Monday Fulham Stuff (12/12/11)...

[WhiteJC]

 
Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish interested in Fulham's Bobby Zamora - report
The Scot is apparently ready to move for the England forward, who is not guaranteed a place in the Cottagers' starting XI and wants first-team football ahead of Euro 2012

Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish is set to make a bid for Fulham striker Bobby Zamora, according to The Mirror.

The England international appears to have a fraught relationship with manager Martin Jol and was left out of the Cottagers' squad for the 2-0 defeat at Swansea on Saturday.

When asked about Zamora's absence, Jol told reporters: "I need all my players. We've got an important game in Europe on Wednesday and Bryan Ruiz is not going to play and we have a few little injuries.

"Zamora is probably not the player who is the best substitute, so I thought I would wait for next week and the important games."

Fulham signed Costa Rica international Bryan Ruiz for a reported £10.6 million in the summer and have Moussa Dembele, Andy Johnson, Orlando Sa and Kerim Frei as alternatives up front, and all may be more suitable in Jol's preferred 4-3-3 plans.

With Euro 2012 looming, Zamora will be wanting first-team football in an attempt to win a place ahead of stiff competition.

The report claims McLeish is a big fan of the former West Ham man, and that he previously made a £5 million bid for him before he signed for Fulham while manager of Birmingham City.

Aston Villa are believed to need to reduce their average first-team wage from £57,000 a week to £46,000 a week and will apparently invite offers for high earners Stiliyan Petrov, Stephen Ireland, and Carlos Cuellar in order to free up funds to sign a new striker, a central midfielder, and a backup right-back in January.

Newcastle's Danny Guthrie, whose contract expires at the end of the season, is also reported to be a target.


http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2011/12/12/2799204/aston-villa-manager-alex-mcleish-interested-in-fulhams-bobby?

[WhiteJC]

 
The Bolton problem: the Jol question

The problem with football is that issues that would ordinarily go away of their own accord tend to get magnified and therefore linger. Martin Jol's Fulham side have attracted more off-field press than any other in memory, but on the pitch there are signs that things aren't all bad. Results have not been from the top drawer, but nor have they been terrible: we're well within the bounds of reasonableness. But fans are getting concerned.

I remember in the last days of Sanchez there was a lot of anger on Stevenage Road before and after games.  I'm a laid back sort and found it all a bit depressing, but in the end the negativity became almost tangible, and when we went down to Newcastle in December there seemed almost no choice but to make a managerial change.  Anything else would have been unfathomable given the atmosphere around the ground.

We're not there with Jol yet and nor should we be, but the natives are growing restless. Suppose, for example, we don't beat Bolton. This will be taken as evidence for the collapse of Fulham Football Club, when really it would just be 'one of those things that happens in football'.  Last year, for instance, saw the following sequence of results:

Sun Jan 30   FAC 4 Tottenham Hotspur Home Won 4-0
Wed Feb 2   Premier Newcastle United Home Won 1-0
Sat Feb 5   Premier Aston Villa Away Drew 2-2
Mon Feb 14   Premier Chelsea Home Drew 0-0
Sun Feb 20   FAC 5 Bolton Wanderers Home Lost 0-1
Sun Feb 27   Premier Manchester City Away Drew 1-1
Sat Mar 5   Premier Blackburn Rovers Home Won 3-2

If you can lose at home to Bolton in the middle of a fairly good run, you can certainly do the same when you're struggling a bit. Dechtech, who study these things, put us down as fairly clear favourites, but even that means a 60% chance of winning, with the remainder divided by a draw and a defeat.  That feels about right: if we played Bolton 10 times on Saturday I'd expect us to end up winning about six of them.

The problem is that on any given day you don't know which way the ball will bounce (particularly given midweek commitments!), and there's a 40% chance (conservatively) that we won't beat Bolton.  Then we have to play Manchester United, and Chelsea, and so on.

So it's not going to get any easier and we might be at the wrong end of the table for some time yet.

Fulham are established as a Premier Division side, and as such it's not unreasonable to expect us to have a manager of a similar or better standing.  So you have to make up your mind:  is Martin Jol a good enough manager for a club of Fulham's stature?  The answer to that is 'yes', I believe. I don't know that you could reasonably argue otherwise (I'd like to see a well thought out argument of why Jol is not good enough for Fulham Football Club). And this being so, you have to back him through the ups and downs and accept that in football sometimes you don't always do well, play well, or pass smoothly through a season without the odd problem.

The only 'but' I can think of is if there's an extra level to consider: yes, Jol is obviously a good enough manager for Fulham, but for some reason is not the *right* manager for Fulham.  This is possible, too. What grounds for this supposition we might have I don't know, but the stories about player unrest indicate something, although we don't know what.  Probably a strong manager doing a difficult job and trying to overhaul a too-old team, thereby bruising a few egos, but this is conjecture in the same way that accusations of poor man-management are conjecture. Jol got Tottenham playing at a high level and his work with Ajax looks borderline implausible (have you seen the goal difference!). He hasn't always been a huge success but nor has he failed as a manager.

We can't afford to think short-term here.  Instead we must watch the transformation of Dembele into a top player, the emergence of Bryan Ruiz's splendid talents, the fizzing directness of Kerim Frei, the encouraging Senderos/Hangeland partnership, and the interesting fringe players like Kasami and Gecov, both of whom look to have something to offer Fulham for years ahead.

It might not always look good – I've been underwhelmed myself – but Fulham can't keep changing, can't keep starting again. Jol knows what he's doing and needs to be given the chance to prove it.  Football teams, and especially mid-table football teams, go through spells like we're going through all the time.  To expect any different is unreasonable.


http://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/the-bolton-problem-the-jol-question/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Fresh striker link

Sunderland are one of a number of clubs showing an interest in England striker Bobby Zamora who looks set to leave the Cottagers.

Zamora was not in the Fulham squad for the clash with Swansea at the weekend and did not travel with the party and this has led to speculation that he will be on his way in the New Year.

He apparently does not see eye to eye with Fulham boss Martin Jol and Zamora is desperate to play regular first-team football as he needs to keep himself in Fabio Capello's England thoughts with Euro 2012 approaching.

Asked why he did not feature on the bench at Swansea, Jol said: "Zamora is probably not the player who is the best substitute, so I thought it was better to wait for next week and important games coming up.

"He wants to play for this club."


http://www.clubcall.com/sunderland/fresh-striker-link-3-1353216.html?

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham want West Ham ace



West Ham midfielder Mark Noble could be on his way out of Upton Park and back to the Premier League with Fulham.

The Hammers academy product has just 18 months left on his current contract, with the club yet to discuss or offer the 24-year-old a new deal.

Noble was close to a £5m move to Sunderland before the sacking of boss Steve Bruce, but Fulham are now ready to offer him a return to the top-flight.

The Cottagers will look to push through a deal in January to head off any competition for the former England U-21 star, who Hammers boss Sam Allardyce is keen to keep hold of.


http://www.talksport.co.uk/sports-news/football/premier-league/transfer-rumours/1370/33/fulham-want-west-ham-ace

[WhiteJC]

 
Zamora signing would make QPR a great bet to avoid relegation
England striker would give Loftus Road club enough firepower to stay in the Premier League

Bobby Zamora has been left disillusioned with life at Fulham after being left out of the side that lost 2-0 at Swansea over the weekend.

The England forward's unsettlement has put top-flight clubs on red alert, as Alex McLeish has reportedly shown an interest in bringing him to Aston Villa, whilst Everton are also keen to bolster their striking options.

However, neither seem to have the financial muscle that QPR do.

Along with this, a move to the Loftus Road outfit would not necessitate an upheaval for the player, whose preference would be to stay in London.

Should they be able to pull off this transfer, it would be difficult to see a side featuring Zamora in addition to the likes of Joey Barton, Luke Young, Alejandro Faurlin and an in-form Heidar Helguson struggling to any great extent to avoid relegation.

Tony Fernandes seems a patient owner who is willing to back his manager in the transfer market, and therefore the London side would look ahead of the chasing pack in the race to bring Zamora to the club.

Whilst initially lambasted for the fact he did not score enough goals after joining Fulham, the imposing striker has enjoyed an average of one goal every three games over the past three seasons, and has an impressive overall record of 166 goals in 364 games.

He left Tottenham under the stewardship of Martin Jol in the past, and the fact that another rift appears to have developed between the pair makes it look almost certain that his days at Craven Cottage are numbered, despite his status as a crowd favourite there.

Where his next destination is remains to be seen, but Zamora's improvement over the past few seasons has made his signature one so coveted, that it could be the difference between staying up and going down for a club like QPR.

It would be a blow to Fulham though and their odds of 12/1 to be relegated could be worth looking into.



http://news.ladbrokes.com/en-gb/football/premier-league/zamora-signing-would-make-qpr-a-great-bet-to-avoid-relegation_084808.html

[WhiteJC]

 
Moyes looks to Zamora

David Moyes has been linked with a potential move for Fulham striker Bobby Zamora.

The England international was left out of Fulham's squad at Swansea over the weekend, but Martin Jol insists that is because he didn't feel Zamora would be happy being substitute.

Having signed a four year deal last year, Zamora will cost actual money to bring to Goodison Park, and with David Moyes having passed up the opportunity to sign him from Brighton in 2003 for £1m it would be an unusual move.


Read more: http://www.nsno.co.uk/everton-news/2011/12/moyes-looks-to-zamora/#ixzz1gKnY5vxJ

[WhiteJC]

 
Linked with Bobby Zamora, good or bad move?

After a previous post focusing on actual football, we're back with our guilty pleasure post that looks at the latest transfer rumours involving the Villa.

Today's lucky man is Bobby Zamora, who has been linked with a move in a story that first appeared in the Mirror. Now it appears that Zamora and Jol have had some kind of falling out with Zamora surprisingly not even being named on the bench for Fulham's last game against Swansea.

Jol has defended the move by rather cleverly claiming that he's keeping Bobby Z for the all important games coming up. Smart move.

"Zamora is probably not the player who is the best substitute, so I thought I would wait for next week and the important games."

It is a bit of a strange comment about him not being the best substitute so perhaps there is something there and things are not looking too rosy between the pair. Fulham like ourselves are hardly blessed with too many options up top, and it's a bit of a strange one to not even include him on the bench, when he is the type of player who can make an impact.

The article mentions that McLeish is a fan of the player, and previously tried to sign him while in charge of our delightful neighbours. Perhaps this is where the link was made and it does make for an relatively simple association.

Still on to the player in hand and I'm just not sure how much sense it makes to go for a player that I don't think will bring too much to the club. He's 30 now, turns 31 next month and is on a supposed £50,000 a week at Fulham. For a side like ourselves who supposedly need to bring wages down, this seems to somewhat contradict that line of thinking.

While it's not a necessity I think we could do with some strengthening up top. If Gabby or Bent are out, like this week for example, there isn't much scope to change things around. I'd love to see us stick with 4-4-2 this weekend, but due to varying reasons playing either Heskey, Delfouneso or Weimann next to Bent would represent a risk.

Zamora is capable of moments of magic, and is decent on the ball but for a striker his goalscoring record is not particularly impressive.

He has less that a 1 in 4 record at Fulham and previous clubs West Ham and Tottenham, so for the potential cost it would take to bring him in (around 4 or 5 million I would guess) I'd prefer to look elsewhere if given the chance. Heskey gets a lot of stick, but he doesn't have his own song about hitting row Z like our good friend Bobby.

If MON or someone else were to take Heskey then this could be seen by some as an upgrade, or at least a younger model. Still though and like the links to Guthie and Davis last week, I think I'd prefer to see our younger players and in this case Weimann or Delfouneso given a go before we sign another so-so player on high wages with little re-sale value.

What about you Villans? Anyone see the benefit in making a move for a player like Zamora? Are we better off looking elsewhere? Decisions decisions.


http://www.upthevilla.com/linked-with-bobby-zamora-good-or-bad-move?