This match might have given us the best glimpse of why Slavisa Jokanovic is a better coach than what Fulham have had in quite some time. He started the match in a 4-4-2 diamond. Unfortunately, a Fulham were simply not able to play this very well against the poor Charlton Athletic team in front of them. O'Hara and Kacaniklic where shuttlers, and neither were very effective. Charlton had nine shots on goal in the first half, and Fulham were lucky to be up by one goal.
A lesser coach may have tried to stick it out and defend the one goal lead. Slavisa had other ideas though. He brought on Chris Baird as a second defensive midfielder and Michael Madl as a third centre back. This shifted the team to a 3-5-2. Fulham proceeded to limit Charlton to only two more shot attempts over the next 25 minutes. Neither of which were from the danger zone. Charlton was able to get off an impressive eight shots in the last 10 minutes, but Fulham were ahead by three goals and most were extremely futile. It was refreshing to see a coach quickly remedy a bad decision. Even more impressive was that he took the blame for the poor setup as soon as the match was over.
I killed Ryan Fredericks and Luke Garbutt and didn’t find the right position for them. We scored the goal in the first 45 minutes but I wasn’t so happy so decided to switch the structure and we played better football in the second 45 minutes
Fulham have a chance to win two league fixtures in a row for the first time since October and two keep consecutive clean sheets for the first time in almost a year. I know it's looked like Fulham have turned the corner many times in the last few season, but in the second half of this match, I actually believe it this time.