Monday Fulham Stuff (04.04.11)

[White Noise]

Fulham scorer expects to get stick


By Paul Warburton


Apr 3 2011



DICKSON Etuhu will get even more stick despite his goal against Blackpool in Sunday's 3-0 win – because his Fulham team-mates reckon he only scores against the Seasiders.

The midfielder was on the six-yard line to convert Brede Hangeland's shot-cum-cross that was in stark contrast to his mighty hit for a 2-2 draw at Bloomfield Road in August.

But it left the Whites looking at a top 10 finish rather than over their shoulders at the Premiership stragglers, according to Etuhu.

"The lads are going to be on at me all week – I can only score against Blackpool," he added. "But it wasn't about goals for me, it was about the performance of the team and for Bobby (Zamora) coming back in to get two goals as well."

Zamora ran on to a poor back pass from James Beattie to rifle home into the roof of the net, and when he nodded home from a Damien Duff free-kick – it was game over with more than an hour to play.

Etuhu's goal and other half-chances played out the second half with the one real moment of danger cleared when Chris Baird headed off the line as Brett Ormerod got the better of keeper Mark Schwarzer in an aerial battle.

"We're not thinking about going down – we're thinking about going up," added Etuhu. "We know we're good enough, and we've still got seven games to go.

"The league is very tight and anything can happen, but we're focused and the top 10 is the target for us."


Read More http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/london-sport/fulham-fc/2011/04/03/fulham-scorer-expects-to-get-stick-82029-28452086/#ixzz1IXCOYBX9

[White Noise]

Mark Hughes' Fulham regret over Zamora


By Yann Tear


Apr 3 2011


 

MARK Hughes admits the impact of Bobby Zamora since his return from injury leaves him pondering what might have been for Fulham this season.

The striker netted twice in Sunday's 3-0 win over Blackpool and looked close to his best again – even though he was unwell during the week and eventually had to be withdrawn after an hour.

"There is a little bit of frustration," said the Fulham boss (pictured) about Zamora missing so much of the season.

"One of the reasons I came here was because I felt it was a good side that could progress after two good seasons prior to me coming here and I felt there was more to come.

"But almost immediately, we lost Bobby and that affected me as a manager in my first year here as well.

"It's great that in the second half of the season, people can see what we're trying to do and when we get people fit and well and possibly add to what we've got in the summer, we'll be a good side again."

Praising his striker, Hughes added: "He's been under the weather with a head cold and hasn't been sleeping particularly well. He just wasn't quite as lively during the week as he normally is. Usually, you hear Bobby before you see him and he was a little bit quiet.

"But I thought it was the perfect game for him. I thought that he got over the last hurdle after his injury in terms of starting games and I couldn't have hoped for a better impact from him.

"Straight from the off, he showed qualities that we've lacked for many games this season. Having come back from a really serious injury, it was a perfect day for him.

"Bobby coming back is a huge boost because he's a great option and the fact he's starting games again gives the rest of the team great confidence."


Read More http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/london-sport/fulham-fc/2011/04/03/mark-hughes-fulham-regret-over-zamora-64767-28451884/#ixzz1IXChGgNe

[White Noise]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_6851087,00.html


Murphy targets survival


Fulham skipper eyes another season in the top flight


Last updated: 3rd April 2011
   

Danny Murphy has challenged his Fulham team-mates to claim one more win and seal their Premier League survival.

Bobby Zamora confirmed his return to full fitness and form with a first-half double before Dickson Etuhu added the third in Sunday's win over Blackpool.

The result takes them up to 10th in the Premier League with 38 points and, as so often is the case, around 40 points is seen as the barometer for safety.

"One more win will probably do it," Murphy told Sky Sports 1.

"I can't see the teams at the bottom winning the three or four games they'd need to get past us, but, you never know, it's been a funny season.

Confident

"The win calms us down a bit for sure. There is still work to do, but we're fairly confident."

Zamora made his first start since September when he suffered his horrific double fracture and Murphy feels the return of the England international can only have a positive impact.

"We've a fit squad now and we've got the 'big man' back," he added.

"He proved his worth, didn't he? He's clinical and he's crucial to the way we play. Sometimes this season we've had good possession, but not had that cutting edge.

"We had a healthy lead at half-time today due to his two clinical finishes."


Contribution
Zamora was happy with his contribution, but knows he still has some time before he reaches optimum fitness.

"It's a comeback game, my first start, and I was just pleased to play and over the moon to score," he said.

"I was a little bit shattered when I came off, but I'm happy with my contribution. To hold up the ball and bring in other people is good and the goals are a bonus."

[White Noise]

Fulham 3-0 Blackpool: Daily Mirror match report

Published 22:56 03/04/11


By Darren Lewis




Thank Goodness for Bobby Zamora, the man to bring respectability back to Craven Cottage yesterday.

Fulham's England striker has been sorely missed during his six-month absence recovering from a broken leg.

He returned yesterday with his two fine goals, his first in open play since August, to ease the west Londoners away from relegation trouble.

And as Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed yesterday unveiled a statue to Michael Jackson – whose attendance at the ground in 1999 is believed to be the only time he visited Craven Cottage – then Zamora should have the ground named after him on the strength of his achievements for the club.

It is a real shame all the nonsense around the edges yesterday took the spotlight away from Zamora and Dickson Etuhu, whose second-half tap-in pushed Blackpool further into drop-zone danger.

To be fair, Al Fayed would have had the Jacko statue erected at Harrods in Knightsbridge had he not received an offer he could not refuse (presumably without the statue thrown in).

But he could easily have unveiled the plaster and resin memorial on a non-matchday so as to allow the focus on matchday to actually be, er, on the match.

In any case, the thing would struggle to get into Madame Tussaud's on a good day.

Still, Fulham shrugged that all off to maintain their unbeaten record at Craven Cottage in 2011.

Mark Hughes' men have won five of their last six home matches and, with Zamora in the team, have more cutting edge than they have done for some time.

The former Spurs striker hit his first goal from open play - ironically since scoring against Blackpool back in August - on 23 minutes when he seized on a misplaced pass from James Beattie, raced clear and smashed his effort in off the underside of the bar.

Goal number two came just five minutes later, Zamora heading in from Damien Duff's cross.

And that was pretty much that, really. Blackpool offered nothing on yet another visit to London.

Their previous three trips to the capital had seen them concede ten goals, with Arsenal filling their boots 6-0 at the Emirates and Chelsea crushing them 0-0.

West Ham were held to a goalless draw on but on this side of London Etuhu made it 3-0 on 72 minutes when he tucked home after Richard Kingson had parried Brede Hangeland's shot.

Clint Dempsey was unlucky not to make if four as Tangerine heads dropped and although there was a late chance for Gary Taylor-Fletcher even one goal would have flattered them.

Fulham boss Mark Hughes later insisted the club are targeting seventh place.

Ian Holloway however, was very much looking over his shoulder. The Blackpool boss admitted to being concerned that his players had lost their way and their confidence.

Holloway now intends to show them a video of last season's sensational run to their play-off final victory against Cardiff in a last-ditch bid to motivate them.

He said: "I've told them all to go away and watch the video of how we were promoted and the goals we scored - then tell me that we're a bad side.

"Because you need to remain totally positive.

"We could have, probably five defeats and two victories and stay up."



Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Fulham-3-0-Blackpool-Daily-Mirror-match-report-Bobby-Zamora-brace-eases-Cottagers-relegation-fears-article719875.html#ixzz1IXDyVtCe

[White Noise]

One more win will secure safety - Murphy

Published 15:54 03/04/11


By MirrorFootball




Danny Murphy believes Fulham will need just one more win to ensure their survival in the Barclays Premier League after beating Blackpool 3-0 at Craven Cottage.

A first-half brace from returning striker Bobby Zamora was followed by a Dickson Etuhu strike to move the Cottagers six points clear of the drop zone.

"One more win will probably do it," Murphy said on Sky Sports 1.

"I can't see the teams at the bottom winning the three or four games they'd need to go past us, but you never know it's been a funny season.

"The win calms us all down bit for sure.

"There is still work to do, but we're fairly confident."

Murphy's confidence looks well founded with Zamora, who made his first start since September following injury, proving his goal threat will be a major boost in the run-in.

"We've a fit squad now and we've got the 'big man' back," he added.

"He proved his worth didn't he? He's clinical and he's crucial to the way we play.

"Sometimes this season we've had good possession but not had that cutting edge.

"We had a healthy lead at half-time today due to his two clinical finishes."

Zamora was pleased to make an impression in his first start back before being substituted just after the hour mark.

"It's a comeback game, my first start, and I was just pleased to play and over the moon to score," he said.

"I was a little bit shattered when I came off, but I'm happy with my contribution. To hold up the ball and bring in other people is good and the goals are a bonus."



Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Fulham-captain-Danny-Murphy-One-more-win-will-secure-safety-article719804.html#ixzz1IXEPqHNj

[White Noise]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3506630/Fulham-3-Blackpool-0.html


Fulham 3 Blackpool 0

From MARK IRWIN at Craven Cottage

Published: 03 Apr 2011


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IT is not every day you go to a football match and see the chairman dancing in front of a giant statue of a dead pop star.

But, then again, not every club is owned by Mohamed Fayed.


'Colourful' is a word that could have been invented to describe the Egyptian conspiracy theorist who has bankrolled Fulham for the last 14 years.


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So when Fayed decided that what picturesque Craven Cottage needed was a 7ft 6in monument to Michael Jackson, no one was going to argue with him.


To those who wondered whether a Premier League football ground is an appropriate place for such a tribute, Fayed was typically dismissive.


"If some stupid fans don't appreciate such a gift, they can go to hell or they can go to Chelsea," he barked. Is there a difference?


But at least Blackpool entered into the spirit of things and no one could deny that their defence was bad, bad, really really bad.


Manager Ian Holloway had tried to attend the unveiling ceremony of Jacko's statue but had to leave early to deliver his pre-match team-talk.


He should have saved his breath.


Because it is clear from the way his team is chucking in goals right now that no one in the Blackpool dressing-room is listening.



The Seasiders have taken just five points from their last 11 games and are hurtling back towards the Championship at break-neck speed.


They are now just one point and one place above the relegation zone - their lowest position all season - and have conceded more Premier League goals than any other team.


They have not kept a single clean sheet this year and, to make maters worse, next face an Arsenal team who thrashed them 6-0 in their previous meeting.


Any ideas of ending that dismal run were dismissed with James Beattie's appallingly sloppy pass straight to Bobby Zamora in the 23rd minute.


The Fulham striker, starting his first game since breaking his leg in September, still had plenty to do to cash in on Beattie's generosity.


Yet he was allowed to run all the way from the halfway line without a single challenge before smashing a shot into the roof of Richard Kingson's net.


Kingson had already performed a minor miracle to turn Damien Duff's shot against the post but had no chance with Zamora's second goal, a free header from Duff's 28th-minute free-kick.


Holloway, who once managed Zamora at Bristol Rovers, had always feared that his former pupil would come back to hurt him.


But what he had not expected was the way his own players would react to those early setbacks.


Ollie warned: "That was the first time all season I've seen our shoulders drop like that and I will be cracking the whip with them when we get home."


It is going to take more of an earthquake than the one which rocked Blackpool on Friday to get a response from this lot.


But Holloway knows that without their famous fighting spirit, Blackpool have got very little else going for them.


Even star midfielder Charlie Adam - one of the six nominees for the PFA Player of the Year award - was unusually subdued by an early booking.




Holloway was furious with the treatment his skipper suffered from Fulham without censure from ref Stuart Attwell.


Yet he had no one to blame but his own players when Dickson Etuhu put the result beyond doubt in the 73rd minute.

Danny Murphy's free-kick was headed against a post by Clint Dempsey and as the Blackpool defenders stood rooted to the spot, Brede Hangeland turned the loose ball into the danger zone for the excellent Etuhu to score.


Blackpool had their moments, most notably when Brett Ormerod's header was cleared off the line by Chris Baird and when Beattie's shot clipped the outside of a post.


But their back-four needs even more drastic surgery than Jackson to stop the slump now.


With the result beyond doubt, the Craven Cottage crowd could enjoy the spectacle of a Bo Selecta-style Jacko dancing down the steps of the Hammersmith Stand.


Shamone, motherf*****, shamone!


Yet Fulham fans can afford to smile now that their team are in the top half of the table for the first time since September.


Blackpool, though, are more off colour than that Jackson statue. And just as immobile.


As Holloway so succinctly put it: "The statue is great. Michael Jackson was magnificent on the pitch. Off the pitch, I'm not so sure."


DREAM TEAM RATINGS

STAR MAN - DICKSON ETUHU (Fulham)

FULHAM: Schwarzer 6, Baird 6, Hughes 6, Hangeland 7, Salcido 6, Duff 7 (Davies 5), Etuhu 8, Murphy 7 (Sidwell 5), Dempsey 7, Zamora 8 (Johnson 6), Dembele 6. Subs not used: Stockdale, Kelly, Gudjohnsen, Kakuta. Booked: Murphy, Hangeland.

BLACKPOOL: Kingson 7, Baptiste 6, Cathcart 5, Evatt 5, Crainey 6, Grandin 6 (Puncheon 6), Adam 7, Vaughan 7, Ormerod 5 (Varney 6), Beattie 6 (Kornilenko 6), Taylor-Fletcher 6. Subs not used: Rachubka, Southern, Eardley, Reid. Booked: Adam.

REF: S Attwell 7

[Fernhurst]

Thank's once again WN for pulling together the entire media content on a Monday morning.

Mammoth, and so enjoyable read after an uplifting win.