22 Comments
User's avatar
james's avatar

Some of the outsiders will say "look at brentford or brighton, they brought in managers with little experence and none in the premier league".

Difference is that we are no where near as organised/structured as them two clubs, they are miles ahead of us. We lose wilson and raul and now we are all looking at a relegation battle. Brentford lose Toney, Mbuemo, Watkins, Norgaard, Benrahma, Wissa and it doesnt bother them as they know they have the next one able to slot right in.

We are in massive trouble this year and its all on TK

TL's avatar

Totally agree,. With a new, unproven manager, we don't need to be doubling down on that with new, unproven players in key positions, we're not big or stable enough for that level of risk. But of course, this is Tony 'I thought Marco would stay when it was blindingly obvious to the rest of the universe for months that he was likely to leave, and I never bothered with a plan B' Khan we are talking about. Shambles.

Bruce Robertson's avatar

It is a real worry. Muniz is not great, in fact and is certainly not good enough to be our main man. If we don’t start to score goals it will be back to-

What’s black and white and goes down tables?

Kevin's avatar

It's all a bit grim really. A lot of eggs being put in the Garcia basket, and to a degree, he's an unknown, as is Arbeloa. The Brightons and Bournemouths of this world seem to be able to pick up strong, fast, talented players for 15 million quid who slot straight in and hit the ground running while our recruitment team flounder around like a fish on the Thames riverbank. It's very hard not to predict a very rough season for us.

John Burke's avatar

Once again it looks like we won’t get any signings in for preseason matches but why am I not surprised with the way we run things with idiots that have no football knowledge.

Ed's avatar

As I’ve mentioned before - everyone loves to hear that we’re bringing in young players, but unfortunately someone needs to score goals at the senior level to stay in the PL. Where are those goals coming from? I hope our new manager has a plan in mind other than raiding his old club for unproven, high-upside youngsters. Right now, we’re hanging our hopes on ESR, Muniz, Bobb, Kevin, and King. All are young with a lot of talent. Unfortunately, based on what we’ve seen to date, there’s not 15 goals between the entire group. We better hope this is the year all that talent comes good.

Kevin's avatar

I have to agree. The lack of goals is a massive worry. Some people seem to think Arbeloa is some sort of wonder coach who will suddenly increase the ability of every young player we have in the squad when there is no real evidence of this. I'm starting to think it could be relegation unless 2 or 3 players with a good level of quality and experience are brought in very soon.

Todd C's avatar

To play the overly positive devil's advocate...IF (and that's a MASSIVE if) Muniz, Kevin & King can take the next step towards reaching their full potential this season they should EACH bag 10+ goals. Is that realistic? Maybe not BUT it is possible...plus, Bobb coming off a solid World Cup and we're looking a lot better on paper than we're giving ourselves credit for. I'd love to see ESR contribute more consistently too but that's also a big IF. Ideally, we at least splurge on Balogun, or a proven goal scorer, where anything less than 12-15 in all competitions would be a major disappointment for them...and Fulham.

Obviously IF none of this comes to fruition then we'll surely be playing in the championship after this season. Positive vibes (in spite of how ownership is going about things)...Positive Vibes!

Ed's avatar

Unfortunately, I don’t think Fulham has the luxury of a full-blown youth movement, in the hopes that the oft-mentioned talent is eventually due to bubble to the surface. If that talent exists, it’s better to surround it with proven performers, so the young players aren’t trying to carry the weight of the club by themselves.

TL's avatar

Let's just play Sess as a false 9. The guy is criminally mis/under-used and under-rated, and always knows where and when to arrive in the box. And he can press. Not really a physical presence otherwise, but I'm not sure Arbeloa's tactics need that.

Neil BYOTT's avatar

"one that has experience of scoring goals in a top European league."

Would a player like that want to come to SW6? It's not a great pull is it?

Sammy James's avatar

We are a mid table premier League club based in London and if you do well at fulham it's a guaranteed springboard to one of the big clubs. We are able to attract a pretty impressive calibre of player

Neil BYOTT's avatar

Hope that will be the case in the coming weeks. Not been so over recent seasons. No mans land team. Alvaro may change that.

Jim Buttons's avatar

I keep hoping the Muniz will come good but there he was again against Norwich in the friendly, nowhere near the cross from Kevin, stuck flat footed on the edge of the 6 yard box. He is a likeable character for sure, but he does not seem to have that killer instinct to get himself to where the ball will be. I am not sure any of your options, Sammy, will work as none of them have Premier League experience of being in the trenches for a mid-table club, so on balance if Arbaloa wants Garcia I think that's a gamble worth taking.

Sammy James's avatar

I don't think you need premier League experience. If we sign Vlahovic (not saying we will as other teams like Everton and Chelsea are in the mix) that's a pretty much guaranteed source of goals

Jim Buttons's avatar

Vlahovic would be Mitro 2 the Return of the Serb but I think he is out of our price range and expectations from his side will be Chumps league. I don’t see where we get the “big figure” center forward from at a price the Khans will pay so we are going to be taking a risk, but arguably Brian Brobbey was a risk for Sunderland, Eredivisie risk and all but that worked.

Jordan's avatar

Blimey Sammy. That's a depressing read to start the week off

Christine Homewood's avatar

You are so right.we are in big trouble.sitting here in N Z i can see the relegation battle from the start.Managrless and we let.players go.Wilson,Diop(better than Anderson)

Arbeloa has had 2 weeks and noone has come in.someone go knock on the khans bedroom door and wake them.big big trouble from week one.

Tony Montgomery's avatar

Let’s face facts- we have 18 senior players in the first team squad. If Lukic goes that’ll be 17 left. We are in a relegation scrap right now.

lovetempo's avatar

Curious why you think Pepi is proven? Yes he’s scored a lot of goals, but it’s in the Dutch league, where it seems like a real hit or miss as to whether a player can step up to the PL (see Bryan Ruiz, for one).

Sammy James's avatar

He has scored big goals in the champions league and to a lesser degree at international level.

lovetempo's avatar

This is fair. I guess, as a US-based fan I didn’t see anything from him in our tournament that made me think he would be a no-brainer first choice striker for us, but haven’t seen Garcia play either, am Just working off what my Madrid-supporter friends said of him.

Personally would be most excited about Balogun!