Monday Fulham Stuff (22/10/18)...

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Results

Sunday
Everton	2 - 0	Palace

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Wembley is football's equivalent of a timeshare in Tenerife - and now we're stuck with it

    Proposed sale of Wembley to Fulham owner Shahid Khan fell through last week
    The national football stadium is presentable enough but it hasn't got a lot of soul
    Khan offered £600million for a timeshare and, like lunatics, we turned him down
    While we dither, our pitches will sink deeper into the mire of our philosophising

The English obsession with home ownership cost us dearly again last week. We saved Wembley for the nation — whatever the hell that means — and ran Shahid Khan back to Jacksonville, or Fulham, with his tail between his legs. Well done us.

Let's face it, for the amount we use it, Wembley is football's version of a timeshare property in Tenerife. Nothing more. It's presentable enough but it hasn't got a lot of soul. We get to stay there briefly now and again and, every few months, Liverpool and Manchester United fans, down for a cup final in the capital, miss the last train home from Euston.

But now, we're stuck with it. Khan offered us £600million for our timeshare and, like lunatics, we turned him down. We told ourselves that our timeshare was actually a magnificent Grade I listed mansion in Mayfair and that we needed to keep hold of it for future generations when we should have taken the money and run.

We got lost in worthy discussions about society and the sustainability of quick fixes and whether we really ought to be taking cash from an American billionaire. As if his money were somehow dirtier than British money. And while we were wringing our hands, the deal died.

And now we get to pay for Wembley. And now we get to have more worthy arguments about who should provide the funding to resuscitate grassroots football. And while we dither, our pitches will sink deeper into the mire of our philosophising.

Austerity is forcing councils into the neglect of community assets but we had a chance to dig football out of the swamp. We didn't take it. So it is today's generation of young players who will turn up to play a match on a Sunday morning to be told their game is off.

It happens for months on end now and unless you know the excitement of turning up to play for your team, you cannot know the disappointment of discovering there will be no game. For some teams on some pitches, that means weeks, even months, without a game. It means a fallow winter.

The windfall from Khan's proposed purchase of Wembley might not have fixed that completely. But it would have helped.

The FA board, so often and so lazily maligned, actually wanted to transfer money from the top of the game to the bottom but it was prevented from doing so by the very people whose constituencies would have benefited most. It is, indeed, a funny old game. The preoccupation with the national game owning Wembley is absurd. You can have a great time at a holiday home without having the property deeds fading to sepia in a drawer upstairs.

Enjoy it for a few days here and there but let somebody else take the strain. That was what we were being offered by Khan. That was the deal we blew.

I've had a lot of great days and nights at Wembley. None of them have been dependent on who owned the stadium. I couldn't tell you who owned it the first time I went there to see England beat Hungary in a World Cup qualifier in November 1981.

I can tell you the England line-up that evening even now: Shilton, Neal, Mills, Thompson, Martin, Robson, Keegan, Coppell, Mariner, Brooking, McDermott.

And I can remember the thrill of being there at last. But the owner? I haven't got a clue.

The same goes for seeing Norman Whiteside score the winner for Manchester United in the 1985 FA Cup final. No idea who the owner was. No idea who it was in 1966 when England won the World Cup.

I know that the first owner committed suicide. I know that it was bought then by Arthur Elvin, who had made much of his money from selling the rubble of buildings around what was then known at the Empire Stadium. Seems apt, that.

And yet now we tell ourselves it is important that it is owned by the FA. Why? It's the National Treasure Syndrome. Like a lot national treasures, Wembley's worthless. The idea it can become a cash cow for the game is flawed. It is more likely to become a drain.

And so now, the deal with our timeshare is we have to live in it permanently. And the National Treasure brigade celebrate and say let's raise the money by imposing a levy on agents' fees. It's a beautiful idea, I agree, but it's pie in the sky.


Now it's time to repent at leisure as we stare at the decaying grassroots facilities all around us

So is the idea that the Premier League will be forced to contribute a far greater sum to grassroots football. Really? Good luck with getting that past the owners. These turkeys are way, way too fat to vote for Christmas.

We've made our decision. Now it's time to repent at leisure as we stare at the decaying grassroots facilities all around us. We were presented with an opportunity to do something about it, an opportunity that would have cost us nothing at all. And we blew it.



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6298567/Wembley-footballs-equivalent-timeshare-Tenerife.html

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Chris Sutton now predicts Cardiff City to stay up

Cardiff City beat Fulham 4-2 to record their first Premier League win of the season on Saturday.

Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton has taken to Twitter to post 'Cardiff are staying up' following their 4-2 victory over fellow Premier League newcomers Fulham at the Cardiff City stadium.

The once one-capped England international's comments are of particular interest to Cardiff supporters, after Sutton previously predicted Neil Warnock's side to get relegated with a maybe potential record low points tally.

After the Bluebirds' defeat at Bournemouth on the opening game of the season, Sutton spoke on BBC Radio Five Live – where he is occasionally a co-commentator – to write off the Welsh side's survival chances.

"I think he's [Neil Warnock] had 8 promotions in his illustrious career but Cardiff, you're just not good enough. You'll be outclassed this season.......... You were lucky to get away with a two-goal defeat at Bournemouth. I think Cardiff will go down - maybe with a record low points tally," Sutton claimed, quoted by Wales Online.

But after Cardiff recorded their first Premier League win over the season against Fulham, moving up to 17th in the Premier League table as a result, Sutton backtracked on his previous statement by claiming that the Bluebirds will now stay up.

Derby County currently hold the record low points tally of just 11, following their disastrous 2007/08 Premier League campaign. For Cardiff to fail to match their record, they must pick up less than six points from their remaining 29 league games. The victory over Fulham sees the Cottagers move out of the bottom three.



https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2018/10/21/tt-chris-sutton-performs-cardiff-u-turn-two-months-after-predict/

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Gutless, spineless, pathetic - Slavisa Jokanovic must take blame for Fulham's defeat to Cardiff

If anything Whites' defence is getting worse

Usually after a match, I'd write a load of things I noticed that I thought were of interest from a game that can be discussion points after a match.

For yesterday, that may have been Andre Schurrle's absolutely stunning strike or Ryan Sessegnon's first Premier League goal, where he became the first player born after 2000 to score in the top flight.

But all of that pales in insignificance after the performance that Fulham put in against Cardiff City on Saturday, as the then-bottom of the table side sent the club back to London with their tails between their legs.

Gutless, spineless, pathetic – usually, words like this are hyperbole but yesterday's performance warrants such description.

Once more, Fulham's defence caused alarm bells to ring around the Cardiff City Stadium as mistake after mistake was made by every single member of the squad that took to the field in Wales.

Tim Ream, Calum Chambers, Maxime Le Marchand, and Denis Odoi were picked in a left-field selection from Jokanovic at the back in what, I imagine, was picked in order to solidify a defence that was leaking goals and deal with the threat Cardiff would pose on the break.

But Neil Warnock, who told his players who would be starting on Monday in order to spend the whole week preparing his XI for the game, sent out his side to hassle and press, forcing an already nervous Fulham into mistake after mistake.

It doesn't take a genius to know that the biggest problem is the amount of goals the side are conceding, but despite Jokanovic insisting he needs to find a solution it seems that he's no closer to finding the answer to the riddle that has plagued him since August.

Cardiff had only scored four goals prior to the defeat – they scored that same number in 90 minutes on Saturday.

That is inexcusable.

Seasoned professional footballers suddenly looked uncomfortable on the ball and afraid to communicate with one another, while tackles looked half-hearted.

We're nine gameweeks into the Premier League season now and I have seen nothing to convince me that the defensive issues are getting better.

If anything, they seem to be getting worse.

Yesterday, a lot of blame lay at the feet of Jovanovic.

Regular readers of mine will know I back him to come good, only hours before the 4-2 defeat on Saturday I wrote a long-read on how I think he's still the right man for the job, and that's an opinion I still hold.

However, changing to play four centre backs against a side that had only scored four goals in eight games was a bizarre decision and one that doesn't fit with his style of playing football.

The decision to substitute Jean-Michael Seri off and bring on Floyd Ayite and change formation was questionable for me too.

That further isolated Aleksandar Mitrovic and meant that Fulham lost a creative player in midfield, meaning Cardiff could press and hassle at will without worry of being carved open by Seri's passes.

And while the feeling is that the head coach is largely at fault, I don't believe the players should escape without getting their fair share of criticism.

Good players don't suddenly become bad ones overnight.

Ream, Chambers, Alfie Mawson – these are all good players that have the ability and talent to play far, far better than they currently are.

Mis-kicks, broken tackles, poor positioning, all these are things that Jokanovic has to trust his players to do, and so far, they aren't delivering for him.

At times, Fulham were playing playground football, chasing the ball around the pitch with no care in the world about where they should be in terms of position.

The players need to stand up and be counted now.

This brings back memories of Sunderland last season, where Fulham were at their lowest point after being beaten by a side that hadn't won at home in a year.

That loss gave the players, and indeed Jokanovic, the kick up the backside they needed to go on and start performing at the level they can do.

At times, Fulham were playing playground football, chasing the ball around the pitch with no care in the world about where they should be in terms of position.

The players need to stand up and be counted now.

This brings back memories of Sunderland last season, where Fulham were at their lowest point after being beaten by a side that hadn't won at home in a year.

That loss gave the players, and indeed Jokanovic, the kick up the backside they needed to go on and start performing at the level they can do.



https://www.football.london/fulham-fc/gutless-spineless-pathetic-slavisa-jokanovic-15307948

[WhiteJC]

 
"I'm ready to return" – Fulham summer signing wants to leave, made mistake on move

According to a claim in the Turkish media, Fulham goalkeeper Fabri wants to return to Besiktas, just a few months after arriving at Craven Cottage.

The Spaniard signed for Fulham in the last transfer window but has played just two games for the club.

Fotomac have reported on Fabri's situation at Fulham and they claim he's told friends he wants a move back to Istanbul: "I want to return. I made a mistake leaving Besiktas."

Despite Fulham signing Fabri and his compatriot Sergio Rico in the summer, their No.1 for the majority of the season has been Marcus Bettinelli. Fabri did start the season as first choice but was replaced after the defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

The 30 year old was signed from Besiktas on the recommendation of goalkeeping coach Jose Sambade after their time together in Turkey, and despite Fulham paying €6m he's been left out of the match day squad in recent weeks.

It's unlikely his situation will improve and there's a chance he could force a move in the new year.

ND



http://sportwitness.co.uk/im-ready-return-fulham-summer-signing-wants-leave-made-mistake-move/

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Cottage Talk Post Match Show: Cardiff City vs. Fulham
Take a listen to a podcast that focuses on Fulham Football Club.

This is our post match show of the 4-2 loss for Fulham against Cardiff City. During the show, co-hosts Max Cohen and Yannis Tjanetis, analyzed the key moments of this match.


you can listen to the podcast here...
https://cottagersconfidential.sbnation.com/2018/10/21/18005680/cottage-talk-post-match-show-cardiff-city-vs-fulham

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham are on course to break unwanted Premier League record

Fulham fell to another defeat at the weekend against fellow promoted team Cardiff City. It saw the Cottagers drop into the bottom three and fears of a relegation fight have increased among supporters.

It is difficult to establish yourselves in the Premier League, but Fulham had an ambitious summer and were seen as one of the winners of the transfer window. A number of exciting attacking players were signed.

However, they didn't perform a balanced rebuild of the squad and they are now suffering for it. Fulham have conceded 25 goals this season, which ranks them as the worst defence in the league.

In fact, if they continue to concede at that rate, Fulham will finish the season with 105 goals conceded. This would be the most in the history of the competition.

The current record is held by Swindon Town who conceded 100 during the 1993/94 season and this was during a time when there were 42 matches played in a campaign. This underlines how poor Fulham have been at the back.

It remains early in the season, but warning bells should be going off at Craven Cottage. There has been little improvement made since the opening weekend and their defensive structure remains porous.

If it doesn't improve soon, Slavisa Jokanovic will find himself under pressure, despite his popularity with supporters.



https://tbrfootball.com/fulham-premier-league-record/

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Potential consequences: Fulham's massive deal to sign Musacchio

Fulham are finding the Premier League tough to contend with and their team could still do with some improvements in the January transfer window.

Even though the Cottagers spent north of £100 million over the summer, Fulham sit just two points above the relegation zone and currently see themselves as the Premier League's leakiest team, conceding 21 goals in just eight games.

The Daily Mirror though are reporting that Fulham could improve on their defensive woes by eyeing the addition of AC Milan centre-back Mateo Musacchio.

Despite forcing his way back into the team at AC Milan, the Cottagers are planning a move once again for the Argentinian defender so what could the consequences be for the current team...

Denis Odoi could make way for the 28-year-old
With Fulham currently adopting a back-three, someone will have to make way for Mateo Musacchio and that is likely to be Denis Odoi.

Despite making six Premier League appearances, he hasn't warranted a permanent place within the team and neither have others in all honesty.

At 30-years-old, Odoi has never really asserted himself in the Fulham team and consequently, he could find he is the man to lose his spot in the team.

Alfie Mawson still without a chance
The signing of former Swansea defender Alfie Mawson was believed to be one of Fulham's better deals over the summer but the Englishman has yet to make a name for himself in the white of Fulham as he's been limited to just three appearances this season.

Whether or not he can have a successful spell with Fulham is still hopeful but with the possible signing of the AC Milan defender, it's likely he will have to wait even longer for a proper chance.



https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/ticker/potential-consequences-fulhams-massive-deal-to-sign-musacchio/

[WhiteJC]

 
12 goals in 58 games – Fulham re-signing this versatile Brazilian is an absolute no-brainer

Why Fulham must go all out to sign Lucas Piazon in January

Chelsea winger Lucas Piazon was targeted by French club Stade de Reims earlier in the summer, according to the Sun. However, a move never materialised and Lucas Piazon has been at Chelsea.

The 24-year-old Brazilian was on a two-year loan spell at Fulham and his spell ended in May after Fulham got promoted to the Premier League.

Now back at Chelsea, Piazon has found it difficult to break into the first-team under manager Maurizio Sarri. Chelsea are heavily stocked in the midfield as well as in the forward department, which hasn't allowed the Brazilian to get a sniff of first-team football this season.

Piazon has been on the books of Chelsea since 2011 when he joined from Sao Paulo. The 24-year-old made only three appearances for Chelsea as a teenager but has spent the last five and a half years at various clubs in Spain, Germany, Netherlands, and England.

In his two seasons at Fulham, he notched up 12 goals in 58 appearances in all competitions. Now that Piazon finds himself completely out of favour under Sarri, should Fulham make a permanent move for him in January?

They definitely should. Fulham scripted headlines in the summer by making some big-money signings following their return back to the Premier League.

The likes of Jean-Michael Seri, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Andre Schurrle and Luciano Vietto came through the front door at Craven Cottage but Slavisa Jokanovic hasn't got the results he had hoped for. While the Fulham squad is immensely talented and capable of giving any Premier League team a run for their money, Jokanovic still doesn't know his best XI.

The 5-1 battering at the hands of Arsenal at Craven Cottage exposed a lot of problems Jokanovic needs to address that before time runs out for him. The Serbian tactician, despite spending a lot of money in the summer, has not got a good start in the Premier League.

Truly, Fulham's problems lie in the defence and Jokanovic should consider signing a quality centre-back in January. But he must also look to bolster his attacking options in January despite his team loooking impressive in the final third. The Cottagers can certainly do that by adding Piazon to the squad.

Piazon is a versatile attacker who is capable of playing as a left-winger, as a playmaker or in the hole behind the striker. The Brazilian is a technically gifted attacker who is creative and knows to make intelligent runs behind the defenders. He is also a very good reader of the game and can be an unstoppable force on his day.

At 24, Piazon still has his best years ahead of him but in order to unlock his potential, he needs to play regularly.

That's not going to happen at Chelsea, meaning he must leave Stamford Bridge to start his career from scratch. A move to Fulham would be ideal for Piazon, who could again become a key player for Jovanovic.



https://soccersouls.com/2018/10/22/12-goals-in-58-games-fulham-re-signing-this-versatile-brazilian-is-an-absolute-no-brainer/

[WhiteJC]

 
Slavisa Jokanovic given two games to save Fulham job after dropping into relegation zone

Fulham have conceded 12 goals in their last three Premier League games and no side have shipped more this season

Slavisa Jokanovic has two games to save his job at Fulham.

As revealed by Mirror Sport, the 50-year-old Cottagers boss is under pressure with his side now in the bottom three.

There is concern from above at their inability to stop conceding goals with particular alarm at the fact that struggling Cardiff were able to put four back Jokanovic's side on Saturday.

Club chiefs are of the opinion that, following their £100million summer expenditure, they should not be in the position they find themselves.

Fulham have conceded 12 goals in their last three Premier League games. The 21 they have shipped in total is the most in the entire division so far.


Jokanovic has been given two games to save his job (Image: X01801)

They now host Bournemouth and, after a League Cup tie at Manchester City, they go to fellow strugglers Huddersfield.

It is understood it is the two League games that will have a bearing on Jovanovic's future rather than the trip to the Etihad.

Fulham have managed to win just one top-flight match this season, their 4-2 victory at home to Burnley on August 26.

Jokanovic joined Fulham in December 2015. He led the club to promotion beating Aston Villa in the Play-Off Final in May.

He now has less than a year left to run on the contract he signed in February 2017 after putting talks over fresh terms on hold.



https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/slavisa-jokanovic-given-two-games-13455881