Sunday Fulham Stuff (17/12/17)...

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Results

Friday
Sheff Wed	0 - 1	Wolves
Saturday
Birmingham	1 - 2	QPR
Bolton	0 - 1	Burton
Brentford	0 - 0	Barnsley
Bristol City	2 - 1	Nottm Forest
Derby	2 - 0	Aston Villa
Millwall	2 - 1	Middlesborough
Preston NE	1 - 0	Sheff Utd
Sunderland	2 - 0	Fulham
Cardiff	1 - 0	Hull
Ipswich	2 - 0	Reading
Leeds	1 - 0	Norwich

[WhiteJC]

 
Championship round-up: Sunderland claim first home win of 2017

Sunderland 1-0 Fulham

Better late than never! Sunderland finally claimed their first home victory of 2017 as 18-year-old Josh Maja's goal was enough to see off Fulham.

The much-maligned Black Cats were close to going a whole calendar year without winning in front of their fans, but an inspired doubled substitution from new boss Chris Coleman turned the tide at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland had not won at home since 17 December 2016, when they beat Watford in the Premier League. There have been signs of improvement since Coleman took over on Wearside and he was desperate to see the 21-match run without a home win - a day short of going a full calendar year without winning on their own turf - come to an end before Christmas.

It appeared they could be frustrated again when good efforts from Lewis Grabban and James Vaughan were saved by Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli.

But, five minutes after being brought on for his senior debut, youngster Maja was an instant hero as he found the net on 77 minutes to finally give Sunderland's beleaguered fans something to cheer about.

It was a tidy finish too from the academy graduate and it was enough to lift Sunderland out of the Championship's bottom three against a Fulham side which had won three of its previous four games.



Read more at https://talksport.com/football/championship-round-sunderland-claim-first-home-win-2017-and-rest-saturdays-results#uS2oU7SDREabSlcP.99

[WhiteJC]

 
Sunderland delight as Josh Maja sinks Fulham to end barren home year

As the final whistle blew a joyous smile spread across Josh Maja's face and looked as if it would take some removing. Five minutes after stepping off the bench to make his league debut for Chris Coleman's side, the 18-year-old striker expertly turned his marker, shot low and scored the goal that would secure Sunderland's first home win for 364 days.

The 12 months since Watford were beaten here on 17 December last year have been particularly grim – and sometimes downright gruesome – for the Wearsiders but, remarkably, a crowd of 25,904 turned up to see Maja lift Sunderland out of the relegation zone and offer hope of a brighter future.

"I'm very happy for our supporters, they've suffered for the last year and we were desperate to give them something to smile about," said Coleman, whose evident relief was tempered by the need to remind everyone that one home win should not represent a cause for an open-top bus parade. "The signs are promising and we're going to enjoy the moment but it's only three points, a small gain."

He has pledged to "endeavour to make the Stadium of Light a fortress again" but if the inspired introduction of Maja's quick feet and even sharper movement represented a significant step along that road, the former Wales manager had begun by rebuilding his defence.

Accordingly Coleman – whose five games since succeeding Simon Grayson have produced three clean sheets – armed Sunderland with a five-man defence. That quintet lived dangerously when Ryan Sessegnon swiftly advanced from left-back and sent a menacing ball whizzing across the area. Robbin Ruiter, the home goalkeeper, must have momentarily feared the worst but the delivery was too slick for Stefan Johansen whose out-stretched boot could not quite connect.

Reprieved, Coleman's players regrouped, started seeing quite a bit of the ball and looked a potentially decent team. With Darron Gibson impressing in the home midfield – at times it was tempting to wonder if the Gibson horribly prone to having shockers on this ground had a twin brother who was standing in – Fulham were definitely not having things all their own way.

Yet while Marcus Bettinelli saved competently from Gibson and George Honeyman, Slavisa Jokanovic's side were being exposed only to half chances. In contrast Ruiter was stretched to the limit as he did well to deny Johansen. The former Utrecht goalkeeper then reacted smartly to quash the danger after a tackle from the excellent, much-improved Tyias Browning had prevented Tom Cairney from scoring in two frantic minutes late in the first half.

As the interval approached, Fulham had upped their game with one particular counterattack leaving Ruiter once again looking relieved as an unmarked Oliver Norwood headed Rui Fonte's cross fractionally wide.

Lewis Grabban's header from Adam Matthews' left-wing cross might well have beaten Bettinelli but it was skewed off target after deflecting off a defender.

With Cairney beginning to show off his class sporadically, Jokanovic's players dominated possession for a while but even if it was, at times, possible to see why Fulham value the Scotland midfielder at £20m, the visitors were never completely in control.

Neither were Sunderland but they did begin the second half by upping the tempo, creating a flurry of chances and being extremely unfortunate not to take the lead.

Hats off to Bettinelli for a fabulous save to deny James Vaughan. The striker's powerful header from around eight yards out appeared to be destined for the bottom corner until the goalkeeper dived low and tipped the ball back upwards on to the bar and away to safety.

The time had nearly come for a bold double substitution involving Coleman withdrawing Grabban and Vaughan while introducing Maja, ironically once part of Fulham's youth system, and his fellow bright young striker Joel Asoro.

When Maja rewarded such faith by meeting Matthews' low ball, swivelling away from a defender and beating Bettinelli from around eight yards, Sunderland's manager seemed temporarily frozen in a sort of shell-shocked disbelief before briefly blowing his cheeks out with sheer relief. "I've been very impressed with Josh," Coleman said. "He's different, he gives us a big injection of personality."



https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/dec/16/sunderland-fulham-championship-match-report

[WhiteJC]

 
Head Coach Reaction

Slaviša Jokanović was "disappointed" that his side couldn't find the cutting edge in the opposition box, as Fulham lost 1-0 to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

The sides went into the break level at 0-0, but the substitute Josh Maja scored on his debut, netting the game's lone goal in the 77th minute.

"We are disappointed," the Head Coach admitted. "We made enough chances to come back and bring something home, but we weren't clinical in the Sunderland box. We paid an expensive price for one big mistake.

"We wanted to score first, and we showed clear intentions about how we wanted to do it. We came here to win the game, to push hard to get the three points, but we didn't show enough quality.

"We had control of the game. We tried to equalize, we tried to win the game, we played it around well, but in the end we made one big mistake where they scored the goal and we didn't concentrate enough in the moments we created. This was a really disappointing situation for us.

"We tried to find our standard, we tried to dominate the game. We dominated many minutes and created many chances, but we could not finish these chances. When we don't finish our chances, this kind of situation can happen.

The Whites had several chances on goal, but, despite their best efforts, weren't able to find the equalizer.

"We hit the target enough times to score a goal, but this is not the first time this type of situation has happened this season.

"This is not about is it fair or is it unfair, or if we deserved it or didn't deserve it. We made enough chances to win the game today, but in the end the result is like this, and in the end we must find a solution."



http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2017/december/16/head-coach-reaction-sunderland

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Fulham beaten at Sunderland despite Bettinelli heroics

Sunderland 1 Fulham 0

Fulham suffered their seventh Championship defeat of the season as Sunderland earned their first home win in almost a year.

The Whites looked set to hang on for a point, mainly thanks to an inspired performance by goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli.

But substitute Josh Maja fired in the winner on his home debut within five minutes of coming off the bench with 14 minutes remaining.

The visitors piled forward in the latter stages but were unable to create a telling chance.

They could easily have been more than a goal down at that stage, with Bettinelli making brilliant saves to twice deny Lewis Grabban and also keeping out efforts from James Vaughan and George Honeyman.

Fulham only managed three attempts on goal with Rui Fonte forcing Black Cats keeper to Robbin Ruiter to tip his strike wide, while Oliver Norwood saw a header go narrowly wide in the first period.

But Sunderland were good value for their first home success since 17 December 2016, when they beat Watford.

Fulham: Bettinelli; Fredericks, Kalas [De La Torre 89], Ream, Sessegnon; McDonald; Cairney, Norwood [Graham 72]; Ojo, Johansen, Fonte [Kamara 78]. Subs not used: Button, Odoi, Djalo, Cisse.



http://www.westlondonsport.com/fulham/fulham-beaten-sunderland-despite-bettinelli-heroics

[WhiteJC]

 
Sunderland 1-0 Fulham: Teenage debutant Josh Maja saves Chris Coleman's Black Cats from embarrassing record with late strike

    Sunderland were one day short of going a full 12 months without a home win
    Chris Coleman's side secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Fulham on Saturday
    Sunderland had lost their previous 21 matches at the Stadium of Light
    Josh Maja scored the winning goal to avoid the record for the Black Cats

After 364 days without a win at the Stadium of Light, who do you turn to? How about the teenager who has not played a single second of that miserable 21-match run?

For the past 12 months Josh Maja has spent his time either in the treatment room or playing for the club's Under 23s in front of a few hundred spectators.

So at least when Chris Coleman threw him on for his league debut with 17 minutes remaining, the 18-year-old had no mental fatigue from the trauma of that unwanted British record.


Josh Maja ended a run of home defeats stretching back 21 matches for Sunderland


The 18-year-old debutant scored with little over 10 minutes remaining at the Stadium of Light


The Black Cats were one day short of going a full year without a home victory


Chris Coleman's side move out of the relegation zone for the first time since September

Within four minutes he had his chance. There was still work to be done when Adam Matthews fed him a pass inside the penalty area. What followed he made look easy, one touch to control and spin, another to finish.

Easy, however, it was not. Nothing has been in these parts of late. Sunderland have found every which way not to win a football match in front of their own fans. They've had red cards, own goals, lost leads and late concessions.

Maja, then, felt like Coleman was playing his joker. And how the home fans laughed on full-time when the realisation of the victory sunk in, just 24 hours shy of a full year since their last.

To add to the joy of the occasion for the young hero, this was against the club he quit to join the Black Cats in 2015.

Former Fulham boss Coleman, meanwhile, will take no added satisfaction from the identity of the opposition, for a win alone is cause enough for celebration. This has lifted them out of the bottom three for the first time since September.

Coleman, for whom this was just his second home match, said: 'I'm more happy for the people around the club if I'm honest. I've only been here a few weeks, they have been suffering for the past year.

'I'm so pleased for them, it's a great feeling. It's good to get rid of that unwanted record.'

But Coleman warned: 'This is only a start. There are so many more games and challenges to face. But I felt that at the end, the fans were ecstatic - and I would be too if I was them.' 

Coleman, though, must take the credit. He withdrew top scorer Lewis Grabban and strike partner James Vaughan when he introduced Nigerian striker Maja and teenage Swede Joel Asoro.

'I just felt that Fulham would have known nothing about them and they were a little bit different to what we had already,' said the manager.

'I had no qualms about putting them on. We wanted to win the game and they gave us impact.'

If Sunderland are to avoid the drop to League One, however, they must find a way of keeping 11-goal Grabban at the club beyond January.

The on-loan Bournemouth striker has a recall clause in his season-long stay and his parent club could choose to cash in amid interest from several Championship sides.

He was at the heart of everything good about the hosts during an impressive first half, even if his finishing was a little wayward. He went close with two headers and laid on another chance spurned by Vaughan, who was then unlucky to be denied by Marcus Bettinelli's instinctive save after the break.

For all of the threat his front two posed, perhaps this was not going to be their day and Coleman responded by introducing the kids. It proved the inspiration they needed - it has only taken 364 days.




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5186425/Sunderland-1-0-Fulham-Maja-strike-avoids-record.html#ixzz51VQJoYpG
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Slavisa Jokanovic says Fulham must address misfiring attack after Sunderland defeat

His team created a number of chances during the game, but failed to put the ball in the back of the net, meaning Sunderland's 77 minute strike proved decisive; something Jokanovic wasn't happy about.

Slavisa Jokanovic says he needs to find a solution to his striking woes after Fulham fired a blank against Sunderland.

His team created a number of chances during the game, but failed to put the ball in the back of the net, meaning Sunderland's 77th minute strike proved decisive; something Jokanovic wasn't happy about.

He said: "We didn't play very well.


(Image: Harry Murphy/Getty Images)

"We had the control of the game and created the chances, but didn't score the goal.

"If you cannot put the ball in the net it's important not to lose the goal. It was weak defending when they scored the goal. We tried to equalise and tried to win the game, we played well but made one big mistake when they scored the goal and didn't concentrate in the chances we created.

"This is not the first time and I haven't found a solution to avoid this situation.

"We shot seven times, which is enough to score the goal but it's not the first time that this kind of situation has happened this season. We don't score goals like we did in the past. It's a problem but we don't have a solution. When you make one mistake and are not clinical like today, this situation can happen.

"We must find a solution."



http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/slavisa-jokanovic-says-fulham-must-14047813

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Fulham boss responds to Lewis Grabban interest as Wolves target January move for Sunderland striker

Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic is looking for a "solution" to his striking woes - but refused to be drawn on January target Lewis Grabban.

The 29-year-old has been a revelation since arriving on a season-long loan deal, scoring 11 goals in a struggling Sunderland side, and has attracted attention from several Championship clubs ahead of January. The Echo understands league leaders Wolves want to sign him on a loan deal next month with a view to a permanent move next summer, with Fulham also keen to sign the Bournemouth striker. The Cherries have a recall clause in the loan deal and with Grabban fit, playing every week and scoring, his stock hasn't been higher for a number of seasons should they decide to sell. Sunderland didn't pay a loan fee and are paying a third of Grabban's £30,000 a week wages. Bournemouth are open to cashing in on the striker, who it is understood will see his wages on the south coast rise to £40,000 a week from next season. A loan move with a view to a permanent transfer may appeal to the Cherries.

Cash-strapped Sunderland don't have the same financial muscle to sign Grabban on a permanent deal and it seems increasingly likely he could depart Wearside next month.

Fulham fired a blank against Sunderland and became the first team in 364 days to leave Wearside without any points, Josh Maja's 77th minute winner sealing a huge win. Defeat frustrated Fulham boss Jokanovic but he refused to be drawn on Grabban. He said: "It is not my job talking about [him], he is a Sunderland player in this moment. I don't have any comment." Jokanovic added: "We had the control of the game and created the chances, but didn't score the goal.

"If you cannot put the ball in the net it's important not to lose the goal. This is not the first time and I haven't found a solution to avoid this situation. "We don't score goals like we did in the past. It's a problem but we don't have a solution. When you make one mistake and are not clinical like today, this situation can happen. "We must find a solution." Sunderland boss Chris Coleman has already admitted Grabban's future is up in the air but the Black Cats are yet to hear whether Bournemouth will recall the striker. Earlier this week Eddie Howe admitted Bournemouth were planning talks with Grabban to discuss his future.

Coleman, speaking on Friday, said: "Obviously he is contracted to us until the end of the season, there is a break clause in January so it is Bournemouth's prerogative if they want to sell the player. "Looking at the comments we need to be proactive. It is a position anyway were I think we need to bring in a fresh face as well, regardless."



Read more at: https://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/football/sunderland-afc/fulham-boss-responds-to-lewis-grabban-interest-as-wolves-target-january-move-for-sunderland-striker-1-8914343

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Tottenham face £30million transfer bill as they chase Fulham's Ryan Sessegnon to replace Manchester United target Danny Rose

Teen left-back would cost £20m — with twin brother and team-mate Steven, who would be loaned back, another £10m

Tottenham will have to pay £20million if they want Ryan Sessegnon as the replacement for wantaway Danny Rose .

England left-back Rose is expected to quit north London for Manchester United next month in a £50m deal, and 17-year-old Sessegnon is the Fulham man wanted to fill the gap.

Although, there will be stiff negotiating to be done as Spurs also want twin brother Steven included in the deal.

The England youth international, who can play in defence or midfield, would cost another £10m.

Tottenham are in pole position, having been tracking the brothers for more than two years.

They would let Steven stay at Fulham for another 18 months, but want Ryan next month if they can agree terms.



http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/tottenham-face-30million-transfer-bill-11707087