Fulham @ West Brom

:angry-banghead: That is all.

 

To this point, I was hoping for Kvist instead of Burn to lock up the midfield. Either Parker or Holtby (who did run his guts out in my opinion and had little left at the end) may have been better options to substitute. Richardson's sub was puzzling. Kasami's continued absence baffles me.

 

That's the rub though: what we shelled out for him is market rate for a (decent) striker these days. It is a decent outlay of money, but in the context of this sport and current year it's normal. It's quite damning that in 2014 that our club record transfer fee is barely 13m; especially which it's an amount that's only been remotely approached twice in last 9-10 years when we bought Ruiz and Johnson.

Soho shelled out the same on Osvaldo. He didn't score until his 5th game...against Crystal Palace. He netted just three goals before being jettisoned at first opportunity. If Osvaldo represented some Cano-esque acquisition, Soho would've bit the bullet and kept him.

Not saying we should or are pulling a QPR or Pompey, but we need to realize and accept current market trends.

Anyway, back to the game: 2 shots total the entire second half. The more things change...

 

I guess Gruppenführer Felix hasn't got the boys quite whipped into shape yet. If his reputation is true, he'll get them there. The question is, will it be in time for next weekend's visit by the scum. I hope so, because our chances of earning 3 points are melting faster than the snow and ice around here. Agree it's too early to pass judgment on Glue, but we did need him to come in and make a measurable impact quickly. Wasn't able to see any of the match after leaving the chat room, but if we did, indeed, tire after such a long layoff, then shame on us. That can't happen at this level. The bottom line is that this was an opportunity to get three points and we only got one. I'm afraid we've already dropped too many obtainable points this season to catch up. I mean, does anybody seriously think we can get more than one against Chelsea? Or at the Etihad, or WHL, or home against Everton? Or get three at Cardiff, Villa and Stoke? In my mind, the ONLY match we'll be favored in is the season ender at home against Palace. By then, we'll probably know whether or not we're staying up. Oh, and one more thing...halftime adjustments? Anybody?

 

Thought the same thing, and hope that there is a balance between hard work and having the squad ready to go on matchday.

 

We pressed a lot more in the midfield than we have previously, especially in the first half. That may have also been a factor in our fatigue. We pressed more when Rene first took over too and quickly stopped doing it...after shipping late goals to Everton and City. That may have been why he went away from it. Whatever the case, this team can't play a standard Premier League level football match for 90 minutes.

I was optimistic with the change b/c I was hoping Magath could tighten up the defense through discipline and tactics. We did only give up 1 and we lasted a lot longer before giving it up. Of course, that could just be an indictment on WBA's offensive woes. It'll have to remain to be seen. It'll also have to remain to be seen if there's enough time to improve fitness enough that we can play a full 90 soon. Hopefully Magath figures out that he doesn't have the luxury to make tactical subs. He's going to need to set the lineup and plan out subs just to get us through a full match without the defense going belly up late due to fatigue.

I understand the point on sample size when it comes to Mitroglou, but I have to admit, I was a bit shocked by his immobility. He looked very Pog-like. The real failure wasn't necessarily him, it was the players required to link to him and the fact that they were so spent they couldn't hang onto the ball. While it's nice to say you can't judge him because he gets no support, we haven't been good at providing service to strikers for 2 years now. So picking up a guy who needs the ball played to his feet in a rather stationary position, is epically stupid. I'll go ahead and predict that we'll still be saying you can't judge him b/c he gets no service at the end of the season. This team needs strikers who can run down balls, particularly in the 2nd half. If you watched Norwich trying to kill off the game against Spurs, you'd have seen they played balls into the channel for Hooper to get on the end of. He did, and was then able to use a trailer or two and generate some threats on goal. In our 2nd half against WBA, once the ball crossed midfield, it was coming right back.

Good call on bringing in sprint coaches as consultants in the offseason, Heather. That's the kind of outside-the-box thinking that is missing at FFC. Nicola Cortese was taking that sort of comprehensive approach with Southampton, with great success, before resigning earlier this year. Google him if you're not familiar, his story with Saints is actually a pretty interesting read. I'd trade Mackintosh for him in a heartbeat.

 

Your last comment about Mackintosh got me to thinking, Sir Matthew. How long does he last after we get relegated? I'd say about a nanosecond.

 

I agree with Heather, he's probably gone either way. He's definitely gone if we go down. If not, I'll be at wits' end with this club.