Back to the way things were.
That’s the impression I seem to be getting from Scott Parker when talking about Tom Cairney and his role within the team. Speaking to The Athletic in the aftermath of the game against West Bromwich Albion, the Fulham boss pointed out just what he wants to see from the number ten going forward:
“The one thing you need to add to his game is taking risks. I saw someone tonight who constantly took the game to West Brom, driving with the ball and looking to penetrate.”
I do find it quite weird that Parker is talking here about adding something to Cairney’s game, because in reality it’s more a case of trying to add something back to Cairney’s game that seems to have gone away under since he was appointed head coach.
If you take a look at his production since he has been a Fulham, he just isn’t scoring at the same rate under Parker than he was under the likes of Kit Symons and Slavisa Jokanovic, and more than that the types of goals he’s scoring as well have changed significantly.
Is Tom Cairney our most important player?
Yes
No
Gone are the days where he was letting rip from just outside the penalty area on a seemingly weekly basis, now the emphasis seems to be on possession and passing the ball intricately around the box with ‘Parkerball’, and whilst there have been the odd occasion he’s pulled the trigger, you just get the sense he needs to try and do it more often.
You can even see it in these stats here, as the number of passes he makes and completes has gone up under Parker, the goals have come down, and I personally wouldn’t mind seeing things going the other way, because at the end of the day, I’d rather a ball go into the back of the net rather than being sent out to another teammate just to keep the possession ticking over.
What about you? What do you make of Cairney’s role within the team? Do you think he needs to take more risks going forward?