On Marco Silva
Seven Random and Astray Thoughts on the Marco Silva hiring.
1. I get it… at the same time, I don’t.
On the face of it, there’s a lot to like with Marco Silva. A young coach who’s wanting to prove a lot after two seasons with a big PL club in Everton and hasn’t received many offers since means that the hunger is there to prove himself… WHICH gives me plenty of pause for though — Silva’s ambition famously got him sacked from Watford — who’s to stay that history won’t repeat itself again if Fulham are doing well and a struggling team in the Premier League come calling? In fact, this would’ve been one of the very first questions I hoped Shahid Khan asked in the interview — will you stay for, at the absolute minimum, the whole season?
Which brings me onto my next point — the famous interview. How many years ago was it that Claudio Ranieri blew Shad Khan away with an excellent interview for the job? Khan Sr has a tendency for this on placing a lot of collective value in the interview and “how much they knew about the squad”. As lovely as it is that Marco was prepared for an interview, I’m particularly concerned that this is becoming a recurring trend now.
2. Marco Silva must keep Stuart Gray at all costs.
This isn’t as some kind of “continuity” deal of having the old furniture hang around from previous regimes and such — it’s more a worry of how Silva’s teams defend set pieces. Although it seemed that they were a nervous wreck around set pieces all year long, Fulham conceded the fewest set piece goals in the league last year — a good omen given Fulham are now coming back into a division with the likes of Neil Warnock and Mick McCarthy in charge of teams. Silva’s main weakness has been… defending set pieces. Gray’s speciality since joining Fulham has been… defending set pieces. Don’t overthink this Marco — keep Stuart around and doing what he’s doing. It’s for the best.
3. A clean slate is required for every player.
Every player. Even the Seri’s, Le Marchand’s and Johansen’s of the team. Fulham haven’t splurged since the pandemic hit last year and largely have relied on loans with buy options attached, which can be forgiven in this financial climate. I expect this to continue for this season. However, a whole evaluation of the squad is needed and Silva needs to see what he can use from the players provided before he gets over to calling Tony Khan in Jacksonville. I’m not saying we shouldn’t bring in any players this window — just have a look at what we have first before bringing in anyone.
4. Fabio Carvalho should be starting at least 23 of the upcoming 46 Championship matches.
He’s good. We don’t need to make this complicated. He looks really really good and given how much Fulham absolutely suck at selling/moving on players, the fact that they’ve had another gem seemingly fall into the first team from the academy means that they have to start and develop this asset, given that the last “big” non-Ryan Sessegnon sale they made was… Sone Aluko in 2017? I’d also hope that it tells Marco that 1) the kids might be alright and 2) better than Anthony Knockaert.
5. Who’s the third central midfielder?
Going back through Silva’s formations, he predominantly used a 4231 at Everton to accommodate Gylfi Sigurdsson as a no.10 — a role which Fulham haven’t really ever used. I think a 433 is much more likely and also a lot easier to fit to the current core of players. Silva ran a 433 at Watford for his brief tenure there — opting for a trio of Doucore, Cleverley and one of Nathaniel Chalobah or Etienne Capoue. It’s probably safe to say that, barring a departure, Harrison Reed will occupy the holding midfield role of Capoue/Chalobah. Tom Cairney likely fits the Cleverley role, even if he probably won’t have the “engine” that a Cleverley did then. The real question is over the “Doucore role” as it’s probably unlikely that Zambo Anguissa is hanging around. Will it be a return for Stefan Johansen? Or perhaps Scott Parker’s pet favourite, Josh Onomah? It remains to be seen. If I had to wager something, I’ll say it be a new player.
6. Be prepared for a return of one of Max Le Marchand or Alfie Mawson starting against Middlesbrough.
Michael Hector is away at the Gold Cup with Jamaica and will likely return close towards the end of pre-season. Terence Kongolo is a question mark now and forever health-wise. Tosin Adarabioyo might have been sold by then. I’m not saying both will start but do not be surprised when one of them ends up starting, assuming Mawson even makes it through pre-season.
7. Don’t sell Aleksandar Mitrovic. And especially, do not loan Aleksandar Mitrovic.
We’ve all seen the twitter rumours. Doing the former would be very dumb. Doing the latter would be extremely dumb. Keep Mitro and actually play to the guy’s strengths.
