Sunday Fulham Stuff (10/01/16)...

[WhiteJC]

 
Smith's former side knock Bees out

Brentford 0 Walsall 1

Brentford were knocked out of the FA Cup by boss Dean Smith's former club after a heroic display from ex-Fulham keeper Neil Etheridge.

The only goal of the game, on 35 minutes, came when Sam Mantom was given too much space outside the Bees penalty area and he clipped a left-footed shot beyond home keeper David Button.

Brentford were given more impetus by the half-time introduction of Alan Judge, but they were kept at bay by the brilliance of Etheridge.

He twice denied Judge and made an outstanding save from Sergi Canos, while the fit-again Marco Djuricin shot just wide, as the League One side made the fourth round for the first time in 10 years.

Smith, who left Walsall to take the Brentford job in November, made five changes and as a result his side lacked cohesion in the first half.

Neither keeper was called upon until the goal, which sparked ironic chants of "sacked in the morning" from the Saddlers fans, aimed at their old manager

Former Chelsea youngster Milan Lalkovic then went close to a second before the break with a curling effort which dropped just wide of the far post.

Judge's arrival, plus some sharp words from Smith no doubt, had an energising effect on the Bees.

Etheridge made the first of his string of saves when he beat away an angled shot from Judge, then smothered at the feet of Hofmann and pushed behind a low effort from John Swift which skimmed off the sodden turf.

Walsall remained a threat on the counter, Romaine Sawyers lashing just over the bar after Jake Bidwell had vacated the left-back position, while Brentford could not beat Etheridge.

He saved from Judge, after the Irishman had robbed Rico Henry, and then scrambled across to brilliantly keep out Cano's deflected effort, while Djuricin – in his first appearance in two months – fired narrowly wide.

Walsall could have wrapped it up late on as Button denied George Evans and James O'Connor's head smacked against the post.

Brentford: Button; Yennaris, Dean, O'Connell, Bidwell; McCormack (Kerschbaumer 60), McEachran (Judge 46); Canos, Woods, Swift; Hofmann (Djuricin 68).
Subs not used: Bonham, Barbet, Gogia, Saunders.


http://www.westlondonsport.com/brentford/football-wls-ex-fulham-keeper-stars-as-brentford-exit-fa-cup-against-walsall

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham out after defeat at Hillsborough



Sheffield Wednesday 2 Fulham 1

Atdhe Nuhiu's second-half goal sent Fulham out of the FA Cup.

Beaten at home in the league by Ross Wallace's brilliant goal for Sheffield Wednesday last weekend, they went behind to another superb long-range strike.

This time the Owls' scorer was Barry Bannan, whose blistering shot went in off the underside of the bar three minutes before half-time.

But Fulham, in their second match under new boss Slavisa Jokanovic, hit back a minute later when Moussa Dembele – who had come on for the injured Cauley Woodrow – pounced in a crowded penalty area and fired home.

The visitors then had chances to go ahead, but Ross McCormack was denied by keeper Joe Wildsmith, who also produced a fine reaction save to keep out Dembele's header.

And Alex Kacaniklic missed a glorious opportunity for the Whites when he was unable to apply the finishing touch after being found by Tom Cairney's cross.

It was to prove a costly miss as Wednesday managed to regain the lead with 18 minutes remaining.

Lucas Joao's cross was met by Nuhiu, who hit his shot into ground and the ball bounced up and into the left-hand corner.


http://www.westlondonsport.com/fulham/fulham-out-after-defeat-at-hillsborough-2?

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham In 2016: What should we expect?

With a talented squad, and a manager who seems to give us some true direction, it's perhaps a shame we can't scrap the previous 25 games and start a new season right now. But forgetting the fact that the play-offs are realistically out of sight and that our league season unfortunately won't go anywhere, we should look forward to an exciting calendar year.

Before we begin, I think we have to make a few assumptions, otherwise this year is simply impossible to predict. Firstly, we have to aniticipate that come this time next year, Jokanovic will still be our Head Coach - why do I expect this? Well he's said it himself:

"I come here for working not to fix problems fast. I am not David Copperfield, it will take time." (Jokanovic's post-match conference after the 1-0 loss to Sheffield Wednesday)

Secondly, we have to presume that Shahid Khan will still be here come 2017, and finally we should expect that we do avoid relegation this season... If we don't then I give up all hope. Now then, I'd argue that there are 3 main questions we can ask ourselves to examine Fulham's upcoming year in detail:

a) Realistically, where can we finish this season in the league?
This is by far the easiest question to answer - the top 10 should be our aim. With 21 games left and a possible 63 points to claim, we should be looking to get about 35, which seems a plausible and realistic target, which also would show great progress against the 27/75 points we've gained so far.

We would need roughly 52 points to make the play-offs which, let's be honest, won't happen, because we'd have to match and exceed championship-winning form to do so. If we did this, not only would Jokanovic be a miracle man, he'd become an instant club legend.

In terms of avoiding relegation we need just 5 or 6 wins (15+ points) from our remaining 21 games, which should be no trouble for us. I think if we go down this year, we should lose all hope, scapegoat the Michael Jackson statue and tell Khan to go back to America... To be honest it would send our whole club into utter meltdown.

So when we look at an overview of the remainder of our season, play-offs and relegation seem impossible, 12th or below seems disappointing, but anywhere around the top 10, or top 12 and we can really say we've made fantastic progress since Jokanovic took over. Anywhere else (13th-21st) is perhaps a small building block, but it's still quite mediocre.

b) By this time next year, where should we expect to see ourselves?
Surely it's the top 6. We seem to have almost everything in place to be a club that can compete for the Championship play-offs; with a fantastic head coach, brilliant coaching staff and a talented squad, alongside our opportunity to build on our team in the summer, all the essentials seem to be there now.

We all know what's missing though, aside from the transfers to strengthen in some areas, which I'll get to later. Passion, team-gelling and most importantly confidence.

With 11 new signings in the summer, it's not easy for the players to have immediate passion for Fulham, but we need them to begin to show that they want promotion just as much as we do, whether they care much about the club or not.

Additionally, throwing all these players into our starting XI and expecting them all to fit like clockwork is unrealistic, but hopefully we will actually see our players start to gel well and look like they actually appreciate each-other come 2017...

Confidence seems to be an issue which our new boss cannot stress enough. Jokanovic, speaking in his pre-match conference ahead of our FA Cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday, emphasised that his "obligation is to try to find a solution, try to support my team, try and give them confidence, try to give them a way to win the game."

c) How will the squad change throughout 2016?
Now this is where we should all be really excited. Slavisa Jokanovic has an impeccable track record of signing key players at his clubs, especially Watford last season.

He managed to secure the signings of Sebastian Bassong and Odion Ighalo in his first month at Watford, while keeping their essential players, such as Abdi, Anya and Deeney, three players who have gone on to feature this season in the Premier League. And if you haven't heard about the things Odion Ighalo has done since joining Watford then you've been hiding under a rock. He managed 30 league goals in 2015... more than any other player in the Premier League or Championship.

We should also retain hope that Jokanovic can hang onto our young prospects, and he has even publicly stated that he 'did not come here to sell'. Whether he can secure deals with our youngsters like Hyndman and Dembele is yet to be resolved, but we will hopefully see them in Fulham shirts come to end of January.

And lets not forget that we will have opportunities to invest in the summer, as we will no longer be held under the restrictions of a transfer embargo. Not only can our owner, Shahid Khan, splash out some of his $4.4bn (net worth), but also the Financial Fair Play rules are being loosened, so there is less risk involved for us when making transfers.

And of course we are still free to loan players this January, and I would encourage the idea of signing players with an option to buy come June, so we can secure permanent deals for any good loan signings we make.

I can't, unfortunately, talk about squad changes without mentioning the areas we need to strengthen. It's a tough debate really... Wait no, it absolutely is not. If we can introduce some defensive depth we can be comfortable surely come next season. A new, no-nonsense, leader-of-men centre back would do the trick.

Meanwhile, defensively competent full backs would make up for our current players, who are dangerous offensively but can be tough to watch at the back sometimes. Perhaps with more organisation we will see the need for defensive players fall anyway... But we seem to be cursed in the respect that we've conceded 211 league goals since August 2013. Yes, you read that correctly, two hundred and eleven goals.

Overview
It looks promising, I don't think there's any doubting that. The appointment of Jokanovic was approved by 92% of Fulham fans, according to a Twitter poll conducted around the time of his imminent arrival. His ethos will gradually come into effect this calendar year, and as I've heard so many times since he joined: Rome wasn't built in a day. So, if you're a Fulham fan out there finding this one of the bleakest moments in recent decades, you're not wrong, but look upwards, our time will come.

Everything is prospering, and while some of you may say I'm taking this view too far, next season could really be our season. From now until May, we look to progress, and from then we kick on up, eyes on promotion.

But, of course, we are Fulham, so don't be too surprised if we completely mess it all up.


http://cottagersconfidential.sbnation.com/2016/1/9/10708138/fulham-in-2016-what-should-we-expect

[WhiteJC]

 
Slavisa Jokanovic bemoans 'easy' Fulham chances that went begging in FA Cup reverse to Sheffield Wednesday

Whites gaffer says side ran out of gas in the last 20 minutes - but was happy enough at side's showing up till then despite Cup exit at Hillsborough


Intense: Slavisa Jokanovic at Hillsborough

Fulham's manager insisted the side's FA Cup exit at the first time of asking to Sheffield Wednesday was down to woeful finishing.

Slavisa Jokanovic described the ones that got away as 'easy' chances - despite giving as good as they got to a Wednesday side that had beaten them twice already - including a 1-0 home defeat just seven days ago.

But when Atdhe Nuhiu netted the Wednesday winner with time running out, the score remained at 2-1 - and Whites ran out of gas, according to the man in a Fulham scarf on the touchline.


Hold on: Moussa Dembele gets attention from Glenn Loovens and Daniel Pudil

Jokanovic said: "For 70 minutes we played a very good game, and pressed hard. But we missed many chances and in the end we didn't core the goal.

"The last 20 minutes we start suffering so much. We don't have enough energy and this part of the game we don't make many things.

"We score many goals (this season), and Wednesday have scored two fantastic goals against us in the last two games.


Two together: Whites fans arrive at Sheffield Wednesday

"We missed easy chances and it would have been good for our confidence had we scored.

"The positive news is we tried to play football and pressed Sheffield Wednesday and created chances. I'm confident we can recuperate and show personality when we play Wolves on Tuesday."


http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/slavisa-jokanovic-bemoans-easy-fulham-10710604?

[WhiteJC]

 
Jokanović Reaction

Slaviša Jokanović was disappointed after watching his Fulham side squander a hatful of chances in Saturday's FA Cup defeat by Sheffield Wednesday.

A Barry Bannan wonder strike and Atdhe Nuhiu volley either side of Moussa Dembélé's equaliser earned progression for the Owls with their only efforts on target, while the Whites saw a number of golden opportunities pass them by.

"We played very good football for 70 minutes but missed many chances," Jokanović admitted. "It's always disappointing. We played a good game against Sheffield in our stadium for 60 minutes [last week] but generally at the end of the game we are without energy.

"We are without power, and we aren't in a position to change our situation in the last 20 minutes. We need to push ourselves."

Dembélé looked as though he was set to put the Whites in front just after the restart when he connected with Jazz Richards' cross, but his close range header was brilliantly saved by Joe Wildsmith.

And when asked if that was the turning point in the game, Jokanović replied: "It could be, but before this situation and after this situation we missed many, many chances.

"In my opinion we played better football for 70 minutes. They were very clinical – they scored a fantastic first goal and then in the right moment they scored a second, and that's it.

"This situation happens in football. We missed many chances. We need to play with more confidence. I believe Fulham can play good football.

"If you are in a situation like us and you are in some kind of problem, all the missed chances can affect our confidence. But we need to be strong and we need to push.

"We are not in our best moment but it's important we recuperate and get back to what we believe is our level. We play in a game on Tuesday [at Wolverhampton Wanderers] and it's important we fight for the points."

For the second week in a row, Wednesday opened the scoring against Fulham in sensational style.

"Sometimes this happens," Jokanović said. "They scored a fantastic goal and I am not very happy but people come to the stadium to watch this kind of goal. This is part of football. We will keep going to try and change our situation."


http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2016/january/09/jokanovic-reaction