Tuesday Fulham Stuff (06/05/14)...

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Riise eyes new Fulham deal


Uncertain future: Fulham defender John Arne Riise is out of contract in the summer
John Arne Riise wants to stay at Fulham next season despite relegation from the Premier League.

Their fate was sealed at the weekend after being thrashed 4-1 by Stoke, while rivals Sunderland secured a shock win at Manchester United to send Feix Magath's men down to the Championship.

However, Riise, who is out of contract in the summer, is ready to pledge his future to the club as they try to bounce back from relegation at the first attempt.


Gutted: John Arne Riise of Fulham looks dejected after being relegated
He said: "My contract is up now. If I'm here or not next season I don't know, but Fulham will always be in my heart.

"I haven't spoken to the club because my focus has been keeping the club in the Premier League. If they want to keep me and everything is right for me then I'll stay."

Riise made his 100th appearance for the club at the weekend as Magath's side went down with a whimper at the Britannia Stadium.

And the former Liverpool left-back, who turns 34 in September, admits it's the lowest point of his career.

"I'm absolutely gutted," he added. "This fantastic club belongs in the Premier League, so there were a lot of sad players in the dressing room.

"At the end of the day we haven't been good enough during the season. The three bottom clubs deserve to go down.

"You have to perform at the highest level week in, week out, and we haven't done that in certain games.

"It's the first time I've experienced this kind of feeling. In my whole I career I thought about winning titles. I never for one second believed we would go down."


http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/riise-eyes-new-fulham-deal-7072715?

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Fulham to offer Steve Sidwell new deal?

Fulham will reportedly offer a fresh deal to midfielder Steve Sidwell, despite the club's relegation from the Premier League.

The 31-year-old's future has been questioned after Fulham's relegation was confirmed with their 4-1 defeat at Stoke City on Saturday.

According to The Mirror, Fulham want to keep hold of Sidwell but negotiations have stalled due to the length of the contract.

The former Aston Villa midfielder, who rejected a 12-month contract extension back in November, is said to want a new two-year deal.

Sidwell has scored eight goals in 37 Premier League appearances this season.


http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/fulham/transfer-talk/news/fulham-to-offer-sidwell-new-deal_153511.html

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Magath: Kids can revive Fulham
Felix Magath will watch Fulham in the FA Youth Cup final on Monday night as he plots to inject some young blood into his squad to help them bounce back from Premier League relegation.

Felix Magath: Wants to look at Fulham's academy to see who can help for the

Fulham's fate was sealed on Saturday as they lost 4-1 to Stoke City and Sunderland beat Manchester United, leaving Magath to contemplate how they can recover and win immediate promotion from the Championship next season.

He has no intention of leaving and is already looking at ways in which he can tap into the success of the Fulham academy to help revive the senior side at Craven Cottage.

Fulham travel to Chelsea for the second leg of the Youth Cup final with a 3-2 lead after goals from Moussa Dembele, Emerson Hyndman and Cameron Burgess, and Magath will be a very interested spectator.

"The first thing for me is to look at our academy and look for players who can join us in the next season," said Magath.

"I will be going to the Youth Cup final to start planning the future. I don't think to do anything else except stay at Fulham and build a new team - that was the idea when I came.

"It is clear we have to change something. I want to have success with Fulham in the next years. I will talk about the situation with the owner and we will start to come back.

"Fulham are a club with a very good youth academy so the club have to build up not only for youth teams but build for the professionals.

"For me, it has to work; to build up a team with players partly from our academy. I am prepared for that situation. We have a lot of work because we have to change some things if Fulham will become a club which can be a part of the Premier League."

Magath apologised to the fans after Fulham's relegation on Saturday and he admits it was a worse feeling than losing the World Cup final, which he experienced twice with West Germany in 1982 and 1986.

"Yes, sure it is," Magath replied. "Second in the world is not so bad."


http://www.football365.com/premier-league/9298106/-?

[WhiteJC]

 
Tough To Take

Skipper Brede Hangeland admitted Fulham's relegation from the Premier League was the lowest point of his illustrious career.

The Whites' 4-1 loss at Stoke City on Saturday, coupled with Sunderland's 1-0 win at Manchester United, saw Fulham's 13-year stay in the top flight come to an end.

Speaking outside the away dressing room at the Britannia Stadium, a tearful and emotional Hangeland voiced his deep disappointment at seeing his team fall out of the top tier of English football.

"Without a doubt, this is the lowest day of my career," he told the official website. "It's very hard to take. I've been here for six-and-a-half years and I can barely explain how I feel, it's extremely disappointing. We all know what's happened and it's a very tough day as a player. The warning signs have been there for a while and we haven't managed to put it right."

Needing a favourable result to give themselves hope going into the final day of the season, the Whites were soundly beaten by the Potters and Hangeland continued: "We didn't turn up, we didn't play well at all. It looked like we had fear and it looked like the seriousness of the situation had taken over.

"Stoke deserved to win and that's a disappointing aspect but the main thing was we got relegated and I was hoping to avoid that in my time at Fulham."

The Whites were backed by 3,000 away fans at the Britannia and Hangeland believed the travelling support deserved better.

"They were awesome again - as they have been all season," he said. "I feel like we've let them down. It was difficult to applaud them at the end when they'd given us that support for 90 minutes. We didn't do anything for them so we have to thank them for their support and hopefully the Club will come back stronger."

Fulham now face Crystal Palace at the Cottage on Sunday with Hangeland hoping the Whites can at least end the miserable campaign on something of a high.

"We need to try and at least finish off with a win and give the fans something to cheer about," he concluded. "It will be an emotional day at the Cottage but we'll try and do our best to win the game."


http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2014/may/05/tough-to-take?

[WhiteJC]

 
The Craven Corner: A Fulham fan's take on relegation after losing to Stoke

Our dejected Fulham blogger gives his opinion on why the Whites have been relegated.

Going into the Stoke game I think it's safe to say a lot of us were actually quite optimistic we could go and get the much needed win to keep alive our survival hopes, but as soon as the first whistle happened it was as if we had accepted relegation and went down without any fight or any passion at all.

It has been a strange last three or four games with Felix Magath in charge with constant changes of the formation and system which some players must be questioning what am I supposed to do? Especially when Dan Burn was forced to play right back against Stoke, if anyone knows the answer to why he did that - please tweet me at @ABronsSmith. Dan's a six foot seven central defender by trade and he's left footed, so by putting him at right back against a tricky winger like Oussama Assaidi was suicide. What makes this tactical decision more baffling is that Johnny Heitinga can play at right back, and we had Sascha Riether on the bench too which makes me question Magath even more.

Since the start of the year, if you've been reading my tweets and reading my posts on 'The Craven Corner' here on London 24 you will know that I was a huge fan of Rene Meulensteen and was simply gutted to see him be removed for Felix.

Don't get me wrong, Felix has a great CV behind him but it was a poor decision from the board to hire him in the first place.

This is because Felix himself admitted he had never watched Fulham play before, which indicates to me that he didn't know what he was going to be working with again, which explains all the experiments with none of them being successful.

I think I'm still getting nightmares of that team selection at Cardiff... John Arne Riise left midfield with Kieran Richardson behind him? Criminal.

For that matter, what about Sascha Riether playing in the number ten role for a bit against Newcastle and Dan Burn playing central midfield for the last seven minutes of that game too!!!

But experimental probably is the word to explain our season, we have used 38 players this season, which is absolutely stupid.

We started having a system under Rene Meulensteen which was a counter attacking 4-4-1-1 which got results against Manchester United and would have picked up points at home to Liverpool if Riether did hit the panic button.

I still believe that if Rene was actually given the 'Manager' title, he would have actually kept us in the division.

He was incredibly positive, and was always on that touchline keeping the players going and playing to the final whistle. Ryan Tunnicliffe and Larnell Cole looked strong additions to the squad and Rene was loved by all it seemed, but he gave us a strong defence with Dan Burn alongside Johnny Heitinga.

We had a system and to be honest it looked like the fans would know the starting XI each week, which is what you need as it allows the players to get some stability, understand and develop their game stronger.

The emergence of Muamer Tankovic, Dan Burn and Lewis Holtby playing central looked strong, but Alastair McIntosh is the only person to blame this season - Shahid Khan may well fund the club, but he is heavily influenced by Alistair McIntosh who should be fearful about his job after this season.

I don't want to remember the Stoke game as it still hurts to even look back to try and analyse it becasue it was a car-crash. Felix knew that we had to win this game and he made us believe that we would go out and attack Stoke to try and get the points.

But, in reality we started with three holding midfielders and Lewis Holtby forced out wide again. I don't understand this, as Holtby is the best number 10 we've probably had at this club for years, he works incredibly hard and makes things happen in the final third, but having him out wide and starting three defensive midfielders left Darren Bent isolated with no support, so how were we meant to score?

Then to add salt to the wound, Felix destroys Lewis Holtby's confidence and passion by subbing him on the half hour mark admitting his mistake of not starting Ashkan Dejagah.

Not only that, it seems that Maarten Stekelenburg will be leaving the club after not being included in the squad and I for one am completely gutted about this.

Stekelenburg, whilst being made of glass is a world class goalkeeper and if he actually had a decent defence in front of him, we would have survived this season.

He makes some incredible saves but is constantly let down by defenders who are past it and continue to back off and retreat from the ball allowing attackers to shoot, causing delfections and leaving the Dutchman with no chance.

I still believe he was our best signing this season, and his performances were simply over-looked due to our poor defence not doing their job properly.

I doubt you'll read this Maarten, but if you are leaving this summer - Thank you, some of the saves you have made this season I will never forget.

But, I will hold my hands up and applaud David Stockdale for his efforts towards the rear-end of the season, he has upped his game and in every interview has shown how much he loves this club and the fans which to me, is priceless.

To be successful, you don't have be the world's best footballers, you just have to have a team full of players who will work hard for each other until the final whistle and all believe in the same objective.

We've been relegated, so what's next? Well I've been reading all your tweets over the last few days about who we should be buying and names such as Ross McCormack & Jordan Rhodes seem to be mentioned a lot.

Don't get me wrong Blackburn paid a massive fee for Rhodes and would be the man to score the goals we needed to bounce back, but this won't happen.

Felix Magath knows the Bundesliga like the back of his hand and with his lack of knowledge for the English game I strongly believe that our team next season will include the stars of the Youth Academy and Bundesliga imports.

But at the same time, this is the only positive from relegation - players who are simply not good enough will be moved on as they will want to play at the highest level.

Sadly, we won't be able to keep hold of Johnny Heitinga, who has proved to be a great player for this club.

But the likes of Steven Sidwell (sadly), Brede Hangeland, Sascha Riether, Ashkan Dejagah, Mahamadou Diarra, Lewis Holtby (loan), William Kvist (Loan), Darren Bent (loan) all set to leave with Damien Duff & Giorgos Karagounis calling it time on their stay at Craven Cottage.

We will be stripped back to our bare bones, and we will have the chance to re-build and add younger players to the mix. I hope we can keep Pajtim Kasami and play him in the centre of midfield alongside Ryan Tunnicliffe.

Two players who love playing in the centre who pick the ball up and run at defenders and make things happen, similar to our much loved Moussa Dembele. Although, one face I won't be sad about seeing go if he does go is Elsad Zverotic, what a terrible player he has been this season.

Another one who will leave will be Bryan Ruiz, a marmite magician. A player loved by some and hated by others, but I think he was good for us on the whole and he gave us a calming presence in the side and I believe he would have flourished in the absence of Berbatov and played up front with Lewis Holtby behind, but we won't ever see that combo sadly.

But relegation brings chances for the youth academy to step up and we have some sensational talent that will break into that team next year. Patrick Roberts, Moussa Dembele, Matthew Briggs, Ryan Tunnicliffe & Larnell Cole, Marcello Trotta, Cauley Woodrow, Dan Burn, Chris David, Muamer Tankovic, Jack Grimmer & Lasse Vigen Christensen - all players that have waited for their chance and will take this opportunity with both hands and make names for themselves.

So whilst we have been relegated and everyone is down-hearted, try and see the positives out of this as it means we will no longer have one of the oldest squads going, and that squad over-haul will finally happen.

This is the next chapter and I'm looking forward to it if I'm honest, it's time for Felix to show us what he can with his great CV. This is the chance for everyone to get behind the club and see what we can do.

Just look at Southampton, they fell through the divisions but re-built a youthful side which developed future stars and are now a club which many look up to.


http://www.london24.com/sport/fulham/the_craven_corner_a_fulham_fan_s_take_on_relegation_after_losing_to_stoke_1_3586354

[WhiteJC]

 
Magath Reflects
   
I suppose if you are going to suffer the indignity of relegation then to lose big-time, against Stoke City, shows just how far you`ve fallen.

Having had three managers this season just smacks of desperation and now the inevitable has happened it remains to be seen where we go from here.

Felix Magath seems keen to stay at Craven Cottage and take up the challenge of bringing Fulham back up at the first time of asking but it remains to be seen if he is the man.

Tonight Magath will be watching the youngsters as they take on Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup Final second leg.

Perhaps that`ll give the German the chance to assess where we go from here, which of the old brigade to ditch and which of the youngsters just might make the grade.

Following the confirmation of our relegation from the Premier League, Magath had this to say,

"The only good thing to come out of this is that we know where we will be playing next season and we can start to make plans for it. I came here to build a team and to do that you need not only experienced players but young fresh ones."

"The day we are relegated is not the right time to make big statements, but I will be going to watch the second leg of the FA Youth Cup Final to start planning for the future."

A future that is uncertain, worrying and leaves us all more than just a little sad that our long stay in the Premier League ended in such a disappointing way.


Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=358177#ixzz30uyJ8ogF

[WhiteJC]

 
A Dressing Room Full of Sadness
   
I doubt whether we`ll see John Arne Riise in a Fulham shirt again, apart from possibly the last game of the season next weekend.

Riise will, in our opinion, be one of those moved on come the end of the season.

But even though Riise was probably aware of the fact his Fulham days were numbered, the pain of being relegated was there for all to see, after the Stoke game, with Riise remarking to the media,

"There are a lot of sad players in that dressing room. There are a lot of tears."

"My whole career I have thought about winning titles. This is a different feeling - it is like hitting a brick wall. I never thought for one second we would go down."

Perhaps that was the problem!

The supporters could see all this coming from quite a distance but that belief it couldn`t happen to us didn`t seem to shake the side out of what was descending into a chaotic, almost surreal situation as we plummeted towards the relegation trap-door with barely a whimper!


Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=358178#ixzz30uyX7qtK

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Marsh Says Get Rid!
   
Never short of a word or two, our former striker Rodney Marsh, reckons Felix Magath isn`t the man for the job of taking Fulham Football Club straight back up.

Rodney, discussing the subject in the media, has commented,

"He was brought in to try and stave off relegation but Fulham made so many mistakes it was inevitable."

"The team needs to be rebuilt. They need to get the right man in who can handle the rebound."

"Some of these foreign bosses who get relegated are like deer in the headlights."

"They don`t understand the Championship."

"It`s a tough league and Fulham need to get out and get somebody like Neil Warnock or Dave Jones."

"They would be perfect and have a history of success at that level."

Is Rodney right or should we give Magath the chance to rebuild our team?

Surely we can`t keep sacking managers!


Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=358186#ixzz30uynwM7L

[WhiteJC]

 
Should Fulham sack Felix Magath after Premier League relegation?

It's time to start the clear up. The empire has fallen, the rubble is spread across the Craven Cottage turf and someone needs to start putting it back together.

Is that man Felix Magath, though?

Rodney Marsh, a well respected voice in the Fulham circle, thinks not.

'For him to go into the Championship,' he told talkSport, 'and try to look at players, systems and the way other teams play; it's definitely not on.'

You have to feel, in many ways, he has a valid point. Magath is not a second tier manager and certainly isn't an English second tier manager.

It's new territory for him and this set of over-indulged, contented players. He's good, he has shown that in his brief time here, but as we drop into the Championship, he could prove to be a square peg in a round hole.

But, the problem is, he talks a good talk and has walked a good walk. So what if he has never experienced the doldrums of Football League life? He's faced bigger challenges than that.

And when he speaks of blooding youth and rebuilding this under-performing squad, he hits the right notes. That's what we need, that's what the fans want.

So, the decision becomes yet more complex. Sack him and you'll appease few, but you can avoid a potentially catastrophic campaign with the German needing to acclimatise and much of his team the same.

Keep him and it could all go wrong. We may end up dreaming of what could have been had we approached a manager like Lee Clark or maybe even Danny Murphy.

These men have tenable links with the club but, more than that, have the grit and determination that so many accept is needed in a league like the Championship.

You can't envy Alistair Mackintosh or Shad Khan here. The temptation will be, and should be, to stick with Magath.

But if the opportunity arises to tempt someone like Murphy – who loves this club and will do anything to see it do well – into management then we should jump at it.

Yes, naturally, it is risky. But just imagine the team talks.


http://metro.co.uk/2014/05/05/should-fulham-sack-felix-magath-after-premier-league-relegation-4718806/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Steve Sidwell hits out at Fulham collapse

STEVE SIDWELL has attacked Fulham for their spineless collapse into the Championship but told the club - "if you want me to stay, make me an offer".

Midfielder Sidwell was Fulham's best player in a grim season for the club where he has been the top scorer in the league with seven goals.

Fulham slid limply out of the top flight after 13 years in the Premier League on Saturday in a 4-1 defeat at Stoke.

Sidwell, though, was outraged at the lack of fighting spirit shown this time round by a side that have successfully battled against the drop several times in recent years.

He said: "We have been down there before. Last year there were games we needed to win to get ourselves clear and we always did that. We knew we had that fight and the belief.

"But this year it just wasn't there. And of all the days for it not to be there, on Saturday against Stoke when we needed to go and win, we didn't show that passion and that fight.

"There is one thing getting relegated with courage and giving 110 per cent. If you can hold your hands up and say: 'I have given everything and we have got relegated and we couldn't do any more'.

"But to go down in that manner that we did on Saturday - defenceless really - was very poor.

"In the Championship. you need a team spirit, because it is relentless. You need to churn out wins, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday. A lot of players in that dressing room won't be used to that.

"I played in the Championship and I know exactly what it takes to get out of the league.

"It is going to be a tough ask. Obviously changes will be made - the club has made contingency plans. What changes will be made by the manager and which players go out we will have to wait and see."

Fulham want to keep the 31 year old to lead their fight back, but Sidwell has rejected a one year deal and wants two.

He said: "I am out of contract in the summer. I told the club at the end of last year that I wanted to sign a new contract and stay. I love the club. Pre-season we tried to talk and even in January I said I wanted to stay - and the club have brushed that away. Maybe that has shown the club's cards. If they want to keep me, it is down to them."



http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/474178/Steve-Sidwell-hits-out-at-Fulham-collapse?

[WhiteJC]

 
Chelsea beat Fulham for FA Youth Cup

LONDON -- Chelsea lifted the 2013-14 FA Youth Cup as an incredible two-legged final against Fulham ended 5-3 to the Blues at Stamford Bridge and 7-6 in their favour on aggregate.

The two sides replicated the drama of the first leg that Fulham won 3-2 at Craven Cottage last week, as another five goals were scored in the first half on Monday to put the visitors in control of the tie.

However, as Steve Wigley's team tired, Chelsea mounted a late turnaround to banish last year's final heartache against Norwich and delight the home faithful after the senior side's search for a trophy this season was all but ended at the weekend.

The away side took the lead after just four minutes when striker Moussa Dembele, who missed a penalty but also scored in the first leg, headed in from a tight angle at the far post following a cross from Dean O'Halloran.

Despite Fulham looking likely to add to their advantage, Chelsea restored parity on the night as Jordan Evans' sliding tackle brought down Charly Musonda in the penalty area, and Charlie Colkett stepped up to send Marek Rodak the wrong way.

It was 4-4 on aggregate just three minutes later after smart hold-up play from Dominic Solanke teed up Jordan Houghton, who arrowed a shot home into the bottom corner, seemingly swinging the momentum back in Chelsea's favour.

However, 60 seconds after Houghton's goal, Fulham netted again. This time, the impressive Patrick Roberts was put through by Emerson Hyndman's chipped pass, and the winger rifled a shot across goalkeeper Mitchell Beeney into the top corner.

The goals did not stop there. Before half-time, Soloman Sambou's low effort from outside the box found the bottom corner to make it 3-2 to Fulham on the night and 6-4 in their favour on aggregate.

Chelsea boss Adi Viveash made a triple substitution at half-time, and it almost paid instant dividends when Isak Ssewankambo burst into the area only to see his effort fizz past the far post.

Rodak had to be alert on the hour mark as he got down well to parry away Colkett's shot from 20 yards out, before, up the other end, Williams was threaded through by Roberts but saw his effort tipped over the bar by Beeney.

With 13 minutes left on the clock, substitute Ssewankambo cut Fulham's lead to just one goal as the Chelsea player's swerving drive whistled in, despite Rodak getting a hand to it.

And the drama kept coming. A tired-looking Fulham were pegged back to 6-6 on aggregate, and 4-3 down on the night, when Colkett clipped in a deep pass that Solanke nodded home. Then, with three minutes of normal time remaining, Fulham's Roberts hit the post, before Dembele's follow-up was saved by Beeney before Andreas Christensen cleared off the line.

Two minutes into injury time, with extra time looming, Chelsea won it. Solanke scored his second of the game, lifting the ball into the roof of the net from inside the area, sparking celebrations in blue but sending Fulham's players to their knees. The loss is another setback for Fulham in a year that has already seen their senior side relegated from the Premier League for next season.


http://www.espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1810942?&cc=5739

[WhiteJC]

 
Crawley Town confirm Chelsea, Fulham and Brighton friendlies

A PRE-SEASON tour of somewhere exotic is unlikely according to Crawley Town boss John Gregory, but he has confirmed several more local opponents.

Chelsea, Fulham and Brighton & Hove Albion are on the schedule for Crawley this summer, as well as some non-league opposition.

"It would be nice if we got invited somewhere [for pre-season] where someone paid all the expenses but I don't think that's going to happen," Gregory joked.

"We will do most of it at home. We have already arranged games against Fulham, against Brighton and against Chelsea here at the stadium.

"That will be good and obviously we will play lots of others; possibly local matches. And Eastleigh has been muted, and Weston-super-Mare. We're opened to listening to some of our local teams in Sussex as well.

"We'll have a busy pre-season; they'll certainly know the meaning of hard-work."



Read more: http://www.crawleynews.co.uk/Crawley-Town-confirm-Chelsea-Fulham-Brighton/story-21062468-detail/story.html?#ixzz30w1UiCbU

[WhiteJC]

 
Stockdale pledges himself to Fulham's Championship charge

David Stockdale has vowed to stay at Fulham and lead the club's Championship promotion charge.

The Cottagers' relegation from the Premier League was confirmed on Saturday following a heavy defeat at Stoke City, coupled with Sunderland's shock win at Manchester United.

Stockdale, who has been preferred to Holland international Maarten Stekelenburg between the sticks recently, insists he's got no plans to jump ship.

He said: "I've got a year left on my contract, so I'll be fighting for promotion if the club wants to keep me."

Stockdale is no stranger to the second tier following loan spells at Leicester, Plymouth, Ipswich and Hull.

However, the 28-year-old has warned there are no guarantees the Cottagers will bounce back from the drop at the first attempt.

First choice: Stockdale has been preferred to Maarten Stekelenburg in goal

"I was there last year with Hull," he said. "You need hard work, dedication to the cause and players who are willing to go through a brick wall for the club. I'll put my hands up and say 'I'm one of them'.

"I'll do everything for the club who gave me a chance. Whoever is around the club needs to pull in the same direction.

"It's hard to go to any team on a Tuesday night in the Championship. That's when you see characters come through in a side. We should have had enough to stay in the Premier League. We need to build a team to get us back up."



http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/stockdale-pledges-himself-fulhams-championship-7074163?

[WhiteJC]

 
Ghana ace Derek Boateng ponders his Fulham future after relegation

Ghana midfielder Derek Boateng is pondering his Fulham future after the Cottagers got relegated from the English Premiership.

The 30-year-old has made only fleeting appearances for the Cottagers since he joined from Ukrainian side Dnipro.

The Ghanaian international is now set to consider his future at the club after Fulham's 13-year stint in the Premier League came to an end over the weekend.

The Crave Cottage side was completely torn apart in a 4-1 thrashing by Stoke City to condemn them to second-tier of English football next season.

The ex-Getafe man has already been granted permission to talk to Watford over a potential move.

He has a slim chance of representing Ghana at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.



http://www.ghanasoccernet.com/ghana-ace-derek-boateng-ponders-fulham-future-relegation/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Scores on the doors. How the players rated in 2013/14

This is how I saw things. Sometimes my opinions are awful. Sometimes they aren't.

Goalkeepers

Maarten Stekelenburg – 6/10
David Stockdale – 6/10

I don't think there was a lot between them. Stekelenburg made that howler against Sunderland but had generally performed well for us. As did Stockdale, who of course came into his own as an ambassadorial type in the run in, becoming the Fulham player best able to connect with fans. Honestly, though, I don't think it mattered which of the two was on the pitch, the problems were in front of them. This, of course, underscores the absolute idiocy of paying £4m plus big wages for a goalkeeper we didn't need.

Defenders

Johnny Heitinga – 6.5/10

Arguably our best player in the Magath era. International quality and it showed. If we can hang onto him it would be a huge coup.

Brede Hangeland – 4/10

Hangeland was probably made to look better than he actually was by Roy Hodgson's approach, but was still a fantastic player for us. This season he had injury problems and a disastrous team in front of him, which made him look worse than he is. The bottom line is that we needed him to step up, to take a stand, to bring about some kind of defensive presence, and he absolutely didn't do this.

Dan Burn – 6/10

He's very young but there's a lot to like here and I hope he's our first choice CB on opening day next season. Yeah he had a couple of hairy games but so did everyone else who tried to play centre-back in this shambles. The positives outweighed the negatives for sure.

Fernando Amorebieta – 4/10

Seemed to have an uncanny ability to be on the scene of the crime when bad things happened. Magath seemed to have found a decent role for him which might have been interesting to develop had we been safely in mid table, but as things stand we didn't get what we needed here. Probably a pretty good player but like all defenders in this Fulham side, not given the cover a defence needs, and not able to rise above the chaos. I suspect he'll be off sharpish.

Philippe Senderos – 5/10

Tried his best. None of the defence played well this year, ill-protected by a team structure that was not geared towards keeping the opposition away from our goal. I imagine he was delighted to get the move he did. I don't know that Fulham particularly missed him, but at the reincarnation of Bobby Moore would have struggled to perform in this team.

John Arne Riise – 3.5/10

At this juncture it's not clear what he's bringing to the side beyond a good CV. He's not a conventional 'solid' full-back and he doesn't add much going forwards. If he was called Steve Brown and we'd got him from Grimsby we'd all be reasonably sure he wasn't up to it.

Kieran Richardson – 6/10

One of the pluses. When he got fit he showed pace, desire and an eye for goal we didn't know he had. Keep.

Sascha Riether – 4/10

I don't know. I didn't rate him when he was all the rage, so what do you expect now? When your defence is giving up 25 shots a game and 2/3 goals a game then the last thing you need is a full-back who thinks he's a right winger. I doubt he's stupid and in the right hands I'm sure could be a huge asset. I mean, it's not like we had a lot of width without him so I get that. But at some point surely someone had to say "Look, we're awful defensively. Absolutely awful. Shall we concentrate on foundations, getting a solid back four?" In addition to the positional issues we had a couple of glaring individual mistakes, which to be fair most defenders made this year, but Riether's penalty against Liverpool and that crossbar challenge of doom against Hull will stick in the memory. I suspect he'll want to go back to Germany now, too.

William Kvist – 5/10

Not much in evidence and displayed an alarming ability to confuse a football with a hot potato, but I liked his approach and his ability to do the unselfish defensive midfielder thing that nobody else seemed prepared to do. I'm probably alone in thinking he'd be a good idea for next year.

Mahamadou Diarra – 5/10

Ah, tantalising! You could see the class and you could see why it took until we were basically prepared to try anything before we gave him the call. Absolutely astonishing performances considering, but really he only had about 45 minutes in him didn't he? I'd keep him around if possible on the off chance he can teach the youngsters something by osmosis, but as a player he looks gone doesn't he?

Steve Sidwell – 6.5/10

I've criticised Sidwell quite a lot and do think that his relative deification has been a bit much. I continue to believe that the midfield's job is to support defence and attack and I don't think either group would feel that the midfield did this very well. It could very well be that we just had lots of bad defenders and lots of bad attackers, it certainly is the case that the team didn't play as a unit until Meulensteen was about to get the heave-ho. But it feels like our midfield this season was a lot of nothing, that it was too slow and undisciplined defensively, too slow and uncreative offensively.

HOWEVER, credit where it's due. He has scored important goals, and appears well respected as a senior figure within the squad. He does a lot of things right and it's not his fault his teammates weren't better. I think the latter is the key point: a team where Sidwell is playing a supporting role where his strengths are emphasised can do perfectly well. A team that almost seems to stand or fall by how well Steve Sidwell performs is doomed.

It's hard to express this without coming over all contrary, and I must be clear: Sidwell is my player of the season. But with reservations. (Which is almost inevitable in a team this bad, eh?).

Georgios Karagounis – 5/10

As you read through the midfield's names it becomes more and more of a bad joke doesn't it? 5 years ago we'd have had a midfield to take on all comers. Now we're about two seconds slow to everything, which is why we're going down so spectacularly. Karagounis is terrific as far as he goes but it's pretty clear we went a bit far with this ageing superstar model, didn't we?

Scott Parker – 4.5/10

See all of the above really. Obviously a good player, felt like a good idea at the time, in retrospect wasn't a good idea at all and we'd have been better off had he opted for QPR instead. I feel nuts typing this as I've a lot of time for Parker, but he was clearly not what we needed and part of the problem rather than the solution.

Damien Duff – 5/10

Well, yeah, again, a good player, just the wrong side of useful. Still capable of contributing (he is still our joint highest assist maker with Ruiz and Holtby) but as with others, at this point you can't have a team full of people at this stage in their career.

Ashkan Dejagah – 5.5/10

If we had stayed up it would have been on the back of Dejagah's work, but he couldn't sustain his purple patch, couldn't deliver when he was starting, and left us all wondering what really he is all about. There's clearly something here but how does it work and how do we get at it more often? May be half useful playing through the middle. A keeper for next year, if possible, anyway.

Alexander Kacaniklic – 4.5/10

Well I like him a lot as a player but we can't pretend he delivered this year. Mucked about by the team's lack of coherence and by being dropped and reinstated every other week again. With young wingers you either back them or let them be someone else's project, I suspect. Kacaniklic could be fabulous next season and I really, really hope we keep him, but I wouldn't blame him at all if he wanted a new start somewhere else. Oddly, always seemed to be the only player on Berbatov's wavelength, and I'm not sure what that tells us.

Pajtim Kasami – 4.5/10

Oh I don't know. Sometimes I think his all action style is great. Sometimes I wish he'd contribute something more tangible. Ultimately you're not going to blame a season like this on a young player so he gets a 'wait and see' but he frustrates me. With Kacaniklic I can see the player he might become, but what is Kasami, really? I have no idea.

Bryan Ruiz – 4.5/10

We know he played through a bad back and we know he didn't do very well (like everyone else). Statistically he was dispossessed 2.6 times a game, which is about once more a game than the norm. On the one hand, not that often really; on the other, he's therefore starting a counter attack for our opponents 100 times a season, which feels dangerous. I think he's a gifted player who needed a little less chaos around him. Potentially our best player, he became the player fans turned on most. A watercolour painting of the seaside when the curator had expressedly asked for some gritty urban art.

Lewis Holtby – 5/10

Looked a world beater under Meulensteen, a shadow of this under Magath. You'd like him to stick around, but he'll be back at Spurs now. Shame. He had the skills we needed, but probably when we needed him to really step up I don't know if he really did.

Hugo Rodallega – 6/10

Actually had a pretty good season if you look at the time he had on the pitch (not much) and what he did when he was on the pitch (a fair bit). Will probably be an important player next season, which is no bad thing.

Dimitar Berbatov – 4.5/10

Hmmm.

Darren Bent – 3/10

The most disappointing player I can remember. I imagine he tried but rarely has a player been so divorced from everything going on around him. Just never involved in the game. True, he needed some supply, but, well, what can you say? Just no use to us at all.

Konstantinos Mitroglou – not worth of a number

Oh dear. What an absolute shambles. In a multi-million pound industry situations like this can't occur. You could just go on and on here. I can't be bothered. What a shambles.

Cauley Woodrow – 6/10

See how a young player gets 6/10 when an old, over the hill equivalent would get 5/10? Right, well there's a clue for next year, Fulham. Woodrow didn't seem likely to change the world but played his "dog just let off the lead" role well and was involved in some pretty good moments when he was in the team. I saw a lot to like. Well done, Cauley Woodrow.



http://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/scores-on-the-doors-how-the-players-rated-in-201314/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Lewis Holtby to find out this week if Tottenham still want him

Lewis Holtby is due to learn in the coming days whether he has a long-term future at Tottenham.

The German midfielder has spent the second half of the campaign on loan at Fulham but there appears little chance of him making a permanent move to Craven Cottage after the club's relegation to the Championship.

Standard Sport understands that discussions are scheduled in the next few days between Holtby's representatives and Tottenham officials, which should shed greater light on the situation.

While Tim Sherwood's eventual successor will have his own thoughts on Holtby, the 23-year-old has struggled to secure a regular first-team place since moving to White Hart Lane from Schalke for about £1million in January 2013.

The fee was relatively small because Holtby was approaching the end of his contract and Spurs would be guaranteed a profit were they to sell this summer. Schalke  are one of a number of Bundesliga clubs to show an interest while both Stoke and Aston Villa were believed to have made enquiries during this season's winter transfer window.


http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/lewis-holtby-to-find-out-this-week-if-tottenham-still-want-him-9325516.html

[fulhamben]

Lewis Holtby to find out this week if Tottenham still want him

Lewis Holtby is due to learn in the coming days whether he has a long-term future at Tottenham.

The German midfielder has spent the second half of the campaign on loan at Fulham but there appears little chance of him making a permanent move to Craven Cottage after the club’s relegation to the Championship.

Standard Sport understands that discussions are scheduled in the next few days between Holtby’s representatives and Tottenham officials, which should shed greater light on the situation.

While Tim Sherwood’s eventual successor will have his own thoughts on Holtby, the 23-year-old has struggled to secure a regular first-team place since moving to White Hart Lane from Schalke for about £1million in January 2013.

The fee was relatively small because Holtby was approaching the end of his contract and Spurs would be guaranteed a profit were they to sell this summer. Schalke  are one of a number of Bundesliga clubs to show an interest while both Stoke and Aston Villa were believed to have made enquiries during this season’s winter transfer window.


http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/lewis-holtby-to-find-out-this-week-if-tottenham-still-want-him-9325516.html

id be surprised if they do. nothing special at all. certainly not one to get them in the top 4