Friday Fulham Stuff (26/06/15)...

[WhiteJC]

 
City Interest In Richards
   
Norwich City are reportedly interested in signing Swansea City right back, Jazz Richards.

Richards played the final three Premier league games of last season but has previously found game time hard to come by with Kyle Naughton and Angel Rangel ahead of him in the pecking order.

The Swansea youth product was a surprise starter in Wales' recent win over Belgium that moved them 3 points clear at the top of Euro qualifying group B. During that game, Richards coped very well with Eden Hazard and that made people take notice.

Swansea have already accepted a £500k bid from Fulham, where the 24yr old spent a successful loan spell last season. The player has had talks with Fulham but nothing is confirmed yet and the player will reportedly discuss further with both Swansea and Fulham when he returns from holiday.

The lad has only one year left on his Swansea contract, so a knockdown price is in the offing. Something that has also attracted the interest of Aston Villa, QPR and Derby.

BBC Wales understands that the player would be open to a move for regular football to help enhance his International chances with Wales set for a Euro 2016 place.

OTBC


Read more: http://www.norwich.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=403587#ixzz3e9KXxIyR

[WhiteJC]

 
Aston Villa join QPR and Fulham in race to sign Swansea star

Aston Villa have reportedly joined QPR and Fulham in the race to sign £500,000-rated Swansea right-back Jazz Richards.

The defender is set to leave South Wales this summer, and it was understood that it would be a straight fight for his signature between the two Championship outfits.

However, after Villa sold Matt Lowton to Burnley, Tim Sherwood is looking for a right-back and has identified the 24-year-old as his top target after being impressed with his performance against Chelsea's Eden Hazard in Wales' recent win over Belgium.

Richards spent part of the 2014/15 campaign on loan with Fulham, making 14 appearances.


http://www.shoot.co.uk/category/news/aston-villa-join-qpr-and-fulham-in-race-to-sign-swansea-star/

[WhiteJC]

 
Deal Close: Reading set to secure deal for ex-Fulham striker

Championship side Reading have flown in Legia Warsaw striker Orlando Sa as they look to complete his move to the Madejski Stadium, according to Reading Chronicle reporter Paul Carey.

The former Fulham man signed for Warsaw last summer and has previously had one unsuccessful spell in England at Craven Cottage, where he spent one season at the club, making just seven appearances and scoring one.

The 27-year-old striker scored 14 times in Poland this year in 31 appearances for the club, and has been heavily linked with a move to the Madejski over the past few weeks, with a fee of £1 million being suggested.

Rumours broke out a few weeks ago that Reading's interest in the Portuguese international had cooled, after a disagreement with Warsaw over the value of their man, but that's been resolved, and he's flown into England to seal his move, with a medical scheduled for Thursday.

The Royals need strikers this summer after a poor season in the Championship where their top scorer was Simon Cox, who only scored eight times. They're vying two strikers this summer to solve their goalscoring woes.


Read more at http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/deal-close-reading-set-to-secure-deal-for-ex-fulham-striker/?#8m0UeFkXVVxD8JW0.99

[WhiteJC]

 
On crosses

This talks about something I've (I think?) been banging on about for ages.  Crossing can be a really inefficient way to attack.

I think the part missing here is that wide play in attack is essential.  Somehow you need to find space to attack in, otherwise your shots will be blocked, charged down, etc.

I remember years ago I went to see England at the Old Wembley.  Steve Stone was playing.  We were sitting in the right back area and got quite angry at how slow the full-back (Gary Neville) was to shuffle across.  Now, this anger was based on ignorance – Neville was deliberately leaving this space vacant so he could remain compact in the middle of the pitch with his co-members of the back four.  But I remained stunned at how much space the team was leaving in wide areas.  Of course, when danger arrived the team would close down the space – they were fine – but the point here is that in closing this space they were leaving space somewhere else.

And that's what you want as an attacking team.  You have to create space.  Defensive teams want to minimise space, so they actively want you to try to attack an area where there are most people.  That might mean funnelling teams into the crowded area on the edge of the area, or it might mean something else: either way, the game's about space and controlling this space.

This is one area Fulham have been awful at since Hodgson/Hughes.  In the relegation season the team's let opponents do more or less what they wanted to, while doing nothing much going the other way in mitigation.   Anyway, my point here is that in the wrong hands, crossing can be a sort of act of last resort.

Under Hodgson the team work in tandem: so if we did cross there would be a point to it.  I remember the goal we scored against Reading in the Great Escape season:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzbX3L8Wpm0#t=195

Roy said that they'd been working on crossing in the week, and sure enough, it worked. But what Roy meant was that they'd have worked on pre-determined moves, how to create space wide, how to make runs that drag defenders away, how to get on the end of things.  Crossing should be part of a pre-ordained plan of attack, not something you do because it's a bit crowded in the middle and you haven't thought of something else.


https://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2015/06/25/on-crosses/?

[WhiteJC]

 
In focus: Fulham

Ahead of the Dons' inaugural Sky Bet Championship campaign, mkdons.com takes a look at the new sides they will face in 2015/16.
Next up is another side that the Dons haven't played before, Fulham, who will visit stadiummk for the first time in November. 

QUICK HITS
Manager: Kit Symons

Key and notable players: Marcus Bettinelli, Ross McCormack, Scott Parker, Patrick Roberts, Bryan Ruiz,

Former Dons: George Williams

Stadium: Craven Cottage (25,700 capacity)
Nickname: The Cottagers
Kit: White shirts, black shorts, white socks

HISTORY
Fulham, founded in 1879, have spent 25 seasons in English football's top division, the majority of that in two spells during the 1960s and 2000s.

The Cottagers have never won a major honour, although they have reached two major finals - in 1975 they contested the FA Cup final for the only time in their history while they reached the Europa League final in 2010.

The 2015/16 campaign will be Fulham's second in the Championship – they were relegated from the Premier League in 2014 after 13 consecutive campaigns in the top tier.

LAST SEASON
Fulham finished 17th in the Championship table last season, surviving relegation by 11 points.

Felix Magath was the man in charge at the start of the year but he was dismissed in mid-September with the Cottagers lying in the bottom three.

Under the guidance of Symons, Fulham clawed themselves out of the drop zone in October and after that they never returned – in the end, the London club finished five places above relegated Millwall.

THIS SEASON
After committing his complete attention to Fulham by leaving his post as Wales' assistant manager, Symons began his overhaul by releasing a number of players, including Colombian Hugo Rodallega.

The striker was let go along with Tim Hoogland, Gabor Kiraly, Chris David and Adil Chihi, while goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg joined Southampton on loan until the end of the 2015/16 campaign.

In terms of recruiting, Fulham have signed a pair of free agents in the form of midfielder Ben Pringle and goalkeeper Andy Lonergan.

The Cottagers also tied down striker Cauley Woodrow to a new three-year contract extension – the 20-year-old scored five goals in 34 appearances last season.


Read more at http://www.mkdons.com/news/article/in-focus-fulham-mk-dons-mk-dons-championship-fulham-profile-sky-bet-championship-teams-mk-dons-fulham-2507223.aspx#CFzswoQMzJEefUe4.99

[WhiteJC]

 
Lasse's Euro Hope

Lasse Vigen Christensen is currently preparing for the Semi-Finals of the European Under-21 Championships after his Denmark side topped Group A, which featured pre-tournament favourites Germany. We caught up with our midfielder ahead of the last-four meeting with Sweden on Saturday night.

Congratulations first of all, you must be delighted to have progressed?

Thank you very much. It all came down to the last game but over the three matches I thought we deserved to go through. To be able to finish the job in the final game was very satisfying.


What's your assessment of the Group Stage?

Going into the tournament we always knew that Germany would be the team to beat in that group. We thought they were big favourites to go through top of the table and that we'd have to challenge the Czech Republic and Serbia for the final spot. As it turned out we were able to beat those two and also finish top of the group, so I don't think we could have wished for much better.

Denmark are the only team to have won twice in the competition – it's such a tight tournament isn't it?

It shows how close it is between the eight teams. In our group, Germany beat us by three goals and Serbia lost 4-0 to the Czech Republic, so it just shows that every team is dangerous on their day. The level has been quite good but there have been some bigger teams who maybe haven't been able to reach their maximum potential. It's probably good for us underdogs that some of the big teams like England and Italy are out. That gives us a good chance against Sweden which is a team, like us, that is probably quite happy that we're playing against each other, so it should be a very good game.


As your Semi-Final is an all Scandinavian affair, is there much rivalry involved?

There's a bit because we're neighbours and we always look to our neighbours in the same way that England and Scotland do. We always like to beat them so they don't have the upper hand against us, but at the same time I don't think it's one of those massive rivalries where you're going to see blood everywhere!

Do you let yourself dream of winning the competition, or is it still just a case of one game at a time?

We let ourselves dream about it, for sure. We were quite confident going into the tournament because we hadn't lost any of our qualifiers, so I don't think we have any reason not to be confident that we can beat Sweden. We played them just before the tournament in a friendly where we were missing six of our best players who were up with the full national team, and we drew 2-2 despite playing with a man down for 75 minutes. So we allow ourselves to dream about the Final but we also know that we need to focus on this game, get the job done, and then focus on the Final, hopefully, when it comes.


You've featured in each match so far – how are you feeling fitness-wise?

I'm feeling really good. It's probably the best I've felt since I got the first injury at Christmas, so I'm just enjoying every bit of football I can get. The manager has used a lot of players – I think 19 of the 23 have featured, which is probably the most in the tournament. So he's done well with getting the right amount of game time from each player as there's only a handful who have featured in every minute. So from that point of view I think we're in a quite good state as a team to be going into a Semi-Final.

And it goes without saying that you'll be desperate to play in that one, too?

Of course – I'm desperate to play in every game, no matter if it's for club or country. Obviously a Semi-Final at the Euros is something special so I would like to be in there starting that game but, at the same time, we've got a lot of good players so we'll just have to wait and see. The manager will put out a team that he thinks can win and it's worked out this far, so I'll put that safely in his hands.


http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2015/june/25/lasses-euro-hope?

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham close in on deal for Blackburn Rovers midfielder Cairney

FULHAM were last night closing in on the signature of Blackburn Rovers midfielder Tom Cairney.

The Lancashire Telegraph reported Fulham's interest in Cairney earlier this week and the Londoners yesterday moved to the brink of completing a deal for the 24-year-old.

Cairney was said to be having a medical with Fulham ahead of a transfer that will reportedly earn Rovers between £3.5m and £4m.

Fulham boss Kit Symons has been away on holiday but negotiations have taken place in his absence, with chief football officer Mike Rigg and chief executive Alastair Mackintosh at Craven Cottage.

Rigg joined Fulham in December after previous working as chief scout at Blackburn Rovers and advising Venky's in the summer of 2013.

Rovers have been forced to consider offers for Cairney as they look to find their way out of a transfer embargo imposed after they fell foul of the Football League's Financial Fair Play regulations.

The midfield ace moved to Ewood Park from Hull City two years ago, initially on loan before converting the switch into a permanent deal.

He was player of the season in his first 12 months at the club and he won Rovers' goal of the season award during 2014/15, albeit in a campaign when he made less of an impact.

Fulham are backed by billionaire Shahid Khan and are keen to improve their squad after finishing in a disappointing 17th place in their first season following relegation from the Premier League.

Out-of-contract Rovers midfielder Chris Taylor is being linked with a move to Rotherham United, although the Millers were yesterday denying an interest.

Taylor and Darragh Lenihan are yet to agreed new deals with Rovers ahead of the squad's return for pre-season training next week.

One man who will not be returning though is Luke Varney, who has not been offered a new deal by Rovers and will link up with Ipswich Town for rehabilitation from a serious Achilles injury.

Varney suffered the injury while on loan at Ipswich at the end of the season, and is set to join the Tractor Boys on a permanent basis following successful surgery.

Varney said: "The club have been great with me and I'm already working on my rehab, getting some treatment.

"I just want to get back and play for Ipswich again as soon as possible now.

"I'm in good hands and I just want to pull that Ipswich shirt on again and repay all the players, staff and fans for their support."


http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/13354683._/?ref=mac

[WhiteJC]

 
Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham among clubs eyeing highly-rated duo

A trio of Championship clubs are chasing a deal to sign Swindon Town pair Nathan Byrne and Michael Smith, according to the Daily Mail.

Wolverhampton Wanderers, Fulham and Huddersfield Town are the three sides interested in their signature, after Swindon's outstanding campaign last year that saw them just miss out on promotion via the play-offs.

Swindon Town have already lost plenty of their stars this year, and are hoping to ward off interest with their £2 million valuation of the pair.

Smith, 23, only arrived from Charlton Athletic last summer for a fee of £100,000 but is already subject to interest after only a year at the club. The striker scored 18 goals last season to aid Swindon to promotion.

Byrne, also 23, is being bombarded with interest from sides in higher divisions, with Cardiff City and West Bromwich Albion having already expressed an interest. He was in the League One team of the year for 2014/2015 and scored four goals and nine assists.


Read more at http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/wolverhampton-wanderers-and-fulham-among-clubs-eyeing-highly-rated-duo/?#RZ1BpTiwWIttad0I.99

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham submit £3 million bid for ex-Leeds United midfielder

Championship side Fulham have bid £3 million for Blackburn Rovers midfield Tom Cairney, according to the Daily Mail.

The former Hull City and Leeds United midfielder signed for the Rovers in January 2014 for a fee of £500,000, after a successful loan spell at the club in the half season beforehand.

A barrage of Championship sides are chasing his signature, but it's Fulham who are leading the race for the 24-year-old, who still has two years left on his deal.

The 24-year-old's scored seven goals during his time at the club and has developed into a fan's favourite at the club, and Rovers boss Gary Bowyer will surely be reluctant in letting the midfielder leave Ewood Park.

Blackburn are rejecting any approaches for Cairney due to their transfer embargo inflicted by financial fair play after they breached the rules, losing too much money.

But Fulham are intent on a deal and they're interested in making him part of their revolution ahead of next year.


Read more at http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/fulham-submit-3-million-bid-for-ex-leeds-united-midfielder/?#yDbYKvcVXkZ83jWZ.99

[WhiteJC]

 
Clint Dempsey gets two-year US cup ban for outburst

Clint Dempsey has been banned from the US Open Cup for two years after ripping up a referee's notebook during a game.

The Seattle Sounders forward, 33, flicked the notebook out of Daniel Radford's hand, picked it up off the pitch and then tore it into pieces after a team-mate had been sent off.

The ex-Fulham and Spurs man was duly sent off, as Seattle ended with seven men in a 3-1 loss to Portland Timbers.

The US captain is banned for six games or two years - whichever is longer.

Dempsey posted on Twitter after learning of his punishment

Dempsey, who had already been banned for three Major League Soccer games for the incident, has chosen not to contest the new punishment.

During the game, Brad Evans was sent off and was followed by Michael Azira - which resulted in Dempsey's extra-time outburst.
Obafemi Martins also went off injured with all three substitutes used.

Dempsey, capped 112 times by the US, had to be restrained by team-mates and sarcastically applauded in the face of an assistant referee as he made his way off the pitch.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33281033

[WhiteJC]

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