MK Dons v Fulham: The Manager Merry Go Round

Hello! Well, since my last Fulham Post there's not been much going on has there? Where to begin then? I didn't do a Birmingham Review, because to be blunt I was way too tired to actually care after the game a few weekends ago. There wasn't really much to say that I hadn't already said a million times this season with regard to Kit, and even in my Preview for the game I said Kit would be gone if we had a negative result. I was of course right, and Kit was gone pretty soon after the 5th Goal went in. I genuinely believe that Kit Symons will be looked back on as a (relative) success. It may sound weird coming from me, but I genuinely believe it. When Kit came in we were a complete mess, and however unsatisfying it was- he did keep us up last season. When he left a few weeks ago, he left us with a Squad infinitely better than the one he took over with- and while not in an ideal position a decent(ish) platform to challenge for the Top 6 should we get the right Manager in. In that respect I'd genuinely like to thank Kit, and now we have to move on quickly.

I was quite sceptical when the Steve Clarke stuff was practically a done deal according to the Papers. I'm not saying there wasn't any validity to the Steve Clarke rumours, but until I see a Player/Manager posing with their new Clubs Scarf/Shirt I don't believe anything. Especially with Fulham it's the only way to stay sane over the last few seasons. I'm not sure who's going to be taking over now, but I'm genuinely happy it isn't Steve Clarke. I just don't rate him that much. Apart from the season where he had Romelu Lukaku on Loan, he's never proven himself to be a consistent manager. Even at Reading he's not been that good in my opinion, he actually managed to finish below us last season- and even for the run they went on this season they're only 4 Points better off than us. Putting it simply, Steve Clarke would have been another hot and cold Manager- apart from costing us more to get him on board and most likely in the Wages. Apart from the Reading FA Cup run and their run directly after the Transfer Window closed when their squad had a "new toy" freshness, Reading really haven't been that good under him.

Now we get onto who'll actually be our new Manager. Firstly, as I've already said with regard to Paper Talk- I'm not buying into the "Talks Broke Down" angle with Nigel Pearson. Even if they have broken down I'm expecting us to re-go after him now Steve Clarke has turned us down. The varying reactions to the Nigel Pearson rumour has been quite entertaining- and to those who point blank don't want him. Well, you're Ostriches. I'm not saying Nigel Pearson will be sunshine and rainbows 24/7, but he'll get results. The season Leicester went up they had the second most amount of Goals Scored, of which we're already on course to do as a minimum this season- but crucially the third lowest amount of Goals Conceded. I'm not saying I'd not even necessarily be expecting us to get Playoffs this season, and Pearson did need a few cracks and some significant investment to get it "right". However, when he did- well you know where Leicester are now with largely the same squad Pearson put together. In short, unless Pearson is demanding something like a pet Unicorn- let's just pay what we need to get him in.

If not Pearson then there's very limited options, I don't want Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. I'd liken him in a few ways to Paul Ince in that they looked quite promising at lower levels and then they "moved up" too soon should we get him. I point blank don't want Curbishley or Grant. There's no chance we get Rodgers or Moyes, I wouldn't be too keen on Paul Tisdale or Uwe Rosler. In fact, the only Manager other than Pearson who I (realistically) would want (Rowett isn't impossible, but 99.9% not likely) is Oscar Garcia. The only problem I can foresee should we appoint Oscar Garcia is we'd be putting someone in charge of Fulham with documented Chest Problems. That's a death in the dugout waiting to happen.

I've seen a lot of criticism coming in over the last week with regard to not appointing a new Manager before this game, some of it justified. But some of the stuff that's been said with regard to Mike Rigg is frankly ridiculous. He's just overseen one of the best Transfer Windows we've had in recent memory, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to him not finding a new Manager yet. Should Rigg have had someone lined up given Kit's precarious position? Absolutely. However, that's obviously not been the case- all we can do is swiftly move on and hope that we get someone in before Preston. Preferably at the latest next Monday/Tuesday.

Moving onto tomorrows game, it's definitely going to be an interesting one. I genuinely feel sorry for those of you reading these from abroad because that Peter Grant Interview put up on Youtube must have been near impossible to understand for you. Don't worry too much though, Grant didn't really say much- and annoyingly given some of the injuries we had prior to the International Break there wasn't any specific Team News. In that regard I'm flying somewhat blind for the Team Selection, but I'll do my best.

Andy Lonergan's Injury was supposedly putting him out for "4 to 6 Weeks" back when it happened about 3 Weeks ago, so I'm assuming that he isn't ready to return yet. Of course, with Andy Lonergan's absence it means Joe Lewis will continue in goal. All we can really hope for is for Joe Lewis' "Goals Conceded" column to remain as low as possible after he's conceded 8 in his last two games.

The Defensive Selection is interesting in regard to who's actually going to be available, and deploying those available options in the best way possible. It's quite hard to say what the selection will be not really knowing what Formation Peter Grant will favour. With that in mind I'm just going to entirely do "my" selection for tomorrow's game. I remember Kit saying that Jazz Richards will be back after the Internationals- I think I'm rightfully a bit wary when it comes to Ryan Fredericks and his nagging injuries. When it comes to Fredericks, especially with the busy Christmas Schedule coming up very quickly I'd rather we alternated between the two for now. Obviously with James Husband being suspended tomorrow his stupid Red Card against Birmingham, Luke Garbutt will come in- and hopefully he'll put in a performance to properly stake a claim on the position to try and keep Husband out of the team up until he goes back to Boro after the Brentford game. When it comes to Centre-Backs, I don't think I need to tell you who'd be dropping out as a result of going back to a 4. If I were the new Manager, and assuming the Transfer Embargo stuff is just rumour- I'd be looking at signing another Centre-Back in January to get a proper partner for Stearman. But for now I'm happy for Tim Ream to be his partner, just keep him away from Right-Back.

As far as the Midfield goes, I'd be expecting a few changes from Kit's last selection- of which Kit really should have done. If I were fully in charge I'd be playing 4-3-3 for tomorrow's game. Similar to the Reading game where we ironically got the best of Steve Clarke. As far as the selection for tomorrow's game goes I'd be definitely expecting Tom Cairney and Ryan Tunnicliffe to continue in the Midfield and be the two more attacking Midfield options. With Jamie O'Hara, I'm not really sure what to make of him at present. The only explanation I can really think of to explain his drop in form is a fitness issue, so coming off the International Break that may well have been remedied. However, similar to the Ryan Fredericks situation I want us start alternating between O'Hara and Parker. This is especially important for me heading into tomorrow's game with no new Manager in place, having a
proper leader on the pitch in Scott Parker would be invaluable for me.

When it comes to attacking options, If Alex Kacaniklic doesn't start starting under the new Manager I'm going to start thinking he's got an attitude problem in training or something. There really is no good reason for Kacaniklic not to be starting given the attacking threat he's been providing in recent times. Genuinely, if someone can give me a valid reason for why Kacaniklic shouldn't be starting I'd LOVE to hear it. It's not going to take a PhD to guess who the other two attacking options will be in the rotating 4-3-3. I did see Dembele's Interview in the Break where he basically said "talk to my agents" with regard to his Fulham Future. For now I'm not that worried about him in that regard, I'm more thinking about Dembele from an on-the-pitch standpoint heading into the Christmas Schedule that of course completely derailed Christensen last season. Especially now we've got multiple attacking options and the ability to play multiple systems it isn't worth starting Dembele in every game over the next Month/Month and a half.

Team for MK Dons

I'd said at the time of Kit's sacking on Twitter that I had a weird feeling that we'd end up doing an appointment similar to Alex Neil coming in at Norwich. In that, well they were hardly known by anyone before they came in. I've made my Nigel Pearson preference clear, but really unless it's someone like Harry Redknapp I'd be willing to give whoever get in charge a go. I think I said back in August that we'd end up sacking Kit when it was too late and Allardyce would already be at Sunderland- and well, yeah. I'm not going to revise my Pre-Season Prediction yet with regard to High Mid-Table and pushing the Playoffs before collapsing around March yet- it all comes down to the appointment.

Thanks for reading as usual. These next few weeks are going to be the calm before the storm as far as Posts go. Heading into the Christmas Period these posts will obviously be coming out quite frequently so I hope you keep coming back for them. It's definitely good for attentions to be back on the pitch (at least for now) for the game tomorrow after the International Break before we inevitably get back to the Rumour Mill from Sunday up until either we appoint someone or the Preston game. We can only hope for the best heading into tomorrow's game, and really a very winnable run of games coming up. Thanks again for reading, as I said let's just hope for the best tomorrow- and that the Review tomorrow will be a positive one.