Premier League 2018/19 Review: Fulham pay heavy price for summer of misguided investment
Wolves were not the only newly promoted team people were raving about before last summer, with many anticipating Fulham to have a good season after they way they played their way to promotion in 2017/18 with attacking football.
Every newly promoted squad needs to investment to boost their chances of avoiding relegation but Fulham went about it the complete wrong way last summer. The Cottagers became the first newly promoted side to spend over £100m in the summer transfer window, astonishingly getting five new players through the door on deadline day alone.
Fulham, to their credit, made what seemed a couple of coups, signing Jean Seri from Nice and Andre Zambo Anguissa from Marseille but neither lived up to the hype. They also made Aleksandar Mitrovic a permanent signing, which was a no brainer after the way he fired them to promotion in the Championship on loan from Newcastle.
However, in addition to those big money signings, Fulham did not pay the same attention to detail in defence. They made the bizarre decision to sign two new goalkeepers, only to revert to last season’s second choice option, Marcus Bettinelli, midway through the season. Of the 15(!) players Fulham signed over the course of the season, five were out-and-out defenders. Their most expensive defensive acquisition, Alfie Mawson, arrived injured and only made 14 appearances.
Fulham never settled on their first choice goalkeeper or backline and it’s no surprise they finished the season with the worst defensive record (81 goals conceded) in a Premier League campaign since 2013/14, when Fulham themselves shipped 85 goals.
Fulham sacked two managers, Slavisa Jokanovic and Claudio Ranieri, and have now handed Scott Parker the job of leading them out of the Championship next season. This summer will no doubt be another of sweeping changes, as the west London outfit frantically look to offload some of their big money signings from 12 months ago.
Highest rated player – Aleksandar Mitrovic (7.02 rating)
Aleksandar Mitrovic finished the season with 14 goals and assists, attributing to 41.2% of the goals Fulham scored in the Premier League. Not only that, but only Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's goals won his side more points (19) than Mitrovic's earned Fulham (13) in the Premier League this season.
The Serbia international played his part as Fulham’s target man, winning the most aerial duels in the Premier League (239) this season. Unfortunately for Mitrovic, he didn’t have quite the same support as he was offering his team-mates. In fact, the 24-year-old was the only Fulham player to finish the season with a WhoScored rating in excess of 7.00.
Mitrovic scored 12 goals in 20 league appearances on loan at Fulham during the second half of the 2017/18 Championship season and Scott Parker will desperately hope to keep hold of Mitrovic this summer, as Fulham have a chance of immediate promotion with him in their ranks.
Biggest disappointment – Jean Seri
There were quite a few contenders from Fulham's summer signings, but it has hard to look beyond Jean Seri. Having been linked with clubs like Barcelona and Chelsea, Seri’s arrival at Fulham came as a huge shock and caused real excitement. The 27-year-old had enjoyed several eye-catching campaigns with French side Nice prior to moving to England and Fulham’s capture of him was deemed a real coup.
It was expected that Seri would almost certainly only be at Fulham for one season, impressing enough to catch the eye of a bigger team. As it turns out, he will only be at the club for one year, but he won’t be moving to a bigger club. Seri made 27 starts in the Premier League but dropped completely out of favour under Parker and garnered a WhoScored rating of just 6.55.
Seri had played a direct hand in 30 goals in three league seasons for Nice but finished this one with just one goal and two assists. Given the nature in which Fulham chopped and changed their starting XI every week, perhaps it was never going to work out for the Ivorian, but this was an extremely harmful campaign for his previously budding reputation.
Surprise package – Calum Chambers
Calum Chambers was one of five defenders Fulham signed this season but the Arsenal loanee actually ended up cementing a place in the team in central midfield.
The 24-year-old usurped big money signings Seri and Anguissa in the middle of the park, which does not reflect well on the pair. Chambers did well breaking up opposition attacks, completing 2.1 tackles and 2.2 interceptions per game – ranking top of Fulham players for the latter statistic.
Not only did Chambers did well from a defensive standpoint, the former England international also managed to score two goals, including a stunning long range effort in a 4-2 win over Brighton in January. It’s a shame for Fulham that one of their better performers was only on loan.
Where to Improve – Defence
There are a number of areas in which Fulham need to improve but perhaps none so more important than their defence. The Cottagers were not exactly watertight during their promotion-winning campaign from the Championship two years ago, so the fact they conceded so many goals in the Premier League this term should not come as a huge surprise.
In each of the last two campaigns, Fulham have not ended the season with the same first-choice goalkeeper as they started. Last season, Marcus Bettinelli replaced David Button midway through the campaign, whereas Sergio Rico usurped Fabri in the pecking order this time around.
The latter pair were both signed last summer and neither made a positive impression. Rico will return to Sevilla now his loan spell is over and Parker will have to establish who his first choice goalkeeper is for next season.
League position: 19th
Grade – F
