There's been a lot of focus on the underperformances of Arsenal and Chelsea this season. Of course with their fan base and expectations, why wouldn't there be? They want trophies, and with each result it seems, the possibility of one this season slips away. On a more discreet level though, you have my club, Fulham. A respectable 8th last season, and European football for the 2nd time in three seasons. The expectations for any club from this point is to push on; fight for another European place and go far in domestic competitions. The only niggle seemed to be in the managerial department. Mark Hughes, to the bemusement of the black and white contingent, left on the grounds of wanting a new challenge. Martin Jol, Fulham's first choice ahead of Hughes in the first place, took up the post in a matter of days. It was another new face, but atleast the replacement was swift and canny. Many will argue that it's still too soon to judge his performance at the helm. However, he has done worryingly little to suggest that Fulham can indeed 'push on'.
The seed of doubt was planted when our new signings weren't having much of an impact. The signings of u21 players Kasami and Gecov were encouraging at first, but this encouragement quickly wained. They are young and perhaps have more potential than immediate quality, but they sit on the bench week in, week out. It seems they are just there to add depth to the squad and provide warmth on the bench. The same can be said for Orlando Sa, who has contributed one goal this season. Csaba Somogyi hasn't featured, even when Schwarzer and Stockdale have been unavailable. Bryan Ruiz has shown glimpses of brilliance, and I'm fairly confident he has a bright future ahead of him at the cottage. Riise was a shrewd signing too. It remains to be seen whether Jol knows what he's doing with the rest.
That was the pre-season transfer window. What about the mid-season one? Well we no longer have our best striker. Martin Jol and Bobby Zamora have struggled to get along with one-another, and one could argue that Zamora hasn't been happy at Fulham for a while. But the blow was sickened when he joined our old pal Mark Hughes at West London rivals QPR. Rumours were circulating throughout deadline day as to who Jol would bring in as a replacement. Odemwingie was rumoured to be a target- a proven performer in the Premier League. Instead, he settled for Pavel Pogrebnyak, a player who has made five appearances for Stuttgart this season, with one penalty to his name. So we've brought in an outcast from the Bundesliga, who currently can't play for us anyway as he can't get international clearance. That's an unnecessary gamble if I've ever heard one.
I remain adament that we should have brought in a new full back. Stephen Kelly is currently our first choice right back, who is sound in defence but utterly confused when he goes forward. Fulham weren't even amongst the rumoured clubs to be interested in Nedum Onuoha, of whom would have slotted straight into that position. At left back we have Martin Jol's best signing so far this season in John Arne Riise. Jol decided to drop him for the game against Man City, putting an unflattering Chris Baird in his place. What happens? Baird trips up Man City winger Adam Johnson to give away a penalty, and on top of that he scores an own goal. I don't want to delve too deep into Jol's tactical qualities, but that was a clear failure. Riise was brought on in the second half to correct the error, but the damage was done.
Now for our performances in light of all of this. It doesn't seem to matter who is managing the club, we still can't win on our travels. We remain predictably unpredictable in our performances. But what is even more worrying, is that the Cottage doesn't seem to be the fortress it once was either. Despite narrow victories against Arsenal and Liverpool, we've lost to Everton, been thrashed 5-0 by Man Utd, and been held to Blackburn, Everton and Aston Villa. We were even held at home by Odense, a result which saw us crashing out of Europe at the group stages.
What has also been a tough pill to swallow is Jol's post-match interviews of late. After the West Brom game, he said he was encouraged by our performance. Encouraged by a home draw to West Brom? I couldn't help but feel that he was beginning to lower the standards at the club. He also bemoaned the shortage of strikers. Are we supposed to feel sorry for you there Jol? You couldn't hold on to Zamora, and you bought a player that can't get into the country.
So it is February, and we have been knocked out of all the competitions we entered, and we sit in an ominous 14th on the table. To be fair to Martin Jol, last year at this stage under Hughes we were in 17th. A late flourish however saw us finish 8th. Jol says our players are in good spirits and want to play for the club. But are they good enough to play for the club, good enough to have a late flourish this season? We can't keep relying on Dempsey for goals. We've taken a backwards step just as Arsenal and Chelsea have. I suppose you could call it the bottom half of the table version. And just like these clubs fear missing out on European football next season, we're stepping dangerously close towards the fear of missing out on Premiership football next season. Martin Jol has plenty of time to prove me wrong though, and I hope I am indeed proven wrong.
The seed of doubt was planted when our new signings weren't having much of an impact. The signings of u21 players Kasami and Gecov were encouraging at first, but this encouragement quickly wained. They are young and perhaps have more potential than immediate quality, but they sit on the bench week in, week out. It seems they are just there to add depth to the squad and provide warmth on the bench. The same can be said for Orlando Sa, who has contributed one goal this season. Csaba Somogyi hasn't featured, even when Schwarzer and Stockdale have been unavailable. Bryan Ruiz has shown glimpses of brilliance, and I'm fairly confident he has a bright future ahead of him at the cottage. Riise was a shrewd signing too. It remains to be seen whether Jol knows what he's doing with the rest.
That was the pre-season transfer window. What about the mid-season one? Well we no longer have our best striker. Martin Jol and Bobby Zamora have struggled to get along with one-another, and one could argue that Zamora hasn't been happy at Fulham for a while. But the blow was sickened when he joined our old pal Mark Hughes at West London rivals QPR. Rumours were circulating throughout deadline day as to who Jol would bring in as a replacement. Odemwingie was rumoured to be a target- a proven performer in the Premier League. Instead, he settled for Pavel Pogrebnyak, a player who has made five appearances for Stuttgart this season, with one penalty to his name. So we've brought in an outcast from the Bundesliga, who currently can't play for us anyway as he can't get international clearance. That's an unnecessary gamble if I've ever heard one.
I remain adament that we should have brought in a new full back. Stephen Kelly is currently our first choice right back, who is sound in defence but utterly confused when he goes forward. Fulham weren't even amongst the rumoured clubs to be interested in Nedum Onuoha, of whom would have slotted straight into that position. At left back we have Martin Jol's best signing so far this season in John Arne Riise. Jol decided to drop him for the game against Man City, putting an unflattering Chris Baird in his place. What happens? Baird trips up Man City winger Adam Johnson to give away a penalty, and on top of that he scores an own goal. I don't want to delve too deep into Jol's tactical qualities, but that was a clear failure. Riise was brought on in the second half to correct the error, but the damage was done.
Now for our performances in light of all of this. It doesn't seem to matter who is managing the club, we still can't win on our travels. We remain predictably unpredictable in our performances. But what is even more worrying, is that the Cottage doesn't seem to be the fortress it once was either. Despite narrow victories against Arsenal and Liverpool, we've lost to Everton, been thrashed 5-0 by Man Utd, and been held to Blackburn, Everton and Aston Villa. We were even held at home by Odense, a result which saw us crashing out of Europe at the group stages.
What has also been a tough pill to swallow is Jol's post-match interviews of late. After the West Brom game, he said he was encouraged by our performance. Encouraged by a home draw to West Brom? I couldn't help but feel that he was beginning to lower the standards at the club. He also bemoaned the shortage of strikers. Are we supposed to feel sorry for you there Jol? You couldn't hold on to Zamora, and you bought a player that can't get into the country.
So it is February, and we have been knocked out of all the competitions we entered, and we sit in an ominous 14th on the table. To be fair to Martin Jol, last year at this stage under Hughes we were in 17th. A late flourish however saw us finish 8th. Jol says our players are in good spirits and want to play for the club. But are they good enough to play for the club, good enough to have a late flourish this season? We can't keep relying on Dempsey for goals. We've taken a backwards step just as Arsenal and Chelsea have. I suppose you could call it the bottom half of the table version. And just like these clubs fear missing out on European football next season, we're stepping dangerously close towards the fear of missing out on Premiership football next season. Martin Jol has plenty of time to prove me wrong though, and I hope I am indeed proven wrong.
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