Fulham team for this coming year

Re: Murphy "I'm staying at Fulham" (Update...Not so much)

Given the state of our roster, and knowing we still have the window coming, how is everyone feeling about next season and where we'll end up in the table?

 

Re: Murphy "I'm staying at Fulham" (Update...Not so much)

With who we still have right now I am still confident. Bit more of some time to gain/lose players though.

 

I am pretty confident of us finishing in the top ten. I wanted us to keep one of the forwards as insurance, in case we can't sign two replacements. But, we still have one of the most talented teams in England. We have two great keepers, the best goal scoring midfielder in England and one of the most creative players in Europe. Not only that, but we have some great talents like Kerim Frei and Alex K coming through the ranks. I think Frei is going to be a breakout player this year.

We need to sign some forwards and fill some holes elsewhere in the squad, but I have confidence that Jol will do that. We are challenging for the top six next year. That's all there is to it.

 

We're putting a lot of faith in Jol's ability to deliver in the transfer market, but due to age, we don't really have a lot of choice. If we keep Dempsey, I think top 10 is certainly possible but will still depend on what we get at striker. Lose Dempsey, I'm nervous.

 

I'm pretty nervous about this upcoming year. Excited, but nervous.

Justin - Top six?? Are you serious?!?

 

:text-+1:

 

Yes, I'm serious. I don't think we will get off to the same bad start as recent years. Jol has now had a year to get everybody playing his kind of football and we looked amazing at times. I look at our early schedule and we can jump out to an early top six position. That's never happened. We're always late starters, the reverse Charlton. If we could have a full season of playing well, then challenging for Europe is possible.


Let's take a step back and look at who we lost. AJ and Pogrebnyak are not good enough to lead the line and Murphy was always going to be a bench player. If we lose Dempsey, then it's time to worry, but that hasn't happened. We still have a talented squad and there's no need to start panicking yet. I would have liked us to keep these players, but I believe we can replace them with even better players.

 

I'm assuming Dempsey and Dembele are both gone. Regardless, last years team meshed by the end. Now the team is much different. I'd take a top 10 right now in a heartbeat because I don't see us there next season.

 

The only way that should be our goal is if we lose Dempsey and Dembele and don't replace them. Jol turned Spurs into a top five club and he can do the same here, or at least a top 7 club. Lots of teams have big turnovers and they do just fine.

 

Not to be confrontational but, like who? You say Spurs, but that's a big difference in wage bills and transfer budgets there. Dimitar Berbatov and Darren Bent aren't walking through the Cottage door like they did for Jol at Spurs. And that was in addition to Keane and Defoe who were already there and putting up 10+ goals/season apiece in the Prem.

I appreciate the optimism but Dempsey's last 2 seasons eclipse anything anyone has done at the Cottage in a long time. We've brought in too many players who haven't come close to that for me to believe it'll happen. Hope, sure. Believe, not so much.

 

There's always a team that comes up and changes their team and does well. Malaga did the same in Spain as well. It's not like we're going to be the only team to ever have a big turnover in a season.

We don't need to spend £40m to have a top 7 team. We are nearly there already and we have spent next to nothing, by today's standards, to get there. People are getting far too concerned over the loss of Murphy, AJ and Pogrebnyak. We're talking about two decent forwards and a 35 year old who was clearly declining. When we lose Dempsey and Dembele then lets talk about this, but until then it's not worth concerning ourselves over this.


And Newcastle lost a few players last year and replaced them and nearly qualified for the Champions League. Again, it can be done.

 

If you're not counting Dempsey and Dembele as out then I guess I see what you're saying, but I think you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. They're gone. And I think that's the assumption that others are making as well. I'm not overly concerned about the three players you mentioned above being gone as individuals, but when add them up and put them on top of Dempsey and Dembele leaving is when their losses start to hurt.

Murphy was tied for third in appearances last season, second in assists, fourth in goals (which is a joke considering he found the back of the net three times), and fifth in minutes played. Is Murphy a world-beater? No, but he was a key player. I don't think you can discount his contributions. In the 2010/11 season, Murphy was first in assists, second in appearances, and third in minutes played.

Those are key minutes to lose when you add on the minutes of Dempsey and Dembele. The Spurs had a core that was added to by Jol. We're losing our core. That's the difference.

 

He might have done all of that, but we started to play our best when Murphy wasn't as big a player for us. When he went to the bench, it wasn't a big loss and AJ didn't play much at all in the second half of the season while Pogrebnyak was the only player to really do something. Those three losses aren't that big.

Even if we lose Dempsey and Dembele, it's not a time to panic until we know who will replace them. If we replace Dempsey with Narsingh, then I don't mind that at all. If we replace Dembele with a player like Schaars, then that's good as well. We might replace them with utter rubbish or they could both stay, I don't know what is going to happen though because the British media are almost the worst in the world when it comes to rumors. If we replace them with quality or we keep them, then there's no need to panic.


This was always going to happen. We have a new manager who actually seems happy to be here and he wants his own team. Remember, when Roy got his own team and started signing players that were good, we survived and finished in a European place the following year. I think Jol is as good a manager as he is and will guide even farther if he stays here.

 

Narsingh replaces Dempsey? C'mon man. Mark better put up 30 clean sheets and we'll still likely fall short of your expectations.

Way too early to have this argument. Let's see who comes in and then we can sort where we think we'll finish. As it stands, it seems we have a fundamental difference of opinion in how football games are won and more importantly, what it takes to earn points in the table. I've said before, and I maintain, we don't have enough goals in the side, even with Dempsey. Without him, we're in trouble. We'll see who comes in, but players like Narsingh don't address that issue. 3-4 years down the road, maybe. But not in 2012-13.

If we get Yildaz and Petric, I'll be a bit more optimistic. If we can get them and keep Clint, I might even back your prediction that we can threaten for a Europa spot.

 

It's just a name that's been thrown out there. Ultimately I think Ruiz replaces Dempsey. He has the talent to do so and has had the year to adjust to this league. We agree that goals win games, that much is obvious since I have been advocating for us to sign a top quality forward for the last year now.

And this is too early to have this discussion. That's partly my point. We have no clue what will happen to this club in the offseason.

 

I think it makes a difference whether we lose both Dempsey and Dembele or we manage to keep one of them (which I think is possible). Petric should be a good signing, I think there were signs last year that Diarra could take Murphy's place and while I'm not quite as optimistic as Justin- I think Ruiz will be better and be able to satisfactorily compensate for losing one of the Dems. Still, I'd be very surprised if we legitimately contend for a Europa place- I'd say Top 10 and a deep Cup run should be our goals (since I became a Fulham fan in fall 2004, we've never gotten past the quarters of either domestic cup and last year's lackluster performances are more typical than the quarterfinal years). If we lose both Dems- it's going to be much more difficult to achieve those goals- at the same time, I think the possibility of us getting relegated is about as likely as us getting a European place by finishing in the Top 6. But as Justin and Aggie both said, it's still early...

~ Steve

 

Well put, Steve.