Brighton vs. Fulham: Why Josh King should start

Is anyone a little bit excited about what Josh King can do this season?! Obviously we shouldn’t get too carried away, but I am going to! Our star boy has all the ingredients to be our best-ever academy graduate. Forget Fabio’s and Elliot’s. This boy is different gravy.

With his shiny new contract, our diminutive destroyer is going to raise eyebrows across the league this season. Match of the Day spotlights are going to be shining on him as the world realises that Fulham develop pure gold.

There is a thought that Marco doesn’t give the youth enough opportunity, but I would argue that he does if they are good enough. He made Fabio the central figure in the FFC attack behind Mitrovic at about the same age as Josh, and at a lower level, this paid dividends. We could well see something similar this season.

I’m here for the Josh King ride this season, and I know you all are as well. My personal view is that he should start tomorrow, and my hunch is that he will. I also think ESR should start as well. Here’s why….

Last season cameos

For many Fulham fans, Josh’s cameos were far too few and far between. We shouldn’t perhaps however, blame Silva too much for this. The kid went into the season only 17 years old with no experience at a senior level in men’s football. To chuck him into the cauldron that is the Premier League and the highest standard league in world football without thought could have been reckless. Silva spoke of the need to protect him and gradually nurture his prodigious talent.

Now, having said that, the way he performed in some of those cameos, and with injuries and ESR off form, I personally, like many others, still feel he could have been used more.

He did start against Southampton at home. There were some very exciting runs, and his energy was a joy. Fair to say that he looked a little raw with the execution of his first major shot at the big time, and a few times took the ball too far and ran into dead ends. Perhaps he was not quite ready at this point, as he continued to learn his trade.

Other cameos were short but exciting. He came on late against West Ham when we desperately needed a goal. The moment he put one of the best one-on-one defenders in the league in Wan-Bissaka, on his back side with a beautiful little turn was a thing to behold. The pass that followed across the box was perfect, and he should have had an assist for a dramatic equaliser, but for Lukic and Adama unfortunately fluffing their lines.

After pretty much a full year of training with the first team, Josh came on against Brentford and, with TC, completely changed the momentum of the game. You watched that performance, and I think almost everyone felt that 25/26 would be his breakout year.

Contract concerns

There were rumours that Josh wasn’t going to sign a new Fulham contract as a result of a lack of game time. This would have been an absolute disaster and would have had us all rightly questioning what on earth we can do to stop this continually happening to us.

The news that King, Ridgeon and De Fougerolles have committed their futures to Fulham could be as important as any signing that we make this summer (yes, we need those as well)!!

It was clear from interviews afterwards that Josh is going to get more game time this year.

What does Josh offer?

When you hear the way the likes of Robinson and TC speak about our little superstar in the making, you know that you have a special talent on your hands. So what are they seeing and what are we all getting so excited about?

The first thing that sticks out to me is his confidence and maturity. Having watched him in a fair few U21 games, I actually think he has looked even better in the Prem. Usually, it is the other way around, with players struggling to show junior form at the top level as they either don’t have the belief that they belong there, or quite simply that they don’t belong as the level is beyond their ability. Josh looks like he belongs.

For an 18-year-old, he looks like he has no fear, constantly showing for the ball. Other players clearly have 100% faith in him as well as they always give him it. He is not looking to do anything safe. He is looking to take the ball, turn, drive forward and make things happen. ESR can do this, but with a big drop-off in confidence last season, many noted that Josh was simply doing it better. ESR will turn that around, I am sure, but very exciting for an 18-year-old king.

By the end of the season in that Brentford match, he looked like he was making better decisions than his performance against Southampton earlier in the season. Any other 18-year-old when we were leading 3 – 2 on the break with a few minutes to go would have got giddy going for the goal. Josh, with a maturity beyond his years, calmly kept the ball superbly in corners, interchanging with teammates and ran down the clock.

King has an unbelievable touch. Watching the pre-season games, teammates were fizzing the ball into him, and it was like he had glue on his boots.

He makes brilliant runs. That Bretford game was a great example of this, and he was doing it all pre-season as well. We sometimes looked static last season. Not Josh. He comes short to show for the ball. He runs channels, looking to find space and creating space for others as he draws defenders. He runs in behind trying to latch on to through balls. Opposition defenders must feel like he is that annoying fly that you chase and chase but can never quite swat…Buzz away, Josh!

One of the most valuable types of player is one that can turn in the half spaces between the attack and midfield, or more importantly, between the midfield and defence. That is one of King’s biggest strengths. He again is great at finding these spaces, and that touch of glue and low centre of gravity makes him absolutely superb on the half turn, helping to break through lines and create threat.

With all these attributes, you feel that goals and assists will come. Josh said he has been working on this, and pre-season, he scored against Al Hilal, and I believe got another one in a BCD friendly.

Why should Josh start tomorrow?

Despite all the potential listed above, before pre-season, I had Josh earmarked as back up to ESR in the 10 with a lot of half an hour appearances as he found his feet. It is only a small sample, but his pre-season performances have made me feel that he has done enough to start.

Marco actually did start him at 10 in all of the games that I watched so I just wonder if he is planning to chuck him straight in? Along with Wilson, King was arguably our best player in pre-season, and he therefore deserves to get the nod to see what he can do when it comes to the big time.

How does this fit with ESR?

Marco moved ESR to the left a lot in pre-season, and I personally thought he did very well there. We did not, of course, see the BCD games, so we cannot tell where he was played in those, but when he did start left, he looked excellent and linked with King really well.

Iwobi played left most of last year, and certainly the first half of the season was brilliant, but fell away, and I would say he hasn’t looked his best there pre-season either.

ESR scored a good handful of goals pre-season and also needs to start for me. He looks fitter and more confident, and this has to be his year to shine. His best year for Arsenal, he played 15 games left midfield and got 8 goals and 2 assists, vs 12 games at attacking midfield where he only got 3 goals. I think Marco has missed a trick using him there more last season.

We are, of course, short on the left at the moment, and until new signings are made, the start of the season is the perfect opportunity to see what ESR can do from the left and what King can do in the 10.

Conclusion

Am I getting carried away? Possibly, but I don’t care, as if you can’t get excited about a prospect like King, what is the point of being a football fan? There is nothing better than seeing a player that the club have developed come through and shine.

King will have ups and downs and won’t be brilliant all the time as a young player, and we must all realise that and support him, as I know Fulham fans will. He may start tomorrow and not have the best game, and that is fine, as he has all the talent there to be a huge success for us.

After his performances pre-season, I think we need to give him the opportunity to show what he can do, so I would love to see him walking out with the rest of the lads for the big season opener on the South coast! COYW!