The start of the 2011/12 season started pretty miserably for Martin Jol as he saw his Fulham side fail to secure a victory in their first six Premier League games. Questions were asked about their ability to challenge for European football this season, and whether the squad was up to the task of securing a decent mid-table position. However, after an emphatic victory against QPR, we began to wonder if the London side had more to offer. After all, they went into the campaign with a decent enough squad, and had scaled the heights of a Europa League final only a couple of years ago.
Interspersed with some promising performances from their key players against weaker sides, came some particularly good results including wins against Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle. They never looked like a side who would be dragged down into a relegation fight, but at that same time continue to struggle to get together a decent run of results to pull themselves towards the leading pack. Martin Jol appears to be in the frustrating position of having a team of players who one week play good football, with a determined attitude to win on the day, and then look devoid of creativity and ambition the next. Fulham are capable of playing attractive football and scoring goals, even without their former target man Bobby Zamora, but they just can’t sustain this philosophy week after week.
When Pavel Pogrebnyak joined in Januray, little was known about the Russian striker. However, after his first three games in the Premiership, he had five goals to his name and the memory of Zamora leading the line seemed to be fading. Fulham looked like they could offer genuine goal threat against good opposition. But two weeks on from scoring his hat-trick against Wolves, Pavel has looked somewhat uninvolved in the last couple of games, not necessarily through much fault of his own, but once again we see a Fulham side who fail to engineer and convert enough chances in front of goal.
The game at Villa Park appeared to provide Martin Jol with a chance to maintain his winning run of three games previous, and you would say that they could have snatched a win. But Fulham just didn’t look like they had it in them, with only one shot on target and less possession than the home side, their impact players didn’t make the difference. After a 5-0 win the previous week, you would expect Fulham to come out firing against a below-par Villa team, but it was the opposite. An inability to retain possession in key areas and sloppy mistakes, notably from Danny Murphy to let Agbonlahor through, gifted Alex McLeish’s side the confidence and upper hand, along with an injury time winner. Against Swansea, they started off the better side and created chances, but couldn’t maintain any pressure once the away side got into their rhythm.
It’s extremely difficult to put your finger on exactly why this Fulham side can’t produce a run of victories or consistent performances. Players like Dempsey, Johnson, Murphy and Hangeland have proven that they can be exceptional, not only when their team is on top but when they need to scrape out a result. They are players that can lead by example and organise a team when they need some direction on the pitch. However, it seems to depend entirely on which Fulham turn up on the day. As a manager who is in his first season with this set of players, he should be looking to stamp his authority on the team and make sure they are focused to perform to his instructions.
If Fulham have aspirations of reaching the highs of the 09/10 season any time soon, then they need to get tough and rebuild their approach, particularly away from home. Going into games at less than 100% will mean that opponents will start to see them as a side who can be picked off when it comes to the sharp end of the season, particularly with teams looking to fight for survival and pick up points at every given opportunity.
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