Seems like Mitroglou trained this week

[Zu-Meister]

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/fulham-need-a-quick-return-on-kostas-mitroglou-outlay-9114659.html

Kostas Mitroglou could make his Fulham debut against Manchester United on Sunday and Rene Meulensteen needs the club-record signing to make an immediate impact.

Mitroglou moved to Craven Cottage with a knee injury and will have his fitness assessed by the club's medical staff ahead of the trip to Old Trafford. He has trained with his new team‑mates this week but may have to settle for a place on the bench.

The Greece striker has been prolific this season with 14 goals in 12 League games for Olympiakos but has played just twice in the last two months because of injury and his national league's winter break. There is some surprise in Greece Mitroglou has swapped the Champions League knockout stages for the Premier League basement battle.

The £11million arrival is more of a traditional centre forward compared with Dimitar Berbatov, who was the focal point of the team before his deadline-day departure to Monaco. He prefers to play in and around the penalty box, rather than dropping deep to get involved in build-up play, so it remains to be seen whether Fulham will need to change their approach to get the best out of him.

"One of the most important things we looked at is his scoring record," said Meulensteen, whose job has come under scrutiny following a run of eight defeats in 11 League games since replacing Martin Jol. "Over the last four or five seasons that has been very good and he has a good variety in his finishing."

The club are bottom of the League and their season hit a new low when they crashed out of the FA Cup to Sheffield United on Tuesday.

Hugo Rodallega appeared to be in tears when he was substituted during the tie and has accused Meulensteen of showing him a lack of respect.

The forward told Colombian TV show Kick Off: "I have no relationship with the new manager and I think he has been disrespectful. He always keeps his forwards on whether or not they are playing well so I don't know why he did this to me. It broke my heart. I've never gone through a situation like the one on Tuesday in my career. I couldn't sleep that night."

[Julius Geezer]

I'm glad Mitroglou may feature.

Might make the journey a bit more worthwhile!

As for Rodallega - he's acting like a bitch! He was as poor as the others - get over it!

[westcliff white]

Would be excellent if he can start, but really good if we can get 20/30 minutes from him if he isn't 100%. Although if he is less than 60/70% then we should not risk him. While all games right now are important maybe those against those around us are more so.

[Baszab]

Who did the medical ? Mitroglou's agent ?

[Zu-Meister]

Fulham Football Club ‏@FulhamFC  46s
René says Kostas Mitroglou is improving in training all the time, but couldn't speculate as to his involvement on Sunday #ffc #coyw

[JBH]

Who did the medical ? Mitroglou's agent ?

He just isn't match fit which is a totally different from actually carrying an injury  065.gif

[pH7]

I don't understand this "Premiership fitness" thing. If you wait for 100% fitness, maybe it'll be too late.
Fulham is deep down, every point that can be salvaged is gold. You have to use all the ammunition available even for shorter time.
Start Mitroglou and let him play 60mins. He scores, then take him out put another defender and a draw is possible. 9739.gif

[epsomraver]

Kvist was supposed to be not match fit when he came yet he started and played 90 minutes, Perhaps renee doesn't want to tell the bug eyed monster what team he is putting out?

[Julius Geezer]

I don't understand this "Premiership fitness" thing. If you wait for 100% fitness, maybe it'll be too late.
Fulham is deep down, every point that can be salvaged is gold. You have to use all the ammunition available even for shorter time.
Start Mitroglou and let him play 60mins. He scores, then take him out put another defender and a draw is possible. 9739.gif

Ideal in theory.

If Mitroglou comes in though, gets injured for a couple of months - we're screwed!

Everyone associated with Fulham wants to see him play but they have to weigh up the risk.

[horse1031]

why buy him if he wasnt ready?

get him in there for 65 minutes if he is not injured.

[pH7]

I don't understand this "Premiership fitness" thing. If you wait for 100% fitness, maybe it'll be too late.
Fulham is deep down, every point that can be salvaged is gold. You have to use all the ammunition available even for shorter time.
Start Mitroglou and let him play 60mins. He scores, then take him out put another defender and a draw is possible. 9739.gif

Ideal in theory.

If Mitroglou comes in though, gets injured for a couple of months - we're screwed!

Everyone associated with Fulham wants to see him play but they have to weigh up the risk.

The risk of injury exists for any player in any state. It's not like he's slightly injured now and they could risk further problems.
The question is about fitness only.

[Julius Geezer]

I don't understand this "Premiership fitness" thing. If you wait for 100% fitness, maybe it'll be too late.
Fulham is deep down, every point that can be salvaged is gold. You have to use all the ammunition available even for shorter time.
Start Mitroglou and let him play 60mins. He scores, then take him out put another defender and a draw is possible. 9739.gif

Ideal in theory.

If Mitroglou comes in though, gets injured for a couple of months - we're screwed!

Everyone associated with Fulham wants to see him play but they have to weigh up the risk.

It's not like he's slightly injured now and they could risk further problems.

Yes he is and yes they could.

He injured a medial collateral ligament in his right knee back in November and recieved surgery in Greece.

Normally the lay off would be around 4 months but he has made good progress and we are also keen to get him into training and integrating in the squad.

It's a huge risk to play him but I trust the physio staff at the club and trust they will make the right decision.

[PokerMatt]

My suspicion is that Rene is taking a leaf out of his old mentor's book.

How many times did Fergie claim injuries only for said player to start anyway?

[pH7]

I don't understand this "Premiership fitness" thing. If you wait for 100% fitness, maybe it'll be too late.
Fulham is deep down, every point that can be salvaged is gold. You have to use all the ammunition available even for shorter time.
Start Mitroglou and let him play 60mins. He scores, then take him out put another defender and a draw is possible. 9739.gif

Ideal in theory.

If Mitroglou comes in though, gets injured for a couple of months - we're screwed!

Everyone associated with Fulham wants to see him play but they have to weigh up the risk.

It's not like he's slightly injured now and they could risk further problems.

Yes he is and yes they could.

He injured a medial collateral ligament in his right knee back in November and recieved surgery in Greece.

Normally the lay off would be around 4 months but he has made good progress and we are also keen to get him into training and integrating in the squad.

It's a huge risk to play him but I trust the physio staff at the club and trust they will make the right decision.

Yes he was injured in his right knee, in the game against PSG (27/11) and received a surgery on 29/11. However his lay-off was estimated for just one month, not four. Olympiacos indeed delayed his come back to protect him for further injury and to ensure fitness.
At this moment he's not injured, otherwise we would learn about it, he's just not fit 100% for a Premiership game.
Hopefully he can play at least 45mins.

[Bedford White]

I'm not being funny about this but with time being of the essence why did we blow £11m on one player who's according to most reports still in recovery? We could have poached Jelovic and Long for that sort of money. They hit the ground running and they're already doing the job for the Tigers.

I hope that Mitroglou proves his worth for all our sakes.

[Julius Geezer]

I don't understand this "Premiership fitness" thing. If you wait for 100% fitness, maybe it'll be too late.
Fulham is deep down, every point that can be salvaged is gold. You have to use all the ammunition available even for shorter time.
Start Mitroglou and let him play 60mins. He scores, then take him out put another defender and a draw is possible. 9739.gif

Ideal in theory.

If Mitroglou comes in though, gets injured for a couple of months - we're screwed!

Everyone associated with Fulham wants to see him play but they have to weigh up the risk.

It's not like he's slightly injured now and they could risk further problems.

Yes he is and yes they could.

He injured a medial collateral ligament in his right knee back in November and recieved surgery in Greece.

Normally the lay off would be around 4 months but he has made good progress and we are also keen to get him into training and integrating in the squad.

It's a huge risk to play him but I trust the physio staff at the club and trust they will make the right decision.

Yes he was injured in his right knee, in the game against PSG (27/11) and received a surgery on 29/11. However his lay-off was estimated for just one month, not four. Olympiacos indeed delayed his come back to protect him for further injury and to ensure fitness.
At this moment he's not injured, otherwise we would learn about it, he's just not fit 100% for a Premiership game.
Hopefully he can play at least 45mins.

For the seriousness of his injury, we need to give him as long as possible to recover.

You're obviously not aware of how big a risk it is to use an athlete with this kind of injury before they are ready.

The best option and most likely option is to use Mitroglou as a sub for a few games.

[Alan_C]

If ready he should start and then be replaced at half time or after. Get inn  the game and hang on in there.

A Greek colleague said he is an animal of a goalscorer. All he needs is to be given chances. This is our problem and our most productive creative players must start too. Karagounis Holtby and possibly Tankovic. Not Degajah or Kaca. Only one of Parker or Sidwell.

[horse1031]

Rene said this about Kostas

But the Barclays Premier League is a considerable step up from the Greek Super League and when asked if the striker will feature at Old Trafford, Meulensteen replied: "I can't tell you that. With Kostas we're trying to bring him up to speed coming from Greece and we'll see how he goes in training. He's improving all the time. How far he is, I couldn't really point out to you.

He said Heitenga and Holtby are class and is vague on Mitroglou.  Did we pay too much for someone who isnt ready for the prem?

I dont think he starts on Sunday.

[YoungsBitter]

He will come off the bench. Makes sense as then defense will be tired out by Bent's constant running and harrying...cant believe I just typed that! Well that would be the normal approach. Then he gets slightly longer against Liverpool and then he gets 10 days rest until West Brom when he will start - if all goes well.