It’s just like Darth Vader said during A New Hope. He may yet be of some use to us.
That’s the sentiment that I get when it comes to Scott Parker’s message surrounding Aleksandar Mitrovic over the weekend. Having gone from a guaranteed first-team regular to a mere substitute these days, it’s easy to think that his role at the club might be somewhat diminished.
Which has led to some journalists coming out and explain why he hasn’t been playing recently, with it purely being a tactical decision. And now Fulham boss Scott Parker has come out and explained more about his decision to leave him out, and apparently it’s not necessarily just bad form from the Serbian that’s the reason:
“Obviously (it’s) a different dynamic, in terms of how you play to a counter-attacking strength with Aleks in the team, but for sure he could still play that. Cav has done very, very well and he’s come in as a No 9 and (he) is a different dynamic to what Aleks gives. Cav can stretch back lines a little bit, and where (each) one’s weaknesses and positives are, they probably balance each other out.”
Is Aleksandar Mitrovic our most important player?
Yes
No
So it looks as if it could be a case of ‘horses for courses’ when it comes to who were are playing up top, and in recent games it seems to be working as we pulled off a good win against Leicester City and a respectable 2-0 loss to Manchester City.
Does the question then turn into what games can we expect Mitrovic to come back? Whilst I get Parker wants to have different options, if it isn’t broke then there isn’t really a need to fix it. I raised the question yesterday about whether or not this could mean the end of Mitrovic at Fulham and whilst that might have been a bit of an exaggeration, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up pulling the trigger on that move come January.
Maybe get another player that’s more suited to playing ‘Plan A’ rather than having to use Mitrovic as a constant ‘Plan B’.
What about you? What do you make of Parker’s comments about Mitrovic?