http://blogs.soccernet.com/fulham/Thoughts on Bobby Zamora and Chris SmallingPosted by Tom Wille
Bobby Zamora did it again! His free kick late into second half stoppage time past the outstretched arms of Birmingham City keeper Joe Hart and into the back of the net gave victory and three points to Fulham in a tough mid table battle against the Blues. The win puts the Cottagers in 9th position in the table and keeps the positive momentum going into Thursday's all important second and final leg in Ukraine against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Europa League.
The goal by Zamora was his 15th goal in 32 starts. His goals have come in all competitions. The Premier League, the FA Cup and the Europa League. Not only has he scored a lot of goals for this team, but he has scored them in critical moments of matches as evidenced by Sunday's beautiful free kick goal.
The scary part about Zamora's goal tally is that he missed a month of the season with a separated shoulder. The former Brighton and West Ham striker was in the form of his life before injuring his shoulder. It was thought Zamora would miss up to eight weeks with the injury, but Zamora missed only few weeks and to the surprise of many, did not miss a beat upon his return and immediately started scoring goals again the Cottagers.
One could easily make a strong case that Zamora is Fulham's player of the season thus far. Fulham was counting on Andy Johnson to do a lot of the goal scoring this season but both injuries and a lack of form prevented that from happening. Other injuries to players like Clint Dempsey also meant that the team was lacking in goal scorers. Fortunately for Fulham supporters Zamora has stepped up and done a fantastic job in covering for the injured players and giving the Cottagers a serious goal scoring threat up front. Opposing teams have to game plan for Zamora as no matter what the opposition throws at him, he has an answer in the form of a goal. It is hard to imagine where the Cottagers would be this season without Bobby Zamora and his 15 goals.
One interesting point about Zamora is the fact that Roy Hodgson and the club had agreed to sell Zamora to Hull City for what was reported to be 5 million pounds in August of 2009. While most media outlets were reporting that Zamora was headed to Hull City, it was Zamora himself that did not want the deal to go through and decided to stick around at Craven Cottage and try to earn his place in the squad. Let's just say Bobby has earned his keep this season and will not be sold any time soon.
Reports have circulated that England manager might consider Bobby Zamora for the World Cup this summer. Perhaps those reports at first were a bit premature, but as Zamora keeps scoring and playing well, it becomes a realistic possibility that he could be on the plane to South Africa with the rest of the Three Lions team.
Overall, Bobby Zamora has been nothing short of spectacular this season. The team would be in a major spot of bother had Zamora non stepped up this season and scored goals the way he has. He is playing as well as he ever has and continued to amaze with his ability on the pitch. I think Zamora deserves more praise than he is currently getting from the football media. He may not be a Didier Drogba or a Wayne Rooney, but there are few strikers in the Premier League this season that can match what Zamora has done this season. I am just happy he is doing it for us and not Hull City.
One other player I have been meaning to write about was Chris Smalling. In January it was reported that the 20-year-old center half was going to join giants Manchester United in the summer of 2010 for a fee of around 7 million pounds. Like most Fulham supporters I was a bit surprised that the Red Devils were coming after the former non-league defender. While he is young and does have some talent, I find it hard to believe that he is going to be anything more than a fringe player on the first team for Sir Alex Ferguson's side.
Smalling has made a number of appearances for the Cottagers this season and I was excited about his potential at the club. He was young, he filled a position that is never easy to find and seemed to be improving each time he was on the pitch.
I do not agree with the club selling Smalling. While 7 million pounds is a lot of money, I have a hard time justifying the sale of Smalling for a few reasons. First and foremost, the current squad at Fulham is old. Most every starting player in the squad is ever over 30 or in their upper 20s. It is important to try and find some younger talent and blend them in with the current team. Smalling was just that. At 20, he could have been a mainstay at the club for years to come. Eventually the older players on this squad will have to be replaced and major turnover in the team will happen. Smalling would have been the idea candidate to transition to a younger team down the road.
Another point regarding this transfer that does not make much sense to me is why Smalling would even want to leave Fulham. I am sure the obvious answer is money. The wages he was offered at Manchester United were surely well over what he was making here and that is definitely enticing. However, outside of the money, I have a hard time believing that Smalling will do much of importance for the Red Devils. While he is a decent player, to me he is not a Manchester United player.
My fear is that Smalling will go to Manchester United this summer and outside of a few league cup appearances of the next few seasons, he will not get the playing time he needs to continue his upward progress. He will not been seen as a bright, young talent at Old Trafford. Instead, he will simply be another number. Yes, I know, he will be getting paid well to sit on the bench and feature in a few first team league cup matches, but as a Fulham supporter, it bothers me a talent like Smalling will be wasted away at a bigger club as we see all too often these days with youngsters going to Old Trafford, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal.
These bigger clubs just raid smaller clubs like Fulham. They lure players with bigger pay checks and after the player gets to the big club, he endures a few seasons of sitting on the bench and regressing as a player. This happens all too often in English football and I wish something could be done to prevent this. It's almost as though Manchester United is buying Smalling not to really play him, but to make sure Fulham cannot play him and possibly be a problem for Manchester United when the Cottagers square off with the Red Devils.
While a salary cap would be the obvious solution, I am not naive enough to think that will ever happen. What is more realistic is implementing a squad size limit. In other words, like in Major League Baseball here in the US, only 25 players are allowed to be on the first team roster. Only those 25 players can participate in a given game, match, etc. The number does not have to be 25, but I think you get my idea. If a player like Smalling were to know before he was being transferred that he would not be among the group that had a chance to play each week perhaps he and other youngsters would think twice before taking the money and running to the big clubs of England.
I do hope Chris Smalling does well at Manchester United. Seeing as Fulham picked him up from the scrap heaps, I would love nothing more than to see Smalling continue his rags to riches story at Old Trafford and play a major role in the success of Manchester United. However, as a I mentioned above, I have doubts that it will happen. Simply stated, he is not a Manchester United quality player. He is a Fulham quality player, but I think he will find it tough making the move to Old Trafford. I hope I am wrong. Time will tell.
What are your thoughts on Bobby Zamora? Is he your player of the season thus far? What about Chris Smalling's move to Old Trafford? Do you think he will be successful there? If so, does that mean you feel he will be a future first teamer at Old Trafford? Was Fulham right or wrong for selling him?
