Time to get a bit of Perspective

[terryr]

OK
I'm sure nobody wants to hear a pep talk.
We're all in the throes of self flagellation and taking a perverse pleasure in staring at the dark clouds of relegation on the horizon:

-Our leaky defense makes us the circled fixture for every out of form striker to put some stats on the board and save his place.
-We spent £100 million in the transfer window and recieved a fraction of that value on the pitch.
-The team seems to spend a decent first half holding back even the titans of Spurs and the Arse in the first half only to capitulate in the last 45 minutes
-We lost to a rubbish Cardiff team and convincingly so

Lets review this time last year shall we?
https://talksport.com/football/efl/313887/championship-201718-table-super-computer-predicts-end-season-final-standings-november/
We were 17th in the table and had taken only 19 points from 16 games
People on this board were warning about a relegation scrap.
We were predicted to finish 11th
On November 5th last year we had just lost 2-0 to Wolverhampton and the gulf in class was there for all to see.

Now our current predicament is pretty dire but 2/3 of the season is yet to play.

Reading this board, you'd be excused for thinking FFC had suffered the sort of catastrophe being endured by Leicester.
Our troubles and pain are small in comparison.
Tiny actually.

Things need sorting out.
The team needs to rediscover its fighting spirit.
We need to put together two haves of football and shore up the defense.
The sky hasn't fallen.
Those of us lucky enough to get to the Cottage on game day will continue to enjoy watching from the best stadium in the PL.
The family club FFC........... is still the Family club FFC

Our pain is relative and frankly we should all just man up, look forward to the rest of the season, and enjoy the fact that we support a team that's in our blood.
Win or lose.
Going on the board and venting frustration after a loss is normal and understandable.
I've done it plenty of times
Whipping ourselves into a state of petty, vicious, negativity isn't good for the board nor does it, if you really think about it, do much for the soul .
It diminishes the joy of being a Football supporter and certainly squeezes the life out of the affection we have for the mighty whites.
Lets just moderate our angst and get a bit of perspective.
OK?
OK
Sermon over

[FulhamStu]

Well said Terry, we were all desperately dissapointed after Saturday and took that frustration out, well I did, on blaming Slav for yet another strange team selection and odd substitutions which I do not want to go over again.

One thing I will say is that I read many people criticising Seri, well I watch the 90 minutes again and for the vast majority of it, Seri was excellent.  Good on the ball, rarely gave it away.  Yes he played very deep and struggled to break down Bournemouth's defence but was still very good indeed.

Also, Frank came in for some stick yet again but if you look back.  He was actually decent as well, sure he made s couple of poor passes righ at the death, but for the 10 minutes he was on the pitch he did well.

Bournemouth basically scored a stupid penaly, then sat back with everyone behind the ball and plugged all the gaps, then when they won it back, attacked with pace through what we all know is our weak defence.

So, with Cairney back, we know we can put out a strong midfield in Seri, Cairney and Anguissa.  We know we have good forwards in Mitro, Shurlle and Vietto but we have problems at the back.

Slav has to recognise this and be far more pragmatic.   He MUST stop trying to play too attacking football, and defend the point whilst trying to get 3.   He must play defenders in their best positions.  No more Max a full back, please get Mawson in the team and I would play 5 at the back as Bournemouth did which then become 3-5-2 when we go forward. 

The following team is my best Fulham 11 right now and I would play it and stick with it.

————————RICO———————-
Mensah—Odoi—Mawson—Max—Sess
———Seri——Anguissa——Cairney—
——————Mitro--Shurlle————

Cairney plays forward of Seri and Anguissa and Sess and Mensah make sure we defend with a minimum of 4 when we don't have the ball but try and get 5 behind the ball if possible.

Bournemouth beat us not by having better players but by being hard to beat and not making mistakes, we can learn a lot from that.   All is not lost, we do have good enough players, we just have to pick the right side and be far far far better organised defensively.

[VancouverWhite]

Well put Terry. 

People that thought that we wouldn't be in a relegation battle were frankly not realistic. 

[SWSixer]

Well said!

I for one am looking forward to the match this weekend!

[toshes mate]

Well said, Terry R.

When we find the glue, that same glue that has gone missing most Autumns under the current regime, we will be fine.  It'll soon strike everyone involved with FFC that if you don't have proprietary glue to hand there are plenty of ways to make your own.  Once we stick together we will be virtually unbreakable.

[Slaphead in Qatar]

Terry if we were losing tight games by the odd goal then I would agree with you.

But we are getting a hiding every week now. We look well of the pace.

The squad in my opinion is good enough to get us to mid table. We need to change the head coach.

[Lighthouse]

I am all for fans enjoying their existence however they wish. If you are capable of just enjoying the season win or lose and remembering that we once played in the bottom division and struggled. If you want to look back at last season and believe that the circumstances are similar enough for us to repeat the miracle turnaround of form then I am pleased that you are content.

Yes people die and are treated appallingly every day and if you wish to measure your life against them. Then that too is fine. But It is  saying 'things could be worse and are for some people'

Others will say ' things could be better and are for many people.' That is equally true.

But in football terms why bother to watch a game or have an MB. If all you are going to do is shrug your metaphorical shoulders and say 'oh well never mind' .

One  might as well debate and discuss. Doesn't do any concrete good but then it does add interest to the otherwise depressing pastime of following Fulham this season. I see others think it is too depressing and negative and will only post when there is happier posts. I don't get it. I agree people can be too rude if their opinions differ. But on the whole the people I disagree with tend to be persuasive and fair. If they are too rude or I overstep the mark. We can always ignore each other.

We have played far worse this season than this time last season. We have looked lost and embarrassingly confused. I think that is worth an avalanche of comments and discussion. Still that is only from my perspective. I enjoy the positive comments. After all we would be living in a fairer, nicer World if only more of us complained more. But I can see why many don't.

[Whitesideup]

"After all we would be living in a fairer, nicer World if only more of us complained more."

Really? I really don't want to surround myself with moaning Minnies. It wouldn't make my world any better.

Although I agree with some of your comments about having a discussion, I think Terry's points are fair. He is not saying all is good .. far from it in fact, just that we don't all have to inhabit a miserable world of doom and gloom. The title of the post "Time to get a bit of perspective"  says it all. And for the time being, I have hope that we can improve.

[Jimpav]

Good points, well made Terry.

In all honesty I love a good moan and I think most football fans do to. It makes the good times all the sweeter.

COYW 

[Lighthouse]

"After all we would be living in a fairer, nicer World if only more of us complained more."

Really? I really don't want to surround myself with moaning Minnies. It wouldn't make my world any better.

Although I agree with some of your comments about having a discussion, I think Terry's points are fair. He is not saying all is good .. far from it in fact, just that we don't all have to inhabit a miserable world of doom and gloom. The title of the post "Time to get a bit of perspective"  says it all. And for the time being, I have hope that we can improve.

My point about moaning improving the World was that if we accepted everything and didn't complain then things wouldn't improve. It is no good telling me there are people dying of hunger or children suffering in war torn Countries. When my perspective is getting through the post or doing some pointless activity. In my space, in my World that is my perspective. Otherwise we would all do the right thing and rise up and decide to live fair and wonderful lives and stop killing each other for profit.

I take the point about over indulging in negativity. Some of us do. But that is only to counter the happy bunny posts that look on the embarrassing debacle of most of the games or second halves this season and say not to worry. I stub my toe it hurts. Telling me that people are dying and suffering isn't helping my big toe. Any more than when somebody traps their finger in a door and I tell them to put things into perspective because I am a suffering Fulham supporter. It is not an argument that holds up on any level. We have to have negativity otherwise when would you know when to be happy.

[LittleErn]

OK Terry. It's not the end of the world....BUT......Why do we deteriorate in the second half?  Is it the effort of chasing shadows that eventually catches up with us? Or is it that opposing teams suss our tactics and weaknesses out in the first half? HOW do we shore up the defence? Apart from Odoi, who still makes the odd error as he did last season, no-one else has shown themselves to be at home at this level yet. (I say yet because there is always the hope that Mawson in particular will improve as he puts his injury behind him.  Is it really the defence or is it the midfield? Are Seri, Cairney, and Anguisse too attack minded, leaving our back three/four too exposed? Is it the Manager's tactics?

These are all interesting questions for debate - not negativity but genuine interest in what can be done. Regrettably, I haven't seen many positive answers yet.

[KJS]

Terry if we were losing tight games by the odd goal then I would agree with you.

But we are getting a hiding every week now. We look well of the pace.

The squad in my opinion is good enough to get us to mid table. We need to change the head coach.

+ 1

[Mitch]

For me, it's the difference between accepting being in a relegation battle (I always thought we would be), and the standard of play we've seen, and the teams against which we've suffered lost points. It's somewhere in the middle of that. The season is much shorter this year, and we aren't looking at games against Leeds, Forest etc - it's United, City and so on, which makes the games like Cardiff and Huddersfield more important.

[WindyCity]

I take the point about over indulging in negativity. Some of us do. But that is only to counter the happy bunny posts that look on the embarrassing debacle of most of the games or second halves this season and say not to worry. I stub my toe it hurts. Telling me that people are dying and suffering isn't helping my big toe. Any more than when somebody traps their finger in a door and I tell them to put things into perspective because I am a suffering Fulham supporter. It is not an argument that holds up on any level. We have to have negativity otherwise when would you know when to be happy.
[/quote]

Nice post house.  I think this is the reason sports clubs have these various message boards, to discuss the team, to vent, to praise and rejoice when warranted, and to criticize when warranted.  But trying to compare or show relevance with a poorly performing side and the woes and heartbreak of real world events is poor salesmanship in my opinion. 

Hopefully the Cottagers can turn this thing around somehow and just "survive" the season and stay up.  I fear if they go down, they may go down even further next season.  Fingers crossed for three points Monday.  And from there, maybe some successes that keep our noses above.

[terryr]

I guess the point I was making was all is not lost and escalating  negativity sometimes bordering on the appearance of  a doom and gloom fetish isn't much use in my opinion.
I was NOT trotting out the old chestnut that "with all the war and sadness in the world we should stop complaining."
I simply pointed out that another PL team had suffered tragedy recently and we should all put our woes into perspective.
I also mentioned that we were in a comparable bind last year at this time.

[Lighthouse]

WindyCity - But trying to compare or show relevance with a poorly performing side and the woes and heartbreak of real world events is poor salesmanship in my opinion. 


Fair enough, but my counter to that would be that sport is used by politicians and World Leaders to  distract from other World events. Sport is a real World event. I use football and sport and tv and films to distract myself from the confusion of the real world. A football match is a lifetime squashed into 90 plus minutes. Most of us are spectators in life and have no great control. So a good coach being heavily criticised is not that different to a politician.

Yes I know it is all sounding a bit pompous but I hope it makes sense of a sort. Anyway if nothing else it is a distraction to real football events.

[Woolly Mammoth]

A good post by Terry, but also good posts all round, for or otherwise.
My take on it, and where I disagree with Terry is that in general, the posts on this board are currently PUTTING THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE.
This is the reality, nothing negative.
Plenty of different opinions, some supporters are easily pleased, but that does not make them positive.
Other supporters expect more value for their money, but that does that make them negative.
Some supporters except mediocrity easier that others, but that does that make them positive.
Other supporters do not wish to see our players making individual mistakes, dropping their heads and throwing the towel in and looking as though they don't care, and the team being rolled over without a fight. With a huge goals against column, and watching team selections Mirroring a lottery, and the team constantly being shown to be second best, with individual players losing their personal battles, without any sign of leadership, week in and week out. But that does not make these supporters negative, just realistic.
It's challenging times and everyone is entitled to have their say. because we all care, but have different ways of showing it.

[WindyCity]

WindyCity - But trying to compare or show relevance with a poorly performing side and the woes and heartbreak of real world events is poor salesmanship in my opinion. 


Fair enough, but my counter to that would be that sport is used by politicians and World Leaders to  distract from other World events. Sport is a real World event. I use football and sport and tv and films to distract myself from the confusion of the real world. A football match is a lifetime squashed into 90 plus minutes. Most of us are spectators in life and have no great control. So a good coach being heavily criticised is not that different to a politician.

Yes I know it is all sounding a bit pompous but I hope it makes sense of a sort. Anyway if nothing else it is a distraction to real football events.

Thx for the response house.  I would say, though, you may be giving "sport" just a bit too much credit here.  Sure, sports are "real", but, to be fair, they are real only in the category of "entertainment" and "escapism". 

[Chutney]

Unfortunately, until January, we won't see any better, we just don't have the players.