A lot's happened, and at the same time hardly anything has in the time between the Preston Review and where we are now. I was going to do a whole thing on Stuart Gray in the now non-existent Forest Preview, and now that he's actually here I suppose I may as well do it now. Firstly, the "Senior Coach" thing is just weird to me. I understand what it means in the context of a "coaching team", but I suppose because it isn't really a "conventional" position that's to be expected. I saw a lot of opposition to the Stuart Gray link when it came out, and obviously got serious- which to be blunt I really don't get. I saw a lot of people calling it "underwhelming" to which I'd say an obvious/"exciting" appointment doesn't exactly guarantee success, and for the record I prefer Stuart Gray over Steve Clarke. Especially with Gray being a "Senior Coach", assuming he's going to be an Assistant/Co-Head Coach with whomever we get in charge I'm massively in favour of the appointment.
This may blow some of your minds, but we aren't in fact very good defensively. Obviously this is all hypothetical at this stage, and as I'll discuss a bit later it's far from a guarantee Gray will turn it round. With that said, Stuart Gray at least on paper is exactly what we need at present. Last Season under Stuart Gray Sheffield Wednesday conceded the 4th least amount of Goals in the Championship. The only teams that conceded less were Boro, Norwich and Bournemouth- three of the best four teams in the League last season. The other side of the coin is of course Wednesday didn't score many goals either with Brighton being the only non-relegated team who scored less. The thing about that is, Sheffield Wednesday's Strikers simply weren't good enough last season- a problem we don't exactly have at present. While Stuart Gray may not be the most "attacking" manager, we as a Team will always score goals with the attacking options we've got. Unless Stuart Gray actively tries to handicap our chances by playing a 6-4-0, between McCormack and Dembele (more later) along with Smith and Woodrow and then our Midfield we'll get goals in the vast majority of games.
This was my point discussing Allardyce back in around April/May, I couldn't care less how we win a game. If we win every game between tomorrow and May 1-0 I won't be complaining, and neither will anyone else- because we'll have gotten promoted. Obviously that's not going to happen, but my point being that as long as the Football we're playing is "winning football" there isn't much else we can ask for- especially in the position we're currently in.
Obviously all the concerns about supposed "negative" football under Stuart Gray may not even be warranted with his "Senior Coach" job title leaving the "Head Coach" position still to be filled. With the way the Odds appear to be going, combined with Twitter (which is the height of reliability) it appears as though the "Head Coach" role is going to be filled by Slavisa Jokanovic or Oscar Garcia. Now Maccabi Tel-Aviv's Champions League obligations are done I'm expecting Jokanovic to be linked with a variety of jobs, including the Fulham Job. I think Jokanovic is a pretty good fit, in that he's probably the best actual "Head Coach" out there at present. I'd happily take Jokanovic, whether or not he'd leave Tel-Aviv- especially so soon after joining them is a completely different matter. I do think there's something in the Jokanovic link because of the aforementioned suitability for the "Head Coach" role, but I do think a lot of the Odds Shift for Jokanovic was simply there not being many options left.
The Oscar Garcia thing is something I've been wanting for the whole time since Kit's sacking, so should it happen I definitely won't be complaining. The Oscar Garcia has somewhat flared up with Garcia (and Jokanovic's) old Assistant following a Fulham related Twitter Account as well as "Liking" (I'm still not used to them not being "Favourites" an Article that appears to link Garcia with Fulham. I know right? If that doesn't mean it's a guarantee then I don't know what is. There is more to it with Garcia (and the previously mentioned Assistant) posting cryptic Tweets saying they're "on their way". As someone pointed out on the Garcia tweet (because there's actually people who care this much) the picture Garcia tweeted of looking out a Plane Window and the Sun Position would indicate he wasn't flying into England. With that said, it's definitely not an impossibility.
If it is Garcia or Jokanovic it'll be interesting to see which it is, because Garcia has the bonus of not being employed at present- but then Jokanovic is almost definitely better suited to the "Head Coach" role. Should it be either of the two I definitely won't be complaining, and having either Jokanovic or Garcia in a coaching team with Gray and depending on how it's structured Steve Wigley is close to ideal in my opinion. That hypothetical coaching team would definitely be worth the wait we've had to experience for a new Head Coach in my opinion. Has the Head Coach search been ideal? Absolutely not. However, as I was saying at the earliest opportunity in the MK Dons Posts I was always willing to give Mike Rigg time to make the right appointment. He's already taken a big step in appointing Stuart Gray in that he's recognised a massive problem we have and sought out a "Coach" to solve that problem and now hopefully Rigg will take another step and bring in either Jokanovic or Garcia to complete the coaching team.
The Head Coach discussion is quite interesting, but in-terms of tomorrows game a lot of it is a moot point. It's definitely going to be interesting to see how Stuart Gray views the Squad, and one player in particular. Without having a previous reference point for how Gray will use the players in the Squad it's a lot of flying blind, so I'll just go for the team that I think is best for tomorrow in the system I think Gray will use.
There's such a lack of overall clarity in-terms of injuries in the team at the moment it's quite annoying. One player who's consistently not been mentioned is Andy Lonergan, so in that regard you can only assume he's still out injured. Joe Lewis has been one of the main casualties of our recent run, in that he really hasn't had a good time of it in goal. I'm not saying he's blameless in the goals we've conceded, but our just general lack of organisation and obvious defensive frailties haven't exactly helped him out. The Leeds game obviously set a high standard for him, of which he hasn't reached since- but I'm still fine with him carrying on in goal until Lewis is back.
The Defence, and the formation we use under Stuart Gray is going to be the first interesting point. I'm pretty certain Stuart Gray favoured a 4-2-3-1 at Sheffield Wednesday, in the two games we played against Stuart Gray's Sheffield Wednesday they played a 4-4-2 at Home and then a 4-2-3-1 at Craven Cottage. With that in mind, and especially with the attacking options we've got I'd definitely be leaning more toward a 4-4-2, even though personally I'd still want us to go for a 4-3-3.
One thing that's definitely interesting heading into the busy Christmas Schedule is managing Ryan Fredericks. Since he's been back, Fredericks has gotten through relatively unscathed- but that's definitely been helped by the fact we've only been playing Saturdays. Now we're back to Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday as an absolute minimum for the next 3 Weeks I highly doubt Fredericks will be able to hold up to it should he be playing every game. Now is an ideal time for Jazz Richards to be back in the mix, but we're not really sure of that yet. I can't imagine he'll be out for much longer, and with Jack Grimmer playing for the U21s in midweek the Right-Back position is looking a lot stronger- and we should be able to cope with having to rotate Fredericks over Christmas.
It's James Husband's last game in a Fulham shirt tomorrow, but in my opinion- and with the options we've got he should be used elsewhere tomorrow- leaving the Left-Back position open. That Left-Back position will be filled by Tim Ream for tomorrow, and hopefully going forward as well. I've always said Tim Ream isn't a Centre-Back. If I had been in charge once Kit went I'd have made it a priority to try and sign a Centre-Back on Loan- at least until January when we could look at options. Now with James Husband going back, and the Left-Back slot is in my opinion up for grabs given Garbutt's lacklustre performances I'd act now in-terms of shifting Tim Ream into the Left-Back role.
Tim Ream moving over to Left-Back of course opens up a Centre-Back slot, and it'll hopefully be filled by Shaun Hutchinson. I was in a sort of weird haze last weekend, so I may well have hallucinated it all- but the fact Hutchinson didn't start against Forest after the 2nd Half against Preston was just weird to me. It wasn't perfect against Preston, but I thought Hutchinson did more than enough to earn a start last weekend. Stuart Gray's going to be bringing fresh eyes onto the Squad, so it's definitely going to be interesting to see how he views the Squad- and the Centre-Backs in particular where there's so much debate as to how to "rank" them.
Speaking of fresh eyes on the Stuart Gray's fresh eyes on the Squad, if Alex Kacaniklic STILL doesn't get a start then I'm absolutely convinced there's something we're not being made aware of. He did get on last weekend, but just the fact Kavanagh and then Pringle have gotten in above him over the last month is just ridiculous. The games we've got between now and January 1st are make or break for Alex Kacaniklic's time at Fulham, we either use him- or we lose him. With Kacaniklic's Contract up at the end of the season- and no chance he's going to renew with how he's currently being used, we might as well sell him in January if we aren't going to use him.
The other wing will be taken up by James Husband. As already mentioned, it's Husband's last game in a Fulham shirt and he's definitely been a mixed bag as of late. Defensively Husband isn't the best, so I thought for his last game we might as well let him properly go for it down the Left-Wing with Tim Ream covering him somewhat defensively. The thing about Husband, that some people don't seem to understand when they say "Why don't we just buy him?". Boro won't sell him. This is all my opinion, feel free to disagree. Boro have the best Left-Back in the League in George Friend in my opinion by a clear margin. That doesn't mean they'd be willing to sell the 4th or 5th best in James Husband- at least until when/if Boro get promoted. On top of that, factoring in the age gap between Husband and Friend it doesn't take a genius to work out Husband's being built up as Friend's successor either when they sell him- or Husband overtakes him in-terms of ability.
The two Centre-Mid positions are going to be interesting, both tomorrow and going forward. Tunnicliffe being out for 3 Months is a massive blow for us, I've already said it a few times- Tunnicliffe is/was a key a player for the balance of the team with the role he played. None of the other Centre-Mid's we've got can play the "Tunnicliffe Role" so we have to rework the system we play. In my opinion, we should be going for a proper Holding-Mid to partner someone in more of a free role (Cairney) to try and strike the right balance for tomorrow at least. I'm not sure how fit Mattila is, if he is available I'd be starting him in the DM role tomorrow. Having a proper DM in the team just adds an extra level of security for the Defence of which we need- at least until January when we can (hopefully) take steps to improve it. If Mattila isn't available I'd be starting Parker tomorrow. We're now into the first time Parker and O'Hara have both been available at the same time, in an upcoming Fixture List that's quite congested. With that in mind, LET THE ROTATION BEGIN! In-terms of Cairney my idea is for Cairney and Kacaniklic to rotate between each other, with either occupying a "free role" in the middle with the other occupying the Wing- with the emphasis being on Cairney in the middle. There's no point in even suggesting Cairney starts at Right-Mid any more, I just can't with a straight face.
There's been links with both McCormack and Dembele over the last week, but as far as I can work out the McCormack ones have come from Ian Holloway which pretty much rules them out already. I don't know if Holloway's heard about our potential Transfer Embargo and decided that we'll be selling McCormack to cope. If I had to guess that'd be why, and to be honest I wouldn't begrudge McCormack leaving to one of Boro or Derby or a Premier League team. Ross McCormack, with the talent he has- deserves to have played Premier League Football in his career by the time he hangs up the boots. I was obviously hoping that would be with us, but as that's becoming seemingly less likely with him approaching 30 it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he'd want a move. Obviously I don't want him to go (and I don't think he will- at least in January), but at the same time however hard it may hit us- I'll see why he wanted to go if he does.
Moussa Dembele is the Striker where there's much more debate, and the chances of him leaving are infinitely higher in January. The link that doesn't seem to be going away for Dembele is Man Utd, fuelled by the pictures of him in Manchester in the week. Do I think it was an innocent visit to see Pat Roberts? No. But the fact his Agent was there also doesn't 100% guarantee that he was in Manchester to discuss business. Believe it or not, Agents can in fact be friends with their clients. Dembele is someone who as I've said repeatedly has the most potential to "make it" at a "big" club of any of our Young Players since Chris Smalling. The fact is; Dembele is simply going to outgrow us with his current rate of development compared to our trajectory as a team. Assuming Dembele isn't going to sign a new Contract (which hasn't been said, or even suggested) if I were Mike Rigg I'd use all the competing interest to get 5-6 Million for Dembele with a 20% (minimum) Sell-On Clause as well as a potential Loan back to us for the rest of the season. That's about as good as it can get for us with Dembele's Contract up in the Summer. In the more immediate term it's good for Dembele to be back for tomorrow, and even more so with a potential move in January- we have to properly manage Dembele over the Christmas Schedule to avoid injury.
Team for Brentford
I've been saying throughout the course of this Season that the Playoffs simply aren't attainable, while at the same time our Squad is too good to go down. We're currently 7 Points off the Playoffs and 6 off the Relegation Zone, in short we're about as Mid-Table as a team can be. With that in mind, and this is the same thing I said for QPR- these derbies are going to be the proper tests of the Squad's mental strength and general "big game" performance. Especially with how the Brentford Home game went last season, the few players that are left over from that game in particular I really want to see up for it tomorrow.
Thanks for reading as always, I think tomorrow is officially the start of the congest Christmas Schedule, and that means these Posts will be coming really quickly- so hopefully you'll stick around for them all. The next one is of course the Brentford Review tomorrow, where hopefully we'll be celebrating a first win in well over a Month- as well as a first win under Stuart Gray. Thanks again for reading, and especially playing derby games- does it really matter how we win as long as we win?
No comments:
Post a Comment