Fulham close to signing

[Bassey the warrior]

I take your point Hatter, but surely Briggs and Hughes/Senderos would be classed as sufficient cover for those areas if that were the case? Not to mention that Duff and Davies can play the fullback roles aswell. (in fact that would probably be the better position for both)

Briggs will go out on loan. Davies will leave. Duff will not be a starter.

[Bassey the warrior]

Only 2 cup matches Hatter Don? Not very optimistic are you

I presume he meant two cup tournaments.

[Mr Fulham]

Well I would think that there's 4 main explanations:

1) Jol doesn't fancy Hughes or Senderos at cb
2) Jol is toying with the idea of playing JAR LM
3) Kadlec can play RB
4) All these rumours are rubbish.

Which are we thinking?

3) is out as he can't play there, Riise left midfield sounds very unlikely. That leaves 1), 4) and 5) he is there to replace Riise.

Another possibility is that Jol realizes that not everyone is going to play 90 minutes in 38 league matches and 2 cup matches and, as a result, he needs a squad filled with players who can step in when needed -- not to mention provide competition within the club.

Nah, not possible.

That indeed is not possible in this case.

[cmg]

defenders dont excite me.

Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, of course. And there is no accounting for taste!

But, as someone who never pulled on a jersey with a number bigger than 5 on the back, I feel bound to point out that successful teams inevitably have the basis of a strong defence. The fancy-dans make the headlines, but the defenders put in the hard yards.

Even the great Dutch side, the epitome of attacking football, had Haan, Rijsbergen, Suurbier and Krol (they needed a lot of talent there, with Jongbloed in goal!). Pele, in his list of greatest living footballers, picked (unsurprisingly) 15 Brazilians - 6 of them were full-backs (Nilton and Djalmar Santos, Carlos Alberto, Roberto Carlos, Junior and Cafu). Maldini, Baresi, Koeman, Moore.....unexciting? Where would the successful Fulham teams have been without Cohen, Langley, Bentley, Finnan, Coleman, Goma, Hangeland, Hughes?

As Claudio Gentile remarked after "taking care of"* Maradonna in the 1982 World Cup: 'It's not a game for ballerinas."


*("taking care of" = kicking him all over the Estadi de Sarrià)

[HatterDon]

Only 2 cup matches Hatter Don? Not very optimistic are you

I presume he meant two cup tournaments.

No, I'm figuring that we won't care about the cups this season. After a massive turnover, the biggest concern will always be 17th place. If, on the other hand, we can keep a midfield core of Dempsey, Dembele, Diarra, and Ruiz, then we might actually have the damn cup run I've been looking for.

[Dan in Notts]

I'm figuring that we won't care about the cups this season. After a massive turnover, the biggest concern will always be 17th place. If, on the other hand, we can keep a midfield core of Dempsey, Dembele, Diarra, and Ruiz, then we might actually have the damn cup run I've been looking for.

That latter please!  Roy left: transitional season.  Hughes left: transitional season.  Every season seems to be a transitional one and, I know in comparison to most clubs we've been spoilt in the last decade and a half, but just for once it would be really, really nice to win something big.

[Bassey the warrior]

Only 2 cup matches Hatter Don? Not very optimistic are you

I presume he meant two cup tournaments.

No, I'm figuring that we won't care about the cups this season. After a massive turnover, the biggest concern will always be 17th place. If, on the other hand, we can keep a midfield core of Dempsey, Dembele, Diarra, and Ruiz, then we might actually have the damn cup run I've been looking for.

True enough. We'll see.