There is no doubt Meulensteen is a superb coach. Just ask Sir Alex Ferguson, who had him on his coaching staff at Manchester United for 11 years. However, whether he will make a successful manager remains to be seen, particularly when you consider the ageing and under-performing squad currently making up Fulham Football Club. It is worth mentioning as well, that Meulensteen's only other managerial role at Danish club Brøndby ended with resignation 6 months in.I believe the current Fulham squad is devoid of real quality. If asked to name the players at Craven Cottage, I suspect many would stumble after Berbatov and Parker, so I've listed it below.
Scott Parker is a good Premier League player to have when you're struggling. He'll put himself about, give 100% and get stuck in, which in itself will lift the crowd. Unfortunately he has very little actual footballing quality and will not make anything happen going forward.Fulham would do well to cash in on Dimitar Berbatov before his sell-on valuation falls even further. I'm sure he'd fit in well in a Spanish club willing to pay his wages, because he simply isn't effective in England any more. You cannot doubt his quality on the ball, but he doesn't cut it anymore.
The others are tremendously average and frankly are worthy of a relegation dogfight. The average is 29.2, and i'd imagine that the regular starting XI will be even higher. Fulham fans will hope that new man Mitroglu will add some quality up front, but I am always wary of unproven European strikers moving to the Premiership. A betting man would probably put their money on a flop and i'm probably in that category, but I haven't seen much of him.
I think a changing of the guard is needed at Fulham. Players like Berbatov (32), Duff (34), Parker (33), Karagounis (36), Riise (33), Hangeland (32) and Hughes (34) need to be phased out and replaced. Younger blood will help in a number of ways. Meulensteen can shape his own team, which will in turn re-energise the club and fans in turn.
