Tuesday Fulham Stuff 14.07.15

[Friendsoffulham]

Manager Reaction



Victory over Aston Villa on Saturday was 'the icing on the cake' at the end of a productive week away in Portugal, according to Fulham Manager Kit Symons.

The Whites brought the curtain down on their time in the Algarve with an impressive 3-1 win over the Premier League outfit, and Symons was pleased to see their efforts in training rewarded.

"It's been a really good week," he told fulhamfc.com. "The boys have worked incredibly hard and we asked them to put into practice some of the things that we'd been working on during the course of the week's training. So when that happens and you see it coming off it's obviously very rewarding.

"They've been brilliant this week, they've worked their socks off and have been fantastic. It's a pre-season game but winning's not the worst habit to get into, and hopefully we can be doing a lot of that this season.

"We wanted to win the game, absolutely. We put a different team out in both halves but everybody who stepped on the pitch for us wants to put an absolute shift in, and they did all the things that we asked of them.

"When you get that it gives you a great chance of being successful in football matches. Even if we hadn't won, going forward we would still be successful in my opinion if everyone's singing from the same hymn sheet and everybody wants to do the right things."


There was a pleasing variety to Fulham's three goals, as Matt Smith showed his poacher's instinct to opening the scoring, Alexander Kačaniklić restored the lead with a stunning first-time effort from range, and Ross McCormack found the corner after Adam Taggart won possession high up the pitch.

"It's about getting a balance," Symons explained. "We need to have a balance throughout our side and be able to score different types of goals, so that's very, very encouraging.

"If you're one dimensional and you've only got one way of playing it can be easy for teams to play against you. The boys were excellent. We worked on high pressing in training – even though it's incredibly hot in Portugal, we knew that most people would only play 45 minutes each, and they could cope with that.

"The fitness levels, although it's early pre-season, are at a good stage already. There's no points in the bag or anything but it was a really good performance and to get the result as well is the icing on the cake."

Now back in the UK, the Whites return to domestic action at the weekend with a trip to Crawley Town, before taking on German Bundesliga sides Hertha Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt in Austria.

Pre-season then concludes with another Premier League test as Crystal Palace visit the Cottage, while a Fulham XI take on Colchester United at the same time, and our Manager believes the fixtures will prove to be ideal foundations for the new campaign.

"We've got a brilliant list of pre-season fixtures which are really going to test us which, for me, is the way to go," he said. "Rather than pick games you know you're going to win comfortably, I want to be asked a lot of questions and find out things that we need to improve on as we go along.

"We've got some really tough games. Crawley will be a really good game for us on Saturday. They'll be a good side who'll be really up for the challenge. After that we've got two high quality games over in Austria, then we're back and we play Palace and Colchester the weekend before the season starts, so two more fantastic games.

"So it's a really good pre-season programme, we'll get some excellent training done, the boys will work really hard, but we'll make sure they rest up at the right times as well. Things are going really well, so I'm delighted."

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2015/july/13/manager-reaction?

[Friendsoffulham]

Symons delighted with win over Aston Villa



Kit Symons was delighted that Fulham rounded off their summer tour of Portugal with a 3-1 win over Premier League Aston Villa on Saturday night.

The Whites comfortably won their first pre-season friendly thanks to goals from Matt Smith, Alex Kacaniklic and Ross McCormack and the Fulham manager felt the positive result was 'the icing on the cake' after a tough week's physical training and warm weather preparation for the season ahead.

It's been a really good week. The boys have worked incredibly hard and we asked them to put into practice some of the things that we'd been working on during the course of the week's training. So when that happens and you see it coming off it's obviously very rewarding.

They've been brilliant this week, they've worked their socks off and have been fantastic. It's a pre-season game but winning's not the worst habit to get into, and hopefully we can be doing a lot of that this season. We wanted to win the game, absolutely. We put a different team out in both halves but everybody who stepped on the pitch for us wants to put an absolute shift in, and they did all the things that we asked of them.

When you get that it gives you a great chance of being successful in football matches. Even if we hadn't won, going forward we would still be successful in my opinion if everyone's singing from the same hymn sheet and everybody wants to do the right things.

Symons was delighted with the manner of Fulham's three goals that shows his side are capable of scoring in different ways. Matt Smith's opener was an instinctive close range finish, while even Kacaniklic was surprised by the quality of his own twenty-yard finish and McCormack completed the scoring after Adam Taggart had stripped Villa of possession near the halfway line.

It's about getting a balance. We need to have a balance throughout our side and be able to score different types of goals, so that's very, very encouraging. If you're one dimensional and you've only got one way of playing it can be easy for teams to play against you. The boys were excellent. We worked on high pressing in training – even though it's incredibly hot in Portugal, we knew that most people would only play 45 minutes each, and they could cope with that.

The fitness levels, although it's early pre-season, are at a good stage already. There's no points in the bag or anything but it was a really good performance and to get the result as well is the icing on the cake.

http://hammyend.com/index.php/2015/07/symons-delighted-with-win-over-aston-villa/?

[Friendsoffulham]

First Four On Sale



Tickets for Fulham's first four home fixtures are now on sale to Season Ticket Holders and Members.

The Whites kick-off their home campaign against Brighton & Hove Albion (Saturday 15th August, 3pm), where we'll also have a Fans' Day in Bishops Park for supporters to enjoy, before hosting Huddersfield Town a week later (Saturday 22nd August, 3pm).

The visits of Blackburn Rovers (Sunday 13th September, 12noon) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wednesday 16th September, 7:45pm) complete the first on sale block of the season.

Ticket prices for the 2015/16 campaign at Craven Cottage begin from £20 adults and just £10 juniors. To celebrate our first home game of the season a special price of £5 will be available on all junior tickets sat in home areas of the ground*.

Season Ticket Holders and Members can enjoy priority access to purchase tickets now before all seats go on General Sale.

Football is back at the Cottage - don't miss it!

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2015/july/13/first-four-on-sale?

[Friendsoffulham]

Aston Villa Highlights

Watch the key action as the Whites faced off against Aston Villa to wrap up the tour of Portugal, at Estadio da Nora in Albufeira.

www.youtube.com/watch?t=273&v=q4k48KM86fU

[Friendsoffulham]

Melbourne City sign former Newcastle United and Fulham defender Aaron Hughes

Melbourne City have signed former EPL defender Aaron Hughes to a one-year deal



Melbourne City have announced the signing of former Newcastle United and Fulham defender Aaron Hughes ahead of the 2015/16 A-League campaign.

Hughes has agreed to a one-year deal with City and began pre-season training with the club on Monday. The 35-year-old defender can play anywhere across the backline and will prove a value commodity for City next season.

City boss John van't Schip was delighted to secure the services of such an experienced and well-travelled player.

"Aaron is an extremely experienced professional and is an excellent addition to our squad," Van't Schip said. "He brings with him a vast amount of Premier League and international experience which will be of great benefit to the team and his qualities will greatly strengthen our defence."

http://www.rippa.com/category/soccer/melbourne-city-sign-former-newcastle-united-and-fulham-defender-aaron-hughes-201507140002/?

[Friendsoffulham]

Donations

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Dear Members,

Due to the ongoing popularity of FOF, we have decided to once again upgrade our Webspace in readiness for next season.

These upgrades will hopefully bring more stability to the Forum, plus help support the amount of traffic we receive, especially on Matchdays.

Obviously these upgrades will come at a cost, so if any of our Members would like to contribute towards this, it would be appreciated.

Any extra raised, will be used to help support the upkeep and running of this Website.

You can Donate by clicking on the 'Donate' Button located at the top of the forum.

Many thanks in advance

Friends of Fulham

[Friendsoffulham]

Forgotten Fulham World Cup striker finally makes debut after the year from hell



By any standards, Adam Taggart has suffered the year from hell.

His country's top striker just over 12 months ago, the last game the forward played in a competitive game, apart from a friendly ironically against this Saturday's opponents Crawley, was for Australia in the rarefied atmosphere of the World Cup against Spain.

Taggart's form in the A-League with Newcastle Jets in the 2013-14 season won him the Golden Boot, a late call-up for Brazil and a transfer to Fulham.

That was the good news.

Comeback trail: Taggart (L)
Since when, a litany of niggling groin problems has beset the 22-year-old, yet to play a competitive match for the Whites.

However, he got a run-out against Aston Villa in Saturday's Portugal friendly, and took a hand in one of the three goals that beat the FA Cup finalists, 3-1 (see video).

Boss Kit Symons was just as pleased about the variety of the strikes from Matt Smith, Alex Kačaniklić and Ross McCormack after Taggart won possession high up the pitch.

"It's about getting a balance," Symons explained. "We need to have a balance throughout our side and be able to score different types of goals, so that's very, very encouraging.

"If you're one dimensional and you've only got one way of playing it can be easy for teams to play against you."

"The fitness levels, although it's early pre-season, are at a good stage already. There's no points in the bag or anything but it was a really good performance and to get the result as well is the icing on the cake."

"It's not been the easiest time for Adam, but he's over his groin injury and he's just started back in their pre-season training. He is hoping that he can make an impact this season.

"He at least knows Kit Symons from his early days at the club in the reserves," said a spokesman for his Melbourne-based management group The Pitch.

Fulham, first half against Aston Villa: Lonergan, Grimmer, Bodurov (c), Burn, Voser, Eisfeld, Donnelly (Tunnicliffe 34), Hyndman, Kačaniklić, Woodrow, Smith.

Fulham, second half against Aston Villa: Lonergan (Bettinelli 60), Voser (Grimmer 73), Hutchinson, Burgess, Kavanagh, Kačaniklić (Eisfeld 73), Tunnicliffe, Pringle, Cole, McCormack, Taggart.

http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/forgotten-fulham-world-cup-striker-9652155?

[Friendsoffulham]

Kit Update



Fulham Football Club is delighted to announce that at the commencement of the 2015/16 season it will be partnering with an exciting new sponsor.

As one of the most important parts of a sponsor's association with any football club is its place on the front of the shirt that the fans wear, the Club has decided that to give maximum impact to the new sponsor's official partnering announcement, that it is going to delay the unveiling of next season's new kit until a unilateral reveal can take place.

Whilst we understand there is excitement surrounding the new shirt and fans want to be able to purchase one as soon as possible, Fulham is committed to delivering value and recognition to the partners that invest with us, and as we are especially excited about both the profile and potential longevity of this brand, we hope the fans will be patient whilst the finishing touches are applied and it has league approval of the designs across all kits.

During the remaining friendly matches the team will play in last season's home kit, leading up to the big kit reveal.

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2015/july/14/kit-update?

[Bill2]

Aston Villa Highlights

Watch the key action as the Whites faced off against Aston Villa to wrap up the tour of Portugal, at Estadio da Nora in Albufeira.

www.youtube.com/watch?t=273&v=q4k48KM86fU

Thanks for this, thought we played very well. Couldn't really tell who was who but I think Kaca was No11 who seemed to be involved in everything and he seems to have grown taller and bigger, if Sterling worth 59 mill he looked as good. Can anyone advise who was the No7 as he got in all the right places but lacked the final touch. In fact can anyone give me a list of the players, especially the new ones?
Overall a good performance and bodes well for next season.

[Ordar]

Number 7 was Eisfeld, who I thought played well on the right. Kaca had a lot of the ball as Villa seemed to lack a right back. He got into some fantastic positions but his decision making and final ball is still lacking. Scored a good goal though.

Special mention to the much maligned Voser, who I thought was excellent. Defended well, and really supported Kaca especially first half with over lapping runs.
Taggart also looked lively when he came on