Friday Fulham Stuff (07/04/17)...

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Sone Aluko sticking to his early season prediction that Fulham will finish in the play-off places
The 28-year-old predicted that Fulham would finish in the play-off places when he signed from Hull City in July and he is sticking to his prediction


Sticking to prediction: Sone Aluko (Photo: Grahame Larter)

Sone Aluko hasn't changed his opinion since first signing that Fulham will finish in the play-offs, despite recently dropping out of the top six.

The 28-year-old signed for Slavisa Jokanovic's side from Hull City in July and stated at the time that he believed his new team could make the play-offs.

That prediction looks to be a good one with the Cottagers only two points outside those places, although Sheffield Wednesday leapfrogged them on Tuesday after defeat to Derby.

But that being said, Aluko is still sticking to his guns on his prediction as Fulham prepare to face Ipswich Town on Saturday.

He said: "It's a challenge for the club but before that there is still a lot of work to be done.

"It's been a good season and I've really enjoyed it – all in all I'm happy I've played most games and had a good month.

"You always set goals and targets and I still have some that I'm setting between now and the end of the season, sometimes they're month to month and sometimes game to game.

"I've not changed anything from when I signed – I thought the manager spoke well and he wanted to build a team that could challenge and by the time we got to the first international break I believed this is a team that can go all the way and get into the play-offs.

"It's still in our hands and we still have to play Wednesday so if we do what we know we can do an execute our game plans I think we can make it and I felt that way since I came here."


On the ball: Sone Aluko in action against his former side

The Nigerian international isn't the only footballer in his family, with his older sister, Eniola Aluko, a star in the Chelsea and England ladies teams, and Sone Aluko has revealed he is inspired by her and chats regularly about both of their situations.

He added: "We talk generally about football, what's she going through and the ups and downs and how to handle the pressures of it.

I'm encouraged by her, she inspires me in every way and fortunately I've been through the play-offs last season so I'm not completely new to it."

Sone Aluko and Kevin McDonald visited the Fulham FC Ticket Office calling supporters to thank them for renewing their season tickets for 2017/18 - you can view the video right here .

Season Tickets for Fulham FC's 2017/18 campaign are now available to purchase with prices frozen until Monday April 10.

For further information or to purchase, visit: www.fulhamfc.com/seasontickets .



http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/sone-aluko-sticking-early-season-12853401

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Sawyers Silences Romoaners While Fulham Cause Ticket Tantrum – The Brentford Buzz

Beesotted contributor, Billy Taylor, scours the internet to unearth the latest Brentford-related gossip  from Twitter, Facebook, the Griffin Park Grapevine (GPG) and more.

On Tuesday night Brentford hosted Championship 'big boys' (yawn) Leeds United who sat comfortably within the play-off places.

It was set to be a tough test for the Bees, and another opportunity to prove we have the capability to compete at the top of the division after recent back-to-back wins against lower opposition in Burton Albion and Bristol City.

Dean Smith's side were on the front foot from the off as they stamped their authority on the game. The Bees 'Wing Wizards' carved out the first goal of the game, with Jota gliding past the Leed's midfield to lay the ball off to Sergi Canos – his shot was saved – but the ball fell to Sawyers who unleashed a powerful half-volley into the bottom corner.

Ealing Road erupted as the ball hitting the back of the net as you can see here!

The lead was swiftly doubled as, once again, Canos had his shot parried by Rob Green, but this time, it was Lasse Vibe's turn to benefit from the rebound. This cued the inevitable chances of "Ole Ole Ole Lasse Vibe "from around Griffin Park.

Half time came and it was safe to say that Bees fans were overjoyed with the display and couldn't wait for the second period to begin.

The rest of the game panned out very differently to how many would expected of this gung-ho Brentford side. The second half performance was one of discipline, with chances being carved out with precision and great timing. A very professional display from a Dean Smith's side that is often labelled as "inexperienced" due to their incapability to grind games out.

Brentford fans were ecstatic with their sides third win a row, as can be heard on the Beesotted post match podcast.

There was more good news on the pitch for the club on Tuesday as, away from Griffin Park, Brentford's B team recorded a 7-1 win over Nike academy, which again shows the progress the side are making bridging the gap to the first team.

Ticket sales for the trip across West London to face Fulham have also now gone on sale – many seem bemused by the decision to give an away allocation of just under 3,000 – with the last two visits to the cottage being taken over by around 6,000 Bees. However, it won't stop the Pride of West London from filling out the stand, with Craven Cottage containing a"neutral zone"that many will take full advantage of.

SONOFABEE: Thanks chaps, two great seats in the middle on the aisle in P2 rather than wait for tomorrow and the day after for my mate. Happy days, love those neutral stands

BIXER: Yep, in that case I'll definitely try and get neutral tickets. I'm on 656 TAP points, so I really can't see any possibility that there'll be any left for me by the time I'm able to buy next Wednesday.

With two wins, accompanied by two clean sheets this week at Griffin Park, Brentford will be hoping they can take their fine form away as they travel to Cardiff on Saturday.

Come on you Bees!


http://beesotted.co.uk/?p=21326

[WhiteJC]

 
EFL teams must name 'club-developed' player on matchdays from 2018-19

English Football League clubs will have to name at least one "club-developed" player in their matchday squads from the start of the 2018-19 season.

A club-developed player is defined as one who has been registered to the club for at least a year before the end of his under-19 season.

The new rules were agreed following a meeting of all 72 EFL clubs.

"I am confident that this decision will have a positive and lasting impact," said EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey.

"It is imperative that we provide young players not only with a platform, but also with the belief that opportunities will be made available to progress from youth to senior football."

Teams have previously had to include six home-grown players, defined as those registered with a club in England or Wales for three seasons, or 36 months, before their 21st birthday.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39517843

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England U19 Star Edun Produces Impressive Display For Fulham In Narrow Loss To

Tayo Edun and Elijah Adebayo were in action for Fulham U23s squad in their narrow 1-0 loss to United States U20s in a friendly on Wednesday afternoon at Motspur Park.

The Americans have set up a training camp in London ahead of the 2017 Fifa U20 World Cup in South Korea.

England U19 star Edun produced an impressive performance for the entire duration of the game, making several passes to his teammates, while Adebayo subbed out with 20 minutes to play.

Estoril striker Stephen Payne came on for the Americans in the second half.

USA U20s broke the deadlock in the 20 minute through their number nine, who beat the Fulham goalkeeper with a shot from the edge of the area.



http://allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=22625

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Fossey: A Lot To Achieve

The Under-23s played a behind closed doors match on Wednesday afternoon against the U20 CONCACAF Champions, the United States. Even thought the Whites lost 1-0, it was a useful match for both teams.

The US Under-20s are getting ready for the World Cup just around the corner, and Fulham have three important matches to secure their place in the PL2 Division Two Play-Offs, with their next match away at Newcastle on Monday.

Part of the CONCACAF Champion's mainstay players are Fulham Academy products Luca de la Torre and Marlon Fossey, and the latter played in the match against his national team.

"It felt a bit strange," Fossey commented on playing against his national side. "I knew four or five of the players, I knew what they could bring to the table.

"So I guess I was more prepared than my other teammates in that respect. I knew both their left-back and their striker.

"We stayed out in Costa Rica with the coaches for a long time, we bonded, and with the players as well. We were pretty much a family out there so it was good to see them again."

Fossey himself played well in the match, defending resolutely but also putting very good balls into dangerous areas.

Even though it was at match for the American coaches to look at other players, he didn't harm his chances demonstrating what he can do with that performance.

"The World Cup is only three or four weeks away so I need to keep giving a good impression and keep in the coach's mind. Hopefully I've kept that starting spot for the World Cup, its not far away now at all."

Asked about the match itself, he said: "I think as a team we were a bit sloppy, we knew they were going to press us but I don't think we coped with it as well as we should have.

"We did have some chances but we didn't put them away, so it wasn't one of our best games."

The USA, using this chance to try out a variety of players, had rolling subs and switched most of their team at half-time.

"When they brought their new fresh team out they had a lot of energy, and obviously we had already played a half against an energetic side so I guess they had the advantage in that aspect but I still think we should have won, but we didn't play well enough.

"It was good to get out on the pitch because we haven't had a game in three or four weeks, especially because the games coming up are very important. We need to focus on the games coming up now.

"We've hopefully got five games left [with the Play-Offs] and then the World Cup is after that, so I could have a long season still to go, and there is still a lot to achieve."

The PL2 side travel to fourth placed Newcastle on Monday with three games to go. Kick off is at 2pm.


http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2017/april/06/fossey-a-lot-to-achieve

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham v Ipswich Town
SAT, 08 Apr 2017Championship
Venue: Craven Cottage

Chris Martin is Fulham's top scorer this season, with 11 goals in all competitions

BBC coverage

How to follow:
    Final Score; BBC Radio 5 live, BBC local radio; live text commentary on BBC Sport website


On-loan Fulham striker Chris Martin is available after missing Tuesday's 4-2 defeat by parent club Derby.

Midfielder Scott Parker is expected to remain out, having been sidelined since 11 March with a back injury.

Ipswich should have leading scorer Tom Lawrence available after a groin problem, while midfielder Cole Skuse (concussion) misses out again.

Defenders Jonas Knudsen (shoulder) and centre-back Steven Taylor (hamstring) could miss the rest of the season.

Match facts
    After losing four consecutive meetings with Ipswich, the Whites are unbeaten in two (W1 D1).
    Ipswich are unbeaten in their last six away games against Fulham in all competitions, winning the last two (D4).
    Brett Pitman has netted four goals in five league games against Fulham.
    Chris Martin has scored in three of his last five appearances against the Tractor Boys in league competition, including in this season's reverse fixture.
    Ipswich's 3-0 win over Wigan ended a run of eight games without a win, though seven of those were draws (L1).
    Fulham have kept just one clean sheet in their last eight league games, which came against Rotherham.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39462801

[WhiteJC]

 
Go For It Jokanović – This £2.13m Chelsea Ace Will Be A Shrewd Addition To Fulham

It Would Be A Win-Win If Fulham Sign Piazon Permanently
Usually when clubs like Fulham loan players from Chelsea, one would not expect the player to be there permanently beyond the end of the season. Very often they are 19 or 20 and are touted as the next big European superstars. The case of Brazilan Lucas Piazon however, is different.

Already 23-years-old and with only one Blues appearance to his name, it's hard to imagine him breaking into the star-studded Liverpool squad. With Willian, Hazard and so man stars at Chelsea's disposal, along with the possibility of more big name arrivals in the summer, Piazon's time looks to be up.

Chelsea brought Piazon over from Sao Paolo as a 17-year-old to play in their development teams back in 2011. Following one year of that, plus a single appearance for the first team, he was loaned out to Malaga in Spain where he played 11 times. More long term loans have come and gone at Vitesse, Eintracht Frankfurt and Reading, before he landed at Fulham. These moves somewhat give his profile the look of a journeyman.

All these loan spells, without a prolonged period back at Chelsea to train with their first team regulars shows that he is surplus to requirements and that he will not feature too heavily in Antonio Conte's pre-season plans. Piazon must do what is best for his career progression. Now that his goal record appears to now be just slightly on the up it's fair to say he's comfortable at Fulham and comfortable with the Championship.

Even if he's not a Chelsea material right now, surely the £2.13m rated attacker would be of great value to a forward thinking Championship side. Despite fracturing his jaw, Piazon has managed 23 games in the second tier this season scoring 5 goals and creating 2 others.  Those stats aren't too bad and Fulham must do all they can to keep their creative players, knowing well that if they are in the Championship again next season they will need goal scorers to get them out of it.

Losing a creative talent from the squad on a permanent basis would be a disaster. Hence, it is best for Fulham to hold on to a talent like Lucas Piazon.



http://soccersouls.com/2017/04/07/go-for-it-jokanovic-this-2-13m-chelsea-ace-will-be-a-shrewd-addition-to-fulham/

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McCarthy's Blues Out for Third Craven Cottage Victory

Town visit Fulham on Saturday looking to continue their winning run at Craven Cottage under Mick McCarthy and chasing back-to-back victories for the first time this season.

Since the West London side were relegated from the Premier League in 2014, the Blues have won both their away games against Fulham 2-1.

In addition, they are unbeaten at Craven Cottage since Boxing Day 1963 when the Whites recorded their famous 10-1 Boxing Day win over Jackie Milburn's Town side.

Town got last season's game got off to the perfect start when Freddie Sears netted after only 16 seconds.

"It was very early, very quick," McCarthy recalled. "We've played well there on both occasions in the last two seasons and probably deserved to win.

"But it'll be a completely different end to the game this time. I seem to remember Matt Smith coming on and they were putting balls into the box and I don't think that'll happen. They're very much a different team now."

McCarthy admits that the Blues will be far better than they were in the 2-0 Boxing Day defeat to Slavisa Jokanovic's men at Portman Road.

"We were hopeless, let's just clear that up," he admitted. "It's a lot easier when you're a good team playing against a hopeless team on the day. It certainly helps.

"We never got after them and maybe that was down to my tactics, the way we played that day. I don't know. Maybe we'd all had a good Christmas.

"They were very good and they are a very good team and if you let them play they can really hurt you. So we won't be letting them play on Saturday."

The Town boss was particularly impressed with midfield trio Kevin McDonald, Stefan Johansen and Tom Cairney during that game.

"Those three were brilliant, they were outstanding but equally Sone Aluko was as well. They were very, very good. But we didn't put up a great deal of resistance. They are a good team but the [true] gap between us and them is not what showed that day."

Fulham, who are seventh, 10 places and 15 points ahead of the Blues, are only two points off the play-offs. What does McCarthy believe is behind their progress this season having finished 20th last year?

"I think they've got some good players, first and foremost, which you pretty much have to have to play like that," he said.

"I think the manager's good, he got promoted with Watford with a lot of players that were brought in from Italy, but he still got promoted.

"They've invested in that team, they were in the Premier League three seasons ago, so I think that has a lot to do with it."

Town's recent games at Fulham have seen big Town followings travel to West London with more than 2,400 fans - including two boatloads - set to make the trip this time around.

"Amazing, they've been really good performances and the crowd there behind the goal is fantastic," McCarthy added.

"Our support has been great, it's been terrific. They are the real diehards the ones that travel away, there's no doubt about that. But I've no problem with the support at all, home or away."

McCarthy, whose side could stick with his 3-5-2 system and essentially the same team - aside from Tommy Smith replacing the injured Steven Taylor - which beat Wigan.

Alternatively, he may look to switch to 4-4-2 with Fulham operating with a lone striker, having made a similar change against Birmingham and their single attacker system last week.

That would probably see skipper Luke Chambers and Christophe Berra at the heart of the defence and Jordan Spence at Myles Kenlock the full-backs with Bartosz Bialkowski again in goal.

In midfield, Emyr Huws and Toumani Diagouraga would be in the centre with Grant Ward on the right. The change of formation would allow Tom Lawrence, who is over his groin injury, to come in on the left and David McGoldrick and Freddie Sears to continue up front having netted once and twice respectively against the Latics.

For Fulham, Beccles-born ex-Canary Chris Martin will be back in the squad having missed Tuesday's 4-2 defeat away against his parent club Derby County. Former England midfielder Scott Parker is a doubt with a back injury.

On Boxing Day, goals from Martin and Ragnar Sigurdsson saw Fulham to a comfortable 2-0 victory over the Blues at Portman Road, their first win against Town for precisely 53 years.

Martin opened the scoring with a freekick on 36, then sub Sigurdsson headed home a corner in the 78th minute but the margin of victory should have been wider.

Last time at Craven Cottage, in December 2015, Sears and Brett Pitman were on target as Town beat Fulham 2-1 to win a fourth away league game on the trot for first time in more than 11 years.

Sears netted after just 16 seconds as the Blues made an explosive start, before Cottagers' skipper Ross McCormack equalised with a freekick in the 14th minute, but Pitman secured the points when he turned in Sears's cross on 57.

Historically, the Blues have been victorious on nine occasions (six in the league), Fulham on nine (eight) and with eight (six) games ending in draws.

Ex-Town loanee Ryan Tunnicliffe, who is currently on loan at Wigan, joined the Cottagers in January 2014 from Manchester United after ending his spell at Portman Road early, while former midfielder Brian Talbot is the chief scout at Craven Cottage, where he briefly played late on in his career.

Another ex-Blues loanee, Richard Stearman, remains a Fulham player but is on loan back with his former club Wolves for the season.

Town keeper-coach Malcolm Webster was a Fulham player between 1970 and 1974.

Saturday's referee is Geoff Eltringham from County Durham, who has shown 99 yellow cards and five red in 35 games so far this season.

Eltringham's most recent Town match was the 2-2 draw with Reading at Portman Road in February in which he booked Jonas Knudsen and two of the visitors.

He was also in charge of the 0-0 draw at Blackburn in October last year in which he booked only one home player.

Prior to that he refereed the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday in April 2013 when he kept his cards in his pockets throughout.

His only other Blues match was the 3-1 defeat at Leeds in January 2012 in which he red-carded on-loan Town keeper Alex McCarthy for handling outside the area thereby denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity, booked Luke Hyam and one home player.

Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Kenlock, Emmanuel, Spence, Berra, T Smith, Digby, Huws, Diagouraga, Douglas, Bru, Williams, Ward, Rowe, McGoldrick, Lawrence, Sears, Pitman, Samuel, Moore.



- See more at: http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/31486/#sthash.Ha7BjPJP.dpuf