Sander Berge and Sasa Lukic in the middle just isn't working

George Rossiter argues that Marco Silva must shuffle the deck in the middle in order to unlock greater creativity.

Sander Berge signed for Fulham for a big fee amid strong interest from Manchester United. He’d gained a reputation, especially under Chris Wilder at Sheffield United, for being a do-it-all man mountain of a midfielder.

Saša Lukić took time to settle into English football, but at the start of last season established himself as a key man at the base of Fulham’s midfield. An established Serie A performer, Lukić took over the Joao Palhinha role as Fulham’s destroyer, with 12 yellow cards in 30 Premier League appearances.

These are two good footballers - so why aren’t we seeing the best of them playing alongside each other and failing to provide any attacking impetus on a weekly basis?

Lacking compared to peers

Between them, in all competitions, Berge and Lukic have played 85 times for Fulham in the last season and a bit since Sander joined the club. In those 85 games in all competitions, they haven’t produced a single goal between them, with Saša contributing just three assists. Sander Berge, a Premier League midfielder, is yet to register a goal contribution from midfield.

In comparison, here’s what the prominent midfield pairings in some of our closest rivals in the table - Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth - offer.

• Mats Wieffer and Carlos Baleba, on paper an equally as defensive pairing as our two, have 11 goal contributions in 80 appearances for Brighton in that time.

• Lewis Cook and Ryan Christie, who frequently played as a double pivot for the Cherries last season, have managed nine in 78 over the same period.

• Vitaly Janelt and now departed Christian Norgaard had 14 contributions in 73 games between them for our buzzy neighbours.

For the most part, those numbers genuinely aren’t that extraordinary, but they’re valuable contributions that Berge and Lukic aren’t giving us.

There’s an argument to be made that Lukic is starting to expand his contribution to the team, both in the way he has taken responsibility on set pieces and the positions he’s finding himself in the final third on a far more frequent basis. However the problem persists that, as a pair, they’re effecting the game in the final third at such a minimal level.

Ready-made alternatives

Granted, some fans who believe Marco Silva is the be-all-and-end-all will continue to scream in bemusement as to why Fulham didn’t add another midfielder in the summer window to resolve this problem. Even so, two points arise from that. One is that, Silva is a stubborn manager who often prefers a stable base to work off. That’s fine, but it feels like persisting with this midfield duo is now holding us back.

The other is that, actually, the tools are there in the squad to adapt. Alex Iwobi was a superb central player for Everton before we signed him and has been vocal about how much he enjoyed playing in such a position.

The likes of Josh King and Emile Smith Rowe haven’t yet been tested in a deeper position where they can pick the ball up and push Fulham forward in a way Berge/Lukic struggle to. Tom Cairney and Harrison Reed still exist too, even if they are being phased out.

This isn’t a squad lacking options to do something different between now and the next transfer window when an opportunity to add another midfield option could arise if need be.

Outliers

I’m aware that every side has their own way of doing things, but it is so rare for a Premier League side to use this level of defensive stability in a traditional 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation.

Even promoted sides such as Sunderland or Leeds who play similar systems have the likes of Xhaka, Sadiki, Tanaka, Stach etc who are capable of doing more than just sitting deep and retaining possession.

They win possession back, they carry the ball with intent, and they can create from a variety of positions. And the irony is that, with the quality around them being lesser than that of Fulham’s squad, they shouldn’t be able to influence games as often as our midfield should be able to - but they are.

Silva’s stubborn, pragmatic approach in such a key area is not only unhelpful for the side, but also just a complete anomaly in the Premier League.

Just to continue those comparisons to other midfielders in the league. let’s look at Lukic and especially Berge’s numbers compared to other players in their position (we’ll use Granit Xhaka, Jordan Henderson and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall for variety).

Berge and Lukic’s combined expected assists (xA) so far this season is 1.2 and between them they have zero in open play, with Lukic’s corner at the weekend producing his singular assist.

Dewsbury-Hall alone has 1.4 xA, Xhaka already has three assists for Sunderland, and Henderson has two for Brentford. Players like these who are joining new teams, in comparison to Lukić and Berge who are used to Silva’s methodology, and straight away both effecting the game in terms of midfield duels but also in terms of making a difference in the final third.

We cannot continue to be the outlier. We can’t be the team that doesn’t take that step forward because our manager is too stubborn or afraid to take the handbrake off and use a more expansive midfield.

We have options in the squad. We have a coach who has the skills to improve Berge’s and Lukic’s games and encourage them to be more creative within this system. It’s down to Silva to recognise this isn’t working and change it.

Unfortunately, the way he persisted with Andreas Pereira playing slightly deeper over the last two seasons, and his continued use of both Berge and Lukic this season, suggests that change may not be as close as we would hope it would be.