Mladen Petricâs career at Fulham started with a deal of promise, pre-season and early season goals making him the leading scorer. Since then his fortunes have stuttered and last night he said, âwe will see whats happening this summer... I don't know it at the moment but of course I didn't come to sit on the benchâ¦â Mladenâs main problem of course has been getting game time. Initially because Berba was seen by Jol as the preferred striker and then a series of niggling injuries; the worst being a gashed leg in that fateful game against Sunderland. Indeed since then he has featured only as an occasional, late sub. On Wednesday however, ironically coming on as a second half sub for Croatia v Korea, he showed what he is capable of - [video=youtube;2sXA-2fZgxE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2sXA-2fZgxE[/video] Jol seems to prefer the pace of Hugo to Mladenâs instinct for goals. The fans however seem split, with many concerned about our current lack of shots on target, never mind goals. Quite the man about town and with many interests outside football (and I mean his modelling and so on, not his conjuring tricks), itâs clear if his appearances remain sporadic, heâll look to be off in the summer. I suspect the Club wonât stand in his way. Here is a link to his website: http://www.mladenpetric.com/pagen.php?language=en
He definitely deserves more game time, his goals to games ratio is probably better than anyone else at the club. I'd love to see him playing up top on his own with Ruiz behind, with Berba and Rodallega on the bench, the latter being used as an impact sub, as he has the pace to stretch tired legs around the 70-80 minute mark. This could be another Nevland scenario, incredibly talented, great finisher, but always behind the favorite striker (McBride)
