Back, but not necessarily with a bang.
That’s arguably the best way to describe the showing Aleksandar Mitrovic gave on Saturday night against Newcastle United, a 6.6 rating on WhoScored was slightly above the team average, and apart from one shot in the opening few seconds, it was a very quiet day at the office in one of the rare occaisions he has started in recent months.
The Athletic did a piece over the weekend following the game at St James’ Park in which they analysed his performance against his former side, as well as taking some quotes from Fulham boss Scott Parker about his form and confidence this season. As always I implore you to read the whole thing to get the full context.
But in his effort to give a summation of the article, Peter Rutzler made a number of key observations from his talk and the work that he put into it that might get some Fulham fans excited, he noted that although he’s been out of the team in recent weeks, that hasn’t done anything to reduce the intensity within his game:
Couple of notable takeaways for me. Firstly, the passion is very much there, no doubting fire for the cause. Second is confidence, didn’t feel he was playing on instinct. Comments from Parker post game, referencing the Euros Playoff, hinted at that too:https://t.co/KC7e8efMvy
— Peter Rutzler (@peterrutzler) December 21, 2020
Will we sell Mitrovic in January?
Yes
No
I do feel that we are treading a bit of a fine line when it comes to Mitrovic, yes we need to have him as a ‘Plan B’, but at the same time he clearly comes across as someone that wants to be starting regularly.
I still maintain, and Rutzler has somewhat raised the possibility as well, that he could be sold this coming window in order to fund some changes within the squad and if that’s the way for him to get regular first team football, I honestly wouldn’t blame Mitrovic for trying to make a move happen.
What about you? What would you do with Mitrovic?