Could David Moyes Save Fulham’s Season?

Fulham were probably expecting to have garnered more than just five points in their opening nine Premier League games, especially after they spent more than £100m in the summer transfer window.

Their latest defeat, to fellow newcomers Cardiff City, has seen The Cottagers fall into the dreaded relegation zone.

The recent negative results have led to the press speculating that Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic could just have two games to save his job at Craven Cottage. They haven’t won a league match since August!

It’s easy to see where the troubles start for the fifty year old gaffer and his team. Simply put they are conceding far too many goals. They’ve conceded twenty-five times, six goals more than any other team in England’s top flight.

The Fulham defence often look like deers caught in the headlights. The full-backs can venture forward too many times and the centre of defence often looks weak and they can get overrun too easily.

Before Saturday, Cardiff had scored just four all season and then they scored four in one game against Fulham. That shows you just how big the defensive issue is at Craven Cottage.

So let’s say that The Cottagers decide to replace their gaffer, who could come in and turn things around?

One name that could pique the interest of the Fulham board could be former Everton, Manchester United and West Ham United boss David Moyes.

It might seem like they are just picking one of the old boys but in fairness that could be what the club needs right now; a man that knows the league and who managed to turn things around with The Hammers last season.

Moyes took over from Slaven Bilic with West Ham sitting in the relegation zone, he departed at the end of the season leaving them sitting in thirteenth position.

One thing Moyes brought was more of a team structure. Players knew what was required of them and the Scotsman kept things simple. That’s probably what Fulham need at the moment.

The Cottagers do have some good foundations to build on, much like West Ham did last term.

In terms of goals scored, Fulham are the eleventh best scorers so far in this campaign. Only seven other teams are taking more shots at goal and Jokanovic’s men are also in the top half of the table when it comes to possession and passing success stats.

In Aleksandar Mitrovic they’ve got a strong physical focal point up-top. The Serbian striker has scored five goals in his opening nine league appearances.

Andre Schurrle is an forward with plenty of top flight experience and he makes intelligent runs that can lead to goals, the German has struck four times already this season.

Fulham have one of England’s top exciting young prospects in Ryan Sessegnon. He’s a wide player that brings plenty of energy and can provide key passes for the frontline.

Midfielder Jean Michael Seri seems to be a class act. He boasts good passing stats; he has an 87.7% passing success rate and makes on average sixty-four passes per game. The former Nice man has scored once from midfield and has created two assists.

Again it’s in defence that the problems arise.

They aren’t making enough tackles and only Burnley and Brighton have conceded more shots at goal. The Cottagers aren’t bad when it comes to conceding fouls but in truth they could be smarter and commit more fouls to break up play more when opponents are attacking them!

As Slavisa Jokanovic knows himself, they need to vastly improve the defensive backline. They need to be toughened up and become more street wise in the Premier League.

Now whether it will be Slavisa that can turn things around remains to be seen. If he can’t get positive results against AFC Bournemouth and Huddersfield Town then I’d imagine that could mean he’s for the chop.

If that’s the case then maybe it could be David Moyes’ chance to once again show he can do a job in the English Premier League.

2 Responses to “Could David Moyes Save Fulham’s Season?”

  1. Fuck Moyes. No way he’s taking over Fulham. He’s the shittiest manager there is

  2. Fulham should have signed players with premiership experience it’s the hardest league in the world.Fulham played some great football last season but the premiership is a different ball game.At the moment they have no defence and even if they scored 4 I am not sure they would win

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