Looking at the bigger picture I think we are doing ok

[dannyboi-ffc]

There are a few issues that are disappointing on the football side of things. It's frustrating we haven't signed two centre halves and a pacey forward. But would you rather wait until September and to get the players we actually want or write them off now and sign second or third choices and end up with a poorer squad then we could have had. Now this is hypothetical of course as we can't say either way what is going to happen but I think I am prepared to give the management the benefit of doubt here and judge after the deadline and if we end up with either mickey  mouse signings or no one at all then I think we can have every right to be fuming. A draw away at Cardiff and a cleansheet/ win in the cup was probably as good a start as we expected and if we win Saturday I'm not sure we could have done much better if we had both the Brentford lad and Dunk in anyway.

Looking at the bigger picture comparing this squad with last year's we now have

Keepers- a much better number two and Betts has more games under his belt than last year and the experience of being away in a international tournament.  We just need to get him tied down to a contract now but much better at this stage than last year with Joronen and Kiraly playing until October.

Defence is a strange one. No one can deny we need at least one but preferably two quality cbs. But again look at the bigger picture, Garbutt is much better than Stafy  or Amorebieta. Richards whether you like him or not has more potential and is more reliable than an injury prone journeyman in Hoogland.  Grimmer has more experience and is growing as a result, Voser is like a new signing and is proving to be our strongest option as back up which means less of Kavanagh which can't be a bad thing. Centre half's are poor but are getting better especially Hutch and if we do sign better players we look more than ok there

Midfield finally has a playmaker in Ohara. Someone to make us tick, Cairney good on the ball. Parker will now be a squad player which adds depth. No more Kavanagh in midfield! No more diamond! LVC can be rested because of our options and not burn out like last year by over playing. No more chihi fazlic Fotheringham and other pointless signings. Better options on the left with Kaca being available. Love him or not he isn't a bad player to have as an option.  George Williams is almost fit, tunnicliffe is now 5th or 6th choice rather than the starter he was end of last year.

Matt Smith is available and looks a very good option and IMO offers more than Hugo who is a big burden off of our wages. The rest is as you were really so hopefully we sign someone but I wouldn't say weaker.

All in all I think we have a manager who knows the squad, has had a good pre season playing competitive games unlike last year. We are attracting solid players at this level and convincing Everton to loan us Garbutt over other suitors suggests to me that behind the scenes we look better than people think.  Sure in an ideal world we would tie down Dembele and Hyndman but again  look at it in the real world and not as a fulham fan. How do we know they haven't been trying to tie them down to contracts but the lads simply aren't interested. If they have aspirations to do what Roberts has then Fulham was always someone to use for development and dump as soon as something better came along. Neither have the reputation of Pat and neither have any real experience to have ever warranted a decent fee. Neither are English either which knocks down the price. So maybe time will tell if Rigg is a negotiator or not but he isn't a magician. We are only Fulham to these kids and sometimes I think the only ones in denial are us fans when criticising some decisions or mistakes.

The word sustainable is a fancy way of saying selling club and if we can get a million each for them it is better than what we will get for most kids who are normally just released. It's not as if they were our future. What future? How can a club our size ever plan 5 years ahead and build a team around kids who will end up at bigger clubs after half a decent season.

In a perfect world we would get everything we ever wanted but if we lose Dembele and Hyndman because it's a battle we can't win but sign Dunk and two other quality players to make us stronger NOW and not potentially in a year or so. Then I think it's been a good window.

I was adamant Kit was useless and should have gone but he didn't.  I have accepted he isn't going anywhere soon and I am willing to get off his back and give him a second chance. I can see signs of what he is trying to do and hopefully we will get the rewards for being patient and loyal.

Onwards and upwards and let judgement day be the 2nd of September. COYW!

[Andy S]

It's all speculation Danni-boy. I don't know what the bigger picture is. All I see is we've played two games scored two conceded one. We've won one and drawn one. The club have signed some decent looking players on the face of it and that's it. It will take 10 games to give us an idea of where we are going this season. Until then ........

[hovewhite]

danny what will be will be,everyone starts with a clean slate including kit as far as im concerned.

[Maidstone Al]

There are a few issues that are disappointing on the football side of things. It's frustrating we haven't signed two centre halves and a pacey forward. But would you rather wait until September and to get the players we actually want or write them off now and sign second or third choices and end up with a poorer squad then we could have had. Now this is hypothetical of course as we can't say either way what is going to happen but I think I am prepared to give the management the benefit of doubt here and judge after the deadline and if we end up with either mickey  mouse signings or no one at all then I think we can have every right to be fuming. A draw away at Cardiff and a cleansheet/ win in the cup was probably as good a start as we expected and if we win Saturday I'm not sure we could have done much better if we had both the Brentford lad and Dunk in anyway.

Looking at the bigger picture comparing this squad with last year's we now have

Keepers- a much better number two and Betts has more games under his belt than last year and the experience of being away in a international tournament.  We just need to get him tied down to a contract now but much better at this stage than last year with Joronen and Kiraly playing until October.

Defence is a strange one. No one can deny we need at least one but preferably two quality cbs. But again look at the bigger picture, Garbutt is much better than Stafy  or Amorebieta. Richards whether you like him or not has more potential and is more reliable than an injury prone journeyman in Hoogland.  Grimmer has more experience and is growing as a result, Voser is like a new signing and is proving to be our strongest option as back up which means less of Kavanagh which can't be a bad thing. Centre half's are poor but are getting better especially Hutch and if we do sign better players we look more than ok there

Midfield finally has a playmaker in Ohara. Someone to make us tick, Cairney good on the ball. Parker will now be a squad player which adds depth. No more Kavanagh in midfield! No more diamond! LVC can be rested because of our options and not burn out like last year by over playing. No more chihi fazlic Fotheringham and other pointless signings. Better options on the left with Kaca being available. Love him or not he isn't a bad player to have as an option.  George Williams is almost fit, tunnicliffe is now 5th or 6th choice rather than the starter he was end of last year.

Matt Smith is available and looks a very good option and IMO offers more than Hugo who is a big burden off of our wages. The rest is as you were really so hopefully we sign someone but I wouldn't say weaker.

All in all I think we have a manager who knows the squad, has had a good pre season playing competitive games unlike last year. We are attracting solid players at this level and convincing Everton to loan us Garbutt over other suitors suggests to me that behind the scenes we look better than people think.  Sure in an ideal world we would tie down Dembele and Hyndman but again  look at it in the real world and not as a fulham fan. How do we know they haven't been trying to tie them down to contracts but the lads simply aren't interested. If they have aspirations to do what Roberts has then Fulham was always someone to use for development and dump as soon as something better came along. Neither have the reputation of Pat and neither have any real experience to have ever warranted a decent fee. Neither are English either which knocks down the price. So maybe time will tell if Rigg is a negotiator or not but he isn't a magician. We are only Fulham to these kids and sometimes I think the only ones in denial are us fans when criticising some decisions or mistakes.

The word sustainable is a fancy way of saying selling club and if we can get a million each for them it is better than what we will get for most kids who are normally just released. It's not as if they were our future. What future? How can a club our size ever plan 5 years ahead and build a team around kids who will end up at bigger clubs after half a decent season.

In a perfect world we would get everything we ever wanted but if we lose Dembele and Hyndman because it's a battle we can't win but sign Dunk and two other quality players to make us stronger NOW and not potentially in a year or so. Then I think it's been a good window.

I was adamant Kit was useless and should have gone but he didn't.  I have accepted he isn't going anywhere soon and I am willing to get off his back and give him a second chance. I can see signs of what he is trying to do and hopefully we will get the rewards for being patient and loyal.

Onwards and upwards and let judgement day be the 2nd of September. COYW!

Your right Danny , it is frustrating about the cb position , especially when the club identified the problem back in January by bringing Turner in & you would have hoped that a more permanent option would have been identified  around the same time . If Dunk is that player and are that confident that a deal will be done before the window closes , then great . However the longer this drags on , the  chances of missing out on our 1st choice increase , by which time we may have also missed out on our fall back options . So the club need to make their mind up & move on if necessary , they may well have for all we know , but 7 months surely is more than enough  time to have sorted this out .

[FPT]

I love to see a nice big post! I'll go through this paragraph-by-paragraph to make sure I cover all bases in reply...

I agree with your opening statement – I'm ok with waiting and using the full window to do the best we can, our early business has put us in a position where we already look double the side we did last season so we can cope for the first three weeks of the season. I think it's important to note that, with our acceptable results so far this season; we've also looked a more solid outfit new centre back or not. Shaun Hutchinson seems to have really stepped up and is showing form that I do hope continues, I'm not a fan of Hutchinson generally, but he's showing himself to have qualities and solidity I never saw of him previously. Our midfield is covering our defence well, and it was offensive issues that saw us not get all three points at Cardiff rather defensive.

I'm not convinced that Andy Lonergan is just a much better number two – I think he has that maturity and presence in goal that Marcus Bettinelli doesn't have, and that's not a dig at Marcus, it's just that Bettinelli at 23 years old is still a baby of a goalkeeper; I'm quite happy for it to continue how it has and alternating for a while. Lonergan will not just deputise, but will push and will want to start games. It's like having a rookie quarterback play that has the potential to be a franchise player playing his first year under the old-dog – the rookie may have the tools, but not quite the tricks of the game you learn through time.  Our goalkeeping class has improved fourfold because we can actually trust Andy Lonergan in between the sticks. This isn't me saying that I don't believe in Marcus Bettinelli either, he was a revelation last season, though this reminds me of Shay Given joining Manchester City and 'contesting' with the young Joe Hart. In fact, ignore the American Football analogy and think back to then – Given was the old dog and Joe Hart the potential star with Hart the same age as our Marcus is now.

As mentioned at the top, I do think we've looked a lot more solid and structured so far in the season, and have actually been contemplating a post about when Kit Symons gets credit for a clear improvement, though it's obviously very early in the season. Again, individuals are improving as well as the team, Jazz Richards looks a lot more comfortable at right back, Shaun Hutchinson ten times better than he looked last season and even Kay Voser looking semi-respectable at left back. Though I don't like the dig at Kavanagh, I think he's got bags of qualities and is probably more mature than Luke Garbutt in terms of ball play – though Garbutt is quicker so has advantage there as Kavanagh has never, and probably will never be the athlete required to go right to the top – he's probably 20 years too late come to think of it. I'd also like to see Kavanagh get a run at his preferred left back position especially where he can be covered by his left sided midfielder; whilst also not desperately needing pace going forward as he can join up with play rather than desperately having to be the wide option in the previous diamond. Just the one star centre back, preferably Lewis Dunk, and individually we're a much better defence player for player. Fingers crossed Shaun Hutchinson can keep up his early season form.

Our midfield has been our biggest change – we've brought in three starters, two on free transfers. Jamie O'Hara has been a revelation (though I expected him to be), his ability on the ball will help us control games and dominate the ball, whilst he also has incision and cutting edge in his passing that can split defences. Tom Cairney is also a great option out wide, he's very comfortable and calm on the ball, has an aura of creativity and skill whilst being at a perfect age to grow – I'm 99% sure that we'll see a return on our £3m investment there. I do think it was vitally important to transition into having Scott Parker as a squad player this season and we've done it with expertise really – he can come on when we need to steel things up a bit and he'll be a great character to have around the dressing room upon his inevitable quality as a squad player. Alex Kacaniklic looked fantastic over pre-season, and I hope to see that transfer into the competitive matches – a well-taken goal against Wycombe. Our midfield depth really is fantastic, though I'd maybe like a right sided player especially should Thomas Eisfeld leave the football.

Again, our striker depth looks great – though 'guaranteed goals' is not yet there, we have different options and the signing of someone in the mould of Dwight Gayle will only prove to help us become a more dynamic outfit. Matt Smith is an great option for us to have when games get sticky and need a bit of 'oomph' up top and for balls to enter the opposition box – and this is without talking about Moussa Dembele who you'd think will want to step up and prove himself this year (that's if he does actually want to be here) and Cauley Woodrow will want to prove his doubters wrong.

We do look more together, more structured and more solid and Kit Symons deserves half praise at the least for seemingly fixing a number of problems. I agree that this is not a perfect world, but for every Patrick Roberts chasing money and flying pigs, there's a Lasse Vigen Christensen on a long-term deal whilst also claiming to have rejected Aston Villa, there's a Marcus Bettinelli (who I feel will sign a new deal soon) and there's a Sean Kavanagh or a Cauley Woodrow, much maligned, but willing to commit his future to our football club. Too many people do live in a fantasy football land that has been moulded by the on-demand culture, the sensationalised news and games such as Football Manager and FIFA that simplify the real world. There's actual money involved, there's actual regulations to follow, there's actual people and personalities that have short survival or even careers. 

I do wish to add onto this the ages of our squad members; the core of our starting squad has so much room for development and to be potential profit makers or to grow together as a team. Marcus Bettinelli is 23 years old and has a strong mentor and challenger in the 31-year-old Andy Lonergan. Jazz Richards at 23 years of age is hungry to get his career rolling and to play games of football and to be in the Wales squad that could potentially go to the Euros next summer. Shaun Hutchinson at 24 has played near 150 games in the Scottish Premier League and although he struggled last season, he is beginning to look like the player that Motherwell were so disappointed to lose for free – and his partner (as we stand) Dan Burn has recently turned 23, he's had Premier League games under his belt and Championship game time where he was well received by Birmingham supporters. Luke Garbutt at 22 has come to us as a highly-rated youth player with the potential to succeed Leighton Baines, and he'll battle Sean Kavanagh for the left back slot, Sean is 21 years old and has just had his first season of professional football, where he largely played out of position – at Academy level he was judged to be one of the best crossers of the ball at the football club, which Jordan Evans has maybe overtaken. Right midfielder Tom Cairney is a vastly experienced Championship footballer and not only is the 24 year old got game time, he's got performances to match his minutes being named as Blackburn Player of the Season in the year they finished in 8th. Jamie O'Hara is nearly 29 years of age and is in his peaking years as a footballer, his personal life is back on track which is massively coinciding with the return of his football career – he's playing with hunger to succeed and improve, drawing a nice rapport with Fulham supporters in the process. Partnering Jamie O'Hara is our own academy gem, Lasse Vigen Christensen, who turns 21 tomorrow in fact, Christensen was a glowing light on an otherwise bleak Fulham team last season and he could have done so much more had he not picked an injury at the end of the year, but now he's fit and playing in a new role for the club – though I don't expect his quality to end any time soon. Another newbie in the midfield, Ben Pringle, has recently turned 26 and frequently dubbed as one of the best crossers of the ball in the division having risen up the leagues with Rotherham, but he's impressed so far with his general ball play also – he's very comfortable and willing to pick up the ball from anywhere. Ross McCormack is another in his peaking years, very soon to be 29, Ross McCormack is our main threat for goals – but also possesses wonderful technique and drive to be the leader of this team of largely young players. Finally, up top, the number nine – currently taken up by Matt Smith, the 26 year old target man drew eyes at Oldham after his goals knocking Liverpool out of the FA Cup and taking Everton to a replay. I'll let you include the 23-year-old Lewis Dunk and the 24 year old Dwight Gayle...

This team has players that can grow into becoming Premier League footballers – amongst the older heads of Andy Lonergan, Jamie O'Hara and Ross McCormack. 

I think we should wipe the slate clean for Kit Symons, he did take over a lime scale like situation and whether you like it or not, did what he had to do at the end of the day – and that was to keep Fulham as a Championship outfit. I think he'll see out his contract, but we should let him try to mould this club into his own. I've seen early improvements in our defensive set up, as well as potential for the attack to be very fluid and creative, but it's clear to see that some screws just need some tightening which will come as players adjust to one another.

The judgement for transfers shall be the 2nd of September, but the judgement of the team and Symons should come much later – he's got to be given to January at the least – if we're in touch of the play-offs, let him finish what he started, we'll benefit from the continuity alone.

[Jack Fulham]

We can only get away with crap defence if we score a lot of goals. Need to invest in centre backs or a proven natural goal scorer. I can only see us mid table ish with Smith and McCormack up top.