The {Relegation} Battle is On

The relegation battle is on. The dream of a mid-table finish was nice while it lasted.

Zamora looks frighteningly insignificant, Murphy looks old, Bullard almost as old, but has been twice as costly. Simon is kind of running around trying to find his place on the pitch, while Andy J., if he can ever play a few games consecutive, only looks similar to who he once was.

Someone may need to memo our coach that the premier league now allows 3 substitutes per game, and that even though a unit might look good together, old men get tired and every once in awhile new energy being put on the field can be a good thing.

It started off pretty optomistic. Win over Arsenal, taking care of business with Bolton, and the Hull defeat looks more and more logical seeing how they've excelled so far. But after that, it's just like before...only a spec more competetive. And instead of being able to enjoy games like Sunderland, it becomes another 'crucial 6 pointer' to dread and panic if we get one goal behind.

 

Goldabe, while it might be a tad too soon to hit the panic button, it's realistic to think it'll come down to the last couple of games.

Bobby Z was sick as a dog and wasn't exactly getting any service in the WBA match. Him and AJ have played together twice and the partnership looked quite good, they'll score goals (starting w/Sunderland)

Jimmy plays his best w/a smile on his face. Not sure if he was pressing to get back on the England team or Roy's comment on his contract situation earlier in the week bothered him, but he wasn't flying around and having a good time.

Murphy, he runs hot or cold and there never seems to be an in between. As the captain he needs to step up or it's time for him to watch from the bench.

 

Yep, pretty bummed after the last 4 matches with no wins. I am trying to remain optimistic that we can get the recipe right. I am not concerned with mid-table, just would love to not have another relegation fight. It's still early, I haven't given up yet. Maybe we just need one key player to really step it up and bring it all together. :?

 

Way too early to panic. We're really not far off from where we should be, and we've been somewhat unlucky so far.

 

I am not buying into the fact that we have been unlucky at all. I think that we have gotten what we have deserved so far this year.

 

It is early in the season and adjustments can be made, but right now Fulham is flirting with an old flame- the relegation zone.

I just hope it doesn't move on to the courtship stage... :wink:

 

We'll probably pull a Boro, Bolton, and Sunderland of last year where we're in the zone until April, then we rattle off like 7 points out of 9 and stay afloat.

Once we get the midfield sorted out, we'll do fine. Bullard not in the England squad is a huge blessing for us.

 

Although the recent results aren't good I'm not going to get too worried just yet.
I still have faith in Roy (even though I don't always agree with his substitution policy) and think that if the guys can play with consistency and passion then we'll steer clear of a relegation battle.

 

Wow, can't believe the negativity here...we are getting as bad as the English boards.

The reason we are where we are is lack of converting chances. No one can say we aren't playing pretty football, keeping possession and creating chances. At the end of the day the ball isn't in the back of the net.

I'd much rather be in the position we are in now than where we were this time last year.

In Roy I trust and so should you.

 

Dempsey isn't "prem quality," he's responsible for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and he sucks!

Now we're as bad as the awful.

:banana:

 

Mike, I agree that this team is in much better shape then last seasons and one of the primary problems has been finishing chances not creating them. I posted a statistic the other day on the Hull thread illustrating that the main difference between Fulham and Hull postitions in the table is that we have only put 34% of our shots on goal and Hull has put over 50% of their shots on goal.

Agreeing on that point I will say I don't feel we have been unlucky this season and that is not necessarily a bad thing. To me saying we are unlucky means things have been outside of the squad and the managers control. I don't think we have lost to circumstances beyond the squads control. I think we have lost due to poor finishing and a couple of defensive lapses. Both of these problems are fixable and within Roy's ability to correct. Hopefully we will see results translate from the training pitch to game day very soon.

 

Dempsey isn't "prem quality," he's responsible for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and he sucks!
[/quote]

Isn't he the reason for the economy being in the crapper too?? 8)

 

And don't you forget it.

 

Bully -- stiffs waitresses on the tips
Murphy -- ripped the tag off his mattress
Schwartzer -- made me mad because my bride thinks he is hot.
Gera -- picked his nose on the tube
Woy -- picked Gera's nose on the tube

With one notable exception that occurred about a month ago, this board has been a friendly place to talk about Fulham. If that wasn't the rule, I would not be here, end of story. There are a lot of places on the internet to procrastinate and talk footy. We got a long way to go before we wallow around with the offal. Sure we carp after losses -- I can't bring myself to say Bully played a hell of a game on Saturday, and what about those free kicks?!? That's just the mark of a fan -- not an internet dirtbag who posts any of several uncreative repetitively themed posts on the Offal.

Besides, you want to see moronic posts, go to any college football team site after their team has lost a big game. To hear Michigan fans say it, I think Rich Rodriguez is the Antichrist..

 

The one positive that has been not mentioned much is the strong Fulham defense. As any of you you read boards like TFI know, we've been a sieve the last few years. In each of the last two seasons, we've allowed 1.58 goals per game (60 goals in 38 matches).

This year, we're at 1.17, that's seventh best in the league and much better than the league average of 1.37. If we defended at that pace for a full season, we'd allow only 44 goals. Defense has been a huge problem and it looks like we've got that solved, or at least under control.

The problem has been scoring. We've averaged, 0.83 goals per game, second worst in the league and one of only two teams under a goal a game. That is not unusual territory for Fulham--the last two years, we have averaged exactly a goal a game.

I've only had the chance to see fully the last three league matches, so that is a depressing place to make a judgment, but I see it as two things having to happen to make goals:

1) Getting the ball to the strikers in goal-scoring range, and
2) The strikers converting those chances into goals.

While #2 is an issue, what I have seen mostly the last few games is a lack of #1. Our midfield can pass the ball back and forth to each other or in the midfield, but there not getting past the other team's defense to our strikers, at least they aren't doing that in goal-scoring range. Do others agree with that, and if so, what can we do to improve that? Do we have the midfielders who can do that? If not, who are the kinds of players (keeping in mind we're Fulham, not ManU) we ought to be looking at?

I think the jury has to still be out on F5 and Bobby Z. AJ has had a few chances but for some reason can't convert them. Maybe he and the Z man just need more time with the other first-teamers to get into sync.

Like Don said above, I am reluctant to write the lack of scoring down to "bad luck"--that's what LS and everybody was saying last season at this time I think the "bad luck" is because of the lack of #1. Scores are going to convert on very few scoring chances, even good ones. If we got more good scoring chances, we'd score more goals and not lament about "bad luck" when we don't.

 

Play Dempsey in the middle and it helps solve #1. Afterall, Gera should have made that shot off Dempsey's incredible assist.