You can’t criticise Chris Coleman for much this season. The likeable Welshman was the bookmakers’ favourite to win the sack race at the start of the campaign and, yet, Fulham have absolutely flown out of the box. Much of that has been down to how he has married his undoubted motivational abilities with a radical set of tactical changes, but yesterday’s goalless draw with struggling Wolves felt like a missed opportunity – and it seemed as if Coleman was trying to be too clever by half in the absence of Luis Boa Morte.
The Portuguese winger is a livewire along the left wing and Coleman’s 4-5-1 system is made with Boa Morte in mind. With him on the left, Steed Malbranque wide right and Louis Saha – in such rude health this season – through the middle, Fulham have been transformed from the ponderous outfit that looked so punchdrunk at the tail end of Jean Tigana’s tenure to a seriously potent unit. Coleman’s desire to stick with his tried and tested method is understandable, but retaining the same formation when there isn’t an adequate replacement for Boa Morte felt self-defeating.
It was all the more puzzling when you saw that Coleman asked Junichi Inamoto, whose energetic displays at the heart of the midfield galvanised Fulham’s European exploits last term, to play out wide on the right. The Japanese midfielder is at his best when breaking through the middle of the park, snapping into tackles and picking a pass – he’s no one’s idea of a deft winger. What was worse was it took Coleman more than an hour to admit that this approach wasn’t working. Fulham immediately picked up once Barry Hayles was sent on to join Saha up front and might easily have nicked all three points. Imagine what could have happened had the boss plumped for a conventional 4-4-2 from the off.
