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Fulham’s defence must be improvedii

Started by FulhamStu, May 19, 2019, 10:53:22 PM

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Sting of the North

Quote from: Newry FFC on May 20, 2019, 02:03:34 PM
Quote from: Statto on May 20, 2019, 01:37:24 PM
Quote from: Newry FFC on May 20, 2019, 12:14:21 PM
I think it's a waste of time bunking if our squad is good enough to get promoted.  The fact is it's not good enough to survive in the premier league so we need to rebuild. What's the point in keeping the same squad just to buy a heap of newbies next year again and keep that toxic cycle going?

I can't speak for others but my rationale would be that our team would have been more than capable of staying up if the likes of Button, Kalas, Norwood and Piazon had been retained (instead of Fabri, MLM, Vietto...) and if the remaining new faces had been signed fit and early and given a proper pre-season

In any case it's a bit of a moot point because we've neither the financial resources nor pulling power to sign better players whilst we're in the Championship

Derby, Norwich and Sheff Utd  didnt have the financial resources to attract better players but all had decent seasons . They all effectively used the loan market without going crazy and bought in and brought through youth. Not a bad blueprint to work on whilst using Sess/ Mitro money with a bit of common sense. Easier said than done but we live in hope

In the case of those three teams, we don't know how well they will fare on the PL however. And we don't know how many new players they will acquire. I mean, since the original comment here was about making sure to have a squad more or less capable of competing above their current level.

WindyCity

Quote from: FulhamStu on May 19, 2019, 10:53:22 PM
I just watched the last 30 minutes again of the fantastic 2-0 win in the Semi Final v Derby for the first time this season.

What you notice is our great possession play, but also the absolutely terrible mistakes made in defence.   Our back line in the Premier League was very similar and that back 4 and was frankly a relatively average defensive unit.  Great going forward yes, but made too many mistakes.  To even think that defence could handle the Premier League was madness and just re-confirmed my view that only really adding an injured Mawson was the great mistake of last summers transfer dealings.   
We love Tim Ream, but defensively he is not good enough, he made about 3 critical errors in that last 30 mins v Derby that could have cost us, the difference then was that Derby unlike most Premier teams did not punish us.

Max is a decent squad player but we need to sign at least one very good championship central defender as a top priority this summer.

Yep, Totally agree.  Defense NEEDS to be upgraded, no question about it.  I don't care what league you're in, if we play like we played this past season, we will find FFC bottom of table, maybe fighting for life to avoid another drop next season.  And while we're at the defense upgrade, might want to take a look at improving at goalkeeper(s).

WindyCity

Quote from: Facts Not Fiction on May 20, 2019, 09:30:30 AM
Quote from: @jolslover on May 20, 2019, 07:47:22 AM
I think honestly our defence is good enough for automatics, Ream was one of most solid CBs in league last time we went up. If anything Le Marchand is a slightly better Ream. Mawson is a huge upgrade on Odoi as well. The only position we are weaker at is RB as I think Bryan and Targett are pretty much the same level.

Completely agree. The defence is in a very good position as it is, with new comings not necessarily needed. If we can improve, great.

Can't agree boys.  If FFC stands pat on defense next season, I see a world of hurt.  JMHO.


ALG01

Quote from: Sting of the North on May 20, 2019, 01:19:07 PM
Quote from: ALG01 on May 20, 2019, 12:59:05 PM

I do agree but if you check back, very many of us said that the second the final whistle blew at wembley. There was seemingly endless posts here and elsewhere that absolutely said we need a new defence and a defensive midfielder. The only people that that seemed to pass by were the DoF and his team. The signing of Mawsom was just ridiculous, relying on a player that came injured as the only proper correct standard was negligent of the leadership. But what you say remains true as it was 12 months ago.

And let us get our own players not loanees, that is how to build a team.

How do you figure that the fact we needed defenders passed by the DoF and his team? They did bring in Mawson (youngish central defender with PL experience on the verge of the England squad, albeit injured), Chambers (lots of PL experience mainly as CB but also RB), TFM (lots of PL experience, mainly as RB, had been tested in the Dutch national team), Bryan (one of the best LBs in the Championship, similar level to Targett), MLM (capable of playing CB and LB), Anguissa (DM, albeit used to playing two defensive midfielders). That is 5 new defenders and a DM. It is extremely obvious that they were aware that we needed new defenders. Your argument in that regard holds no ground at all if you look at what actually happened.

They may have arguably been the wrong players however, but that is another point.

Your kidding aren't you?
The implication of what I said is that the players brought in did not constitute getting an appropriately capable defence. Chhambers, not rated by Arsenal supporters I know proved he was poor at CB, Bryan was first injured for ages and really a rather poor derefensder to the end, unable to deal with Prem standard wing playing not knowing when to hld or when to close down. TFM, was not interested and poor, MLM dreadful and Mawsom unfit. So if you must yes the wrong players, it is splitting hairs because it was neglient. Bryan would eb an OKish squad player at prem level but we needed rather betyter and we got nobody capable at all at RB, so negligent.

As far as anguisa, the less said the better he is a total waste of space..a couple of semi better games near the season do not impress me much, the last two games for him were business as usual, shockers!

I think the poor quality brought in proves they did not know what was needed because we had a less good defence than the one we had before and that was hardly impressive.

FulhamStu

Very interesting.  There has been little comment about my point regarding playing style effectively protecting the defence.  In our promotion season we had the ball most of the time so this limited the opposition.  We were however vulnerable and made mistakes just like we did this last season.  The difference was, the opposition did not punish us so harshly.

Now it may be that Scott has us playing with 70% possession however I doubt it and even if he did, we were and still will be vulnerable.   Players like Ream MLM and Odoi are good on the ball but defensively not the strongest and they make mistakes on a regular basis.  Mawson is still a risk but will hopefully be excellent next season.  I really feel we need a strong leader next to maybe Mawson.  I would love our current players to prove me wrong but I just don't have the confidence in them.  I think we lack leadership, strength and height.

I said in my earlier post that if we lost Mitro we need a rethink up front.  For me Mitro is critical to us next season.  I think another striker with Mitro is important but think in Ayite and potentially Kamara we have enough to back us up striker wise.  Kebano is a squad player and hope we offload Fonte.

Prioritise for me, the following starting 11.
1. New central defender
2. New right back
3. New striker next to Mitro
4. Fast wide man

If we kept most current players and added those, I think we would be well set.

Sting of the North

Quote from: ALG01 on May 20, 2019, 03:52:27 PM

Your kidding aren't you?
The implication of what I said is that the players brought in did not constitute getting an appropriately capable defence. Chhambers, not rated by Arsenal supporters I know proved he was poor at CB, Bryan was first injured for ages and really a rather poor derefensder to the end, unable to deal with Prem standard wing playing not knowing when to hld or when to close down. TFM, was not interested and poor, MLM dreadful and Mawsom unfit. So if you must yes the wrong players, it is splitting hairs because it was neglient. Bryan would eb an OKish squad player at prem level but we needed rather betyter and we got nobody capable at all at RB, so negligent.

As far as anguisa, the less said the better he is a total waste of space..a couple of semi better games near the season do not impress me much, the last two games for him were business as usual, shockers!

I think the poor quality brought in proves they did not know what was needed because we had a less good defence than the one we had before and that was hardly impressive.

No, I'm not kidding, I just didn't agree with your post, which to me implicated that you believe that the recruitment team was not aware that we needed to strengthen in defence. As per usual, contrary opinions shouldn't be a surprise on a message board.

And, in my opinion this is not splitting hairs at all. It is two completely different things, namely being able to identify a need versus being able to find a suitable solution for that need. Or, if you will the difference between ignoring a problem or failing to address said problem. The outcome may ultimately be the same, but for different reasons. They obviously did the former, at least to an extent. It is more debatable if they managed the latter however, although I don't at all agree with your level of berating the recruitment. I believe there were bigger problems than the players recruited as such, namely the number of players needed and the lateness of the arrivals. Combine this with the lack of patience with Slav, the dubious subsequent appointment of a coach unlikely to gel with the type of players we had, and you have concocted a real mess that turned out to be too much for the club to come back from in the short term.

The recruited players seen in isolation were in my opinion for the most part at least ok, and many of them seemed to make sense. The problem for TK and the gang is of course that things can not be seen in isolation, and as such the players acquired were not enough to make up for other shortcomings.

Lastly, just to make it clear, this is my opinion and not meant to be taken as a joke. I will also give you the courtesy of assuming that your comments, however much I may disagree with them or find them unreasonable at times, are meant to reflect your opinion and not meant to be funny (unless indicated otherwise).


AnOldBrownie

Quote from: @jolslover on May 20, 2019, 07:47:22 AM
I think honestly our defence is good enough for automatics, Ream was one of most solid CBs in league last time we went up. If anything Le Marchand is a slightly better Ream. Mawson is a huge upgrade on Odoi as well. The only position we are weaker at is RB as I think Bryan and Targett are pretty much the same level.
Youre putting way too much faith in a slow Mawson with an unreliable health record.

If he's not healthy with pace he's not better than Odoi.

Sent from my CMR-W19 using Tapatalk


The Rock

Quote from: FulhamStu on May 20, 2019, 04:03:43 PM
Very interesting.  There has been little comment about my point regarding playing style effectively protecting the defence.  In our promotion season we had the ball most of the time so this limited the opposition.  We were however vulnerable and made mistakes just like we did this last season.  The difference was, the opposition did not punish us so harshly.

Now it may be that Scott has us playing with 70% possession however I doubt it and even if he did, we were and still will be vulnerable.   Players like Ream MLM and Odoi are good on the ball but defensively not the strongest and they make mistakes on a regular basis.  Mawson is still a risk but will hopefully be excellent next season.  I really feel we need a strong leader next to maybe Mawson.  I would love our current players to prove me wrong but I just don't have the confidence in them.  I think we lack leadership, strength and height.

I said in my earlier post that if we lost Mitro we need a rethink up front.  For me Mitro is critical to us next season.  I think another striker with Mitro is important but think in Ayite and potentially Kamara we have enough to back us up striker wise.  Kebano is a squad player and hope we offload Fonte.

Prioritise for me, the following starting 11.
1. New central defender
2. New right back
3. New striker next to Mitro
4. Fast wide man

If we kept most current players and added those, I think we would be well set.

Can't argue with a lot of that. I'd argue we need more than just 2 additions to the back 4. I actually think in the middle and up front our current team as is, is, and was good enough for the PL with a proper back 4.

Time will tell whether TK can do it. It's hard to imagine him doing any worse.

FulhamStu

Quote from: The Rock on May 20, 2019, 05:10:14 PM
Quote from: FulhamStu on May 20, 2019, 04:03:43 PM
Very interesting.  There has been little comment about my point regarding playing style effectively protecting the defence.  In our promotion season we had the ball most of the time so this limited the opposition.  We were however vulnerable and made mistakes just like we did this last season.  The difference was, the opposition did not punish us so harshly.

Now it may be that Scott has us playing with 70% possession however I doubt it and even if he did, we were and still will be vulnerable.   Players like Ream MLM and Odoi are good on the ball but defensively not the strongest and they make mistakes on a regular basis.  Mawson is still a risk but will hopefully be excellent next season.  I really feel we need a strong leader next to maybe Mawson.  I would love our current players to prove me wrong but I just don't have the confidence in them.  I think we lack leadership, strength and height.

I said in my earlier post that if we lost Mitro we need a rethink up front.  For me Mitro is critical to us next season.  I think another striker with Mitro is important but think in Ayite and potentially Kamara we have enough to back us up striker wise.  Kebano is a squad player and hope we offload Fonte.

Prioritise for me, the following starting 11.
1. New central defender
2. New right back
3. New striker next to Mitro
4. Fast wide man

If we kept most current players and added those, I think we would be well set.

Can't argue with a lot of that. I'd argue we need more than just 2 additions to the back 4. I actually think in the middle and up front our current team as is, is, and was good enough for the PL with a proper back 4.

Time will tell whether TK can do it. It's hard to imagine him doing any worse.

Agreed, the back 4 for me is the real problem and has been for a very long time.  We were just able to overcome it in the championship.


AnOldBrownie

#29
Quote from: FulhamStu on May 20, 2019, 04:03:43 PM
Very interesting.  There has been little comment about my point regarding playing style effectively protecting the defence.  In our promotion season we had the ball most of the time so this limited the opposition.  We were however vulnerable and made mistakes just like we did this last season.  The difference was, the opposition did not punish us so harshly.

Now it may be that Scott has us playing with 70% possession however I doubt it and even if he did, we were and still will be vulnerable.   Players like Ream MLM and Odoi are good on the ball but defensively not the strongest and they make mistakes on a regular basis.  Mawson is still a risk but will hopefully be excellent next season.  I really feel we need a strong leader next to maybe Mawson.  I would love our current players to prove me wrong but I just don't have the confidence in them.  I think we lack leadership, strength and height.

I said in my earlier post that if we lost Mitro we need a rethink up front.  For me Mitro is critical to us next season.  I think another striker with Mitro is important but think in Ayite and potentially Kamara we have enough to back us up striker wise.  Kebano is a squad player and hope we offload Fonte.

Prioritise for me, the following starting 11.
1. New central defender
2. New right back
3. New striker next to Mitro
4. Fast wide man


If we kept most current players and added those, I think we would be well set.

082.gif

Fulham is fine in the midfield with Stefjo, Cairney, Angui, Cesse..and any of our young prospects.

The back and front need two players each.

Statto

Quote from: FulhamStu on May 20, 2019, 04:03:43 PM
There has been little comment about my point regarding playing style...

Now it may be that Scott has us playing with 70% possession however I doubt it

My comment on the playing style would be very simple:

I see no reason to doubt that we'll play the same possession-based football next season

Therefore I do not see any reason to worry about problems that didn't hold us back in 17/18

The Rational Fan

#31
Quote from: Statto on May 20, 2019, 07:59:35 PM
Quote from: FulhamStu on May 20, 2019, 04:03:43 PM
There has been little comment about my point regarding playing style...

Now it may be that Scott has us playing with 70% possession however I doubt it

My comment on the playing style would be very simple:

I see no reason to doubt that we'll play the same possession-based football next season

Therefore I do not see any reason to worry about problems that didn't hold us back in 17/18

Fulham's best chance is to repeat the playing style of 16/17 and 17/18, with some minor improvements in defence (ie Mawson +Kalas as backup), midfield (ie Anguissa) and upfront (ie Mitro all season and Sess multiple replacements). Depth is key, automatic promotion in the championship is a marathon where you most beat weak teams even with injuries in the squad.

The great thing about Slavisa's style is it overpowers weaker teams. Sheffield United scored in 23 of the 24 games against lower half championship teams, which is why SU got promoted even though SU only got maximium points in 9 of 22 games against top half teams, getting promoted requires mostly destroying weak teams, possession based football helps to do that.

If you consider Fulham performance against the bottom 35% of premier league with 6 wins, 1 draw and 5 loses, then it is comparable to Sheffield's United record against the top half of championship with 9 wins, 5 draws and 8 loses.

Norwich were similar as they scored in 43 of 46 games last season which got them promoted, even though against top six teams they 3 wins, 3 draws and 4 loses. We need to avoid being like is Stoke who even though they got 6 wins, 8 draws and 6 loses against top ten teams, they failed to score in 10 of 22 games against bottom half teams.

We just need to keep what we have plus build a squad that destroy the bottom half consistently. Bringing in player like Norwood, Kalas and Piazon add the depth that builds consistency. Bottom half teams just aim to draw against former premier league teams, attack needs to break them down.


Facts Not Fiction

Quote from: WindyCity on May 20, 2019, 03:50:39 PM
Quote from: Facts Not Fiction on May 20, 2019, 09:30:30 AM
Quote from: @jolslover on May 20, 2019, 07:47:22 AM
I think honestly our defence is good enough for automatics, Ream was one of most solid CBs in league last time we went up. If anything Le Marchand is a slightly better Ream. Mawson is a huge upgrade on Odoi as well. The only position we are weaker at is RB as I think Bryan and Targett are pretty much the same level.

Completely agree. The defence is in a very good position as it is, with new comings not necessarily needed. If we can improve, great.

Can't agree boys.  If FFC stands pat on defense next season, I see a world of hurt.  JMHO.

A defence of Bettinelli; Christie, Mawson, Ream, Bryan would be bettered by what current defence in the Championship?

And all with have another summer of Stuart Gray teachings under their belt. Still a major factor to why we were relegated IMO, why exactly was he let go?

The Rational Fan

#33
Quote from: Facts Not Fiction on May 21, 2019, 08:37:14 AM
Quote from: WindyCity on May 20, 2019, 03:50:39 PM
Quote from: Facts Not Fiction on May 20, 2019, 09:30:30 AM
Quote from: @jolslover on May 20, 2019, 07:47:22 AM
I think honestly our defence is good enough for automatics, Ream was one of most solid CBs in league last time we went up. If anything Le Marchand is a slightly better Ream. Mawson is a huge upgrade on Odoi as well. The only position we are weaker at is RB as I think Bryan and Targett are pretty much the same level.

Completely agree. The defence is in a very good position as it is, with new comings not necessarily needed. If we can improve, great.

Can't agree boys.  If FFC stands pat on defense next season, I see a world of hurt.  JMHO.

A defence of Bettinelli; Christie, Mawson, Ream, Bryan would be bettered by what current defence in the Championship?

And all with have another summer of Stuart Gray teachings under their belt. Still a major factor to why we were relegated IMO, why exactly was he let go?

Stuart Gray is great and so is the back five first XI, but the reserves Fabri, Odoi, Djola, MLM and S.Sess need a centre back reinforcement (like Kalas) to get Djalo out of the 2nd XI into the 3rd XI. A lot of defences in the championship have a second XI that Djola wouldn't make.

toshes mate

Quote from: FulhamStu on May 20, 2019, 04:03:43 PM
Very interesting.  There has been little comment about my point regarding playing style effectively protecting the defence.  In our promotion season we had the ball most of the time so this limited the opposition.  We were however vulnerable and made mistakes just like we did this last season.  The difference was, the opposition did not punish us so harshly.

Now it may be that Scott has us playing with 70% possession however I doubt it and even if he did, we were and still will be vulnerable. 
I agree with all the above since our style for both Jokanovic's Championship seasons was to play the opposition out of the game. Jokanovic repeatedly made references to players needing to be brave (in possession and passing) and him accepting responsibility for the breakdowns.  We could score goals from just about anywhere and anyone.  Jokanovic also said he'd like a few clean sheets.  All of the SJ pronouncements were references to the need to have quality at the back with players confident on the ball, in supporting roles for those in possession, and able to recycle the ball on either flank and up the middle.  All that should have coloured our recruitment requirements profile, but it didn't.  We did not retain what works and improve what doesn't.

Most of the crucial damage in the PL season was caused by giving possession up too easily which is a factor in failing to support team mates and not having balanced driving forces on either flank.  Once again that is a recruitment failure.


snarks

Quote from: toshes mate on May 21, 2019, 09:41:29 AM

Most of the crucial damage in the PL season was caused by giving possession up too easily which is a factor in failing to support team mates and not having balanced driving forces on either flank.  Once again that is a recruitment failure.

Good point, it did come from a lot of passing errors, which also suggests a failure to adapt the playing style to the opposition.

Playing like Man City in the championship with possession is fine, but Slav needed to play more like Watford or Bournemouth when we got to the Prem

toshes mate

Quote from: snarks on May 21, 2019, 10:13:15 AM
Quote from: toshes mate on May 21, 2019, 09:41:29 AM

Most of the crucial damage in the PL season was caused by giving possession up too easily which is a factor in failing to support team mates and not having balanced driving forces on either flank.  Once again that is a recruitment failure.

Good point, it did come from a lot of passing errors, which also suggests a failure to adapt the playing style to the opposition.

Playing like Man City in the championship with possession is fine, but Slav needed to play more like Watford or Bournemouth when we got to the Prem

Agree that Jokanovic 'had to do something different to his Championship style' simply because of the recruitment influx which gave him just too many problems to sort out once the season had started.  I do believe that had we retained the whole of the important promotion team/squad members with an additional central defender, a decent and pacy right back to replace Fredericks, a defensive midfielder with pace, guile, passing ability and aggression, a right wing midfielder of quality, and a good striker to supplement Mitrovic, then we may have had a more rewarding outcome to the season and also retained Jokanovic for the duration.  But we will never know.       

ALG01

Quote from: Sting of the North on May 20, 2019, 04:12:09 PM
Quote from: ALG01 on May 20, 2019, 03:52:27 PM

Your kidding aren't you?
The implication of what I said is that the players brought in did not constitute getting an appropriately capable defence. Chhambers, not rated by Arsenal supporters I know proved he was poor at CB, Bryan was first injured for ages and really a rather poor derefensder to the end, unable to deal with Prem standard wing playing not knowing when to hld or when to close down. TFM, was not interested and poor, MLM dreadful and Mawsom unfit. So if you must yes the wrong players, it is splitting hairs because it was neglient. Bryan would eb an OKish squad player at prem level but we needed rather betyter and we got nobody capable at all at RB, so negligent.

As far as anguisa, the less said the better he is a total waste of space..a couple of semi better games near the season do not impress me much, the last two games for him were business as usual, shockers!

I think the poor quality brought in proves they did not know what was needed because we had a less good defence than the one we had before and that was hardly impressive.

No, I'm not kidding, I just didn't agree with your post, which to me implicated that you believe that the recruitment team was not aware that we needed to strengthen in defence. As per usual, contrary opinions shouldn't be a surprise on a message board.

And, in my opinion this is not splitting hairs at all. It is two completely different things, namely being able to identify a need versus being able to find a suitable solution for that need. Or, if you will the difference between ignoring a problem or failing to address said problem. The outcome may ultimately be the same, but for different reasons. They obviously did the former, at least to an extent. It is more debatable if they managed the latter however, although I don't at all agree with your level of berating the recruitment. I believe there were bigger problems than the players recruited as such, namely the number of players needed and the lateness of the arrivals. Combine this with the lack of patience with Slav, the dubious subsequent appointment of a coach unlikely to gel with the type of players we had, and you have concocted a real mess that turned out to be too much for the club to come back from in the short term.

The recruited players seen in isolation were in my opinion for the most part at least ok, and many of them seemed to make sense. The problem for TK and the gang is of course that things can not be seen in isolation, and as such the players acquired were not enough to make up for other shortcomings.

Lastly, just to make it clear, this is my opinion and not meant to be taken as a joke. I will also give you the courtesy of assuming that your comments, however much I may disagree with them or find them unreasonable at times, are meant to reflect your opinion and not meant to be funny (unless indicated otherwise).

Point taken, what you say is perfectly reasonable.
But I happen to think you could have allowed me a little poetic licence. Just getting arms and legs to me is not much different to not getting anyone all... but I accept all you say. Perhaps you would have prefered a more accurate, needed a defense and got players that were nominally called defenders but in fact turned out to be nowhere near good enough. And for that I hold TK and the whole senior management of the club totally responsible because that is what I beliebve to be the case.

In the end, we shall have to see whether lessons have been learned, I suspect not but hope springs eternal.


Skatzoffc

Quote from: FulhamStu on May 19, 2019, 10:53:22 PM
I just watched the last 30 minutes again of the fantastic 2-0 win in the Semi Final v Derby for the first time this season.

What you notice is our great possession play, but also the absolutely terrible mistakes made in defence.   Our back line in the Premier League was very similar and that back 4 and was frankly a relatively average defensive unit.  Great going forward yes, but made too many mistakes.  To even think that defence could handle the Premier League was madness and just re-confirmed my view that only really adding an injured Mawson was the great mistake of last summers transfer dealings.   
We love Tim Ream, but defensively he is not good enough, he made about 3 critical errors in that last 30 mins v Derby that could have cost us, the difference then was that Derby unlike most Premier teams did not punish us.

Max is a decent squad player but we need to sign at least one very good championship central defender as a top priority this summer.

Agreed with all of this Stu

and Max scares the life out of me every time he gets the ball tbh.
Siblings, let us not be down on it.
One total catastrophe like this...is just the beginning !

toshes mate

Quote from: Sting of the North on May 20, 2019, 04:12:09 PM
It is two completely different things, namely being able to identify a need versus being able to find a suitable solution for that need. Or, if you will the difference between ignoring a problem or failing to address said problem. The outcome may ultimately be the same, but for different reasons. They obviously did the former, at least to an extent. It is more debatable if they managed the latter.
In isolation from the context of the Khans' time at FFC, this makes sense, as in everybody was on the same page about what was required, and the problem was purely in delivery. It was to happen in Winter 2019 too (the might have beens' that never were).  I think the issue surrounds the record of recruitment under the years containing almost a whole team sized range of managers/coaches.  That record, of course, also encompasses the successful players recruited either permanently or as loans. 

Undeniably some of those recruits have been instrumental to success.  But what of the problem positions which became critical to Jokanovic's style, formations, and player profiles.  He wanted players with pace, aggression, ability and willingness to learn how to adapt to a style of football very popular among successful clubs, but often he was given last minute best fits.  The recruiters had no shortage of blue prints on which to determine suitability even for players sold on - McCormack, Dembele, Malone, Aluko, for example - and yet we ended up with a large number of duds too, unsuited to anything FFC could offer them.  Even if Jokanovic never spoke a word of English to the recruiters and scouts they should have been savvy enough to know what was required.  Even if TK wanted no interference with his recruitment regime (and only Mitrovic shows to be an exception to that rule, superficially in any event) then he must at least be wanting to service the Club to succeed and not fail.  And so what input did the Talbot's have, or were they bystanders or, worse, 'yes people'?

When you look at the problem in context rather than in isolation then it seems as if May 2018 just went to some people's heads and I don't believe that Jokanovic was a guilty party.  Indeed I believe he was the only one who could say to others 'well if you did your jobs as well as I do mine, safety in the PL would be a relatively straightforward job'.  He couldn't say that because he knew nobody was listening and they hadn't been listening even when SJ was delivering spot on target.  It is recruitment failure and although it may be rather complex to identify the reason, heads must role at the senior level if that team cannot deliver better.   Get a charismatic DoF in a see how many suitors turn up at FFC's door.  If it isn't any better that life under TK then fair enough the problem lies elsewhere, but why should TK remain in situ when he has been found so lacking?