Uninspiring, Unsurprising, Unacceptable Today, Fulham performed as poorly at home as I’ve seen since that cold November day that was Lawrie Sanchez’s last game as Fulham manager. On that day against a sub-par Newcastle, Fulham showed little effort and no cohesion. We saw that again today … at the Cottage … against Cardiff. Yes, we lost Scott Parker to injury within 5 minutes, and that certainly hurt us, but it doesn’t explain the overall lack of impetus, the impossible to detect game plan, nor does it explain the fact that our back four resembled a bunch of fit young gentlemen standing on an underground platform not looking at each other. If you don’t want to read any further [and I certainly don’t blame you], just read this: Fulham faced the weakest side we’re likely to see at The Cottage this season and let them dictate the terms of the match for nearly all of the 90 minutes. According to the stats I saw, Fulham got off a massive nine shots against the VISITOR’s 22. Our corporate inability to capitalize on set pieces – a two-season plus feature of Martin Jol Sexy Football – was matched today by our defense of these same set pieces. Going into extra time it looked as if Fulham would collect possibly our luckiest point since the three at Sunderland on opening day. Cardiff are a good bet for relegation this season, and they could easily have beaten us by five or six. As my British friends like to end statements like these, you do the maths. So, yes, Stephen Caulker scored an uncontested header off a corner to make it 1-0 in the 12th minute. Bryan Ruiz, on for Jol’s latest young sacrificial lamb Alex Kacaniklic, equalized with a “goal of the year” strike [aren’t all his goals stunning?] in the 45th minute – completely against the run of play. And Jordon Mutch, who looks a very promising youngster, curled in the winner deep into extra time. A very nice goal it was also. There’s the facts. Here’s some analysis. Brede Hangeland had his worst performance in a Fulham shirt today. He didn’t mark, he didn’t jump, he didn’t run, he was the weakest link in a very poor back four today. When he fouled Cardiff’s goalkeeper in the second half, it turned out to be the only attack he foiled the entire match. There was a point a minute or so into extra time when Fulham might have gotten the three points. For the only time all day, Kieran Richardson whipped in a good cross that zoomed across the face of goal completely ignored by Fulham attackers. The Fulham player most likely to have been sniffing around to convert that goal – Darren Bent – had been subbed off for Adel Taarabt. Finally, at the risk of getting flagged for piling on – yes, yes, I know, a pointy football reference – I must admit that those who have criticized the decision to make Hangeland captain have a point. There have been plenty of times over the last several seasons where Fulham have gone on to the pitch lethargic and disconnected. What we had gotten use to seeing was a short, grouchy midfielder giving them what for and geeing them up. There’s only one Danny Murphy, and boy have we missed him since he left, and boy what could he have done for us today. I didn’t stick around to see how the crowd reacted to Jol and the players after the match. I can only imagine that there were boos galore. I certainly know that they was well deserved. Fulham continue to be a side filled with talented players who are lacking only coherent leadership and coaching. I certainly hope that my next View from South Texas will be filled with references to Fulham’s new gaffer. HatterDon’s Man of the Match: Are you kidding? Nobody! Link to article
Spot on. Richardson was the only one I saw that played 90 and wasn't nauseatingly bad. Amorbieorta was wretched along with Brede. I'm still not sure they've been introduced to one another. Berba's act is getting tired. Or maybe I am. Bent's first touch today was horrific. The set piece defense defies belief. Brede must be nursing a back injury, right? Parker, in the cruelest sense, proved himself our best. The time has come. I like Jol. But he's got to go.
Re: Uninspiring, Unsurprising, Unacceptable-The View From So In one word, heartless. Only Stockdale, Kasami, Karagounis and Ruiz should have felt slightly good about their play today. Jol's reaction at the end of the match seemed to say more than I could probably cobble together with words.
Re: Uninspiring, Unsurprising, Unacceptable-The View From So The conventional wisdom is that Crystal Palace is the weakest of the newly promoted sides from the Championship and thus, the most likely to go back down. But the same school of thought also suggests that the Bluebirds are right there as well. And we couldn't beat them at home. It seems obvious that the current situation is untenable. The talent to stay up is there, but organization at the senior level is a shambles. The downward trend appears irreversible. If no change is made before the Potters visit next weekend, then it may be too late to save this season. Because every poor, losing effort, like today's, will be because of Herr Jol. The last "U" in Sir Hatter's headline is the most applicable...unacceptable. And that, my friends, is the bottom line. The status quo will yield the same results. The time to act is NOW!
Re: Uninspiring, Unsurprising, Unacceptable-The View From So Astute observations from TX. It's a damn mess right now - and Berba's continued histrionics today do not help (take a rain check, sir and address in the lockeroom). Maybe somebody should give the ol' Baird treatment to him. Sadly, I comment that fulhams best Player be punched in the mouth - rash, yes. But again, he did shit today along with most of the others. Quit bitching and lead or go home. The squad had Breaks with errant passing, Poor defending and miscommunication all around. That is Probably on Jol, but other than the Ruiz goal, the team was not cohesive. Jol's time is up, but query, who comes in to replace? And keep the petulant striker in line - that's a whole different problem...
"...weakest side we’re likely to see at The Cottage this season"Think you need to do some homework on Cardiff mate. Mackay has built a decent squad down there. The nucleus of the team that strolled to the Championship title is still there and the 30 million spent in the summer seems to have been spent very wisely. I'd argue Fulham are the weakest team likely to play at the Cottge this season. Deffo candidates for the drop!
Re: Uninspiring, Unsurprising, Unacceptable-The View From So Tell me that once Cardiff has been in the top flight for a decade. Now run along, son.
Re: Uninspiring, Unsurprising, Unacceptable-The View From So :text-+1: And don't go away mad. Just go away. Is there a cardiffcityusa.com?
Re: Uninspiring, Unsurprising, Unacceptable-The View From So My one word would be rudderless. You see as much organization in pickup games at the park. Not sure I agree with Don about Cardiff though. I think they'll prove to be one of the more organized teams we see at the Cottage. My bet would be on Palace or Norwich for weakest teams to visit, but time will tell. Cardiff are still most likely a bottom 1/3rd team in the league.
Re: Uninspiring, Unsurprising, Unacceptable-The View From So Since you brought up Sanchez, I looked up that 2007/08 season and after six games, Fulham had 5 pts compared to the 4 we have now. Those results include that Middlesborough game in which Healy was robbed of a goal so it really should've been 6 pts. If you also consider that three of those games were played without our captain and best striker at the time, it makes Jol's results thus far look even worse. I also dont think we were in the relegation zone at the at point, but somewhere around mid-table. Another thing about Jol that is reminiscent of Sanchez is the number of excuses they like to give.
Re: Uninspiring, Unsurprising, Unacceptable-The View From So I think the line you said in the chat sums it up HD, Martin Jol is indeed Dutch for Sanchez.
Re: Uninspiring, Unsurprising, Unacceptable-The View From So I don't remember, did Sanchez whine and blame everything under the sun for his problems? Martin has blamed: 1. Every player but Berbatov 2. Injuries 3. The loss of Dempsey and Dembele 4. The fans and their expectations 5. Our transfer budget (nevermind we're middle of the pack in wages) 6. The difficulty of beating anyone in the league 7. And now...the devil. :doh: He says he takes responsibility, but I don't recall him pointing to one thing he thinks he's done wrong. I loathe this fool more and more each day.
Re: Uninspiring, Unsurprising, Unacceptable-The View From So I only remember Sanchez making excuses for his results after he was canned so no not nearly as bad as Jol
