Monday Fulham Stuff (08/08/11)...

[WhiteJC]

 
England Call Well Deserved

Blues boss Paul Jewell says David Stockdale's call into the England squad for Wednesday's friendly with Holland at Wembley is well deserved, even if he'd rather the 25-year-old wasn't spending time away from Portman Road. The on-loan Fulham man is one of only two senior goalkeepers at the club with Márton Fülöp joining West Brom on a free transfer at the weekend.


The Town manager has been very impressed with Stockdale since he signed on a season-long loan: "Even in the pre-season games he had that air of authority about him. He's got good distribution, kicks the ball really well and he's made some terrific saves.

"It's well deserved, I'd prefer for him not to have been called up from a personal point of view, but he couldn't have played for us tomorrow anyway, so as long as he comes back injury free, and just as important as that the Fulham goalkeeper stays injury free, that's fine.

"That's obviously a cause of concern for us, but we knew it was a risk but we thought it was one which was worth taking."

Jewell says Fülöp leaving for no fee was a matter of freeing up wages with last summer's £750,000 signing from Sunderand one of the club's top earners: "His contract was running out and we would have liked a fee but he was on decent wages, so we can't have our cake and eat it.

"He was an expensive number two for us at the moment, so it was a deal we thought was worth doing, and Márton wanted to go.

"It was an opportunity for him to go to the Premier League and we understand that. And I have to say that since Stocky's been here, his professionalism has been exemplary."

Arran Lee-Barrett will start against Northampton with US U20 international Cody Cropper on the bench for the first time. Jewell has confirmed that he will be looking for another keeper as cover for Stockdale.



http://www.twtd.co.uk/news.php?storyid=18922

[WhiteJC]

 
Stockdale Call-Up

David Stockdale, now on loan at Ipswich after signing a new long-term deal with Fulham, has been called up by Fabio Capello for England's game against the Netherlands on Wednesday. Meanwhile, manager Martin Jol has been linked with a move for highly rated Lens right-back, Serge Aurier. A £3 million bid is mooted to have been tabled.



http://www.cottagersconfidential.com/2011/8/8/2351132/stockdale-call-up?

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham Review Round Table #2

Here's part #2. Again, the cast is: Rob is Rob Griffin; Rich is Rich; Jamie is JamieR; Dave is Chopper; Tim is me; Don is HatterDon; Nick is Nick Johnson; Colin is Colin Baker.

Enjoy.

After being just a point off bottom on New Year's Day, what do you think happened in the locker room or training field that saw our fortunes change in 2011? Was it just injured players coming back; was there a noticeable change in tactics; or was it something else?

Jamie: I think there was a period before Christmas when we were caught in between the Hodgson and Hughes styles and ending up with the worst of both: tentative going forward (not helped by all our strikers being injured) but also open at the back. As time progressed I don't think it was so much a change of tactics as the players simply becoming more comfortable under the new regime. We also had a relatively easy run of home fixtures in the New Year, which helped confidence – and of course once the likes of AJ, Dembele and (especially) Zamora returned it made the world of difference going forward. No good playing swashbuckling football if the ball's going to end up at Eddie Johnson's feet.

Dave: For me the first half of the season was a mixture of struggling to come to terms with a new philosophy of football introduced by Team Sparky and a series of unfortunate injuries. We looked a mess in some of those opening games. It seemed that in an effort to apply Mark Hughes' attacking desires we had forgotten how to defend. Certainly some of the roles the midfield were now playing meant less protection for the back four and exposed players who were used to Hodgson's team defense approach.
The win at Stoke was ridiculous. We NEVER win at Stoke and were a shambles going in to the game but from nowhere Mr. Baird stepped up and showed what he could do.

Rich: What fascinates me is the power of turning points in sport. Here we were ending 2010 in a sorry state, away at Stoke City and wearing a curious green and gold strip.
Who should pop up but Chris Baird! Now, as we've seen with his efforts since, Chris Baird is not Gianfranco Zola. Yet on this day at Stoke, amid rumors that Hughes was on the brink, here he is: bang! 1-0! bang! 2-0! What are the odds? Was that the season's turning point?

Rob: There's one name that sums up our season: Zamora. When he broke his leg it was like the heart was torn out of the team. No-one could see where the goals would come from. Yes Dempsey can always be relied upon to do his bit but Dembele was pretty much unproven at that stage (and has since turned out to be rather fragile) AJ was still out of action and Gera was simply being ignored. Bobby's return galvanized the entire team. Even when he came on against Bolton at home in our hapless FA Cup defeat his energy got the crowd going. He gave us – and more importantly his team mates – belief and scored some good goals – Blackpool and Arsenal in particular.

Don: West Ham was the first of two major slaps in the face at home for us, and it certainly marked the low point in our season. I don't believe, however, that the defeat resulted from training ground or locker room problems so much as it was a case of a poor team catching a better team off balance and pummeling them senseless. I never put much credence in "the manager losing the locker room, the plot, the support of the board" as a reason for poor results. As some backwoods philosopher probably never said, "Some days you eats the bear; some days the bear eats you."
Having said all that, Stoke away was certainly a welcome performance and result. It is also usual for us to dominate for long periods or even an entire match and get nothing out of it — Arsenal at home last 2009-2010 is an example — and our nicking two goals in a match we never really seemed to control was a nice turnabout.

Colin: It really took a long time to get going. After the draw with Villa at home, we sat 12th in the table with +1 goal difference – that sounds respectable, but we should have done a lot better. We had a very easy schedule to start the season, but we allowed opponents to have too many easy chances, and the results suffered. Into November and December – possibly the most difficult portion of the season – we're still not defending all that well, so it's not surprising that we dip into the relegation zone.
I considered Stoke away to be a bit of a good luck result, but it also seemed to mark the start of one confidence boost after another. Some impressive individual performances from Baird, Stockdale, Dempsey and others helped turn our luck around, and by February, all of the regulars were back to playing at the levels we had expected at the start of the season.

Nick: I never saw this as a "locker room" issue. Our senior players seem to be a pretty level headed bunch that is very professional in their approach. It was simply a question of personnel and adapting to the Hughes system.
1) Zamora's absence. 2) Other strikers' absence. 3) The Baird factor: not his highly improbable goals at Stoke, vital though they were. It was his spell at Left Back which restored our fraying defensive solidity. 4) The Sidwell factor. I like Etuhu and he had some storming cameos as a sub at the end of the season, but for me Sidwell gave us better balance.

Tim: Though you all bring up good points about Chris Baird solidifying the defense and Bobby Zamora coming back; for me it was all about Damien Duff. He started off this season battling injuries and horrid form, but ended up a stalwart for the side (before missing the last 7 games injured).
It's probably no coincidence that when Hughes started playing him inverted on the right, the club's form improved. From the start of the season until that game at Stoke, Duff started on the left in 13 of 18 games. After Stoke away, he played on the left side just once for the rest of the season. He would score four goals over this span, including the winner against Newcastle, the equalizer at City, and to put us ahead twice against Blackburn. And although he didn't score, he played an integral part in our 4-0 thrashing of Spurs in the FA Cup.



http://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/fulham-review-round-table-2/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Big price tag for Osvaldo
Espanyol want big fee for striker

Espanyol coach Mauricio Pochettino says teams will have to cough up €30million to lure prolific Argentine striker Pablo Osvaldo away from the club.

Atletico Madrid are believed to have bid €20million for the 25-year-old as they seek a replacement for Sergio Aguero, but Espanyol are unwilling to lower their asking price.

Tottenham Hotspur, Fulham and Juventus have also been linked with the former Fiorentina man, who scored 13 league goals for Espanyol last season.

"If the player (Osvaldo) wants to go there is a buy-out clause of 30million euros and the league starts in two weeks," Pochettino said in Sport.

"The time has come to put the cards on the table. As far as I am concerned he is a player that is difficult to replace if he goes.

"It isn't good to not have things clear at this stage."



http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,11842_7088376,00.html?

[WhiteJC]

 
Clint Dempsey and the Fate of America

Clint Dempsey is not an angry person. Countless profiles  of the United States and Fulham star reveal a family man who loves his wife Bethany, his children (Elysia and Jackson), and his large family. They tell the touching tale of a young Clint sacrificing his soccer dreams so his talented sister Jennifer could pursue her tennis career, only returning to his expensive travel team after she tragically passed away from a brain aneurysm. A grown Dempsey chats with kids to help them reach their goals. He's a nice guy.

My personal favorite Dempsey anecdote takes place in South Africa during the 2010 World Cup. The American team was sequestered at Irene Country Lodge in a remote part of Pretoria. Cows and chickens wandered the premises, which doubled as a working farm. Although the US staff provided the requisite videogame systems, the players were frequently bored.

Much to the amusement of their teammates, on most afternoons Dempsey and his childhood friend José Francisco Torres found themselves fishing in the pond behind their room. You can take the boys out of Texas...

So no, Clint Dempsey is not angry. But Lord, he sure does look pissed on the field. This partially, I suspect, is a product of his appearance. Combine those big googly eyes with a smile, and you get a man who couldn't intimidate Miss Piggy, much less Maicon or Messi. Draw a scowl (and some stubble) below Dempsey's big browns, however, and you're confronting a scary-ass Muppet coming off a five-day bender. What a long, strange trip it's been from Nacogdoches.

But there's more. The attacker looks angry because he plays angry, both for himself and his country. It works. See 22 goals for the Stars and Stripes—5th on the all-time list—and a dozen for Fulham during the 2010-2011 season. There are two chips on his shoulder: one from thriving against the absurdly long odds and the larger, collective one he shares with his American brethren who are succeeding in the world's game.

You hear the refrain that soccer is joy, soccer is love, soccer is beauty. These are overused narratives in the Age of The Special One—magnificence is fighting a losing battle against the need for victory—but ones that persist among the billions who cherish the sport. Barcelona isn't the most loved team on the planet because we like their uniforms. We hold out for vestiges of the beautiful game.

American soccer in its current form, however, is not about splendor. It can't be if the Red, White, and Blue want to succeed. Nor should that be the goal. Not right now. The US needs grit and determination, the stuff of Detroit and the American dream. They need last-second miracles against Algeria—Landon Donovan converted Dempsey's rebound—and sliding goals against Panama in the Gold Cup. They can't walk the ball into the net, even against Guadeloupe. Not yet, and maybe not ever.

Clint Dempsey's fury is the most consistent example of what the US requires. It's not that he can't mixtape a defender or score the most impressive of goals, but more that the focus is on effort and passion. Earlier in his national team career, the midfielder was criticized—rightly or wrongly—for floating in and out of games. As he grows older, he's morphing into a latter day Brian McBride, sacrificing his body and soul for the Stars and Stripes, glaring from the first notes of the "Star Spangled Banner" through the final whistle.

At the 2006 World Cup, Dempsey scored the lone goal by an American. He beat Ghanaian defender Habib Mohamed to a curling pass from DaMarcus Beasley and slammed the bouncing ball past Richard Kingson.  It was the hardest I've ever seen a member of Red, White, and Blue kick a ball, a release of frustrations that were both personal and squadwide.

Then, hard work done, he ran to the corner flag, arms raised in triumph as the anger evaporated for a brief moment. He broke into a smile and shimmied with joy for the briefest of moments before the anger and intensity returned to his narrow face. As Beasley, McBride, and Eddie Lewis enveloped him in a group hug, he screamed, fists balled in fury. The struggle wasn't over. It never is.

A look can't kill, but it can sure make a statement as the ball explodes into the back of the net.

Noah Davis (www.noahedavis.com) covers the United States national team for MLSsoccer.com and has reported from exotic locations including Guatemala, Honduras, South Africa, and Columbus, Ohio.



http://www.runofplay.com/2011/08/08/clint-dempsey-and-the-fate-of-america/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+runofplay+%28The+Run+of+Play%29

[WhiteJC]

 
Jol misses out as focus stays on right back

Fulham have lost out in the race for Dutch winger Wesley Verhoek after he joined Nottingham Forest for an undisclosed fee.
Fulham were reportedly interested in the ex-ADO Den Haag starlet last week, but Martin Jol moved too late after former Twente Enschede and England boss Steve McClaren persuaded him to go to the City Ground.

Rangers had also been very keen on the 24-year-old and reportedly had a £1million bid rejected by the Dutch club last month.

However, Fulham do not have a pressing need for another winger as Jol concentrates on getting a new right back and a striker in before the start of the Premier League season.



http://www.eatsleepsport.com/fulham/jol-misses-out-as-focus-stays-on-right-back-1256087.html#.Tj_7AXPHo98

[WhiteJC]

 
All Fulham's early work has not been in vain
Fulham - Brede Hangeland and the boys are buzzing already



Brede Hangeland is expecting Fulham's UEFA Europa League play-off encounter against FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk to be the Cottagers' biggest examination yet, as Martin Jol's side bid to progress to the competition's first group stage.

The highly-rated Ukranian side, now managed by former Tottenham boss Juande Ramos, boast a wealth of European experience having qualified for the formerly named UEFA Cup group stages in 2003, '04 and '05.

"We expect it to be the toughest tie yet," Hangeland told fulhamfc.com. "But that's what you have to expect the closer you get to the group stage – from which we are now just two games away from.

"Of course, we want to do well in the Europa League and we want to make sure that coming back so early hasn't been for nothing because this is a competition that we all have good memories from.

"There's already been a fair bit of football, but we've needed to get through these early rounds in order to give it another good go."

Hangeland has been impressed with the way his teammates have come back early for pre-season and knuckled down without complaint, and hopes that the Whites will be rewarded for their unwavering commitment by overcoming the final hurdle to make it through to the first round proper.

"RNK Split were a good side and we should give them credit – they played some decent football," he reflected. "They caused us a few problems in the first leg and at times did the same in the second.

"It's been very enjoyable so far and to go out now, when we are this close to the group stage would be devastating. So, as we always do, we'll take each game as it comes and give it our best."



http://www.givemefootball.com/premier-league/all-fulhams-early-work-has-not-been-in-vain?

[WhiteJC]

 
Cottagers Confidential Season Preview


Alan Crowhurst - Getty Images

It's the one stage in the season where the whole Premier League is equal and there is nothing to separate the abundant class divides but alphabetical fortunes. As it stands, Swansea are statistically identical to Manchester United and we here at Fulham can't, as of yet, belittle our not-so-noisy neighbours at Queens Park Rangers for being so inferior - this is hypothetical of course, good luck to QPR.

It never lasts, however.

So what's in store for the Cottagers in this season of memorable importance - it being our tenth consecutive in the top flight of Europe's finest league?



New faces? In the grand scheme of things, although it wouldn't seem like it necessarily, it's been a summer of quite some upheaval - from the top down. Mark Hughes soured our early June with news of his resignation but, as goes in football, Fulham and Al Fayed will have, and arguably already have had, the last laugh. The Welshman finds himself jobless after an expectant move to Villa Park broke down on the grounds of, funnily enough, his Fulham exit. In his place we find the cuddly, but not in the least merciful, Martin Jol. The man himself suggested that Fulham's constant contact and camaraderie were tasteful aspects behind his decision to join - as well as the palpable opportunity to take this South West London side onto greater things.

The former Ajax boss has promised much, claiming young players will be nurtured effectively through the academy and through the more direct method of simply entering the transfer market. Yet, while Kerim Frei and Matthew Briggs have clearly flourished with such proposals, the marquee signing of the Summer so far, John Arne Riise, at 30 years old, perhaps added a touch of contradiction to Jol's early comments. There is clearly method in the purchase though, with Riise still well capable of producing moments of wonderment just as in yesteryear. Alongside the experience of Liverpool's former star, Dan Burn, Csaba Somogyi, Marcel Gecov and Pajtim Kasami have all signed at an overall cost of around £7 million.

Back in Europe? If any club is aware of the contrasting merriment and despair that European competition can bring, it is certainly us. Barely a year on (yet two managers later), and Hangeland, Duff and the like are experiencing a Europa League challenge yet again - although this time with a far earlier starting time. While our 2009/10 journey required nineteen matches to gain a runners-up medal, this campaign will ask far more of our boys - in the shape of four extra games. Pre-season has been practically obliterated due to participation, although many can fairly argue that competitive football at such an early stage may well benefit our early league form. Of course, we now have experience of the greater stage and we know, to the greatest detail, what to expect. However, to make it to the final again would be a gargantuan task, given three other fronts to fight on (League, Carling Cup, F.A Cup). You never know, though.



Last time we were in Europe, our league form dipped. Will it happen again? It's all quite dependable really. If we were to hypothetically play all 23 matches then we would do well to finish in the top half, but if we were to be knocked out early on in Europe, then Jol will want his men to be inside the first ten. I think, given some greater depth, anywhere between 8th and 14th is respectable and achievable even if fatigue plays a major part. Our new Dutch boss will do well to balance the two perfectly, but it's what he has been employed for. My guess would be 9th place.

Silverware please? Hopefully. It's not beyond us, although we are becoming a tad infamous for being nearly men. Both our FA Cup runners' up medals and their Europa League parallels are rewards to be proud of, but vaguely remembered of outside of SW6. If we are to truly establish ourselves on the footballing map, then we must achieve another of Jol's goals for his own reign, and that is win a trophy. With Birmingham City carrying home the Carling Cup last season, it can't be seen as beyond us to achieve a similar feat. It would be more-than a tough task, but a cup is always only a few consecutive wins away. Oh, and if we're drawn against Spurs at home, then we should be just fine.

Will Jol actually stay? Yes.



http://www.cottagersconfidential.com/2011/8/8/2351266/cottagers-confidential-season-preview?