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Wednesday Fulham Stuff(10/04/13)...

Started by WhiteJC, April 10, 2013, 04:31:56 AM

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WhiteJC

 
The Rufus Brevett Column

Going down to a last-gasp defeat at Newcastle United on Sunday was tough to take. St James' Park is always a difficult place to go to; they usually have a full house with a noisy support. They needed the points desperately but to go so close to earning a draw will have hurt the Fulham players. But that's football – you have to defend until the 93rd or 94th minute and we came undone with virtually the last kick of the game.

That defeat will stay in the system until the next game. They will have been very disappointed and it's now up to the Manager and coaching staff to try and lift them.

Before the Newcastle game, we played Queens Park Rangers at the Cottage in what was a crazy match. For the neutral, it must have been great to watch. For the first 40-odd minutes, Fulham were outstanding; they raced into a 3-0 lead and you wondered how many they'd score. But QPR got a lifeline with their goal just before the break and that seemed to galvanise them.

They then missed a penalty but did make it 3-2, and Fulham, having been in such control, were really holding on at the end, particularly after losing Steve Sidwell to a red card. I thought it was a bit of a harsh dismissal – his foot didn't really leave the ground, he was just trying to correct a heavy touch and he caught the player. I think it was the way he dived in that perhaps made it look worse than it was and that's what made the referee's mind up.

As for Rangers, another of my old sides, I think that's it for them now, especially after they drew 1-1 against Wigan Athletic on Sunday. Along with Reading, I can't see a way back for them and I feel they'll be playing a league lower next season.

Fulham can still have a say in who fills the remaining relegation place when we head to Aston Villa on Saturday. It's going to be a difficult game, Villa are fighting for their lives and they've picked up a few results recently that have given them a chance of survival. But prior to Newcastle, Fulham had been on a decent run so if they can set their stall out as they have done, they can go there and relax and play their football. All the pressure will be on Villa so if Fulham can keep it tight, the home fans can turn on their team and that might work to the away side's advantage. I fancy Fulham to come back with a favourable result.

Christian Benteke has been Villa's main man this season and the Fulham defence will have to watch him closely. But the back four has been well drilled of late and they just need to keep it tight at Villa Park. Martin Jol may have said he's still looking over his shoulder at the relegation places but Fulham are safe now. Mathematically, yes, they still need a couple of points but there's no chance they'll go down.

After Villa, we've got a double header of London derbies at the Cottage in Chelsea next Wednesday and Arsenal on the Saturday. They're the games that, as a player, you love to play in. Chelsea have had a strange old season, it's never dull at Stamford Bridge. To be fair to Rafael Benitez, he's got on with the job in very difficult circumstances, and they're still in with a shout of success in a couple of competitions.

Arsenal have had a tough campaign too. By their standards, they're underachieving and they've got a battle on to finish fourth. It's a good time to be playing both teams and they should be cracking games for the Fulham fans.



http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/april/09/the-rufus-brevett-column?

WhiteJC

 
Fulham facing 'keeper dilemma
With Mark Schwarzer yet to agree a new deal, who will be Fulham's number one next season?


Schwarzer has been a mainstay in Fulham's first team (©GettyImages)

In Mark Schwarzer, Fulham have one of the best 'keepers in Premier League history. He has kept the second most clean-sheets in the league and has been outstanding in the second half of the season.

In reserve they have David Stockdale. Currently on loan to Hull, they have a goalkeeper who has never failed to perform between the sticks. In fact, his form has been so good that he has been called up to the England squad on numerous occasions.

They also have a very good young shot-stopper in Neil Etheridge waiting in the wings. At a glance, this doesn't seem like much of a problem, does it?

Yet Martin Jol has openly admitted he is searching for a goalkeeper to come in this summer and has not yet tied Schwarzer down to a new contract.

The problem arises when we look at the fact that Fulham's number two is too good to be in reserve, but would not be a step up from Schwarzer.

Therefore, he probably deserves to leave the club in order to further his career. While Schwarzer is now 40-years-old and despite some astounding saves this year, he has begun to make some uncharacteristic mistakes.

The only other choice at the club is Etheridge who has impressed wherever he has been, most recently Bristol Rovers, but not many would be calling for him to make the step up to first-team keeper any time soon.

Fulham are trying to move forward, in the summer they were linked with Maarten Stekelenburg who would have been perfect, he even boarded a plane to London only for the deal to fall through mid-air.

Most recently however, Fulham have been linked with the likes of Asmir Begovic and Anders Lindegaard, both of whom seem attainable transfers. So, here are the players Fulham could possibly have in-between the posts next year.

Mark Schwarzer: We all know him and would happily see him sign an extension to his current contract unless we get a big-name 'keeper during the summer.

David Stockdale: Very solid goalkeeper who seems to thrive off the big matches and could really grow to become a good Premier League 'keeper. He isn't the youngest but whoever wanted youth in-between the sticks? I would like him to stay as a number two, but it seems unlikely.

Neil Etheridge: I have not seen this young man play very much, but he was loved at Bristol City. He put in a few 'man of the match' performances and has a lot of international experience for someone of his age. It would be nice to see Neil as a certified number two next season. A season-long loan may work wonders, however.

Anders Lindegaard: Out of favour at Manchester United and looking for a new home, the Dane would be cheap and dependable. However, it remains to be seen how Lindegaard would handle a step up from becoming a bench-warmer to a first-team regular.

Sinan Bolat: Heavily linked in January, the Turkish 'keeper looked set to move to London but a move never materialised. He is only 24 years of age and very highly rated in Belgium.


DISCLAIMER: This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeFootball Writing Academy and does not represent the views of GiveMeFootball.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article. GiveMeFootball.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.



http://www.givemefootball.com/339085-fulham-facing-keeper-dilemma?

WhiteJC

 
Cottage boss reveals star fitness hopes

Fulham boss Martin Jol is optimistic winger Ashkan Dejagah will be fit for Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash with Aston Villa.

The 26-year-old Iran international missed Sunday's loss at Newcastle after suffering the injury against QPR. Jol said in the Fulham Chronicle: "Ashkan's sprained his ankle. I'm hoping he can join us for Aston Villa." Mladen Petric (hamstring) is still out while Eyong Enoh is a doubt after suffering an ankle injury on his debut against the Magpies.


http://www.clubcall.com/fulham/cottage-boss-reveals-star-fitness-hopes-1573667.html?


WhiteJC

 
Stockdale Talks-Up Hull Move
   
Has David Stockdale given the clearest indication yet that he sees his future as being away from Craven Cottage?

With the rumour mill alive with the intimation that the former Darlington stopper desires first team football on a regular basis, it would appear that Stockdale wouldn`t offer any objections to a permanent move to Hull City, where he is currently on loan, with one major proviso, with the stopper remarking to the media

"Staying at Hull permanently is a possibility, especially if they go up."

Am I alone in thinking that Stockdale was never really, apart from when he`s covered for Mark Schwarzer when the Australian has been injured?



Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=315654#ixzz2Q1newVLN

WhiteJC

 
Montenegro Star on Trial
   
In these times when it pays to be financially prudent, thereby freeing up funds for other purposes, it`s always nice to latch onto the possibility of picking up a player who is a free agent.

This morning, the red-top press are inferring that Fulham could be about to do something of that nature.

Reports suggest that Fulham are giving a trial to the former Blackburn Rovers midfielder Simon Vukcevic

Vukcevic is a Montenegro international and will be hoping that he performs well enough, in his trial, to earn a contract with us.

We`ll report further if anything concrete becomes of this



Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=315656#ixzz2Q1npeLsS

WhiteJC

 
Ambitious Keeper Bid
   
Another rumour floating around the news network this morning concerns our goalkeeping situation, a subject that seems to have grabbed the affections of the media world considering the number of names supposed to be on our radar.

But this latest one is far more interesting than others because it may have ramifications with regards to the future of Mark Schwarzer.

At the weekend it was being reported that Schwarzer would only sign on the dotted line, to continue his spell at Craven Cottage, if he was guaranteed that first team spot.

It`s interesting then that the latest name pulled form the goalkeepers cap in relation to coming to our part of West London, has also stipulated that he won`t move anywhere unless he`s guaranteed a starting eleven berth.

The keeper in question is Asmir Begovic who, until just recently, had been considered as a certainty to move to Old Trafford, from Stoke.

Now it is being muted that Fulham are lining up a surprise £4 million bid for the twenty-five year old. Quite how that stands with Stoke`s valuation of the player remains to be seen, but we will endeavour to keep you informed if we hear anything else.


Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=315657#ixzz2Q1o5ZzFF


WhiteJC

 
Zamora in the Bargain Bucket?
   
The plight of our neighbours from Shepherds Bush continues to tug at our heartstrings.

With their season set to be blighted by plunging through the relegation trap door, one red-top news source is running with an article that infers that the Loftus Road outfit will be having a bit of a clear-out come the end of the season.

Amongst the list of those that the red-top believes are heading for the exit door is a certain Bobby Zamora with it also being inferred that Zamora could be moved on for as little as £1 million!

Would someone care to remind me how much we sold him to Queens Park Rangers for, a little over a year ago wasn`t it?


Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=315658#ixzz2Q1oNKf2L

WhiteJC

 
Premier League: Fulham hope Ashkan Dejagah will be fit to face Aston Villa


Ashkan Dejagah: Ankle sprain

Fulham boss Martin Jol is optimistic winger Ashkan Dejagah will be fit for Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash away to Aston Villa.

The 26-year-old Iran international missed Sunday's loss at Newcastle after suffering the injury against QPR.

Jol said in the Fulham Chronicle: "Ashkan's sprained his ankle. I'm hoping he can join us for Aston Villa."

Mladen Petric (hamstring) is still out while Eyong Enoh is a doubt after suffering an ankle injury on his debut against the Magpies.



http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/8627721?

WhiteJC

 
£4million? That Has To Be A Joke

Fulham have emerged as another club who are interested in the services of Asmir Begovic according to reports.

It's only another one of those Daily Mail reports so we should not take it too seriously, especially when you consider the fee that they are supposedly willing to offer, and that's just £4million.

Anyone with any brains at all should realise that Stoke won't be interested is such a paltry amount, they are looking more towards the £15million mark, although that will put a lot of clubs off.

Fulham could be forced into looking for a keeper to replace Mark Schwarzer, who has not yet accepted a new contract at Craven Cottage.

Whether Stoke would be willing to sell at all remains to be seen, they have just acquired the services of Jack Butland but there has been talk of the ex-Birmingham man being allowed to go back out on loan.



http://www.fansonline.net/stokecity/article.php?id=965


WhiteJC

 
Bad away habits return for Fulham

Fulham FanZoner Henry Walmsley is left with a familiar feeling after the loss at Newcastle, but is staying positive ahead of the trip to Villa.

There's really no point me writing a blog about the Newcastle game at the weekend. If you want to know how the game went, look at an article about pretty much any Fulham away game from five years ago.

Fulham hold a tag of being very poor travellers and I don't know any Fulham fans who would deny this. However this season, prior to the Newcastle game, we were able to boast the ninth best away record in the league which is a sign of the progress we're making away from the Cottage, which is why the Newcastle game was so disappointing for the Fulham faithful.

When you think of Fulham away performances, you typically think of us putting most players behind the ball, but still getting beat one or two nil in a very un-extraordinary game. We may only have won three times away from the Cottage this season, but this still leaves us with the 10th best away record in the league, coinciding with our overall position of 10th. So can we still be called bad travellers?

I can think of three league away games this season where we got completely rolled over - West Ham, Manchester City and Liverpool. We have however beaten Spurs, put three goals past Arsenal and two past Manchester United. I looked at the statistics for our away goals, and expected us to be quite high up having scored multiple goals in several games, but nine teams had scored more than us, there are nine teams above us in the league, reinforcing my point that our away performances are possibly now on a par with where we are overall.

This season we've looked more in control on the road, far more comfortable in possession. A criticism I had during the mid-part of the season was the lack of final third entries and chances we created for all our possession, but this has been book-ended by parts of the season where we've created chances and scored goals. Up to the Arsenal game back in November, we'd scored 12 goals in six away games and were being praised for our attacking play, largely thanks to Bryan Ruiz and Dimitar Berbatov.

I hope that this weekend we see the new Fulham away style as opposed to the one we've become accustomed to since joining the Premier League over 12 years ago, like we saw at Newcastle. It promises to be a fairly open game as I'm sure Villa have this marked as a must-win game with the position they find themselves in.

Unlike us, Villa have a very young team and it's for this reason that I hope they stay up. If they go down I can see a lot of their youngsters not amounting to as much as if they can stay in the top flight. I won't however be hoping that we do them any favours.

It's a very hard one to call, and I wouldn't put any money on either team, I think goals can be expected though, so am predicting a 2-2 draw.



http://www.teamtalk.com/fulham/8628318/Bad-away-habits-return-for-Fulham?

WhiteJC

 
Everton U21s 1 Fulham U21s 1

A superb late strike by substitute Muamer Tankovic earned Fulham Under-21s a 1-1 draw against Everton at Southport's Merseyrail Community Stadium on Monday night.

After Shane Duffy had put Everton in front just before the hour mark, Tankovic stepped off the bench to level matters with just 11 minutes remaining.

Apostolos Vellios had gone close to giving league leaders Everton the lead early on, but his header from Luke Garbutt's cross flew just wide.

Fulham's first effort of note came just before the half-hour mark but Ryan Williams' shot was saved by Mason Springthorpe. Chris David then sent a free-kick whistling inches over seconds prior to the interval.

Fulham went even closer five minutes into the second half when Williams' effort clipped the post after Everton had failed to clear their lines.

But five minutes later it was the Toffees who were in front, Duffy meeting Garbutt's floated delivery to head home at the far post.

Duffy went close three minutes later in similar circumstances, while, at the other end, Springthorpe saved bravely at the feet of Lasse Vigen Christensen.

The Whites deservedly levelled matters on 79 minutes, though, when Tankovic curled a brilliant effort past Springthorpe.

Fulham's joy was very nearly short-lived – John Stones nodded just wide, before Duffy saw a long-range drive cannon back off the crossbar having collected a loose ball and drove forward.

But the Whites held on to earn an excellent point, setting themselves up nicely for the visit of Middlesbrough to Motspur Park on Thursday evening (7pm).

Under-21s boss Kit Symons told the official website: "Overall I'm reasonably pleased with a point but I'm a bit disappointed we didn't win it to be honest. We played quite well in difficult conditions; the pitch was dry and bobbly. But we worked hard to do the right things and played some very good football at times. We lacked a bit of a cutting edge at times but we created some good opportunities.

"I thought we were on top throughout the second half and their goal came against the run of play. It was a free-kick wide on the right and the big centre-half Duffy got a touch in front of Stephen Arthurworrey and it just trickled into the net.

"So it was a disappointing goal to give away at a time when we were on top but we kept going, kept playing and Tank came on and scored a very good goal for us."

Fulham: Joronen, Passley, Kavanagh, Christensen, Arthurworrey, Grimmer, Altman, Minkwitz, Woodrow, David, Williams.


http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/april/10/everton-11-fulham-u21s?

WhiteJC

 
Defeat For Darts

Csaba Somogyi put in a Man of the Match display but was unable to prevent Dartford from going down to a 2-1 defeat by Grimsby Town on Tuesday evening in the Blue Square Bet Premier.

With his side a goal to the good through Jack Evans' 26th-minute effort, the on-loan keeper produced a string of saves to keep his side in front, until he was eventually beaten with 11 minutes remaining.

Andy Cook headed in Frankie Artus' free-kick, before the Darts were dealt a killer blow on 88 minutes when Aswad Thomas met another Artus set-piece to secure the points for the promotion-chasing Mariners.

The result leaves Dartford sitting 10th in the league ahead of Thursday's clash (7.45pm) with Braintree Town.


http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/april/10/defeat-for-darts?


WhiteJC

 
From £21 Per Game

Get closer to Barclays Premier League action in 2013/14 with your very own Fulham Season Ticket.

Early Bird prices start from £399 for adults in all stands and from £95 for juniors.

That's just £21 per game for adult and £5 per game for juniors. But hurry, Early Bird prices won't be around forever.

Take your pick from the available seats and buy online today, alternatively, visit or call the Ticket Office on 0843 208 1234 (Option 3).



http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/april/10/from-21-per-game?

WhiteJC

 
Jol hopes he won't lose Greece ace

Martin Jol wants to secure the future of Giorgos Karagounis at Fulham.

The 36-year-old Greece midfielder is out of contract this summer but is set for talks about extending his stay at Craven Cottage.

"Time is on our side, of course, because he will not go for £5million or £6m to another club," said Fulham boss Jol. "But, on the other hand, I do not want to see him go to other clubs. He is happy here."

Karagounis, who joined Fulham on a free transfer from Panathinaikos in September, is enjoying life in London.

He said: "Fulham is a great team to play for. The club have impressed me. To compete in the Premier League is a joy for every footballer. It is one of the toughest leagues in the world. It is better than I imagined."



http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/jol-hopes-he-wont-lose-greece-ace-8566849.html