Sunday Fulham Stuff - 04/11/18...

[WhiteJC]

 
Results

Saturday
Bournemouth	1 - 2	Man Utd
Cardiff	0 - 1	Leicester
Everton	3 - 1	Brighton
Newcastle	1 - 0	Watford
West Ham	4 - 2	Burnley
]Arsenal	1 - 1	Liverpool
Wolves	2 - 3	Spurs

[WhiteJC]

 
Jokanovic wants exiled Cottagers to feel the pain

Slavisa Jokanovic feels some of Fulham's players do not "hurt" enough when they are left out of his starting XI.

The Cottagers boss, whose 12 summer signings cost more than £100million, has experimented with his team selection since winning promotion to the Premier League.

His side have so far struggled to make the step up and sit in the relegation zone after conceding 28 goals and registering just one win from 10 games.

"This process is never finished, other players are going to have an opportunity to push hard and fight for the space in the team," Jokanovic said of his team selection.

"I want to encourage my players to not wait for an opportunity. I want to encourage them to fight, to force the situation and show me they are my best choice. This is what I expect.

"I want to make some competition between them and for them to be hurt when they are not in the starting XI. This is what I miss right now.

"And we're going to push harder and in this way be competitive in Premier League games too."

Fulham have suffered four successive top-flight defeats and gone seven matches without victory.

The west London club travel to bottom side Huddersfield on Monday evening searching for a first win since August 26.

Jokanovic has demanded improvement from his whole squad and urged them to relish the challenge of rectifying their disappointing start.

"We need more, it's simple. At the beginning it's not enough and we cannot be satisfied with ourselves," he said

"We didn't make our supporters satisfied too. They observe us and they are waiting for the reaction.

"It's not for the reaction of one player or two, it's the reaction of all the team.

"We wanted to start with more points, with more quality. This challenge is open, is ahead of us, and we must be brave."



https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/fulham/news/jokanovic-wants-exiled-cottagers-to-feel-the-pain_340457.html

[WhiteJC]

 
Time To Contemplate The Outcome Of Fulham's Next Premier League Fixture

It's a weekend of reflection for the Fulham faithful with their side not in action until Monday night, when they face Huddersfield Town in a Premier League fixture that will be broadcast live by Sky Sports.

The game is an intriguing one, pitting a side who have trouble scoring, Huddersfield, against a side that can't, for the love of money, stop conceding.

Since regaining their Premier League status, back in May, the Cottagers have struggled in the top-flight, earning just one win from ten Premier League games played, or to put it more succinctly, relegation form.

The fixture pits Fulham against a team that are bottom of the Premier League, but, is it a game Fulham can win?

Here at Vital Fulham, we're asking you to participate in our latest poll whereby we ask you to predict the outcome of the game;



https://fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/time-to-contemplate-the-outcome-of-fulhams-next-premier-league-fixture/

[WhiteJC]

 
Huddersfield Town vs Fulham: Premier League clash an "early six-pointer" says Slavisa Jokanovic

"It's true, it's really important game for us and for them too"

Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic has labelled the Monday night clash between the Cottagers and Huddersfield Town an "early six-pointer".

The Premier League strugglers face off on Bonfire Night from 8pm with the clash set to be televised live on Sky Sports.

Both teams will be hoping to leave the John Smith's Stadium with three points in the bag, as both could climb out of the relegation zone with a victory.

Fulham currently sit in 18th place in the league, two points and two places above Town in the table, but, if results went the Terriers' way this weekend, they could wake up on Tuesday morning outside of the bottom three.

To do so however, they would have to claim their first win of the season against Jokanovic's side, who are also looking to restart their season in West Yorkshire, having conceded 15 goals and taking no points in their last four outings.

Ahead of the crucial match, the Serbian boss told Football.London: "It's true, it's really important game for us and for them too.

"It's an early six-pointer at the start of the November, after the game it won't be done for these two teams.

"Some teams are satisfied with start of the Premier League, but the situation can change quickly and there are some teams a few points in front of us and we are fighting to be competitive and to catch them and put them under some pressure."

In order for Fulham to be competitive, the former Chelsea midfielder is demanding more fight from his squad.

"We need more, it's simple, it's not enough and we cannot be satisfied with ourselves," said the boss.

"We didn't make our supporters satisfied, they observe us, and are waiting for the reaction.

"It's not about the reaction from one player, it's reaction for all the team.

"Many players will play in this Premier League, if they waiting for the chance, they must fight and not be surprised when having the opportunity to start the game."



https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/football/news/huddersfield-town-vs-fulham-premier-15367630

[WhiteJC]

 
David Wagner praises Slavisa Jokanovic amid questions over Fulham future

Huddersfield Town take on the Cottagers at John Smith's Stadium on Monday night

Huddersfield Town head coach David Wagner has praised the work of Slavisa Jokanovic at Fulham ahead of Monday night's clash between the bosses.

The Terriers host the Cottagers at the John Smith's Stadium on Bonfire Night, with both teams needing a victory to lift themselves out of the bottom three.

Town are yet to win a match this season, while Fulham have tasted victory once in the Premier League this term.

The London side have lost their last four outings however and have conceded 15 goals in the process, leading to questions over the Serbian manager's Craven Cottage future.

But Wagner, although refusing to comment on his opposite number's current situation, praised Jokanovic's work at the newly-promoted club.

"I am not involved in detail with what is going on there," said the Town boss at Friday's press conference.

"We all together have to solve our problems - he with his team and I with mine.

"It makes sense that everybody is focused on his job, his work and whatever happens after the game, it is nothing that we can influence.

"I know he has done an incredible job in Fulham in the last years.

"He has found a style which is very attractive, without a shadow of a doubt, and everybody knows what a well-respected, good manager he is."




https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/football/news/david-wagner-praises-slavisa-jokanovic-15365751

[WhiteJC]

Cottage Talk Match Preview: Three Keys To Victory Against Huddersfield Town
Take a listen to a podcast that focuses on Fulham Football Club.


Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

This is our preview of the upcoming match for Fulham against Huddersfield Town. During the show, co-host Max Cohen shared his three keys to a victory for Fulham. We also talked about the different match-ups between these two clubs. On top of our preview, we talked about the loss forFulham against Manchester City.


You can also listen to the show here...
https://cottagersconfidential.sbnation.com/2018/11/3/18059206/cottage-talk-match-preview-three-keys-to-victory-against-huddersfield-town

[WhiteJC]

 
West Ham weigh up loan move for Marseille striker and former Fulham flop Kostas Mitroglou

    Kostas Mirtroglou suffered ill-fated spell at Fulham but then resurrected career
    Greek had prolific spells with Olympiacos and Benfica before joining Marseille
     They want to streamline their wage bill and are willing to let him go out on loan

West Ham are showing interest in signing Marseille's Greece international striker Kostas Mitroglou on loan.

The 30-year-old had an ill-fated spell at Fulham which was blighted by injuries.

But he has rebuilt his reputation with prolific spells at Olympiacos and Benfica, where he scored 52 goals in 86 appearances, prior to joining Marseille.


Kostas Mitroglou is a possible target for West Ham to bring in from Marseille on loan

The French club signed him for £14m in 2017 and he has scored 16 goals for them including three this season.

However, Marseille want to streamline their wage bill and are willing to let him go out on loan with view to a permanent sale.

Meanwhile, West Ham are also keen on Red Bull Leipzig midfielder Diego Demme.


The Greek striker has excelled since leaving Fulham during an ill-fated spell in London


Diego Demme is another player on West Ham's radar and is a key man for RB Leipzig

The Germany international has been a key component of Leipzig's side in recent seasons, playing the holding role and protecting their back four.

Manuel Pellegrini wants better options in that position and Demme is one of the potential options under consideration The 26-year-old is valued at around £15million.

West Ham have still to agree a new contract with talented teenager Declan Rice who is attracting interest from Chelsea and Tottenham among others.



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6349951/West-Ham-weigh-loan-Marseille-striker-former-Fulham-flop-Kostas-Mitroglou.html

[WhiteJC]

 
The least money, the worst facilities, and ladies' croquet stops play... can David Wagner sustain the Premeir League miracle of Huddersfield?

    Wagner will celebrate his third anniversary as Huddersfield boss on Monday
    The Terriers are bottom of the Premier League after failing to win in 10 games
    They face fellow strugglers Fulham at the Kirklees Stadium on Monday night

It is three years on Monday since David Wagner took the manager's job at Huddersfield Town and to mark the occasion he finds himself confronted with Fulham - arch-rivals in what is already shaping up to be a monumental relegation dog-fight.

Improbable though it may sound, a story he tells about the local women's croquet team provides some succour for those who fear for his team, currently propping up the Premier League.

It dates back to the time, just after he had started out at the club, when the players shared their training facility with the local community and frequently found parts of the complex out of bounds to them.


It is three years on Monday since David Wagner took the manager's job at Huddersfield

'The old ladies were playing croquet on our training pitch,' says Wagner. 'So the groundsman said we were not able to use this part of the ground. There were the gentlemen playing bowls on the ground as we walked through to our training. And the gym was used by the community as well. So there was a lady on the [exercise] bike and my player tells her: "I have to make a pre-activation exercise". And she says: "Oh, I have 10 further minutes to go".'

Remembering how far the club have come in three years is necessary because that is what has delivered Huddersfield to the Premier League and kept them there into a second season. They have built an entire unifying 'Terriers' identity around being small and defying the financial odds.

Most managers cite their relative poverty as a problem. Wagner seems to describe it as a strength. 'Just because we were successful in the last few years it makes no sense for me not to tell the truth and lie,' Warner relates. 'We have financially the worst situation. Facility wise we have the worst circumstances here.'


The Terriers have made the most of their links with America, Australia and Germany

There is certainly a contrast with Fulham, just two points above Wagner's team in the deep depths of the Premier League. The west London side have a billionaire owner in Shahid Khan and are investing £100million in the highly desirable new Craven Cottage Riverside Stand, overlooking the Thames, which is expected to become a bigger revenue earner on non-match days than when Fulham play.

But Khan is an absentee owner, recently more preoccupied with buying Wembley for his NFL franchise and with a player acquisition system which is still chaotic.

Khan's son Tony, who assigns himself the titles director of football operations, sporting director and general manager at Fulham, considers himself the football expert. He is determined to make metrics and data the key to who they buy. Others inside the club feel that notion is flawed.

Huddersfield's owner, local businessman Dean Hoyle, is anything but absent, though behind the scenes the club are assiduously building commercial revenues out of the on-field 'Terriers' ethos.


Bottom of the table Huddersfield have scored only four goals this campaign and conceded 21

In marketing speak, they call themselves a 'challenger' brand, looking for commercial partnerships with others with the same spiky, defiant, biting-at-heels identity as themselves.

A deal with the German Viessman boiler outfit might seem unremarkable but it is financially significant and just such a fit.

Next week, the club will be in Copenhagen, talking to a Danish retail operation who fit the same brand. There's a similar focus to the club's attempts to use Premier League status to build a more international following.

For obvious reasons, there's a following in Germany. Kicker magazine are in town next week. Aaron Mooy has created a Huddersfield spike in Australia and American captain Danny Williams the same in the United States.

'We're not looking for the same sponsors as the top-six clubs,' says commercial director Sean Jarvis. 'We want to be associated with people who want to be associated with us.'



The club don't earn revenue from match day catering, which all goes to the joint venture, comprising them, Huddersfield Giants rugby league and the local council, who own the stadium. But they have grown non-TV revenues from £2m in the Championship to north of £8m. Of course, all the collective endeavour and identity in the world can't necessarily win football matches. Wagner's side have scored only four goals all season and look desperately short of a serviceable forward.

He prefers to focus on how he has adapted the gegenpressing system he and Jurgen Klopp imported from Dortmund and become more flexible. But above all it's the philosophy he insists will get Huddersfield out of this rut. The key is not to panic, persist with it and remember what got them here against all commercial logic.

'It's very important for a football club like ours that the excitement is bigger than the expectation,' he says. 'The minute we change and think we have to expect something from ourselves because we got promoted and stayed up, we are on the wrong path and we will fail.'

To the question of whether he had actually ever witnessed the sport which impeded his players' training three years ago, he laughs.

'I had never for sure seen croquet in Germany!' he says, enunciating the 't' at the end of the word. 'Only in some TV movie about British ladies playing this game!'

He does not look like the man still searching for a win in this season's Premier League. There is a calmness and pragmatism.

That's just as well. The winter months ahead will present the sternest examination yet of the so-called Terrier spirit.



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6350133/The-money-worst-facilities-Wagner-sustain-Huddersfield-miracle.html

[WhiteJC]

 
Ryan Sessegnon has an unnecessary high level of responsibility placed on him to 'save Fulham'

Slavisa Jokanovic believes the pressures placed on the wonderkid is not necessary as he approaches 100 games

The high responsibility people place on Fulham wonderkid Ryan Sessegnon 'to save the team' is unnecessary, according to his head coach, Slavisa Jokanovic.

At just 18, Sessegnon is only six games shy of having played 100 times for his boyhood club, something he has achieved in a remarkable space of time having broken through into the first team at Craven Cottage in the 2016/17 season.

He bagged himself 16 goals last season in the Championship, with his team mates and fans relying heavily on the youngster before Aleksandar Mitrovic's arrival eased the burden on the young man's shoulders.

This season, there has already been a lot of talk about Sessegnon and his acclimatisation to the Premier League, including whether he is able to perform like he did last season, while others look to him to be the best player on the pitch week-in, week-out.

Sessegnon came up against Phil Foden on Thursday night in the Carabao Cup, one of Manchester City's own talented youth who is regularly hyped up like the Fulham man, but Jokanovic believes the likes of Foden have an easier time showcasing their talent because of the world class players, like Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne, they have around them.

And while the Fulham head coach trusts Sessegnon completely, he believes the extra pressure put on him because of his potential is unnecessary.

He said: "Ryan Sessegnon was probably our best player on the field at the Etihad.

"He is not a 16-year-old man anymore, there are 100 games behind him and he is strongest and biggest and showed some speed like the City players too.


(Image: John Walton/PA Wire)

"It's not unnecessary to compare my team to the Manchester City team, we cannot run between centre back and full back with out defensive midfielder because this isn't characteristic of our players.

"I cannot attack with my fullback, at the end we will stay with only Mitrovic, Schurrle or Vietto to attack the opposite team.

"We tried to find our best option for the team.

"Ryan Sessegnon can perfectly play as a winger and we must teach him to be more solid and find better defensive condition when he plays at full back.


(Image: Simon Galloway/PA Wire)

"But he's definitely a different player, a player who can attack really far from the opposite goal but for another side, he found it a little bit better position on Thursday and made a really good defensive job.

"Ryan is in a similar category to Phil Foden and Brahim Diaz, fortunately for these two players they have a little bit of a an easier job playing around world class players and it can be an easier job for them to show their quality.

"In this moment, Ryan has some unnecessary high responsibility because many people are focused on this man and how he is going to save the team.

"Generally, it's not a job for Ryan Sessegnon and this extra pressure on this man is not necessary.

"We trust him, he is a quality man and he is always available to support his team mates, for another side, we must expect other players to support him too and in this way, it will be easier for us and easier for him too."



https://www.football.london/fulham-fc/ryan-sessegnon-unnecessary-high-level-15365585

[WhiteJC]

 
Ryan Sessegnon can't save Fulham on his own, says Slavisa Jokanovic

Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic fears there is too much pressure on Ryan Sessegnon and says the teenage star cannot "save the team" on his own.

Much focus has been on Sessegnon, who was named as the Sky Bet Championship player of the year during the Whites' promotion-winning season, but the 18-year-old has struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League.

He has played in each of Fulham's 10 top-flight matches in this campaign, in which they have picked up just five points from their 10 matches, conceding a league-high 28 goals.

"In this moment, Ryan has some unnecessary high responsibility because many people are focused on this man and how he is going to save the team," said manager Jokanovic.

"Generally, it's not a job for Ryan Sessegnon and this extra pressure on this man is not necessary.

"We trust him, he is a quality man and he is always available to support his team-mates. We must expect other players to support him too and in this way.

"It will be easier for us and easier for him too."

The England U21 international has shown signs of his ability in recent matches and was arguably Fulham's standout performer during Thursday's 2-0 Carabao Cup defeat at Manchester City.

He was selected at left-back for that game, a position in which he still has plenty to learn, according to his manager.

"Ryan Sessegnon was probably our best player on the field at the Etihad," Jokanovic added.

"He is not a 16-year-old man anymore, there are 100 games behind him and he is stronger and bigger and showed some speed like the City players too.

"Ryan Sessegnon can perfectly play as a winger and we must teach him to be more solid and find better defensive condition when he plays at full-back.

"Ryan is in a similar category to Phil Foden and Brahim Diaz, fortunately for these two players they have a little bit of an easier job playing around world-class players and it can be an easier job for them to show their quality."



https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11681/11544416/ryan-sessegnon-cant-save-fulham-on-his-own-says-slavisa-jokanovic

[kiwian]

Worst attack (Fulham) v worst defence (Huddersfield) who writes this cr**?