Thursday Fulham Stuff (14/02/19)...

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Dilly-wrong! Why Claudio Ranieri's reign at Fulham just isn't working out

The Italian's 'tinkerman' tendencies have turned the Cottagers into a team with no identity – without solving their defensive problems

Fulham had a choice. Having sacked Slavisa Jokanovic, the manager who earned them promotion ostensibly because he was unable to organise a defence, they had the option to call upon one of the pragmatists who has made survival their forte. They are the four words that haunt the dreams of every bottom-half Premier League manager down on his luck: Sam Allardyce is available.

We don't need hindsight to conclude that Fulham were never likely to go down the Allardyce route, shining that pint of wine signal into the west London sky. The pair share different footballing spheres. Instead they opted for the 'halfway house' pragmatism of Claudio Ranieri.

Given the Italian's success at Leicester, it was hardly a controversial appointment. Ranieri's task was fairly simple: improve what was the worst defence in the division by some distance. Over their first 10 games, Fulham were conceding goals at a quicker rate than any team in Premier League history. If the assumption was that doing so might blunt their attack a little, that trade-off was accepted. Fulham had little choice – in every Premier League season, the team with the outright worst defence has never survived the drop.



What's improved?

The Ranieri experiment is not working. If it still feels unreasonably early to make such a sweeping conclusion, the timescale of Fulham's predicament legitimises such urgency. In 15 matches under the Italian, the Cottagers have drawn three and lost nine. They are closer to relegation than they were at the time of his appointment.

If Ranieri has indeed made Fulham stronger defensively, you have to squint your eyes to see it. Fulham have now gone seven matches in all competitions without a clean sheet, conceding 17 times in the process at an average of 2.4 goals per game. In the 15 matches before Ranieri's arrival, they scored 16 times. In the 15 since, they have scored 15. Fulham have still not won an away league game this season. In terms of results at least, nothing much – and certainly not enough – has changed.

But watch Fulham's matches under Jokanovic and Ranieri, and you quickly see a vast difference. Jokanovic had an attacking philosophy, but preferred a passing style that aimed to play through their attacking midfielders. If it was slightly naive to believe that sunshine football could work in the Premier League, Jokanovic did at least have the attacking players to fit the plan.

Pointless possession

Ranieri believes in a different way. Tom Cairney and Ryan Sessegnon, two of the stars of Fulham's promotion campaign, have been pushed into the wings. Literally in the case of Cairney, picked on the right of a front three; figuratively in the case of Sessegnon, who has started two of Fulham's last 10 league games.

Instead, Ranieri has asked his Fulham players to play far more directly, cutting out what he deems to be needless possession in favour of getting the ball forward quickly. "I get crazy when we keep possession and go back to our goalkeeper, because the opponent's goal is the other side," he said before the 3-0 home defeat to Manchester United.



There are merits to every plan, but you'd have to be an optimist to say that this one is working. Aleksandar Mitrovic is isolated, the attacking midfielders are too regularly bypassed and the defence is performing at the same miserable level as before. The most caustic assessment is this: from a team with an identity playing badly, Fulham have become a team without an identity.

If Ranieri is struggling for relevance, Fulham have played their own role in this season of anguish. Denis Odoi and Tim Ream started against Manchester United. Both have looked out of place at Premier League level all season, and were part of a defence that conceded the most goals in the Championship's top five during their promotion campaign.

Off-field own goals

Fulham's transfer business has been conducted on a scattergun approach and mistakenly ignored the myriad defensive issues. Ryan Babel, Lazar Markovic and Andre Schurrle seem like players bought on reputation rather than natural fit, but it is the sheer volume of transfers that is so striking.

Eighteen new players in one season, and still the defence has not been improved. Fabri, Andre Zambo Anguissa, Luciano Vietto and Timothy Fosu Mensah have fewer than 30 league starts combined.

As if to compound those mistakes, Fulham have also played a miserable PR game since promotion. The club announced vast hikes in season ticket prices in June, with some under-18s asked to pay £999 and fans in the Riverside asked to pay £1,150 – up from £839. Matchday prices have also increased, leaving supporters angry about a club attempting to squeeze more money out of their loyalty. The Premier League provides enough financial benefits that Fulham could have thanked supporters with a noble gesture. They chose the opposite strategy.

The theory is that no club can fail in the Premier League – more money, more exposure, yet more money. But Fulham have come as close as is possible. The transfers haven't worked out, the manager didn't work out, his replacement isn't working out and supporters are disillusioned. It's hard not to conclude that Fulham are frittering away their season in the sun.



Read more at https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/dilly-wrong-why-claudio-ranieris-reign-fulham-just-isnt-working-out#ZZaAdXjF21gpaymG.99

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Why West Ham should push very hard in the summer and somehow sign their £20m January target

Why West Ham should reignite their interest in Tom Cairney

Having signed a contract extension in the summer of 2018 after leading Fulham to promotion via the playoffs by scoring the winning goal in the Wembley final against Aston Villa, Tom Cairney attracted the attention of West Ham.

According to a report from Sky Sports, Fulham rejected a £20million offer for Tom Cairney last summer from West Ham.

One of the stars in the Championship, Tom Cairney has found it tough to replicate his form in the Premier League as Fulham continue to fight against relegation. The midfielder has neither enjoyed a run of games under Claudio Ranieri to get back his mojo nor has he played in his preferred position in the midfield.

Often shunted out to the wing and removed from his favoured central midfield position, he has endured a difficult last few months at Craven Cottage.



As the Cottagers appear to be heading back down to the Championship, West Ham will have a glorious chance to finally get their man in the summer. Cairney will likely depart Fulham if they get relegated and a move to West Ham would be the best for his career.

Declan Rice has established himself as a regular starter in the midfield under Manuel Pellegrini alongside skipper Mark Noble.

However, Noble is 31 and while he has done well this season, the Englishman is slowly starting to feel his legs. Although Cairney wouldn't be a long-term replacement for Noble, he can be relied upon, unlike Jack Wilshere.

A classy operator of the ball, Cairney can pick a pass, unlock the tightest of defences and has the guile to operate as a No.10. The former Blackburn Rovers star can spark creativity and add more fluency to West Ham's build-up play in the final third.

He is tenacious and hard-working, and also possesses the ball retention skills and the intelligence to get into promising goalscoring positions.

Cairney also has a hammer of a left-foot that is capable of delivering rockets from long distances. He has the ability to hold the ball in the tightest of situations and his wonderful technique allows him to run comfortably with it. Moreover, the Hammers would get a leader and a vocal presence in the dressing room.

To put things into perspective, Cairney would be a brilliant signing for West Ham. Even though the Hammers did not manage to strike a deal for the 28-year-old in the summer, they should reignite their interest in him to bolster their midfield options ahead of the 2019/20 campaign.



https://soccersouls.com/2019/02/14/why-west-ham-should-push-very-hard-in-the-summer-and-somehow-sign-their-20m-january-target/