Monday Fulham Stuff (01/12/14)...

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham boss hails attacking options as Whites see off Brighton and Bent

Fulham boss Kit Symons is convinced his players are "heading in the right direction" but warned they still have much to do following their 2-1 victory over Brighton.

Loan signing Darren Bent gave Brighton the lead at the Amex Stadium against his former club and let the away fans know what he felt of their chants by cupping his ear to them, but second-half goals from Hugo Rodallega and Lasse Vigen Christensen gave Symons his sixth win in a dozen Championship games since taking over.

Fulham were rooted to the bottom of the Championship with only one point from their opening seven matches when Symons took charge, and he believes his men are capable of improvement in all areas.

The former Wales international said: "We will keep trying to improve on every aspect of the game. We want to get up in a decent place and are certainly going in the right direction.

"In this league you're never out of a relegation battle until you're safe and the players must not be complacent. You can get sucked into a scrap and I've seen both sides of it."

Brighton finished with 10 men, after the stoppage-time sending-off of Spanish striker Adrian Colunga for two yellow cards.

Symons felt his team, now up to 16th place, did particularly well in coming back strongly after a slow opening.

He added: "The boys showed real good character after we didn't start well. We weren't clinical enough but our two strikers were excellent in the second half."


http://www.london24.com/sport/football/clubs/fulham/fulham_boss_hails_attacking_options_as_whites_see_off_brighton_and_bent_1_3867796

[WhiteJC]

 
Post Match report for the Fulham game - Saturday, 29th November 2014

Brighton v Fulham

ALBION whitewashed by COTTAGERS in messy home debacle of diy finishing.


PITCHSIDE NOTEBOOK; from the Amex, Falmer
RESULT; 1-2 ~ Bent . (ht 0-0) . SHAPE; 4-3-3 . REF; played a lot of universal advantage but apparently was not multilingual.

WEATHER; summer in winter . GATE; 28,802 . PITCH; emerald stripes but you do wonder about playing rugby on its fine baize.
ATMOSPHERE; like when you buy into that mad Friday retail therapy but later fully realise that black actually describes what really comes after enjoying thanksgiving.

TEAM; . . . . . Stockdale
. . Bruno, Hughes, Dunk, J Bennett
. . E Bennett, Forster-Caskey, Gardner
. . Colunga, Bent, LuaLua

BENCH; Walton, Calderon, Halford, Holla, Baldock, Ince (21), March (78)

Brighton fans arriving early at the Amex found the doors locked - was this another cost cutting exercise? Or was somebody called a burke because it was more than their jobsworth?
Talk throughout concourses concerned, whether to go to Craven Cottage in a months time, whether to go to the Amex on Boxing Day, whether to wait for the FA Cup draw before deciding and whether to have another drink now. Perm any two from four.
Sami Hyypia was forced to leave Greer out of his otherwise settled back four. Big name striker Darren Bent made his debut on loan from Villa. Elliott Bennett was also available for another month at least.


GOALS; 52 min. it had been a long time coming and finally, a through ball from Colunga to give BENT a goal scoring opportunity. 1-0 - it is what he is paid good money by others to do for a living.
62 min. the collective foot came off the pedal and back-foot & back-pedal resulted in an equaliser 1-1 - yes; unmarked quality strikers are likely to get names in papers regularly.
77min. wheels came off this time in fortuitous fashion to a speculative deflected dig. 1-2 - the word bad was defined in defending rather than just luck.

INCIDENT; 90+min. Colunga had been shown a yellow card when taking a f-k prior to the whistle, merely two minutes from time. Two minutes later he was sent off following a foul on the same player who conceded previous set piece. Que es esto?

SUBS; LuaLua was proving a left handful but was crocked when making a cross in the seventeenth minute. There was confusion in the dugout but Ince appeared four minutes later and Seagulls somewhat surprisingly reshaped with more of an orthodox destroyer in front of the rearguard. Late in the afternoon as dusk fell, E Bennett went down the tunnel for us. Energetic March then suddenly crammed an hours worth of drive into twenty minutes. Baldock remained on the bench as time and fans patience ran out in a technical-area numbers game involving one, two or three... and too late, you are down and out!

MAN OF MATCH; home support would have given it to Bent for turning up, let alone scoring and looking like a centre forward aerially and territorially. Stockdale had not been threatened but once standing in front of away support, felt his knees buckle. The defence was generally comfortable, except when not marking men for each goal against. Midfield was below par with more than one double bogey effort and could hardly be said to have chipped in with creativity. Set pieces were woeful, the ball went from side to side instead of forward and centres were on the deck, with a no.39 proven able to use his head.

1ST FAN; +we folded, pure and simple. The plan was to beat them with a good first half performance but Kaz coming off changed things and Hyypia made bewildering changes, or lack of them at the right moments+

2ND FAN; +well the die is cast and Bloom cannot ignore writing on the wall. And it is not; one club, one ambition but how do we beat the drop?+

3RD FAN; +Like other improving Championship outfits, Fulham have turned it around because they have a team working hard to show what they can do for a manager who is embedded positively in history & future philosophy of the club. If Rodgers disappears from Liverpool next week, who do you wonder will be on the short list?+

Fatmanslims


http://www.brightonfans.com/NewsNow/reports_page.php?id=23&post=yes

[WhiteJC]

 
Championship round-up: Darren Bent's day spoiled by Fulham

Fulham beat Brighton 2-1

Darren Bent celebrated his first game for Brighton with an opening 52nd-minute goal but it was Fulham, last temporary home of the former England star, who pulled off a 2-1 away victory in this Championship game.

Bent scored six times for Fulham last season and began his latest loan with a calm left-footed strike after feeding off Adrian Colunga, later sent off for two yellow cards.

But Hugo Rodellega's eighth of the season closed the gap and Lasse Vigen Christensen clinched the points in the 77th minute.


http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/football-league/championship-roundup-darren-bents-day-spoiled-by-fulham-9893146.html

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham get last laugh after Bent taunts former club with debut goal

The on loan Villa striker scored on his first Brighton appearance, against his old side no less.

New Brighton striker Darren Bent got off to a flyer against Fulham at the Amex Stadium, but it wasn't enough to save his new side.

Villa Park boss Paul Lambert told the press that he was happy for Bent to go out on loan to get some game time, referencing the returning Christian Benteke and Joe Cole as attacking options for the struggling midland club.

And while Joe Cole was busy scoring in the game against Burnley, Villa's record signing got off the mark against the club he was on loan at last year.

Bent scored 6 times as the Londoners were relegated last season, and Fulham fans were quick to jump on the back of their former striker, whose fall from grace has seen him playing in England's second tier when he should be in his prime at the age of 30.

To begin with, it looked very much like it would be the on loan Aston Villa man who would get the better of the mocking away fans, after scoring in the second half and holding his hands up to his ears to the now silenced visiting support.

Fulham had the last laugh though, as Hugo Roddallega and Lasse Vigan Christensen turned the game around to earn the Cottagers all three points.

The defeat saw Sami Hyppia's side drop into the Championship bottom three, with Adrian Colunga dismissed at the death to make matter's worse for the Seagulls.

However, a crumb of comfort for Hyppia and his club's supporters was the instant performance of former England striker Bent, who if he can stay fit, may prove himself one of the best strikers in the division.


http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2014/11/29/fulham-get-last-laugh-after-bent-taunts-former-club-with-debut-g/

[WhiteJC]

 
Lasse: We Never Give Up

Lasse Vigen Christensen hailed Fulham's never-say-die spirit after the Whites fought back to claim victory at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.

The visitors trailed to Darren Bent's 52nd-minute strike but hit back when Christensen teed up Hugo Rodallega, before the Danish youngster stuck out a leg to divert Bryan Ruiz's mishit shot past David Stockdale.

"I'm definitely claiming it!" Christensen told the official website. "Not that I intended to put it in the corner but I tried to get something on it. I think Bryan shanked his shot a bit and I just stretched out a leg to try and get something on it and straight away I thought it would go somewhere good."

Not for the first time this season the Whites found themselves behind in a game and needed all their powers of recovery to fight back.

"In the first half we knew they would want to keep the ball and play out from the back," said Christensen. "Betts [Marcus Bettinelli] made a couple of great saves and we had a few good chances, not 100 per cent chances, but a lot of good play around the box, in the early part of the game. We didn't really close them down well but we stayed in the game and their first goal came out of nothing.

"We've said a few times now that when we go away we don't make it easy for ourselves and we give ourselves a bit of a mountain to climb. But we did it again on Saturday and it showed what we're all about. We never give up or stop trying and sometimes you need that bit of luck and that's what we got."

A bit of magic from Christensen produced Fulham's equaliser as he danced between two Brighton players to set up Rodallega.

"They're your words, not mine, but I tried to take it in between the two of them and get through," said a modest Lasse. "I saw Hugo pull off and when he finishes like that, you should give him the ball. It was a great goal to get us back in it and it gave us a lot of belief.

"There was still a lot of the game to go and from then on we had momentum. We got another goal, they put us on the back foot a bit but we defended really well with Hutchy [Shaun Hutchinson], Niko [Bodurov], Jack [Grimmer] and Staffy [Kostas Stafylidis] and the rest of the team. Hutchy did really well at centre-back."

The win saw Fulham return to winning ways after the recent disappointing 2-1 defeat at Brentford and Christensen concluded: "We needed to come out and show we were going to play better and if we did that we'd get a good result. Maybe we didn't play as well as we know we can, but going away to a team that is playing well is a very good result."


http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2014/november/30/lvc-brighton?

[WhiteJC]

 
Yeovil Town sign former Fulham defender

Yeovil Town have completed the signing of defender Alex Smith on a one month contract following a successful trial, the club have confirmed.

The 23-year-old was a free agent and he played in a behind closed doors friendly for Yeovil against a Reading XI earlier this week. He clearly impressed Manager Gary Johnson enough to earn himself an extended stay in Somerset.

Smith started his career at Fulham in 2002 but, after a couple of loan spells with Leyton Orient and Stevenage respectively, he was released in Summer 2013. The defender subsequently joined Swindon Town for the 2013-2014 season but his development was stilted by a serious knee injury. Now fully fit and described by the Yeovil Official website as a "versatile left-sided player", has joined the Glovers until the end of December.

The London-born player was ineligible for today's game against Preston North End but after the match, Johnson talked about his latest signing to the official site: "I think he is quick, I think he has got a little bit of quality and he is another one that has not played much league football.

"But a Premier League club decided that they thought he was potentially good enough. It did not quite work out for him there so we are happy to give him an opportunity".

Smith will be available for Yeovil's next game as they travel to Accrington Stanley in the Second Round of the FA Cup.


http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/yeovil-town-sign-former-fulham-defender/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Agents' Fees

Payments to Agents – 2013/14

Total amount paid to agents in the period 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2014: £2,902,676.57

Explanatory Note:
The amount shown is the aggregate of all payments made to agents during the reporting period for agency activity, including payments made by the club on behalf of players.


http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2014/november/30/agents-fees?

[WhiteJC]

 
U18 Report: Fulham 0 Leicester City 2

Leicester City's Under-18s made it four Barclays U18 Premier League wins on the spin after beating Fulham 2-0 at Motspur Park on Saturday.
Goals from Danny Rowe and Brandon Fox meant City registered their seventh win in eight league games, producing another battling display ahead of their trip to Chelsea next weekend.

The young Foxes were looking to build on their hard-fought 1-0 victory over West Ham United at Belvoir Drive last Saturday, when Rowe struck in the first half after good work down the right wing from Keenan King.

City had already beaten Fulham in early November, firing five past the Cottagers in a game that saw Max Smith-Varnham pull off a string of fine saves to keep his side in front, but Leicester expected a closer game this time round at a wet Motspur Park, and the hosts didn't fail to deliver.

City took the lead from the spot with another goal for the season from Rowe – the young No.10 dispatching the penalty after he was initially brought down in the box following good play down the left flank from captain Ben Chilwell.

Defender Cedric Kipre then had a goal disallowed in the second half before Fulham struck the bar, coming agonisingly close to the equaliser.

But Fox fired in shortly after with a neat half-volley from the edge of the box, making sure his side returned to Leicester with all three points in a 2-0 win.

Delighted with the victory, Academy director Jon Rudkin told LCFC.com: "The lads can take a lot of credit from their performance given the fact that we have a number of boys at the moment that are suffering from a bit of illness. There was a number that managed to play today carrying those symptoms and actually got through the game.

"It was difficult conditions for both teams. The pitch was very heavy and wet as both teams tried to play. There were unforced errors at times but we managed to create a number of good chances.

"A very well taken penalty through Danny Rowe was quickly followed by two very good opportunities. The first was a one-on-one with the 'keeper, which was well saved, while a there was also a disallowed goal which looked a little bit harsh. Maybe on another day they might have gone in.

"Going in at half-time 1-0 up meant the game was very tightly balanced. Trevor Peake spoke to the players about the importance of keeping their shape and not conceding anything under these conditions. In the second half, we in fact probably had more territory and again created quite a few chances.

"There was then a warning for us as Fulham broke and hit the bar. It was always very tightly balanced, but a fine goal from Brandon Fox on the edge of the box sealed the win for us – a neat finish with great technique.

"All credit to the back four and goalkeeper Max Smith-Varnham, who kept a clean sheet. The lads can take a lot of credit for their overall performance."



Read more at http://www.lcfc.com/news/article/u18-report-fulham-0-leicester-city-2-2114435.aspx#ARkVJyFBbgcpM0fU.99

[WhiteJC]

 
Improvement is the Name of the Game
   
Down on the south-coast yesterday, Fulham produced another inspired performance.

After going a goal down against Brighton and Hove Albion, the team kept their composure and turned the game around, equalizing through Hugo Rodallega and then getting the winner through Lasse Vigen Christensen.

The result keeps the club moving in an upward direction in the Championship and Kit Symons continues to do a far better job than Felix Magath ever got near to doing.

After the three points had been safely harvested, Kit had this to say to the media,

"We will keep trying to improve on every aspect of the game. We want to get up in a decent place and are certainly going in the right direction.

"In this league you are never out of a relegation battle until you`re safe and the players must not be complacent. You can get sucked into a scrap and I`ve seen both sides of it

"The boys showed real good character. We weren`t clinical enough but our two strikers were excellent in the second half."

So it`s onwards and upwards but keep looking over your shoulder though!


Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=378441#ixzz3KcNjf4wT