Hello! It's the penultimate Preview of the season- and the last visit to the Cottage until August, and we're facing Promotion Pushing Boro in a match that is of the utmost importance for Boro- and with the Millwall Result a few days ago means absolutely nothing for us in terms of permutations to our place in the Division next season. The only pressure on us now is he pressure the players put on themselves in order to get a good performance from the game tomorrow. It was a long time coming, but we're finally mathematically safe- and we can properly look forwards and (hopefully) up as opposed to down as we have almost exclusively since Christmas.
The main news coming from this last week was the renewed links with Allardyce, I made it clear in my Rotherham Preview that Allardyce would be my number one pick for the Summer of the realistic options- and I'll reiterate that here. Some of the people who are opposed to Allardyce cite style of play as there main reason for not wanting him, to which I say we can worry about style of play and get on Allardyce's back about that when he's got us up- because his track record shows that to be an incredibly likely scenario. I don't care how we go up, it's that we get up- we've tried to play possession football at times this season and it simply hasn't worked, and besides West Ham have actually played some decent stuff at times this season. As I said in my Rotherham Preview I'm wary of us getting Warburton and when he steps outside of a system he doesn't know like the back of his hand I think he'll be shown up as Eddie Howe was to an extent at Burnley- so for me Allardyce is by far and a way the best option.
Now onto our more immediate future- Boro tomorrow, I think we should avoid using players that we won't have next season almost definitely for varied reasons- I hope Kit doesn't go for another really negative midfield with Guthrie etc. because we have nothing to lose now, I'm going to pick the team I think we'll see tomorrow- and my team I'd love to see, but chances are we won't see in that it's a full Academy Graduates XI.
The one player who'll be a constant is of course Bettinelli- he's been our player of the season by quite a margin all things considered, and if it weren't for a combination of Bettinelli and Rodallega- and then McCormack's goals you have to wonder where we'd have ended up this season.
The main defensive news I suppose is the fact that James Husband is ineligible which opens up the Left-Back spot for tomorrow. Left-Back is one area where we've got very, very limited options- especially seeing as Kit views Kavanagh as exclusively a midfielder, I wouldn't use Stafylidis at this point of the season- because to be frank I don't want to see him in a Fulham shirt ever again- I suggested we played him against Blackpool for his pace, but now that game has passed I hope his time in a Fulham shirt is over. So for me the Left-Back spot is screaming out for a debutante- with Jordan Evans being the most likely person to make said debut, I'd have Tayo Edun on the Bench as well because he's a versatile player and obviously depending on how the game goes we could also blood him in either the Left-Back or Midfield roles he's capable of playing. As I've said repeatedly since Charlton- I'm not sold on Dan Burn yet, but him facing off against his first quality Championship attack force since his return to the first team and it'll be a good test for him- and these next two games will more than likely determine his place in the team next season. Michael Turner is someone who could be signing permanently- and it all depends on how forward thinking we are because Turner because of his age wouldn't be a 4 to 5 year defender for us- and my preference would still be Aden Flint come the Summer, but I'm not ruling out the signing of Turner so I would play him tomorrow. The Right-Back position is pretty straightforward, while Jazz Richards is someone who I could see us signing this Summer I doubt we'll sign him- and as such I'd be playing Jack Grimmer tomorrow and indeed next week against Norwich.
The midfield is where a lot of debate is to be had both short-term in the next two games- and then over the Summer. Now that we're safe- and everyone (should at least) is looking toward the future I'm definitely more so on the "Play Patrick Roberts" bandwagon a load of people on Facebook who haven't seen a minute all season are on. As such I'd give Pat Roberts 60 Minutes tomorrow in which to prove himself- starting him would be more of a statement of intent than a Sub Appearance which is why I'd do it this way, and then I'd have Plumain on the Bench coming on for Roberts after said 60 Minutes- and then switch roles next week against Norwich. I'd have Kacaniklic go back to the Left-Side he's frequented for the majority of his Fulham career for the sake of this game and next week. Kacaniklic is someone who's very much a next season player- especially if we are to bring in someone like Allardyce who is one of the only people left who still uses traditional wingers- as such Kaca on one wing and then a new signing on the other would be very welcome and would make us a very dangerous prospect. Out of all the Loans we have Fofana is the only Loan I'd renew for next season- he's shown signs of being a proper player- and with another season under his belt it would benefit both him and us in my opinion as such I'd play him tomorrow. With Scott Parker being doubtful I'd have Hoogland coming in as the DM type player- Hoogland's a player who's contract is up come the end of the season unless I'm mistaken so I think we should use these next two games to have a look at him and decide if we want to renew him or not- I personally think we should renew him because I personally think he's our best pure DM, so as long as we keep him away from a position requiring width we're golden.
The Strikers are pretty straightforward, Smith & McCormack should continue tomorrow- and most likely will next season- barring Greeks baring Gifts.
Team for Boro (1)
Bettinelli
Grimmer, Turner, Burn, Evans
Roberts, Fofana, Hoogland, Kacaniklic
Smith, McCormack
Team for Boro (2)
Bettinelli
Grimmer, Donnelly, Burn, Evans
Roberts, Sambou, Hyndman (I think he's fit), Kacaniklic
Dembele, Woodrow
As I said with that second team it's more of a hope as opposed to an expectation- but with very little riding on these next two games I'd love to see a full graduates XI.
The Bench would be exclusively made up of our own products in the first team's case, as I've already said I'd have Edun and Plumain on the Bench- and the other five spots would be taken up by Rodak, Donnelly, Hyndman (as I say I think he's fit- or at the very least fit enough to get on the Bench) Woodrow and Dembele. I realise that means I've left out a few people like Tunnicliffe but as I've said repeatedly I like him- and next season (depending on signings) I'd have him back in for his work ethic but for these last two games we don't necessarily need a player like Tunnicliffe in the team.
Of course we could very well end up seeing Stafylidis, Richards and Guthrie in the team- I'm hoping at the very least we do what we did against Huddersfield with Richards and Grimmer both in to avoid playing Stafylidis tomorrow- but as I've said repeatedly, these next two games are about thinking ahead now- so what would be the point of using three players who most likely won't be here next season. There's also a distinct lack of Bryan- and I think he's actually rode off into the sunset this time with his contract up, and we can finally close the book on Bryan's Fulham career.
Thanks for reading as ever, as always the Review'll be up tomorrow- so stay tuned for that, and then these'll back next week for the last game of the season. After Norwich these Fulham blogs will of course slow down a bit- but they aren't going to completely stop- and I'll be putting up one a week about varying topics until the new season starts in Early August when we get to do it all over again! If you have anything specific you want me to talk about feel free to let me know either in the Comments on this or on Twitter- you can probably work out some of them just by using common sense, I'm not going to guarantee I'll cover what you suggest- but if it interests me and is relevant I'll go for it. Anyway that's for later on- Thanks again, and hopefully we have some good memories of the Cottage to hold us over the Summer after tomorrow.
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