The first of our Europa League group games gives Jol a chance to make changes in a bid to find that winning formula. Twente's a side he should know plenty about.
Which tempts me to lead off with a query - just how much does Martin know about his own players? Frankly, I thought he got more things wrong than right against Blackburn. The boss has admitted he should have started Dembele and used Ruiz in the 2nd half instead. We were crying out for someone who would come on and not be afraid to have a shot or two from range and put his head in on all those crosses we sent over. Someone just like Zoltan Gera!
A groin strain on the left side puts Aaron out of contention for a couple of weeks I estimate, while Senderos is not 100%. If Chris Baird can't get a run out Thursday somewhere across the back four then our international clearly has no future at Fulham. Jol is reluctant to play Bobby with Man City and Chelsea looming up and súggests there may be three or four changes from Sunday's side. Good. Make them positive ones. Without Zamo please do not expect ANY return from playing AJ up front on his own. That is a return to the dark days of last December.
Twente are at full strength and have started their own season with four wíns and one loss. They are the Dutch cup holders and came within a whisker of doing the double in Holland last year. In essence the core remains from McClaren's title-winning team of two seasons ago - minus Bryan. Our new 'wunderkind' is cup tied of course, a fact his agent failed to point out before his signing. Ruiz has suggested he might have had second thoughts had he known.
I sense the players are keen to make amends for Sunday and if we get on the front foot from the off and are not afraid to express ourselves...who knows? And if Matty Briggs is not at LB I want my money back!
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Comments
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Posted by roughneck1 on 09/15/2011
Poor start in league play with tough schedule the next several weeks. Midfield signings will have to show their value as Murphy & Duff can't be effective in more than one game per week.
Made some good moves during the transfer window. Did we make enough? We will find out soon.
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Posted by Bobert on 09/15/2011
What the hell was the point in signing a striker if he can only play in the league games. What's worse is the Jol knew?! For a club that Ruiz described as "warm" and "friendly," those actions certainly don't seem that way. Everything about the team this far has been a MASSIVE disappointment. We had four winable fixtures, and an entire summer to ateast start to engrave Jol's "playing style." Why the Hell are hangeland and Hughes split up?!?! I keep reading that its too early to send sound the alarm bells, but Fulhams current form is D-L-L-D and we haven't even played any of the upper clubs yet! So far Jol has been a disappointment. Four winable games and not a single victory? And don't give me that lack of cutting edge nonsense, we have plenty. If your tactics fail to inspire or create chances, don't blame the players. Supporting Fulham is seriously making me age faster. Here's hoping for a tremendous turnaround, similar to what happened at the beginning of this year.
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Posted by Vital_Teddy_KGB on 09/15/2011
Ruiz is eligible to play IF we make the knock-out stage, which in my opinion, we won't.
I think we'll draw with Twente tonight, get steam-rolled by Man City at the weekend and exit the Carling Cup to Chelsea next week. Panic should be setting in amongst the faithful by that point. But, all fears to be allayed afterward with successive wins over WBA, Odense and QPR.
You heard it here first!
Posted by Jonathan on 09/16/2011
I saw the game, and must admit we were pretty unlucky, what with Schwarzer's OG and a number of opportunities going begging early in the second half. I thought Grygera showed some good signs, despite a crude challenge or two. I also thought Senderos was awful, and he only played 10 minutes! I'm starting to wonder what we see in him.
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