeland-Burn-Richardson
          Parker-Sidwell
Dejagah-Kasami-Taarabt
            Berbatov


What are your positives and negatives?

[NogoodBoyo]

You talk a lot of sense - too much sense for most around here who might prefer a bit more controversial and violently expressed opinion.
Nogood "unless you're apoplectic, isit" Boyo

[fulhamben]

? so by your own admission we needed brede, but then question why the club captain was given his armband back?

[farfouille]

Nogood "unless you're apoplectic, isit" Boyo

I wouldn't know even if I was, would I? :)

Well, bookies expected us to lose 5:0 so why be violent after 2:0?

[rusty shackleford]

Hopefully Rene sees that the performance was good despite defeat and doesnt make too many changes next week.

Id have dempsey out Kasami in and leave it at that.

As long as Burn and Hangeland are fit we will hopefully not see much of those other 2 cowboys for the rest of the year

[farfouille]

? so by your own admission we needed brede, but then question why the club captain was given his armband back?

If I recall correctly, Parker was captain even before Brede got injured, no? I am not quite sure actually. I remember that Berba was second captain and now he's not.

[rusty shackleford]

I dont believe Parker was captain until after Brede was injured

[Admin]

I've forgotten what a positive is these days. I certainly know what a home defeat feels like though, and what losing every week is like to ridiculous scorelines. Please don't take this in a negative way, the above, on paper, looks like a really quality side, but it just ain't happening is it. As fans, I beg the club to give us a productive week this week in transfer market and the team, a shock result up at Swansea. Now that's the positives I'm after but will they deliver?    

[fulhamben]

? so by your own admission we needed brede, but then question why the club captain was given his armband back?

If I recall correctly, Parker was captain even before Brede got injured, no? I am not quite sure actually. I remember that Berba was second captain and now he's not.

if you recall correctly parker was captain when we got smashed at home by the worst team in the league last week. wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't a defensive midfielder to boot. team looks much more sound with brede back in it taking control again. parker has been captain through some of our worst evr prem performances this year. im not surprised it has reverted back to brede one little bit.

[farfouille]

I dont believe Parker was captain until after Brede was injured

True, just checked, Brede was captain in his last match before he got injured - against Crystal Palace.
By bad!

Even better then - one negative down. :P

[fulhamben]

I dont believe Parker was captain until after Brede was injured

yes that's how I recall it too

[K33NY]

Reason Parker lost the Captain role is because Hangeland is the Captain, its chosen seasonably, when captain is back and not given hes role back, gives a massive moral decrease, not just for Hangeland but for the team as well. Its like this in all clubs, they have a captain, and a second choice to step in, if both is out then they go on and on but theres only one captain. And to me thats Hangeland, hes done great for Fulham and deserves it and is good at it.

[fulhamben]

Reason Parker lost the Captain role is because Hangeland is the Captain, its chosen seasonably, when captain is back and not given hes role back, gives a massive moral decrease, not just for Hangeland but for the team as well. Its like this in all clubs, they have a captain, and a second choice to step in, if both is out then they go on and on but theres only one captain. And to me thats Hangeland, hes done great for Fulham and deserves it and is good at it.

yep, and quite frankly brede is the superior captain

[Denver Fulham]

The Parker-Sidwell 2-man midfield doesn't work. It's "fine" for running around and standing in front of the back four and breaking up play. It doesn't connect at all with the front four in any consistent or dangerous way, and it runs out of steam in the final 30 minutes of matches against comparable or better opponents.

We either need to play Karagounis, as well, and sacrifice a CAM, or drop Kasami deeper into a three-man central midfield, or (hopefully) buy someone in the next two weeks who's actually good.

People will complain if Sidwell or Parker get dropped, because they're good servants and they play hard and they're leaders and whatever, but they're not good by Prem standards. Sidwell couldn't sniff a match for us two years ago. Now he's an every-week starter? Absurd. If you want a reason we're very much on the way toward relegation, central midfield is the glaring reason. The club's had two windows to fix it and hasn't. If it goes a third without doing so, we're done, I'm afraid.

As for the rest of that preferred lineup, it's fine. It's not like we have choices that are clearly better than anything else right now.

[fulhamben]

The Parker-Sidwell 2-man midfield doesn't work. It's "fine" for running around and standing in front of the back four and breaking up play. It doesn't connect at all with the front four in any consistent or dangerous way, and it runs out of steam in the final 30 minutes of matches against comparable or better opponents.

We either need to play Karagounis, as well, and sacrifice a CAM, or drop Kasami deeper into a three-man central midfield, or (hopefully) buy someone in the next two weeks who's actually good.

People will complain if Sidwell or Parker get dropped, because they're good servants and they play hard and they're leaders and whatever, but they're not good by Prem standards. Sidwell couldn't sniff a match for us two years ago. Now he's an every-week starter? Absurd.

As for the rest of that preferred lineup, it's fine. It's not like we have choices that are clearly better than anything else right now.

been saying it all season.

[farfouille]

... drop Kasami deeper into a three-man central midfield...

I am OK with that, it's a 4-3-3 and it worked well last time, I think.

[Denver Fulham]

FulhamBen --

Some will (rightfully) argue that Sidwell has been among our better players this season, but his (and Parker's) limitations are a large reason why numerous other guys have looked poor and why the defense has looked so vulnerable.

[fulhamben]

FulhamBen --

Some will (rightfully) argue that Sidwell has been among our better players this season, but his (and Parker's) limitations are a large reason why numerous other guys have looked poor and why the defense has looked so vulnerable.

yep I said it back in September, you cant play them in the middle together. its been a little easier with sidders banging in a few goals but on large it has been a failed experiment

[copthornemike]

Positives:
Lets be realistic, although we were beaten (again) we were after all playing the league leaders on their patch and who currently in the middle of a long unbroken run of wins.

So an excellent first half where I think the team surprised nearly everyone, and arguably might have even snicked a cheeky lead before the break with some of our breaks.

Defensively I thought the team played one of their best games this season and that Rene and team may well have found a dependable defensive set up at last. Throughout the game we had a good defensive shape like the teams Roy developed.

Parker and Sidwell screened in front of the back four very effectively.

Dejagah teamed up well with Reither once again on the right.

Richardson despite having less back-up defensively from Kacaniklic was pretty sound.

Stekelenburg, Hangerland & Burns did all that could expected against quick moving and clever attackers. A couple of more steady matches and Burns will be interesting the bigger clubs, so already I think we should extend and improve his contract. He doesn't look like a good young prospect - he looks the real deal. I might get some flack for this but he could conceivably be looked on as a young John Terry on the field - without the off field nasties. Have you noticed the amount of communicating he is already doing with the experienced defenders alongside him.

Berba actually looked quite effective at a hold up man in the first half buying time for the midfield to break past.

Negatives
We were pretty ineffective in the second half going forwards, particularly as Sidwell and Parker had to concentrate on defensive duties. Neither of the third members of the midfield (Dempsey & Kasami) or Kacaniklic really had an impact on the game and Berba was ineffective throughout the second half.
Would have been good to have a mobile forward unit who could effectively press the opposition further up the field throughout the match - still then again Arsenal are where they are at the moment for a reason.

[hovewhite]

It seems rene has now the defense sorted and if the four can stay together as a unit we will have a fighting chance to stay up.
Now rene get the other departments of the team somewhere near to a balanced team.