Friday Fulham Stuff (22/11/13)...

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham - Swansea Preview: Swans travel to Craven Cottage without Michu

The Spain international has been sidelined until December giving record signing Wilfried Bony a chance to shine, while the hosts are looking to escape the relegation zone

Swansea will be without star forward Michu when they travel to Craven Cottage to face Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Spaniard, who picked up the injury in the Swans' 1-0 defeat against south Wales rivals Cardiff, is expected to return for the club's clash with Newcastle on December 4.

In the meantime, record signing Wilfried Bony, who had reason to celebrate this week as the Ivory Coast booked their place at the World Cup, is likely to resume up front, having netted three goals in his last two outings for Swansea.

Fulham, meanwhile, will get a first taste of what they can expect from newly-appointed head coach Rene Meulensteen.

The short-lived Anzhi Makhachkala manager joined the west Londoners earlier this month, a move designed to ease the pressure on under-fire boss Martin Jol and cure the club's woes in front of goal.

The side have yet to net more than twice in a league match this season, while Dimitar Berbatov - who netted 15 times last year - has just one goal in 10 appearances this time around.

Fulham have made a poor start to the Premier League season and sit 18th after just three wins in their first 11 matches, though they can leapfrog Swansea with a win.

New Fulham owner Shahid Khan is hoping the expertise of Meulensteen – a coach at Manchester United between 2001 and 2006 and then Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant at Old Trafford from 2007 to 2013 – can help Jol as he seeks an upturn in fortunes.

Another priority for the Dutch duo will be improving Fulham's leaky defence as the Craven Cottage outfit have shipped 11 goals in their last three matches.

Several of Fulham's players were involved in international action over the last week, and Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis led his side to victory in their World Cup play-off against Romania.

Sweden's Alexander Kacaniklic was not so lucky, though, as his side lost 4-2 on aggregate to Portugal.

Defender Brede Hangeland is a doubt with a nerve problem in his leg, while Hugo Rodallega (groin), Sascha Riether (suspension) and Matthew Briggs (hernia) will certainly miss out for Fulham.

Combining domestic and continental commitments has proved a challenge this season for Swansea, who are 13th but just two points above the relegation zone.

They have not won in over a month and will enter Saturday's fixture with just two triumphs since September 22.

Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm will return from suspension but Michu (ankle), Pablo Hernandez (thigh) and Garry Monk (knee) are all still sidelined.



http://www.goal.com/en-gb/match/109332/fulham-vs-swansea-city/preview

[WhiteJC]

 
Post-dated concerns about Fulham

Rene Meulensteen has obviously arrived at Fulham to replace Martin Jol... sorry, I mean work 'with' him...and it will be interesting to see whether his influence will be immediately apparent against Swansea tomorrow.

Adel Taarabt has been discussing the changes to life at the club since Meulensteen's arrival, and it doesn't paint a particularly healthy picture of what life was like previously at Craven Cottage.

"The players are so happy with the sessions. They're hard work, though; everyone comes off the training pitch saying 'I'm dead, I need to sleep!'

Everything is intensity, intensity, intensity and working on in-game situations. It's what we needed and I think he'll bring a lot to Fulham.'

We need to prevent [their possession-based game]. We want to have control of the ball and dominate games, so we need to press them.

It's been too easy for other teams at times against us. We need to take responsibility now and control games, especially at home.

If Swansea can do it, why can't we do it? That's what we're working on with Rene – to try and control games, to not give the ball away cheaply and defend as a team."

(The Mail)

So what was going on in training pre-Meulensteen?

It's worrying that the Fulham players have noticed such an obvious difference between the two training regimes, and that the levels of work and intensity have been varied so much – doesn't that just feed all the negative assumptions about the attitude and desire levels at the club under Jol?

Hard-work? Physical intensity? These are corner-stones of any side's Premier League existence.



http://thepremierleagueowl.com/post-dated-concerns-about-fulham/

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham v Swansea

By Simon Brotherton
Match of the Day commentator

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue: Craven Cottage Date: Saturday, 23 November

Fulham defender Brede Hangeland will miss a fifth successive match with a sciatic nerve problem.

Damien Duff is also out and Sascha Riether remains banned, but there is a place in the squad for 17-year-old French forward Moussa Dembele.

Swansea's first-choice goalkeeper Michel Vorm is available after serving a one-match ban.

Michu and Pablo Hernandez remain sidelined with respective ankle and thigh injuries.

MATCH PREVIEW
Fulham will be hoping the appointment of Rene Meulensteen as head coach during the international break will help galvanise their misfiring squad and halt what has become an increasingly alarming slide down the table.

The former Manchester United coach has been brought in to work alongside manager Martin Jol, who's under pressure following a poor start to the season in which they've lost seven of their 11 Premier league fixtures.

Fulham last won a game just over a month ago, 4-1 at Crystal Palace, and have lost the last four in all competitions - reaching a new low last time out with an insipid display in a 4-0 thrashing at Liverpool.

The move to bring in fresh thinking on the coaching side takes some of the heat off the manager for the time being, but if things don't improve in the near future, Jol's position will be centre stage again.

The visit of Swansea is the first of four at home for Fulham in the next six league games. Tottenham, Aston Villa and Manchester City will all visit Craven Cottage before Christmas, with trips to West Ham and Everton also to come in that time.

Fulham's home form has been pretty awful so far though, with just one win and a total of four points from a possible 15. Along with Crystal Palace and West Ham, it's the worst home return in the division.

Swansea travel to London only two points better off than their hosts and also without a win in just over a month. They've drawn four of the last five, two of them in the Europa League, since a 4-0 win over Sunderland in Gus Poyet's first match in charge in mid-October.

Their away form has been a mixed bag thus far with impressive 2-0 wins at West Brom and Crystal Palace mixed in with defeats at Tottenham, Southampton and Cardiff in which they failed to score a single goal.

MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
Fulham ended a run of three successive Premier League defeats by Swansea with a 3-0 away triumph on the final day of last season.

Fulham's last league home win in this fixture was in the fourth tier in February 1997.

Fulham
Martin Jol's side have suffered three straight league defeats, conceding nine goals and scoring just once.
Fulham have only earned four points at home this season, the joint worst record in the division along with Crystal Palace and West Ham.
Only Aston Villa (9) have lost more Premier League home matches in 2013 than Fulham (8).
They have conceded the opening goal in eight of their 11 league matches this season, more than any other side.
Dimitar Berbatov has scored one Premier League goal in 855 minutes this season. In 2012-13, he averaged a goal every 190 minutes (15 in 2,847 minutes).

Swansea
Twelve points from 11 games represents Swansea's worst start to a top-flight season. They are winless in three games.
However, they are only one point worse off than at the same stage last year.
They have only scored three first-half goals - only Cardiff (2) and Norwich (1) have fared worse.
The Swans have an average ball possession of 58.5% in the Premier League this season, second only to Manchester City (59.5%) according to football statisticians Infostrada.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24968972?

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham v Swansea – Premier League preview

Rene Meulensteen joins Fulham boss Martin Jol in the dugout at Craven Cottage for the first time as the Whites host Swansea on Saturday. The 49-year-old joined the Fulham coaching staff two weeks ago and brings a wealth of experience to a side struggling for form.

The Dutch coach was an assistant manager under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United from 2007 to 2013, a spell in which they won three league titles, the Champions League, two League Cups, one Club World Cup and three Community Shields. Meulensteen is rumoured to have vastly improved Cristiano Ronaldo at United, who is now favourite to win the Ballon d'Or.

Fulham are on a run of three Premier League defeats, conceding nine goals and scoring one in the process. The Cottagers currently sit in the relegation zone, however a win on Saturday could drag them out of the bottom three. Swansea, managed by Michael Laudrup, are two points above the Whites in 13th place and are without a win in three too – drawing two and losing the derby to Cardiff.

The last time these two met, it finished in a 3-0 win for Jol's side at the Liberty Stadium thanks to goals from Alex Kacaniklic, Dimitar Berbatov and Urby Emanelson. However their last clash at the Cottage finished in a 2-1 win for the away side. Fulham are 3.45 to win at home while Swans are 2.32 to get an away victory.

Team news

Brede Hangeland could miss his fifth consecutive game for Fulham with a sciatic nerve problem, while Sascha Riether is still banned for his stamp on Manchester United winger Adnan Januzaj. Bryan Ruiz is fit to start after recovering from a back problem.

Michu and Pablo Hernandez both remain out for Swansea while Michel Vorm is avaiable again after serving a one-match ban.



http://blog.marathonbet.com/?p=5187

[WhiteJC]

 
Opta Stats: Berbatov's Fulham goal drought to continue

After running his eye over Opta's gold, Lewis Jones thinks Luis Suarez will be amongst the goals again and Dimitar Berbatov won't...

Fulham v Swansea (Saturday, 15:00)
Dimitar Berbatov has scored just one goal in 855 minutes of Premier League football this season; in 2012/13, he averaged a goal every 190 minutes (15 in 2847)
Berbatov has always only worked in a 10-metre radius of a football pitch but he seems to have neglected including the penalty box in his 'go-to areas' this season. In fairness to the meandering striker, playing the leading role in this lacklustre Fulham side is hardly helping matters. Excluding their 4-1 romp at Crystal Palace, the west Londoners have scored just three goals in their last six Premier League games. The markets are still keeping faith with Berbatov to find form, but we're not. Lay.
Best Bet: Lay Berbatov to score @ 3.3



http://betting.betfair.com/football/opta/opta-stats-berbatovs-goal-drought-to-continue-221113-664.html?