looks like

[wadey]

gera,s injured and out tomorrow

[Lighthouse]

Yeah another bloody injury. Here is Roys full bit on the offal

On Tuesday afternoon Roy Hodgson revealed that Fulham will be without several First Team players when they clash with Portsmouth at the Cottage on Wednesday evening.

The Whites are currently enduring a torrid period on the injury front as Hodgson welcomes loan signings Nicky Shorey and Stefano Okaka into his squad to face Avram Grant's side.

"The injury situation is very bad I'm afraid," said Hodgson. "It's as bad as I've ever experienced in football. We have six of our First Team players out injured and one who hasn't yet returned from the African Cup of Nations.

"To lose seven players from the Team that finished seventh last year is always going to take a lot of dealing with but fortunately we have two players who have come in on loan in Nicky Shorey and Stefano Okaka which is very useful for me to plug gaps.

"I'm disappointed that Simon Davies, who I was hoping would recover for the game on Wednesday, and Zoltan Gera, who injured himself in training on Tuesday morning, will not be available. To lose a further two in our current situation it seems that the real good fortune we had in terms of injuries last season we're repaying for this season."

The loan deals to bring in Okaka and Shorey for the second half of the season were announced on Monday afternoon and Hodgson is hoping both players will make an impact at the Cottage, starting with Wednesday night's clash against Portsmouth.

"Both of them will play tomorrow," revealed Hodgson. "He's [Okaka] a great talent and has potential because he's an Italian U21 international. He hasn't played that many games for the Roma team but he has played some important matches for them and made a very important contribution as a substitute.

"He's a strong player and has an eye for goal. He's a determined type of goalscorer and we hope in our current situation, with Andy Johnson out for a further considerable time, he will help us up front to score some goals.

"We've been struggling at left back since Paul Konchesky got injured because we've not had that player that can cover on the left hand side. We've not had a natural left footer and we've tried to play right backs there and they've struggled.

"Toni Kallio has been injured for a long while and has now been allowed to leave for Shefffield United. The reason I let Toni leave is because we were able to bring in Nicky Shorey who is a very similar player to Paul Konchesky who I am hoping will do a similar great job to the one Paul has done."

Be amongst the first to see Fulham's new additions when Roy Hodgson's side take on Portsmouth at Craven Cottage on Wednesday evening! Wednesday's game is absolutely vital and your support could make all the difference so get behind the team by purchasing your tickets now| !



Read more: http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2010/February/PompeyTeamNews.aspx#ixzz0eOc7VneR

[mccscratch]

AJ for a further considerable amount of time... WHY IS IN THE HECK DID FULHAM of all teams, who have a notorious medical exam ever let AJ through the doors of this club?

[Cuse]

Hi FoF, first time post, and yes i have joined the bandwagon mainly because TIFF is down.

What are we going to do tomorrow now? My guess for the team is the following;
Schwarz
Kelly - Hang - Hughes - Shorey
Riise - Murph - Baird - Duff
Nevland  - Zamora

Okaka on the bench to come on after 60 mins or so. Frankly the team picks itself, not unfortunately cos we are playing well, but because we have zero alternatives.

[Logicalman]

Hi FoF, first time post, and yes i have joined the bandwagon mainly because TIFF is down.

What are we going to do tomorrow now? My guess for the team is the following;
Schwarz
Kelly - Hang - Hughes - Shorey
Riise - Murph - Baird - Duff
Nevland  - Zamora

Okaka on the bench to come on after 60 mins or so. Frankly the team picks itself, not unfortunately cos we are playing well, but because we have zero alternatives.

Not so sure Nev will be a starter, I think RH might just chuck both the new lads in the first mix.

[Lighthouse]

Hi Cuse and welcome and hope you return to post plenty of more times in the future. Your team has to be spot on unless Okaka plays for Nevland, We are down to the bones of the squad. Although I still would like to see Murphy given a rest if he can't turn things around soon.

Mccscratch - AJ was fine until he was flattened in the Europas. Nasty place to be flattened, The Europas. It still begs the question why lose Kamara to Celtic? We now have Elm and Nevland and a recovering BZ and Okaka. Thats it.

[Cuse]

Thanks Lighthouse!

I just wonder whether or not that is Roy's style - throwing a youngster straight in. He does like to keep things consistent. These team should still have the minerals to beat Pompey though I think. Maybe we should think about playing Greening on the right instead of Riise, he looked ok(ish) there when he played out wide against Sofia at the Cottage I think (or was it Roma?) Could help more defensively there too, as Riise has been a bit suspect with his defensive duties (Just head it out against Spurs Bjorn!!)

[Brede Butter Pudding]

What annoyed me was the video on SSN

Hodgson was asked whether Kamara would return, and he said that he would. He also said that the club agreed to let Kamara out before they discovered the extent of AJ's new injury. This really annoys me, as surely the club could have waited until they discovered the AJ news to let Kamara goes. Roy told the interviewer that if he could have Kamara here now he would. Bit too late now Roy, maybe our lack of transfer activity is going to make us suffer.

[Lighthouse]

I hope Riise is given another chance and not blamed for his off game and two goal giveaway. Blimey it sounds bad when put like that. I would give Greening another chance but make him the 20 minute sub. By that time we will be up and he can defend and slot in wide or the centre.

The Kamara loan just makes me more angry the more I think about it. I am happy to miss Beattie who either wanted too much money or whatever else went wrong, but to let Kamara go when we are so short up front and then not realise how bad AJ is. AJ who has not been the same since his few match return.Well it will take BZ to limp off Wednesday for us to be in a panic again.

[The Rock]

I'd have to agree with the above, and that team isn't that bad given all the players we have out. May not be anoyone left on the bench though.

[The Rock]

Thing is - we aren't going to qualify for Europe and need 13 points from 15 or so games to stay up. I think that the club, Roy, Maf etc figure our current team is the cheapest way to acheive that. Whether you are 8th of 15th in the table, makes very little difference (apart from tv money or a real Cup run).

[The Rock]

Except if we qualify via fair play league of course.