Vital Reading caught up with Fulham fan David, as we look forward to tomorrow`s game against the Cottagers
Vital Reading caught up with Fulham fan David (@DaveMFFC), as we look forward to tomorrow`s game against the Cottagers. We ask Dave his opinion on current boss Felix Magath, the recent influx of youth players into the first team, among others topics.
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1. Considering the instability you had last season with managers, were you surprised about your eventual relegation?
I don’t think there was any surprise regarding relegation. Anybody who had watched us on a regular basis last season would have seen how poorly we played week in week out and how difficult it would have been to get out of the situation we had found ourselves in. The managerial goings on making it even more frustrating and at times quite frankly embarrassing.
2. Your team now looks barely noticeable, with Magath favouring the youth players, but still feels confident of promotion – after your start, what are your expectations?
Whilst we do have some fantastic young players from our academy now in the first team I still personally feel we lack that experience in what is a physical and demanding league.
Getting the blend between experience and youth is the key. At this time we seem to be far too weighted with youth and Magath is expecting too much from these players if he’s confident we’ll be promoted. Saying that I remember him being just as confident about keeping us up last season!!
3. What do you put your bad league start down to?
A complete overhaul of the first team means we are almost unrecognisable from last season. It’s going to take time for the team to gel. The majority of the teams in this league will have a established line ups from the season before so we will have to be patient. As we all know there’s still a very long way to go yet.
4. What did you make of your recent transfer window? Do you feel you paid over the odds for Ross McCormack?
I don’t think we had a spectacular window but signing Matt Smith from Leeds may prove very shrewd. He had a great partnership with Ross McCormack at Leeds & we hope they can recreate that at Fulham.
Ross McCormack was expensive but I doubt we actually paid the £11 million reported. I’ve heard around half of that figure plus add ons.
Bearing in mind he scored 28 goals last season that’s not a bad deal. If he can help fire us back in the premier league then those add ons will be worth every penny.
5. The majority of Fulham fans want to see the back of Magath at the moment – are you with the majority in wanting him gone? If so, who do you see as a potential replacement?
I’ve been pretty clear in my opinion of Magath even before the season started. For me he’s not the man for Fulham and there’s a number of reasons for that. Building a young squad for the future makes sense however he often makes weak team selections which is obviously frustrating.
That said I’ll be more than happy if he proves me wrong as at the end of the day we just want to see our team winning.
If he were to be replaced..I’d like to see Steve Clarke at Fulham.
6. Which Fulham players do you expect to have a big season? Are any youth players standing out at the moment?
There are three young players that stand out for me in particular. The American Emerson Hyndman seems an extremely mature player despite his young age. Patrick Roberts looks the real deal and should he continue is development, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him sign for a top for team within a year or two. Lastly Chris David, a creative and exciting player who should prove a handful for any defender.
7. If you could take any Reading player, who would it be and why?
I’ll be truthful here as I haven’t really seen much of Reading since our last meeting in the Premier League.
However, Michael Hector seems like a young and versatile player who could fit in well at Fulham.
8. What starting XI and shape do you expect to see from Magath on Saturday?
Fulham fans are known to call our managers team selection as ‘Felix Bingo’. He is very unpredictable with this at times but after the awful start to the season I think it’s fair to say he’ll look bring some consistency in his selections….we hope!
I’d imagine though he’ll play a 4-4-2 diamond shape again like he did against Cardiff.
9. What is your prediction for the game?
My heart says Fulham will pick up their first three points of the season but my head tells me Reading will win 2-1.
