Monday Fulham Stuff (15/02/16)...

[WhiteJC]

 
U21s' West Brom Trip

Fulham Under-21s will be looking for a first win in six when they take on West Bromwich Albion on Monday evening (7pm).

The away match at Tamworth FC's Lamb Ground marks a second fixture between the sides in 11 days, following the 1-1 draw at Motspur Park on Friday 5th February.

All the drama happened late on that evening, with George Williams looking like he'd won it for the Whites with a clever strike in the 88th minute, only for Albion to equalise through Joe Ward in the final seconds of stoppage time to earn a point.

Fulham currently sit eighth in the Barclays U21 Premier League Division 2 standings, but have played fewer games than all but two of the sides above them. One of those is West Brom, who have played a match more and are four places and seven points higher than the Whites.


http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2016/february/14/u21s-west-brom-trip?

[WhiteJC]

 
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink apologises to Queens Park Rangers' supporters

Queens Park Rangers were beaten 3-1 by Fulham yesterday.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has told Queens Park Rangers' official website that he wants to apologise to the club's supporters.

QPR were beaten 3-1 by Fulham on Saturday afternoon and they rarely showed any threat against their London rivals.

Rangers were well short of their best at Loftus Road, and Hasselbaink could only say sorry to his side's fans after the defeat.

"I must say sorry to the fans," the Dutch boss said.  "We let them down and we let ourselves down and it wasn't good enough. Now we have to look to try and put this right.

"Fulham deserved their win. We never got started. We've had quick starts in the past, but that didn't happen today.

"What we've done well in previous games, we did really, really averagely today. And Fulham capitalised on that.

"It's a bitter pill to swallow. This result is hard to take."

QPR had become more resilient in recent weeks under Hasselbaink's stewardship, but they were worryingly poor against the Cottagers.

The R's never got to grips with Fulham's 3-5-2 formation, with Ross McCormack, Moussa Dembele and Tom Cairney all getting on the score-sheet for the visitors.

Hasselbaink has now won just two of his first 12 matches in charge of the London club, and sizeable improvements need to be made sooner rather than later.

QPR have had a disappointing campaign so far, and yesterday's defeat to Fulham has surely ended any slim chance they had of making the play-offs.


http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/02/14/jimmy-floyd-hasselbaink-apologises-to-queens-park-rangers-suppor/?

[WhiteJC]

 
More derby woes – Knee jerks

Antti Heinola had hoped performances like Saturday's were a thing of the past, but as he assesses the six talking points from the Fulham debacle it's clear QPR have some way to go yet.

The Second Ball
It wasn't just the second ball. It was every fifty-fifty. Every lame, half-arsed challenge. Every shrug of the shoulders instead of standing up and fighting when losing the ball, followed by a pathetic, forlorn look at the ref (yes you, Matt Phillips). Every misplaced pass - including one from Hoilett when he failed to find Perch who was standing less than a metre from him. Every responsibility-abdicating, head-down launch of the ball forward just to get it away without even bothering to see if a QPR shirt was even within ten yards of where the ball was going. All of it. Unforgivably crap.

But the second ball sums it up. Last week, we dominated the game and the midfield at least in part because Ipswich decided to ignore the midfield area. But it was also because of how we competed. How we won the second ball. How we were stronger, more determined in our tackling and better and more confident in possession. How a team can go from that to this inside one week is so baffling I don't even know where to start. But the first half in particular was pathetic - as bad as Fulham away and as bad as the many meek performances Harry Redknapp gave us away from Loftus Road. Useless, rubbish, without a shred of positivity to cling to. The farce of the third goal in particular was, as some fans sang, utterly embarrassing. But the sheer number of times a loose ball dropped and Fulham were first to it was the real sickener.

Pressing High
People are already lambasting JFH for his tactics and they do have a point, although he was clearly trying throughout the first half, even before the goals, to reorganise. But it didn't work. The high-pressing seemed a good idea. Fulham had been obviously scouted and they like to start at the back, keeper to defenders, and work up. So Polter, Mackie, Hoilett and Phillips were tasked with shutting this down. Which they did. But the result was much worse.

First of all, it meant a lot of timewasting, meaning we never got into any kind of rhythm. Second of all, and much worse, was that when they did get the ball over the halfway line, we were hopelessly over-stretched, leaving huge gaps in our half for Fulham to, it has to be said, exploit with some brilliantly efficient and incisive passing. They took a while to score, but that goal could have come at any time as they probed and unpicked our static, slow defence time and again. And once they did, it was the same as at Craven Cottage - a complete and utter collapse.

JFH could and perhaps should have allowed Fulham to have the ball at the back, allowed us to keep our more compact shape and tried to win it further back than on the edge of their box. We denied them space in that area, but granted it where it was most dangerous. Maybe a switch to 4-5-1, with Mackie going wide left would have slowed them a bit. But JFH, after last week, had a right to expect more from his team.

Ream, Cairney, McCormack, Dembele
With these four players it seems ludicrous that Fulham are as low as they are. Today all four arguably had better games in one match than any of our entire squad have had in the entire season. Ream was supreme at the back, gratefully devouring every stupid high ball QPR chipped up for him and totally dominating Polter and then Washington. Cairney was superb in the middle - winning the ball but delightfully confident with it too. McCormack, well, as usual, we had absolutely no idea what to do with him. Spent the entire game doing whatever he wanted and was challenged about twice, I think. But was superb - particularly his passing and at least two absolutely wonderful balls into the box - as well as a fabulously taken goal that you knew would go in the moment he latched onto it. So far ahead of anyone in our team. And Dembele made easy work of Hall and Onuoha without barely seeming to break a sweat. Excellent performances - however bad we were, you have to applaud them for some sublime football. What have they been doing in games not against QPR this season?

Toszer
Of course, Toszer (along with the full backs) will take the majority of stick. In truth, he was no worse than anyone else out there, although by the end his head had gone completely and he was just looking to get rid of the ball as soon as it came anywhere near him. But still, after the promise of last week, this was back to his worst. Barely made a tackle, his passing was consistently poor, he has no pace, he didn't win a header despite being about 6'3. But you can't say this was all down to Ale's injury. He may have made a slight difference, especially as he is at least something of a leader, but this was a collective failure from coaches down to players. Had high hopes for him, but after finally giving us a decent half hour last week I'm not sure it's ever going to work out because we don't have the right kind of combative player to sit next to him. But then I'm not positive we have the right one to sit next to Luongo or Faurlin either.

London Derbies and Fulham
This record we have gets more laughable with every derby. We've now played Fulham six times in five years. In FOUR of those games we have been 3-0 down... AT HALF TIME. Dave Mc's been on Twitter talking about how this game means more to Fulham, but how can it? I don't understand it. I get that Chelsea games mean more to us than them. But I don't think Fulham see this as anything much more than playing Charlton or Brentford do they? But even if they do, let's look at those stats again - they are embarrassing us almost every time we play them. Surely, at some stage, this game should start to mean SOMETHING to our players too?

JFH said before the game, I read on here, that we would be right after them. And to some extent, for 10-15 mins we were, in that we refused to let them pass from the back. But then what happened? Total bafflement, total collapse without an ounce of pride before half time. A previously reliable defence suddenly standing around watching the ball roll in slow motion until Cairney swept it in. After losing 4-0 to a team many other teams in this league have beaten, why were we not desperate - not just to beat them - but to crush them? I don't get it.

And then we have our record in derbies in general. Bizarrely, our record v Chelsea over the same period as our dismal record v Fulham is probably as good as any other team in the Prem, even with the 6-1 humiliation. But look at our recent London derbies:
0-3; 0-4; 0-2; 0-0; 0-1; 1-3 (three down at half time v Palace in that one too); 1-2; 1-2; 1-2; 1-2; 0-2; 0-4; 1-1; 2-1 (v Watford! hurray! 13 games since our last London derby win! But that's only if you count Watford as a London derby, which it isn't, so let's keep going) 0-1; 1-0 v Charlton! Hurray!

What an absolute embarrassment.

Nasser El Khayati
Well done! By performing with a modicum of competence and pretty much doing your job to an acceptable level and by actually looking dangerous and for getting a HUGE 6/10, you win man of the match.

Pictures – Action Images


http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/42019/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Madl: Just The Beginning

After a dream Fulham debut, Michael Madl is determined to help the Whites kick on and build on the 3-1 victory at Queens Park Rangers.

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2016/february/14/madl-reaction?

[WhiteJC]

 
Match Day Officials v Fulham

The Football League have now announced the Match Day officials that will take charge of the game against Fulham this Tuesday.

Blackburn Rovers host Fulham on Tuesday February 16 for the game at Ewood Park and the match carries a 7.45pm kick off.

Referee: Philip Gibbs
Linesmen: Barry Crop and Mark Dwyer
Fourth Official: Christopher Kavanagh

Match Day referee Gibbs (West Midlands) is yet to officiate a Blackburn game this season.

He has however only already taken in twelve other matches so far in 2015-16 and in those games, across all competitions and football divisions, he has handed out a total of 31 yellow cards and two red cards.

He was most card happy in the match between Shrewsbury and Barnsley on January 16 with six yellows shown, in the matches between Yeovil and Stevenage on November 14, and Wimbledon and Wycombe on November 21 he showed four yellows a piece.

Let`s hope it`s not another repeat and more of our players edge closer to automatic bans.



Read more: http://www.blackburn.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=435103#ixzz40Dr0ON1y

[WhiteJC]

 
Bi-annual Fulham thrashing exposes familiar failings – report

Fulham, once again, ran the rounds of the kitchen through Queens Park Rangers on Saturday lunchtime, exposing key issues Rangers must address before next season.

Change the players, change the manager, change the CEO, change the DOF, change the transfer policy... the one thing QPR can't alter is their aversion to playing against neighbours Fulham.

On paper, Saturday's meeting at Loftus Road looked like a reasonable opportunity for Rangers to arrest a run of just one win from nine meetings against the side from the other side of Hammersmith Broadway. Unbeaten in five, with three clean sheets in that time, and on the back of arguably the best all-round performance of the season against Ipswich a week ago, things seemed to be looking up in Shepherd's Bush. Fulham, meanwhile, have been flatlining, down in nineteenth in the league with one win from 16 matches prior to this one.

But on three occasions in the last five matches between these sides QPR have found themselves 3-0 down at half time, and history repeated itself here. "Queens Park Rangers, it's happening again," rang out from the away end as Ross McCormack, Moussa Dembele and Tom Cairney scored before the break – in truth it could have been twice as bad.

Part of this comes down to that unquantifiable stuff that football people prattle on about – heart, character, confidence, mental strength. That extra little bit of intensity and atmosphere that comes with playing a London derby has proved too much for QPR under all of their recent managers, whoever has been on the field. They have now lost all four of their games against other London opponents this season, extending a winless run in derby games to 16 – 13 defeats and three draws.

This is, in the weird West London food chain, a bigger game for Fulham than it is for QPR, and can't you just tell? Once the euphoria has died down among the visitors they might start to wonder why they've watched their team struggle to win games at all for three years, dropping out of the Premier League and down to the bottom of the Championship in the process, while consistently playing this well whenever QPR arrive on the scene. For now though, the question marks are all hanging over Hooped heads. That pride, that leadership, that determination, all so sadly lacking here, and at Brentford, and at Fulham back in September, and at Charlton, and against Spurs and Arsenal and Palace, has to be found from somewhere.

But this wasn't all about the Terry Butcher and Stuart Pearce-type stuff, there was plenty for Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher to get their teeth into here as well.

As we saw at Craven Cottage, despite being having a poor season Fulham do have strengths in areas where QPR are particularly weak – namely advanced central midfield and the wings.

QPR have won 35% of their games with Ale Faurlin in the team this season, and only 18% of those without him, so the absence of the Argentinean through injury here was always likely to cause problems. But even with him, Rangers have lacked a muscular presence in front of the defence, or a player capable of doing the hard yards box to box all season. I was surprised the R's let Diagouraga move from Brentford to Leeds so cheaply without any interest. On Saturday they replaced Faurlin with Daniel Tozser, who's had a dreadful season at Loftus Road since joining on loan from Watford and quickly wiped away memories of a decent cameo against Ipswich a week ago with an abject display here.

Fulham, meanwhile, play three men through the middle to QPR's two. Scott Parker sits and holds, allowing Jamie O'Hara and most importantly Tom Cairney to bomb on ahead. That leaves Rangers outnumbered whenever the teams meet and when a player as good as Cairney – probably Fulham's best player other than Ross McCormack – is the spare man in space there are always likely to be issues.

Time and time again Fulham were able to move into acres of space between Rangers' midfield and back fours, playing between the lines of a square 4-4-2 formation, with Cairney given the freedom of the park. Alex Smithies had to save well from Jamie O'Hara at the end of one swift move through the centre of the park and Fulham had sprung McCormack and Dembele in behind Nedum Onuoha and Grant Hall three times already before McCormack calmly raced onto a through ball and finished powerfully, precisely into the far corner of the net – only uncertain, ponderous flagging from the linesman on the Ellerslie Road side had saved the R's on the previous occasions.

Things weren't much better on the wings, where QPR have struggled all season, and particularly in the two games against Fulham. A lethal combination of two poor full backs playing poorly, with two bone idle wingers in front of them, is ready made for a team that likes to get its full backs overlapping and double up two on one in wide areas down both sides.

It looked like a blow to the visitors when Lasse Christensen was forced off injured after just six minutes – the Dane had already advanced through the wide open spaces of QPR's right channel into the penalty area to draw a near post save from Smithies in the third minute. But in the end it actually proved to be a blessing. On came Everton loanee Luke Garbutt, and with Matt Phillips turning in a defensive display that he should be personally ashamed and embarrassed by he was able to do pretty much as he liked.

One attack after another down that side saw Garbutt and Phillips start in the same position only for the Fulham man to run forward as Phillips stood still and let him go. Garbutt was free for a pass every time his team had the ball, Phillips didn't get close to him once. The look of surprise on the Rangers' man's face as he turned around, following the ball, again and again and again only to notice far too late that Garbutt had wandered past him into a lethal area unchecked was amazing. It left Perch outnumbered every single time. Garbutt had a whole electoral ward to himself to pick out a cross for Dembele to head in from close range for the second. Phillips not so much phoning his defence in as sending it by post, second class, due to arrive on Tuesday maybe.

If Garbutt needs his kitchen work surfaces wiping down, or his car cleaning, or his shoes shining, maybe Phillips might like to do that for him on his day off this week as well. Couldn't have done much more to aid and abet his performance on Saturday. How do you like it Luke? In lots of space with lots of time? Fill your boots boy.

Throw in a shambolic third before half time where McCormack ran into that vacant channel once more, Dembele rolled the ball off the base of the post, and Cairney smacked the rebound into the net past Smithies, and the rout was complete. It could have been worse – Perch and Hall both produced great blocks one after another as the ball bobbled around the area dangerously from a Fulham corner.

In response, Phillips headed straight at Andy Lonergan in the Fulham goal early on after good approach play by the recalled Jamie Mackie, and Junior Hoilett dragged a long range shot wide late in the half. Outnumbered in midfield, out enthused across the pitch, lazy in wide areas, and lacking intensity, Rangers were well beaten yet again.

Hasselbaink probably wished he had eight or nine substitutions available to him at the break but he settled for removing Seb Polter, who'd been completely ineffective and off the pace, for Conor Washington. That seemed slightly odd, as it was another body in the middle of midfield Rangers were really crying out for, and all Washington really added was a different face staring upwards as one hopeless punt down the field after another was headed straight back by Dan Burn.

But there was some sort of rally at the start of the second half as Mackie freed Hoilett on the edge of the box to burst into the area only for Michael Madl to chop him down right on the line. It was the dictionary definition of a yellow card, but referee Tim Robinson didn't even speak to the offender, and then allowed Scott Parker to stand seven yards away from the kick as it was taken. As QPR - stupidly, moronically - decided to touch the ball rather than just hitting it, Parker was only about a foot away from it when it was finally struck by Phillips and was therefore able to block it away. Shambolic refereeing all round really, and Onuoha was subsequently yellow carded for telling him as much.

It was a curious performance from Robinson on his first ever outing at Loftus Road. Not exactly a difficult game to control, given how totally uncompetitive it was, but he nevertheless made a bit of a pig's ear of it. Later Jamie O'Hara was carded, either for a foul in back play or something he'd said, or both. When you're upsetting players from both sides equally to the point where they're all getting booked for dissent you've got to have a look closer to home I think. Hall was later yellow carded for a foul nowhere near as bad as Madl's, in a more neutral area, while in the first half a seemingly obvious hack on Massimo Luongo as he accelerated into a dangerous area brought no free kick at all.

When, midway through the half, Jamie Mackie caught Fulham pissing around in possession and ran clear on goal only to be chopped down by Dan Burn a red card seemed the only likely outcome. Robinson bottled the big decision and showed a yellow, before then booking O'Hara a short time later, and speaking to Mackie at length about his own dissent – a farcical five minutes at the hands of an official out of his depth.

Hasselbaink brought on Nasser El Khayati for Junior Hoilett and the Dutchman was arguably the pick of a fairly wretched bunch. Later Phillips was finally hooked for Tjaronn Chery, who bundled in late consolation from a corner, but these changes exacerbated problems rather than curing them - the R's now without any width to their attack, or any extra defensive presence in the middle of midfield. I'm sure the church, already understandably restless, would have lost their poo completely had Karl Henry come on for Daniel Tozser, but that would have at least stopped Cairney running riot.

Cairney was at the heart of a move on 56 minutes that picked QPR apart again only for Jamie O'Hara top be flagged offside as he ran clear on goal. Three minutes later the ball broke to Cairney himself in a similar position, but he shot wide when he should have scored. And four minutes later still an absolutely wild, ridiculous, unprofessional attempt at something resembling a tackle from Perch wide on the right left the whole half behind him vacant and McCormack should have done more than shoot straight at Smithies.

Lonergan needed two attempts to gather a drive from El Khayati, and then saved well from Perch as he headed a corner firmly towards goal, but conceded late to Chery. But Smithies was fortunate to fumble a wide shot from McCormack over the bar rather than into the net and ultimately it was fairly miraculous that it was only 3-1 by the end.

At the risk of being happy clappy about it, in the context of this being preparation for next season this might be more use to Hasselbaink than us ambling to a routine draw. That lack of a dominant, athletic presence in the middle of midfield, the poor form of both full backs, the laziness of both wingers in defence – these have been problems all season and will need to be solved before next season. Having a bright, harsh light shone on them in such a high profile game will dispel any idea that they can be papered over.

Hasselbaink said afterwards he was surprised, and hadn't seen it coming. That shouldn't have been the case – Fulham beat QPR in the same areas, with the same players, they'd taken them to the cleaners in and with back in September.

An excruciating watch.

QPR: Smithies 6; Perch 5, Onuoha 4, Hall 5, Konchesky 4; Phillips 3 (Chery 76, 6), Toszer 3, Luongo 5, Hoilett 5 (El Khayati 65, 6); Polter 4 (Washington 46, 5), Mackie 6

Subs not used: Hill, Henry, Ingram, Petrasso

Goals: Chery 89 (assisted Tozser)

Bookings: Onuoha 48 (dissent), Hall 82 (foul)

Fulham: Lonergan 6; Fredericks 7, Madl 6, Burn 8, Christensen – (Garbutt 6, 8); Amorebieta 6, Parker 7 (Ince 78, 6), O'Hara 7, Cairney 8; McCormack 8, Dembele 7 (Hundman 84, -)

Subs not used: Richards, Smith, Kacaniklic, Lewis

Goals: McCormack 35 (assisted Cairney), Dembele 41 (assisted Garbutt), Cairney 45+2 (assisted Dembele)

Bookings: Burn 63 (foul), O'Hara 65 (dissent)

QPR Star Man – N/A

Referee – Tim Robinson (West Sussex) 4 Made rather a pig's ear of a one-sided, uncompetitive game which doesn't bode particularly well. One red card challenge from Burn only received a yellow, one yellow card challenge on Hoilett didn't get a card at all, one foul on Luongo was waved away altogether, two players were booked for dissent when their frustration with the officials all became too much for them... but he was very hot and precise about the placement of throw ins. Not as bad as QPR, but not far off.

Attendance – 17,335 (2,900 Fulham approx) Ordinarily I'd say that the booing and heckling of the QPR players doesn't help and we should try and support and yadda yadda yadda. Bollocks to that today. This was embarrassing, and continues to be embarrassing, and the people who paid money to get in had every right to say as much. If only some of the QPR players out on the field were so vocal with each other – the silence and resignation among the players after each goal goes in was nearly as alarming as the goals themselves, Onuoha more keen on screaming at the referee than trying to rally the team he's meant to captain.

Pictures – Action Images


http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/42021/?

[WhiteJC]

 
3 things we learned from Fulham's 3-1 thrashing of QPR

Fulham ran out 3-1 winners in a one-sided West London derby on Saturday lunchtime, with star men Ross McCormack, Moussa Dembele and Tom Cairney netting for the visitors.

Cottager's first win in six, and Slavisa Jokanovic's first as manager.

It was the club's ever reliable striker who put them ahead, blasting it past Alex Smithies in the QPR net after a beautiful ball from Tom Cairney that split the defence wide open. That goal was his 16th in the league this season, putting him joint second on the leaderboard with Hull's Abel Hernandez.

It didn't take long for Dembele to double their lead, heading in from Jamie O'Hara's pin-point ball from the left wing. And Fulham's goalscoring was over inside 12 miraculous minutes after Dembele's shot trickled into Cairney's path, who made no mistake whilst side-footing into the net.

This is a massive confidence boost for Jokanovic's men, who were by far the better team throughout the 90 minutes, and definitely deserved to make the short trip home with the three points.

The only complaint the Serbian might have is that they switched off from a corner in stoppage time, allowing Tjarron Chery to claim a consolation goal.

This will not go down well in Jimmy Floyd Hasslebaink's books, with neither of his January signings Abdenasser El Khayati or Conor Washington creating too many decent chances, and their team looks in trouble with their inability to score following the sale of Charlie Austin.

QPR have slipped to 14th place, but are within three points tenth place, so it would conceiveable to see them rocket back up the table if their form is sorted out. Fulham, on the other hand, climb to 18th, ahead of Blackburn and now have a six point cushion between themselves and the relegation zone.

With that in mind, here are THREE things we learned from Saturday's derby:

1) McCormack, Dembele and Cairney each could have won man of the match
There are very few matches where all of your best players perform at their best, and today was one of them for the Cottagers. McCormack looked as good as ever, and based on Saturday's performance deserves a ticket to the Premier League; whilst Dembele scored an excellent header before hitting the post to eventually set up Cairney's goal.

However, most fans and neutrals are agreed that Tom Cairney was the clear man of the match.

A goal and an assist statistically shows that, but his overall play was excellent. The number ten finished with an 80% pass accuracy, although it was pretty hard to remember a pass he put wrong.

Granted, the QPR defence and midfield didn't have anywhere near their best day, but Cairney ripped them apart with some beautiful diagonal balls between the lines, with one setting up McCormack to score his side's first.

The 25-year old is having a good run of late; and was voted Fulham's man of the match on their official club website following their 1-1 draw with Derby last weekend.

The former Hull and Blackburn man is in the form of his life, and will be hoping that he, alongside his team mates, will see Fulham push on away from the drop zone this season.

Can Cairney lead Fulham back up the table where they belong?

2) 'Can we play you every week?'
Of the last ten matches between these two rivals, Fulham have won eight, including 3-1 on Saturday, and 4-0 earlier this season.

Fulham are enjoying their local derbies of late, and their latest performance showed us that they have plenty of confidence playing Rangers.

Andy Lonergan, despite not having much to do, made some excellent saves and will be pointing fingers at his defenders for sloppily conceding late on. The much maligned Dan Burn seems to have turned a corner too, with two back to back excellent games. Bringing back Fernando Amorebieta back from his loan spell at Middlesbrough looks a good move too.

Their attacking force speaks for itself, as they are the joint-third best attack in the division. With their defensive line up coming into some form, they could be in for a promising last third of the season.

3) Architects of their own downfall?
QPR looked woeful on Saturday. They are without a holding midfielder who can interrupt the play when they need it, and since the sale of Austin have only scored three goals in four games.

Hasselbaink, who took over at Loftus Road following a highly successful spell at Burton Albion, has raided his former club with the signing of Abdenasser El Khayati, their top scorer at the time. He also bought Conor Washington from Peterborough, and signing players from lower divisions seems to have taken its toll on QPR.

A side who was relegated from the Premier League last season, and had ambitions to win this division before the season started, perhaps should not be buying from the third tier.

It appears that Hasselbaink is playing the long game, refreshing the squad after some time with players that were just not up to scratch. Both El Khayati and Washington are promising players for the future, but they have no striker in their squad that can immediately make an impact.

QPR fans may well ask themselves whether it was worth a stab in the dark and chasing the signature of Jordan Rhodes in January.


http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/3-things-we-learned-from-fulhams-3-1-thrashing-of-qpr/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Lee Clark set to be named Kilmarnock boss as he agrees three-year deal at Rugby Park
Lee Clark will replace Gary Locke as Kilmarnock manager
The former Newcastle midfielder is expected to sign a three-year contract
Clark left his last job at Blackpool after they were relegated to League One
Lee McCulloch will be Clark's assistant manager at Rugby Park

Kilmarnock will unveil Lee Clark as their new manager on Monday.

The former Huddersfield, Birmingham City and Blackpool boss had been a front-runner for the Rugby Park role since being interviewed last week.

Clark travelled north on Sunday to finalise details on what is expected to be a three-year contract after being selected as Gary Locke's replacement.


Former Blackpool manager Lee Clark is set to take over at Kilmarnock on a three-year contract

Clark will be presented at a media conference, ahead of Tuesday evening's Scottish Cup fifth-round replay against Rangers.

The 43-year-old resigned from his most recent post at Blackpool, following their relegation to League One at the end of last season.

Bloomfield Road proved a particularly difficult assignment, with off-field events at the strife-torn club often overshadowing the football.

Clark is now ready to continue his career in Scotland after a process in which Kilmarnock had also considered Graham Alexander, Neil Redfearn, Mark Cooper, Simo Valakari and Billy Davies.

Lee McCulloch will be Clark's assistant manager, following his brief but successful spell as caretaker.

McCulloch said: 'I believe the board has made a fantastic appointment having taken time to interview a number of strong candidates.

'With everyone pulling together, I'm confident that the new manager will lead the team to success.

'On a personal note, I have thoroughly enjoyed being interim manager and thank the board, staff, players and fans for their support and encouragement.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3447041/Lee-Clark-set-named-Kilmarnock-boss-agrees-three-year-deal-Rugby-Park.html#ixzz40DtQbSqv
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[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham striker Ross McCormack speaks out about his January transfer window experiences

The Whites were reported to have rejected offers from Middlesbrough last month and the title chasers eventually moved to sign Jordan Rhodes instead


Staying put: Ross McCormack

Ross McCormack insists he is in 'no rush' to leave Fulham after the club stood firm to keep hold of their talismanic striker in the January transfer window.

The Whites were reported to have rejected offers from Middlesbrough last month and the title chasers eventually moved to sign Jordan Rhodes instead.

And McCormack maintained that he is fine with the club's policy, although made it clear that, like any player, he is keen to play at the highest possible level.

He said: "I was fine. Fulham didn't want to sell me. It's as simple as that. I'm still here. I've got three and a half years on my contract. I'm in no rush but, of course, I'd love to play at the highest level."

McCormack took his tally for the season to 18 goals with his opener in the 3-1 win at QPR on Saturday, which moves him to one goal shy of his return from last season.

While the Scot insists he doesn't have a target, any footballer would be keen to better their achievements from last season.

"I didn't have a target at the start of the season. I scored 19 last year so it's all about getting better," he added.

"We've been threatening a big win for a couple of weeks but not really getting the results.

"We said we'd take playing worse and getting the result but as it was we played even better and got the result which is fantastic."

The victory at Loftus Road, with Moussa Dembele and Tom Cairney also scoring, was the first under Slavisa Jokanovic with the last victory coming in December under Stuart Gray as the Serbian watched from the stands.

McCormack explained: "It's been difficult. We've had loads of new managers since Kit left and new ideas.

"He's steadied the ship. The intensity in training is a lot higher. We do a lot more physical work and you could see it today. We've got potential to steamroller teams."

Fulham travel to Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday in a bid to climb further away from the relegation zone.


http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/fulham-striker-ross-mccormack-speaks-10891594?

[WhiteJC]

 
Cairney's class shines through
by DAN on FEBRUARY 15, 2016

For much of the season, Fulham's major problem has been fitting Tom Cairney into their midfield. Shunted out onto either wing in a conventional 4-4-2, the midfielder seemed largely on the periphery of things and unable to influence fixtures to a prominent degree. He might have scored the odd cracker – the goals against Brighton & Albion and Hull will linger goal in the memory despite the defeats – but you sensed there was far more in his locker. Deployed centrally, Cairney has seemed a lot more at home and, as the most advanced of a trio on Saturday, he tore Queens Park Rangers' ramshackle defence to ribbons.

Ever since his startling breakthrough with Hull City, Cairney has played most of his football in midfield. One of the principle factors for swapping Blackburn for the capital last summer was his frustration at being played out wide, so it seemed strange that Fulham were so keen to shoehorn him into their side as an afterthought, rather than the pivot around which a new midfield should be built. There may have been a worry that Cairney could be knocked off the ball too easily in such a physical league to be put of a midfield pairing – he was released by Leeds as a sixteen year-old for being too small – but Slavisa Jokanovic's tactical tinkering might now have alighted on a successful solution to that problem.

Cairney thrived on the responsibility to get Fulham moving forward at Loftus Road yesterday afternoon. Whilst the Whites will face far tougher challenges over the remainder of the season, his impact was instructive. Dropping deep to dictate the player – although not as deep as Scott Parker and Jamie O'Hara who were able to adequately protect a previously overworked defence – Cairney always looked like he had an extra second on the ball and barely wasted possession. His passes regularly hurt Rangers and utilised the width that Fulham had in abundance thanks to the frequent overlapping runs of Ryan Fredericks and Luke Garbutt. There was little in the way of over-playing, either; Cairney moved the ball swiftly to allow Fulham's rampant forwards to pillage to their heart's content.

He had a hand in all three goals. The eye-catching moment came with his contribution to the opener, when he injected momentum into a precise passing move, by threading a gorgeous through pass between the QPR centre backs that Ross McCormack admitted meant he 'had to score'. The ball was a thing of beauty, expertly dissecting Nedum Onouha and Grant Hall, but perfectly weighted to allow McCormack time to outrun his would-be challengers and lifted a sumptuous finish over the stranded Alex Smithies. An incisive switch of play to release Garbutt down the left eventually led to Fulham's second and, when Moussa Dembele's shot came back off the post, who was there to rub salt into Rangers' wounds in first-half stoppage time? Yes, Cairney.

Jokanovic has a penchant for the 5-3-2 formation, having utilised it successfully with Watford as they secured promotion to the Premier League last year. The system certainly gave Fulham a hitherto rarely glimpsed defensive solidity, but the way in which they mixed brawn and brains in midfield shouldn't be understated either. Cairney's creativity has to be harnessed – he's amongst the best ball-players in the division – and we simply haven't seen enough of his linking with two of the league's most devastating forwards this term. He should be pulling the strings from a central position, with as much freedom as he can be afforded, and Saturday's deployment shows the way to go.


http://hammyend.com/index.php/2016/02/cairneys-class-shines-through/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham defender Dan Burn revels in QPR victory but admits tinge of regret over late Chery strike

Goals from Ross McCormack, Moussa Dembele and Tom Cairney gave Fulham a convincing win over their west London rivals


Pleased but annoyed: Dan Burn

Dan Burn was delighted after Fulham recorded their first win under Slavisa Jokanovic as the Whites crushed QPR by three goals to one.

Goals from Ross McCormack, Moussa Dembele and Tom Cairney gave Fulham a convincing win over their west London rivals.

And the defender was delighted to get the three points ahead of an intense run which sees the Whites play four games in the next two weeks.

Burn said: "It's massive to open the account under the new boss. Performance wise, we've improved massively and should have got something from Hull and we should have beaten Derby.

"It's important to get the three points as we've got four games in two weeks; five including Saturday.

Since the 1999/2000 season, Fulham have beaten QPR eight times out of 10, scoring 23 goals in the process and have conceded only five.

This season has seen the Whites put seven goals past Rangers and concede just one and Burn believes the two derby games are among the club's best performances of the season.

He added: "We seem to love playing QPR, especially this season. They have probably been two of our best performances of the season.

"It doesn't matter who it's against, it's more the fact we've got the three points after a long wait and we probably should have had more from the last few games. Everyone is really glad we've got the win."

The only disappointment was Fulham failed to keep a clean sheet for the first time since October 17 as Tjarron Chery scored a consolation in stoppage time and, for a proud defender like Burn, took a bit of the gloss of a fantastic win.

He explained: "I think the disappointing thing is the fact we conceded again. We should have had a clean sheet. I'm not happy with that to be honest.

"We scored three but I would have liked a clean sheet. I feel we're more solid and not giving away as many chances.

"We keep the ball really well. We played a back three today that did quite well and took them by surprise."


http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/fulham-defender-dan-burn-revels-10891718?

[snarks]

The rangers fan with his 6 points, puts Ream as one of Fulhams stars on Saturday, not only the team that had an off day!