“Parkerball”: Premier League vs Championship

[ChesterTheTabby]

Colleagues,

Question for the Fulham Faithful on this board.
Assuming Parker stays, and we continue to play Parkerball - will we fare better or worse in the Championship than we did in the Prem. It all depends on who is actually in the squad come August, however, I do feel that if played correctly, Parkerball could be the stylish, patient style that unlocks Champ teams at will. The skill disparity between PL and Champ is night and day, and one reaso n (among others) Parkerball didn't work was because of the said we had and the quality of opposition (and their depth of players)... but in the Championship, maybe it's a winning style? Thoughts?

[perry geyton]

What's the point going up using it if you can't compete at the next level with it

Biesla ball on the other hand works extremely well

[colinwhite]

Not sure I know what Parkerball is.Last time around it got us promotion so Im not sure why that would be considered unsuccessful. Do you mean the sitting back and being direct on the counter ,that we showed against Liverpool home and away  ,Everton ,Spurs home and away  ,Leceister ,Man utd,or the possession based football with little cutting edge that we ended up playing when teams sat back on us at the cottage  ? The point Im making is that to play successfully the the Pl you have to be adaptable. Bielsa did well this year but may get found out next season,that happens in the PL !!
This Parkerball idea is a bit of a joke . Parker may not be perfect but he adapted his tactics very successfully on many occassions this season ,which is conveniently forgotton already by those after his sacking. I think he may well still get the bullet,but if he doesnt then its going to be a matter of freshening up our attacking options.  As far as taking it to the next level is concerned that was a problem that Slavisa had as well so I dont really undersrand why its only Parker who gets stick for that!

[MJG]

Parkerball or not, even if we don't sell anyone and tell the 24 contracted players your staying no matter what this squad should be top 6 at the very least.
If he decides to not play proper strikers, then it will be a struggle.
He will revert to his get a lead and hold on plan I'm sure. Only hope is the championship attacks are no better than 2019-20 season and we can ride out those onslaughts for last 15 mins he likes us to endure.

[S.F.Sorrow]

Not sure I know what Parkerball is.Last time around it got us promotion so Im not sure why that would be considered unsuccessful. Do you mean the sitting back and being direct on the counter ,that we showed against Liverpool home and away  ,Everton ,Spurs home and away  ,Leceister ,Man utd,or the possession based football with little cutting edge that we ended up playing when teams sat back on us at the cottage  ? The point Im making is that to play successfully the the Pl you have to be adaptable. Bielsa did well this year but may get found out next season,that happens in the PL !!
This Parkerball idea is a bit of a joke . Parker may not be perfect but he adapted his tactics very successfully on many occassions this season ,which is conveniently forgotton already by those after his sacking. I think he may well still get the bullet,but if he doesnt then its going to be a matter of freshening up our attacking options.  As far as taking it to the next level is concerned that was a problem that Slavisa had as well so I dont really undersrand why its only Parker who gets stick for that!

Agreed! Contrary to popular belief Parker has actually been quite good at adapting his tactics this season. At least against the better teams.

Unfortunately Parker's tactics rarerly seem optimal against the poorer defensive minded teams, when we dominate possession. He did get us promoted last time but not in a very convincing way. I can easily see us averaging over 60% possession next season and still not get the points we need for promotion. Lots of 0-0 draws may keep us out of the relegation zone but it won't get us promoted. In the Championship we need to find a way to break down teams with 10 men behind the ball. Mitro has been our solution to this problem in the past but if Parker is here next season I have a feeling Mitro won't be (or at least he won't be 'on fire' unless we start playing to his strengths).

[Nero]

Parkerball like a cold knife through butter

[toshes mate]

Parkerball could be the stylish, patient style...

It could be a lot of things to a lot of different people, but I don't remember Arter, Onomah, Hector, Christie, Sessegnon S., Bryan, and quite a few others always being patient and stylish when they completely lost it.  Parkerbull is what I'd call it and I see it as fitting a bunch of eager to please but mediocre performers forced to play to a complicated shape and formula that nobody truly understands, especially the person who's name has been used to distinguish it from other ... bull ...  but the smell is the same wherever you see it.

[Craven Mad]

The promotion under Parker last time was unconvincing. The team never looked impressive, despite the amount spent, and I think v few of as here actually thought we'd beat Brentford in the playoffs.

So, in answer to your question, no I don't think his tactics will be remarkably better in the Championship.

[The Rational Fan]

The squad should be remarkably better than in the first half of 19/20; most importantly we have more height and pace at the back with Hector, Tosin and Kongolo. We also have better full backs and a little more depth. Parkerball will work fine provided we continue where we left off in the championship (ie 43 points in the second half of 2019/20), we will need a few loans to cover key players (playmakers and scorers) because injuries is the most likely reason we won't get promoted.

[Whitestone]

Call it what you will.  Parkerball or whatever it doesn't really matter. What does though is that the football under Parker has been tedious and unexciting in the Premier League and the Championship.

Parker has tried to implement a style of play similar to the very best teams. The problem he has is that the players at his disposal aren't as good as those with the top teams. Playing players out of position hasn't helped either, nor has alienating other players.

[colinwhite]

Call it what you will.  Parkerball or whatever it doesn't really matter. What does though is that the football under Parker has been tedious and unexciting in the Premier League and the Championship.

Parker has tried to implement a style of play similar to the very best teams. The problem he has is that the players at his disposal aren't as good as those with the top teams. Playing players out of position hasn't helped either, nor has alienating other players.

I dont disagree with you ,but the team did have their moments.

[filham]

I watched some of the Brentford /Swansea play off final and thought Swansea were playing a diluted Parker Ball whereas Brentford wer prepared to contain and break with long balls wide and quick crosses, they also looked dangerous from set pieces. There was little doubt who was going to win.
The championship will be ready and waiting for us with Parker Ball, their plans on how to counter it will be well set and managers will arrive at the Cottage with a gentle but confident smile on their faces.

A change to our tactics is needed if we want to score ten goals or more at home.

[grandad]

Nothing wrong with "Parkerball". Many sides use it to find openings & wear down the opposition chasing shadows. The key though is the transition to attacking with pace down the wings or through the centre. We don´t have the players to do this.
We cannot keep playing a lone striker as we have done this last season. This is one reason Mitro was not the player he was when he had Sessegnon, Bryan & Kebano providing him with an outlet.

[colinwhite]

Not sure I know what Parkerball is.Last time around it got us promotion so Im not sure why that would be considered unsuccessful. Do you mean the sitting back and being direct on the counter ,that we showed against Liverpool home and away  ,Everton ,Spurs home and away  ,Leceister ,Man utd,or the possession based football with little cutting edge that we ended up playing when teams sat back on us at the cottage  ? The point Im making is that to play successfully the the Pl you have to be adaptable. Bielsa did well this year but may get found out next season,that happens in the PL !!
This Parkerball idea is a bit of a joke . Parker may not be perfect but he adapted his tactics very successfully on many occassions this season ,which is conveniently forgotton already by those after his sacking. I think he may well still get the bullet,but if he doesnt then its going to be a matter of freshening up our attacking options.  As far as taking it to the next level is concerned that was a problem that Slavisa had as well so I dont really undersrand why its only Parker who gets stick for that!

Agreed! Contrary to popular belief Parker has actually been quite good at adapting his tactics this season. At least against the better teams.

Unfortunately Parker's tactics rarerly seem optimal against the poorer defensive minded teams, when we dominate possession. He did get us promoted last time but not in a very convincing way. I can easily see us averaging over 60% possession next season and still not get the points we need for promotion. Lots of 0-0 draws may keep us out of the relegation zone but it won't get us promoted. In the Championship we need to find a way to break down teams with 10 men behind the ball. Mitro has been our solution to this problem in the past but if Parker is here next season I have a feeling Mitro won't be (or at least he won't be 'on fire' unless we start playing to his strengths).

Agree with alot of that. BUT  there is one point which keeps coming up (im not saying its you ). As top scorer in the championship last time around I think we can agree that ,we played to Mitros strengths.  Playing to Mitros strengths is not about playing the ball behind defenses or playing the ball over the top to him to run the channels or get in behind on the break ,as he is  too slow and immobile for this.
Having possession in the opponents half and creating situations where we can play into his feet or find situations where we can put balls into the box for him to get on the end of is what he needs.If thats not Parkerball then I dont know what is.
So the idea that we should start playing to Mitros strengths ,whilst getting rid of Parkerball by being more direct ,doesnt make alot of sence to me

[Statto]

"Unlocks Champ teams at will" is a bloody kind way of putting it IMO. In both divisions we lacked any real guile or counter-attacking threat. We got away with it in the Champ because, as much as we slag off the likes of Cavaliero, they're top players at Championship level and we'll always get a goal against the likes of Millwall through those players' moments of individual skill, and our defenders are good enough to hang onto a one-goal lead for 30-40 minutes against those teams' relatively weak strikeforces. I agree with MJG that if we keep Tosin, Reed, Tete, Mitrovic et al we'll finish top 6 even under Parker, but it'll be despite his tactics, not because of them.

Just as a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, Parker's tactics seemed appropriate in the odd game against Liverpool or Leicester, but against teams outside the top 8 of the PL, I don't think it's ever getting the best out of the squad.

[rebel]

Parker's teams can and have played a different way to 'Parkerball', example against Everton. He can choose to set the team up to play differently. Everton was the best performance for a couple of season. He can do it, but is he capable of changing his 'philosophy'. In the Championship he was interviewed, he screamed 'that's how I want my teams to play', so 'Parkerball' makes sense to him. He is happy to score one goal and defend for the rest of the match. The stats show that, he sets teams up to not lose, totally opposite 'mentality' to the Leeds Manager. Who sets his teams up to win, they battle for 90 minutes if they have to. 

[bobby01]

My memory could be wrong but I am pretty sure we won many championship games from worldie goals. Parkerball is dire and IMO has to be dropped.
But as usual a manager with a 13% win rate can seem to do no wrong. If the khans were to appoint a replacement with Parker's stats this board would be in meltdown.
He is very good with his love in with the press, still 7 ? More days for window to open.

[Lordedmundo]

I'm suprised that anyone wants the club to retain a manager who uses negative tactics and under achieves with the squad of players that he has.

However, to answer the original question: yes - we will do better in the Championship, as our attacking players will win us games with the individual/worldie goals as they did last time out. Plus, we have a much superior defence to 2019-2020 (assuming Tosin, Tete and Robinson stay). 

[Bassey the warrior]

Whatever happens we need to bring in pace.

[RaySmith]

As said, we struggled in the Prem against teams who defended deep, with a lot of players behind the ball, and hit us on the break, often in he closing stages when we were desperately going  for it, especially we became  ever more desperate for 3 rather than 1 point.

Parker tried to solve the problem by dropping Mitro, with out dependence on getting crosses to him in the box which he seldom got on the end of against Prem defenders.

This meant we cold attack, and break at pace, and we did create  a lot of chances, but players like Cav, BDR and Anguissa and  RLC coming from deep, were unable to put then away ((though these latter two,  frustratingly,  really showed what they are capable of doing , when they took Everton  apart at the Cottage, with RLC's only goal , nearly managing to get a point, but they sadly never seemed to show this ability again together, or even singly),
and we only had Lookman who could actually attack at pace and go past defenders and score, but he soon began to be closed down by defenders and end up losing the ball.

WE'd often end up playing the ball  across the pitch, while defenders just sat back, and we couldn't find a way through, and when we did manage a chance it was wasted. We sorely lacked players who could take on defenders at pace, and go past them, putting in accurate crosses or scoring themselves, while teams around us seemed to have  several of these types of players.

Look at Newcastle, struggling and  the manager getting stick for his defensive  tactics, until their forwards  came back from injury and they were transformed.

But, comparing Parker to Slava in the Prem  - Slav continued with the all out attacking style which had been so successful in the Champ., while Parker adapted a more cautious  approach, and we did  begin the season by shipping goals and getting hammered remember;
but this change of tactics,, along with the  new defenders brought in seemed to stop the rot, and we began to look competitive and capable of staying up - for a time , anyway.
Did we ever look like this in the Prem under Slav, apart from the first few games?

But we remained competitive in most games, i think , up until about the final  2, after relegation was confirmed, though we drew with Man U at Old Trafford in one of our final games - another 'illegal' goal ensuring that we didn't get the  3 points, as it had on too many occasions last season,
when refereeing  along with VAR really did make it seem that there was a conspiracy   favouring the big, money spinning clubs against the smaller ones. Or maybe the, obvious seeming, bias was unconscious.