Let's just get the two obvious and most likely overused jokes out of the way early. JOKANOVIC OUT! and WE HAVEN'T WON A GAME ALL YEAR! Great, now we can move on. That's right the Reviews are finally back after a bit of a gap. To be blunt, it just got too depressing as December went on. I was feeling just really drained when it came to Fulham- and that combined with me being affected by my Chronic Fatigue was the cause of the break. I was tempted to do a Rotherham Review, but I just thought I'd leave 2015 as it was and bring them back today.
Right then, I got quite wet today. When the Clothes you're wearing are visibly darker by the time you've left the game- you know it was a wet one. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot in the way of good performances on the pitch to take minds off of the awful conditions. With that said, we also didn't do an awful lot wrong on the whole today. Today's game was, to me- a 0-0 game all over. Unfortunately for us, Ross Wallace produced the only bit of proper quality from an attacking perspective in the game and it cost us.
Ross Wallace has been a nightmare for us this season, and I can only hope Carvalhal shows some mercy and rests him in the Cup next week. He got all three Assists in the Away game back in September, and then he goes and does that today. It was just such a quality goal. You can possibly make an argument that we should have closed down Nuhiu and Wallace quicker/better in the build, but sometimes you just have to acknowledge a quality goal when you see it. I'd be surprised if it's not a Goal of the Season Contender for Sheffield Wednesday, and it'll likely be in the Goal of the Day Poll on Sky Sports News- so #SSNHQWallace.
Andy Lonergan, despite conceding, really was quality today. He could do absolutely nothing for the Wallace goal, and throughout the game he made a number of really important saves to keep us in the game. It's going to take a lot of defensive work on the Training Ground, but if Jokanovic can get us completely together as a defensive unit I've got faith that Andy Lonergan can hold up his end of the bargain in goal- and Clean Sheets will follow. Even in the Rotherham game, I thought Andy Lonergan should have been one of the MOTM Contenders on the Vote. Now, after today- and especially with no Matilla on the Vote there's only really one winner for the Award today.
It wasn't perfect today from a defensive standpoint, and there were times when our obvious defensive problems flared up- however I do think there's been some improvement. There were times when we were carved open and had to be bailed out by Lonergan- one in particular in the 2nd Half with Gary Hooper, but on the whole we looked okay in my opinion. You know, in the pouring rain in January- what we all want to see is two Trees wrestle each other. That's essentially what we had with Nuhiu and Dan Burn today. Before anyone accuses me of bias, Dan Burn did perform really well against Derby and Rotherham- fair play to him. Burn just didn't reach the same level today. I'm not saying he played badly today, but Burn managing to get turned by Atdhe Nuhiu simply isn't good enough.
The Transfer Embargo will have an obvious effect on our January dealings, however if Jokanovic/Rigg/Whomever else has a say in Transfers can find a Centre-Back to sign on Loan with a view to a permanent deal in the Summer then we need to jump at the chance. We already need to have one eye on next season, and the right Loan signing in this Window could go a long way to preparing for it. I'm not saying Stearman's immune from being dropped, but in my opinion we need 3 proper Championship quality Centre-Backs in the Squad- and we have (at a push) one at present. Speaking of Stearman, I thought he- as with Burn was far from perfect today, but definitely looked better on the whole.
Tim Ream and Jazz Richards definitely had their hands full today, and Ream in particular looked quite shaky at times. However, as with Burn and Stearman- while looking quite fragile at times today I do think there was signs of life in them. The problem for us with the Full-Backs today was the fact neither Richards or Ream are exactly "attacking" Full-Backs. With that in mind, playing effectively a 4-3-3 wasn't ideal.
In my Posts before Christmas, I was pushing for two things- for us to play a 4-3-3 and for Sakari Matilla to be brought in as a "proper" DM. I got both today, although it wasn't exactly what I wanted from the formation standpoint. I thought Matilla was really good today. Matilla isn't going to be everyone's favourite player- and chances are he'll be overlooked (including by me) in some games where we've scored/won. However, in a game like today with not many genuine positives- Matilla stood out to me. Especially with our defence being as it is at present, Matilla could (albeit briefly) turn into a key player for us both in-terms of protecting the Back Four, but also the balance of the Team. He just needs to leave the Long-Shots to other people.
In my Posting break, Emerson Hyndman's come back into the Team- and become a real positive point. I thought he was great against Rotherham, and while he didn't reach the same level today- he still did quite well. Sheffield Wednesday did well in suffocating our Midfield today, in that it was rare we'd get a clear chance created- and Hyndman did suffer from that to an extent. Jamie O'Hara was a weird one today. I wouldn't say he was "bad", but at the same time he needed to do a lot more to make a proper impact on the game. O'Hara is a good option to have in the Squad, in an ideal world with a 4-3-3 Cairney would come in for O'Hara- but I just have to assume Cairney was left out as a result of carrying a knock today. We just missed Cairney today, especially his creativity. Hyndman and O'Hara just can't quite create like Cairney can- and in tight games like today's Cairney could have made the difference.
In a genuinely rare occasion, we ended up looking quite toothless up-front. My "ideal" 4-3-3 is a somewhat rotating one, meaning at any given time the two opposing Centre-Backs will be dealing with McCormack, Dembele and Kacaniklic. All three are entirely different propositions, and at least on paper would cause a lot of problems. What we got today was a "fixed" 4-3-3, and as a result in my opinion Ross McCormack was wasted in the game. It wasn't quite Stuart Gray putting McCormack at Centre-Mid, but McCormack playing on the Left wasn't a good move today. Especially with Sheffield Wednesday being as defensively sound as they were, McCormack was just suffocated today. On another day, McCormack would have scored one of the two or three Free-Kicks he had today- but we can't bank on McCormack scoring a Free-Kick to bail us out in every game.
I can only assume Moussa Dembele is still carrying the Hamstring problem he had that meant he was left out on Tuesday. He just didn't look "right" today, and on a day up against a well set-up Sheffield Wednesday it meant he rarely had any sort of meaningful possession. There was some good link-up play with McCormack at times, but on the whole there won't be anything added to the YouTube Compilations that no doubt Man Utd, Spurs and a Half a Dozen other Clubs' fans will be watching when they're linked with him in this Window. Alex Kacaniklic is not the perfect player, but he does offer something different than the majority of the Squad. He's without a doubt a good option to have in the Team, and causes defences problems. As evidenced particularly in the Bolton game he lacks some composure with finishing off chances, but he's definitely worth his spot in the team at present.
I actually thought we looked worse after Jokanovic's Subs today. Scott Parker just didn't look up to it today. I don't doubt Parker still has some value to the Squad, but he's definitely winding down this season- and I'm not going to be at all surprised if Parker hangs up the boots come May. Personally I wouldn't have taken off Matilla for Garbutt. I realise we were pushing for a Goal, but a straight-swap isn't always a bad thing as we would have done with Ream going off for Garbutt. That would have allowed everyone else to push further forward, and Matilla would have been covering them. As it was, Garbutt came on for Matilla and didn't really do much. Not today, but I do think we've started to see signs of Luke Garbutt and the player he can be over the Christmas Period- so it would be a shame if Jokanovic doesn't use him in a more prominent role going forward. Unfortunately Woodrow couldn't repeat his Rotherham performance when he came on. Without question, Dembele when fit is better than Woodrow. However, if Dembele is still carrying a knock as I suspect- I'd rather we just started with a fully-fit Woodrow.
Today's game, and result in particular of course wasn't an ideal start to Jokanovic's reign. However, the massive positive for me was that everything Jokanovic said after today's game made absolutely perfect sense. Jokanovic clearly has a vision for the team, and although we saw signs of it today- it would have been impossible for him to implement said vision fully in less than a week. One positive for Jokanovic on that front is (assuming there's no FA Cup Replays) we only have two Saturday-Tuesday/Wednesday-Saturday weeks in January and February. This of course means Jokanovic doesn't have to "rush" preparations for many games and he gets time to work on the team on the Training Ground.
The sad fact of today's game, is the simple fact we've lost to an absolutely sublime goal. All we can do is look at the game in that respect and move on quickly.
Thanks for reading as always, even with the result today- I do genuinely believe that under Jokanovic 2016 will be a really positive year for Fulham and in-turn there'll be more positive Reviews. Next up is the FA Cup and of course Sheffield Wednesday, and the Previews will be back for that game on Friday so stay tuned for that. Thanks again for reading, and despite today's result let's just keep positive for now. We can start to get miserable again around Mid-February/March.
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