Watching Scottie Grow

I agree Don. I came into the season knowing the best I could hope for is not having to be relegated. My expectations have not changed.

 

Here is what I said back on September 28 after Fulham was beaten soundly by Aston Villa for the third straight loss of the season:

At that point Fulham hadn't yet brought in Andersen, Adarabioyo, Aina, Loftus-Cheek, Lemina, or Lookman (Robinson was on the bench, but had not played yet for Fulham). Immediately prior to the comment above I made the argument that Fulham's troubles were due to poor player recruitment. I said "Fulham doesn't have good enough players for the Premier League and that isn't likely to change in the remaining week of the transfer window." Well it did change. Six guys were brought in who have started since then, four of them are regulars now. Combined with Robinson's introduction, essentially Fulham has changed half the squad since the Aston Villa match. Those were significant and positive changes that I did not think would happen. They should have happened way earlier, but better late than never.

So, I'm willing to give Parker a chance now because we have seen signs that Fulham might be good enough to stay up with its current make up. The odds still aren't great, but they seem a whole lot better than two months ago.

Sadly, while looking up info for this comment, I realized I had missed Burnley's win back on Monday that put Fulham back into the relegation zone.

 

I didn’t like his tactics and formation the first four weeks when they were decidedly overmatched, but he’s gotten them to be much more competitive since reinforcements arrived. I’m also not a fan of his toothless possession style of play.

But the decision shouldn’t center around keeping the team up. It should be based on who can guide them to a bounce back promotion next year, and Parker has already shown he can do that. As long as the team can stay competitive, regardless of result, I’d stick with Scott and build some stability. Who knows, maybe his approach evolves in that time and he can be a long term solution.

 

Parker is improving. I thought a few weeks ago that replacing him was our only possible move, but I have changed my mind. He has more to work with now, and has shown he can use quality players properly. (I hope Andersen and Adarabioyo stay healthy so we don't have to see Le Marchand again.) Parker should get this entire season, baring some spell of madness.

 

...plus, it'll cost more this time around to pry Ranieri from Sampdoria...