Yet Another Duct Tape Signing

Yes I am venting and I will get off my soap box soon, but "Greece captain Karagounis joins Fulham on a free"

We should have just gave Murphy his two years in my opinion.

 

Hindsight is 20/20. Hopefully this signing will prove to be more Danny Murphyesque than Jari Litmanen.

 

Totally agree SC, thought it was penny wise, pound foolish on not bringing Danny back for the extra year. Everyone knew it was a good possibility that the 2 Dems were gone, and the captain being there to would have helped things to settle down.

Can't expect Gio (not even going to attempt the rest of the spelling) to be anything more than a band-aid until the Jan. window. However, he played great in the Euros and think he could contribute (especially for matches at CC). Good thing about low expectations is maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

I wonder how long he will need to train before he will be match fit? Any idea if he has been training with a team?-

 

At his age, he should be match fit by March...Pretty sure this isn't the signing that's gonna make all well in the midfield.

 

Hmmmm.....I was a little excited - yes, he's a band-aid - but a badly needed band-aid. He's better than anything else we got there. Would've been smarter to keep Murphy, but they didn't.
Given the circumstances, he should be quite an upgrade in the middle.

 

If it was only a matter of an extra year for Murphy - silly business indeed replacing one, 35 yr old, established Premier League (captain even) player with another 35 yr old, unproven Premier League player. Apparently Fulham has, 3 matches in, already reached the 'living/breathing' body theory.

 

I am not feeling the hype in this signing either Don and hopefully Karagounis is nothing more than a bridge to our next real central midfield signing which I am guessing will not come until next summer unless we are in trouble come January. In my mind I appreciate the signing for exactly what SC called it and that is a duct tape signing. I think he is coming in to provide us with some depth and I don't understand those who think he is going to step in as an automatic starter. I sincerely don't understand those that are whispering his name in the same league as Diarra.

I will admit I know next to nothing about Karagounis but I keep reading about how he played for Inter, Benfica and Panathinaikos and what a great career he had as a Greek international. My collective thoughts on why all of that hype means little to me as a Fulham fan.

1. I never trust a players international career to translate to his club play or vice versa. When some players pull on their national team shirt they play well above their club level and for some it is just the opposite.

2. Karagounis was a bit part player at Inter. It says something that Inter signed him but it also says something that in two years he was never a regular.

3. For Benfica he had one good year in two before moving back to Panathinaikos.

4. In the last five years with Panathinaikos he has only won the Greek league once. Although that could easily say more about the team than the player.

5. I also question if he will adapt to the pace of the Premier League and what his current fitness level is.

The signing of Karagounis may turn out to be the equivalent of a wonderful season long long but I just can't get more excited about it than that.

I agree with Don btw SCFF that is a great title.

 

For those glass half-empty types - think about a couple things.....

(Keep in mind, I agree they should've kept Murphy AND anticipated Dembele leaving)

Danny Murphy is now playing at Blackburn. In the Championship. There were apparently not a slew of teams climbing over each other to sign him for 2yrs. The NFL Eagles and Patriots have consistently let aging players go - sometimes even a year early. Philosophically, I disagree with their move (balking on the 2yr deal) but I do understand it.
Has Murphy played in the Euros (or won it)? Captained his country? You can't just discount the new guy's experience b/c you haven't seen him much. I'm not here to slam Danny - he did create lots of scoring opportunities, but give Karagounis the chance to play a game or two before pooping on him.

Charlie Adam would've been a cheap replacement for Dembele - did the club really not know Dembele was looking to leave? Epic fail. But, we got Berbatov - think 'Pool would like to have him (or any striker, for that matter) right now? We'll still score goals.

Anybody watching the game vs. West Ham would understand the team needs a healthy dose of duct tape right now. Management (looking at you, Alistair) should've had enough foresight to avoid this, but we need a presence in the middle now. Karagounis is a leader and knows how to get results with an overmatched team.

Duct tape ain't pretty, but it works. Don't be afraid of a little optimism.....

(edit) Found this. It won't change anybody's mind, but fun to watch nonetheless:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_2PKrE9zgs[/youtube]

 

I agree with Don and Barry in that I don't get the hype over this signing. I think people see the pleasantly surprising way the Diarra signing went and think Karagounis (the name really isn't that hard) will be the same. There are two differences that quickly spring to mind though. As Barry pointed out, he doesn't have Diarra's pedigree. Nor is he 31.

Karagounis and Danny are the same age and we all saw the decline in Danny over the last 3 years. At the end of the season he wasn't a whole lot more than a stationary passer. Great leader, brilliant passer, but he was behind the play often and had become a bit of a liability on defense. Because of that, I thought the move to the Championship was a good one b/c he won't encounter as many players with the pace you see in the Prem, but also b/c more players lack the technical skill that makes them faster. Add to that the fact that Karagounis has been playing in Greece against much lesser competition and I don't think he's going to be better than what we have. Different perhaps, but there will be trade-offs.

On the positive side, over the last 5 years, he averaged just under a goal every 10 games and he's known to be a brilliant passer and deliverer of set pieces.

I think best case scenario, he's like bringing Danny back w/o the established leadership. As band-aids go, that's not that bad. Hopefully I'm wrong and he exceeds my expectations.

 

Agree with everybody a little bit- I agree most with shinerbockguy and I like Matt's summary of the best case scenario "As band-aids go, that's not that bad." He doesn't have to be as good as Murphy or even Diarra, he just has to be better than Sidwell and Baird... that's not the ideal way to go, but the crushing blow of losing the Dems was tempered a bit by Berbatov (obviously not neutralized, but felt less catastrophic), so I think even with a weakened midfield, we'll still be OK.

~ Steve

 

Except now that we are hearing Diarra is injured he may need to be as good as Diarra. I am not normally a conspiracy theorist but I don't like the sound of this signing after the window and Diarra's injury being announced in the same week.

 

Sure, Karagounis may (have) be (en) class, but when will he be match fit? He's not playing tomorrow. I'm not foreclosing his ability to be a band-aid b/c I haven't seen it for Fulham yet, however, I reserve the right to be skeptical at this point.

All hands on deck right now with Ruiz seemingly never fit and Diarra suffering a knee injury. Sidwell and Baird seem likely to slot into the midfield, and of the two, I believe Baird to be a better passer (I'm really tired now as well, maybe delusional). Still, the midfield had better step up; I'm optimistic of Fulham's attacking options, that's not a problem - the Baggies come to the Cottage with swagger, so the boys in the middle will be responsible for thwarting attacks and springing the counters.