The Joao Palhinha problem that never was

Noah Langford believes time has been a healer and we’ve not missed our Portuguese midfielder one bit.

In the bright sunshine of May last year, Joao Palhinha and his family were showered with adulation as they lapped Craven Cottage for the final time. In just two seasons, the ferocious star midfielder had cemented his status as one of the greatest players of Fulham’s modern era.

Most Fulham fans knew this would be it in white for the Portuguese international, but we had made our peace with that fact. After last season’s transfer deadline saga, his professionalism and spirit throughout a lacklustre season led many to feel Palhinha had earned his move.

Underwhelming

This season, seeing Joao in the famous red shirt of Bayern Munich was predictable. What wasn’t predictable was that Fulham wouldn’t seem to miss him one bit.

Eight months after Pahlinha’s record-breaking move to the German giants he has featured in just 12 league matches, and his appearance this past weekend was his worst yet.

The midfielder picked up a straight red card as Bayern lost at home to relegation candidates VfL Bochum. Palhinha stormed out of the Allianz Arena before all other Bayern players and was publicly criticised by director Max Eberl a day later.

Coping well

In West London, though, Fulham are looking pretty healthy. This season the Whites have taken 22 out of a possible 39 points from the nine teams above them, which is more points from the top sides than we managed in Palhinha’s two seasons combined.

As Cameron Donaldson has written, the Portuguese’s departure has led to a tactical shift from Marco Silva, allowing Sander Berge and Sasa Lukic to thrive in a more rounded midfield partnership than the most-used Palhinha/Reed tandem that preceded them.

Lukic has brought much of the tenacity that Palhinha supplied last season, especially in the yellow cards department – Lukic is currently serving his second suspension and only three cautions away from Palhinha’s eye-watering 13 yellow cards last season. Berge, in contrast, has been able to supply a calmness and passing accuracy that the whites have rarely possessed when Tom Cairney is not on the pitch.

But it is also Fulham’s newfound depth which has allowed for the absence of Palhinha to be managed effectively. Andreas Pereira has featured in a deeper role more frequently this season due to Emile Smith Rowe’s arrival in the 10. Harrison Reed has also returned to the fold recently (although with not much of a positive effect).

Better or worse?

So, with Palhinha struggling in Germany and Fulham thriving in England, it raises a question that not many of us wouldn’t have foreseen – would Fulham be doing as well if Joao had stayed?

The answer, as of now, appears to be no. Marquee signings like Berge, Smith Rowe and Joachim Andersen would not have been possible without the £55m return on our star defensive midfielder, and have taken Fulham to a level above mid-table mediocrity. It is in no doubt that the sale was necessary to take Fulham on to new heights in the Premier League.

With season-defining cup and league games on the horizon, it is yet to be seen whether a place in Europe or a trophy will make a real difference between this season and last. But one thing is certain: no one at the start of this season will have been asking whether Palhinha would miss Fulham more than we would miss him.