Friday Fulham Stuff (13.08.10)

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/7937178/Bolton-v-Fulham-match-preview.html


Bolton Wanderers v Fulham: match preview

Read a full match preview of the Premier League game between Bolton Wanderers and Fulham at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday Aug 14 2010, kick-off 15.00 BST.


By John Ley

Published: 6:00AM BST 13 Aug 2010

John's Twitter

Saturday, August 14

Bolton Wanderers v Fulham
Reebok Stadium
Kick-off: 15.00 BST
TV: Highlights, BBC1 Match of the Day.



Bolton Wanderers (Possible, 4-4-2): Jaaskelainen; Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Robinson; Weiss, Muamba, Petrov, Taylor; Klasnic, K Davies.

Fulham (Possible, 4-4-2): Schwarzer; Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky; Davies, Murphy, Etuhu, Duff; Zamora, Dempsey.
Referee: S Attwell. Matches (last season): 15. R: 82.Y: 2.

Tale of the game

Bolton, who should give a debut to Martin Petrov, signed in the summer on a free transfer from Manchester City, lost only one of their last four games of last season. Bolton last beat Fulham at home in February 2007.

Fulham, under Mark Hughes for the first time in the Premier League, won only two of their last 11 Premier League games last season. And the Cottagers have not won away from home since the opening game of last season, at Portsmouth. Subsequently, they lost 11 of the remaining 18 away games.

Last season: Fulham 1 Bolton 1, Bolton 0 Fulham 0.

Stat of the game: Fulham are unbeaten in their last six Premier League games against Bolton, at the Reebok Stadium and Craven Cottage.

Betting tip: Fulham struggle away and with its history of draws, go for 1-1. It'll give you odds of 6-1.

[White Noise]

Fulham manager Mark Hughes admits: I want Manchester City striker Craig Bellamy


By Sportsmail Reporter


Last updated at 10:33 AM on 13th August 2010


Mark Hughes has become the latest manager to declare an interest in signing

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce and Celtic's Neil Lennon both raised the possibility of recruiting the Welshman on Thursday and Fulham manager Hughes has now joined them.

If Bellamy did move to Craven Cottage it would be the third time Hughes had signed the 31-year-old after also taking him to Blackburn and City, while he played with and under the Fulham boss when he was in charge of Wales.

Bellamy appears surplus to requirements at Eastlands and has been left out of City's squad for their Europa League qualifier against Timisoara despite there being room for two more players in the pool.

Tottenham are also believed to be interested in signing the player, but City are not keen to sell Bellamy to a direct rival.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1302743/Fulham-manager-Mark-Hughes-wants-sign-Craig-Bellamy.html#ixzz0wThTlV00

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http://www.ealinggazette.co.uk/sport/football-ealing/fulham-fc-ealing/2010/08/13/uncertainty-over-three-key-fulham-players-82029-27056577/


Uncertainty over three key Fulham players

Aug 13 2010


By Paul Warburton

FULHAM board the bus today for the trip to Bolton unsure about three key players for the Premiership season opener at the Reebok Stadium.

Mark Schwarzer has come back from international duty with Australia nursing a strained back, with midfielder Dickson Etuhu also struggling with a virus after a 20-hour haul from South Korea.

Left-back Paul Konchesky has a damaged ankle, but apart from long-term injuries Andy Johnson and Philippe Senderos - manager Mark Hughes was confident the others would recover.

He said: "The three mentioned will travel with the team, and I think they'll be OK.

"It will be a psychological boost to get a win, and I'm getting used to playing away on the first day - I've done it five seasons running in my time as a Premiership manager."

[White Noise]

http://hammyend.com/index.php/2010/08/up-next-bolton-wanderers-a-2/

Up next: Bolton Wanderers (a)


by Dan on August 13, 2010

It's almost time for all the talking to stop. You've had the pre-season previews, the worries about whether Fulham might even start the campaign without a permanent manager and then the frisson of excitement as you consider what Mark Hughes might bring to Craven Cottage, and now the start of it all is just around the corner once again. A new manager, a new season – and given the frenzied rumours of the last few days – there may be some interesting new signings to welcome to the squad.

The new faces won't arrive in time to make the squad for tomorrow's testing trip to Bolton, though. Hughes might wish to repeat last season's opening day – a nervy victory at Portsmouth – given how rare away wins have been for the Whites in recent years, but he'll hope to improve on that single success in nineteen attempts this time around. Wanderers, currently under the trusty stewardship of one-time striker Owen Coyle – a man who briefly mesmorised last season's league when he inspired Burnley to a breathtaking start to their campaign, certainly won't be a tricky opposition. Coyle has tried to harness the physicality of Bolton's play, unfairly deemed a legacy of Sam Allardyce's tenure at the Rebook Stadium, with some more attractive passing football and has certainly gone down better than Gary Megson with the home crowd.

They can never be described as a soft touch and are especially difficult to beat at home. Coyle's got a strong spine to his side from the long-serving and yet still underrated Juusi Jaaskelainen in goal and Gary Cahill, perhaps unfortunate not to get a call from Capello given the supposed major surgery he was supposed to be performing on his England side after the World Cup disappointment, in central defence. Coyle's strengthened his back four with the signing of young Real Madrid left back Marco Alonso as well.

The impressive Fabrice Muamba, who has just signed a new contract two year deal, will pull the strings in midfield and Coyle has cleverly strengthened here as well. Robbie Blake, who starred under his new manager at Burnley, has signed a one-year contract while Martin Petrov, the immensely talented Bulgarian who probably didn't get a fair crack of the whip once Manchester City started spending all their millions, was a real capture on a Bosman. Kevin Davies will do the hard yards up front and he'll be partnered again by Ivan Klasnic, who has joined Bolton on a permanent basis after a successful loan spell last term.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of tomorrow's fixture will be how Fulham will line up. You wouldn't expect too many changes from the Hodgson formula in terms of shape, especially as Hughes has yet to sign a player himself in his short time in charge, but the new manager probably won't be as painstakingly cautious away from home. He's nailed his colours firmly to mast and said that Fulham's key players won't be leaving, which would make a radical charge from Fulham's recent transfer history, and it would be interesting to note just how Mark Schwarzer's apparent plea for a move to Arsenal will have gone down.

The big decision will centre around who should support new England international Bobby Zamora up front. The man who was on the opposite side at Wembley on Wednesday has probably staked the most impressive claim. Zoltan Gera, who enjoyed probably as good a season as Zamora last year, fired a clear message to Hughes with an eleven-minute hat-trick in the club's final pre-season friendly against Werder Bremen last weekend and followed that up by making Hungary's goal in midweek, which was a nice way to end ten months in the international wilderness. You get the feeling that going with Gera would leave Clint Dempsey on the substitutes bench, but it would be almost unfathomable to break up a partnership that worked so well for most of last season.

MY FULHAM XI (4-4-1-1): Schwarzer; Pantsil, Konchesky, Hughes, Hangeland; Etuhu, Murphy, Duff, Davies; Gera; Zamora. Subs: Stockdale, Kelly, Baird, Greening, Riise, Dempsey, Elm.

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Fulham offer Bellamy lifeline

GET ME OUT OF HERE ... Craig Bellamy has had enough of life at Manchester City


Published: Today


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FULHAM boss Mark Hughes is ready to end Craig Bellamy's Manchester City nightmare.

Bellamy, 31, fears he will be left to rot at Eastlands after Roberto Mancini confirmed he will not be part of the squad for City's Europa League qualifier against Timisoara.

The Italian must also submit a 25-man selection to the Premier League by September 1 and the striker appears to be surplus to requirements.

Mancini said: "I have to choose 25 and the rest must find another team. Craig is out of the list."

Welshman Bellamy vented his anger on TV earlier this week and now Hughes has joined Celtic in the race to sign him.

Sparky previously managed the striker during spells in charge of City, Blackburn and Wales.

Asked if he wanted to be reunited with Bellamy, Hughes said: "If he comes on the market, and if we're in the position where we can conclude a deal for Craig Bellamy, then yes we would be very interested.

"At the end of the day the way the situation seems to be forming for Craig is that Manchester City won't use him at Premier League level.

"So from Craig's point of view it is very important that he makes the right decision for his career because a wrong decision at this point in time could hurt him."



Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3094311/Fulham-are-set-to-offer-Craig-Bellamy-a-lifeline.html#ixzz0wUWK5MmD