There’s a very fine line with being realistic and being pessimistic about what you can achieve.
And I think these comments from Scott Parker very much fall into the former category, and in all honesty, based on the start we’ve made to the season I don’t think I can totally blame him.
It was always going to be hard for us to put up a decent challenge to stay up this season, with history very much against us, and with an even shorter turnaround time from the playoff final to the start of the season, that just added an extra layer of difficulty for us to contend with this campaign.
Which is why Fulham boss Parker isn’t setting his sights too high on what is possible this campaign, as he told West London Sport that he wasn’t going to be aiming for anything spectacular from his side this season:
“We need to be comfortable being in or around this position – because that’s where we are. I want to be 10th in the league, but reality tells me that’s going to be very difficult, and not where we’re likely to be punching. I know where we’re likely to be punching, and that’s in and around the bottom four.”
Will we stay up?
Yes
No
And I can’t really criticise Parker too much for what he’s saying there, because he’s absolutely right. As much as we want those at the club to want the best for us and aim high (like his comments about being 10th would suggest), looking at what we’re up against this season, that’s probably the best we can aim for.
I’d much rather he set the expectations low like that and hopefully go on to exceed it than go down the route of predicting us to finish incredibly high (as was the case for some outlets in 2018/19) only to then find ourselves being more or less the laughing stock of the Premier League when we fail to meet them and fail to meet them badly.
What about you? What do you make of Parker’s comments?