The fact we had entered November and not seen a single manager sacked in the Premier League made for a refreshing change. All too often, dismissals are made in a panic and without the long-term good of the club in question taken into proper consideration. This season it appeared a sense of calm and rational thinking had taken over. All managers seem to have been given time.

That was until Wednesday, however, when Fulham sacked Slavisa Jokanovic and immediately announced Claudio Ranieri as his successor. Unfortunately, normal service has been resumed.

Don’t get me wrong, it is great to see Ranieri back in the Premier League. He comes across as a very good man and, of course, is the one who led Leicester to one of the greatest sporting achievements of all time. I was as shocked as anyone by Leicester’s decision to sack him less than a year after they had stunned all and won the Premier League.

Fulham appoint Claudio Ranieri as manager after sacking Slavisa Jokanovic Read more

But it is unfortunate that Ranieri’s return is a direct consequence of Jokanovic losing his job because I feel the Serb deserved more time to turn around Fulham’s fortunes. Too often, the very manager who brought success to a club is the one who makes way at the first difficult bump in the road, challenges that should be expected in the Premier League. Jokanovic brought Fulham up – he should have been backed rather than sacked.

My brother, Sone, spent one season playing under Jokanovic at Fulham and describes him as being a calm presence in the dressing room and someone who is able to command the respect of all players. Looking in from the outside, it is clear that Jokanovic is a man with a strong belief in an attractive, possession-based playing style as well as in giving young players a chance. Just look at how well Ryan Sessegnon has developed under his charge.

Jokanovic should have been given until at least Christmas to try and prove he could establish Fulham in the Premier League. Arguably, though, he made that almost impossible after openly criticising his players before the game against Liverpool at the weekend, accusing them of not showing enough effort and application. It is never a good idea for a manager to criticise his players in public as it creates a lack of trust between both parties. Those conversations should always be done privately.

It can also be argued that by sacking Jokanovic, Fulham’s owner, Shahid Khan, is displaying ambition – clearly he is not happy with the team sitting at the bottom of the table after 12 games and, having invested more than £100m in players over the summer, he wants to see them much higher, much sooner. That is his prerogative and suggests he has big plans for the club, in the immediate and long term.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Slavisa Jokanovic was a hero at Fulham after leading them back to the Premier League less than six months ago. Photograph: Javier Garcia/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

What is for sure is that Fulham were leaking far too many goals under Jokanovic and so Ranieri’s first task will be to make them more organised. Fortunately for them, he has a record of doing just that. He is an inherently defensive-minded coach, seen best in his success with Leicester, when the title was won by being solid at the back and ruthless on the counterattack.

It is important for any team that is promoted to be strong at the back. They cannot go toe-to-toe with many of the sides they will come up against and so have to be able to defend first and foremost. Burnley are a good example of a team that have managed to do that successfully over a number of seasons, establishing them in the Premier League. Fulham could do worse than follow their example, although it would be a shame if under Ranieri they completely abandoned the attacking style that made them one of the best teams to watch in the Championship. I, for one, was consistently excited by the prospect of watching Fulham play, at Craven Cottage or elsewhere, last season.

What is for sure is that they have plenty of time to escape relegation. It is early days in the season and there is very little separating Fulham from the sides immediately above them. Indeed, they are only four points behind Newcastle in 14th.

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That closeness has formed part of a discussion in recent weeks regarding the lack of competitiveness in the Premier League. For sure there is a stark gap between the clubs at the top and those at the bottom, but for me this is because Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea are so good, rather than Fulham, Huddersfield and Cardiff being particularly bad.

It has always been difficult for the have-nots to beat the haves and that is even more the case now because the standard has been raised. If anything, we should count ourselves lucky that we are able to watch exceptional sides led by exceptional managers perform week in, week out in the Premier League. Personally, that is what I want to see – high-level football, and if that means some sides struggling to accumulate points, so be it.

Finally, I was on Sky Sports News this week speaking about life in Turin. I really enjoyed doing the feature and hope that people who watched it back home got an insight into a footballers’ life in Italy, in particular my fellow professionals. I said in a previous column that I would love to see more British players open their mind to the possibility of playing abroad, and seeing how well it’s going for me will hopefully persuade some to do just that. The experience thus far has been an incredibly enriching one, personally as well as professionally.