After coming through last Saturday’s match against Grimsby in the comparative dryness of the dugout, Andy Melville was in reflective mood after Fulham's win over the Mariners.
Unlike the match against Fulham’s previous home opponents Portsmouth, Grimsby held firm at 0-0 for the first-half, the result of some deep defending from both defence and midfield.
Recognising that Grimsby fell into the typical mould of an away side at Craven Cottage, Melville and the team have now been fully familiarised with the problems posed by a ten-man defence.
“I think teams now are coming to Craven Cottage and getting bodies behind the ball, which makes it difficult for us.
“But the lads are learning to become a bit more patient and hopefully the crowd are as well.” explained Melville.
One could easily assume that this “lock all doors” approach adopted by visiting teams could persist for the rest of the season. However, with Fulham continually becoming more accustomed to such defensive opponents there’s little to suggest that this tactic will work successfully.
Alongside the continental influence brought in by the management team comes the rotation system, which has gained much notoriety in recent years. Having been rested for the Grimsby match, Melville gave his view on the system:
“When there’s three games in a week, the Boss rotates us a little bit so we have a rest. Obviously it’s the manager’s decision and we’ve just got to abide by it really.
“I don’t think it harms you in any way. I think he’s going to do it further down the line. We’ve got Christmas coming up so it’s something that we might have to get a little bit used to in this country.”
Having played for Sunderland in their successful Division One campaign, Melville is certainly no stranger to the requirements needed to get out of this division. Whilst the playing styles of both Fulham and his Sunderland side appear to be equally successful so far – they both went about the job in different ways:
“Style wise, I think we play a lot more football – we get it from the back and play it through midfield.
“I’m on record as saying at Sunderland when we had the ball at the back, we had big Niall Quinn up front, who was like an outlet to us. We knocked a lot of long balls up to him because he was in a different class at bringing people into the game.
“Kevin Phillips scored a lot of goals that season and we’re scoring just as many this season – the only difference is that we’re playing through midfield a lot more” acknowledged Melville.
Looking ahead to Wednesday’s Worthington Cup-tie against Derby County, Melville was in a positive mood:
“It should be a good test from us, we had a few big scalps last year, and hopefully we can do it again.
“The lads are looking forward to it. They’re going to have a full side out and they’ve got a few new signings as well so they’ll be right up for the game.”
Source fulhamfc