Expectations

[colinwhite]

When it comes to the whites I am an eternal optimist. Its the only way i have been able to cope with being a supporter of our great club for more than 50 years. There has been a lot of ups and downs over the years , but the fascination remains as strong as ever. My optimism is matched by pessimism in others,their way of coping with disappointment ,but beneath it all we all love our great club and want the same things.
We all got a "kick in the guts" yesterday, having played well in the first half only to get put firmly to the sword without a whimper in the second fort-five minutes. That hurt.
Disappointment is connected to expectation. So what  could we realisticly have expected from our first 7 games of the season? I thought we would have had seven to 10 points with wins against Palace ,Burnley and Watford and an away point in Brighton. The 10 points we would have aquired  would have been fantastic (we would have been up with wolves ) and the media would definitely been talking about our great start to the season. Perhaps the 5 points that we have collected is  a more realistic total. And the biggest disappointment thus far was actually dropping the 2 late points against Brighton.

So what do  we make of all of this ? Clearly we need to be more clinical and Solid. yes we know that. I think that Alfie Mawsons integration into the squad along with the comebacks of Tc and Ream is the key. He was our main defensive summer signing . he hasnt delivered thus far but is a good player and could be just what we need. Both full back positions are also in question .
I have confidence in our coaching team ,and that they will sort this out. I think we have made good signings. Its going to take time and it may not be until after the international break that we start getting it right.  Ok im an optimist but we all need to keep the faith, and not write our new players off too soon.

[HV71]

Great post  - I fully concur.

[toshes mate]

Ok I'm an optimist but we all need to keep the faith, and not write our new players off too soon.

Nothing wrong with being an optimist.  It's much better than the gloom and doom that always follows the oh too easily predictable 'beatings' we will suffer before we punch our weight.

[MJG]

Good post. I put almost the same on twitter last night

"Before season started what did you really expect from Spurs, Man City or Everton away?
Brighton away.. No mugs point at most?
Palace, Burnley, and Watford. Did you think three wins?
I thought maybe two wins and draw would be good return.
So expected 8 have 5, far from dreadful".

[Mince n Tatties]

Good post. I put almost the same on twitter last night

"Before season started what did you really expect from Spurs, Man City or Everton away?
Brighton away.. No mugs point at most?
Palace, Burnley, and Watford. Did you think three wins?
I thought maybe two wins and draw would be good return.
So expected 8 have 5, far from dreadful".

Don't go along with all the talk of so called big clubs and we want get anything there because they are so and so.
Leicester didn't give a poo about it and won at places they hadn't for seasons..Its 11 v 11, these clubs don't have an extra man on the pitch unless the ref is on their side...
You like your stats don't you,5 points from 7 games.
What's that work out after 38....27 or 28 relegation.

[MJG]

Good post. I put almost the same on twitter last night

"Before season started what did you really expect from Spurs, Man City or Everton away?
Brighton away.. No mugs point at most?
Palace, Burnley, and Watford. Did you think three wins?
I thought maybe two wins and draw would be good return.
So expected 8 have 5, far from dreadful".

Don't go along with all the talk of so called big clubs and we want get anything there because they are so and so.
Leicester didn't give a poo about it and won at places they hadn't for seasons..Its 11 v 11, these clubs don't have an extra man on the pitch unless the ref is on their side...
You like your stats don't you,5 points from 7 games.
What's that work out after 38....27 or 28 relegation.

See my post on the stats thread

[Mince n Tatties]

No need to,it works out at 5 points every 7 games as 27-28 points...5 points from 7 games and 16 goals conceded is dreadful, not far from  dreadful as you state.

[MJG]

No need to,it works out at 5 points every 7 games as 27-28 points...5 points from 7 games and 16 goals conceded is dreadful, not far from  dreadful as you state.

Thats not what its about, its about our record againt the Top 6 teams. 
I never said in my post I dont expect anything againt the top teams. But looking at the 3 away games I mentioned before he season I expected nothjing from them. Champions, Everton and Spurs. If we had got a point somewhere that would have been great. We may end up wi

Picking up 6-8 points off the top 6 teams which would be about avearge based on our pervious run in the PL.

[MrD1879]

I'm really not sure why every time someone makes comment about how poor we have been it's because they think we are going to finish in the top 6. I would take 17th and expect us to take lots of beating but what I do expect is a defence that can actually on occasion defend the team to look like they have done something in training in the week and the manager to get it right from the start something I've rarely if at all seen this season and I've been at every game

[RogFFC]

Great post. Slav will turn it around, was always going to take time. Defensively I still think Mawson and Ream will form a solid partnership (they compliment each other well) and a new RB will be brought in Jan.

As long as we can pick up enough points to keep at least 16th/17th by Christmas I fully expect us to finish the second half of the season strongly and comfortably survive. Keep the faith!

[Pieter A’dam]

Great post, in my opnion the 3 crucial games will be after Arsenal. Need at leest 5-6 points from Cardiff, Bournemouth and Huddersfield.

[hovewhite]

New team all unproven,all who have shown quality in there previous clubs, together as a team in one of the hardest leagues in the world and to gel and play as a collective cohesive unit and gain positive results,that would take a magician of a coach.
Time is needed along with all our support !

[Lighthouse]

Our expectations of better performances are really the problem. Most of us would have hoped that we would have shown a little more consistency if not in results than in performance. That is really what many have been disappointed at. With that comes wild accusations and attacks on players and management and coaching. Followed by the inevitable defence of those accusations and the equally nonsensical 'in Slav we trust' when he clearly is struggling with what team and tactics he needs to be successful with this collection of players.

We must stop as a team and to some extent as fans. Looking at the teams we play or have played and say 'yes but look who they are we have no right in getting a result against them'. Anymore than looking at teams and expecting a win. We must remember we deserve to be here. But as our Coach said, many more performances like the second half yesterday and it will slide away and be gone before we know it.

Whatever our expectations were. One win at this point would have been disappointing to many. What is worse is only one decent performance and a few decent halves. Other that we have shown naivety, slow play and have been error heavy in the worst moments. It goes without saying we all want it to improve. We will always have those who overreact on either side of the argument. But the bottom line is we need to perform better before we get the better results. For one thing we expect it and so does the coach.

[colinwhite]

Agree with you Lighthouse,but will actually turn around your criticisms of performances to how many bad ones have we seen? 2nd half yesterday,first half against Watford ,last 20 against Brighton  the city match ,but after that Im struggling .
Anyone can see that the quality of opposition is so far removed from the Championship that if we had kept our starting eleven from the play-off final that we would have even less the an 5 points. We have bought well and Jokanoviic is a good coach ,not god, but very able. 12 new players in means it will take time ,cliche or not ,and we as fans have to be aware of that whatever our  standpoint,otherwise there is a serious risk that slating new players will come back to haunt us and make us look pretty stupid further down the line . Mince ,what are you going on about ? Of course we alaways have a chance of beating anyone , but Spurs , City and to a lesser degree Everton are excellent sides ,almost the finshed article,and we are there for the taking . That neither makes our new signings poor or that we have wasted money. Considring the amount of players we have brought in we have been quite prudent. Indeed 30 million for a player doesnt necessarily prove you are going to get ,or even think you will get the finished article.

[toshes mate]

I don't expect anything. 

I have choices when something is put before me.  I can like it, loathe it, or settle for any point between the two.  So far much has been as I had thoughts it might be when I, and others, have argued that our recruitment team is not as good as it could and should be.  That is my honest opinion of them and I am not going to apologise for it.  I have seen this in both the last two seasons, and come away from games wondering how long it will take the coaching staff to restore order and sanity to the football on the pitch given the conundrum they face every season start.  I also wonder how long it will take the senior executives at Fulham to realise that a settled and quality core team gives a manager - whoever they are - a better chance of early success.  Perhaps I believed those same executives would know about that before they even took the jobs they have.  I absolutely know I would be hopeless as a manager in such a setting because the mistakes repeating situation would make me so very angry, and anger gets us nowhere unless it is turned into action.   Jokanovic doesn't get angry, at least not in public, and applies himself to the task as he has done since his arrival here.  He is in the danger zone  as he has been before when those 'expecting' him to provide the answer to everything say he is 'struggling' to find them when they well know they'd be far worse at the task.

If you are going to point a finger at the people in the game of running a football club its best to point it at those who have not demonstrated consistent success over a realistic period of time.  The best way of ensuring those people have a decent spell on the job is to stop running a revolving door for an entrance and exit.   Stick with the task of making it work and when it does work retain those who made it work.