Fulham V Blackburn

My observations from the game I just finished watching:

1. We are a horrible passing team. We cannot make 3 and four passes without screwing up.

2. Claus Jensen is one of the slowest midfielders in the Premiership and because of that, his creative abilities cannot be used. When the match goes up and down the field, Claus just can't keep up.

3. Papa is not in match shape yet.

4. Warner made some decent saves, but made three or four brutal clearances from goal that went straight to Blackburn players.

5. Yes, the two goals Balckburn scored were phenomenal, but the fact of the matter is that they outplayed us for mostly the entire match. That is not a good sign.

6. Volz is a warrior, but for some reason the last 12 months Volz's level of play has slowly been going the way of the buffalo. He overcommits in the attack, he does not get back, he gets be consistently by attackers and has had a hard time in all facets of the game.

7. Steed looks to be continuing his poor form of the 2004-2005 season.

8. Cookie needs to sub players in earlier. Subs need at least 20 minutes on the pitch to do something.

9. Fulham's midfield is crap. There are some big name players like Papa, Steed and Boa Morte, but the group does not play well together and they cannot create any chances for the strikers up front. They hold no possesion and are terrible defensively.

10. The team collectively lacked heart and determination on Saturday and no matter what, that is unacceptable. This kind of crap has been happening too much for Fulham and it needs to stop fast. With matches against Arsenal, Everton, Newcastle and even West Ham, Fulham needs to right the ship in a hurry or be mired in a relegation battle all season long.

11. Zesh and Zat are not gonna get it done defensively. We need Goma back soon. We also need Rosenior back in place of Volz.

12. On a positive note, Niclas Jensen is dangerous with free kicks.

13. Warner did make some nice saves and saved some suspect defense in front of him.

14. McBride played a pretty good match. Unfortunately, Radzinski did not. I personally think Radz has a hamstring problem and needs to sit out a week or two and make sure it is 100%.

 

Blackburn V Fulham

And I was just about to say that we looked better than I thought we would although we do need some major in many areas you address CT.

Our passing was atrocious, but I'm not worried. Our preseason didn't consist of any ball work until towards the end, so my thought here is that our passing will improve as we get going in the season. If it does, our midfield will be dangerous.

Steed had some great dribbling efforts, but only in small burts, nothing that contributed to any type of attacking.

I was, again, pleasantly suprised with N. Jensen. Not many left backs can shoot a dead ball like that.

Believe it or not, I am looking forward to how the team plays vs the Arse. It could be interesting to see how they react from the weekend.

 

RE: Blackburn V Fulham

I just want to let it be know that I am not a doom and gloom kind of guy. I am calling it like I see it on television. By no means are my observations right, but I just wanted to get them out there instead of keeping all the frustrations inside me about this team.

We are better than we played on Saturday. I have heard for the last 12 months how this team is too good on paper to get relegated. The bottom line is this...relegation is a possibility unless the team's attitide and play on the pitch change. We are undermanned first and foremost and you couple that with a lack of energy, excitement and such and you have the formula of a disaster waiting to happen.

It is still early, but habits are formed early and are hard to break. Fulham needs to get a win against either Arsenal or Everton to build some much needed confidence in the team and the supporters.

If not, I think the match between Newcastle and Fulham on Sept 10th at St. James Park will determine which manager, Souness or Coleman, will win the sack race.

 

RE: Blackburn V Fulham

I wasn't as crazy about Niclas Jensen's performance as everyone else seems to be. He fell asleep on at least a couple of occasions, which almost led to Blackburn goals. But as far as dead balls, he was very dangerous.

Blackburn are a bunch of hacks.

Warner looked very good and, like Edwin, singlehandedly kept FFC in that match by making every single save he could reasonably have been expected to make. We'll see how he handles the offense thrown at him at Highbury, but so far, so good IMO.

Our ball control and possession are NON-EXISTENT. Whenever a Fulham player had the ball at his feet, he just got rid of it at the slightest sign of a challenge. No real attempt to pass it TO anyone, just a "get it away from me" rush job. Very frustrating to watch. Especially coupled with the fact that everyone would just stand around when B-burn had the ball. No efforts to dispossess them.

Well, after 2 weeks, Fulham deserved to win one, but didn't. And they deserved to lose one, and they did. Still very optimistic, but obviously consistency is going to have to be there.