Playing Manager for a Minute

We all watched the West Ham game. Kamara looked like a world class forward up top by himself. Not only that, but it seemed everybody kicked into gear in that new formation. Murphy was picking passes,Dempsey and Gera looked decent etc. So allow me to play at manager for a minute and propose that we go to a 4-5-1 formation for the next game.


WHAT!? Yes, Cookie played this and we all hated it, but we never had the skills of Kamara when he played that formation. Kamara just looks the part when he's by himself. Murphy could have his passing ability brought to the forefront too. He could pick out passes to Kamara and Dempsey can move into the middle with Davies coming into the starting lineup with Duff on the left. We'd have speed on the wings and would be playing a 4-3-3 at times.


This is just a thought and I'd like us to try and come up with plans for the team.

 

In Roy We Trust.

4-4-2 with AJ and BZ up top, if they're healthy.

 

I'd go AJ and Kamara right now.

 

AJ isn't getting it done. He misses sitters just like Zamora. What good is Murphy's passes if he's just gonna blow the chance. If we're to go 4-4-2 I'd rather put somebody like Dempsey up top. AT least we know he can finish a chance.

 

I agreee with WhitesBhoy AJ and Kamara.

AJ May have missed a few sitters weve all seen that, but at least he's getting in to those situtaions, Zamora's Doesnt and Kamara should be pissed he got substituted he played he's heart out, who wouldnt?

 

Roy knows what he's doing. Two years ago Kamara was the everyday striker and he hardly ever scored and we almost got relegated. He had a great match yesterday but that doesn't automatically rearrange the pecking order.

 

Sure it does. Yesterdays game was just a confirmation of what many already believed. He's been playing really well since his comeback from injury and deserves to jump in front of everybody. He's going to have his bad games, but he can jump up at anytime and score a goal. That's something the current starting forwards can't do. When I watch a match I don't think "man Zamora can run past Upson at any time draw a penalty". He deserves his chance.

 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Wait, you were serious?

 

If I was manager for a minute, I dont know how well I would do. But if I was manager for 90 minutes, hey yeah we would win every game.

 

Yes I am serious. When he and Nevlaand were up top last season, they worked quite well. He scored 2 goals and Nevland scored a few goals. That was far better than the output Zamora had and AJ's goal tally was nothing to write home about. Goals are what matter and Kamara matched Zamora's effort in a few games. If you can't see that Kamara is better than at least one of the starting pair, then I am really at a loss for words.

 

24, Kamara is due way more credit than he has ever been given in my opinion. He may not be Mr. Fulham, but he certainly saved their butts more than one time.

 

Kamara's problem is that he disappears in games. With both AJ and BZ, you get effort 100% of the time. Even in the 1st half of the West Ham game, Zamora was mostly invisible.

I agree that he's certainly earned being the #3 striker, but until he consistently puts in a full shift, he doesn't deserve to start over a healthy AJ or BZ. In fact, given his workrate, I prefer to see him as a sub, coming on for BZ in games we're behind or tied. I think that drive to become a starter helps his workrate.

 

A) Goals are one thing that matters, but they aren't the only thing. First, Roy clearly values the effort that Zamora and Johnson put in defending, and we should too. Second, the role of a target striker isn't just about scoring goals, it's about bringing teammates into play and opening up space; see this article for more on this point.

B) Once again, Kamara was a regular starter in 2007-08 and he was almost always disappointing, and we almost got relegated. Yes, he scored a great goal at Man City to to help us stay up, but if he were the player you seem to think he is then we shouldn't have been in that position in the first place. On the other hand, Zamora and Johnson each started over 30 matches in 2008-09, and the team had its best season ever. And as much as goals matter, results matter even more, and it should be clear that as disappointed as many of us were with Zamora's shooting last season, there are other things he brings to the table that help a team succeed; the same goes for Johnson.

Again, Kamara played a great game on Sunday, and I'm not taking that away from him. But on top of the fact that the intelligent thing to do is to weight the bigger sample size of his whole body of work in the Premier League more heavily than the one match that happens to be freshest in our minds, it should also be borne in mind that he had a great game playing a role that doesn't exist most of the time: even if we were to play a 4-5-1 with Kamara alone up top, the role of a single striker in a 4-5-1 (with outside midfielders typically pushing far up the field) isn't the same as the role in a 4-4-1 playing against 11 men (with everyone else concentrating mainly on defense).

 

I don't value effort all that high. I could care less if Zamora holds the ball up well. He does fuck all with that ball and AJ gets into fantastic positions only to waste chances. We were still chugging along last year even when Nevland and Kamara were both starting. They scored us goals to help us qualify for the Europa League. So obviously if Zamora and AJ were so important to the team, then we would've had a pretty big dropoff. That didn't happen.



Yes, 2007 was a horrible year for Kamara and I was ready to throw him under the bus, but then Roy came in and Kamara played much better. I remember some comments saying that they were disappointed to see Kamara have a long term injury because they thought last year he could've really done well coming off his performances during our relegation fight.


There's simply no reason to keep a player in the lineup based on effort alone. Mcbride put in loads of effort, but at least he could score. Zamora puts in effort, but forwards are supposed to do more. I don't see him creating chances and I don't see him scoring goals. 3 goals since we signed him simply isn't getting it done. Really neither is the 7 goals that AJ has scored. Time to change things up a bit.

 

Of course you were, because you overreacted then just like you're overreacting now. It goes without saying that Roy has forgotten more about soccer than you'll ever know, so if BZ and AJ are good enough for him then they're good enough for me.

 

Who's overreacting? I'm going by a year and 2 months of Zamora's performance and AJ's. I'd be overreacting if I was going by the first couple of months, but I'm not doing that. I've seen them play for years and have based my decisions on that. Just because Hodgson sticks with them doesn't mean I'm wrong. Managers get shit wrong all the time. Your faith with Hodgson's decisions even though the individual performances are shit is simply stunning.

 

Kamara is talented no doubt, and probably a better striker/forward or whatever you want to call it compared to AJ and Bobby, but, as jmh says, he doesn't do what he's supposed to do with the way Fulham plays under Hodgson, and or he doesn't fit with either AJ or BZ, or both. As long as Fulham plays a 4-4-2 and Hodgson has BZ available, he's going to play BZ because he's the only holding player out of all the forwards and that is the way Roy Hodgson wants to play. That's the system and Kamara doesn't fit in it. If anyone were to be taken off it would have to be AJ.

 

Roy's management credentials arguably rank him in the top 20 active managers. If he appreciates effort and wants a holding forward, I'm not going to argue.

 

I don't know that Roy is satisfied with BZ & AJ, but rather doesn't see the solution on the bench. He's made mention they pursued a couple of options in the summer that didn't work out. But he also stressed they were looking for a certain type of striker/forward b/c of the system.

There are guys who do what Bob and AJ do but finish better. Whether we can afford them is another issue. Guess we'll see what, if anything, Roy does in the January window.