So different to last time we were promoted

[FulhamStu]

The club have experience of what happened last time.
This time we have so many different factors, I think having no people attending games will initially help us, we have good recent memories of playing in empty stadiums.
We do have players on our books who we spend a lot of money on, Mitro, Frank, Seri, Joe, Fabri, MLM, Mawson cost £90M plus, some will be important others may leave however we are much better prepared than last time.
We will add to that and have already bought a £10M left back, although we didn't pay that much.
We will add good players, players that Parker wants and needs and he WILL have a big say in the recruitment decisions.
We made big mistakes last time, we will have learnt a lot from those mistakes.

Will we stay up ?   I don't know, it will be difficult, but we have a chance, getting a good right back and centre half is critical.

Every man and his dog know we need a right back and a left sided centre half, I am sure Tony Khan and Scott Parker are just as aware of this as anyone else.

[filham]

With only 3 weeks to go to the start of the season there are two or three improvements needed and essential that we sign Reed, but yes the basis of a good team is there.

A good signing in the new left back but difficult to see what now happens to Bryan, is it planned to sell him on at a profit.

[rebel]

With only 3 weeks to go to the start of the season there are two or three improvements needed and essential that we sign Reed, but yes the basis of a good team is there.

A good signing in the new left back but difficult to see what now happens to Bryan, is it planned to sell him on at a profit.

Again the Pre-season won't happen in the manner that it has previously. We really need to get all the business done this coming week. At least we can try to 'hit the ground running from the off'.

[davew]

Fulham Stu "The club have experience of what happened last time ", they should do and are reminded of the fact that all that money was spent on Anguissa and Seri for no return and they are still with us, so what will they do with them? Hopefully sell them both and buy some decent players!!

[Whitestone]

Fulham Stu "The club have experience of what happened last time ", they should do and are reminded of the fact that all that money was spent on Anguissa and Seri for no return and they are still with us, so what will they do with them? Hopefully sell them both and buy some decent players!!

So wrong. Some of the money was spent on Mitrovic who turned out to be quite good. Bryan scored a couple of decent goals the other week. Seri and MLM may not have worked out and Mawson suffered from injury. He may yet come good. Is there a team anywhere that has never made any mistakes in the transfer market. I don't think so. Villarreal finished 5th in La Liga and one their star players was Anguissa. Looking forward to seeing him in a Fulham shirt again.

[General]

As things stand I don't see a huge difference between the team that went up before and this, sorry to put a downer on things but I look at our squad and I wonder where the difference is?

No offence meant but for the premier league, I don't see Reid, cavaleiro or knockaert as players who are going to set the league alight. There's a reason the teams who signed them and stayed up sold them to us. We need a level of quality a whole new level above them, proven performers at this level. We've got most of the same squad as last time - but perhaps worse as we don't have the potency or ability of babel and sessegnon who teams may actually fear.

We still have seri and anguissa who most didn't rate or were frustrated by and we still have TK who may very well get us three managers in a season again.

Rule out chambers - our player of the season, schurrle who, whilst people didn't like him still scored goals and got us points or babel then we're arguably in a worse place.

We've got largely the same defence, we haven't yet signed reed which means our midfield is largely the same/worse and so is our attack.

What may/will therefore make the difference is parker ball... :/  and his ability to perhaps galvanise anguissa and seri.

We need to sign players pronto.

[Radiowhite]

Agree  0001.jpeg

[Holders]

The difference is in the style of play - the fast attacking possession style of last time compared to the slow (boring) possession style of this time. Joe Bryan intimated as much in his interview. I happen to think that this year's "Parkerball" was the result of what Parker learned in the final games of the relegation season and has developed this year, culminating in its peak being reached in the play-off final. It might not be so easy on the eye but it may be more effective; we can't expect to out-Man-City Man City. 

[Whitestone]

The difference is in the style of play - the fast attacking possession style of last time compared to the slow (boring) possession style of this time. Joe Bryan intimated as much in his interview. I happen to think that this year's "Parkerball" was the result of what Parker learned in the final games of the relegation season and has developed this year, culminating in its peak being reached in the play-off final. It might not be so easy on the eye but it may be more effective; we can't expect to out-Man-City Man City.

I think this is a good point. We need to be more solid this time round. Stating the obvious I know but sort the defence out and we have a fighting chance. That's what Roy did when he took over, bringing in Hangeland.

[Tabby]

I think people are misremembering if you think this isn't different than last time around. Ahead of the season there were 4 senior defenders at the club (If we include Ryan Sess). There is far less of a need to get players in just to fill up the numbers

[Woolly Mammoth]

We have to get the defence secure and solid, with depth, balance, delay, shape and height, solid as a unit.
We have to win our battles in the air as well as on the ground. Be resilient at set pieces and dangerous at the same time. If we can keep clean sheets and make ourselves hard to beat we will pick up points and build up confidence and moral. We need a leader who will marshal the defence, because we will be underdogs in many games, which will build a seige mentality and increase morale.
That is why any new signings have to be of a strong mentality. The desire to stay in the top flight has to be there for all to see in the team's performances. It will be no picnic in so many games, that is why it is important to have ruthless players in our ranks, and not just there for the ride.
We will need players who can win matches for us, and players who can save matches for us.
If it takes an extra few millions to get the right players over the line, then so be it.
The rewards will be greater than the price we pay.
The acquisition of Harrison Reed is an important part of the jigsaw puzzle, whatever it takes if it's about personal terms then we have to be flexible. To accumulate we need to speculate.

[FulhamStu]

Fulham Stu "The club have experience of what happened last time ", they should do and are reminded of the fact that all that money was spent on Anguissa and Seri for no return and they are still with us, so what will they do with them? Hopefully sell them both and buy some decent players!!

I think you are in the minority wanting to sell Frank.   He is a very good player that took a while to settle, he is young on a long contract and we could probably get £30M for him right now.   Seri, yes huge disappointment but at the time people were saying we did brilliantly to get him to move to Fulham.   Sometimes transfers work, quite often they don't.   Think Mitro did ok as well !    Oh and Bryan was not bad in the play off final.

[FulhamStu]

As things stand I don't see a huge difference between the team that went up before and this, sorry to put a downer on things but I look at our squad and I wonder where the difference is?

No offence meant but for the premier league, I don't see Reid, cavaleiro or knockaert as players who are going to set the league alight. There's a reason the teams who signed them and stayed up sold them to us. We need a level of quality a whole new level above them, proven performers at this level. We've got most of the same squad as last time - but perhaps worse as we don't have the potency or ability of babel and sessegnon who teams may actually fear.

We still have seri and anguissa who most didn't rate or were frustrated by and we still have TK who may very well get us three managers in a season again.

Rule out chambers - our player of the season, schurrle who, whilst people didn't like him still scored goals and got us points or babel then we're arguably in a worse place.

We've got largely the same defence, we haven't yet signed reed which means our midfield is largely the same/worse and so is our attack.

What may/will therefore make the difference is parker ball... :/  and his ability to perhaps galvanise anguissa and seri.

We need to sign players pronto.

Well that is a glass half empty response if I ever saw one.   You maybe right about
Knockers, Cav and Reid, however I think they are good squad plays and have value, we could sell if we remain Premier League as Wolves etc did.   One big difference to last time is we had so many loans that we could not keep or replace in time, add Fred and the fact we bought players not yet ready (Frank).  2 years on Mitro is signed, Frank 2 years older and more experienced and we all know we need to beef up the defence.  If we don't sign any more defenders I will be amazed and very frustrated, I am sure we will see at least 2 new defenders before this window closes.

[roberto w6]

We need a central spine (I think we're ok with Rodak but a  CB, CM and Forward) with proven PL experience and success even if now coming towards the end of their career with only 2 good years or so left. I'd love to get Chris Smalling as I think his influence on Hector could make Hector a top class act in the future. Such players instill a PL mentality and survival has to be the name of the game in 2020/21. Great if we can also add a couple of flair players but such players only tend to make a difference if added on to a solid unit.

As mentioned in previous posts, this is what Clough did many years ago with both Derby and Forest when they came up to the top flight - Shilton, Lloyd. Mackay etc. OK it's a different world now, but the principle remains

Sadly, I fear the OP may have a point that our current squad is very similar to our last PL squad. That said, they and SP will hopefully have learned from that experience and will be better placed to cope. But if the gap in ability between our players and those of other teams occupying position 14 downwards is too large, no amount of coaching or tactics will bridge the gap

[toshes mate]

The Club has been plagued by poor judgement in recruitment and the mistakes didn't seem to go away even when we should have learned why some employees proved to be more successful investments than others.   We are banking on a big sea change taking place on our second attempt in the PL to come from the play offs.   We shouldn't criticise all the mistakes made along the journey because they happen, but we must demonstrate that we have learned what not to do and that equates to not going on a lavish spending spree with too much money chasing too little viable talent.

If we once again do things badly and end up going down that is a whole lot tougher to take than putting in a decent shift for the season and taking it to the wire before our fate is known.   If we recruit properly to requirements and retain the best possible dressing room spirit then I think we have a very real chance of surprising a lot of teams (and maybe even ourselves) next season and doing much better than anyone had a right to expect.    That is the big sea change I want and I can see Scott Parker fighting for his right to make it happen and being a formidable opponent with a dressing room behind him.   It all depends on how much influence our head coach has over a guy who has proven to be just too naïve for his own good but I am optimistic that this time he will listen and learn.

[rebel]

The Club has been plagued by poor judgement in recruitment and the mistakes didn't seem to go away even when we should have learned why some employees proved to be more successful investments than others.   We are banking on a big sea change taking place on our second attempt in the PL to come from the play offs.   We shouldn't criticise all the mistakes made along the journey because they happen, but we must demonstrate that we have learned what not to do and that equates to not going on a lavish spending spree with too much money chasing too little viable talent.

If we once again do things badly and end up going down that is a whole lot tougher to take than putting in a decent shift for the season and taking it to the wire before our fate is known.   If we recruit properly to requirements and retain the best possible dressing room spirit then I think we have a very real chance of surprising a lot of teams (and maybe even ourselves) next season and doing much better than anyone had a right to expect.    That is the big sea change I want and I can see Scott Parker fighting for his right to make it happen and being a formidable opponent with a dressing room behind him.   It all depends on how much influence our head coach has over a guy who has proven to be just too naïve for his own good but I am optimistic that this time he will listen and learn.

2 relegations, 3 managers in each relegation season, I think fans are entitled to criticize.

[Motspur Park]

The thing is last time, the team that got us promoted were largely cast aside for mercenary players (yes, I know almost all top players are mercenaries but some show more team spirit and togetherness than others). This time round the Championship team will be the nucleus of the starters for the campaign ahead with a few critical additions. Anguissa knows the team so will not need to integrate and provided other new signings are identified to be suited to blend in (like Robinson seems to be) we will be much better placed than two years ago. Will we stay up? Who knows, but we will be in the same boat as at least 6 other clubs so we will have a fighting chance. Given a preference, I think that Cash and Smalling could be crucial additions and, if we got Brewster from Liverpool, we would have a decent squad.  What we don't need is pressure from the top prem teams to play their untried and untested young players. From what I have seen Brewster of Liverpool at the end of last season is that he is a quality player and very confident in his own abilities.

[Statto]

We need a central spine (I think we're ok with Rodak but a  CB, CM and Forward) with proven PL experience and success even if now coming towards the end of their career with only 2 good years or so left.

Really?
Rodak will be GK
Hector will be one of the CBs
Anguissa, Cairney, Onomah, Reid, probably Reed, and possibly Seri will be our CMs
Mitro will be CF

Our spine is essentially sorted, except an LCB, and if we're being greedy perhaps a really big name central midfielder (but I think that unlikely)

[Fernhurst]

We need a central spine (I think we're ok with Rodak but a  CB, CM and Forward) with proven PL experience and success even if now coming towards the end of their career with only 2 good years or so left.

Really?
Rodak will be GK
Hector will be one of the CBs
Anguissa, Cairney, Onomah, Reid, probably Reed, and possibly Seri will be our CMs
Mitro will be CF

Our spine is essentially sorted, except an LCB, and if we're being greedy perhaps a really big name central
midfielder (but I think that unlikely)

Confident approach, however, we remain heavy favourites for relegation. Let's hope Parkerball (where did that saying originate?) slow up the big boys and surprise our closest opponents.

[Statto]

We need a central spine (I think we're ok with Rodak but a  CB, CM and Forward) with proven PL experience and success even if now coming towards the end of their career with only 2 good years or so left.

Really?
Rodak will be GK
Hector will be one of the CBs
Anguissa, Cairney, Onomah, Reid, probably Reed, and possibly Seri will be our CMs
Mitro will be CF

Our spine is essentially sorted, except an LCB, and if we're being greedy perhaps a really big name central
midfielder (but I think that unlikely)

Confident approach, however, we remain heavy favourites for relegation. Let's hope Parkerball (where did that saying originate?) slow up the big boys and surprise our closest opponents.

Didn't say I was confident necessarily, just that it would be mad to think those players are going to replaced when (except LCB) those positions are low on the list of priorities