Cairney?

[Blawarmy]

Whens he back?  Seems to be taking forever

[Ronnief]

Next season.

[Blawarmy]

Next season.

To help our championship push. 

[jarv]

An in form Cairney has been what is missing all season. Pick a pass and score a few goals.  Like other Fulham players of the past we could be confined to living with what he was and how much he meant to the team.

[blingo]

Unfortunately he is not quite premiership quality

[Woolly Mammoth]

Tom Cairneys strength is that he lets the ball do the work, and scores his fair share of goals also. He has vision and knows where and who he is going to pass the ball to even before he receives it.
Let us not write him off just yet, and let us be honest we cannot afford to.

[blingo]

He is going nowhere this season Mr Woolly

[Deeping_white]

His knee is knackered, at this rate I wouldn't risk him again this season and give him time to get fit for whatever division we're in next season. He's had two or three injections into his knee so clearly something is fairly badly wrong, if we go down then we're going to rely on him heavily so would rather we wrapped him in cotton wool so that he's fit and firing to go next year

[perry geyton]

Unfortunately he is not quite premiership quality

Ok but RLC is right ?
Comical

[Riversider]

His knee is knackered, at this rate I wouldn't risk him again this season and give him time to get fit for whatever division we're in next season. He's had two or three injections into his knee so clearly something is fairly badly wrong, if we go down then we're going to rely on him heavily so would rather we wrapped him in cotton wool so that he's fit and firing to go next year

When was the last time he was fit enough to play 40 games or more in a season ?
Next to no chance of that happening next season.

[AJW48361]

Funny how you become a better player when your not playing or injured.

[Plodder]

I have written it before, but it is sad that Cairney's history of knee injury problems has hampered his career, and I doubt he will ever be fully fit for an extended period.  I think he is Premier League quality, with the ability to make a defence splitting pass unmatched by most of his peers. He retains possession well, and chips in with some spectacular goals from outside the penalty area.  His weakness is obviously pace, but (resorting to footballing cliches), he is worth his place as the "play maker" with someone else in midfield (e.g Reed) as the "water carrier".  Cairney can be for us what Pirlo was for Italy in his mid thirties, if only his knee holds up.

[Twig]

Funny how you become a better player when your not playing or injured.

He was always one of our best players. Nothing's changed.

[Black and White Blood]

Glad to see some support for Tom Cairney
A quality player, stronger than people think,
How we need him now.

[Lordedmundo]

Funny how you become a better player when your not playing or injured.

He was always one of our best players. Nothing's changed.

Yes - still one our best players on his day. We need him - but looking more likely he is going to need a knee op.

Some people don't seem to realise that Cairney has probably played a number of games when he has not been fully fit - mainly due to the aforementioned knee problem...

[WokingFFC]

This is what he wrote on his twitter feed last week:

"Last one Syringe then hopefully back doing what I love Crossed fingers." So let's not give up on our captain and playmaker just yet.

IMO, he can and will make a positive difference in any games he plays for us this season, totally different type of player to those that are currently being fielded.

Good Luck Tom, hope you're back soon!

[simplyfulham]

His knee is knackered, at this rate I wouldn't risk him again this season and give him time to get fit for whatever division we're in next season. He's had two or three injections into his knee so clearly something is fairly badly wrong, if we go down then we're going to rely on him heavily so would rather we wrapped him in cotton wool so that he's fit and firing to go next year

When was the last time he was fit enough to play 40 games or more in a season ?
Next to no chance of that happening next season.

With all due respect, this is utter rubbish.

He's played 30+ games in the league in 6 out of he last 8 seasons including this season. In fact for Fulham he's only failed to make 30 appearances once.

Hardly any player will play 40+ league games. That's a totally unrealistic benchmark.

In the last 5 years, only 9 Fulham players have made 40+ appearances for Fulham in a season. And only 2 have made 40+ appearances more than once. Tim Ream and Kevin McDonald.

And yes, Tom Cairney is 1 of the 9 players to record 40+ appearances.

[clarkey]

If ever we need a player like Tom it is now. Invention, good precise passing, and that unknown quality of being able to find space and exploit it.

We have no one else who can do that.

He also chips in with some goals...like winning the play offs for example.

[HV71]

We really need him back ( I can't really judge our forwards as they get no service or decent crosses ) . Tom is our only midfielder who can make a truly creative pass and also has a decent shot on him. He is effective RLC isn't

[bobby01]

The Cairney being described here is the one who Slav surrounded with players to enable him to play. Stefjo and Kmac did the dirty work for him, Fredericks and Ayite used to make loads of room for him. If he has time and is not pressured he can find a pass, but we are no longer set up to give him the time he needs, he does not make space for himself, and the vast majority of his passes are sideways or backwards. I truly believe that his only good time was under Slav because we were set up for him to shine, that is no longer the case.