Trying to figure out what went wrong - Player Evaluations... not knee jerk

[Nightwind15]

I honestly think Dempsey's career is finished.  He has not scored in I do not know how many matches at home or abroad.  As of right now I am placing him in the same group with Eddie Johnson, Onyewu, Brek Shea and Jose Altidore.  The American wanna be's and the never were.  The USA has better players but convincing the Europeans will be a tough job after the legacy left by these guys. 

[Andy S]

How many of you lot were at the ground? From where I was sitting we played the wrong tactics. We sat there defending and sideways passing. Hangerland was trying to push probing balls because the midfield were not doing it. How you lot can mark him as a two beats me. Kaca is a one trick pony. I don't ever think I have seen him pass a decent defender. if Meualensteen is such  good coach why does he not put a man on the near post at a corner. It is no good looking for scape goats tonight,. There are too many candidates. including the players all the management and the CEO. All very well for you lot at home but that is the worst game of football I have seen at the cottage since before Micky Adams. If Meulensteen is such a talent why did he not put Sidwell on with parker rathe than a straight swap why did he not put a second forward on to play alongside Rodllaga. You change one for one if it is working That is down to the boss

[horse1031]

I honestly think Dempsey's career is finished.  He has not scored in I do not know how many matches at home or abroad.  As of right now I am placing him in the same group with Eddie Johnson, Onyewu, Brek Shea and Jose Altidore.  The American wanna be's and the never were.  The USA has better players but convincing the Europeans will be a tough job after the legacy left by these guys. 

I didnt want to be knee jerk and say this exact thing.  Now, the next morning i think about his play and I can't imagine him being the player he was before.  He is too slow and has no spark.  I saw some emotion from him last night which was good but with his form i don't think he should get in the world cup squad.

Sad that last night might be the last time he plays for Fulham since we are out of the cup and he should never see the field again in Feb because he is not very good.

[TheManOnTheBus]

Hangerland was also pushing probing balls because Stockers kept giving it to him (and Burn) rather than kicking long. This was because SU never pressed with their everyone back in our third defence strategy. 

Having said that, when Parker got it there was no one else in central midfield (Tankovich also so far away), that we ended up with long useless pass after long useless pass or sideways and sideways.

[Stefano Okaka Chuka]

Stockdale 6
Passley 5
Burn 6
Hangeland 6
Amorebieta 5
Parker 5
Dempsey 4
Tankovic 6
Kasami 6
Kaca 4
Rodallega 6

Déjàgah 5
Sidwell 5
Duff 6

[cmg]

"Hangeland - did ok, still pretty slow and struggling to get his feet underneath him"

His passing was dreadful, he passes as if he is shooting. Virtually every ball went to a yellow shirt or over hit. He didn't look good against League 1 opposition, Man Ure will tear him to bits.

Yes. But the extraordinary thing was that for long periods of time this seemed to be our only 'creative' option. It was as if John Cleese had been picked to play instead of Pirlo.

Tankovic's performance has tended to be overrated because he outshone his elders and 'betters' by a considerable margin. It was just plain embarrassing that our three best players were the three with least experience.

[Eggs for Breakfast]

You have to say that Sheffield United's tactics were excellent yesterday.  By tightly marking our midfield and attacking players they forced our defenders to launch long balls which were easily dealt with.  Our players lacked the skill and ability to go past their defenders, so we could not create anything.  Duff made a slight difference when he came on because he can still beat a defender one on one.

[ToodlesMcToot]

I honestly think Dempsey's career is finished.  He has not scored in I do not know how many matches at home or abroad.  As of right now I am placing him in the same group with Eddie Johnson, Onyewu, Brek Shea and Jose Altidore.  The American wanna be's and the never were.  The USA has better players but convincing the Europeans will be a tough job after the legacy left by these guys.  

I really doubt that Dempsey's career is over, unless your basing this conclusion solely upon his ability to play for an EPL team. A loan in for such a short period of time is just a poor decision (consistent with previous poor decisions on Fulham's part). Trying to apply what happened with Donovan and Everton to Fulham and Dempsey was bound to fail. Donovan was the right player for the right need. Dempsey was/is, at best, a luxury player in a team that has more needs than it can afford to fill. In a team that was humming and playing well, I don't doubt that he would be more of a presence. In a team in our current state, he's Berba all over again - a player who demands we play his way in order for him to be effective.

You're selling Jozy short by the way. He may not be an EPL player, but he's hardly the failure you make him out to be. Plenty of Eredivisie stars have failed here and gone on to fine careers. EPL may be a bridge to far for him, but I don't see how he's some black eye for American players.

[Bill2]

How many of you lot were at the ground? From where I was sitting we played the wrong tactics. We sat there defending and sideways passing. Hangerland was trying to push probing balls because the midfield were not doing it. How you lot can mark him as a two beats me. Kaca is a one trick pony. I don't ever think I have seen him pass a decent defender. if Meualensteen is such  good coach why does he not put a man on the near post at a corner. It is no good looking for scape goats tonight,. There are too many candidates. including the players all the management and the CEO. All very well for you lot at home but that is the worst game of football I have seen at the cottage since before Micky Adams. If Meulensteen is such a talent why did he not put Sidwell on with parker rathe than a straight swap why did he not put a second forward on to play alongside Rodllaga. You change one for one if it is working That is down to the boss

I was there and have to agree about Hengerland he had nobody doing anything in front of him so his only option was to punt long balls forward, Burn had the same dilemma.

[ToodlesMcToot]

How many of you lot were at the ground? From where I was sitting we played the wrong tactics. We sat there defending and sideways passing. Hangerland was trying to push probing balls because the midfield were not doing it. How you lot can mark him as a two beats me. Kaca is a one trick pony. I don't ever think I have seen him pass a decent defender. if Meualensteen is such  good coach why does he not put a man on the near post at a corner. It is no good looking for scape goats tonight,. There are too many candidates. including the players all the management and the CEO. All very well for you lot at home but that is the worst game of football I have seen at the cottage since before Micky Adams. If Meulensteen is such a talent why did he not put Sidwell on with parker rathe than a straight swap why did he not put a second forward on to play alongside Rodllaga. You change one for one if it is working That is down to the boss

I was there and have to agree about Hengerland he had nobody doing anything in front of him so his only option was to punt long balls forward, Burn had the same dilemma.

Easy enough to see, even on the television.

I have no idea what Parker was up to. He looked like Golden Retriever puppy chasing his tail, spinning himself into the ground. No one appeared to be showing for the ball or moving really.

Just an awful display from the team and it's coaches.

[horse1031]

How many of you lot were at the ground? From where I was sitting we played the wrong tactics. We sat there defending and sideways passing. Hangerland was trying to push probing balls because the midfield were not doing it. How you lot can mark him as a two beats me. Kaca is a one trick pony. I don't ever think I have seen him pass a decent defender. if Meualensteen is such  good coach why does he not put a man on the near post at a corner. It is no good looking for scape goats tonight,. There are too many candidates. including the players all the management and the CEO. All very well for you lot at home but that is the worst game of football I have seen at the cottage since before Micky Adams. If Meulensteen is such a talent why did he not put Sidwell on with parker rathe than a straight swap why did he not put a second forward on to play alongside Rodllaga. You change one for one if it is working That is down to the boss

I was there and have to agree about Hengerland he had nobody doing anything in front of him so his only option was to punt long balls forward, Burn had the same dilemma.

:plus one:  i dont think we can fault our centre backs for not being able to pick a 40 yard pass every single time.  I think we didnt have enough movement through the middle and with our strikers.