Monday Fulham Stuff (14/05/12)...

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham boss: I’m here with my new girl and then I have to be nice to my old missus

Martin Jol thanked the Tottenham fans for the reception he received

Fulham manager Martin Jol thanked Tottenham fans for the reception he received at White Hart Lane yesterday.

The Dutchman is a popular figure at Spurs and led the north Londoners to fifth in 2006 and Gareth Bale signed for Tottenham because of the current Fulham boss.

“I know the Spurs fans are great,” the Dutchman said. “I meet them in town and in the city and I feel that it is always good in football to have a connection with your former club.

“I always feel a little awkward - I’m here with my new girl and then I have to be nice to my old missus, and that is a strange feeling.

“I thought that I owed it to them to give them a wave and perhaps our fans won’t like it but it is not easy.”



http://www.london24.com/sport/fulham/fulham_boss_i_m_here_with_my_new_girl_and_then_i_have_to_be_nice_to_my_old_missus_1_1376451?

[WhiteJC]

 
A few thoughts about each team this season

Some thoughts then:

Manchester City look a good team to me, but not as good a team as they should be. Carlos Tevez could have had this league sewn up some time ago, and the fact that they needed the 95th minute of the last game of the season suggests some under-achievement. They’ll win the next few though I imagine. Whoopee.

United did fantastically well to get so close, and will look back on that silly home defeat against Blackburn with horror. They’re well set for the future but it feels like they need another superstar in the middle of the park.  Perhaps Tom Cleverly is that man.

Arsenal will also look back on the season and wonder what might have been. If anything, their predicament teaches us not to panic if short term results go askew – this is football, bad things can happen to good teams, whatever Piers Moron might think.

Spurs are a fine team and with a world class centre-back and the retention of Adebayor might push on a level next season. But they need to keep Modric and Bale as well, and that won’t be easy.

Newcastle I have a lot of respect for.  They also raise the question of how much of a centre-forward’s success is his own and how much is the system he plays in?  Demba Ba scored a hatful then was moved sideways to accommodate Cisse, at which point Cisse scored a hatful. Are Newcastle just really good at creating good chances? In any case, they have a fine squad and I don’t think this is a fluke – should be top 7-8 next year, too.

Chelsea need to have a good hard look at themselves. If they wanted to stay as they were then why hire someone to change things? Villas Boas could, I’m sure, have just sat back from day one and let them good ol’ boys do their thing, but that wasn’t the brief, was it? How annoyed he must feel now. They have progressed with Ramires and Mata, fine players, but next year perhaps need to make Torres the focal point. At a strange juncture and it’s not immeiately clear where they go from here.

Everton managed to reunite that lovely Pienaar-Osman-Fellaini-Neville midfield and survived a terrible off year from Tim Cahill to finish more or less where they always do. Jelevic was a revelation for them up front. And they seem to have a couple of good young players, and the ever impressive Baines. Also Tim Howard, underrated for ages. So it’s all there and they’re a bit like Fulham, good, solid, but lacking that extra £50m or inspired signing or three to do a Newcastle.  Or did Newcastle just do an Everton and Fulham without the form dip? Perhaps.

Liverpool will have a big season next year. I don’t like them or what they have been up to but they had a comically unfortunate season, hitting the post more than anyone and converting a miniscule proportion of chances. Both of these almost have to be statistical freaks, outliers, and therefore likely to rebound to normalcy for the next season. This makes Liverpool a good bet to outperform expectations next time around I reckon.

Fulham did well, I think, and we’ll talk about this a bit more in due course, but inquiring minds are now wondering whether this team might take itself a bit more seriously as contenders. “The best of the rest” (as Jol put it) is probably about fair, and it’s greedy and probably wrong headed to take the second half of the season as the ‘real’ team while sweeping the first half under the carpet, but it’s tempting to wonder if we mightn’t have done a bit better overall.  We must remember that ‘transition’ word and point to the disruption that was Zamora as well as the Europa League farce, but I’m now wondering if we didn’t slightly waste Clint Dempsey’s golden farewell (if that’s what it is).

WBA did well, too, funnily enough. The amusing thing is that Roy started winning away games, which makes me wonder if the whole “Fulham away” thing does indeed transcend managers, playing styles, or anything, and simply “is”.

Swansea were a delight and were the top half of the table not so competitive would look to ‘kick on’ next year. As it is there’s really no room for anyone without lots of money so this is probably about as good as it gets. Yay Premier League.

Norwich are the same and like Swansea, have one of the better managers in the game. Norwich don’t have a signature style like Swansea but do have lots of players called Russell and Wesley and Bradley, which is quite something. If Lambert gets offered a big job I’d expect Norwich to plummet but who really knows? Eh?

Sunderland are lower than I’d have expected. Martin O’Neill is one of those managers who seems to be a little bit overrated but clearly he got his team playing well. Next year will be interesting though, I have some doubts.

Stoke… I can’t be bothered really.

Wigan defied belief, apparently by switching to three at the back. This raises all kinds of interesting questions about tactical flexibility in the English game, but fair play to them, it was one hell of a run in and if Martinez can get them playing before February then they might even finish in the lofty and much coveted 12-14 places.

Villa fans seem to be blaming their manager, and this might not be unreasonable, but against that, they did sell, y’know, all their good players. Football’s silly and doing things like ‘balancing books’ is not a good way to progress as a club. Randy Lerner must wonder what on earth he’s doing.

QPR survive, thus ensuring more southern games next year. It’s fashionable and funny to castigate Mark Hughes and his motley crew, but Hughes is a really good manager and they too will be fighting with us for the esteemed 9-13 places next season. It’s going to be epic.

Bolton didn’t, and have been a shambles for a while. (insert platitude about them, Blackburn and us coming up at same time). Frankly they’re not good enough to survive, and Owen Coyle seems to have been found out. You can’t have a centre-back pairing that contains the word “Zat” in this day and age and expect to progress.  They had some good players but Coyle couldn’t work out how to use them.

Blackburn were terrible too, and for all the pity aimed at Steve Kean, we must remember that until he was appointed Sam Allardyce had them firmly in mid-table and above. Kean’s ruined all that, his owners have produced some comedy moments, and all that’s stopping them flying all the way down the league is the Premiership Parachute Bonanza, which they might still misuse anyway.  Goodbye, Blackburn.

Wolves also deserved to go for comedy villain purposes (bye-bye Karl Henry). Like Villa they haven’t spent money for ages, and like Blackburn seem to have adopted the “let’s do some weird things” approach to operations. Not entirely clear where they turn now, but the squad should remain more or less intact because nobody will want them in the top division, so they’ll presumably soar reasonably high in the Championship. So we may well meet again.



https://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/a-few-thoughts-about-each-team-this-season/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Academy Internationals

After being crowned 2011/12 Academy League Champions at Craven Cottage on Saturday afternoon, there was further good news for three members of Kit Symons’ U18 team.

Omri Altman, Season Kavanagh and Jack Grimmer (right) have been called up for U19 international duty following Saturday’s historic win in SW6.

Altman has been selected to represent Israel U19s in their European Championship Elite Round Qualifying Matches, which will take place between 24th and 31st May.

Kavanagh has been selected to represent Republic of Ireland U19s in their UEFA Elite Phase Qualifying Matches taking place between the 20th May and the 1st June.

Scottish youth international Grimmer has been selected to play in the 59th ADO Den Haag Youth Tournament taking place between the 22nd and 27th May.



Read more: http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2012/May/AcademyInternational.aspx?#ixzz1uqkkoYC6

[WhiteJC]

 
Everton star to try and lure Fulham’s talisman to Goodison Park

Tim Howard wants the club to sign Clint Dempsey

Everton star Tim Howard has revealed that he will spend his summer on the phone to Fulham’s talisman Clint Dempsey in a bid to bring the American to Goodison Park.

The 29-year-old forward scored 23 goals last season for the Whites and has been linked to a host of clubs and his international team-mate is desperate to have him on Merseyside.

“We need to assess a lot of things,” Howard said.

“We need the gaffer in place, let him pick and choose the players who he wants to bring in.

“I’m going to be on the horn to Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan and I’m going to try my best.”



http://www.london24.com/sport/fulham/everton_star_to_try_and_lure_fulham_s_talisman_to_goodison_park_1_1376702?

[WhiteJC]

 
Manchester United in £10 million chase for Fulham ace Dembele

According to reports Manchester United are launching a £10 million bid for Fulham attacker Mousa Dembele.

The Mail on Sunday claims United are expected to start rebuilding following the loss of their Premier League crown to bitter local rivals Manchester City.

It is understood that Dembele is in line to be the first of a number of signings.

The 24-year-old Belgium midfielder has made a huge impression since his £5 million move from AZ Alkmaar in 2010 and he has been a revelation following Fulham manager Martin Jol's decision to drop him back into a deeper central-midfield role in the 2-1 win over Stoke in February.

He has only scored twice this season, but has been instrumental in Fulham's rise to ninth and is seen as a ready-made replacement for veteran Paul Scholes.



http://www.click-manchester.com/sport/manchester-united/1216251-manchester-united-in-Â10-million-chase-for-fulham-ace-dembele.html?

[WhiteJC]

 

The Hammy’s
by CHRIS GILBERTSON on MAY 14, 2012

As the 2011/2012 season has drawn to a close for our beloved Fulham Football Club, here are the inaugural Hammyend End of Season Awards, known simply as The “Hammy’s”.

Signing of the season

There are several nominees for signing of the season; both Pavel Pogrebnyak and Mahammadou Diarra have excelled at times since their January (and February) arrivals. Pogrebnyak seamlessly replacing former England striker Bobby Zamora, and Diarra, who’s vast experience and quality has begun to really shine in central midfield alongside Danny Murphy and Moussa Dembele. For me though, the signing of the season is John Arne Riise, who joined from AS Roma last summer. Despite not scoring, the Norwegian has cemented the left back role as his own, whilst his marauding touchline runs have freed Clint Dempsey to have the run of the park without excessive concern for his flank.

Goal of the season

The first nominee is Pavel Pogrebnyak’s delightful rounding of Paddy Kenny against QPR from Moussa Dembele’s showboat backheeled through ball. Bryan Ruiz only scored two goals in his first season for Fulham, but they were both absolute peaches. The chip against Everton was good enough to have come out of Rory McIlroy’s golf bag, while the “scoop” goal against Bolton was technically sublime. Not being able to pick between the two Ruiz goals, my goal of the season is Clint Dempsey’s team goal, which crowned the 5-0 thrashing of Wolves. Capping a mesmeric twenty something pass move that any team would have been proud of, Clint smashed in a neat 16 yard finish following a one two with Mahammadou Diarra.


Bryan celebrates his goal against Everton
Match of the season

Was it winning in Liverpool for the first time ever? How about the 1-0 win away at Mark Hughes’ QPR? The 2-1 last minute win over Arsenal? No, the game of the season was undoubtedly the 6-0 demolition of Queens Park Rangers back in September. Welcome to the Premier League.

The Abdeslam Ouaddou Award for the Most Unpronounceable Name

Despite facing teams from the Faroe Islands, Ukraine, Croatia and Poland in our Europa League run, a few of the new faces at Craven Cottage have proved tricky for Diddy Hamilton and a fair few others to pronounce. From Pajtim (Pie-Tim) Kasami and Marcel Gecov (Getz-of) to Alex Kacaniklic (Catch-a-nik-lich) and Pavel Pogrebnyak (Pog-reb-knee-ak), it appears Martin Jol is intent on making commentators lives difficult. Pogrebnyak wins, purely for his ability to be mispronounced in the national spotlight.

The HammyEnd.com Award for best Fulham Fan Media

The past season has seen an upsurge in the number of intelligent, interesting and dedicated Fulham fan-based media. The increasing popularity of twitter has undoubtedly fueled this growth and enabled those that pre-existed to gain a wider reach. There is no specific winner here, but I’d like personally thank Dan Crawford, devoted editor of HammyEnd for encouraging contributions from an ever burgeoning range of writers. Other sites, like the excellent Craven Cottage Newsround and Fulham’s Finest have continued their stellar work. While finally, (and I may be biased here) Russ Goldman’s wonderful CottageTalk, a weekly online radio show / podcast, brings Fulham discussion to a wider audience, along with interviews with the likes of Aaron Hughes and Journalists such as the Press Association’s Simon Peach. If, like me, you have an insatiable desire for all things Fulham, now is very much a golden age.

The @Hammyend Award for Our Favourite Fulham Tweeter

The last season has seen an explosion in the popularity of Twitter as social media of choice for Fulham Football Club. We’ve had the immensely popular #fridayfulhamchallenge courtesy of the club itself including the naming of the @fulhamchickens. By my latest count, there are twelve first teamers currently active on twitter along with several wives. My nominees for Tweeter of the year are @sarahbrookes1, the ever informative and Rafa Nadal obsessed Fulham press officer, @Clint_Dempsey – #thatswhatsup, the irrepressible @WhiteNoise1879 and @joannataylormum, the popular other half to our beloved captain, Danny Murphy. Her constant willingness to interact positively with us fans, makes Joanna Murphy, my Fulham Tweeter of the Season.

Best Opposing Fans at Craven Cottage

Manchester United and Liverpool always bring loud, original and surprisingly polite away fans to Craven Cottage and this season was no different. Wigan deserve vast amounts of credit for staying loud all game, in particular the 15 minutes they sung “I’m a believer”, but for me, the loudest fans I have heard in some time, were those from Wisla Krakow. It felt as though every Polish person in London had descended on Fulham. I actually arrived at the game twenty minutes late and came through the Putney End turnstiles at the precise moment Andy Johnson opened the scoring, but such was the fervency of the Krakow support, I couldn’t tell who’d scored.

Best Opposing Player

This is a tough one to answer, and you’d think the drubbings at the hands of Manchester United and Swansea would give me the result. Antonio Valencia and Wayne Rooney among others picked us apart when the reigning champions came to town, while the midfield three of Gylfi Sigurdsson, Joe Allen and Leon Brittan played us off the park when we lost the Welsh outfit. However, it was Sergio Aguero, in the 2-2 draw with Manchester City who stood out for me. New to the English game, Aguero played sumblimely, just as he did that fateful evening in Hamburg two years ago.

The Gervasio Nunez Award For Unsportsmanlike Conduct

Refereeing decisions have come under the spotlight this past season, and we’ve suffered our fair share of misdemeanors. Nothing stands out for me, like the outrageous cheating displayed by Argentinean street urchin Gervasio Nunez, when, in Krakow, he got Moussa Dembele sent off for gently pushing his shoulder by diving around as if an anti aircraft gun had zeroed in on his nose. What’s more, in the reverse fixture he continued his antics. One particularly robust Dickson Etuhu challenge later and everyone was better off.


Kerim Frei tormenting Chelsea
Rookie of the Year

What a year for young talent at Craven Cottage. The investment in the Motspur Park academy is beginning to bear its fruits, and in Martin Jol, we finally have a manager who’s willing to give the youngsters a prolonged chance. All under 21, Neil Etheridge, Marcello Trotta, Pajtim Kasami, Matthew Briggs, Tom Donegan, Lauri Dalle Valle and Alex Kacaniklic have all seen first team action this season, with all but Briggs making their debuts. Rookie of the year honours have to go to Kerim Frei. The pintsized Swiss winger is as exciting a prospect as there is in the entire Premier League. From his debut against NSI Runavik, to his three Man of the Match appearances against Chelsea, Kerim has been a beacon of positive football whilst running at defenders along the left wing. He’s won two penalties, at Swansea and Chelsea, scored against Odense and enduced Johan Djourou into getting himself sent off. It may be a busy summer ahead for Kerim, who is tipped to make the 18-man Switzerland Olympic Squad.

Achievement of the Season

Congratulations to the Fulham Under-18s, who last Saturday became the Premier Academy League Champions. The final, played at Craven Cottage, saw the youngsters deservedly beat Blackburn Rovers 2-0. Manager Kit Symons has done a tremendous job, as has academy director Huw Jennings and all the backroom staff. We have now got to the final two years in a row, and can now call ourselves champions. A truly outstanding achievement that everyone involved with the club can be proud of.

Most Improved Player

Stephen Kelly, where have you been all my life? Originally fourth choice right back at the start of the season, injury to Zdenek Grygera, Chris Barid’s absence and Aaron Hughes’ preference for centre half eventually allowed Kelly the opportunity to grow into a very solid performer. Still not an attacking force, Kelly has matured into a remarkably consistent performer defensively, whilst improving offensively. He made himself first choice at right back and has been offered a new contract, albeit with the possibility of a new right back arriving and the return to fitness of Grygera.

Quote of the season

Something might be said for the translation when you hear your new centre forward proclaiming he can be “powerful and agile, like a beast”. However, this is exactly what our Ivan Drago lookalike, Pavel Porgebnyak, said to Russian Sports News Agency SovSport whilst awaiting his UK visa in Paris. A series of swashbuckling performances, including five goals from his first five shots on target, led us to soon forget about the sulky striker sent to Loftus Road on Transfer Deadline Day.


Who needs Zamora? When we've got The Pog.
Chant of the season

There was a defining moment of our season. January 31st saw Bobby Zamora, he of moody temper tantrums throughout the autumn, leave Fulham for pastures new, and Russian International, Pavel Pogrebnyak, join the Whites from VFB Stuttgart. Perfect then that on The Pog’s third appearance, he scored the winner in a 1-0 win over relegation candidates QPR at Loftus Road. Quite right that chant of the season is “Who needs Zamora, When We’ve Got The Pog”.

Ironman Award

Norway Captain, defensive rock, Viking, ironman…all apt and factual descriptions of Brede Hangeland. Not only did our behemoth of a centre back play every minute of every league game, he played in every other game bar one for the entire 54 match season. What’s more, his performances rarely wavered, despite several changes to his centre back partner.

Player of the season

There are really only two genuine candidates for player of the season, Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey. Especially since his move to central midfield on Boxing Day, Dembele has been especially superb. Albeit without goals (only two for the season), Moussa has been the creative spark behind our upturn in form over the second half of the season. His wonderful assist for Pavel Pogrebnyak’s goal at QPR is perhaps the standout moment, but his constant dribbling, successful passing and completed tackles have led Dembele to being well on his way to becoming an elite Premier League midfielder.


Clint Dempsey - Player of The Season
Player of the season though, should be awarded for play over the whole season. While Dembele was good throughout the first half, there is one man who has been truly outstanding across the entire term. Clint Dempsey this year passed Brian McBride to become Fulham’s all time leading Premier League goalscorer, and in doing so, passed 50 goals for Fulham and later 50 goals in the Premier League, all for FFC. Ending the year with 23 goals, 17 in the league, Clint finished in a remarkable fourth place in the Football Writers Player of the Year, and to be honest, was unlucky not to finish third ahead of Paul Scholes. It’s not just his goals that have cemented this award, but his play in general. Fearless and spirited, Clint can rarely be accused of lethargy, which for a man who’s barely had a summer off since his move to Craven Cottage five and a half years ago, is somewhat remarkable. He’s our longest serving player, and regardless of his employment tenure next season, Clint Dempsey is the rightful Fulham Player of the Season.

COYWs



http://hammyend.com/index.php/2012/05/the-hammys/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Bleak end to a gratifying campaign - Tottenham 2-0 Fulham

A certain Rudyard Kipling once said that "if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you" then you'd be, by way of honour, a man. If there was ever any doubt, over the course of this campaign, then, about the gender and about the personal traits and about the background of Martin Jol then it has finally, most assuredly, been answered. There was a sense, at many stages over this season, that heads would roll and the biggest would that of our manager's, but in his most calm and convincing manner, Chairman Mohammed Al Fayed stood by Jol and the Dutchman now, by all accounts, can be considered the manliest of men.

He stuck by his own grounded principles and let nothing slip - in a way that Mark Hughes, quite simply, couldn't. He followed through on quite risky promises - he lowered the average age of the squad and has allowed some of our most glittering young talents to shine, dazzle and glisten on one of the world's greatest footballing stages. He has continued to grace the fine Craven Cottage turf with a style of football that is brisk and pleasant and has, also, taken the good along with the bad and never appeared to be overly bothered. All the while, Fulham have finished ninth, level on points with Liverpool, a team of such damning pedigree, and finished the year with a certain sense of well-being and a prevalent thought that, come August, things could be even greater in SW6 and that Fulham are a club, for all intents and purposes, most definitely on the up.



The season, then, was a good one but the game at White Hart Lane never quite lived up to the billing on show at the Etihad Stadium as Manchester City dramatically clinched the title. In truth, though, that was never expected. Here, one side sought Champions League football while the other fought for a less prosaic ending to a sporadically successful campaign. In that sense, it was no surprise that Emmanuel Adebayor only took 96 seconds to put Tottenham Hotspur into an eventually unassailable lead after being released by Luka Modric.

Fulham did find their way into the game but never intruded into the score sheet with Moussa Dembele in particular proving influential in midfield. As the away side grew in stature, though, their impotence up front only seemed to grow with Clint Dempsey clearly being a sorely missed casualty. He was left out through injury but the conspiracies around his imminent Fulham departure flew around the away end sharply as, really, there was little to look at on the pitch.

Jermain Defoe went on to double the Spurs lead after the break after replacing Rafael van der Vaart and there was a bleak acceptance that the game was now beyond Fulham. They did press, and could have taken something back to South West London, but two strikes of the post, unfortunately, don't make a goal, and this proved to be a negative ending to an ultimately positive season.

The bigger test will, of course, come over the summer as other clubs pursue our best talents. Let's hope we're better at keeping them away than we were Tottenham here.



http://www.cottagersconfidential.com/2012/5/14/3019171/bleak-end-to-a-gratifying-campaign-tottenham-2-0-fulham?