Have fundamental mistakes been made ?

[YankeeJim]

Good grief! We lose to possibly the best team in the world while trying to actually play them rather than hide and park the bus and the negatives come charging out. Who here thought at any time that we would be competitive against the likes of Citi? If I had told you a month ago we would lose 3 nil to Citi everyone here would have agreed and not been concerned. This team WILL finish mid table. We are quite possibly better than ten or so teams in this league and will demonstrate that over the balance of the season.

Better yet, lets panic and hire back Felix.

[Del-boy]

Nope, more of Only fools and horses fan  :003:

[Andy S]

Slav knew that we were not going to beat ManCity. He also knew that players that do not play start to feel as though they are not part of it. So he included some marginal players in order to keep up morale. It's not always about picking your best eleven and watching them get hammered. There are a lot of tactics in being a premier league manager. I don't understand why somebody deliberately doesn't attend a winnable match

[Facts Not Fiction]

I hardly post or read on here anymore as slowly but surely I fall out of love with all things Premier League, so many things that rankle with me, I've even given my season ticket away for this Saturday, team selection and tactics against City being the final straw,
But I was thinking after the team was announced on Saturday, "Have we made fundamental mistakes in our recruitment of players ?"
For me we were one player away from being an automatically promoted side last season, and that position was a right winger with pace to burn, it was the only position that we were crying out for (bar an injury to either Ream or Odoi)
We've spent well over £100 million plus various loan fees, and yet we still lack an out and out right winger with pace to burn,
We pursued Targett all summer, far longer than we should have done it seemed to make us blind to all our other failings, then on deadline day blind panic seemed to set in, with Bryan and Fosuh-mensah almost being brought in as after thoughts,
The back 4 is a complete dogs dinner of a mess , with Jokanovic and all the supporters seemingly having no idea as to what the best defence should be, with the back 4 that started on Saturday we would have lost to anybody, and I've no doubts whatsoever that that back 4 will see us relegated,
Then of course we have Anguissa and the £20 million spent there , somebody must have seen something in him and yet he can't get in the side in front of either McDonald or Johansen,
I think we've got it horribly wrong in the summer and can't see things improving before January,
Last summer Kline was the scapegoat for a poor window last summer , well he's no more and Khan backed Jokanovic to the hilt this summer with unprecedented spending, and yet we still have so many problems all over the pitch,
We're in a mini league with Burnley, Huddersfield and Cardiff , and it's a league that we must win.

I thought I was negative.

[PartizanFC]

Pfff,some of us are very negative...it was just 1 lost game...not first and unfortunatelly not last of this season...why so many of you judging everything after 5 games..and we are not in relegation zone...
How many players came at last day of transfer window or just day or 2 before?Do you know how many of them speking english badly or cant understand a word of it?how many didnt play big roles or have good preseason becouse waited for transfer?

Give them some time..Remember where was Fulham on championship table in late november last year...did you even imagine game against City (not some cup game...prem game)???

Its easy to Totenham not to spend 1$ or buy just 1 player when he have 25 topstar players...100 mil are nothing if you really plan to stay and to be important in this ligue

[@jolslover]

Good grief! We lose to possibly the best team in the world while trying to actually play them rather than hide and park the bus and the negatives come charging out. Who here thought at any time that we would be competitive against the likes of Citi? If I had told you a month ago we would lose 3 nil to Citi everyone here would have agreed and not been concerned. This team WILL finish mid table. We are quite possibly better than ten or so teams in this league and will demonstrate that over the balance of the season.

Better yet, lets panic and hire back Felix.

Good post original post could easily be a joke and i wouldnt be surprised.

[Denver Fulham]

If there's a worrisome error from our summer, it's that we don't have anyone to replace Cairney when he's injured and we look like garbage when he's not in.

I don't think we can play the same exact system if Tom's not available. So far, Joka doesn't seem to agree with that hypothesis.

[Snibbo]

If there's a worrisome error from our summer, it's that we don't have anyone to replace Cairney when he's injured and we look like garbage when he's not in.

I don't think we can play the same exact system if Tom's not available. So far, Joka doesn't seem to agree with that hypothesis.

Hmm. And yet there is also a view that Seri and Cairney are too similar, with Seri being the more talented (other than giving the ball away against City)

[colinwhite]

For gods sake we brought in 12 new players to the club. It takes time and we now have a squad not just  starting eleven.How can it be claimed that we have had a disastrous transfer window? Ridiculous post IMO,sorry.This is the premier league and its going to be tough no matter who we bring in.
I think we have made some unbelievable signings and I hope that the power wielders at the club have more patience and understanding of the game than the original poster !!!

[Woolly Mammoth]

I have no worries, we have good enough players, and have more than enough talent in the ranks to stay in the Premier League.
Of course there will always be unforeseen injuries that will prevent key players from playing.
Having said that, to mould our defenders into a solid defensive unit is a priority, and I include the defensive midfielders who are there to shield the Back Division, and I include all players whose job is to tuck in and funnel back in a V shape to pick up their markers and delay opposition attacks.
By doing that we add depth to the defence, and at the same time, restore our shape and balance.
When we resolve that issue, and the goals against dry up, the points we need to accrue will add up a lot quicker, and that 40 point target will not seem that far away.

[toshes mate]

It wouldn't be much fun if the football world was the epitome of perfection, and FFC would not be the Club we love so dearly, either.  Mistakes are commonly called far too fast these days as the human race is apparently unable to make judgements of itself with just a wry smile followed by 'I must do better', and, instead, engages in witch hunts or worse to find blame even where none exists.  We see it every day in a world obsessed with what may go wrong via decision making instead of calling out what is already wrong and causing mayhem to countless people and actually changing it.  We also see it in football where money has been the be all and end all for far too long.   

Note all the things 'have been wrong' for quite awhile now and are not fresh off the press like how Fulham are fairing in the PL for example.   The transformation to a truly competitive PL team was always going to take time and none of us can truly say how long it will take since there is always something to go wrong.   I am optimistic that the side will become more settled with time and may be quite a little different to what some of us may have thought when all the transfers and loans arrived.   I am also confident we will finish better than just 'survivors'.
   

[richnj]

Agreeing with YankeeJim here.  We are not, nor should be, a team that plays scared, parks the bus and tries to absorb a team everyone considers 'better'.

The *only* complaint I have with the Man City lineup is that we gave away the midfield.  Could have clogged it up more by pulling Schurrle and Vietto underneath Mitro instead of having them out wide.  Also, agree that this thing with Sess in the back is terrible and needs to change.  If he was in midfield and allowed to play, he would have pulled the field wider, allowing Shurrle, Seri and Vietto to own the center. 

Or - maybe it's complete madness - you could have run a 3-2-4-1, having MacDonald and Johansen as center defensive mids running distribution and dropping to fill gaps when Silva and Sane were making runs.

That being said - if we parked the bus, we would have lost.  And it would have been a grinding and demoralizing game.  We came out and played.  We tested some things out.  There were some flashes of what-could-be, and that's what needs to be built upon next time we go up against a "Top 6".

[Chesh]

I've even given my season ticket away for this Saturday, team selection and tactics against City being the final straw

Sorry mate, I didn't bother reading anymore once I saw this bit - hope you managed to get it all off your chest, but can't take anyone seriously who has given up on our team and manager after 5 games, or 4, as it seems the final straw came even before kick-off on Saturday   

[MJG]

I've even given my season ticket away for this Saturday, team selection and tactics against City being the final straw

Sorry mate, I didn't bother reading anymore once I saw this bit - hope you managed to get it all off your chest, but can't take anyone seriously who has given up on our team and manager after 5 games, or 4, as it seems the final straw came even before kick-off on Saturday   

if I remember rightly Riversider has never been a fan of Slav and would have liked him gone last autumn. Be it five or 15 games I don't think patience is something he has or wants to give to the team. Hopefully he will correct me if I'm wrong.

[Denver Fulham]

If there's a worrisome error from our summer, it's that we don't have anyone to replace Cairney when he's injured and we look like garbage when he's not in.

I don't think we can play the same exact system if Tom's not available. So far, Joka doesn't seem to agree with that hypothesis.

Hmm. And yet there is also a view that Seri and Cairney are too similar, with Seri being the more talented (other than giving the ball away against City)

Opinions can vary, but I don't think Seri and Cairney are similar at all. Tom is a possession-based center mid. Seri is a box-to-box type. And when Tom is out, we either have Seri playing in front of two DMs with very little attacking punch (Anguissa and McD) or Johansen comes on and is a huge dropoff (so far, at least). We also get much sloppier in possession. Tom has been a vital release hub for us in the middle of the park. Opposition last week aside, we played MUCH better offensively in the first three matches than we have in the last two, and that's largely due to Tom's absence.

If we make one move in the January window, I'd like to see us add another No. 10 type so we're not this exposed to Cairney's health/form.

[Milo]

There were one or two team selection mistakes made against City but these are relatively uncommon for Jokanovic.

With regards recruitment, we probably overpaid for Anguissa but were there or there abouts for Seri and Mitrovic. Ie you can't win them all.

I do agree with the full back recruitment being a big error and actually I'd go further and say that that is where we are really struggling this year. None of our full backs currently threaten in attack while still being solid in defence. TFM threatens on occasion up front but loses his man repeatedly when tracking back. Christie appears to give both a really good go but there is a limit to what he can do as he's a good Championship full back. Bryan seems to defend quite well but struggles to impact the game past the half way line. Our formation demands quick, threatening full backs like Fredericks. I am not saying Fredericks should've stayed as we've discussed a number of times on here. However, we spent money in the summer and we were never really linked with the kind of players we truly needed at full back .. and it's going to hold us back from reaching the top half of the table.

[Baszab]

Seems to be  that the very very late signings were a bit contrived
Surely these players weren't scouted and studied long term ?

[Denver Fulham]

Seems to be  that the very very late signings were a bit contrived
Surely these players weren't scouted and studied long term ?

Of course they were. They likely were not our first (or second) choice at their positions, but rather off an approved list of several options at each that we dipped into late after initial targets couldn't be landed.

[ToodlesMcToot]

I think that if the season ended before January, the OP would have a point about the Burnley, Cardiff, Huddersfield mini-leauge to escape relegation. Might add in Newcastle for good measure. With as much change that has been made to bring in talent to "do more than survive", we will continue having a slow start to the season.....as we have had each season that Slavisa has been with us. We'll likely be in touch with the relegation fodder thru to the new year, I'd imagine.

However, I do believe in Slav's approach and the players he's brought in and believe we'll be a top half team, on form, for the remainder of the season and finish middle of the pack.

Just need to get Ream healthy so that Slav can find his best back four.

Free Joe Bryan!!! Let the lad play!

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[Denver Fulham]

I think that if the season ended before January, the OP would have a point about the Burnley, Cardiff, Huddersfield mini-leauge to escape relegation. Might add in Newcastle for good measure. With as much change that has been made to bring in talent to "do more than survive", we will continue having a slow start to the season.....as we have had each season that Slavisa has been with us. We'll likely be in touch with the relegation fodder thru to the new year, I'd imagine.

However, I do believe in Slav's approach and the players he's brought in and believe we'll be a top half team, on form, for the remainder of the season and finish middle of the pack.

Just need to get Ream healthy so that Slav can find his best back four.

Free Joe Bryan!!! Let the lad play!

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Our schedule has also been quite difficult. Away matches at Spurs and City, plus Brighton. Home opener against a settled Palace side with Zaha where we should have had at least a point. We thrashed Burnley. Now we get hot Watford, at Everton (never taken a point there) and Arsenal.

The schedule should soften right when we get everyone healthy and sorted, so I expect results to start coming beginning with the match at Cardiff.