Here Comes The Miracle: how Claudio Ranieri can save Fulham

Well, it finally happened. Fulham sacked Slavisa Jokanovic and replaced him with Claudio Ranieri.

After masterminding their rise to the Premier League last season, Jokanovic leaves Fulham bottom of the table having won just one game all season. The Cottagers stood by their man as long as possible but with an international break providing a whole fortnight for the players to work with their new coach ahead of their home game against Southampton, now was the time to change.

And dilly ding dilly dong, what a change it is! Premier League Champion Claudio Ranieri rides back into the English top flight riding a white horse, galloping down Stevenage Road on his way to rescue a recently promoted club.

Of course, no one expects Ranieri to win Fulham the title as he did with Leicester. That historic title win back in 2015/16 needed a confluence of events so rare they likely won’t happen again in the Italian’s lifetime.

But the mission of saving Fulham from the drop would be, at this point, a fairly impressive miracle in its own right given how dismal things look right now.

Fulham are rock bottom of the Premier League; they have fewer points than anyone (5), they’ve conceded more goals than anyone (31) and despite being a nice attacking side have scored just 11 goals and won just a single (1) game.

In figurative terms, they suck. Yet theirs is a squad bristling with the kind of talent that Ranieri can harness; in part by looking to his Leicester title winners and using some of those same blueprints as solutions to Fulham’s problems.

Plugging holes

The first problem Fulham have is that they are as leaky as a screen door on a submarine. You could honestly make a case for paper being less permeable than Fulham’s defence because at least paper can soak up some water before being reduced to mush.

What’s incredible is that Fulham signed some good defenders this summer: Alfie Mawson was colossal for Swansea last year (albeit in a relegation battle his side lost) and Calum Chambers proved at Middlesbrough that he was no slouch (although, again, his side was relegated).

So what can Ranieri do? Well, he can make their lives a bit easier. Jokanovic had Fulham pushed up the field trying to be proactive with the ball, but this is an uneasy situation for young centre-backs to deal with. Ditto average centre-backs like some other Fulham defenders. Combine this with the fact that Jokanovic kept on changing his team and defensive instability makes sense?

Ranieiri can bring the Mawson-Chambers axis back. The pair dazzled together for England at the 2017 U-21 European Championships and there’s no reason that in a deep-block defence, not unlike the one Ranieri used at Leicester, the two will have their risks minimised and their skills maximised.

Ahead of them, whether he plays a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 as he did at Leicester, Ranieri will certainly prioritise midfielders who work defensively to help cover their side. Look for more of André-Frank Zambo Anguissa in defensive midfield, or maybe even Tim Fosu-Mensah pushed forward there. These high-energy players will provide the kind of whirling protection Fulham’s defence needs and allow the Cottagers to stop leaking goals at a historic rate.

Scoring goals

Of course, stopping goals going in is just one problem. Fulham also don’t score enough for as many attacking risks as they take. This is something they need to remedy and, with Ranieri at the helm, they probably will.

Firstly it’s not helpful to draw 1:1 comparisons with Leicester City because of course the Foxes had Jamie Vardy up-front who was basically a FIFA Create-A-Player come to life with his speed, work-rate and finishing stats maxed out. Vardy allowed a very rudimentary style of play to be absurdly effective, and Fulham don’t have that.

But Fulham do have Aleksandar Mitrovic. The Serb is a more orthodox “big man” striker but has already shown himself this season to be a forward capable of “hanging” in the Premier League should he be given the right support. Luciano Vietto and André Schurrle have shown that they could be that support; Ranieri could play both, with Vietto next to Mitrovic and Schurrle on the left, or just pick one and have a more defensive presence in left-wing. There are options.

So if Mitrovic leads your line as the target for long-balls, who is providing those passes? That’s where you look to Jean Michael Seri, the Frenchman signed from Nice in the summer. Seri is a solid defensive presence and a gifted playmaker. His ability to thread the needle is impressive and useful, but Ranieri will be looking to unleash his long-range passing; getting Seri to fling those balls forward for his attacks to launch counter-attacks and destabilise opponents.

Now, as said earlier 1:1 comparisons to Leicester aren’t helpful. But there’s one instance where it may fit: Ryan Sessegnon. The young Englishman took the Championship by storm but hasn’t quite lit the Premier League up. Part of that has been positional confusion; does he play left-back? left-wing? What is his exact role?

Ranieri can clear all that up by simply whipping out a tablet, loading up a YouTube compilation video (there must be at least one) of Riyad Mahrez 2015/16 and saying “Ryan, that’s your role.” Because that is the template Sessegnon should be looking at. A gifted left-footed attacker driving infield from the right onto his strong foot, linking with forwards and causing havoc.

Believing

Of course, what made Mahrez explode under Ranieri was the belief the Italian gave him. That belief is what powered Leicester’s title run. So many pretenders to the throne stumble at the last hurdle before the goal they’re chasing *cough*Spurs*cough* whilst others collapse under the weight of expectations that they are burdened with *cough*Liverpool*cough*

Not Leicester, though. The Foxes somehow kept their head through everything, and just kept on churning out results. Claudio Ranieri focused their side so perfectly, and organised them so well, that when all the big boys unintentionally took the season off, Leicester were the ones that swooped in to pick up the Premier League.

Now with Fulham, Ranieri will need to make these men believe in themselves again. He will need to make Sergio Rico believe England can be a place he thrives. He will need to make Mawson and Chambers believe they can thrive together in senior football as they did at youth level. He will need to make Seri, Zambo Anguissa and others believe that controlling midfield isn’t all about possession. He will need to make Mitrovic, Vietto and Schurrle believe that they can score the goals to save Fulham and he will need to make Ryan Sessegnon believe that he has what it takes to make it in the Premier League.

The thing is, you’d back him to do all of that. Because he did it before to an even greater degree.

Duck and cover, sports fans, because here comes another miracle!

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