Desert Fox

Mixed zone tickets are available to buy on the Fulham website (blocks P1 and P2) which are right next to the away blocks at the cottage end.

I only saw the second half today, but for me his corners were horrendous. They are hit too high and too slowly to be an attacking threat. We seldom ever look like scoring from corners anymore. Surely there must be somebody else in the team capable of taking a corner?

Bethnal,I would take the side that played Arsenal and simply switch Redmond for Snodgrass and leave Pilks and Snodgrass to fight over the left wing role. Redmond looked good against Watford in this role and he is capable of getting to the bye line which is something our wingers no longer seem to do - our core problem now is that we are not providing service to our forward.

The key to Dortmund''s performance last night was the way that they completely denied Arsenal any space or time to play the ball. Then using this pressure, when they did get control of the ball, they had players of sufficient class to capitalise. Yes, the tactics were good, but I cant see how you can really divorce tactics from the quality of players at your disposal. One shapes the other to a large extent. It was a very enjoyable game to watch though.

Of course I meant playing, but I do struggle with my disability. Nice to know that the spelling police are never off duty though

There are some really encouraging signs that our central midfield three are starting to gel and no longer look frightened rabbits with the ball. We were outclasssed by better players today, but we were never overurn or bullied into our own half like we were at Spurs.However, a major area of frustration is that when we get the ball out wide, our widemen (I wont call them wingers) repeatedly seek to cut inside. This slows down the attack and means that we seldom get to the byeline. Defenders know what to expect when they play us. Also, said wingers have got to learn to look for the forward in the box rather than constantly trying to score themselves. Both Wolf and Hoops have come in for criticism, but if you look at their movement and positioning, they are often in the right place in the box and in space, but the ball is never squared to them. We had sveral great opportunities today where our players were simply being too selfish and werent looking for the simple sqaure ball to the free man.Please please Mr Hughton, I have three requests:1. Can we have a right footed winger playing on the right and and a left footed winger on the left. 2. Can we practice passing to each other in the final third. 3. Can we consider picking players on form and not giving a player is so patently out of form 90 minutes every week. Yes, I realise that Eliiot Bennett is injured, but there are other options.Otherwise, despite the scoreline today, we are miles better than some of the earlier dross and there are signs of improvement. Our season wont balance on the likes of Arsenal, and if we make a few changes, I really can see us winning our next three home games and being mid-table.

T,You and I have had our differences in the past regarding the whole land business, but you are absolutely correct in all of your comments in response to PC re both debt repayment and player amortisation. This is not a matter of taking sides but simple accountancy fundamentals which would be apparent to any qualified accountant.The issue of valuation can only ever be crystallised when a transaction takes place (i.e. it is simply whatever someone proposes to pay on the day). Like you, I feel that the £30 notional valuation per share is meaningless in an unquoted and illiquid stock such as NCFC. This is simply the price that punters areasked to pay if they want some shares, but this price massively overvalues the club on any tradational valuation methodology given that there is nil proespect of any dividends and that voting control is in the hand of two individuals.

 Oh dear a real fans are better than other fans kind of post. All animals are born equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

If Everton home and some of the stats associated with this game (see link) constitue playing well AT HOME, I am certainly not looking forward to when we play badly.http://epl.squawka.com/norwich-city-vs-everton/17-08-2013/english-barclays-premier-league/matches

Nigel,You asked "So cards on the table. What team would you guys have put out today and how would you have set them out to play?".In all honesty, give or take the timing and sequencing of the subs, I wouldnt have done a lot different to CH. This doesnt make me feel great about today''s performance, but is perhaps a relaity check of the depth of the squad that we have and its ability to fit into our current system.

Highland,I guess that you have to place results in to a context. Against both Fulham and QPR we were playing sides who were sitting deep (much like ourselves) with the hope of winning 1-0. These formations tend to nullify each other. However, against a more open Spurs, we could have score more than the one that we did. I guess what I am trying to say is that we often look better against better teams who have the cofidence not to stifle. Having said this, I am not hugely optimistic of getting much out of our next two matches against top 5 teams and would bite your hand off for a couple of boring 0-0 draws. Needs must, but once we get past say 33 points, teh finisging line is is within touching distance of a victory. Like many on here, I dont think 40 points will be needed for safety this year.OTBC

Highland,I have a tendency to worry too, but even so, at the current trajectory I still feel that we will avoid the last day of the season anxiety by a few points. I know the bookies odds bring no security, but they don’t seem to think we will go down and unless there is a huge improvement from the current bottom three, I think we can grind out enough points, however dissatisfying this may be for some, myself included.

Yellowbeagle,I think your post probably sums up the views (give or take) of a fair few posters on the board. Lets just hope we can secure safety as soon as possible so that we can start planning for next year early and from a psoition of strength. I dont think I coudl stomach another last day of the season scenario al al Fulham, but this time against Citeh!

Cambridge Canary,A really good post and I agree with virtually all of your sentiment. For me, the main issue is that the club is already in advnced plans to do something about our squad depth and that Ewan Chester is already lining up players who are in weaker contractual psoitions than those that we have been lined with. With the near absence of debt and a big increase in Sky money, CH will probably have a war chest of somewhere circa £25M to £30M. Part from the club doing th encessary homework behind the scenes, I hope that we can have a good run before the end of the season so that payers that maybe thinking of joing us are persauded that we can play attractive footbal.

Morty,I really dont think we are a long way apart in our views, but I think the main difference is that we have players in our squad (like Fox and Surman who you have mentioned) that dont fit into our system. They have not suddenly become bad players overnight, although when thrust into roles that dont suit their style, I would admit they have looked poor. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am not 100% convinced that the system we play is not the only system available to us. This feels a bit like a chicken and egg debate, because I am sure that the counter argument is that CH only plays this sytem because of the limitations of the players that he has available. Even so, I still think CH has done an accepatble job edging us forward to the promised land of £75M p.a. Sky money with the one proviso that the club has advanced plans to recruit sufficient players and in depth to play whatever system the manager prefers. I reiterate that, if we lose BJ and AT for the same game, we will get murdered playing this system.