Tuesday Fulham Stuff (21/08/12)...

[WhiteJC]

 
Midfielder linked with Fulham, QPR & Arsenal set for Swansea

Transfer news: London clubs look set to miss out on Ki Sung-Yueng

Celtic star Ki Sung-Yueng looks set to join Swansea after they had a bid of around £6million accepted.

The South Korea international had been tracked by a host of Premier League clubs, including London trio Fulham, Arsenal and QPR.

But the Olympic bronze medallist is now close to joining up with new Swansea boss Michael Laudrup in Wales.

Celtic boss Neil Lennon will be sad to see the midfielder leave, but accepts that it's good business.

"It will be unfortunate to lose a talented player, but that's been our strategy at the club now for the last two or three years," said Lennon.

"We cultivate players then move them on.

"We feel it's good business."



http://www.london24.com/sport/arsenal/midfielder_linked_with_fulham_qpr_arsenal_set_for_swansea_1_1488888?

[WhiteJC]

 
Praise For Petric

Martin Jol has backed Mladen Petric to be a key player for his Fulham side this season.

The striker, who joined in the summer on a free transfer from SV Hamburger, got his Fulham career off to the perfect start with a superb brace in Saturday's 5-0 thumping of Norwich City on the opening day of the season.

And Jol believes the 31-year-old Croatian can play a big part for the Whites this term.

He said: "If you look at strikers, Petric is in a group of players who will score goals.

"Maybe not 20 in 20 games but he will score one every two or two and a half games. That is a good record.

"Petric was not only excellent in his finishing, he was good on the ball as well. The Barclays Premier League doesn't give you much time on the ball and he did well to keep the ball for us."

Meanwhile, Jol would like to see the summer transfer window close before the start of the season.

"I would like to have a change," he said. "If you are two weeks into the season you can lose your best player. The window is long enough and I feel they should do something about it."

But, with the transfer window currently running until 31st August, Jol also reiterated his desire to bring some new faces to the Club before then.

"I feel we can strengthen the squad and hopefully we can do it in the next two weeks," he added.



http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2012/august/21/praise-for-petric?

[WhiteJC]

 
Dempsey is ready to move on – and so are Fulham

Clint Dempsey has clearly made up his mind.

Despite Fulham boss Martin Jol voicing his hope that the forward will have an abrupt change of mind and play for the club again, the American's heart is no longer with them – it's at Anfield.

But if Dempsey does get his big-money move to Liverpool, how much will Fulham miss him? If Saturday's display against Norwich is anything to go by, not much.

The feeling around Craven Cottage at the weekend seemed to be 'If Dempsey doesn't need us, then we don't need him' – and the Fulham players showed they feel the same.

If any Fulham fans spared a thought for Dempsey while their team was hammering Norwich 5-0, it was probably to question whether they really need him after all – especially in light of Bryan Ruiz's performance and the goalscoring exploits of summer signing Mladen Petric.

My thoughts exactly. Fulham will be just fine.

Jol will need to dip into the transfer market again, but his signings so far this summer look incredibly astute.

Petric looks every bit a Premier League centre-forward and that is no blind reaction to his two goals, well taken as they were.

He didn't need any time to get used to the added pace and rigour of English football, holding the ball up well and linking with Ruiz and the midfield nicely.

All eyes were perhaps on Ruiz even more than usual, playing behind Petric in what was Dempsey's role.

Many Fulham fans were frustrated with the Costa Rican last season, when it was unclear what his best position was and he often tended to lose possession.

But his overriding technical quality shone through on Saturday as he grew into the game – and grew into a position he could well make his own..

The new right-back Sascha Reither looked assured too and another considered acquisition.

And with some bolstering in certain positions – other options alongside Petric up front for example – the loss of Dempsey will not be so hard for Fulham to bear.



http://www.westlondonsport.com/features-comment/dempsey-is-ready-to5-move-on13-and-so-are-fulham

[WhiteJC]

 
Glenn Moore: Clint Dempsey should honour his contract at Fulham

Clint Dempsey grew up in a trailer park in a small east Texas town where one in four families has a single parent and one in five is below the poverty line. Both Dempsey's parents were at home but to finance the three-times-a-week, six-hour round trips they made to Dallas to enable the teenaged Clint to attend training, the family went without holidays and sold possessions.

While a teenager, Dempsey lost his sister, a promising tennis junior, to a brain aneurysm. "Not everything has been cupcakes and ice cream and happy endings," he once said. "It's been a grind. It's been tough. But that's what made me who I am."

What he is at the moment is a footballer on strike. A man who has turned his back on the club which brought him to England, made him a global star and has handsomely paid him for six years.

In the new post-Olympic mood, this is another own-goal for football, but why should Dempsey care about that? In five years' time, possibly less, he is likely to be back in the United States playing out his career in Major League Soccer. In an ideal world, he would like to be able to return to Craven Cottage and be feted, but it will not be high on his priorities. He knows as well as any footballer how quickly his status can go from indispensable to expendable. His life experiences have taught him that he and his family come first, and to seize opportunities when they arise.

The opportunity currently on his horizon is the chance to play for Liverpool, a club whose history has for some years outstripped its performance but which remains a drawcard. Dempsey is now 29, the same age as Robin van Persie, and like Manchester United's latest recruit the American knows he has one big move left in him.

As with Van Persie at Arsenal, Dempsey has one year left on his contract, which means next year he can leave for nothing. But Dempsey does not want to wait, he wants to be in at the beginning of Brendan Rodgers' revolution because he knows in football a lot can happen in a year. Dempsey may be injured then, or out of form, Rodgers may have signed someone else, the Fenway Sports Group may refuse to sanction a long-term £50,000-a-week-plus deal for a 30-year-old.

Traditionally what happens in these circumstances is the clubs agree a fee and the player moves, but Liverpool are yet to bid and are unlikely to match Fulham's valuation of a player who is of similar age to Van Persie, more versatile and with a better injury record. In the meantime, Dempsey has broken with convention and is facing the bitter contempt of the fans who once hailed him, and the wider disgust of the football world.

Two years ago, Fulham's manager walked out to join Liverpool, yet Roy Hodgson is now an admired England manager and still popular at Craven Cottage. So why the opprobrium for Dempsey? Many of the fans who jeered him at the weekend would happily walk out of their current job if they received a better offer elsewhere.

One factor is that while most Fulham fans can understand Dempsey desiring to play in the Champions League, Liverpool show few signs of returning to a competition they last graced in 2010. From a wider perspective, the difference is that Dempsey, unlike Hodgson and most football fans, has an enviable security of contract. Even when a club goes bust the players still get paid. Clubs may make life uncomfortable for unwanted players, but they cannot sack them.

Dempsey has every right to want to move, but he should honour his contract until he gets his wish. The Professional Footballers' Association should be condemning Dempsey for refusing to play, for he is bringing into disrepute the rights they have fought for over generations. Their silence is deafening.

Yet Dempsey could be forgiven for feeling cynical about the fans' outrage. In December 2010, Carlos Tevez handed in a written transfer request. In June 2011, he said from Argentina he would not return to Manchester even on vacation. In September 2011, he refused to come on as a substitute in Munich and spent much of the winter playing golf in South America. Even when Tevez returned to score several goals in the title run-in, it seemed that this was merely a means of putting himself in the shop window for a transfer to Italy, Spain or Paris.

But no one wanted him, so he remains in Manchester – and when on Sunday he scored City's first goal of the season he was cheered to the rafters. If Dempsey ends up staying at Fulham will he, too, be welcomed back into the fold as soon as the goals go in, or will Fulham fans be more principled?



Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/premiership/glenn-moore-clint-dempsey-should-honour-his-contract-at-fulham-16200566.html#ixzz24BuLFFL8

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham On The Trail Of Eduardo

Fulham have identified former Arsenal striker Eduardo as a possible replacement for Clint Dempsey, The Sun report.

The United States international has made his intention to leave Craven Cottage before the end of the transfer window known, with Liverpool thought to be leading the chase for the talented attacker.

As such Dempsey did not feature for Martin Jol's men in their 5-0 opening day victory over Norwich on Saturday, and the London side are in the market for a new forward.

Eduardo had an inconsistent time at Arsenal, with a long-term injury blighting his time in England, and now plays for Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk.

The Cottagers will make a £7 million bid for the Croatia international before the window ends.


http://www.footballfancast.com/2012/08/football-news/fulham-on-the-trail-of-eduardo?

[WhiteJC]

 
Hodgson to Hughes to Jol to glory



Have we, I wonder, stumbled upon a perfect storm of managerial changes?

We had Roy Hodgson to stabilise a team that didn't know whether it was coming or going. That was great and successful.

But had he stayed in charge there's a risk that the team would have grown older and staler together. At no point did Hodgson seem inclined to bring in young players.  I mean, he was a fine judge of talent and I'm sure could have replenished his team, but we can't know how long this would have lasted.

So in some ways it worked out quite well that he left for Liverpool. Mark Hughes appreciated what was in place but felt it needed shaking a little. So he worked with what he had, phasing out certain elements while bringing in more flair.  He made Clint Dempsey into the team's main attacking threat (while Dempsey had his moments under Hodgson he never rose above what Duncan Jenkins might call the Parrot Pit).

In retrospect this worked well, too. The team didn't lose its identity, but started to transition away from the big discipline and associated limitations of Hodgson's style.

The thing is, the players still had Hodgson's coaching in their bones. So even though the midfield might not be as quick to get back or as perfectly positioned when they do so, they still knew what good team defending was all about. When the time was right, Danny Murphy could organise his midfield into a 'safety mode', the team could be very hard to beat when they had to be.

It's hard to know exactly how these things work, but now, as we see Martin Jol's team turn in a sizzling performance to destroy Norwich (the fourth time in just over a season we've scored five or more goals, right?), we seem to have stumbled upon the best of all worlds. Jol's attacking play built on the Hodgson/Hughes base seems to be a perfect match.  And while we all know that we won't win 5-0 every game, if this team stays injury free there's no telling what might be possible.


https://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/hodgson-to-hughes-to-jol-to-glory/?

[WhiteJC]

 
The Rufus Brevett Column

We couldn't have wished for a better start to the new season than a 5-0 win over Norwich City. I don't think anyone saw it coming but the players couldn't have done a better job.

It just shows how much quality Fulham have in depth now. They've got a squad that can hopefully do well this season.

You couldn't help but be impressed by Mladen Petric. It's important for any striker who joins a new club to get off the mark early on so for him to score two goals and claim an assist on his debut was a very good way to introduce himself.

It looks like Fulham might just have signed a little gem there. He's an international and he's been around the block. He certainly knows what's what.

Another player who made his debut was Sascha Riether at right-back. I obviously take an interest in full-backs and, like Petric, he's a player with vast experience. He's been in the game a long time and he's settled very quickly into life at Craven Cottage.

Some so-called pundits said we'd struggle this season. Some even tipped us to go down which I found ridiculous. On Saturday, we shut a lot of people up and there's no reason why we shouldn't be challenging for a UEFA Europa League spot this season. Martin Jol is really putting his stamp on the Team and they're looking very exciting in the final third.

An away trip to Manchester United this weekend is a tough-looking prospect but I actually think it's a good time to be playing them. It's always good to face the bigger teams early doors as they often haven't hit their stride yet.

It's clearly going to be difficult as United lost against Everton and they'll be looking to bounce back. But the way we played against Norwich will fill us with a lot of confidence. We'll go to Old Trafford with people thinking we haven't got a chance so we're not really under any pressure and I honestly think we can come away with at least a point.

United may well hand a full debut to Robin Van Persie. As a defender, to stand a chance against players like him and Wayne Rooney, you simply can't take your eye off them for one minute. Their movement is so good. You have to concentrate defensively for 90 minutes, or 96 minutes as we're at Old Trafford! That doesn't just apply to the back four, our midfielders come into that as well as United's players are so clever at ghosting into space.

My record as a player wasn't great at Old Trafford. A 0-0 draw with Queens Park Rangers was the best it got for me. Hopefully Fulham will fare better on Saturday.



http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2012/august/21/the-rufus-brevett-column?