Home of football statistics and historyScott Parker was resolute that his Fulham side could escape relegation until the very end. A 2-0 loss to Burnley at Craven Cottage, however, ended their faint hopes of another season in the Premier League.
Over the past four seasons, Fulham have been promoted twice, both from the Championship playoffs, and relegated twice. Two years ago they were punished for a spending spree that largely replaced their promotion-winning squad; this time their lack of spending made them favourites for the drop in the football betting and they met the same fate regardless.
Newly-promoted teams are very rarely fancied for big things in preseason football predictions, but while Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United sliced through teams on their way to a midtable finish, Parker’s Fulham side seemed devoid of an identity this season. Famously in the Championship, they had the lowest counter-attack rate in the league, and in this 2020/21 campaign, they scored fewer goals than any side barring rock-bottom Sheffield United.
Indeed, many of Fulham’s brightest moments this season came from loanees, among them Josh Maja, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and RB Leipzig’s Ademola Lookman, who showed flashes of brilliance but will return to Germany this summer. At the back, Alphonse Areola and Joachim Andersen have looked sturdy enough to draw attention from other Premier League teams. Though they would be useful in the Championship, they will also go back to their parent clubs.
The result is that this Fulham side simply looks absent of goal threat among their contracted players. Most egregious is Aleksandar Mitrović’s failure to launch – the Serbian target man bagged 25 goals in the Championship but has failed to hit the same heights in the Premier League. His issues in front of goal bode poorly for next season as no one stepped up in his absence.
Decision looming for Parker
Norwich City and Watford have shown this year that immediate promotion from the Championship after relegation is not some impossible dream.
One man who cannot yet guarantee he will be a part of that Fulham drive for promotion is Parker himself. Despite relegation with games to spare, there have been highlights for the Cottagers this season, among them wins at Liverpool and Everton. Parker has won plaudits for his commitment to his style of play. Passionate in post-game interviews and clearly a tactician of Premier League calibre, he will surely be on the managerial shortlist for the vacant Tottenham job this summer.
But if he chooses to stay, he will need investment in the squad if he is to secure another promotion with this Fulham team. Most prominently he will need goalscorers, and preferably on permanent contracts so he can start to build a foundation for success. If they were to win promotion with another group of loan players, the following season in the Premier League would surely have the same result as 2020/21.
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