Fulham is a disaster right now. No, this is not about the Michael Jackson statue in front of its stadium, but much worse.
The Cottagers spent more than $127 million in the transfer windows this season but sit 19th in the Premier League table and have given up 63 goals. To make things worse the club announced Thursday that it sacked its manager, Claudio Ranieri.
Fulham have sacked Claudio Ranieri.https://t.co/msNpbibaU1 pic.twitter.com/5eEhrCVWz3
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) February 28, 2019
Ranieri stepped in as manager in November attempting to salvage the disaster of a season Fulham had already been having under Slavisa Jokanovic. Results didn’t improve, as Fulham won three, drew three and lost 10 under the Italian.
Ranieri was in charge for four months. Former Fulham, West Ham and Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker is now the caretaker manager, moving up from the U-18s.
Fulham Football Club Chairman Shahid Khan today named Scott Parker as Caretaker Manager, replacing Claudio Ranieri.
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) February 28, 2019
Fulham looks nothing short of doomed. Fellow Premier League punching bag Cardiff City has eight points more than the Cottagers, and the Bluebirds are probably going down too, same with Huddersfield. Unless Fulham can miraculously turn around its form, relegation is coming swiftly.
Unfortunately, great escapes are rare.
The problem started with a ridiculous number of summer signings.
Fulham brought in 13. Aleksandar Mitrovic, Jean Michael Seri, Andre Schurrle, Luciano Vietto and Sergio Rico were standout signings. In the winter, the club brought in Ryan Babel, Lazar Markovic and Havard Nordtveit. It’s especially difficult for that many players to gel that quickly, regardless of quality.
To compare, look at West Ham. The Hammers bought Felipe Anderson, Andriy Yarmolenko, Issa Diop, Lucas Perez, Fabian Balbuena and Samir Nasri for free. While these players have settled in, West Ham is still mid-table. In addition, new players are better mixed in with West Ham veterans.
TOP 5 LEAGUES
Worst Defense (goals per game)2.26 Fulham FC
2.22 VfB Stuttgart
2.17 Hannover 96
2.09 1. FC Nürnberg
1.96 Frosinone Calcio
1.96 FC Augsburg
1.93 Cardiff City FC— FootballInfoData (@FInfodata) February 26, 2019
The Cottager's defense is also, to put it nicely, god awful.
Even though Fulham is not bottom of the table, its defense is the worst in the league. Giving up 63 goals this season, the only thing separating the Cottagers from the bottom of the table is three points.
It’s truly unfortunate. Fulham’s Premier League season wasn’t expected to go this way at all. Clubs that return to the Premier League from the Championship have to splash the cash in the transfer market in order to stay up. But the money has to be used on the right players, and things don’t seem to be working out.
What’s worse is that Ranieri is a great manager, and the lack of faith shown to him by the club is disheartening.
With 10 games to play in the Premier League, results need to come, otherwise relegation will come much earlier than in May.
The18 Recommends For You
