Tuesday Fulham Stuff - 19/11/19...

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Parker has several Fulham transfer decisions to make and not all will be easy: Comment

Fulham have a host of players on-loan at the club for this season, but should Scott Parker look to take any of them on permanently next season?

Slavisa Jokavovic spent over £100 million on his Fulham side last summer as they readied themselves for the Premier League season ahead and as most know, that money wasn't at all well spent.

Finishing 19th and crashing straight back to the Championship under current manager Scott Parker, only four of the 12 arrivals last summer stayed on into this Championship season.

Players came and saw, didn't conquer and fled back across Europe as Fulham were quite frankly embarrassed in the top-flight but this season, expenditure has taken a backseat and sustainability and long-term projection seems to be the foci for Fulham.

A host of players were promoted from the development squad in time for the new Championship season, including keeper Marek Rodak and Steven Sessegnon, whilst Parker also made solid use of the loan-market.

Four of Parker's five loan-signings started in their 1-0 win over Birmingham City last time out – Anthony Knockaert, Ivan Cavaleiro, Harrison Reed and Bobby Reid, Harry Arter is the other loan-signing though he's missed much of the season through injury.

Aside from the Championship's top-scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic, Fulham's best players are arguably their loan-players, but should Parker make any of their stays permanent next season?

In Mitrovic, Cavaleiro and Knockaert, Fulham have one of the most prolific and feared front-threes below the Premier League. The same can be said for much of the Fulham squad on paper but they've under-performed in the eyes of some this season.

Cavaleiro has scored four Championship goals this season, one in his last 11 for the club, whilst Knockaert has only scored twice in 16 league games for Fulham.

The same story goes for Bobby Reid – one-time Golden Boot winner in the Championship, now a man who's not scored a league goal in over six-months.

Arter, who is actually Parker's brother-in-law, has played a sporadic role so far and struggled through persistent injuries, so his stay at the club won't likely go past this season. Reed on the other hand has been a prominent figure in the heart of midfield this season, playing 12 Championship games so far this season.

At 24-years-old, Reed could definitely have a future at Fulham but with his parent-club Southampton facing the drop, he could well be a starter for them in this level next year.

Cavaleiro and Knockaert would likely be high-earners and ones that club don't want on their books going forward. Given their goals tally so far as well, Parker might not have space for them in his side.

Reed is the most likely candidate to make the move permanent next summer but nothing is guaranteed in football, and how Fulham will line-up next season is anyone's guess.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/parker-has-several-fulham-transfer-decisions-to-make-and-not-all-will-be-easy-comment/

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Fulham away sold out

City's upcoming Sky Bet Championship trip to Fulham has sold out.

Lee Johnson takes his side to Craven Cottage on December 7th (3pm) for what always proves a popular away day and the club's full allocation of 1,964 tickets was snapped up within four minutes of going on priority sale by season card holders.

A fourth CATS coach has been made available, which will depart Winterstoke Road car park at 10am on matchday. Supporters will not be able to park on site. Seats cost £21 for season card holders and £26 for others. To receive a seat, contact Supporter Services on 0117 963 0600.
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https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/fulham-away-sold-out/

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Back to Basics: How Parker can get more from his squad

Our recent win at St. Andrews strengthened Scott Parker's standing with fans, but should be getting more from this squad. Eamon Levin looks at how he can.

Many expected this run of five games since the last international break, all against lower-table teams, to be a springboard from which the Whites could start living up to their billing as an offensive juggernaut. However, poor performances and questionable tactics have led to underwhelming performances, including the win at Birmingham.

Parker often speaks about the value of effort and desire. The manager said after the Birmingham win: "In the lead up, the main focus I wanted to see was character. That's how I determine a footballer, that character and passion about them. If you've got that first and foremost, you'll be alright." But we don't want to be alright, we want to be excellent – we want to be one of the top two.

Parker's belief in passion is admirable, but passion alone won't lead to promotion. In order to find success, teams need to be good tactically, play with a system that fits their player's strengths, and – most of all – consistently execute fundamentals at a high level.

To be blunt, we've not been nearly good enough when it comes to football's basics. We don't play with width, our fullbacks rarely go forward, and the players' defensive positioning, especially against counter attacks, is often poor. Parker can make us more effective by making a few changes.

Which side are you on?

The greatest threat to our promotion bid is Cavaleiro and Knockaert playing as inverted wingers. Operating on their unnatural sides encourages the two to move the ball centrally onto their dominant foot. So much focus in the centre of the pitch, however, inadvertently makes things easier for the opposing defense.  The pitch gets congested, leading to the frustrated widemen letting fly from distance. Each 20-yard shot is another ball for which opposing defenders don't have to fight our physically dominant Serb. We need to take better advantage of our big number nine; he's an absolute menace in the box. Shoot less, feed him more.

Creating and utilising width is a concept that all players are taught from a young age, but this team seems to have thrown the idea out the window. If Parker is going to implore his wingers to come inside, he needs another way of taking advantage of the full width of the pitch. Opposing teams are clearly prepared for Cavaleiro and Knockaert to cut the ball back; defending fullbacks often cheat to the middle before the white's wingers even step inside. If Cavaleiro and Knockaert even do beat their respective defenders, a block of players is waiting in the middle – it's incredible easy to defend.

To combat this, our fullbacks need to make overlapping runs behind their respective wingers. This does two things: Firstly, it forces the defence to stay spread out to defend the entire width of the pitch creating more space to play in the middle of the park. Secondly, it forces the defending fullbacks to remain honest and not move inside, allowing our wingers to cut inside more easily if they do.

Proof's in the pudding

Fulham's solitary goal against Birmingham was a direct result of implementing these ideas: crossing the ball to Mitrovic from the byline and deploying overlapping fullbacks. Cyrus Christie, whilst having some defensive frailties, is a much more offensive fullback than Maxime Le Marchand. It wasn't a coincidence that after Chrystie came on, the game opened up and Fulham's attack became much more fluid and effective. In the build up to Fulham's goal, Christie received the ball with space after overlapping Knockaert because the defending fullback had to stay inside to defend him. Christie is on his natural side, unlike Knockaert or Cavaliero, so he could provide an accurate cross with his dominant foot. Mitrovic did the rest.

Counting the cost of counter-attacks

We need to greatly shore up our defence against counter-attacks. Of 15 goals conceded from open play, including the lead up to conceding that late penalty to Stoke, six were the result of a poorly transitioning rearguard. Considering our possession-dominating style and commitment to pushing players forward, we should be near the top when it comes to defending counter-attacks. Allowing more than a third of our goals conceded to come in transition is unacceptable.

All three of Hull's goals against us two weeks ago resulted from lousy defence against counter-attacks. In the build up to Hull's opening goal, Mawson misses a tackle near half and Odoi, Johansen, and Decordova-Reid all retreat – but none recover to appropriate positions. All of them enter no man's land: too far from the ball carrier to create pressure, but still nowhere near the Hull players running into the box. Upon recovering, retreating players need to immediately pick up any unmarked players – empty space has never scored a goal.

The same problem occurred when Hull secured their third and most laughable goal. After Bettinelli's save, the ball ricochets off a Hull forward's leg and trundles into the Fulham net. If only one of the three retreating Fulham defenders ran to the trailing Hull forward instead of hoping for Bettinelli to bail them out.

Parker's right in that if we play with desire we'll be all right – but our aim has to be higher than that. We need to start playing with width, put the ball in dangerous areas and defend effectively to our own strengths and weaknesses. So far we've not focused on these fundamentals enough, and we're paying the price. Parker is only 16 games into his managerial career, so he's got plenty of time to learn from his more and make the changes he needs to. If he does, we'll all be celebrating come May.



https://www.fulhamish.co.uk/post/2019-11-18-back-to-basics-how-parker-can-get-more-from-his-squad/

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Player reveals change of manager scuppered Fulham chance – Contract not extended due to lack of games

The year 2014 was a low point for Fulham.

The club, who had been in the Premier League since 2001, were relegated to the Championship with newly appointed (in February) manager Felix Magath unable to turn things around with just 12 games to go.

The German manager stayed on at Craven Cottage that summer, trying to reinforce his squad in order to return as swiftly as possible to England's top-tier, and brought in a winger from FC Köln named Adil Chihi.

The Morocco international arrived on a free from the German side, but his spell with Fulham was anything but pleasurable, as he made one paltry 30 minute cameo in the whole year he was there.

Now with FSV Duisburg in Germany's regional league, the 31-year-old sat down with Express to discuss his career, one that saw him struggle to find a club for a long spell after his release from Craven Cottage in 2015.

He said: "Felix Magath wanted to sign me in 2010 for Schalke 04, but the president Wolfgang Overath was against it. I was happy the move to Fulham had worked. Unfortunately, I hurt myself in preseason. I did play, but in September, Magath was already gone, and the new coach didn't count on me. Since I didn't play enough games, my contract wasn't extended the next season".

It's the story of many footballers, one where a player is brought in by a manager, only for a change to take place and the new appointment preferring to use different personnel.

Unfortunately for Chihi, what happened at Fulham kept him away from the pitch for seven months until Esteghlal FC in Iran brought him for a few months, when a return to Germany with FSV Frankfurt went through in July 2016.

Six months later, he went to Morocco with Ittihad Tanger until 2018, when he once again found himself without a team for an extended period of time before his contract signing with Duisburg in September.

Chihi revealed in the same interview that prior to his move to Fulham, he had a trial with Blackpool where Paul Ince wanted to sign him, but the manager was fired before anything went through.

Talk about bad luck...



http://sportwitness.co.uk/player-reveals-change-manager-scuppered-fulham-chance-contract-not-extended-due-lack-games/

[WhiteJC]

How's Jean Michael Seri getting on away from Fulham this season?

Fulham broke their transfer record when they signed Jean Michael Seri from Nice last year, but with the club crashing out of the Premier League the midfielder was loaned out. So how's he getting on?

Seri was a host of players who came to Fulham last season as they looked to cement their place in the Premier League. None though cost as much as the Ivorian, who arrived from Ligue 1 outfit Nice for £27 million.

A transfer record set by then manager Slavisa Jokanovic, but he was unable to get the best out of Seri who scored just one goal in 32 Premier League games for Fulham.

Goals weren't the aim of his game though, he was a defensive-minded midfielder. But Seri fell short at that as well and with the club unwilling to sell their record arrival after one season, he was loaned out to Turkish side Galatasaray for this season.

In only his second match for the Turkish side, Seri was sent off and missed the next two games through suspension. It seemed like his career would endure yet another testing season but since, he's been a prominent figure for Galatasaray.

He managed to score his first goal for the club in September and has since featured in the Champions League, playing both games against Real Madrid so far and also playing in his side's narrow defeat to PSG last month.

Seri's side have fallen short in the Turkish domestic league so far this season, but he has a good chance to prove himself at a good team before seeing where to go with Fulham next summer.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/hows-jean-michael-seri-getting-on-away-from-fulham-this-season/

[WhiteJC]

The Monday Night Fulham Fix

FFCtv is pleased to introduce our brand new show; The Monday Night Fulham Fix.

Hosted by matchday announcer Ivan Berry, the fortnightly show is filmed in our Hammy End studio and takes a sideways look at all things Fulham.

Whites hero Sean Davis will be a regular pundit to provide his insights and experiences, while a special guest will also be in attendance.

Joe Bryan is the first in the hotseat, providing an update on his back injury and looking ahead to the all important West London derby on Friday.

https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2019/november/18/monday-night-fulham-fix