Friday Fulham Stuff (27/11/17)...

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham midfielder Stefan Johansen insists it's everyone's responsibility to chip in with goals
The Norway captain is currently the side's top scorer on four goals, but he doesn't care who scores but insists everyone must take responsibility in front of goal

Stefan Johansen believes it's everyone's responsibility to score goals and it's time for the Fulham players to start taking that upon themselves.

The 26-year-old is currently leading the way in the scoring charts for Slavisa Jokanovic's side, having put away four goals in the 13 games the Whites have played in the Championship so far - double what any other Fulham player has at the moment.

Goals aren't flowing as regularly as they were last season at the moment, where Fulham finished as joint top scorers in the entire division on 85 with Johansen bagging 11 of those goals, but the Norwegian has carried on his goalscoring form into this campaign, something he's been working on adding to his game.

However, Johansen has said that he doesn't care who scores the goals, so long as they win football matches but insists the entire side must take responsibility in front of goal.

He said: "I scored a few goals last year too, it's something I've added to my game and it's always good to help the side with goal, but I don't care who scores the goals, so long as we win the games.



"I think everybody needs to take responsibility for goals and that's what I'm trying to do.

"I think I've done well, I've struggled a bit lately with a groin injury but it's been managed well and we will see what we do but it's been alright.

"The medical team have control of my injury so we'll see what we do in the international break."




http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/fulham-midfielder-stefan-johansen-insists-13815455

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham vs Bolton Wanderers

On Saturday we welcome Bolton Wanderers to the Cottage, who after a tough start to their return back to the championship are starting to find their feet again.

After a successful campaign in League One last season, finishing behind only a rampant Sheffield United, Bolton were always going to find Championship football a much sterner test. Upgrading the squad over the summer with the shackles of a transfer embargo was a challenge, and the squad's lack of quality showed with the team collecting just 2 points from their first 11 games. This quickly rooted Bolton to the bottom of the championship, and prompted one of the bookies put up odds of 1/1000 for Bolton to get relegated.

However, it looks like the tide is starting to turn for Bolton. An impressive home win against Sheffield Wednesday and a credible draw against our neighbours QPR have made the target of climbing out of the bottom three a little less daunting. They'll surely hope to bring some points back up with them on their long journey home on Saturday.

So how did Bolton line up in their most recent game against QPR?




Since recently moving from a 5-3-2 to a more conventional 4-2-3-1, Bolton have seen fortunes turn in their favour – which continued against Rangers. Despite only having a third of the possession, Bolton took the lead with Pratley heading home a well worked corner. Playing focussed direct football, Bolton looked good value for the win. However, a fine flicked finish from Sylla ensured the Rangers took a share of the points.

So, what do Fulham need to look out for when the Trotters visit the Cottage? What can the data tell us about how Bolton play?

Bolton's attack – one dimensional and low quality

Starting with Bolton's attack, what do Fulham need to look out for? Well, the data shows us that Bolton focus their attacks through one man – Gary Madine. The 6'3 target man comfortably attempts the most xG per 90 minutes for Bolton, and would be the first place to look when aiming to stifle the Bolton attack.



So it looks like Madine is the clear focal point of attacks for Bolton. How are the Trotters setting up attacks for their main man? What do Fulham need to look out for?



From the graphic above, you can see that most of the chances coming in to Madine are coming either from corners, or crosses from deep. Very few of these chances are being created centrally – suggesting a lack of a central playmaker for Bolton. Therefore, if Fulham want to cut off chances for the striker, they should focus their defensive efforts in wide areas, and put pressure in the deeper areas where Bolton are putting in crosses.

One other point worth discussing about Bolton's attack is the quality of their shots in general. Bolton on average have the worst shot quality (xG per shot) in the league – meaning on average their shots are less likely to go in compared to any other team in the league. This is due to Bolton tending to shoot from further out on the pitch.

To help visualise this, let's compare them to the team on the other end of the scale: Sheffield Wednesday. The owls are the team which create the most xG per shot – as they tend to shoot from better locations. Take a look at the two team's shot maps below:





Bolton tend to shoot from lower quality areas – with a sizeable proportion of their overall shots come from outside the box. There's also a distinct lack of high quality shots inside the opposition's 6yard box – compared to Wednesday who have a relatively large amount of shots here. Bolton are simply not creating enough high quality chances to really challenge opposition defences.

Bolton's defence – leaky and lopsided

So, that covers Bolton's attack. Next, we should take a look into Bolton's defence. Starting with: where do they tend to concede chances?




To me, this shows a couple of things about Bolton's defence:

Their defence is seriously leaky – and they concede a large amount of chances all over the pitch
Teams are more likely to create chances on their right wing, compared to their left
Why are teams creating more chances on their right flank compared to the left? Well, we can take a look into the defensive output of Bolton's fullbacks (per 90 mins played):



From this, we can see that Little has a much higher defensive output than Taylor – reducing the effectiveness of his opposition's left winger. Not only is he putting in a lot more tackles, but also is winning a lot more of his duels against opposition's opponents. With this information, it's clear that Fulham can use this to try and focus more efforts against the weaker fullback Taylor.

Notes for Slav

So, to summarise the article, what would be notes for Slavisa be this week?

Concentrate defensive efforts out wide – and close down the deep crosses
Isolate Madine, forcing Bolton to shoot with low quality shots from outside the box
Focus attacks on the right wing, and make the most of Taylor's lower defensive output

This article was written with the aid of StrataData, which is property of Stratagem Technologies. StrataData powers the StrataBet Sports Trading Platform, in addition to StrataBet Premium Recommendations.



https://www.fulhamish.co.uk/post/2017-10-26-fulham-vs-bolton-wanderers/

[WhiteJC]

 
Behind the scenes of Fulham training - what really goes on during a Slavisa Jokanovic session?
We got to take an up-close-and-personal look at Fulham training on Thursday as they underwent an open training session at Craven Cottage

Fulham held an open training session at Craven Cottage for fans to enjoy during half term, and GetWestLondon were there to have a behind-the-scenes look.

Normally, training is off limits but the club allowed fans (and us) to have a taste of what regularly happens every day at Motspur Park as they turned the Cottage into their training base for one day only with the entire first team, and some U23 players, taking part.

The first thing I noticed was the togetherness the players seem to have - it's always mentioned in interviews and the like that the team are very close knit and you could clearly see that today. As the players were introduced in groups of three, the players who hadn't yet been called out were doing their best to try and put their team mates off as they entered the Cottage pitch.

Even some of the coaching staff got involved in 'booing' the likes of Kevin McDonald, Yohan Mollo and Stefan Johansen as they entered the pitch.

A lot of clubs have individual cliques which are plain to see, but Fulham don't really seem to have that and the team spirit the players have together transfers onto the pitch - it's a close knit group of players and I think that really helps them as team.

After the side went through their pre-activation stretches and warm-up, it was over to the Riverside Stand to start training, which involved three 6 vs 1 Rondo drills.

The pace of these drills was frightening - I was located in one of the dugouts and it was one of the drills where if you blinked, you'd miss whoever was going in the middle next.

It's no wonder Fulham move the ball about so quickly if they're getting involved in one and two touch Rondos every day - despite the lack of space and the speed at which the man in the middle was moving, they were still able to reach their target of eight passes more often than not.

Next up was a shooting drill, which was a bit complicated for me but it looked like the players had done it many times over at Motspur Park and this is where things got interesting and players started to stand out.

We know Tom Cairney is the skipper and we know why, players look up to him on the pitch and he can turn the tide of a game almost single handedly, but he was very quiet on the training field and allowed his feet to do the talking.

Meanwhile, McDonald and Marcus Bettinelli came alive, constantly shouting encouragement to their team mates as they fired off quality strikes (or saves, in the case of David Button) with Bettinelli being the loudest of the bunch.

It's clear who the vocal players are in the dressing room and from what we saw today, it looks like Fulham have a good mix of those who are able to speak up and those who are more quiet and prefer to do their talking on the pitch.

Interestingly enough, and despite not playing, Michael Madl seemed to be a big member of the first team squad and was all smiles whilst training, scoring arguably the best goal of the shooting session when stuck one in the top bin.

It's a mystery as to why Madl hasn't featured at all this season, but he seemed fully fit and well involved with the first team on Thursday.

On the subject of players fitting in, the three U23 lads who have been training with the first team and were there again this morning didn't look out of place one bit, which is a tad terrifying given their ages.

Matt O'Riley, Tayo Edun and Luca de la Torre were all involved and have been for some time as they were well integrated in the Fulham first team set-up, cracking jokes and getting involved with everyone else.

On the football side of things, all three look to be real players and more than held their own in the first team environment - O'Riley especially, who got on the ball a lot in the game at the end of the session and looked to make things happen.

Towards the end of the session, we got to have a look at how the side do against one another in a game situation, but using only half of the Craven Cottage pitch.

Jokanovic had purposely set the two sides up with a mix of a regular first teamers and squad players - Tomas Kalas paired Madl in defence for one side while Marcelo Djalo and Tim Ream were partnered up the other, while Tom Cairney and Oliver Norwood were in midfield on one team with Kevin McDonald and Stefan Johansen on the other.

It was everything you'd expect an inter-Fulham game to be - fast paced with chances and either end and, surprisingly, some thumping challenges.


Rafa Soares wins the ball (Image: Darren Pepe)


Fulham players fight for the ball (Image: Darren Pepe)


Djalo put in a lovely, well timed tackle on Neeskens Kebano which left the pair on the floor while Oliver Norwood slid in to stop Jordan Graham from finding the back of the net.

In front of goal, Rui Fonte's movement looked sharp and he was being used to spearhead a front three of Graham, himself and Floyd Ayite while Aboubakar Kamara was on the other side and kept coming deep to receive the ball in space.

However, it was Johansen who scored after a nice passing movement cut team Cairney to ribbons, with the Norwegian finishing coolly past Button.

On the injury front, both Johansen and the skipper looked good in the training game, with the club captain controlling play for team Cairney throughout and in my eyes, looked like the Cairney we all want to see back out on the pitch every Saturday.

Finally, I've got to say what a good job Fulham did in holding the open session - it's great for the kids to get close and personal with their stars and each and every player gave a lot of time afterwards to have their photos taken with the spectators and sign autographs.


Marcelo Djalo exchanges the ball (Image: Darren Pepe)

Fulham FC take on Bolton Wanderers at Craven Cottage on Saturday 28th September, 3pm kick-off. Tickets are now on general sale starting at £25 for adults and £15 for junior supporters.

To book your tickets call the Fulham FC Ticket Office on: 0203 871 0810 or online at: www.fulhamfc.com/tickets .




http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/behind-scenes-fulham-training-what-13815642

[WhiteJC]

 
Bolton Wanderers assistant Steve Parkin says squad fired up to end 25-year wait for league win at Fulham

WANDERERS are in exactly the right frame of mind to end their hoodoo at Fulham tomorrow, says Steve Parkin.

It has been 25 years since a Bolton team has claimed three points at Craven Cottage but the Whites assistant has sensed a defiant mood within the camp over the last few days which bodes well for the trip to the capital.

Reece Burke is the only doubt, side-lined with a hip strain, but Phil Parkinson could bring Will Buckley back into the reckoning after the winger recovered from a calf problem.

Four points from six represented a decent return from the last two home games but Parkin is encouraged by what he has seen since the start of the week and believes there could be more to come.

"There has been a feistiness about training, which I really like," he told The Bolton News. "Of course you go away from home and respect the point, which is never a bad result, but what an opportunity to go and put that statistic to bed like we did Bury last season. It's a real motivation.

"In training we've had lads who are out of the side who want to get back in, lads who want to keep hold of their place. It has been competitive and there's nothing at all wrong with that.

"We need to make sure we take that into two tough away games now, starting with Fulham Saturday."

Although the on-off sale of the club has dominated headlines over the last week, Parkin is relieved to say there has been little impact on the players at Lostock.

Ken Anderson's surprise decision to cancel all negotiations with prospective investors from the Far East and Eastern Europe on Wednesday has created a slight air of uncertainty among the supporters but the squad has remained focussed.

"They haven't really said anything about it, to be honest," he said. "As we all know the modern day player stays well-connected with social media, so I'm sure they'll read what's going off.

"But they don't bring it into the training ground. Once they are in, they concentrate on work.

"Whatever happens, happens off the pitch, we have to ignore it. Ken will liaise with Phil (Parkinson) and they have always had a very good working relationship but it's a private matter between him and the chairman."




http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wanderers/15622235.Parkin__We__39_re_fired_up_to_end_Fulham_jinx/

[WhiteJC]

 
The Collins Column: Let's Not Panic

In the first part of a new Fulhamish weekly feature, Jack J Collins takes a look the noise around the club, and appeals for calm in the more outraged sections of the Whites' fanbase

So Fulham lost away at Aston Villa and suddenly the fanbase is on Jokanovic's back, Rui Fonte isn't good enough to play at Championship level and the club is falling backwards into a ruinous state, all brought about by the failures of the stats-based system and the Khan's ownership as a whole. Or, on second thoughts, maybe not.

Some of the comments being thrown about across the Whites' online spectrum are baffling, skewed or simply plain wrong, and the fact remains that people are panicking despite the fact that Fulham have had a reasonably solid start to the season.

Let's look back at things under a calmer eye, shall we? We said in last week's preview that Villa, especially at home, are slowly turning into one of the best sides in this division. Whilst it has been pointed out that Fulham beat them at the Cottage six months ago, and thus claimed that the defeat was evidence of regression, this is grossly unfair in a number of ways.

Back in March, Fulham were aided by a somewhat fortuitous sending off, and still toiled against a resolute unit until Kebano's goal put some gloss on a scoreline. This is not to say we weren't the better team – just to point out that the result could have been different if Ryan Fredericks' tangle with Villa's main man Jonathan Kodjia had been seen in an alternative light by the referee.


Fitting then, that Kodjia was the man who gave Kalas and Ream nightmares through the whole of the last game. Who knows how that home game might have turned out if the man brought in from Bristol City to bolster the Villa attack, had stayed on the pitch for 90 minutes at the Cottage. If his performance was anything like that which he produced at the weekend, then the scoreline might not have looked quite so glossy for FFC.

Slav's Tactical Errors
Surely now is the time to move Ryan Sessegnon to left-wing? (Photo: Rex Features)
In truth, Fulham were outplayed and Slavisa got it wrong. There's no denying this. Playing Rui Fonte on the wing was a bizarre move that many of us tried to work out by suggesting that Fulham were playing a different formation. Unfortunately, it just wasn't true. Fonte is an excellent player, despite the doubts of his ability since he missed a penalty against QPR, but he's not a winger. (If we're using penalties against Rangers as the measuring stick, we may as well also write off Tom Cairney as well after last year's mess at the Cottage).

That was the crucial mistake from Jokanovic but it wasn't the only one. Ryan Sessegnon again looked good going forward, but having to deal with the twin threats of a drifting Kodija and an in-form Albert Adomah, the young No3 looked out of his comfort zone, and left many crying out for the introduction of Rafa Soares, who is surely match-fit by this point.

But let's get onto it, shall we? Fulham have a plethora of wingers – a depth in wide areas that most teams could only dream of. To play Fonte out wide when Yohan Mollo and Neeskens Kebano are chomping at the bit for a start seems not only cruel but also foolish, and that's not even taking into account that Sessegnon could have played higher up or we could have seen a start for young Jordan Graham, who has barely been given a decent run-out at all.

It's also alarmingly evident that there has been lots of criticism for Fonte, played out of position, and yet surprisingly little for Kamara through the centre. If we are to ignore that Kamara spurned an absolute sitter within the first 5 minutes, and then when presented with another shooting opportunity, managed to put the ball out for a throw-on rather than hitting the target whilst in the box, then we're watching his game through rose-tinted spectacles.

Ultimately, whilst Kamara possesses qualities that can make him a threat, he is not half the player Fonte is. Touch, link-up play and awareness are all so crucial to the way that Fulham play, and in a game where we dominated possession for large swathes of time, it seems baffling to me that we didn't revert to a system with inverted wingers and Fonte through the middle. Bringing Ibrahima Cisse on for Johansen whilst chasing the game also seemed like a bizarre move from Slavisa.

It doesn't, however, mean that Jokanovic is suddenly incapable of managing this team. It's been mad this week seeing people calling him a chancer, and suggesting that the team did well last year in spite of Jokanovic rather than alongside him. The gaffer isn't perfect, by any means, but he's earned our respect and trust, and we need to make it clear that we're behind him and the team as they try to fully kick this season into gear.


There's plenty of scope to do that over the next week and Fulham desperately need to take six points off Bolton and Bristol City at home if we're to go into what is potentially the hardest game of the season at Wolves away, with any sort of confidence. Bolton looks the easier game on paper but, in truth, the Trotters have weaponry which will worry the Whites.

Trotter Challenge
Sammy Ameobi grabs a rare goal for Bolton against Sheffield Wednesday
Bolton are set-play specialists. It's not insulting or amusing to say this – it's a fact. Wanderers set new records last season for the amount of goals scored via set plays, and with the aerial threat posed by David Wheater, Mark Beevers and Gary Madine, it's not hard to see why. There's also the fact that Bolton are an exceptionally physical unit. Aside from those mentioned above, former Fulham man Darren Pratley captains the side from the centre of the park, alongside Public Enemy Karl Henry and the immensely talented Josh Vela.

Ex-Reading man Jem Karacan adds some flair, along with Sammy Ameobi and Adam Le Fondre, although the latter has struggled to carry his League One form into the Championship. Former Cardiff midfielder Craig Noone will not be a stranger to anyone at Craven Cottage after his screamer two seasons ago; and Aaron Wilbraham and Adam Armstrong both know how to score goals at this level.

No-one at Fulham, players and fans alike, should be looking at this game and going – "easy win". Bolton will come to hamper, frustrate, break up play and look for a winner via a set piece that they can then protect. Fulham will need to be patient, creative and clinical – if they are, then there is no reason that the game couldn't turn into a rout.

It's getting into the middle part of the season, and Fulham need a decent run if they want to be in the mix for automatics by the time that May comes around. We're still an exceptionally good team and Jokanovic is still a great manager. Tom Cairney is on the way back and we might finally see Rafa Soares – let's stay positive.

You Whites.



https://www.fulhamish.co.uk/post/2017-10-27-the-collins-column-lets-not-panic/

[RaySmith]

Behind the scenes of Fulham training - what really goes on during a Slavisa Jokanovic session?
We got to take an up-close-and-personal look at Fulham training on Thursday as they underwent an open training session at Craven Cottage

Fulham held an open training session at Craven Cottage for fans to enjoy during half term, and GetWestLondon were there to have a behind-the-scenes look.

Normally, training is off limits but the club allowed fans (and us) to have a taste of what regularly happens every day at Motspur Park as they turned the Cottage into their training base for one day only with the entire first team, and some U23 players, taking part.

The first thing I noticed was the togetherness the players seem to have - it's always mentioned in interviews and the like that the team are very close knit and you could clearly see that today. As the players were introduced in groups of three, the players who hadn't yet been called out were doing their best to try and put their team mates off as they entered the Cottage pitch.

Even some of the coaching staff got involved in 'booing' the likes of Kevin McDonald, Yohan Mollo and Stefan Johansen as they entered the pitch.

A lot of clubs have individual cliques which are plain to see, but Fulham don't really seem to have that and the team spirit the players have together transfers onto the pitch - it's a close knit group of players and I think that really helps them as team.

After the side went through their pre-activation stretches and warm-up, it was over to the Riverside Stand to start training, which involved three 6 vs 1 Rondo drills.

The pace of these drills was frightening - I was located in one of the dugouts and it was one of the drills where if you blinked, you'd miss whoever was going in the middle next.

It's no wonder Fulham move the ball about so quickly if they're getting involved in one and two touch Rondos every day - despite the lack of space and the speed at which the man in the middle was moving, they were still able to reach their target of eight passes more often than not.

Next up was a shooting drill, which was a bit complicated for me but it looked like the players had done it many times over at Motspur Park and this is where things got interesting and players started to stand out.

We know Tom Cairney is the skipper and we know why, players look up to him on the pitch and he can turn the tide of a game almost single handedly, but he was very quiet on the training field and allowed his feet to do the talking.

Meanwhile, McDonald and Marcus Bettinelli came alive, constantly shouting encouragement to their team mates as they fired off quality strikes (or saves, in the case of David Button) with Bettinelli being the loudest of the bunch.

It's clear who the vocal players are in the dressing room and from what we saw today, it looks like Fulham have a good mix of those who are able to speak up and those who are more quiet and prefer to do their talking on the pitch.

Interestingly enough, and despite not playing, Michael Madl seemed to be a big member of the first team squad and was all smiles whilst training, scoring arguably the best goal of the shooting session when stuck one in the top bin.

It's a mystery as to why Madl hasn't featured at all this season, but he seemed fully fit and well involved with the first team on Thursday.

On the subject of players fitting in, the three U23 lads who have been training with the first team and were there again this morning didn't look out of place one bit, which is a tad terrifying given their ages.

Matt O'Riley, Tayo Edun and Luca de la Torre were all involved and have been for some time as they were well integrated in the Fulham first team set-up, cracking jokes and getting involved with everyone else.

On the football side of things, all three look to be real players and more than held their own in the first team environment - O'Riley especially, who got on the ball a lot in the game at the end of the session and looked to make things happen.

Towards the end of the session, we got to have a look at how the side do against one another in a game situation, but using only half of the Craven Cottage pitch.

Jokanovic had purposely set the two sides up with a mix of a regular first teamers and squad players - Tomas Kalas paired Madl in defence for one side while Marcelo Djalo and Tim Ream were partnered up the other, while Tom Cairney and Oliver Norwood were in midfield on one team with Kevin McDonald and Stefan Johansen on the other.

It was everything you'd expect an inter-Fulham game to be - fast paced with chances and either end and, surprisingly, some thumping challenges.


Rafa Soares wins the ball (Image: Darren Pepe)


Fulham players fight for the ball (Image: Darren Pepe)


Djalo put in a lovely, well timed tackle on Neeskens Kebano which left the pair on the floor while Oliver Norwood slid in to stop Jordan Graham from finding the back of the net.

In front of goal, Rui Fonte's movement looked sharp and he was being used to spearhead a front three of Graham, himself and Floyd Ayite while Aboubakar Kamara was on the other side and kept coming deep to receive the ball in space.

However, it was Johansen who scored after a nice passing movement cut team Cairney to ribbons, with the Norwegian finishing coolly past Button.

On the injury front, both Johansen and the skipper looked good in the training game, with the club captain controlling play for team Cairney throughout and in my eyes, looked like the Cairney we all want to see back out on the pitch every Saturday.

Finally, I've got to say what a good job Fulham did in holding the open session - it's great for the kids to get close and personal with their stars and each and every player gave a lot of time afterwards to have their photos taken with the spectators and sign autographs.


Marcelo Djalo exchanges the ball (Image: Darren Pepe)

Fulham FC take on Bolton Wanderers at Craven Cottage on Saturday 28th September, 3pm kick-off. Tickets are now on general sale starting at £25 for adults and £15 for junior supporters.

To book your tickets call the Fulham FC Ticket Office on: 0203 871 0810 or online at: www.fulhamfc.com/tickets .




http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/behind-scenes-fulham-training-what-13815642

Very interesting, positive report.
Thanks. :54:

[filham]

Yes , it is good to see Stefan Johansen among the goals and he is right when he says the important thing is for us to score goals as a team rather than to focus on particular players scoring.

However it is not unreasonable for us fans to expect a goal or two from Fonte this week end, a singe goal in eight games from a player signed as a striker and costing us several milliions  is below par.