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Ahead of Saturday's crunch game with Fulham at
The Hawthorns, we speak to Chris, who amongst other things writes for
Fulham website
HammyEnd.com.
He gives his views on the game, Jol, Meulensteen and much more. You can also find Chris on
Twitter at @ChrisGilbertson
It’s been an interesting last
few months at Craven Cottage to say the least. Your take on it? Were the
sackings of Jol and Meulensteen right?
It was the correct decision to get rid of Martin Jol, and one
that was probably several months overdue. Meulensteen has on the face of it been
a bit unlucky as performances were slowly beginning to turn around.
Unfortunately time was running out and it’s hard to put up a convincing argument
to say he should have stayed in charge as his lack of management experience was
showing.
It’s obviously been a
disappointing season at Fulham results-wise, any particular reason why you’ve
struggled so badly? On paper you’ve still got some decent players.
Yes we have some good players but the key point is that they
were good players. Our squad at the start of the season resembled something of a
retirement home and had an abundance of flair players who couldn’t play
together. Since the clear out at the end of January the squad looks a lot better
but time might be running out. Our defending has been our Achilles heel all
season, our goals against record is the worst in the league.
The big question, can you and
will you stay up?
Ah the £60m question. I’m a lot more confident with Magath in
charge but fear it will be too little too late. Unless new signing Kostas
Mitroglou produces a stunning goal return we might just have too many
shortcomings.
Player of the season so far?
Don’t really have one. Probably Scott Parker or Steve Sidwell.
The key is to play one of them at a time. With 7 goals to his name Sidwell is
taking our nickname for him of the ‘Ginger Iniesta’ a bit too seriously.
Has any player been particularly
disappointing so far this season?
Hard to know where to start. Darren Bent has been
particularly lackadaisical since his loan move but he has scored a few useful
goals. The now departed trio of Berbatov, Bryan Ruiz and Adel Taarabt promised
much but singularly failed to deliver. Fernando Amorebieta’s failure to settle
has gone under the radar, but he was signed with a big reputation to be our
centre back for the long term and is now 4th choice and more likely to get in
the team at left back.
Who’s likely to pose the most
threat to Albion on Saturday?
If he plays Kostas Mitroglou will be our danger man. He
scored two goals in the first 20 minutes of his debut for the Under-21’s against
Villa last week including a 35 yarder. Otherwise loanee Lewis Holtby is a cut
above the rest of our squad.
Is there a particular weak-link
in the Fulham side that Albion should be looking to exploit?
The full backs are particularly susceptible, especially on
the counter.
Any memories that stand out from
previous Albion v Fulham clashes?
Doing the double over you last season was a particular
highlight.
Are you happy to stick with your prediction of
Chelsea for Premier League champions?
Yes, though hopefully we can dent their progress next
weekend.
Back in September you predicted the trio of
Hull City, Crystal Palace and Sunderland to go down but as it stands right now they all seem more than capable of
staying up. Which three teams do you now see dropping down into the
Championship?
This is a near impossible question to answer as the three
seem to change every week.
Cardiff
seem in real trouble, while the two of us don’t look great. In an attempt at
optimism I’ll go for Cardiff, Norwich and Hull.
Prediction for Saturday’s game?
Hopefully we can take
advantage of a new manager bonus but a draw would be a decent result. 1-1.
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