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YankeeCanary

My Expectation Of Our Players At Fulham

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It is now time for the players to stop talking publically and put on their best effort on the pitch. If anything less than their best is on display in the Fulham match they will have nobody else to blame if their remuneration and, yes, even their careers start on a steady descent path.

So, what do I hope for if they are giving of their best. Not much actually, these will be my key measurables:

 

- First, before the match, sit down and collectively watch the replay of how Atletico Madrid players went about their business to see off Barcelona

Game time:

- Players running into space and making themselves available for each other for 90 minutes

- No falling over feigning injury and bending the referee''s ear for two minutes if not receiving the call

-Attack and defend as a team....nobody standing around as a passenger yards from an opponent with the ball hoping someone else takes responsibility

- You''re not perfect. Nobody expects you to be. No recriminations with each other, play for each other, give everything you''ve got on the day and win, lose or draw, you can walk off the pitch with your heads held high.

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I think your expectations are fair Yankee, but whether we will see them matched on the pitch is another matter.

I can''t help but feel that the players are not overly impressed with the situation they have found themselves in vis-a-vis the coaching staff, albeit a situation of their own making. Of course I am basing this entirely on Martin''s interviews, hearsay, and a gut reading of things, all of which could mean I am completely wrong. Nonetheless I feel the initial wave of optimism we have experienced in the wake of Hughton''s departure is likely to come to a shuddering halt by 5pm on Saturday afternoon. Here''s hoping that I am completely wrong, and Neill Adams makes a late play for manager of the season by winning our last 5 games comfortably.

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Main hopes:

Organised and understand the roles given to them by Adams.

 

To show passion and effort for the full 90 minutes.

 

Ensure that when Fulham have the ball you watch your assigned player and pick them up, run with players and don''t give them any time on the ball.

 

When we have the ball, want it, come and get the ball and express the good footballers you know you are! Use the space to run into and above all else talk to each other.

 

Don''t sit so deep, have faith to compress the field allowing the defence & midfiled to support our front men.

 

Last just go out there and enjoy the game, it''s easy to be passionate about things you enjoy, comments like "Can''t wait for the season to end" from the captain are not healthy! The players should want to play football.

 

As lakey would say, we shall fight them on the pitch of Fulham and we shall never surrender!

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No one can make the player take their chances, you have to coach movement into space, runs into the box so that our attackers attack different areas when the ball is launched into the box. For me this has to be done on the park prior to the game, each player should know where to run to create space for others and how to attack the box to create the chance!

 

By compressing the field you don''t allow the opposition time on the ball and you don''t have 40 yeards between the midfielders and the attackers! The way Hughton had us set up was good as long as we then had pace to hit teams on the counter, but he didn''t do that, he set the defence up with a bank of 4 and two holding midfilders and then when we got the ball a slow build up or hump the ball back the the opposition! Away from home this is just asking for trouble!

 

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Thats right, movement in itself is not going to achieve very much , it has to be part of an offensive strategy which all the players understand. Thats what i want to see!

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... is that they will want to prove that the position we are in is not down to them. Whether it is or not is a topic that has been debated long and hard on this forum.The team have the chance to put in a huge shift on Saturday to rebuild their own confidence, the confidence of the supporters in them and the belief that we can stay in the Premier League. My expectation - not hope - is that Neil Adams will inspire, encourage, support and in general lift the spirits of all in the squad to this end and by 4.57pm on Saturday everyone associated with the club, inside and outside, will feel much more optimistic about the final 4 games of the season.Keep Calm and win at the Cottage!

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The interesting point from the Mick Dennis insight piece into why Hughton got sacked was that Smith and Jones and McNally quizzed Hughton as to how he would approach the Fulham game.At some stage that evening, Delia, Michael and McNally weighed up Hughton’s replies in their meeting. They concluded that not enough would change for the vital Fulham game unless the manager changed.This ties in with the stark statistic that not once this season away from have we come back to get even a draw, let alone a win, if we have fallen behind. Worse than that, especially recently, morale seems to have disintegrated once a goal down and and we have shipped more goals.Adams needs, through psychology and a game plan, to eradicate that kind of fatalism, and make the players believe all is not lost if we concede.

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[quote user="YankeeCanary"]

 

It is now time for the players to stop talking publically and put on their best effort on the pitch. If anything less than their best is on display in the Fulham match they will have nobody else to blame if their remuneration and, yes, even their careers start on a steady descent path.

So, what do I hope for if they are giving of their best. Not much actually, these will be my key measurables:

 

- First, before the match, sit down and collectively watch the replay of how Atletico Madrid players went about their business to see off Barcelona

Game time:

- Players running into space and making themselves available for each other for 90 minutes

- No falling over feigning injury and bending the referee''s ear for two minutes if not receiving the call

-Attack and defend as a team....nobody standing around as a passenger yards from an opponent with the ball hoping someone else takes responsibility

- You''re not perfect. Nobody expects you to be. No recriminations with each other, play for each other, give everything you''ve got on the day and win, lose or draw, you can walk off the pitch with your heads held high.

[/quote]
That is so right Yankee. To be successful you have to accept that sport (as Dr Bob Rotella said about golf) is not a game of perfect.
Having played a bit of tennis over the years, almost exclusively doubles, I quickly realised that if my partner missed a sitter at the net I was not going to help our chances of winning the next point by huffing and puffing at the back of the court, quite the opposite in fact. Which is why if you watch a professional doubles team they will always touch to bond after a point, irrespective of how well or how disastrously the previous one has gone.
To me our huddle before the game has looked increasingly half hearted, it is a routine that they go through and not the bonding lifting experience it needs to be. If it is just a routine you may as well not bother, it is not fulfilling its purpose.
Hughton, if reports are to be believed, had become the huffer and puffer at the back of the court.
So my expectations are similar to yours, that the team accept that they will make mistakes but when they do they step up for each other, play with spirit and to try to find that place where they become more than the sum of the parts. And that whatever the outcome the bond of players, management and support is maintained and strengthened.
OTBC

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[quote user="Dubai Mark"]Right now my expectation is very simple........do not lose and I dont really care how we do it.[/quote]

 

We all hope that is the outcome, Mark, but it''s unwise to have that as an expectation. It''s sport and anything can happen on the day. Fulham players and supporters are certainly just as strongly hoping the outcome is positive for them otherwise they are likely down but.....expectation....no way.

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As  Gary Neville said on SkySports, there''s not a lot Neil Adams can do in a week but I do hope he''s been practicing and telling the players to pass the ball quicker and better than.After a time, he may even get them to close down higher up the pitch and get some tackles in !

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"At some stage that evening, Delia, Michael and McNally weighed up Hughton’s replies in their meeting. They concluded that not enough would change for the vital Fulham game unless the manager changed.

This ties in with the stark statistic that not once this season away from have we come back to get even a draw, let alone a win, if we have fallen behind. Worse than that, especially recently, morale seems to have disintegrated once a goal down and and we have shipped more goals."

I find this fascinating, it gives an impression that CH fate was determined by his answers to that question. It can''t be quite as simplistic as that, you would hope that the key decision makers would be having these sorts of discussions with him at least during our recent run of away losses, but then that begs the question if they were, had he satisfied them previously with his answers? That being the case then what did he say that was different this time, or was it the same old the they could no longer put up with?

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Play like we know they can play, Give it 110% and i will be happy,show me that they want to stay up.Show up as a team,show the fans that they do really care and play like they did against man city and we will be safe

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Bassong sets a pretty poor example to the other players.

Always has a least one mistake in him that will cos the team.

My expectation is for him to not make a mistake - but he''s not prem quality. Adams could remove that risk by removing him from the team.

There''s some decent stuff on this thread so why am I bringing up individual player issues ? - morale is vitally important for the confidence of these players - the sight of a blundering idiot like Bassong could blow things wide open !

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[quote user="Dubai Mark"]Right now my expectation is very simple........do not lose and I dont really care how we do it.[/quote]

Isn''t that the attitude that we all have a problem with Hughton having?

I think the players need to gain confidence from attacking and scoring goals. If we concede 1 or 2, so be it - I think we''re capable of scoring more than than against Fulham, the worst defence in the league.

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