Fulham fan Nyah Barnett has penned an excellent article for London Football Scene highlighting how Marco Silva managed without the talismanic Aleksandar Mitrovic during the Serbian striker’s suspension.
The answers, of course, surprised plenty of the Fulham faithful – as well as the pundits. Who would have thought that Dan James would flourish as a false nine as he did at Everton? Just how many of us saw Harry Wilson’s strong end to the season coming? And, perhaps most pertinently, where are all those who cast doubt on Carlos Vinicius and claimed the Brazilian was nothing more than a Conference-level striker? Even Cam Ramsey over at Fulhamish has had to give Carlos some credit for his fantastic form, which Nyah notes astutely.
Make sure you give this detailed piece a look – it isn’t often we benefit from analysis of people who watch the Whites intently.
To be fair Chloe, stacks of Fulham fans were calling for us to play a false 9 after the dire performances of Vinicius at Bournemouth and home to West Ham. James running the channels was obviously the way to go. It’s a shame that didn’t continue with Mitro out. And please don’t slate ‘fans’ for saying he was dire because he was. That’s why Marco turned to BDR vs Leeds despite his own issues playing up front at Brighton. Effectively Marco relegated Vinicius to 4th choice behind Mitro, James and BDR.
Vinicius has definitely improved. I for one have been slating him after his inability to hold the ball up earlier in the season. Yes he has definitely improved for sure, but, he is still a way behind what we need as 2nd choice striker in my opinion. How many goals would James have got against Leicester and Southampton? Carlos is getting more confident and improving. He absolutely needed to.
I’m not pro or anti Vinicious because there certainly have been games where he’s been poor and others when he’s been good. It’s difficult though for fans to fairly judge a player who’s in and out of the team – a regular run very often sees that player “improve”.
Harry Wilson’s on a good run and people are saying It’s because he’s over his injury. No doubt it partly is but my guess is that it’s because he’s starting every game and is on a run of form with added confidence Lukic and Soares aren’t getting a similar run. Diop wasn’t but once he was he looked good.
The manager can’t play the entire squad but regularity is good and the opposite bad so some players thrive whilst others don’t.
The main purpose of posting this article was highlighting some very sound Fulham analysis from an informed fan and excellent writer in Nyah.
I did think it was worth highlighting the improvement in Vinicius’ form and goalscoring output as he was slagged off relentlessly online, but I recognise – of course – that opinions may differ.
Agree strongly that he has improved and that is worth highlighting. It’s not really the goals for me as the law of averages was he’d score soon, it’s actually that he is linking the play better and controlling the ball better. I think Tony makes a good point as well that the run might have helped his form. The City goal is the strike that gives you hope that Vinicius could make it. I don’t think we can read much into the Leicester game and the Southampton tap in as both those teams were so simply awful I think any striker would’ve scored against them.
But heh, let’s remember v Leeds with Mitro out and James unable to play Marco turned to BDR rather than Vinicius. That should tell us all where Marco thought his form was at that point. I think Vinicius has proved himself a better choice than BDR to lead the line now.