Something is rotten
I’ve said before that I’m quite positive about Sanchez and the team. I think he’ll turn things around. People are being too negative, too knee-jerk. This stoopid-media age (”is this a must-win game, Andy?” “Yes! There may be twenty-eight games left, but if Chelsea don’t win today their season is over, Richard” etc) makes us too jumpy, too quick to judge. Time will tell. Even if we do lose in Sunderland (we probably will, and it means little).
Here is an interesting stat, from The Times newsletter (via Martin):
3 - wins achieved by Fulham in their last 30 league games
If Sanchez is not yet a saviour, we must not forget that he inherited a right mess.
Nice to see you`re still feeling chipper about our prospects, WMC!
I`m afraid I feel rather less so, and my confidence in Sanchez is starting tor falter. I am wondering if what initially looked like a longer-term team-building plan was really just a stab at achieving a quick impact based on NI players. Curiously, the NI players have proved less effective than the others Sanchez bought or who were already here. The best Irish player to date has been Hughes; although `best` in this context really amounts to not doing anything really awful. The worst has been Baird by some distance. In between, are Davis and Healy.
It does beggar belief to realize that these men (plus 7 others) obtained some famous victories against decent international opposition. Maybe it was the “FA Cup syndrome” - the giant-killer spirit that can take a small club a long way but which is based more on guts and adrenaline than footballing ability.
Wing Half
23 Oct 07 at 4:41 pm
Don’t disagree with any of that, I just hope that the players are better than you think!
As I said the other week though, the fact that Sanchez played under some fairly uninspiring managers worries me a little.
The main question though: where has all the early season football gone? Long balls are back. It can’t all be because McBride’s out. Can it?
weltmeisterclaude
23 Oct 07 at 7:30 pm
No, I can`t understand where the football has gone either. Don`t remember that we played much long ball even when McBride was still with us.
It looks as if Sanchez is retreating to the historic `comfort zone` of his hey-day with Wimbledon. At least there, it was a deliberate choice and everything was geared to that style of play. With Fulham, it isn`t and it doesn`t suit the players he has brought into the club.
Curiouser and curiouser . . .
Wing Half
23 Oct 07 at 9:09 pm