HOME COMFORTS- FFC vs HTFC PREVIEW

As far as the Mighty Whites are concerned there is little comfort to be found at home at this moment in time. In a previous article, I suggested that the influx of new players was partly to blame for this, as they not only cope with team integration, but they also become accustomed to Craven Cottage with all of it's little quirks. Even as a big fan of Slavisa, I cannot keep using this excuse as to why our home form is so bad. The team should be bedding in now, so it is time we made the Cottage the fortress it should be. Although I would think that many teams would love to have our away record, history shows that teams with excellent home records are the most successful, and once teams visit with a little fear already in their mind, it can be the equivalent of being a goal up before a ball has been kicked. This Saturday, tomorrow, we see the visit of surprise team, of the season so far, Huddersfield. This is a must win game, not only for the three points on the board, but also for team confidence along with sending a message to our rivals that we are no longer weak at home.

The best stadium view in England

Huddersfield Town
The terriers have shocked everybody in the Championship and with 28 points safely in the bag, they can already feel safe from relegation. That is a big bonus as they can play with more freedom, and added to the fact that nobody expects them to continue their good form, they have nothing to lose. Wagner has built a good solid team, and Huddersfield will be very difficult to break down. Add to that, that skipper Hudson is likely to be available for the defence, and it could be a game of patience for Fulham. However, Huddersfield didn't get so many points from just a mean defence, and they are capable of good flowing football. Nahki Wells, is a proven Championship goalscorer and it would have been nice if FFC had tried to sign him. Given the profile of Wells, it would be easy to think of him as the main threat, but the Whites will need to be wary of Van La Parra, and current top goalscorer, Kachunga. It is anybody's guess how Wagner will approach this game, but he may just think that we are there for the taking, which could easily play into our hands.

Fulham
Many loyal Whites' fans are become disgruntled that our excellent start has disintegrated, and they have every right to feel that way. I, for one, will keep faith in Slavisa, and our squad that many other Championship coaches rate highly. The biggest headache for Slav tomorrow is what to do about the goalkeeping situation, with many fans calling for Button to be dropped. Slavisa, quite rightly, wants to show confidence in Button, and even after his howler against Villa, he will probably keep his place. Whatever we as fans think of players making cock-ups, no coach should publicly criticize his own players. Whether Button's "f..k up", was solely down to him, or whether it was down to tactics of always playing out from defence, I can see him keeping his place, but Bettinelli will be pushing him hard. The defence is likely to be missing the excellent Kalas yet again, so expect Sigurdsson and Madl to start. Odoi, should keep his place ahead of the fit again Fredericks, and Malone will probably replace Sess. The defensive midfield pairing virtually picks itself, so Tunnicliffe will have to be on the bench as Parker and McDonald continue. We should see fan's favourite Cairney return for this game, and hopefully he will be given a central role where he is more effective. Piazon should keep his place, but with Ayite fit again, he may miss out. Who else partners Cairney and Piazon is guess work. Aluko took a knock at Villa, Kebano seems to have fallen out of favour, and Johansen has yet to impress, although he looks much more effective when played further forward. Upfront it is hard to see Martin being dropped, so Smith will have to make do with the bench again. 
Predicted team- Button. Odoi, Madl, Sigurdsson, Malone. Parker, McDonald. Piazon, Cairney, Johansen. Martin.

Match prediction
Expect Huddersfield to be cautious but not as defensive as past visitors to the Cottage. They are likely to play quick passing football, hoping to get the ball to Wells before we have gotten back in shape. The Whites will try and play their possession football, but don't be surprised if there are a few longer balls played out from defence. The Whites need an early goal to draw them out, and if we can get that then I expect a FFC win.

Score- 3-1 to Fulham

MOM- Piazon

Travelling tip- Don't bother with McDonalds in Putney as the new system means you will have to wait app. 30 mins for some "fast" food.

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IN SLAVISA WE TRUST
COYWs

© Nic Smith

LET'S BACK SLAV AND THE BOYS.

After the disappointment of yesterday's reverse at Villa, I woke up to read the comments of the Whites' faithful on social media. If 50% of those comments are realistic then.......yes.....we are a club in crisis......a club going nowhere.......doomed to the depths of League 1 and below. People are posting comparisons between Slav's record and Kit's record, etc. etc. etc. It's bad enough thinking about our 4th league defeat in 14 games, let alone having to read all the doom and gloom merchants on Facebook etc. Well, I for one would rather be a FFC fan than a Rotherham or Wigan fan this morning. I make no apology that I am a big fan of Slavisa and I still believe he will get it right.

There seems to be a misplaced loyalty towards Kit Symonds amongst many FFC fans. Kit was a loyal servant to the club, but he was hardly Paolo Maldini, Ronald Koeman etc. as a defender. He was an average defender who gave 100% every game (by the way the much derided Dan Burn gave 100% every game). Kit had no managerial experience and his record in the transfer market was hardly inspiring. I, personally, have nothing against Kit, but he was taking the club nowhere fast. If every club changed manager after a poor sequence of results then 90% of clubs would have 3 or more managers every season. 
So, what has gone wrong? Or is Slavisa too stubborn, tactically, for his own good. Listening to TMOD and the poor Football league show on C5, some things start to make a little sense. As much as we like to slag off those pundits as "talking rubbish", we should also realize that these are guys who played professionally, training every day, at a level we can only dream about. From the comments made (not about FFC), it seems there is a tendency amongst many clubs to play on the counterattack. Sides are happy to concede possession, with an organized defence, waiting for the chance to break out quickly. This may explain why there were 3 0-0 results in the Prem. and 8 1-0 results in the championship. There are some very good players in the Championship now, and teams are much better organized. Lower down with less technically gifted players, there won't be so many low scoring games, as the teams are not so well organized, but the Championship has become Prem.2 with the prize for going up massive, and the prize for dropping down to League 1. equally devastating. There seems to be a fear factor creeping into every team, which means that it is better to sit and wait for one counterattack, rather than take risks by steaming forward.
So where does that leave Slav and his preferred possession football? There is absolutely nothing wrong with possession football, but it only works when a team is settled and the players know each other well. It also requires technically gifted players who can move the ball about quickly. The problem FFC have, in this respect, is that we have more than 11 new players who still don't know each others' game well enough. This all takes time, and 14 league games is not enough time for everything to gel. The other problem is that we have to question if our players are good enough to play fast, incisive possession football. When I was at school, the first thing we were taught was "pass and move", and every games day we would spend ages on practicing this, often being bollocked for not moving into space enough. It is the basic foundation of possession football. FFC do not have the players of the quality of Barcelona, so we can't expect ticky tacka football, but with good, fast, incisive possession football we can still cut teams open when they sit deep. Even Barcelona became predictable and teams would sit narrow, forcing them wide, knowing that they daren't cross the ball because they did not have a tall striker. Of course, Barcelona had players like Messi and Iniesta, but they were being shackled by placing 2 or 3 players on them. Barcelona solved their predictability when they signed Suarez. Suarez has the ability to be on his own upfront, with an excellent first touch, and the skill to turn in very tight spaces. That meant that Messi and Neymar were less marked as the other teams had Suarez to think about also. I am not comparing FFC to Barcelona, but the point is that possession football can work with the right personnel. Fulham, may have the personnel for this level (Kalas says we have a better squad than Boro last season), but, in my humble opinion, the team has not been together long enough for it to be effective, yet. 
I am certain that Slavisa, knows the same problems as I, and the rest of social media, know. It is his job to decided when, and if, his possession football needs altering or ditching altogether. I still believe that the biggest problem we face is the gelling of a lot of new players. One of the things they said on C5 last night was that less skilled teams seem to do well with a settled squad who have great camaraderie. Whilst, there are little cliques that are evident in the team, I wonder how well our players know each other on a personal level. It is all OK to go out and be professional on match day, but team sports need much more than "just doing your job". Partnerships and friendships have to be formed both on the pitch and off it. I can see players like Aluko being popular in the dressing room, and players like Scotty Parker will attract respect. It is just a matter of time and team bonding before the squad can have a good understanding and camaraderie. 
On a similar theme, I would suggest that our home form is also down to having a lot of new players. Every club that moves into a new stadium suffers from indifferent home form at first. As footballers, we all know that there are little things that we notice playing at home. It may be the length and width of the pitch, the lay out of the stands, the positioning of a stanchion etc. All of these things become second nature, over time, and help players to have a sixth sense of where they are on the pitch. When a player is accustomed to his surroundings it becomes so much easier to concentrate on the more important things. Again, this all takes time, as our new players don't have that luxury yet. 
We can all sit and analyze the team and the performances until the cows come home, and as paying fans we have that right, whatever our conflicting views. But, I for one, don't want to see a managerial merry-go-round a la Leeds or Notts. Forest. Come January or February, if things haven't improved much, then I may also be taking to social media to bemoan our lack of progression under Slavisa. But, for now, I will show patience, and still believe in the club and our players.
IN SLAVISA WE TRUST
COYWs

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© Nic Smith

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING- FFC2 NCFC2

A chant that the Whites' faithful have used too many times of late, but "the bloke in the black" last night was a disgrace. Yes, as loyal FFC fan I am biased, but even with my most objective head on, last night, the referee clearly did not have a clue. As a cynic, I would say it is the old story of the ref favouring the more fancied teams. But all of this should not take anything away from what was an excellent match, and probably the best FFC performance for a while. 
Norwich are a very good team with some experienced players, but they did not overwhelm us too much in the first half. Neil's team, clearly, came to win the game, and with the help of the ref they should have seen out a two goal half time lead. Apart from two glancing headers, where players were left unmarked, Button's goal was not really threatened. Ream nullified Cameron Jerome, who was either having an off day, or he was expertly isolated by our defence. In fact, the first half was fairly even, on the balance of play, but a soft penalty conceded by Malone gave them the lead. From the ref's position it looked like a pen. but contact was minimal, even though it was a penalty. The second penalty was a joke, as the Norwich player was attempting a diving header and Malone hardly touched him. If penalties are given for that then we will soon see scores of 10-10 every week. 2-0 down and it seemed there was no way back. As for FFC, Aluko looked much more effective in the first half, playing wide on the right. On this form, if he can keep it up for 90 minutes, he is going to cause weaker teams a lot of problems. 
Whatever Slavisa said at half time, we came flying out of the blocks, pressing Norwich high up and fighting for every ball. It wasn't long before Martin shot from about 15 yards, and although it was going wide, Johansen deflected it in, even though he did not know much about it. That small slice of luck, gave us confidence, and it wasn't long before Martin showed that he is a good box striker, firing past the keeper for 2-2. After that, we sat back a bit, maybe out of caution or maybe out of the tiredness of two matches in 4 days. But apart from one long shot that Button saved, it was FFC who looked more likely in the closing minutes. Then, the ref totally lost the plot. The Norwich no.3 fouled Martin by the corner flag, and then proceeded to block him off. The linesman saw this, but the ref was more interested in booking one of our players and totally ignoring the antics of their no.3 who continued arguing and refusing to retreat from the ball. For, me this incident summed up the ref's poor performance more than anything. But, overall it was probably a fair result, and shows that we can live with any team in this league. We are starting to look much more of a team, and I believe that come Christmas Slavisa's plans will reach fruition on a regular basis. 

Martin shooting for goal.

MOM- Martin for his sheer work rate, or the ever improving Piazon.

Next up is Villa and we can get a result there, but let's hope that McContract doesn't read the script and forgets to score against a former club.

IN SLAVISA WE TRUST
COYWs

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© Nic Smith

GREAT WIN, BUT BIGGER TESTS AWAIT.

As the club fall into line with League rules, some of us loyal fans are denied the chance to listen to Gentleman Jim when the team is playing away. Many can argue that we should all be following the Whites across the land, but not all people have the finances, or time, to get to away games. So what's the answer? Pay £2.99 pm for FFC TV? In my, humble, opinion that is no too much to ask, especially for those fans who rarely make home games, even. But, I feel reluctant to pay that fee, however small, when you realize what is on offer. GJ's commentary is good, but what else is there? Some video interviews? Coverage of U23 games? Let's face it, how many people actually watched the U23s when they were free? A bad camera angle where all of the action was too far away. So, why would anybody want to pay for it? Most of the video interviews are transcribed in online newspapers anyway, so what are we really getting for our £2.99 pm ? The only item most fans are going to miss is the GJ commentaries. As a paying season ticket holder, I don't see why I should pay this fee when it only gives me away commentaries, especially in March when there is one away game. I am certain that FFC could have offered the commentary free as part of the season ticket package, and maybe they will do that next season. They stopped giving us the season ticket holder pin-badges, so free FFC TV could be offered as an incentive instead. It is up to each fan to decide whether they pay for this service, and I am not advocating a boycott.
Yesterday saw the Whites return to winning ways, and from the stats, highlights and reports, by all accounts we were good value for that win. Just as the previous international break saw us go on a bad run, then this latest international break appears to have reversed our fortunes, and hopefully we can go on a winning run. The two Barnsley goals were through balls, where our defence was sliced open. I wonder if this would have happened if Kalas had been fit, but that is speculation. The worrying thing is that, you can excuse it once in a match, but twice and there appears to be a problem. I am guessing that Alex Neil, will certainly pick up on this and will be looking to exploit this on Tuesday evening. The more impressive aspects of the match were that we didn't give up. Too often in the past if we had drawn level after going behind, and then let in another, our heads would have dropped. Yesterday, there was fight and aggression that saw us equalize straight after their second goal, which probably knocked the stuffing out of a Barnsley team low on confidence. The possession stats are something we are getting used to, but Piazon seems to be a good alternative as a winger who likes to get in the box, as seen when you look at his position for the first equalizer. It was also encouraging to see Aluko breaking into the box to net the second, and hopefully he can go on a scoring run, towards the 12 or more that I predicted at the start of the season. Whether Malone meant his goal or not is irrelevant, as it came at the perfect time to give us control. And he deserved it for what must have been a MOM performance for his assists and support play over all. Martin was unmarked for his goal, but who cares anyway, as he still had to bury the header? Hopefully he too will go on a scoring run with a newly found confidence. Overall it was an excellent performance, but bigger tests await.

Aluko celebrating, sort of.

Next up is Norwich, a true test, and our biggest test since the opening game of the season. The Canaries are worthy front runners this season, and with a squad that has Prem. experience and some excellent Championship players, they are still my favourites for the title. How they set up against us is something that only Neil knows, but I would not expect them to be as defensive minded as the other teams who have visited the Cottage this season. If Norwich play a more open game then I feel that the Whites have every chance of nicking another win against one of the favourites. It is obvious that when teams get men behind the ball, our possession game is less effective. This, may explain our excellent away record where the home teams are obliged to come at us more. With their attacking options, I can see it being a high scoring match, as they also have a tendency to leak goals. After that we go to Villa, and who knows what effect Bruce may have had on them by then. We can but hope that they are still lacking confidence, as Wolves totally dominated them yesterday. Up after that is the real surprise package of the season, Huddersfield Town. Virtually every pundit in football has been surprised by their start, and only time will tell if it is a false dawn for the Terriers. If they have a couple of indifferent results before we play them, then it may be good news for the Cottage faithful. And last up, before the next international break is Brentford away. Our recent record against them isn't great, so we need a good run going into that game. Every single one of these next four fixtures is going to be tough for different reasons, and we need to realize this and get behind the lads every inch of the way. Let us hope that Tuesday evening is the continuation of another good run between international breaks.

IN SLAVISA WE TRUST.
COYWs

© Nic Smith

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P.S. If anybody feels they can write an article from away games, or any other FFC related issues, then please contact me. 

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT.

We are all great armchair coaches, having played FM/CM/FIFA etc., but isn't that what being an ardent football fan is all about, dreaming of how we could solve tactical problems? The difference is that computer software can only use so many algorithms, and only so many factored in scenarios. In real life football, there is human error, mood, the opposition, the support of the crowd, confidence etc., and when you factor all of these many complexities into the equation, even the best planned tactics, can go wrong. These days there are people, at professional clubs, who spend their time assessing potential unforeseen circumstances, and every player will train at certain times to be prepared for these. We have all heard that teams practice for when they are down to ten men, or when they are playing against ten men. Not, personally, having 24/7/365 access to Motspur Park, we can only guess as to how many different scenarios Slavisa and his coaching staff prepare for. And we can only guess as to how much time is spent on this. Or do modern day teams focus too much on the incalculable, possible events of a match? In my opinion, you can have too many statistics and formulae, and sometimes it is just better to have faith in your tactical system, and trust in the players ability to make minor adjustments as difficulties appear. To partly quote Lineker "football is a simple game", and in many respects that is true. If the players are good enough, play to the best of their ability, in the correct positions and adhere to practiced tactics, then we as fans should expect nothing more than that. The transfer window is closed, and we FFC fans have to accept that the current squad is as good as it gets for the time being. 
Slavisa likes a 4-2-3-1 formation and it is probably the most used formation in modern day football. But, it is also a very difficult formation to implement and requires a lot of time spent on the training ground to implement it effectively on match day. As frustrating as it is, I, for one, will give the team, and Slavisa, time for the fruits of these labours to come to fruition. The whites don't have the highest possession rating in the league for nothing, it is just the end product that is missing. 4-2-3-1 works well if we can press high up the pitch and force the opposition into defending deep, although this makes the opposition box congested. This is where a team needs a good "box striker", who is mobile, crafty and pacy. That is the one area where FFC lack at the moment as neither Smith or Martin offer that option. To overcome this, the midfielders need to push forward as supplementary strikers, but only Aluko, Ayite or Kebano offer that. Cairney is not a false 9, and probably is not a natural 10, although under the present system, he is more suited as a central midfielder rather than the wide right role he is played in at the moment. 
Having watched every home game so far, I believe the main problem lies in midfield, too much possession without getting anywhere fast, although in some games it has looked like with a few more "huffs and puffs" we would blow teams away. From my, humble, viewpoint, we have looked so much more effective when McDonald plays. The simple reason- he is the only player who naturally looks for a long diagonal or telling through pass. 

Without McDonald

With McDonald

Without McDonald the ball is too often played short and side ways, allowing the opposition to get their shape with men behind the ball. The other problem with this, is that players are more likely to play a bad pass and overdo things which means, as we have pushed forward, we are vulnerable to a quick counterattack.  The McDonald option, means that as we push forward into their half, a diagonal out wide can catch the opposition out before they can regain their formation. It will also mean that their fullbacks are pulled out wide leaving more space in the middle. Or, if the opposition get wise to this, McDonald, then has the option of a longer through ball down the middle. The basic idea is that we are giving teams more to think about, whereas our short passing game without a McDonald-ish player, makes us too predictable. Parker, for all his work and excellent touch does not naturally play many long passes. The same can be said of Tunnicliffe and Johansen, although the latter has yet to show us what he can do. I am not the president of the McDonald fan club, but the options and variations he offers make us much more effective in possession. Jozabed is not the answer either as defensively he looks too weak to play part of the DM pair. The only other midfielder with the passing range of McDonald is Cairney, but playing wide on the right he can't do it effectively enough.  Maybe, the answer is that Cairney plays central and drops a little deeper, effectively meaning we play 4-2-1-2-1, but that would mean fewer options up front. Whatever the answer is, our short passing game is much too predictable and we need at least 2 McDonald-ish players in the centre of midfeield.

But, what do I know, as I am only an armchair manager.

© Nic Smith

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THE FFC ROLLER COASTER SO FAR.

Thank god for an international break. In my opinion, it is just what we needed. Time to regroup and rethink. Too many Whites' fans are already jumping on the bandwagon of slating the manager, the board and the team. England will be at the World Cup in Russia, so I, for one, couldn't care less about England internationals that we should win. I would much rather be heading down to the Cottage, or listening to GJ on the net, but if we all sit back and think, we should see this as a welcome break. Our form until the last international break was more than any of us could have dreamed of, so maybe this international break will be just the thing to turn around our fortunes after a dismal run between these two breaks. If I was superstitious, I would say that after this break we should be back to where we were before the last break. 

So what has gone wrong? The simple answer is nothing much. We had a great start to the season with, virtually, a new team. Anybody who thinks that a new team will simply gel, and keep gelling is living in cloud cuckoo land. Since the first day of the season, new signings have added to the squad, and those new signings have had to adapt to our system under the pressure of the Championship, rather than the other new signings who had pre-season friendlies without the competitive pressure. None of this is to say, that we, as paying fans, shouldn't be allowed to moan. But, there is a reality, that we should be more patient and see what our situation is at Christmas. We should also remember that a few injuries have kept key players like Kalas out. We could argue that we need to be prepared for injuries, but with a new team injuries will upset the status quo even more. It is clear where the most serious problem lies and that is in the striker position. Do we blame the system, the midfield supply line, or the strikers? It would be too easy to blame the strikers. Big Matty Smith is not the most mobile and he needs a pacy, small strike partner to be more effective. From what I have seen of Martin, he doesn't get nearly enough service to make him a decent "box striker". Woodrow, does not have the strength, or guile, to play as a "box striker" when he is heavily outnumbered by Championship defences that seem to be full of giants. Possibly, the only squad member who could play as lone "box striker" is Aluko, but that is not his natural game and his finishing leaves a little to be desired. That leaves Slavisa with a headache, as how can he play his preferred 4-5-1 when none of the striking options are suited to be a lone striker? Or does he switch to a conventional 4-4-2 and watch us get overrun in midfield. I suspect, that Slavisa wanted a natural "box striker", but the board and Kline would not sanction signing a player who didn't match their required statistics. Hopefully, come the January window, Slavisa will have had time to persuade the board that we need to have more upfront and they will sanction the signing of a Defoe type player. Our 4-5-1, or 4-2-3-1 formation will give us the vast share of possession, and, for me, it is the best formation in this division as we need to flood and control the midfield. This formation also allows our full backs to get forward with cover. One thing that stood out against QPR was that we were playing too many short passes, and getting nowhere fast. When McDonald is fit he gives us the option of playing longer passes out wide, where our full backs can push on, knowing they will get service. It also seems that Slavisa is trying to form defensive partnerships between Kalas and Madl, and Sigurdsson and Ream. Before Kalas was injured, we were much more solid at the back, and he is our biggest loss. Madl has also been excellent, but if I am correct, then Slav only sees him as being effective with Kalas by his side. Whether Madl trains with Sigurdsson as his partner, or whether Slavisa tries to pair Sigurdsson with Ream in training we can only speculate. But, I am certain that he is trying all partnerships out on the training ground. We should, again, remember that all of this takes time, and we as FFC fans should be patient and give the gaffer time to work with all of the new signings until we have a machine that is working in unison. 
From the games I have seen this season, 100% home, I can see the day where everything comes right and we thrash somebody. We have the players with the necessary skill, and, in my opinion, a dedicated manager who will work and work until we get it right. I have total faith in Slavisa, and I know that we will be comfortably, mid table or above come the end of the season. The international break is a god send as the team will have more work on the training ground, and more time to gel.

IN SLAVISA WE TRUST
COYWs

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© Nic Smith