Fulham v Derby County

[Curtains]

16 minutes ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

Im gonna come off the forum for a bit now. 

Far too much negativity on here.

Ill be back on at the end of March when we are back in the top 2. 

Hopefully there will be a more positive vibe then. 

I bid you all farewell. 

Don't think Top 2 is  likely 

[BondJovi]

21 minutes ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

Im gonna come off the forum for a bit now. 

Far too much negativity on here.

Ill be back on at the end of March when we are back in the top 2. 

Hopefully there will be a more positive vibe then. 

I bid you all farewell. 

Might well join you. Match chat was pathetic.

[bigbadbob]

1 hour ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

Im gonna come off the forum for a bit now. 

Far too much negativity on here.

Ill be back on at the end of March when we are back in the top 2. 

Hopefully there will be a more positive vibe then. 

I bid you all farewell. 

Won't be hearing from you again this season then. Ta-ta

[top 6 finish]

Doing my bit to stop others from leaving this forum.. Here goes:

AREN'T WE DOING WELL !!!

[Wolfie20]

2 hours ago, BondJovi said:

Might well join you. Match chat was pathetic.

Match Chat is always pathetic. People post things on there that makes me think that 1) they're not real Rams fans or  2) they think they're being clever by posting negative crap just for having to say something or  3) they're p*ssed up to the eyeballs or  4) a combination of 1, 2 & 3.

Thankfully there's still enough sane ones and whether our performance is good, bad or indifferent, you can still get a reasonable feel as to how we're doing.

It's a bit how I imagine Twitter to be but worse, though I'm too scared to venture into that dark hole!

[MuespachRam]

4 hours ago, curtains said:

But we still didn't win right. 

Against a rubbish team.... A really rubbish team 

[eddie]

2 hours ago, BondJovi said:

Might well join you. Match chat was pathetic.

You don't need Match Chat if you go to the game

[eddie]

11 minutes ago, MuespachRam said:

Against a rubbish team.... A really rubbish team 

In 1975, we won the First Division.

Carlisle finished bottom.

We lost 3-0 at their place and drew 0-0 at the BBG.

[VulcanRam]

Good journey down, fabulous restaurant, one of the most scenic grounds you'll ever go to. Fabulous support. Two bang average sides playing out a bang average draw. It wasn't a bad first half, but a boring second until the last few minutes when either side could have nicked it.

Player wise, well Weimann had a chance and did what has done all season, nothing. Russell ditto, and added to that appallingly bad set pieces, which are important for a team that creates so little from open play, and missed a one on one to win it. Olssen yet another example of bringing a player who is no better, or indeed worse, than what we have. Martin not really involved other than a good hook into the box for the goal and the odd swan dive.

Positives were great to see Bryson again, definitely added something and helped get Martin more involved. Cracking goal. Christie was by far our most dangerous threat and had to do his job as well as his wingers. Great run and shot at the end. Centres halves solid.

Football wise, Fulham moved the ball better but were poor in the final third. McCormack looks like he needs to lose a stone or two. Somewhat bafflingly, Derby's outfield players took note of Clement and refused to play any risky longer balls for fear of losing possession. However, that normally meant the ball went back to Carson who just hoofed it, so we lost possession anyway and in a far less attacking way. Made no sense.

Clement: Changed the team, no problem, but underlined his cautious credentials when its 1-1 away in a game there for the taking he switched two midfielders for the same position and a winger for a winger, leaving our only genuine goal threat on the bench. And on his birthday as well.    

Problem Clement has got is that he keeps messing about with selection but nothing is changing. But I don't think it's the players that are the problem necessarily. Can't see us being in the top six much longer unless something changes quickly. And on the basis of the last few games, nothing looks like changing quickly.

I guess the only encouragement is that in the last 2 games we have started really well but not got the goal, and have shrunk back into our shells. Start quickly against MK and get the goal, it might just give them the confidence they are so badly lacking to go and get a win. And after that anything is possible.

 

[sage]

4 hours ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

Im gonna come off the forum for a bit now. 

Far too much negativity on here.

Ill be back on at the end of March when we are back in the top 2. 

Hopefully there will be a more positive vibe then. 

I bid you all farewell. 

That's a shame. It is tough at the minute though on here. Do come back on when we are all jolly again or if you have some news.

[jono]

Thanks Vulcan. I had been hoping for an honest appraisal like yours. A couple of reasonable newspaper reports corroborate your impressions. 

i have always considered PC as thorough rather than negative. He isn't gung Ho but I always felt he was ready to give things a go if the foundations are right. In recent times whether it is players lack of confidence or PC getting fearful we just don't seem adventurous unless we get a goal in the first 15 mins. Early this season we often had stale 1st periods and got it together in the second half. 

Its all a it flat at the moment so I am just hoping we can get some spark back against MK. 

I am at a total loss as to why Bent hasn't been used given our recent lack of goals .. It just seems so obvious that he needs to be given a chance

 

[sage]

7 minutes ago, jono said:

Thanks Vulcan. I had been hoping for an honest appraisal like yours. A couple of reasonable newspaper reports corroborate your impressions. 

i have always considered PC as thorough rather than negative. He isn't gung Ho but I always felt he was ready to give things a go if the foundations are right. In recent times whether it is players lack of confidence or PC getting fearful we just don't seem adventurous unless we get a goal in the first 15 mins. Early this season we often had stale 1st periods and got it together in the second half. 

Its all a it flat at the moment so I am just hoping we can get some spark back against MK. 

I am at a total loss as to why Bent hasn't been used given our recent lack of goals .. It just seems so obvious that he needs to be given a chance

 

Because he can't play up front on his own and when we try to play two in midfield we concede goals. 

[jono]

25 minutes ago, sage said:

Because he can't play up front on his own and when we try to play two in midfield we concede goals. 

And when Ince played behind him and we scored 4 .. An experiment that worked but was never repeated ? 

[sage]

2 minutes ago, jono said:

And when Ince played behind him and we scored 4 .. An experiment that worked but was never repeated ? 

We have done it other times. We didn't actually play that well that game and we played an awful Bristol City. On paper it looks obvious but not in reality.

[Anon]

The good;

Clement finally found the stones to drop some our under-performing big earners.

It was great to see Bryson back. He was man of the match for me. He got up and around Martin to provide support, he found his way out wide to try and play wingers in with neat 1-2's, and he scored an excellent goal.

Baird played pretty well, but I was pleased that Clement went for the win by replacing him with a more attacking player.

Christie was fantastic. His excellent run at the end deserved a goal.

 

The bad;

Bryson subbed off. CLEMENT! WTF?

Why did we decide to try and hit Martin with long balls in a game where he was up against two monstrously tall centre halfs and in blustery conditions that played havoc with the 'keeper's kicking?

[VulcanRam]

1 hour ago, sage said:

Because he can't play up front on his own and when we try to play two in midfield we concede goals. 

Don't buy that for a minute; we've got enough talent in the team to get by with only two central midfielders for 15/20 minutes at the end of a game. Now whether PC would prefer not to take the risk is another question altogether.

Bent can play perfectly well up front on his own, you just need to play a way that suits him, exactly the same as Martin. The problem is if you play Bent up front and don't adapt and play to him as if he were Martin; that's when it goes wrong.

[VulcanRam]

1 hour ago, Anon said:

The good;

Clement finally found the stones to drop some our under-performing big earners.

It was great to see Bryson back. He was man of the match for me. He got up and around Martin to provide support, he found his way out wide to try and play wingers in with neat 1-2's, and he scored an excellent goal.

Baird played pretty well, but I was pleased that Clement went for the win by replacing him with a more attacking player.

Christie was fantastic. His excellent run at the end deserved a goal.

 

The bad;

Bryson subbed off. CLEMENT! WTF?

Why did we decide to try and hit Martin with long balls in a game where he was up against two monstrously tall centre halfs and in blustery conditions that played havoc with the 'keeper's kicking?

To be fair Bryson was on his knees by then. Just before he came off there were a couple of occasions where he was really blowing. It was the right call. 

[sage]

2 minutes ago, VulcanRam said:

Don't buy that for a minute; we've got enough talent in the team to get by with only two central midfielders for 15/20 minutes at the end of a game. Now whether PC would prefer not to take the risk is another question altogether.

Bent can play perfectly well up front on his own, you just need to play a way that suits him, exactly the same as Martin. The problem is if you play Bent up front and don't adapt and play to him as if he were Martin; that's when it goes wrong.

I would point out that we played 2 in midfield for the last 15-20 minutes of the Boro and Man U games. We got battered.

We did play with Bent on his own at the end of last season. We won 2 of the last 12. One of those involved wheeling Martin off the bench.  

[jono]

1 hour ago, sage said:

We have done it other times. We didn't actually play that well that game and we played an awful Bristol City. On paper it looks obvious but not in reality.

You make a good point .. But Bristol City were limp .. As are Fulham on their current form .. Surely and ideal time to try again with something that worked against a team with similar potential. I am not suggesting Bent / Ince is a solution to our woes but picking a team and formation based on the opposition seems to be something we are missing. Our midfield SHOULD on paper be capable of handling 80% of our opponents 80% of the time even if a bit short handed, given that they are supposedly the better end of championship midfielders. Otherwise what is the point of paying for quality which we have apparently done ?

[Wolfie20]

This "get by for 15/20 minutes at the end of a game" is ridiculous - we wouldn't get a sniff of the ball, at the same time leaving us seriously exposed to counter attacks. Assuming we were either level or a goal behind, any opposition manager worth his salt would be licking his lips!