Blogs this week, since the disgraceful effort at QPR, were a weathervane of sorts as I threw my thoughts onto the page in hope of gauging the mood of supporters world-wide. I felt confused, angry, despondent and mystified by the rapid decline in form. I was hurting, but assumed so were Fulham followers everywhere. One hoped the players and staff down at the Cottage sensed the impending crisis and measures were in hand to turn the corner. But among my jumbled thoughts, keeping a sense of proportion, and avoiding over-reaction were constant companions as I sorted the evidence. I wanted to know how others saw things too.

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I had closed off my last blog with genuine fears that a hiding was in the offing, and was pretty sure we would again fire blanks against Liverpool. But who wants to read such hand-wringing misery from someone who is supposed to be a cheerleader for the Whites and calls himself a true supporter? I stayed my hand, and kept my fears private. But today it came to pass. A blizzard of damning comments on Fulham's first-half performance, plus stinging criticism from media commentators and radio following the game hit Twitter at the interval. Make no mistake, this was as poor as anything we have seen from the Whites in the past five years.

We were second best on every level. A difference in skill factor I can accept. Teams with more money and players of quality deserve to come out on top. But lesser sides make up for the gulf in class with application, guts and determination. That's the kind of attitude that gets poor teams a reprieve from the relegation gallows, and it's something we've seen from plenty of Fulham sides in the past. But in this defeat heads dropped and Fulham simply went down without a fight. The Whites could easily have lost by more. In some respects it was as bad - if not worse than last week. Players were bottling tackles, not prepared to go in hard, with not a whiff of urgency or character. Nobody is now putting themselves on the line for the cause, which means you can add your own assessment of what the manager is now capable of providing.

Fulham played like a side in the bottom three who thinks the game is up. Of course, with only half the season gone, it isn't. Everyone involved in football knows the January window is a poor time to start drafting in reinforcements. Panic buys can often blow up in your face. Before this week Jol was already hinting Fulham were unlikely to be too busy. That thinking may have to change. The club need at least three new players, maybe five. Jol for weeks now has been pulling the fruit machine handle hoping to find the right combination up front. He has yet to hit the jackpot. If the club don't want to spend we might as well recall Trotta and Stockdale, persist with Frei and Kacaniklic and add a couple more from the youngsters in the hope we can at least build for the future.

The current bunch look haunted and past it. I don't think the worst man on the pitch in white broke sweat. Riise's defending for the killer third goal was simply comical - and coming as it did five minutes after half-time rendered Jol's half-time talk irrelevant. Our Norwegian international sought to play the game within a ten metre square box just inside his own half, and could not lay the ball off quickly enough. Liverpool were all over Fulham's midfield from the off, Baird had his second stinker in a week. The team were second to every ball, feeble in the tackle, playing themselves into trouble, and turned the ball over far too often. Fulham are far too easy to hustle off the ball and show no appetite to scrap.

Fulham have never actually been a physical side in the Premier League, but cannot turn up and play like a 2^nd division outfit and hope to ride our luck. Whatever Hugo Rodallega's game is all about, he certainly does not have the muscle to play the hold-up role as central striker with his back to goal. I will leave it to others on here to bemoan the lack of match time for Duff and Petric. Please feel free to criticise the players Fulham put out as you see fit. I suspect Richardson will have gained few admirers from another disappointing outing. Perhaps Karagounis is the one man you could admire for his willingness to keep running. He looked the busiest man out there for Fulham - and he's 35 for heaven's sake.

I am departing the UK for the Alps over the holiday. Nothing but a win Boxing Day over Southampton will suffice now or else I might find myself going over the edge...

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