Marco Silva, the new head coach at Fulham FC, has the chance to break with tradition. Not one of his predecessors has been able to take the team into the top tier and then build on that success.
In 1949 Frank Osborne did not fancy the responsibility so the club brought in a new manager (who struggled). A decade later Bedford Jezzard after a promising start gave up in frustration at the lack of support from his directors. In recent years Slavisa Jokanovic and Scott Parker have experienced success promptly followed by embarrassing failure. Even Jean Tigana with his talent and Al Fayed's millions seemed to lose his way.
The players at Marco's disposal will be mostly familiar to Fulham fans. The five men featured on the remaining months of the 2021 official calendar (Joe Bryan, Bobby de Cordova-Reid, Harrison Reed, Antonee Robinson and Josh Onomah) are still with the club though only Antonee was in the starting line-up for Saturday's home friendly against Charlton. The sole newcomer on show was goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga, the Argentinian formerly with Spurs.
The fixture was watchable without producing much excitement. Fulham, marshalled by skipper Tim Ream, defended so confidently that Paulo saw very little action. The whole team enlivened the usual possession football with some elegant passing, but the front three of Fabio Carvalho, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Neeskens Kebano made little impact for most of the match. The small crowd present tried in vain to encourage Mitro. What has happened to this once prolific scorer?
The only goal came on the half hour when Tyrese Francois's canny reverse pass allowed Carvalho to outwit the Charlton keeper Craig MacGillivray. The scorer thus confirmed the good impression that he had made at the tail end of last season and the 21-year-old Tyrese showed real promise.
In the second half Silva introduced Harry Wilson, the Welsh winger signed from Liverpool for £12 million. He was followed onto the pitch by Joe Bryan, Alfie Mawson and Jean Michael Seri. Charlton, visibly tiring, offered scoring chances to Wilson and then Bryan. The first was off target, the second drew a rare save from MacGillivray.
Almost inevitably there were no more goals. A home victory is welcome, even in a friendly against a team from a lower tier. Marco Silva has inherited a large squad; in an earlier friendly against Southampton he put Onomah and goalkeeper Fabri in the starting line-up and brought on Max Le Marchand, Cyrus Christie and Abou Kamara during the match. He will doubtless sign new players in August, hence he will need time to create a winning formation.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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