It’s very rare that I take to blogging, my forte is running Forums, however, after that pathetic performance against Barnsley today, I thought I’d give it go.
When Parker was appointed full time coach, I was slightly sceptical, and after our car-crash of a season in the Premier League, I honestly thought we’d go for a bit more experience.
Don’t get me wrong, experience doesn’t always gain you success, especially in football, but, when the owners stated that promotion was the target this season, I was once again very sceptical.
I’ve nothing personal against Parker, I’m sure he will make a good coach someday, but, with such high expectations form the owners, was it really a good idea to place this responsibility in his hands?
If Fulham were planning on spending a couple of season in the Championship, and harbouring Parker whilst he learnt his trade, then fair enough, but that isn’t the case.
I can see what the owners have tried to do, they’ve tried to build a strong team around Parker, by keeping the likes of Mitrovic, Cairney, and adding the like Cavalerio, Knockhaert, Reid etc, in the hope that quality would see us though, but, it’s not panning out that way.
Unfortunately, we all know, that you can buy a Ferrari, but if you can’t drive it properly, then you’re not going to get the best out of it, and that is the case this season.
I look at our current squad, and I see an abundance talent there, enough to be challenging for the top two spots, and blowing some teams away whilst we do it.
Frustratingly, and even though we do go on a run of unbeaten games, the team always looks disjointed, and for the quality we have up front, we always lack a cutting edge.
If it wasn’t for Mitrovic and his 20 goals so far, I’d hate to think where we’d actually be in the league, certainly not where we are today.
For me, Parker doesn’t get the best out the squad he has, we always look disjointed, players seem to play out of their preferred positions, and we play a system where Mitrovic is constantly isolated.
On top of this, we don’t press teams enough, we play the short pass all the time, knocking it around the back, and inviting pressure on to us, which leads to mistakes.
When we do attack, the process seems so slow, we don’t utilise the channels very well, opting for inverted wingers, and by the time we do attack, other teams have nullified us.
Parkers ability to also change games also frustrates me, his subs seem odd, and we have an inability to use a plan B if teams come and work us out early.
All in all, this seems a carbon copy of what WBA went through with Darren Moore, and, although we sit third in the Championship, I feel it’s a very false position, and if we are not careful with our up and coming run of games, we could find ourselves slipping out of the playoff positions.
I was never a fan of Parker when he was appointed, nor do I have any emotional attachment to him as a player, or a coach, but I do find his style of football boring, drab, slow, uncreative, and something that doesn’t excite me like it did with Jokanovic.
The Millwall and Barnsley games were a reflection of this, with Fulham not even testing the Millwall goalkeeper after Mitrovic’s 3rd minute goal, and Barnsley today, bottom of the Championship, totally outplaying us at home.
Will the owners dare sack Parker whilst we’re sitting in 3rd position? Highly unlikely, however, I don’t see Parker getting us promoted automatically, or through the playoffs, so I’d take a gamble on someone else, in the hope they can improve things over the final stretch of 13 games.
With the likes of Derby, Forest, Leeds, WBA, Brentford all to come, we could do with all the experience we can get.
Verdict: It’s time for Parker to grab his parka.