2019 January Transfer Window

I thought it might be a little early to start this, but no! Looking back the January transfer window threads were often started in October. There won't be any official business conducted until January 1, but nothing can stop us from complaining/speculating/wishing now.

I don't think Fulham is too bad up front, it is in the back where things are a mess (did I just compare Fulham to a mullet?). With that in mind my January priorities look like this:

1. CB to pair with Mawson
2. Defensive midfielder to replace Seri/Anguissa
3. RB to replace Christie/Fosu-Mensah

Getting more depth at any of those positions along with LB would be good too.

It may be because of the players he has, but I've been surprised that under Ranieri the RB/LB still push forward so often. On counter-attacks this leads to the same problem we had at points in the Championship: the players who remain on defense have trouble figuring out who's providing coverage and where. Transitioning between a four and three-person back line as the game flows has been a source of occasional trouble ever since Jokanovic arrived. In the Premiere league this has become a weekly occurrence. I think that having a defensive leader in the midfield to provide coverage and direction would be a huge help IF Ranieri is going to continue to play this way. It is possible he'll bring in less offensively minded, but more defensive RB/LBs to have a less dynamic, but more consistent back four.

Making drastic changes on the offensive side would be counter productive. I like Mitrovic/Schurrle/Sessegnon/Cairney as a front four, but with Cairney and now Sessegnon suffering health issues the need for good supporting players is clear. I'm not impressed with any of the back-up players now, so if there is an opportunity to replace Vietto, Ayite, Kamara, or Kebano then Fulham should go for it.

 

That might be a winning lineup - especially since we'd be playing 12 v 11

I don't care for Odoi or Le Marchand as anything other than backups. I do think Chambers has played well, but I'd like to have another defensively minded midfielder to join him.

 

The crazy thing here is that Chambers is - at best - the third choice at Arsenal.

My question is whether we can get Premier League quality (and preferably experience) on a permanent basis. Here is the list of permanent signings from the summer and their Premier League experience.
Seri - none
Anguissa - none
Mitrovic - 10 starts, 18 subs
Mawson - 65 starts
Bryan - none
Fabri - none
Le Marchand - none

I would argue that none of these guys have shown consistent Premier League quality. Sure, most of them have had their moments, but none have stood out as a historically significant signing.

It seems that our loanees (at least Schurrle, Rico, Chambers) have produced better quality, but what to do when they return to their parent clubs? And why do Fulham have so many loanees? From my quick check, we have 5, Wolves have 3, no other team has more than 2, and most have 1 or none.

Of course with our current position in the table, it may be nearly impossible to persuade quality permanent signings...

 

Based on that post HatterDon, I have to wonder then, why have both managers for Fulham put Seri in a defensive midfielder role? He has failed in that position. A number of times he has made poor choices in the defensive half that lead to turnovers and opposition goals. When I watch him off the ball he sometimes seems confused about who to cover and he ends up in no-mans-land not pressuring the ball carried, not in a passing lane, and not marking anyone. He's not suited to the role he is in now. Maybe its because Anguissa hasn't worked out as hoped, but if Seri wasn't intended to be a defensive midfielder then they should have worked on getting someone else for that role.

I think the issue isn't if the right amount of money was spent, it was why did we get so many people who didn't pan out - both signings and loans? Anguissa, Seri, Fosu-Mensah, Le Marchand, Vietto, and Fabri have failed to impress, that's just over half the signings. Did Fulham just get unlucky or are they poor at finding talent?

I agree with the conclusion of the post that recruiting isn't the most important factor in Fulham's poor first half of the season.

 

The Tom Cairney to Newcastle for JonJo Shelvey stories appear to have been quashed today by Rafa Benitez, but his tenure is in jeopardy after failing to beat the then bottom of the table club at home (us), then getting waxed at Anfield 4-nil. But it does seem that Ranieri doesn’t rate #10 for his 2019 plan, so I guess we’ll see what happens. The days before the window opens are ripe for lazy British journalists to pick the low hanging fruit of appearance and conjecture and try to sell it as fact. Unless they can hack Tony Khan’s computer (or tap up his assistant(s), we’ll have to wait until the big boys finish their business before we get into ours. I do know this: relying too much on numbers shortchanges the mystery of the human element. To me, numbers in Ligue 1 mean squat in the PL. Right now, we need to concentrate solely on defending player qualities, at EVERY position. Although we’ve improved, we have to whittle the concessions. Mitro has been more valuable on opposition corners than almost anything else. We need better 2-way players in January to compete at this level. The only numbers that matter are wins, losses and draws.

 

Pulisic to scum.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...isic-borussia-dortmund?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

Our old buddy Dan Burn is moving this month. And we may see him at the end of this month at the Cottage. He signed with Brighton during the summer, but was loaned back to Wigan for the first half of the season. His swan song against the Swans (see what I did there) was ignominious, as he headed in their first for an own goal, then lost his man for the equalizer in a 2-2 draw at the Liberty Stadium. But hey, I'm sure things will work out for him on the coast...

https://www.brightonandhoveindepend...s-to-competition-in-defence-hughton-1-8754382

 

Where's the angry banging-head emoji when you need it?

 

2 matches left in Jan. and nada in the Window...sigh

 

Enter Babel. Hopefully this is the attacking depth that is needed to cover (or better yet complement) Mitrovic.

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2019/january/15/ryan-babel-signs-for-fulham

 

Basically swapping out AK for Babel. He appears to bring a degree of creativity in attack and out wide that the Whites have too often lacked this campaign.

 

Stephen Humphrys has left for Southend United. I first suspected loan, but it's permanent.

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2019/january/19/humphrys-departs
https://www.echo-news.co.uk/sport/1...led-to-bring-in-stephen-humphrys-from-fulham/

 

So is the strategy to wait and see if we beat Brighton and have a glimmer of hope? Was optimistic that we had a legit shot at Cahill & Drinkwater, but now expecting a couple guys we’ve never heard of added on the 31st.

 

Never know what has happened behind the scenes but the visual on this window is bad.

 

With just a few hours to go, this transfer window is...

 

Kamara is gone on loan for the remainder of the season to Turkey's Yeni Malatyaspor (currently #3 in the top level Turkish league).

Really? You folks a better people than me. I would have said "The Club wishes that the door doesn't hit him on the arse on the way out."

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2019/january/31/kamara-departs

 

As the late, great baseball man Branch Rickey used to say, "an addition by subtraction."