Hello! It's been a long time coming for the Fulham side of this Blog to come back, but obviously with the fact you're reading this it's officially back! This summer's been a weird one from a Fulham perspective, and in this post I'll be looking at all of the goings on over the summer- and then obviously previewing the upcoming season and what my predictions/expectations are for said season.
Before we jump into it though, I'd just like to deliver a "state of the blog" address- as far as what you can expect from me over the season. It's very unlikely I'll be doing Previews for every game, for the simple fact that they become quite repetitive and monotonous to me- and I'm sure you as well. That's not to say there won't ever be another Preview, and I'm sure I'll end up previewing a game or two in Mid-December once Jokanovic has resigned and we've appointed Steve McLaren. In the absence of Previews I'll try and put up a few more "opinion pieces" depending on what's going on.
To give an example of what those may be, look to my "Transfer Window Reviews" or things going way back when my writing was still quite poor like my "Curious Case of Felix Magath" and the one where I compared us to the Top 6 of the Championship at the time now two seasons ago. In short, I want to try and look at things in a more broader sense than I did last season that was almost exclusively Previews and Reviews.
Reviews will obviously continue, although they'll be quite patchy for the first few weeks of the season because I'm in New York while we play Leeds, Cardiff and potentially the 2nd Round of the Carling Cup. As weird as it may sound given the fact I've been doing Reviews from Bristol to Blackpool, I also think the Orient cup game may be a bit of struggle to get a Review for- simply because on those longer journeys I'm able to sit down and do said Review whereas with the Orient game I'll be changing every 20 Minutes. We'll see how that one plays out, anyway- for now let's just jump into the Preview.
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As already said, I'm going to be covering all aspects of Fulham's summer- so consider this section of the Preview the equivalent of my "Transfer Window Review (so far)" that I did last summer.
The Transfer Window
Confirmed Transfers
Ins
Michael Madl (Sturm Graz)
While no transfer is ever a guaranteed success, I think in Madl (relative to what we expect of him) is pretty close to being one. I said in my Transfer Window Preview back in May that there were some concerns how Madl's performance levels dropped toward the end of the season, but you could write them off as him struggling with nagging injuries. While the season's obviously not started yet, based on the Palace Friendly that seems to be the case because he along with Kalas (more later) looked really good together for the most part.
I truly believe that our Centre-Back pairing is going to be the key to our success this season, because while it's seemingly an impossibility that we match or better last seasons goal tally- if we can get our defence to a really good level much like Boro last season we should do quite well and Madl will be a key part of that.
Floyd Ayité (SC Bastia)
The difference between this seasons window and last summer, is simply that I don't know as many of the players that we've brought in. Obviously we had guys like Mattila come in, but in general we were signing players like O'Hara, Pringle and Jazz Richards who I could talk about with an informed opinion. I'm not going to try and bullshit my way through sections of players I don't know anything about, and prior to signing Ayité I'll freely admit he wasn't even on my radar.
However, from what I saw from him in the Palace game- on top of the research (read: Twitter) I've done on him would suggest to me that he's going to be really good signing. The thing nobody was really talking about with Ayité from the Palace game was the fact he played in every attacking position possible pretty much. He started on the Left, and then he pretty much had a free role across the front-line- and when Aluko and Smith came off he stayed as a fixed Striker. He showed a lot of promise in the Palace game, although it does have to be said he looked a bit wasteful at times.
While it's a generalisation of foreign players- it remains to be seen how he can adapt to the schedule and conditions that come with playing in the Championship. But for now, I'm really excited by him- and he looks to be one of our key players in-terms of contributing to our goals tally for next season. I'm not expecting him to get 20+, but if he can reach double figures I'd consider it a good return.
Sone Aluko (Hull)
Aluko's an interesting one to me, for the simple fact that I don't think he or Jokanovic actually knows where he's going to be playing this season. I'd say McCormack's off, and even if he somehow stays he's not going to be ready to play until after the Internationals based on how slowly he's started the last two seasons when he's had a full Pre-Season. That means we're left with Aluko, Woodrow and Smith as our recognised Strikers.
As we saw against Palace, we played a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 with Aluko playing next to/as a #10 behind Smith. However, unless I'm mistaken Aluko's found himself playing wide in some of the other Pre-Season games- and that's where I honestly thought we'd signed him to play. This is a throwback for those of you who've been reading these for a while- the 4-3-3 that I've been banging on about for seemingly forever may finally be happening. All we really need to pull it off is a physical, yet mobile Striker (more later) and then Aluko will find himself out on the wing most likely. As with Ayité, I'm not expecting a massive goal tally from Aluko- but if he can reach double figures I'd see this one as a good signing.
Tomas Kalas (Chelsea- Loan)
I'll be perfectly honest, I've got no idea how we pulled this one off. I thought Kalas was going to sign for Boro, and unless I'm mistaken there was an article less than 24 Hours before his signing was announced where his Agent said Boro were interested. In Kalas we've got someone who's more than proven himself at this level, and based on the Palace game it looks like he's going to continue to prove himself in a Fulham shirt this season.
The only concern I have about Kalas isn't even necessarily "his" problem. I'm fully expecting a Madl/Kalas partnership at Centre-Back. This won't necessarily be a problem against Newcastle with Mitrovic suspended- but the fact Kalas is barely 6ft and Madl's around 5ft 10 can't be ignored. Especially when you factor in that both Kalas and Madl prefer to be the Right-Sided Centre-Back, it does make you question how well a partnership between the two will hold up over the course of a season.
Ideally for me, we'd sign a naturally Left-Sided Centre-Back who's around 6'3-6'4 before the window shuts. If nothing else than to ensure that when we inevitably play a 3/5 at the back at some stage in the season and we need a the "middle" Centre-Back spot filled.
Denis Odoi (Lokeren)
As with Ayité, I'm not going to claim I've been tracking him since he was a kid at Oud-Heverlee Leuven- and I'll stick to what I know and what I've seen.
In Odoi, it looks like we've gotten a Full-Back we've been desperately lacking for a while. In that he's comfortable playing a really high-line, pressing type game- and he's equally comfortable attacking and in general being effective from an attacking standpoint. The Newcastle game in particular will be interesting, because as far as wide-men go there won't be any better than what we come up against this Friday. So basically, if Odoi can give a decent account of himself next Friday- then all of the signs will point to him being a really successful signing for us.
Odoi's versatility will also be a big thing for us. Not necessarily in the immediate term with Fredericks out for as long as he is- but once we approach the Christmas period having someone like Odoi who can play Right and Left-Back could be big for us. Especially if Ryan Sessegnon ends up playing a bigger part in the season than perhaps even he expected to a few weeks ago.
Scott Malone (Cardiff)
The only real obstacle to Ryan Sessegnon getting a run in the team at this moment in time is Scott Malone. Malone is the only one of our signings that in an everyone fit scenario I wouldn't be expecting to start. I think the simple fact that we sent Jazz Richards the other way in the deal for him can sum up the level to which he's at. However, I'm not going to completely write him off before I've seen him play- and he's likely to be thrown in at the deep end next Friday against Matt Ritchie so let's hope he can keep his head above water.
David Button (Brentford)
It's funny in a way, in my Transfer Window Preview- I talked about wanting Daniel Bentley if we were to be in the market for a Keeper. As it is, Brentford signed Bentley- which in turn enabled us to sign Button. I think the best way to describe Button, from what I've seen of him is "solid". That's not a bad thing, in fact I'd argue it's a great thing. Having a reliable Keeper to bail us out when needed, and to also (hopefully) raise the game of Bettinelli and Joronen- which in Joronen's case we've already seen evidence of was all that was really needed from a Goalkeeper signing. Keeper's pretty much the one area I'm not worried about for this season, because Bettinelli and as we saw against Palace even Joronen could easily fill in for him if needed.
Kevin McDonald (Wolves)
Not counting Michael Madl, because he was basically a done deal as it was- Kevin McDonald is the one player (so far) who I said I wanted in my Transfer Window Preview that we actually went and signed. Although given some recent reports, it may not be the last. McDonald is a signing I'm really happy with, especially for the rumoured 1.25 million that we got him for (damn "undisclosed" fees).
McDonald is a key part to the 4-3-3 jigsaw puzzle that I believe Jokanovic wants to complete, simply for the fact he's a relatively solid player defensively- but he can also do a job linking play and can pick a pass out relatively easy. McDonald could turn into a key player for us this season, and if he can regularly match or get close to the two competitive performances he's had at Craven Cottage so far- then he may well turn into our signing of the season.
Outs
Dan Burn (Wigan)
I'm not actually going to slag Dan Burn off, for the simple fact that he's guaranteed to turn into peak Beckenbauer when we play Wigan- and will probably "do a Steven Caulker" and score against us multiple times. With that said, I am finding some of the reactions to Burn's less than ideal performances in Pre-Season with Wigan hilarious.
Kostas Mitroglou (Benfica)
We all knew it was coming, although it's still a shame to me that we never got to see Mitroglou anywhere near his best. In an alternate universe, Mitroglou stays fit upon arrival, scores the goals needed to stay up and everyone lives happily ever after.
Shaun Hutchinson (Millwall)
I actually think this was a really good signing for Millwall, and I would be saying the same thing if Dan Burn had dropped down to League 1. I still believe that Hutchinson has the potential to be a decent Championship Centre-Back, he just needs to be coached by the right person to work the mistakes and rashness out of his game. Whether that's Neil Harris, only time will tell- but I do think he's a really good signing for Millwall.
Alex Kacaniklic (FC Nantes)
I won't necessarily be keeping active tabs on Kaca, but I'm really interested to see how he performs for Nantes. I don't think it's even really in question that he completely went off the rails as far as development goes with us- but that also doesn't mean it's an impossibility that he can get back on them and charge ahead with his career. I personally hope he does, because whatever else can be said about him- you could tell he really liked and cared about Fulham.
Jamie O'Hara (Free)
I will say I'm quite surprised that O'Hara's not found himself a new club yet, despite my complete opposition to us giving him a new contract. O'Hara wasn't a complete write-off last season, and especially if he were to drop down to League 1 with someone like Charlton, Bolton or Sheffield United I'd expect him to be a success. He may just be holding out for a Championship club though, I don't really know. I've also seen a thing where he's been linked with an MLS team- so it's just a case of sitting back on this one.
Andy Lonergan (Wolves)
I was surprised by this one, because I didn't think Wolves were in desperate need of a Keeper with Ikeme- and I didn't think we'd necessarily want to get rid of him. I'm especially interested to see the role he plays now that Wolves have got new owners, a new manager and big plans which apparently include signing Anderson Talisca for 18 Million Quid.
Off the top of my head, the only other "super agent" type team in the Football League which Wolves are seemingly building was Doncaster a few years ago when they signed El-Hadji Diouf, Pascal Chimbonda and Habib Beye among others. I believe they went down that season, so Wolves are definitely going to be an interesting one this season.
Emerson Hyndman (Bournemouth)
This is where the discussion gets a bit more painful. I can't remember if the compensation we got for Hyndman is known, no matter what we got there's about a 99% chance it wasn't enough. I will say I'm happy Hyndman took a decision based solely on improving himself as a player, rather than a certain Patrick Roberts- because he's taken the step up to Premier League level and that step's taken him under the umbrella of a manager who'll most likely give him chances this coming season. You can complain about the money we received for him, but you can't really begrudge Hyndman going to Bournemouth- because it's a very good move for him.
Moussa Dembele (Celtic)
Whether I think Dembele's move to Celtic was a good move for him entirely depends on Celtic progressing past Astana and then their final Champions League Qualifying Round. If Celtic get into the Champions League Group Stages fair enough, but if they don't- then I wonder if he may regret not moving to a team like Bournemouth, moving abroad (I think Galatasary were linked, although he's probably happy he didn't go there) or even staying with Fulham.
Especially with the way the McCormack situation's unfolded, whomever we sign to be our main striker is going to be playing every game against (with respect to the SPL) better opponents than the SPL can offer week-in week-out. Dembele would've been absolutely perfect for the hypothetical 4-3-3 that I'm talking about/expecting to come into fruition- so in that regard it's a shame he didn't stay. I will say it's not a "bad" move for Dembele in the sense that his value's not going to go down by scoring 15-20 Goals in the SPL, and despite his bad start in Europe for them he will. Whether or not his value increases to the level it could by playing in a more competitive league like the Championship, we'll never know.
It also does have to be said, Dembele's goals are infinitely easier to replace than McCormack's. Dembele is a good player, with the potential to be a top one- but with that said McCormack does make his striker partner look better than they perhaps are. We've seen it with Smith, Rodallega and Dembele in the last two seasons. Do I wish Moussa would've stayed, at least for one more year now we've finally got a Manager who's got a clue? Absolutely. But, I'm not going to mourn the loss of him and we just have to hope our new signings can make up for the goals lost in his departure.
Maarten Stekelenburg (Everton)
I was genuinely amazed that we managed to get an actual fee for him. Actual, real life money that you can buy stuff with. As of writing this, Everton haven't signed another Keeper- so it's not an "out there" statement to suggest that Stekelenburg may even be starting for them in just under two weeks time (although it'd probably be Robles). That to me is just absolutely mental, because he was awful for us- to the point where he was dropped for Stockdale and since then he's been 2nd choice for a season at Monaco and then been largely unimpressive at Southampton. How he's found himself in a position where he may be starting in the Premier League is beyond the realm of comprehension to me.
Ben Pringle (Preston)
Depending on the wages he was on while he was here, and how much of those wages Ipswich covered- we may have actually made a profit on Pringle. So there's one positive at least. I will say it's a shame it didn't work out with Pringle, because I don't think he's a write-off at this level- he was just simply not the right fit for us.
Jazz Richards (Cardiff)
I found it hilarious when this transfer was rumoured, for the simple fact that both Fulham and Cardiff fans were celebrating Richards and Malone's respective departures- while also not trying to write off their impending signing. I said in my "Squad Assessment" post, I wasn't nearly as harsh on Richards as some people were- but his game at Brentford last April put him in a situation where he could only leave and there was absolutely zero chance of him ever playing in a Fulham shirt again.
It does have to be said that Cardiff have signed the key man in Wales reaching the Semi-Finals of the Euros, so they've probably come off the better from the deal. Jazz's 5 minute masterclass against Slovakia will live long in the memory.
Fernando Amorebieta (Sporting Gijon)
Amorebieta was such a polarising player that everyone had an opinion on him one way or the other. Personally, I rated him (to a point)- and especially with the Centre-Back situation we've currently got him being an option would've been good in my opinion. However, it is what it is- and especially with him being rumoured to have asked to leave he isn't of such importance that we should've tried to hang onto him at all cost.
George Williams (MK Dons- Loan)
"I do think he'll be here next season, but I've also got a weird feeling that he may go back to MK Dons as they try and come back up next season."
That's from my Squad Assessment post back in May, and yes I'm quite proud of the fact I called it. This was an interesting one, not because I think he was necessarily going to be a key player for us this coming season- but we're still a bit light as far as Wingers go- and he would've been a good option to have in the squad in my opinion. While I don't like dealing in "ifs", if Ayité gets injured we're either going to have to change system to a 3/5 at the back or play Sean Kavanagh as our Left-Winger as it stands. Neither of those are ideal options given the players we've currently got.
Rumoured Transfers
That's that for the confirmed transfers, but with the Transfer Window comes Transfer Rumours- and there's quite a few to sift through on the "Ins" and "Outs" front with there being one big one in particular that's still unresolved at the time of writing this.
Ins
Nemanja Nikolic (Legia Warsaw)
A Striker's our big requirement at this moment in time, and given the fact I advocated for signing him back in May- and we're actually being linked with him I thought this'd be a good way to start. If we sign Nikolic, I'd be over the moon. If nothing else than for the fact that I said I wanted it to happen and it did. I'll be confirmed as Fulham's best scout in other words.
Nikolic's goalscoring record is quite extraordinary, albeit in less competitive leagues. However, as I said in my Transfer Window Preview when discussing Jonathan Soriano- if he even produced half the goal return he did for in this case Legia Warsaw last season he'd be a successful signing in my eyes. A foreign signing is never a guarantee of goals. When we signed McCormack a few years ago we knew we were guaranteed 15 Goals as a minimum from him every season. However, players like Nikolic just score goals- no matter what situation they're put in. It can't be undersold how important a player like him would be to us this coming season.
Steve Mounié (Montpellier)
This signing would be an interesting one, especially with names like Nikolic linked- given our current situation paying 6 Million quid for a 21 Year Old who's just had his first full season in senior football would be a risk I'm not sure I'd be willing to take. If we were to sign Mounié AND Nikolic (or Chris Martin or someone else who'd be guaranteed a good goal return), then I'd be over the moon- but as a singular signing I'm not so sure.
Eddy Silvestre (Real Murcia)
This signing sounds like one straight out of Football Manager. We're signing a 23 Year Old, 6 ft 3 Attacking Mid from Azerbaijan. You may be able to guess, but I don't really know a lot about him. If the rumoured fee (200k) is anything to go by, he'll probably end up being a squad/rotation player. He'll definitely be an interesting option off the bench, it does have to be said- and I don't think the worries some people have with foreign signings about the physicality of the Championship would be appropriate with him.
Richard Keogh (Derby)
I thought I'd talk about this one specifically, because of three Derby players linked (Keogh, Martin and Russell) I'd say Keogh's the one that's most likely to go through. Although I'd take Martin in a heartbeat as well, for obvious reasons. I'm not actually sure what to make of Keogh to be honest, because while I'm not saying he's a bad player- he's benefitted from being in a Derby team with a really solid structure and having good players around him. In a way, you could make the argument that Keogh's similar to the position Stearman was in when we signed him last summer- except Keogh's not had any Premier League experience.
All three Derby players are interesting ones to look at, because we could do a lot worse with the McCormack money- but unless Pearson's deemed them not good enough to be regular starters I can't see why they'd want to leave Derby for us.
There's probably a few more "Ins", but I thought those 4 names covered all of the links I've seen and the positions we still need to fill. I do think we need to be in for a Left-Back as well, unless Slavisa's been so impressed with Ryan Sessegnon that he wants to give him a run in the team.
Outs
Ross McCormack
Yep, McCormack has played his last game in a Fulham shirt. Or so it would seem. Frankly, I'm all for him moving on at this stage. It's funny, because for someone who's not a Fulham fan- and probably for quite a few Fulham fans the fact I'd be happy we're selling pretty much the only reason we're not playing AFC Wimbledon next season and one of the best players in the Championship would be mind-blowing.
The simple fact is, McCormack clearly doesn't want to be here. He renegotiated his contract in January to presumably include an "Avoid Relegation" fee to get himself a big bonus come May- and now he's got every penny he could out of us he's off to greener pastures and another signing fee at Norwich. I probably sound a bit bitter with that, but the fact is it's true- and you know what fair play to McCormack. At the end of the day, loyalty in Football is now a foreign concept. Footballers are now businessmen capable of making millions of pounds, so if McCormack wants to get every single penny he can before he hangs up the boots then more power to him.
Added on to that, McCormack just doesn't really "fit" in Slavisa's system. He can't play up-front on his own, because he drops deep way too often- and all of the signings we've made point to Slavisa wanting a 1 up-front system that's capable of quick counter-attacks with quick wingers and someone in the box to finish off said counter-attacks. McCormack just isn't really made for that type of play. He's an old school 4-4-2 guy, and there's nothing wrong with that. Especially at Norwich where he'd likely be paired with Cameron Jerome and just a generally better team chances are he'll contribute to even more goals than he did with us last season.
Losing McCormack is not the end of the world. From an outsiders perspective, losing McCormack and Dembele may make us favourites for relegation even. However, even with losing Ross- I'm still fully confident in the teams ability to get goals. They may just not all be coming from two players this season. It also can't be underestimated that we're getting rid of him seemingly with a Month of the window left. I maintain to this day that losing Dembele to Spurs on Deadline Day a few years back was what really set the wheels in motion for our relegation- so getting McCormack out the door early is a good thing and hopefully we can get his replacment(s) in ASAP.
Richard Stearman
I saw the links, and Wolves and Derby supposedly enquiring about him. I doubt Stearman's leaving, because although I don't think Slavisa necessarily fancies him to start every week- Stearman wouldn't have been made Captain for quite a chunk of Pre-Season if he didn't have a future at Fulham. He's a valuable character to have in the Dressing Room, and if we can really sort out our defensive structure he could even turn into the Centre-Back we thought we'd signed last summer. I don't care what anyone says, you could've thrown Boateng, Hummels, Ramos, Thiago Silva or whomever else into that defence at the start of last season and they'd have all come off badly from it.
Nikolay Bodurov
We've actually done really well in getting rid of all of the deadweight efficiently this summer, which makes the fact Bodurov's still here quite surprising. I think I read that he was going somewhere but then his wage demands scuppered the deal. So in short, he (understandably) can't get a deal even close to the one Magath gave him and he's trying to get as much money as possible out of the situation he's found himself in. I'd expect him to leave close to Deadline Day for that reason.
Sakari Mattila
Mattila's not been in any of our Pre-Season stuff unless I'm mistaken, so it's a case of "when" and not "if" he goes- or at least it is in the eyes of Slavisa.
Matt Smith
There haven't been many links with him, but I'm fully expecting Smith to be off before September. We just need to find replacements for Dembele & McCormack's goals before we allow him to do so. Fun fact, I reckon the last three goals I've seen Smith score have been from a combined distance of less than 20 Yards. You had the Cardiff one from literally less than 1 Yard out, his header against Forest in the 6 Yard box and then the one against Palace on Saturday.
That's actually that from the rumoured Transfers front, because as I said before- we've actually done a really efficient job of cutting all of the deadweight and players surplus to requirements prior to the season. A lot of praise has to go to those in charge for that fact.
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New Home Kit Reaction
Moving on from the Transfers, which were obviously going to take up the vast majority of this Preview. I actually quite like the new home shirt to be honest. I didn't like it when it was first announced, although I admittedly soured to it because we did one of those bullshit "teasers" for it. However, seeing it at the Palace game and the way it looked- I've actually warmed to it. It's not as good as last seasons, because the only thing wrong with last seasons was we didn't actually have "White and Black" as the colours. But on the whole I do quite like it. I'm actually tempted to buy it to be honest.
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Expectations & Predictions
After the last 4 seasons, where Relegation has been a real worry- I'd honestly be happy if we got through a season where we weren't looking over our shoulder and staring into the abyss of the league below us for a change. I will say this now, I'll be surprised if we end up in another proper relegation battle like we were in last season- where relegation looked almost like a certainty at one point (Bristol City). It's definitely possible we flirt with relegation, but I doubt we'll be right in the mix again.
I've actually got relatively high hopes for this coming season, which you perhaps wouldn't expect given how the last couple of years have been. I'm always a realist with Fulham, and I freely acknowledge that the Play-Offs are step beyond us this season. As with Relegation, depending on how we replace McCormack and how quickly Slavisa's philosophy takes to the players we could flirt with the Play-Offs at times. However, at the time of writing this we lack depth in some key areas- and to be blunt it's Fulham. We don't really do that whole "winning" thing regularly anymore.
It's a "let's wait and see" type season from a prediction standpoint with Fulham- but I'll predict we finish somewhere between 10th and 14th. Possibly lower if the players all decide they want to go on holiday early like they did after we beat Cardiff last season.
I'll also predict now that our "Signing of the Season" of the players we've currently brought in will be Tomas Kalas and our "Player of the Season" will be either Tom Cairney or a Striker we haven't brought in yet *cough* Nikolic *cough*. I'll also go a bit "out there" and say that the chances of Slavisa lasting the season are fairly small in my opinion. He's made his frustrations with our recruitment known, which has probably caused some tensions between him and other people in key positions at the club. So if we enter a sticky patch, that we will at some point given our squad- I could see us pulling the trigger on him. Or he simply walks off in frustration.
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Conclusion
I think I said this at this stage last season as well, but it's hard to imagine this season that's fast approaching being any worse than the one we've just had. Despite what I've just said about Slavisa, he's without a doubt in my mind the right man for us- and with him hopefully we can finally get some positivity back around the Cottage and start looking up the table rather than down. Heres to a hopefully successful 16/17 campaign guys.
Thanks for reading as always, as I said the Reviews will be a bit patchy in August- but I can say with certainty that there'll be a Newcastle Review on Friday Night where no doubt all of our Pre-Season optimism will have been decimated by a 5-0 defeat in-front of the Sky Cameras. Think positive though, it'll be up in time for you to read while there's that boring bit of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics where it takes 2 Hours for every team to enter the stadium. Thanks again for reading, hopefully you've enjoyed this remarkably long Preview- and to borrow from the end of a similar post this time last year "Let's face it, it can't get any worse- can it?"
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