I haven't posted much during the past week because I've been afraid of what I've wanted to write. People have accused me of being too negative in recent weeks and I was starting to believe that was the case. After yet another humbling defeat and more excuses by Sanchez, I am now convinced of my own opinion. We need a change of manager...now.
As I write we have sunk to 17th spot - only out of the bottom three on goal difference - and that is simply not good enough. We are now in December...four months into the season...and the team is firmly on skid row. Anybody who doesn't believe this is the case is, quite frankly, living in a dream world. Unless changes are made now we will be a Championship side next season.
Our performances are turning us into relegation fodder. Two victories all season - both at home - is woeful, while the chance of us ever getting three points on the road is so remote as to be pointless even discussing. We are either not as good as we think we can be or Sanchez is not getting the best out of the players. His players, I might add.
So which one is it? Well, let's look at the players that have starred for us this season. The best, in my opinion, have been Konchesky (a Sanchez hire), Simon Davies (Coleman), Niemi (Coleman) and Dempsey (Coleman). Hughes and Davis have also been good, Baird has had, shall we say, a rocky ride thus far; Murphy has been very weak; Kamara is excrutiatinly frustrating; Healy is a star but rarely plays a full 90 minutes; Bouazza is a decent signing; Seol has had about three good minutes in all his appearances so hardly a success story; Smertin is very good but hardly gets near the pitch; and Kuqi has been okay, nothing more.
To be honest I think we have the makings of a good side - but we should be building around the key people that can help us deliver the points. Players like Healy. Giving a world class, international striker 10 minutes here and there is simply ridiculous, as is him ending up out on the wing. He's a natural goal poacher so needs to be in the centre and the team built up to get the ball to him - as England do on the rare occasions that Michael Owen is fit.
There's no point Sanchez banging on about this being a 'learning side' in need of experience at this level. Forgive me if I'm wrong but Sanchez knew we were a Premier league side when he took over so with a £25m purse to spend maybe he should have bought more experience from the off if that's what he thinks we needed. Saying - like he did after the Everton match - that one wrong off-side decision changed the course of the game is farcical. There were still 40 minutes left for us to get back into the game but we were over-run.
I'm not claiming to be any expert - far from it in fact. Sanchez clearly has infinitely more experience and knowledge about the game than I'll ever have, but then again that's why he's the manager of this team and I'm just a face in the crowd. That's why Mo pays him the big bucks - for his knowledge and skill as a manager. I, for one, don't think we're getting value for money.
Unless we get six points from our next two games - both at home - against Newcastle United and Wigan, then Sanchez' position really will be untenable. Personally, I think we need a replacement now. It's been an experiment that hasn't worked.
Signing off
5 years ago
10 comments:
As you know Rob, I'm still trying to sit this one out a bit longer before calling for his head. But you clarified something for me that for some reason I wasn't able to get to myself. That is, Sanchez is not getting the best out of his players. I think earlier in the season when all the players seemed to be on Sanchez's side and everyone was saying, "Were just a bit unlucky. The wins will come". Well, I was more more calm about the situation and felt a bit differently with Sanchez than some of the other managers who were getting dumped by teams. Again, principally because the players seemed to be behind him and believe in him. But I get the feeling that's just not the case anymore.
Also, interesting look there at which manager made the best signings. I still think Coleman had to go. Things had gotten very stagnant under him.
It's hard to argue with any of your points. In fact I'm not going to. I know that I won't be upset if I hear Sanchez has been sacked. However, I'm still trying hard to look at the long term. Maybe we're only a couple of players away from having a side that can compete.
I knew the last two games were most likely to end in defeat so I don't really feel any differently about the team than I did after Blackburn (which was basically that we were improving slightly). We certainly need to win at least one of the next two games, but I guess if we don't then it's a horrible time to be trying to find a new manager.
Rob, I've been saying all season that you have to support the guy in the room, because the guy in the room -- in our case Sanchez -- is all you have.
I've also felt that we lost five points at home to Middlesboro and away to Wigan due to Macca's injury and the misdirection of the team that it caused. Stupid goalkeeping tricks cost us between 2 and 6 points in the first 3 weeks of the season, unbelievable refereening decisions cost us another 3 or 4, and Konchesky's elbow cost us wins against Derby at home and Sunderland on the road. So, given a decent rub of the green we might be 10 points higher than we are.
Having said all that, the cumulative lack of belief in the system and in the manager is starting to hamstring the squad. Add to that Sanchez's decision to make Smertin disappear, not to mention starting Kuqi without Healy and his mystery subbing of Dempsey in the last couple of matches, I'm beginning to wonder if it just may be time for LS to go.
The only place I'd disagree with you is that I think we need SIX points from the next two matches. If not, MAF may bounce someone. Billie Davies anyone?
thanks for all your comments; much appreciated as always. i think it's fair to say we all feel a bit anxious at present. we need some wins under our belts to help put this right...and the sooner the better.
brian, i agree with you that the first seeds of player discontent seem to be creeping in (clint on Saturday, for example) which is a worrying sign.
Chopper, i think some new bodies may be worthwhile but is lawrie the man to pick them? Seol, Murphy, etc, hardly inspired signings.
hatterdon, very good points about the missed points, although we did ride our luck against the likes of Spurs to gain a point...also i don't think we disagree about the points. I, too, think we need six points, although whether or not that is enough to save sanchez i'm really not sure to be honest
Rob, which away games would we have expected to win:
Arsenal? Nearly did
Aston Villa? Nearly did
Wigan, okay, but we conceded late after dominating that one.
Chelsea? Yeah, nearly took that one too
Sunderland? Another late equaliser
Liverpool? Did well there
Man Utd? Oh well
Everton? Losing belief, perhaps.
Look at the Premier League. How many of the smaller clubs win away? No, they don't. Just doesn't happen.
The problem has been the home form. We were massively unlucky against Boro (we were, that was a legit equaliser, and before McBride went off with a freak injury we were passing like Brazil), we lost to a Portsmouth side who just so happen to have won 6 straight on the road (no disgrace there then) and we fecked up against Derby, which can happen from time to time.
That's an underwhelming but by no means disastrous season.
Rich
Rich, I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one as I don't believe there is anyway we'll find common ground...If you honestly believe that being out of the relegation zone on goal difference is anything other than disastrous then I am stunned.
I'm sorry to say this Rich but you are sounding more and more like Sanchez every day: we almost won this game, we were unlucky in that, etc, etc. You neglect to mention how lucky we were to get a point at home to Spurs - without that last gasp equaliser we would be in the bottom three. While I admire your upbeat attitude to life I honestly believe - with all due respect - you are becoming blind to the reality of our plight.
but we *did* almost win these games!
Never mind the Spurs game, what about all the rest. I'm sounding like Sanchez because I agree with him. I'm not trying to suggest things are going well, of course not, but I am saying that this is a decent team in trouble, not a bad team playing at its level.
Oh Rich come on!!! You and I both know there's a huge difference between 'winning' and 'nearly winning'. They are worlds apart.
You are picking the games to suit your argument. What do you mean 'never mind the Spurs game' - that, as appalling as it was, was actually one of the highlights of what HAS been a terrible season.
We also got very lucky against Bolton when a deflected goal gave us the win...yet you don't mention that one either...
Last season was generally regarded as a disaster, yet at the same point we had SEVEN more points on the board after three extra wins.
I don't want to fall out with you Rich but I'm afraid our views on this one are poles apart.
Sanchez asked us to judge him once he'd had his own players in situ and had had time to bed them in...four months into the season it's time to judge.
My judgement: Not nearly good enough.
I think the biggest sign that Sanchez has not really improved the team is the number of goals we have given up by this point in the season, last season. We have a better goal differential because we have scored more goals. The real thing that needed to be improved from last season to this one was the defense, and yet 16 games into this season we have seen nothing to show improvement. I think that such performance is indicative of Sanchez's not instructing the defenders how to maintain possession especially on the road. I don't believe Sanchez "endorses the long ball" because our forwards and midfield can combine for some pretty goals, but the defense loses possession or doesn't have the confidence to keep possession at key moments (cf. Wigan, Reading, Blackburn, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Man Yoo, Ev games). The defenders then consistently chose to boot it to the forwards... I think with a different manager the defenders would be told to hold the ball, show some leadership and maintain possession in difficult conditions.
I just think that we should be realistic about what a team like Fulham can achieve in this day and age. As I see it we messed up at home to Derby, but apart from that every single result (except Boro) has been well within the bounds of what you'd expect to happen. It might be a worst case scenario, but these things happen in sport all the time. Yes you make your own luck, if you're good, but about half the teams in this division (and 5-6 in the division below) are much of a muchness and it doesn't take much to swing entire seasons.
Baseball has 162 games in a season and you see teams go on all sorts of long streaks, good and bad. But because the season's so long people accept the ebbs and flows. Here we are, and 16 games in we think we have the measure of this team. Football obviously isn't baseball, but the same ups and downs happen in all sports where teams are close together on talent levels.
And, at the risk of attracting the attention of men in white coats, I'm not even completely sold that this last 10 minutes thing is anything other than a series of unfortunate coincidences. In science you have something called test-retest reliability; in other sports teams exhibit patterns that are evident one year, but gone the next, suggesting that, while real, the events were flukes. If we believe this team is vulnerable in the last 10 minutes, we'd expect it to continue all season (over a *proper* sample size) and be evident next year too. Of course that won't be the case. We've seen a few instances of a phenomenon and because of the way we think we're attaching meaning to it. And there is *some* meaning to it, of course there is, but not nearly as much as people are making out. And of course we've also scored a couple of times (more if you count the Boro goal that wasn't given) in the last ten minutes.
I guess I'm losing whatever small amount of credibility I might have had by continuing along these lines, but what can you do? It's what I think and unfortunately for me I'm stubborn enough to think that I might be right.
Back to la-la-land.
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