Now what?

Well, we got what we wanted. So now what?

Watching the match yesterday, I couldn't help but come to the conclusion that our path to success in the immediate future will be decidedly blue collar....we need to fill our squad with 11 Scott Parkers. I know he didn't have the best match yesterday, but he's been a consummate professional and always does what's asked of him.

One of the key aspects of Jol's downfall is that he seemingly only had an eye for talent, and not for effort, professionalism or squad chemistry. He's a fantasy football manager made real.

But teams that survive a relegation battle don't do so with luxury players. They do so with a squad full of hard-working players coming together to do everything to keep the team in the league. So we need to part ways with Berbatov and Ruiz, and even sell Kasami if we can get a good price. (The first two I'll be happy to see go...Kasami I'd love to keep, but at this point, I think he's a luxury we can't afford).

Will Meulensteen be any better? Obviously a crowded December fixture list will tell us a bit, but this season will be made or lost in the January window.

OK, rant over. I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts.

 

As usual, Fulham raise more questions than they answer. Is Meulensteen an interim manager or is he the new guy? How many of Jol's staff left and what are the plans to replace them (at this time, only Jol has been removed from the Staff page on the Offal)? Will we see players leave and some investment in January?

None of us know if this will work b/c there's nothing to base an opinion on. From his short time with the club, the only change we've seen is that we're playing with less width. Everything else looked the same. In fairness, he hasn't had much time to implement change and we don't know what impediments he faced doing so with Jol still in charge. The only thing we can do is wait and see. I'm not optimistic, but it surely can't get any worse...right? At least Jol is gone, so I can stomach continuing to watch and see what happens, for a little while.

Here's Meulensteen with BBC Radio 5 Live:

Surprising that he hasn't spoken to Khan, but it doesn't really answer any questions. He does sound like he'll bring more accountability than Jol did. That's a step in the right direction.

 

Speaking to Tim's point about fielding "11 Scott Parkers," does this open the door for a loan spell from Mr. Dempsey? It wouldn't be a huge help in terms of rescue from relegation, given the shortness of his availability, but with Jol gone, who knows? Hell, Seattle might even be agreeable to an extended loan, if Spurs sign off on it. Speaking of Spurs, think they wish they had kept him now?

 

I would be extremely surprised if there are any off-season loan spells this year, especially.
While the MLS PR folks might like it, the teams, and probably even Klinsmann, don't.

come on, guys... stop ignoring the obvious. The team's performance has not been solely from some vacuum of Jol's leadership, it was a collective (non)effort to get what they wanted. The proof will show in the next few games.

 

"ding dong the witch is dead" and all, but Tim's post is spot on, now what? I'm worried we may have a bigger kookoo bird than the one we just canned based on that article Heather posted, and he has virtually no positive track record with managing a first team. This is the freaking premier league, you dont appoint a manager like that if you want to stay up. If Matt is correct and the only change we have seen since Meulensteen has been onboard is less width, that is not moving in the right direction. I stopped watching the West Ham match because I was so frustrated with how much we were trying to force everything down the middle, well that and the lack of anything positive. If he hasnt spoken to Khan, that sounds like Kahn is letting the football experts make the calls. I used to really trust MacIntosh and Co but this stint with Jol has been so strange I dont know what to think. God help us. As far as Jump's question - no Dempsey loan please. Too many potential negatives from that one. We need things as positive as possible, but then who am I to talk. I was relieved to hear Jol was sacked, but I woke up this morning and still feel sick. Nothing has changed, we still have a strange Dutchman in charge.

 

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/december/02/coaching-staff-update

A little surprised to see McKinlay gone, but otherwise I feel better after hearing this announcement. Many of us have thought a lot of the problems we were seeing originated at the training ground, so to see most of Jol's staff go with him is good news. I don't think you could expect to change the attitude of the team with (most of) the same staff in place. I'm hoping that whoever was working with the team on set pc defense is among the castoffs.

Symons has done great work with the U teams and deserved a promotion. Meulensteen obviously has a relationship with Hill and the length of his tenure at Utd would suggest his work was good. That still leaves another opening to be filled. Hans Seger and Scott Miller are the only coaches who weren't let go. Seger came with Jol, but he's a gk coach, so Stekelenburg was probably a factor. Miller's been with us since 2007.

 

Totally agree w/your points Tim. This Jan. window is make or break. Obviously they don't grow on trees, but if Fulham doesn't buy a creative mid (even if it means overspending) and at the beginning of the window, I can't see anything but relegation. Parker is a warrior, but he needs to be paired with a Dembele (the First) type, not a lesser version of himself in Sidders. I really hope our supporters step up and get behind the squad. The away support during the Great Escape was fantastic and it's essential our home support puts away their knives or their apathy and picks up the team.

 

Wait a minute . . . do we really want Scott Parker in goal?

 

Fulham is to go hockey style and pull the goalie.

 

OK, fair point. Stek can stay. Although Nev's strategy has its merits too.

 

Rene expects funding in January.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... ier-league

Rene Meulensteen expects to be granted funding by the Fulham owner, Shahid Khan, in January to try to avoid relegation as the Dutchman sets about making a success of his first managerial role in English football.

Meulensteen, who was initially recruited as head coach last month, was given sole responsibility for the first-team following the departure of his compatriot, Martin Jol. Meulensteen , has spoken at length with the chief executive, Alistair Mackintosh, and has made no secret of his desire to recruit to bolster a side who have suffered five successive league defeats to drop below the cut-off.

There is an acceptance within the hierarchy at Craven Cottage that additions will have to be made to fire the team's survival attempt, with the implications of relegation to the Championship all too obvious. Jol had operated within a relatively tight budget over the tail-end of Mohamed al-Fayed's stewardship before Khan's takeover last summer, and his net spend over his two-and-a-half-year spell, a period encompassing five transfer windows, had been only around £4m.

While Bryan Ruiz had cost £10.6m from FC Twente, and Dimitar Berbatov had been recruited from Manchester United, Jol's outlay in the summer was limited to the arrival of Sascha Riether, Scott Parker and Elsad Zverotic on permanent deals, while Adel Taarabt and Darren Bent joined on loan.

"Everyone needs to realise we must invest," Meulensteen, 49, told the BBC. "We need to look how we can strengthen this squad to ensure Fulham stay in the Premier League."

The Dutchman, who had spoken at length on the telephone with the departing Jol after the axe fell, oversaw the first-team's training session at Motspur Park on Monday ahead of the visit of Tottenham Hotspur to Craven on Wednesday having already re-jigged his technical staff following his promotion. Jonathan Hill, a former academy youth coach at Manchester United, has been appointed first-team coach.

Hill has since enjoyed a period as technical director with the Jordanian Football Association, overseeing youth teams from under-8s to under-20s, before recent spells at Manchester City and Tromso. Kit Symons, formerly the under-21s development team manager, will also be assisting Meulensteen with the senior coaching alongside his duties with the second-string. Billy McKinlay, Michael Lindeman and the former manager's brother, Cornelis Jol, have all departed the club as part of the shake-up.

Meulensteen will be challenged in his new role regardless of the level of funding he receives in January given his relative lack of managerial experience at the top level, with his appointment greeted with skepticism in some quarters.

"The way they are playing at the moment, they are looking in real trouble," said the former Fulham captain, Danny Murphy, speaking on talkSPORT. "I just hope he has the capability because it doesn't matter how good a coach you are: when you have to manage players it is a different ball game.

"There are plenty of candidates out there with more experience than him, so I'm not sure. He will have learnt a lot from Sir Alex Ferguson, how can you not? But you are talking about dealing with different players. You're not talking about training with some of the best players in Europe day in, day out. You're talking about trying to motivate players that aren't playing so well. It's a different job."...

 

I mostly agree with Tim- but I think we need to keep Kasami. We can't afford to let any young talent go... (even if it paradoxically means we'd have more money to spend on young talent, so I can see the counter-argument).

~ Steve

 

Sir Alex was able to earn "my way or the highway" status at Man Utd. And he used it. If Rene tries that approach in this situation, then we ARE going down, because nobody's accusing Jol of being a "player's manager." At the end, it was obvious that the players had just quit on him. And if Rene doesn't get off to a positive start, I fear we'll see more of the same.

 

Going back and addressing a couple of points on here.

No, I don't think Spurs miss Dempsey. They replaced him with Ericksen and Lamela, two players who are much younger and will likely be better players than Dempsey. I think where AVB went awry was bringing in too many players up front, from foreign leagues, at one time. It's been proven time and again that there's an adjustment period when moving to the Prem, especially with younger players. By bringing in Soldado, Ericksen, Lamela and Paulinho, he has a few too many players finding their feet. If you look at that metric Timmy often refers to (don't recall the name) they are actually playing well enough. It's just not translating to goals. Dempsey would have given them that, but he'd have also blocked some of those players from pitch time, thus lengthening the adjustment period. The fact (if it is a fact) that they're willing to pass on a Dempsey loan verifies that they don't miss him.

While I get the point of wanting 11 Scott Parkers attitude-wise, I actually question if the one we have is a good fit. I don't think he offers enough offensively or defensively unless we go 4-3-3. If we went with a midfield three of Boateng (holding), Kasami (attacking) and Parker (in an in-between type role) that might work. I certainly think we can use his leadership and work rate. He might also work as 1 of the cm's in a 4-5-1 if we inverted the wingers (since none of them can cross the ball for crap) and we utilized overlapping fb's to move the ball up the wing. He'd be able to stay home more in the middle and not get exposed when the ball comes the other way. I still have my doubts if he has the passing acumen to be effective in that role though.

Anyone else find it ironic that the Guardian article conveniently leaves off our biggest signing of the offseason? No mention of Stekelenburg at all. I'm not saying we haven't been a bit cheap, but it's not as bad as people make it out. Especially when you compare our wage bill to other teams in the bottom half of the table. The "who" we've brought in is just as big an issue as the "how much" we've spent. That said, I hope the article is correct about Khan giving Meulensteen money in January. We have to dig out of the hole we've created by missing on too many players while we were attempting to get by.

Speaking of, if we can get 10M or more for Kasami, I think we'd have to take it. He's going to be a very good player, but he isn't there yet. I'd love to keep him and eventually enjoy all of the benefits of his development, but we don't have that luxury. We have too many holes and for 5M/player (for example), we'd be better served with 2 players equal to or better than Kasami is now, even if they'll never be the finished product that he'll one day be. It's not like we'll be able to keep him if we go down anyway.

Jump, I don't think the players quit on Jol, per se. I think he was too much of a player's manager in that he made things too easy for them and didn't ask enough of them. I believe most of them wanted to play for him. We've usually been our best in the first 10 minutes of matches and then we've gone downhill from there. I think as each match wore on and the absence of a clear plan and tactics went against the players, they gave in to frustration and their effort level would diminish to the point of quitting. After the ManU and Liverpool debacles, yeah, they probably did quit on him. But I think if he'd put them in any kind of position to succeed, things would have been different. Obviously, that's just a theory as none of us are at training or talking to the players.

 

http://fulhamsupporterstrust.com/ne...s-muelensteen-head-of-first-team-affairs.html

The rest of the piece is the release we saw from the club yesterday. Not sure what this means exactly. Guess we might bring in a Director of Football type? Or we're leaving ourselves the wiggle room to add a manager if Meulensteen struggles with that aspect? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see the back of Jol. But the way we've gone about it, from waiting so long to get rid of Jol, to bringing in RM to allegedly help Jol only to fire Jol 2 weeks later (not enough time to make an assessment of a Jol/RM partnership) to being so specific about RM not being the manager, is all rather confusing and doesn't inspire the confidence I'd hoped to feel upon Jol's departure.

 

I'd been under the impression that Mackintosh handled the GM role, or at least headed that dept. Looking on the Offal though, he's listed as CEO. So maybe I've got it all wrong. I'm not so sold we're "Americanizing" anything. Most clubs seems to have some form of Player Personnel group that works with the manager to bring in talent.

Looking back, there are obvious signings that the manager had targeted. You had Hangeland and Nevland with Roy and Berbatov and Ruiz with Jol, for example. But if you look back to Dembele, it was reported that Hodgson passed on him and then Hughes signed off on him the next year. So it would seem we have a group that works to identify and acquire talent along their own agenda while also working with the manager to acquire talent he's targeted. I suspect the manager has little to do with targeting youth players.

Considering Mike works for the club, you'd think we'd have a better understanding of how this works.