It’s that time of the year again. You know the time when nothing seems to go right for Fulham? The loss at home to Hull City was for me the poorest result of the season, not because of the scoreline but because of the absolutely dire performance that went along with it. Something just wasn’t right, and it’s been that way for at least the last few games. Scott Parker is in a bit of a predicament. His style of play has come under fire in recent weeks, but he has hit back suggesting that he won’t be changing his ways anytime soon.

I can understand why Parker wants to stick with his philosophy. He is a real student of the game, and won’t have committed to a style without a great deal of thought, but his approach still needs some work. We have seen it work, the results against Millwall and Reading being the two most recent examples, but we have also seen too many occasions where it has been a disaster. On Saturday at home to Hull, we had 75% of the possession yet had one shot on target. When you have the talent of Tom Cairney, Mitrovic, Bobby Reid etc in your side it’s criminal to think that we forced the Hull keeper into a save on just one occasion. I can sort of understand what Parker is trying to do, but the team aren’t executing it properly. Whether that is down to what’s happening on the training pitch, or that other teams have figured us out, I’m not sure.

The question now around the fanbase is whether Scott Parker is going to last as Fulham boss. I’m still avoiding the ‘Parker out’ campaign, but I completely get why the question is being raised. I spoke with a work colleague recently who thinks that Parker has lost the dressing room. Shahid Khan was in town on Saturday, so if you can’t get the players motivated to play well in front of the boss then when can he motivate them?

However, I just don’t think sacking him at this stage would be helpful. The performances need to start improving, but I think to change the manager now would just further disrupt the squad. When Slavisa Jokanovic started slowly, a lot of people wanted him gone, but they stuck with him and it paid off. We are only 15 games into a very long season, and we know that things in this division can change so quickly. There are only 8 points between first place and twelfth, with no team really running away with things so I’m not going to take the doom and gloom approach. I believe that sticking with Parker for now would be better than causing more disruption to the squad. I think that he will have had an impact in the likes of Cairney and Mitrovic staying. And let’s remember that he is still new to management and is learning his trade. Mistakes are going to happen early on, yet we are still doing enough to still be in contention for promotion.

Let’s keep the faith.

#COYW