Thursday Fulham Stuff (31.03.11)

[White Noise]

Niko Kranjcar wants to quit Spurs as Fulham and QPR 'express interest'


Niko Kranjcar has reiterated his desire to leave Spurs in the summer in order to get regular first-team football, amid rumours west London clubs Fulham and QPR are both considering bids for the midfielder at the end of the season.


Croatian international Niko Kranjcar has hinted - again - he is determined to leave Spurs (AP)

Kranjcar has failed to hold down a place in the Spurs XI since the arrival of Rafael van der Vaart last summer, while the form of Gareth Bale on the left of midfield has also kept him on the bench at best.

The 26-year-old said in January that he was considering leaving, and - despite being linked to Liverpool, Fulham and German clubs Hamburg and Werder Bremen - a move never materialised.

However, the Croatian has reiterated his desire for a regular starting spot - and said in no uncertain terms that he is willing to look elsewhere.

'I will be trying to find a football club where I can play regularly, like any footballer would,' said Kranjcar.

'I obviously miss football. I'm not in my best shape because I don't play week in, week out.

'So it depends who wants me, if anyone wants me.'

Kranjcar reportedly favours staying in the capital - ruling out talk of interest from both Merseyside clubs and Newcastle United.

And it has been reported that both Fulham and Championship leaders QPR - assuming they win promotion to the Premier League for next season - are both sounding out Kranjcar's representatives.

But the former Portsmouth midfielder says he is only interested in somewhere he will get regular games.

'I'm ambitious, I want to play football. Especially in my best years,' he continued.

'If I was a young lad obviously I would wait for my chance, especially being at a big club like Spurs.

'But, obviously, 27, 28, 29 years is, I think, the best footballing years.

'Everyone knows I can play at the highest level, week in week out but [at Spurs] I only come on as a sub.

'But it's not mine to [question] the manager's decision, it's mine to respect and to wait for my opportunity and my chance.'


Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/football/859554-niko-kranjcar-wants-to-quit-spurs-as-fulham-and-qpr-express-interest#ixzz1I7VMbGGZ

[White Noise]

Pantsil willing to fight for Fulham future

Mar 30 2011 By Yann Tear



JOHN Pantsil is ready to grab his chance with both hands in a bid to save his Fulham career.

The full-back looks set to leave Craven Cottage when his deal expires at the end of the season.

But the Ghanaian could get one last shot at proving his worth this weekend following an injury to Aaron Hughes.

The Northern Irishman damaged his shoulder on international duty, which could see regular right-back Chris Baird move into the centre, freeing up a place for Pantsil in the back line.

And the 29-year-old insists he's ready to step up to the plate if called upon against Blackpool on Sunday.

"I know that there is competition at Fulham," Pantsil said. "We have a big squad and everybody deserves to play, so I have to wait for my chance to come again.

"But I have enjoyed my time at Fulham and I want to stay."

If turning out for Ghana at Wembley on Tuesday provided an emotional and uplifting relief from his club woes, Pantsil refused to say it after his side's historic 1-1 draw.

"I don't want to say anything about my team at the moment because I'm here for the national team and I only want to think about Ghana and not Fulham on a night like this," he said.

Pantsil was virtually the last man to leave the pitch at the end, and added: "To play in such a stadium and to see our crowd come here in their numbers and in their colours was fantastic.

"The whole stadium was shouting Ghana, Ghana, Ghana.

"I'm happy every time I step out for the national team and it's progressing well for me in the national team. It felt a bit like a World Cup game, although as a professional, I know it's just a friendly.

"This is a special place to play. This is where they play the Carling Cup final and FA Cup final and you don't get many chances to play here."

[White Noise]

http://www.teamtalk.com/fulham/6843445/Elm-happy-in-Holland-for-now

Elm happy in Holland for now


Wednesday 30th March 2011 21:07



Elm: Not ready to move, says agent

Rasmus Elm's agent insists he has not talked with any clubs about a possible summer move following reported interest from West Ham and Fulham.

The Swedish international is currently plying his trade for AZ Alkmaar and his performances have been drawing a great deal of attention.

Elm rejected a host of clubs to join AZ in 2009, and his agent Patrick Moerk insists he will not necessarily be moving on this summer.

Reports had claimed that talks had already taken place with West Ham, Fulham and Werder Bremen - but Moerk insists that is not true.

"There are many clubs in Europe who have told me that I should call when Elm is ready to move," Moerk told Sportbladet. "He is enjoying himself and does not feel that he is finished with Dutch football.

"He is choosing his clubs very carefully."

[White Noise]

Fulham star wary of Blackpool six-pointer

Published 23:00 30/03/11


By Darren Lewis





Mark Schwarzer believes Fulham face a huge task this weekend as they bid to beat Blackpool.

Ian Holloway's men have won five times on their Premier League travels this season - only Spurs, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal have won more games on the road.

And with Fulham just three points off the relegation zone despite sitting in 12th place, Schwarzer is predicting a tense affair.

"It's a huge game, we know it's going to be a very difficult game," he said. "They've shown on their away trips that they're a very difficult team to play against.

"They've done tremendously well this season and we know we're in for a very tough game. But we believe, especially at home, that we should be picking up three points.

"No games are easy, if you look at any of our games throughout the whole season, none of our games have been easy.

"That's why it's imperative that we get results at home and also nick some points away from home - then we'll be looking up the table as opposed to down it."

LAST FOUR RESULTS - W L W L

REMAINING FIXTURES - April 3: Blackpool (H). April 9: Manchester United (A). April 23: Wolves (A). April 27: Bolton (H). April 30: Sunderland (A). May 9: Liverpool (H). May 15: Birmingham (A). May 22: Arsenal (H)

KEY PLAYER: Bobby Zamora - injury has kept him out for most of the season but the return of Bobby Zamora gives Fulham every chance of staying up.



Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Fulham-keeper-Mark-Schwarzer-believes-they-face-a-huge-task-at-home-to-away-day-specialists-and-relegation-battle-rivals-Blackpool-article718554.html#ixzz1I9mNK0A5

[White Noise]

http://fulham.theoffside.com/team-news/international-round-up.html


International Round-up

By: Sam | March 30th, 2011

Five was the magic number in what was a modest week for Fulham players representing their countries. W5 D5 L5 across international friendlies and Euro 2012 qualifiers.

Out of the 12 players on duty, one player could be injured for the Blackpool game. And, say it ain't so, it's Aaron Hughes who picked up a shoulder injury.

USA
- Dempsey
Played two friendlies. Came from behind to hold Argentina in a credible 1-1 draw but fell to a 1-0 defeat to Paraguay

Belgium
- Dembele
Their chances for Euro 2012 qualification are back on track as they beat Austria away 2-0 and Azerbaijan 4-1 at home.

Northern Ireland
- Baird
- Hughes
A 2-1 away defeat to Serbia and 0-0 draw at home means Northern Ireland's Euro 2012 qualifying hopes are pretty slim.

Hungary
- Gera
Similarly with Hungary, who succumbed to back-to-back defeats against Netherlands; 4-0 at home and 5-3 away. Gera also captained and scored two goals. Both of them worth a watch. Particularly the first.

Ghana
- Painstil
Asamoah Gyan netted a superb individual goal to take a very credible 1-1 draw at Wembley. Painstil almost scored, too. And of course ran a lap of honour after the game.

Ireland
- Kelly
- Duff
A fortuitous enough 2-1 home win against Macedonia means they're still right in it for a place in Euro 2012. Stephen Kelly captained Ireland's international friendly, a 3-2 home defeat against Uruguay.

Norway
- Hangeland
- Riise
Norway grabbed a late equaliser in a 1-1 home draw against Denmark to stay top of their qualifying group. Denmark's Dennis Rommedahl scored a cracking volley from outside the box.

Mexico
- Salcido
Mexico beat 3-1 Paraguay and drew 1-1 with Venuzula, both games in California.

Australia
- Schwarzer
Some World Cup revenge for Australia as they beat Germany 2-1 away.

[White Noise]

http://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/the-under-appreciated-chris-coleman/

The under-appreciated Chris Coleman

Filed under: General — rich @ 11:53 am

More numbers for you. http://numbersgameblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/assessing-premier-league-club-and.html

I've just quickly read this and don't really understand everything, but Chris Coleman's time at Fulham places him top of the table of managers active in the last few seasons, based on (to over-simplify) amount spent and league position.  Can't disagree. It wasn't working very well in the end but in retrospect Coleman had a fine eye for a player, and had he received the same backing as other Fulham managers, might have done even better.  Or not – it doesn't always work that way, does it?

On a different note, this is quite good from Jonathan Wilson.

Similarly you get people whose argument consists of saying
"I've been to every game since 1986; therefore I must know
better than you." Well, yes, you do have a better bank of
specific knowledge about the club in question, just as a
player who argues that he knows better because he's "played
the game" has greater experience of the inside of
football than a journalist. But having the resource is
not enough; you then have to use it to construct an
argument. An army may have more guns than its
enemy, but it still has to fi re them.

[White Noise]

http://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/chris-colemans-signings/


Chris Coleman's signings

Filed under: General — rich @ 7:27 am

Further to yesterday, here are Chris Coleman's signings:

Batista – GK – The odd coca-cola cup game, alleged big time charlie attitude
Beasant – GK – Coach
Bocanegra – DF – Ups and downs but a good signing overall
Bonnissel – DF – Played a handful of games
Bridge – DF – Good loan signing.  Bridge's career not the same since
Briggs – DF – TBA
Brown, – MF – Better than given credit for: Sanchez, for example, could have done with him in the middle of the pitch
Buari – MF – Hmmm
Bullard – MF – Very sharp pickup
Christanval – DF – Good signing.  Shame he couldn't stay fit.  Had he done so he'd have been at a big club.  Fell out with Sanchez
Cole, – FW – Did his bit.  A shame for Cole that the end of his career was so unsettled – quality player
Crossley – GK – Had his moments.
Davies, – MF – Fine signing
Dempsey – MF – Fine signing
Diop, – MF – An enigma.  Showed such ability on occasion, and Sanchez's arrival seemed to kick him up the backside, but it didn't last, ever
Drobný, – GK – Not sure
Elliott, – MF – Injuries didn't help
Elrich – FW – Yeeeees
Flitney – GK – DK
Fontaine – DF – DK
Green, – DF – DK
Helguson – FW – Good player, let go too soon, still effective at QPR
Jensen, C – MF – Fine signing, but injuries got in the way
Jensen, N – DF – Disappointing
John – FW – Oh
King – MF – Prospect that didn't pay off
Lastuvka – GK – Hmmm
McBride – FW – Fine signing
McKinlay – MF – Good signing overall I guess
Milsom – MF – Typical Fulham youth career path
Montella – FW – Good signing, but Montella didn't really fancy it in England too much and Coleman had issues getting him on the pitch.  Silly suspension didn't help either
Niemi – GK – Decent signing, still hard to evaluate Niemi as a keeper.  Superficially spectacular, but let quite a lot of goals in
Omozusi – DF – What might have been
Pearce, – DF – Better than given credit for
Pembridge – MF – Decent signing
Petta – FW – Low impact
Pratley – MF – DK
Queudrue – DF – I thought he was better than others did, but his career since would suggest that we haven't missed much
Radzinski – FW – Better than given credit for
Rosenior – DF – Over and under rated, nobody quite got a handle on him.  I always thought he was poor defensively and okay going forward (where our lack of movement meant that we never had options for him).  Others seemed to see it the other way around.  Again, his career since suggests that we haven't missed out, although it was a shame to lose him like we did and he could surely have improved
Routledge – MF – Decent player, again better than given credit for
Runström – FW – Didn't happen
Smertin – MF – Good player at times, we got him at the wrong end of his career I suppose
Volz – DF – I'd like to watch him at various times of his career again.  Still hard to work out what exactly happened
Warner – GK – Fabulous keeper prone to extraordinary blunders.  Not a combination many managers are comfortable with
Watts – DF – See Milsom
Zakuani – DF – Played a lot of first team football at a young age; I think he could've been something.  Now a regular at Peterborough

Thanks to football-lineups.  There's much to like there, and he really didn't waste much (some, but not much).   An intriguing mix of journeymen pros and left-field inspiration (he was ahead of his time in noticing that good players could be found in the US, for instance).   Did all of these players reach their potential under Coleman?  Could they have?

Later in the week we'll compare these signings against those of the managers who have come after him.