The Sunday Times - Brian Glanville

[glenhodgso]

Many of us who have been around for awhile will know that Brian Granville is one of (if not the) most seasoned and respected football writers in the country, and at the age of 83 still earns the odd shekel writing football reports. He has never been a man to scream headlines, nor to resort to hyperbole, so his report on the game yesterday makes interesting reading.

Here are a couple of quotes, which makes me think that Symons may be in more trouble than he might think, as, in Granville's (understated) view, the trouble with Fulham is not the group of players, but the tactics:

"Given their ineffectiveness in attack for the first hour or more, it was surprising that Fulham should keep Bryan Ruiz, arguably their most incisive and inventive attacker, on the bench for so long...."

"When Kostas Stafylidis....booted a long cross in from the flank...Tommy Smith miscued it, allowing Ross McCormack, belatedly moved up to play as a central striker, to score with some ease"

"Fulham's attacking tactics could be open to criticism given the lack of wingers, for whom their current manager, Kit Symons, seems to have scant enthusiasm. this could perhaps account for the fact that Hugo Rodallega, who spent the first 68 minutes as a lone striker, has little impact"

Lots of praise in the article for Marcus Bentinelli too.

[Mince n Tatties]

He is about spot on there....

[bill taylors apprentice]

Hit the nail on the head !!!

[Fulham76]

We can all see it, it's pretty obvious to all, except one...

[nose]

with no ugly central midfielders exactly what will wingers do in a 4 4 2 formation other than get stuck on the wing adding nothing.

i do not like this 'diamond' formation and would change to 3 5 2.... but 4 4 2 will be a disaster... glanville doesn't actually name what central midfielders we should use.... tunny is currently so poor as to be unlikely o make a sunday morning park team and as long as a you have such a poor player in sucha pivotal position you have no chance.

[Baszab]

Without doubt the most knowledgable football writer in the world for the last 30 years (shekels spot on btw)

He is without doubt correct but....

Rodellega - KS keeps faith with him to keep the team together as a unit - we desperately needed team solidarity - maybe wearing thin though
Ruiz - obviously didn't train that much this week - hopefully certain to play at every opportunity in the future
Wingers - need a compact midfield because our players  are not very good and would be swamped/outnumbered if play with wingers

[Kentish Gent]

I was also going to post this message re Brian Glanville' Sunday Times report. You are absolutely spot-on - he is the doyen of soccer writers, and understands the game as well as (and better than most) managers and pundits. He has often reported from the Cottage, and I suspect he harbours a great deal of affection for Fulham. Question is - will anybody pay attention to his observations?

[cmg]

Good to see Glanville still at work. He, along with people like Wooldridge, McIllvanny and Keating, towered above the strident hacks of today; real journalists rather than glorified copywriters for the PL.

He wrote several novels, including 'The Rise of Gerry Logan'. It's a grown-up book, although I read it as a kid, about the development of a Scottish footballer from junior level to super stardom written at a time when footballers (with the transfers of Law, Greaves etc. to Italian clubs) were just beginning to become 'super stars'. The Scottish, English and Italian clubs he plays for all have made-up names - but it is not difficult to see through them. His first English club is (I think) 'Thames FC' which is obviously a very well observed Fulham.
Still in print, I think. Lauded as one of the best football books ever written.

[Burt]

The thing is... We can see it too. Surely Kit must be able to see what has been going on as well? Come on Kit, sort it out, I want you to succeed!

[RaySmith]

Obviously Kit's a very experienced football man -has experience of the game at every level, so one can only think that he feels he is playing the best way for the players he has.

Though something needs to change, of course -well, we need to become more solid and organised defensively for a start.

But I'm sure Kit and his staff and the players are working hard to put things right-but confidence seems very fragile at the moment.

A couple of wins will build confidence, and take us up the table. We need to get behind the team now more than ever.

[Fulham1959]

Obviously Kit's a very experienced football man -has experience of the game at every level, so one can only think that he feels he is playing the best way for the players he has.

Though something needs to change, of course -well, we need to become more solid and organised defensively for a start.

But I'm sure Kit and his staff and the players are working hard to put things right-but confidence seems very fragile at the moment.

A couple of wins will build confidence, and take us up the table. We need to get behind the team now more than ever.

Something that few of the many experts on this message-board seem willing to acknowledge.

BUT, I agree that something needs to change and I sense a shake-up on the field, soon.

[Bill2]

This is exactly what we have all been saying, so in a way I am glad it is not just me.

[Bill2]

Obviously Kit's a very experienced football man -has experience of the game at every level, so one can only think that he feels he is playing the best way for the players he has.

Though something needs to change, of course -well, we need to become more solid and organised defensively for a start.

But I'm sure Kit and his staff and the players are working hard to put things right-but confidence seems very fragile at the moment.

A couple of wins will build confidence, and take us up the table. We need to get behind the team now more than ever.

I am not sure we have a couple of wins in the tank with our tactics. To win you need to score which means shots on target in our last few games they have been few and far between. So we need to create chances which our current tactics are not generating.

[Admin]

The thing is... We can see it too. Surely Kit must be able to see what has been going on as well? Come on Kit, sort it out, I want you to succeed!

25,000 Fulham fans sensed relegation last season, but the owner didn't. Most realised it was a big possibility again this season, but again, the owner didn't. Sometimes it does make me wonder what these people, but our opinion doesn't count, we're just paying fans.

[westcliff white]

2 months ago I was slagged off for saying Rodders should be dropped and Ross played through the middle