Mawson Surgery

[JEEVES]

How brutally we turn on our own players?

I don't get this. Everyone entitled to opinion, that's what this is all about. If I don't think someone's good enough for our team and needs replacing, I'm gunna say it. Imagine if we all just thought all of our players were world class and we couldn't improve? If that was the case why did we get relegated last season?

But it's the way you say it, and the exaggeration that defeats your own argument. For example nobody, but nobody, has said our current players are world class or indeed that we need  "world class" defenders. So your use of the hyperbole not only makes your argument less credible but also means you are disrespectful of others' points of view.

Read this 5 times and it still confused the hell out of me. Don't take everything so literal. Maybe I should have said "really good" instead of world class (my bad) only point I was trying to make was there's nothing wrong with being critical of a player when he's not up to it. I'm not one of those people who's gunna guna over look the great service a player has given us, but I'm also not guna sit there and be blinded by a good season a player had 2 years ago and pretend he's still a rock. All this hyperbole/ disrespectful mumbo jumbo is just you over analysing what I said.

[Whitestone]

Interesting debate. Such a shame that Alfie Mawson has suffered with injuries since he signed because he's got great talent. Our defence has been crap for far too long so changes have to be made. Michael Hector has been outstanding and needs a decent partner. It would be very easy for Scott Parker to select Tim Ream tomorrow. Moving forward it has to be Hector and Kongolo.

[JEEVES]

On the plus side, how nice is it to only be worried about one CB position. Big Hec already looks like the best CB in the league to me.

[Arthur]

Michael Hector has been outstanding and needs a decent partner. It would be very easy for Scott Parker to select Tim Ream tomorrow.

I think he will select Ream.

In three Championship matches partnering Hector, our opponents have managed only three shots on target (according to the offal).

Last weekend, Huddersfield had eight on target.

[JEEVES]

Michael Hector has been outstanding and needs a decent partner. It would be very easy for Scott Parker to select Tim Ream tomorrow.

I think he will select Ream.

In three Championship matches partnering Hector, our opponents have managed only three shots on target (according to the offal).

Last weekend, Huddersfield had eight on target.

Yeah well if you claim 3 points that precious with a little full back at CB you've done well.

[The Rational Fan]

This is almost certainly why Kongolo was brought in. I hope he starts tomorrow and makes the position his own for the rest of the season (on paper, him and Hector could be a superb partnership. Very pacey too).
God forbid we have to bring Timothy Ream back in at any point. We can forget all about autos should that happen...

Why can things never be in moderation?

We missed automatic promotion by two points two years with an inferior squad and Ream playing CB almost all games. So it seems far fetched that our hopes for promotion should be totally gone just because we play a proven decent Championship defender when we are in a better spot (objectively) than compared to the same time that season as well as have a better squad (somehow subjective, but seems like most agree). Has Ream become so bad in your opinion so that we cannot win games with him in the team (even though actual facts states otherwise since he has played most of our games this season, including the three straight clean sheets before the game he was suspended)?

Personally I don't rate Ream too high as an actual defender, but I believe it is nothing but complete and utter hyperbole to suggest that he cannot hold his own to at least a decent degree at this level. In my opinion.

That Ream is now two years older, two years slower, two years weaker. He has been directly responsible for a number of goals this season and is always on the brink of an error. He is, at best, now a lower level Championship defender and has no place in a side fighting for the title/automatic promotion.

I'm sorry, I know he has fans on here (and suspected the last post would cause a bit of uproar), but it is the truth.

Yes, I know he had a season/season and half (combined) where he was semi decent on the ball, when he had little to do as we completely dominated possession in every match, but that was then and everything since has pointed otherwise. Saha was good, we wouldn't want him to lead the line tomorrow. Danny Murphy was good but we wouldn't want to drag him off the MoTD sofa and slot into CM tomorrow. Ream is gone. Finished. Done.

I am a fan of all players that are doing their best for Fulham, but I don't rate Ream very high in comparison to most of our players. You also don't have to be sorry, because you are at the end of the day entitled to your opinion. But you also are probably not doing your line of argument any favors when comparing Ream to long since retired players (I mean, I did kind of enjoy having a 32 year old non-retired Murphy in midfield).

Again (since you seem to try to ignore most counter arguments), did or did Ream not play the full 90 minutes as CB for several games in a row in which we conceded 0 goals in the last month or so? That alone should be sufficient evidence of FFC not being without a chance of promotion if Ream plays.

There is a difference between preferring other players and completely write a player off.

Fulham Fans seem to want to completely write players off, sell them for market value (i.e. for not much) and use that money to buy new players.

If you want to know how such a plan works in practice ask Sunderland 17/18, they performed that plan very well. It got them out of the Championship.
If you want to buy a quality center back, then we have to sell a valuable player like Mitovoic, but I would prefer to suffer with Ream's errors than to lose Mitro.

Our Centre Backs have kept the goal conceded down to 1.07 goals per game, if our front line can score 2.07 goals per game we will easily get Auto-Promoted.