Ross McCormack feels Fulham have gained a much better balance to their side since Slavisa Jokanovic took charge at Craven Cottage.
The Whites claimed their first win under their new head coach at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday and Scottish international McCormack, who had been linked with a January move away from the club, credits the new boss with introducing a defensive discipline that extends right throughout the team. Fulham have been far more difficult to break down in recent weeks – earning a spirit draw against promotion-chasing Derby before the 3-1 win at Loftus Road.
We’ve not had a balance. At the start of the season, we were playing 4-4-2 and attacking with seven or eight players and leaving the defence wide open. Teams were sitting and hitting us on the counter attack. We’ve got a pivot point in defensive midfield whether it be Scott Parker, Rohan Ince Jamie O’Hara, Tom Cairney so if we’re attacking we’ve got the insurance policy.
Jokanovic has also tinkered with Fulham’s tactical set-up and adopted a 5-3-2 formation for the comfortable victory over their local rivals. McCormack paid tribute to the experience and the composure of his central defenders, even though they missed out on keeping a third clean sheet of the campaign in stoppage time.
It comes to the experience we’ve got. Fernando Amorebieta has played for Athletic Bilbao. Dan Burn has played a lot of games. Michael Madl has played for Austria. We’ve got Jamie O’Hara, Tom Cairney, Scott Parker in the middle. We’ve got experience as well as young legs.
