Why Martin Jol Needs To Find A Balance At Fulham
I’ve just watched the first half of the Fulham – Manchester United game and I am bored of seeing Fulham playing this badly now.
I rarely find a football match boring that includes an abundance of wonderful goals in the opening thirty minutes of play, but this situation at Fulham seems to be a demonstration for the introduction of the mercy rule in football. I’ve never seen a wounded animal like this Fulham side and, when they’re playing against a team who aren’t really setting the world alight despite being expected to, it really does pain me to see the Cottagers slide faster and faster into a situation where big old Martin Jol will be undone and inevitably sacked due to a poor transfer window.
I refuse to believe you can fill a team full of flairy technical players with a non-existent work rate and expect to do well in the Premier League, which is shrouded in a “run about a lot and you’re a good footballer” mentality. This mentality has lead to an influx of footballers who have just got a tank full of gas and will run themselves into the ground, with Stephen Hunt being the archetype of this stereotype.
Maybe on the continent Fulham’s new philosophy would be more effective, perhaps Serie A (more likely B at this rate thinking about it) where it’s more tactically astute and played at a slower pace meaning Sidwell and Parker could seem like whippets. The typical Fulham lineup includes three midfielders behind one striker, whilst the wide midfielders don’t normally tend to be legitimate wingers and are typically number tens played on the flank. This leads to three of the same players effectively doing the combined defensive duties of none of them; there is no doubling up with fullbacks or pressing as they all seem to be deployed in a free role.
Unfortunately, Sidders and Scotty P will be putting up with this until January at least, because I don’t think Martin Jol, who seems to be the most soft-centred man on the planet, can change the mentality of Taarabt, Ruiz and Berbatov for love nor money.
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