Sunday Fulham Stuff (11/04/10)

[WhiteJC]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/apr/11/fulham-europa-league-roy-hodgson
Fulham are no longer a club we laugh at but one we need to learn from
Roy Hodgson has crafted Fulham into a refreshing antidote to so many impatient, debt-fuelled bigger clubs

The Europa League, which sounded like a new far-right party when Uefa invented it, has revealed a truth about top-level football, in which every little setback starts a clamour to hand over £40m for some hot-shot so his school of agent-sharks can feed.

Days ago a caller to a phone-in berated Manchester United for buying "a dud" in Mame Biram Diouf. It had escaped the hot brain of this irate Dave from Dewsbury that Diouf is 22 and joined United in January from Norwegian football. Five appearances and one goal later, the young Senegalese striker, who was recommended by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, was being dismissed as a flop despite all the precedents of youngsters from foreign countries needing time to download big-club software.

Fulham's training ground at Motspur Park is in the kind of nondescript south London suburb the Kinks or the Jam might have written a tune about. But it feels just like Carrington. It is big, well‑equipped and radiates purpose. It is a place where a manager and his coaches extract the maximum productivity from the talent they already have instead of dreaming about the star names they would love to buy.

For a decade or more English football has been unable to see beyond getting and spending. The elimination of all four Premier League clubs from the Champions League by the quarter-final stage has put fresh heat on chief executives to burn cash they don't have. Then, 21 seconds into a Europa League quarter-final against Wolfsburg, Bobby Zamora, below, once the bête noire of Fulham fans, fires Roy Hodgson's team into the semi-finals in the 16th match of a campaign that started on 30 July in Lithuania, and that has also taken them past Shakhtar Donetsk (the holders) and Juventus.

The mid-table Premier League game at Anfield today is also a rehearsal for a potential European final in Hamburg on 12 May. For Liverpool, who face Atlético Madrid in the last four of the Consolation Cup, Uefa's Byzantine Europa construct feels like a punishment: a walk of shame that speaks of regression. A club with five European Cups to shine could feel no other way about a competition that looked like a dumping ground in the way the Uefa and European Cup-Winners' Cups never quite did.

A second-tier continental championship is not to be sneered at, though, especially now, particularly down by the Thames, where Fulham were an exercise in self-deprecation until Mohammed Fayed took his punt and Hodgson's appointment on 28 December 2007 turned out to be one of the most inspired headhunts in the whole sack-happy saga of the Premier League.

Eleven months after he led them to their highest ever league finish (seventh place), Hodgson has coached Zamora to the edge of a World Cup spot with England and sculpted European semi-finalists from a squad of vastly improved nearly-men. Danny Murphy was nearly a top-six midfielder, Paul Konchesky was nearly a top-half left-back, Damien Duff was nearly the wizard he used to be at Blackburn and Chelsea, Zamora was nearly, but not quite, good enough to be the main goal-getter in a top-10 Premier League side.

"No tree grows to heaven" Hodgson told me in November, in an interview in these pages, citing an old Swedish adage. What he meant was that expectation can explode on you. He said: "I constantly preach the message that all the time we can remain a Premier League club, filling the stadium with 25,000 people, playing the sort of football that those 25,000 people seem to appreciate, I've got to say I think that's success."

This is the obverse of the Champions League mentality, so maybe this is what the Europa League is really for: reason, rather than mania. Hodgson even went so far as to question the wisdom of heavy spending: "Who knows: maybe one or two of those big-hitters we'd brought in for £10-15m, and £50,000 or £60,000 a week – money we don't pay – wouldn't be as dedicated to doing the job on the training field. Maybe it would be a different type of management. Maybe we'd be handing the club over to them."

In football as we know it this is counter-intuitive, and brilliant, because Hodgson is defending the old faith. A good manager identifies stalled talent and coaches it to a far higher level. At Viking FK in Norway, he sees that Brede Hangeland is good enough to play in the Premier League and later brings him over. He and his staff spot Chris Smalling playing centre-back for Maidstone United and within nine months of his first-team debut are selling him on to Manchester United for £10m.

In a vanished showbiz past, when Craven Cottage was a house of post-war fun, Tommy Trinder would promise his cashmere camel coat to anyone who could score a hat-trick, and Charlie Mitten would order Johnny Haynes off the physio's table so his dog could be treated for a race at Wimbledon.

It took Fulham an age to transcend that knockabout mythology. They made football laugh. Now they ask it to learn.

[WhiteJC]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/fulham/7574276/Fulhams-Roy-Hodgson-says-Premier-Legaue-takes-second-place-to-Europa-Cup.html
Fulham's Roy Hodgson says Premier Legaue takes second place to Europa Cup
Fulham manager Roy Hodgson insists he will continue with his controversial policy of resting players for Premier League matches in his bid for Europa League glory.

Hodgson's side face at Anfield tomorrow for what will be the London side's 55th game of a gruelling season which began with a Europa League qualifier against Vetra back in July.

Fulham's remarkable European campaign shows no sign of slowing after they beat Wolfsburg on Thursday night to set up a semi-final clash with Hamburg

Should Hodgson's team progress to the final, they will end up playing 63 matches by the end of the season, by far the most of any team in the Premier League.

The results in Fulham's games against Wolves, Everton and Arsenal could have a significant impact on the standings at both ends of the table at the end of the season and West Ham have already lodged a complaint against Hodgson for fielding a depleted side against Hull.

A potential £25,000 fine will not deter Hodgson from sticking to his rotation policy, however.

He said: "The Wolfsburg game was our 54th of the season, so for any team that's a big ask and for a team like ours, who haven't had experience of European football, it's been very demanding on a small group of players.

"League survival was our priority. Now we have 41 points we've had a good season in the league and I honestly don't believe we'll be relegated now or reach the top places so the league must now take second place to the cup.

"We'll have to look at the situation on Sunday. We had one or two players pick up knocks in the Wolfsburg game but luckily we are getting more and more players back."

Simon Davies (rib), David Elm (virus) and Thursday's matchwinner Bobby Zamora (Achilles) are all doubts for tomorrow's game, where Fulham will be hoping to cause an upset and come away with their first away win in the league since the first day of the season.

Brede Hangeland is confident that fatigue will not be a problem for Fulham against Rafael Benitez's side, who will be desperate to boost their chances of Champions League qualification with a win.

The defender said: "We have performed in league matches straight after playing in big European games so I'm confident we'll be able to do the same again on Sunday."

[WhiteJC]

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2010/04/10/john-aldridge-roy-hodgson-is-a-contender-for-manager-of-the-year-100252-26211725/
John Aldridge: Roy Hodgson is a contender for manager of the year

FULHAM will arrive at Anfield on Sunday on a high after their great win away to Wolfsburg.

I've got a lot of respect for Danny Murphy and also for Roy Hodgson. As far as I'm concerned Hodgson is a contender for manager of the year.

When he took over they were struggling to stay up but now they're a solid Premier League club and in the semi-finals of the Europa League.

He's done a marvellous job and is one of the old guard who doesn't say a lot but when he does talk he makes sense.

I hope we beat them tomorrow but I'd love to see us meet Fulham again in the Europa League final in Hamburg on May 12.

[WhiteJC]

http://www.tribalfootball.com/fulham-captain-murphy-i-learned-my-football-liverpool-760811
Fulham captain Murphy: I learned my football at Liverpool
Fulham captain Danny Murphy says he still has close ties to former club Liverpool as he returns to Anfield today.

Murphy spent seven successful years at Anfield after arriving at Liverpool as a 20-year-old with a £3million price tag from Crewe.

He was part of the Liverpool team which won a cup treble under Gerard Houllier in 2001.

Murphy was sold to Charlton in 2004 and then joined Spurs before arriving at Craven Cottage in 2007.

The 33-year-old did not play in Fulham's 3-1 win over Liverpool earlier this season and he is yet to beat his old club since leaving in Anfield in eight attempts.

He admits it will be an emotional encounter for him.

"We drew up there last time and that was the first time I had gone to Anfield and got anything from there, which was nice," the midfielder said. "It's a wonderful place to go and play your football. I learned how to play football by watching games there when I was growing up and some of the most successful moments of my career have come at Anfield.

"I'm looking forward to it, as always and I'm sure it will be as good an atmosphere as always on the Kop. It still holds a special place for me in my heart and I love going back there."

[WhiteJC]

http://www.teamtalk.com/fulham/6085074/Hodgson-makes-Europe-the-priority
Hodgson makes Europe the priority

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson will rest players without a second thought at Liverpool on Sunday after making the Europa League his top priority.

Hodgson's side return to Premier League action at Anfield for what will be their 55th game of a gruelling season which began with a Europa League qualifier against Vetra back in July.

The Cottagers' remarkable European campaign shows no sign of slowing after they beat Wolfsburg on Thursday night to set up a semi-final clash with Hamburg.

Should Hodgson's team progress to the final, they will end up playing 63 matches by the end of the season, by far the most of any team in the Premier League.

The results in Fulham's games against Wolves, Everton and Arsenal could have a significant impact on the standings at both ends of the table at the end of the season and West Ham have already lodged a complaint against Hodgson for fielding a depleted side against Hull.

A potential £25,000 fine will not deter Hodgson from sticking to his rotation policy, however.

He said: "The Wolfsburg game was our 54th of the season, so for any team that's a big ask and for a team like ours, who haven't had experience of European football, it's been very demanding on a small group of players.

"League survival was our priority. Now we have 41 points we've had a good season in the league and I honestly don't believe we'll be relegated now or reach the top places so the league must now take second place to the cup.

"We'll have to look at the situation on Sunday. We had one or two players pick up knocks in the Wolfsburg game but luckily we are getting more and more players back."

Simon Davies (rib), David Elm (virus) and Thursday's matchwinner Bobby Zamora (Achilles) are all doubts for Sunday's game, where Fulham will be hoping to cause an upset and come away with their first away win in the league since the first day of the season.

Brede Hangeland is confident that fatigue will not be a problem for Fulham against Rafael Benitez's side, who will be desperate to boost their chances of Champions League qualification with a win.

The defender said: "We have performed in league matches straight after playing in big European games so I'm confident we'll be able to do the same again on Sunday."

[WhiteJC]

http://hammyend.com/?p=6883
We won it from midfield
by Dan on April 10, 2010

I've been a little taken aback by some of the criticism of Danny Murphy in the wake of win over Wolfsburg. Yes, he played a couple of poor passes that were picked off by the opposition in dangerous area but the Fulham skipper and Dickson Etuhu ran the game from a central area.

He played a couple of blinding balls through to Bobby Zamora and, even when we were pushed a bit deeper, Murphy was always available to receive and recycle possession. The stats from that evening are also worth a look. Murphy made 102 passes in that game: an extraordinary amount. Next came Chris Baird (99) and Paul Konchesky (88), showing that Wolfsburg completely failed to shut down our full-backs followed by the excellent Dickson Etuhu (74). All our other midfielders, plus Zamora, made more than 60 passes too. Murphy's approaching a thousand successful Premier League passes this season – as this link shows.

That's before we even take into account Murphy's powers of leadership. He was immense on Thursday night and has even clarified the issue of his captain's armband, which Clive Tyldesley said he'd discarded in disgust:

I've read and been told that the throwing of the armband was to do with some annoyance at myself or someone else, which is completely untrue. The simple fact is that the armband I have to wear in Europe is ridiculously huge and I have to tape it on my arm.

But the tape had come off and the armband wouldn't stay on. So instead of throwing it in the middle of the pitch, I waited until I was near one of the goals and just threw it behind.

I take very seriously my role as captain and would never be so disrespectful to my team-mates or the supporters to be throwing the armband in disgust or anger. I certainly wouldn't want anyone thinking it was disrespectful.

[WhiteJC]

http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=194811

Fulham - How much is that Bobby in the window?
What you may well ask!

Well the Bobby is our very own Mr Zamooooooooooooooooora!

I`m afraid how well he is playing one of the big clubs will come knocking at our door and the money will be too much to turn down.

While Roy and Mo won`t want to let him go £20 million would strengthen our humble club and help us stay solvent but we don`t want to end up in the Championship or worse.

So what are our options don`t want to lose him how could we benefit how much is he worth to us priceless me thinks!




Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=194811#ixzz0km5dttBd

[WhiteJC]

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2557/news/2010/04/10/1872354/danny-murphy-fulham-have-no-fear-of-liverpool

Danny Murphy Fulham have no fear of Liverpool...


I can't cut'n'paste this article, use the link to read it in full WhiteJC

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2557/news/2010/04/10/1872354/danny-murphy-fulham-have-no-fear-of-liverpool

[WhiteJC]

http://www.cottagersconfidential.com/2010/4/10/1414058/my-5-keys-to-survival-for-fulham
Share My 5 Keys to Survival for Fulham Against Liverpool - Match Preview

Fulham play tomorrow against Liverpool at Anfield. The game takes place at 3PM UK Time and 10AM EST. The game will be shown on ESPN 2 in the U.S. live. In October, Fulham beat Liverpool 3 - 1 at Craven Cottage. I am sure Liverpool will be looking for payback from the result.  Also, Liverpool are still in the hunt for a Champions League spot so every game for them will be crucial to win. After the emotional victory for Fulham on Thursday this matchup will be extremely tough on the road. I am going into this match hoping for a point. Instead of victory I am looking for survival and being able to get any point from the match. Below are"my 5 keys to survival for Fulham against Liverpool."   

1. Will Hogdson rest many players for this match?  There is a decent possibility that Roy Hogdson could rest several key players. Bobby Zamora is still recovering from an Achilles injury. Simon Davies got a rib injury in the Wollfsburg match. If these 2 players do not play , there replacements need to get the job done at Anfield. Will Hogdson rest other players like Brede Hangeland, Damien Duff and Aaron Hughes?  I think if there are only a few lineup changes Fulham should be fine. If Roy decides several players need to be rested we might see a result similar to the match at Hull.

2. I am hoping that Stefano Okaka plays the entire match for Fulham.  Okaka keeps showing up in my keys because I would like to see if he can be a regular contributor to the club. The best way in my opinion to see if he can be a first team player is to have significant playing time. Okaka played well against Wigan, and being on the road at Liverpool is a perfect place to see how he reacts. I think he could have a positive impact on the match if he plays.

3. Danny Murphy needs to control the midfield.  You know Murphy going back to play at Liverpool has to be special for him. If Murphy plays well he can really help keep Fulham in the match with his passing and setting up the strikers. 

4. Fulham need to contain Fernando Torres.  I really like watching Torres play. I think he will be even more dangerous and difficult to handle at home. With a player of his ability he only needs a small opening to change a game. If Fulham can contain him they probably can stay in the match.

5. Mark Schwarzer needs to be exceptional again. Schwarzer I thought was exceptional at Wolfsburg. To stay with Liverpool he is going to need to play at an extraordinary level. I think he will be under constant pressure. If he can have one of his great games Fulham can hang with Liverpool

As I started the preview I am hoping Fulham can figure out a way to get a point in this match. I think partially because of several factors it could be very difficult.  First, Liverpool are fantastic at home. Second, Fulham could be resting several players. Third, Fulham beat Liverpool at Craven Cottage so there could be extra motivation for Liverpool. Lastly, Liverpool are still fighting to get in the Champions League. With all of these factors the trip to Anfield will be a challenge. I am hoping Fulham can hang in there and get a point

[WhiteJC]

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/168526/Bobby-Zamora-s-biggest-chance
BOBBY ZAMORA'S BIGGEST CHANCE

YOU don't usually hear Fernando Torres and Bobby Zamora talked about in the same breath, but today is different.


Torres is already first choice for his country and will lead Spain's assault in South Africa this summer.

But if Zamora continues his goalscoring exploits at Anfield this afternoon, the clamour for the most unexpected World Cup call-up since Theo Walcott four years ago will reach an almighty crescendo.

Former Fulham boss Chris Coleman and TV pundit Andy Townsend became the latest to join the chorus calling on Fabio Capello to pick Zamora for England after seeing him single-handedly send German champions Wolfsburg crashing out of the Europa Cup on Thursday.

Zamora's 22-second strike was enough to see Fulham through to the semi-finals, along with today's opponents Liverpool, and add to his growing international fan club.

Coleman, now manager of Coventry, insists Zamora has done more than enough to make Capello's squad – probably ahead of the injury-troubled Emile Heskey.

It was reported that Fulham were looking to replace Zamora with Heskey at the start of the season... but not any more.

Heskey has scored only five goals in 36 starts this season, compared to Zamora's 19 in 43.

"He's had a better season than Emile and has to be a close call for England," said Coleman. "He has to be one of the most in-form strikers in Europe."

Townsend said: "Capello must be considering him now. He is enjoying being the focal point of the team and he offers so many variations. Now he is looking physically capable and is coming up with the goals."

Capello recently visited Craven Cottage to watch Zamora and Roy Hodgson reckons it wasn't a wasted trip. The Fulham boss said: "Bobby is not just scoring goals against anyone, he is doing it against international class opponents.

[WhiteJC]

http://hammyend.com/?p=6897
Hodgson 'in the clear' over Hull team selection
by Dan on April 10, 2010

The Mail reckons the Premier League board will throw out West Ham's complaint about Fulham's team selection at Hull and thereby exonerate Roy Hodgson.

Initial viewing of the Hammers' complaint suggests that Fulham's case is significantly different to that of Wolves, who received a suspended fine of £25,000 after making 10 changes against Manchester United.

Common sense prevails.