| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham 16:37 - Feb 13 with 6461 views | Antti_Heinola |
After last week, I thought and hoped that performances like this, where we fail on every level possible, were hopefully something to be left in the past. But no. Here it was again. So, here we go...
1. The Second Ball. It wasn't just the second ball. It was every fifty-fifty. Every lame, half-arsed challenge. Every shrug of the shoulders instead of standing up and fighting when losing the ball, followed by a pathetic, forlorn look at the ref (yes you, Matt Phillips). Every misplaced pass - including one from Hoilett when he failed to find Perch who was standing less than a metre from him. Every responsibility-abdicating, head-down launch of the ball forward just to get it away without even bothering to see if a QPR shirt was even within 10 yards of where the ball was going. All of it. Unforgivably crap.
But the second ball sums it up. Last week, we dominated the game and the midfield at least in part because Ipswich decided to ignore the midfield area. But it was also because of how we competed. How we won the second ball. How we were stronger, more determined in our tackling and better and more confident in possession. How a team can go from that to this inside one week is so baffling I don't even know where to start. But the first half in particular was pathetic - as bad as Fulham away and as bad as the many meek performances Redknapp gave us away from Loftus Road. Useless, rubbish, without a shred of positivity to cling to. The farce of the third goal in particular was, as some fans sang, utterly embarrassing. But the sheer number of times a loose ball dropped and Fulham were first to it was the real sickener.
2. Pressing High. People are already lambasting JFH for his tactics and they do have a point, although he was clearly trying throughout the first half, even before the goals, to reorganise. But it didn't work. The high-pressing seemed a good idea. Fulham had been obviously scouted and they like to start at the back, keeper to defenders, and work up. So Polter, Mackie, Hoilett and Phillips were tasked with shutting this down. Which they did. But the result was much worse. First of all, it meant a lot of timewasting, meaning we never got into any kind of rhythm. Second of all, and much worse, was that when they did get the ball over the halfway line, we were hopelessly over-stretched, leaving huge gaps in our half for Fulham to, it has to be said, exploit with some brilliantly efficient and incisive passing. They took a while to score, but that goal could have come at any time as they probed and unpicked our static, slow defence time and again. And once they did, it was the same as at Craven Cottage - a complete and utter collapse.
JFH could and perhaps should have allowed Fulham to have the ball at the back, allowed us to keep our more compact shape and tried to win it further back than on the edge of their box. We denied them space in that area, but granted it where it was most dangerous. Maybe a switch to 4-5-1, with Mackie going wide left would have slowed them a bit. But JFH, after last week, had a right to expect more from his team.
3. Ream, Cairney, McCormack, Dembele. With these four players it seems ludicrous that Fulham are as low as they are. Today all four arguably had better games in one match than any of our entire squad have had in the entire season. Ream was supreme at the back, gratefully devouring every stupid high ball QPR chipped up for him and totally dominating Polter and then Washington. Cairney was superb in the middle - winning the ball but delightfully confident with it too. McCormack, well, as usual, we had absolutely no idea what to do with him. Spent the entire game doing whatever the fk he wanted and was challenged about twice, I think. But was superb - particularly his passing and at least two absolutely wonderful balls into the box - as well as a fabulously taken goal that you knew would go in the moment he latched onto it. So far ahead of anyone in our team. And Dembele made easy work of Hall and Onuoha without barely seeming to break a sweat. Excellent performances - however bad we were, you have to applaud them for some sublime football. What have they been doing in games not against QPR this season?
4. Toszer. Of course, Toszer (along with the full backs) will take the majority of stick. In truth, he was no worse than anyone else out there, although by the end his head had gone completely and he was just looking to get rid of the ball as soon as it came anywhere near him. But still, after the promise of last week, this was back to his worst. Barely made a tackle, his passing was consistently poor, he has no pace, he didn't win a header despite being about 6'3. But you can't say this was all down to Ale's injury. He may have made a slight difference, especially as he is at least something of a leader, but this was a collective failure from coaches down to players. Had high hopes for him, but after finally giving us a decent half hour last week I'm not sure it's ever going to work out because we don't have the right kind of combative player to sit next to him. But then I'm not positive we have the right one to sit next to Luongo or Faurlin either.
5. London Derbies and Fulham. This record we have gets more laughable with every derby. We've now played Fulham six times in five years. In FOUR of those games we have been 3-0 down... AT HALF TIME. Dave Mc's been on Twitter talking about how this game means more to Fulham, but how can it? I don't understand it. I get that Chelsea games mean more to us than them. But I don't think Fulham see this as anything much more than playing Charlton or Brentford do they? But even if they do, let's look at those stats again - they are embarrassing us almost every time we play them. Surely, at some stage, this game should start to mean SOMETHING to our players too?
JFH said before the game, I read on here, that we would be right after them. And to some extent, for 10-15 mins we were, in that we refused to let them pass from the back. But then what happened? Total bafflement, total collapse without an ounce of pride before half time. A previously reliable defence suddenly standing around watching the ball roll in slow motion until Cairney swept it in. After losing 4-0 to a team many other teams in this league have beaten, why were we not desperate - not just to beat them - but to crush them? I don't get it.
And then we have our record in derbies in general. Bizarrely, our record v Chelsea over the same period as our dismal record v Fulham is probably as good as any other team in the Prem, even with the 6-1 humiliation. But look at our recent London derbies:
0-3; 0-4; 0-2; 0-0; 0-1; 1-3 (3 down at half time v Palace in that one too); 1-2; 1-2; 1-2; 1-2; 0-2; 0-4; 1-1; 2-1 (v Watford! hurray! 13 games since our last London derby win! But that's only if you count Watford as a London derby, which it isn't, so let's keep going) 0-1; 1-0 v Charlton! Hurray!
What an absolute embarrassment.
6. Nasser El Khayati. Well done! By performing with a modicum of competence and pretty much doing your job to an acceptable level and by actually looking dangerous and for getting a HUGE 6/10, you win man of the match! |  |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 03:28 - Feb 15 with 842 views | Hitch |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 00:24 - Feb 15 by WilloW4 |
Weirdly aggressive ? I'm normally just aggressive when it comes to Rangers losing. |
Hold your ground mate, your opinion is as relevant as any other waffle on here. |  | | |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 10:41 - Feb 15 with 754 views | Rangers67 |
A lot of what I think has been said already on this thread but I really need to let of some steam after a couple of days contemplation. I don,t go for this JFH is a young manager learning his trade stuff entirely , he has played the game for a long time on various levels and under a lot of managers so he should have learnt something about tactics. On Saturday he got outthought by the Fulham manager, no shame in that if you do something about it, but he didn,t. I like many on here I suspect went to Rotherham away a couple of weeks ago and if they had had a half decent forward we would have been two or three down at half time yet he sat in the dugout until half time only occaisionally venturing out to wave his arms around. He did change things at half time in that game but my point is why wait ? On Saturday it was plain to see after 10-15 mins we were going to get a going over and yet he did nothing to affect the game. Now I am going to say here that he certainly wasn,t helped by some of the players so there are mitigating circumstances, as many have said how a team that has played quite well in the last couple of games could be so rubbish is a mystery. Where JFH is guilty though is his persistence with picking Toszer, he offers nothing and as limited as Karl Henry is he would ALWAYS be a better option than this dandy who strolls around midfield not breaking sweat. I lost count of the number of times he was ten yards of the man he was supposed to be stopping playing and if you give those type of players time then you get the sort of result and performance we had on Sat. He wasn,t alone of course in having a shocker, Onuhua had one of his worst games for us although I think he is generally ok at this level, Perch and Konchesky well others on here have covered that better than I can. Polter had a poor game, Hoilet was just rubbish basically, I mean how can you not trap a ball from a throw in three yards away so all these combined with the very strange tactic of hoofing the long ball all game to a bloke about 8 feet tall and guess what, you get well beaten.
Fulham were very good and on the day totally outplayed us and out fought us. I was crying out for our guys to put a couple of strong challenges in but if you are not getting near anyone you can,t. So Jimmy I really hope you have learned something from Saturday and the acid test will be encapsulated in one player, if you ever pick Toszer again then that is one of you three strikes and your out lives lost as far as I am concerned. |  | | |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 10:55 - Feb 15 with 739 views | ozexile |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 10:41 - Feb 15 by Rangers67 |
A lot of what I think has been said already on this thread but I really need to let of some steam after a couple of days contemplation. I don,t go for this JFH is a young manager learning his trade stuff entirely , he has played the game for a long time on various levels and under a lot of managers so he should have learnt something about tactics. On Saturday he got outthought by the Fulham manager, no shame in that if you do something about it, but he didn,t. I like many on here I suspect went to Rotherham away a couple of weeks ago and if they had had a half decent forward we would have been two or three down at half time yet he sat in the dugout until half time only occaisionally venturing out to wave his arms around. He did change things at half time in that game but my point is why wait ? On Saturday it was plain to see after 10-15 mins we were going to get a going over and yet he did nothing to affect the game. Now I am going to say here that he certainly wasn,t helped by some of the players so there are mitigating circumstances, as many have said how a team that has played quite well in the last couple of games could be so rubbish is a mystery. Where JFH is guilty though is his persistence with picking Toszer, he offers nothing and as limited as Karl Henry is he would ALWAYS be a better option than this dandy who strolls around midfield not breaking sweat. I lost count of the number of times he was ten yards of the man he was supposed to be stopping playing and if you give those type of players time then you get the sort of result and performance we had on Sat. He wasn,t alone of course in having a shocker, Onuhua had one of his worst games for us although I think he is generally ok at this level, Perch and Konchesky well others on here have covered that better than I can. Polter had a poor game, Hoilet was just rubbish basically, I mean how can you not trap a ball from a throw in three yards away so all these combined with the very strange tactic of hoofing the long ball all game to a bloke about 8 feet tall and guess what, you get well beaten.
Fulham were very good and on the day totally outplayed us and out fought us. I was crying out for our guys to put a couple of strong challenges in but if you are not getting near anyone you can,t. So Jimmy I really hope you have learned something from Saturday and the acid test will be encapsulated in one player, if you ever pick Toszer again then that is one of you three strikes and your out lives lost as far as I am concerned. |
I can't believe he didn't change it either. There were about 3 of us on the match thread calling for a change immediately. If he didn't change personnel he should have at least changed tactics. When Fulham had the ball we should have retreated and set our lines totally nullifying their space. Instead we just tried to press and they picked us off easily. | | | |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 10:57 - Feb 15 with 737 views | Neil_SI |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 10:41 - Feb 15 by Rangers67 |
A lot of what I think has been said already on this thread but I really need to let of some steam after a couple of days contemplation. I don,t go for this JFH is a young manager learning his trade stuff entirely , he has played the game for a long time on various levels and under a lot of managers so he should have learnt something about tactics. On Saturday he got outthought by the Fulham manager, no shame in that if you do something about it, but he didn,t. I like many on here I suspect went to Rotherham away a couple of weeks ago and if they had had a half decent forward we would have been two or three down at half time yet he sat in the dugout until half time only occaisionally venturing out to wave his arms around. He did change things at half time in that game but my point is why wait ? On Saturday it was plain to see after 10-15 mins we were going to get a going over and yet he did nothing to affect the game. Now I am going to say here that he certainly wasn,t helped by some of the players so there are mitigating circumstances, as many have said how a team that has played quite well in the last couple of games could be so rubbish is a mystery. Where JFH is guilty though is his persistence with picking Toszer, he offers nothing and as limited as Karl Henry is he would ALWAYS be a better option than this dandy who strolls around midfield not breaking sweat. I lost count of the number of times he was ten yards of the man he was supposed to be stopping playing and if you give those type of players time then you get the sort of result and performance we had on Sat. He wasn,t alone of course in having a shocker, Onuhua had one of his worst games for us although I think he is generally ok at this level, Perch and Konchesky well others on here have covered that better than I can. Polter had a poor game, Hoilet was just rubbish basically, I mean how can you not trap a ball from a throw in three yards away so all these combined with the very strange tactic of hoofing the long ball all game to a bloke about 8 feet tall and guess what, you get well beaten.
Fulham were very good and on the day totally outplayed us and out fought us. I was crying out for our guys to put a couple of strong challenges in but if you are not getting near anyone you can,t. So Jimmy I really hope you have learned something from Saturday and the acid test will be encapsulated in one player, if you ever pick Toszer again then that is one of you three strikes and your out lives lost as far as I am concerned. |
It's certainly the first genuine question mark against JFH from a tactical point of view, but it will take time for the players to adjust to what he wants and in many ways, he doesn't have the personnel to play how he wants to play.
He wants to play a high pressing game, but we've not had a squad capable of doing that for years, and despite the efforts to get them up to speed in terms of fitness from training, it's difficult to solve in the thick of the season. He'll need a full summer and some different players with better legs to carry out what he wants to do.
The problem was once the front two, or front four if you include the wingers, were bypassed, it made it difficult for the rest behind to defend. No matter how woeful they were, they were left badly exposed and even they were at the top of their game, they'd have struggled.
You can't have so many players out of the game or on a different wavelength to the rest. The lazy players made life worse for themselves. The ones that didn't put in the effort must have been frozen (I know I was) so they could never get going once they started so poorly. |  | | |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 11:53 - Feb 15 with 698 views | TacticalR |
We all underestimated Fulham and they did a number on us. |  |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 11:57 - Feb 15 with 686 views | WilloW4 |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 11:53 - Feb 15 by TacticalR |
We all underestimated Fulham and they did a number on us. |
Again..and again!! |  | | |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 12:28 - Feb 15 with 661 views | adhoc_qpr |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 10:57 - Feb 15 by Neil_SI |
It's certainly the first genuine question mark against JFH from a tactical point of view, but it will take time for the players to adjust to what he wants and in many ways, he doesn't have the personnel to play how he wants to play.
He wants to play a high pressing game, but we've not had a squad capable of doing that for years, and despite the efforts to get them up to speed in terms of fitness from training, it's difficult to solve in the thick of the season. He'll need a full summer and some different players with better legs to carry out what he wants to do.
The problem was once the front two, or front four if you include the wingers, were bypassed, it made it difficult for the rest behind to defend. No matter how woeful they were, they were left badly exposed and even they were at the top of their game, they'd have struggled.
You can't have so many players out of the game or on a different wavelength to the rest. The lazy players made life worse for themselves. The ones that didn't put in the effort must have been frozen (I know I was) so they could never get going once they started so poorly. |
I'd say it's a big question mark - high pressing may be his preferred style, but ultimately our squad is totally unsuited to it currently, so why persist?
You've got to work with the tools at your disposal and then try to reshape in the window. | | | |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 12:52 - Feb 15 with 646 views | Neil_SI |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 12:28 - Feb 15 by adhoc_qpr |
I'd say it's a big question mark - high pressing may be his preferred style, but ultimately our squad is totally unsuited to it currently, so why persist?
You've got to work with the tools at your disposal and then try to reshape in the window. |
By the same token, why wait until the window when you can start that process now? It allows you to find out who can adapt and who can't. It sets expectations for all the players that are currently there, including the ones we will keep around.
It's probably better to get going with it and take the teething pain, particularly if we're in a safe enough position away from relegation. Re-shaping it now buys more time to get everything settled and ready in the summer for hopefully a better overall campaign next season.
Likewise, it's easier to tell players, once you've conclusive proof, whether they fit in your plans or not once you've had a chance to assess them and try things out. Some of them accept it more readily in this kind of scenario.
Time is not a luxury many teams have when it comes to preparation, but we might just have enough time to re-work things. Neil Warnock had this exact scenario with us when he arrived before our promotion season. He used the period to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the squad, and worked out what he felt was needed over the summer to strengthen the side.
Obviously there are different ways to approach this, there's no right or wrong way, but I've no problem with the current approach if that's what it is. | | | |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 14:04 - Feb 15 with 597 views | Northernr |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - Fulham on 12:28 - Feb 15 by adhoc_qpr |
I'd say it's a big question mark - high pressing may be his preferred style, but ultimately our squad is totally unsuited to it currently, so why persist?
You've got to work with the tools at your disposal and then try to reshape in the window. |
Not a bad idea to find out now who can and can't do it so we know who needs replacing in the summer. Makes more sense than playing a way that suits these players, then trying to switch in the summer only to find next season that they can't do it when there is actually something at stake. With nothing to play for this is exactly the time to be trying things and learning lessons. |  | | |
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