Its a simple question, and one that needs answering sooner rather than later with our next 5 Games being tricky for different reasons. Possibly the most vital is the Millwall game we have coming up next week- because it could open up an 8 Point gap between us and the Relegation Zone, or it could suck us right into it with a 2 Point Gap.
The fact is, with the exception of the First Half against Forest we simply haven't been good enough since Christmas. The way I see it we have three key areas we need to vastly improve in- Defence, Midfield and Attack. Its more frustrating than anything to see how we've regressed as a team since Christmas- and we've fallen into the same trap we did under "him" with trying to play ridiculously fancy football, but having no end product to show for it. I'd rather we had 25% possession and won, than had 65% possession and lost- as I'm sure every single person associated with Fulham apart from Kit would agree with.
The facts are what the facts are, and the Diamond simply doesn't work for us- other teams have cottoned on to how we play and have realised there's very little protection for the Full-Backs and have exploited that. You only have to look at how players like Saidy Janko have had field days against us to see this. As such I think we need to go to a traditional "4-4" formation to give the Full-Backs some protection- that with respect, they need. The current back-line needs breaking up as soon as possible, Stafylidis, Bodurov, Hutchinson, ? is getting more leaky as every game goes on, and more holes are starting to be exposed. I still rate Bodurov as our best Defender despite having a rough couple of weeks- as such I'd be keeping him in the team. While Hutchinson has improved vastly, he's not calm enough in my opinion- especially when we have relatively inexperienced Full-Backs. I'm not sure how far off Fernando Amorebieta is from a First Team Return- but when he does, I'd bring him in as our Left-Sided Centre-Back with Bodurov playing on the Right. I don't see much value in keeping Stafyldis at Left-Back because to put it bluntly from a defensive standpoint his performances are too varied, this would mean Sean Kavanagh coming in at Left-Back and he'll be a lot more solid defensively.
As I've already said, In my opinion we should be going for traditional "4-4" formation- and that means playing with a Right-Winger and a Left-Winger. The Right-Winger should be Kacaniklic in my opinion, I think we've slowly progressed him into a Right-Sided player since his return from Loan, and with him cutting in on his Left Foot. The Left-Winger is more interesting from my Point of View- and it'll be solely dependant on who we're playing. In the immediate term- i.e. Millwall, I'd be playing McCormack as a Left-Mid. While thats far from ideal from a selection point of view, his Work Rate means he can be suited to the role- and I think his offensive talents will be able to shine through coming off the wing, because with the other selections I think he'll get more space. Scott Parker is a limited midfielder- make no mistake about it, that said he is still a quality player- and more than deserves his place in the team. The other Central-Midfielder is another interesting debate. I'm not sure what Tim Hoogland's fitness is like, but I can only assume given he was being touted as close to a return before Ipswich- and with another week passing; especially in the Midfield Enforcer role I'd be having him play I think he'd be good for 60 minutes. This will mean dropping Lasse Vigen Christensen- and while anybody who reads these blogs will know I'm a big fan of LVC he hasn't been good enough since he's come back into the team in my opinion.
I personally think we should be playing a 4-4-1-1, this'll mean Bryan Ruiz coming in and playing behind the Striker. This is the role he plays for Costa Rica and its a role we know he can flourish in, in a Fulham shirt as well- you only have to look at the Midfield we were playing at the back end of the 11/12 season of Duff, Diarra, Dembele, Kacaniklic; Bryan in the 4-4-1-1. In my opinion- and I think even the most hardened of Bryan detractors have to admit this by now, Bryan is key to the success or failure of the team- therefore we should build our team around him, because getting the best out of him will be getting the best out of the team. The Striker playing in front of Bryan is pretty straightforward- with Rodallega coming in.
Team (1)- 4-4-1-1
Bettinelli
Richards, Bodurov, Amorebieta, Kavanagh
Kacaniklic, Hoogland, Parker, McCormack
Bryan
Rodallega
This formation can easily be converted into a 4-2-3-1.
Team (2)- 4-2-3-1
Bettinelli
Richards, Bodurov, Amorebieta, Kavanagh
Hoogland, Parker
Kacaniklic, Bryan, McCormack
Rodallega
If Bryan's fitness isn't quite there yet- this selection gets even more straightforward in my opinion.
Team (3)- 4-4-1-1
Bettinelli
Richards, Bodurov, Amorebieta, Kavanagh
Kacaniklic, Hoogland, Parker, Stafylidis
McCormack
Rodallega
However, key to Championship success is being able to rotate- and having different options. For example if we are going to go more defensive I'd be playing this;
Team (4)- 4-4-1-1
Bettinelli
Richards, Bodurov, Amorebieta, Kavanagh
Tunnicliffe, Hoogland, Parker, Stafylidis
Bryan
McCormack
and then if we wanted to go more offensive we could change the 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1 into a 4-3-3 with Kacaniklic and McCormack going further up and having their resting position more up with Rodallega.
While there isn't a defined formula to winning and success, the 4 Teams I've laid out would definitely be more capable of picking up points- and would give us a balance I simply didn't see against Ipswich yesterday. For me Hoogland and Parker will be key to the success of this team- we've played far too narrowly as of late, but I think the combination of Hoogland and Parker have enough about them so players around them don't get sucked into the Centre-Circle as a consequence of being overrun.
While I'm not on the "Kit Out" bandwagon, if we lose to Millwall we'll be firmly in the Relegation Battle- and similar to the Rene Meulensteen sacking around this time last year while I wasn't necessarily on board with it, when you look at the results you do understand why it might have been seen that way. So if Kit does get sacked- consider this my job application, I'll be holding my first Press Conference soon.
Thanks for reading as always, what I've said in this blog isn't rocket science- I'm sure if I can see where we need to improve someone who's being paid to do just that shouldn't be struggling too much. While I accept this is from an outsider looking in's perspective I don't foresee anything that would be immediately an issue. Anyway I'll happily listen to anyone with differing opinions, and feel free to give me them- thanks again for reading- and lets hope we see a marked improvement at the New Den.
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