We are Fulham FC

[BedsFFC]

We play on the floor.

Or, at least I hope we would start to...soon

[fulhams_finest]

haha keep dreaming!

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

floor ?

[Forever Fulham]

If you mean we start keeping the ball on the carpet with short possession passes as we build our way up the pitch, rather than boot it away and pray that a forward can bring it down, then, yes, by all means, "play on the floor."  Have you ever taken note of the low percentage of long air passes up field that get knocked down and controlled by a forward or attacking mid?  What would you lot guess -- 20%.  Seems like such a waste of time to repeatedly give the ball away like that.

[snarks]

Although as has been pointed out on another thread, statistically Fulham are not a long ball team.

[HatterDon]

Although as has been pointed out on another thread, statistically Fulham are not a long ball team.

true, and I for one don't want to go back to "pass the ball sideways and backwards 18-20 times in our own half and then lose it when we cross midfield." I had enough of that "Martin Jol Sexy Football" to last a lifetime. A mix between short, quick passing and long probing runs is what we need and -- regardless of what some seem to think -- what we're getting.

[Berserker]

I used to feel like getting on the pitch myself and having a go at kicking the ball when we had Jol. Mind you I probably would have missed the ball let alone the goal, but that's not the point!

[BedsFFC]

Although as has been pointed out on another thread, statistically Fulham are not a long ball team.

true, and I for one don't want to go back to "pass the ball sideways and backwards 18-20 times in our own half and then lose it when we cross midfield." I had enough of that "Martin Jol Sexy Football" to last a lifetime. A mix between short, quick passing and long probing runs is what we need and -- regardless of what some seem to think -- what we're getting.

In the final 3rd, yes, we are.

[MisfitKid]

If you mean we start keeping the ball on the carpet with short possession passes as we build our way up the pitch, rather than boot it away and pray that a forward can bring it down, then, yes, by all means, "play on the floor."  Have you ever taken note of the low percentage of long air passes up field that get knocked down and controlled by a forward or attacking mid?  What would you lot guess -- 20%.  Seems like such a waste of time to repeatedly give the ball away like that.

I call it "Tennis" or here in California, "Volleyball"...  fp.gif

[Baszab]

Most people around me shout out "forward" or such like if we start short midfield passing -- or moaning at Parker for turning back if he can't find an opening to pass to - let's face it, we don't have the players to pussy foot around tippy-tappying at the moment -- a few short passes to draw on the the opposition then a long diagonal or through ball is our best tactic -- any Barcelona style play by the juniors in our team is just going to be battered by the high energy and physical teams.

Dream on if you want attractive football at this present moment with this present squad in the situation we are in facing a second successive relegation battle.

[Twig]

A little pace would be nice to see.  Then perhaps we could move the ball through midfield without getting bogged down with sideways tippy tappy.

[cmg]

I think there might be a little confusion in some quarters, here.

There is a big difference between 'the long diagonal or through ball' from a creative midfielder and the so-called 'Long Ball' (aka 'Route One') as advocated by the likes of Charles Hughes, Howard Wilkinson, John Beck and our own much-loved Lawrie Sanchez where the ball is lumped up from the back completely bypassing the midfield.

The former is, to my mind, THE most attractive form of football. The problem is that it is very difficult and high-risk to execute and it requires intelligent runners at the other end. Fulham, of course, had one of the greatest ever exponents of this game (not always with the intelligent runners at the other end!) but players capable of seeing and playing the 'killer' ball consistently are vary rare indeed. We see glimpses of this skill from LVC, Ross and David but whether we have the confidence to develop in this area is yet to be seen.