Thursday Fulham Stuff - 29/08/19...

[WhiteJC]

Two Losses In Quick Succession For Fulham But It's Not As Bad As It Seems

Two defeats, at Craven Cottage, in the space of a matter of days have dampened the anticipation levels that had built up after a run of three successive victories.

On Saturday, Fulham were beaten, at home, in the Championship by Nottingham Forest and, last night, they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by the Premier League side, Southampton.

But should we be that concerned?

My belief is NO!

Nottingham Forest, as they proved last night by beating Derby County, in the Carabao Cup, are a decent side.

Southampton, a Premier League side, arrived at Craven Cottage with their boss, Ralph Hasenhuttl having already stated that he was going to field a strong side as he wanted the club to do well I the domestic cup competitions, something the supporters of the south coast side would surely appreciate.

As it turned out, the eleven selected by Scott Parker did the club proud and, on another night, the result could have been different.

Instead, it was the name of Southampton that goes into the draw for the third-round courtesy of a goal from Michael Obafemi.

As for Fulham, it's time to pick ourselves up and concentrate on the forthcoming Championship fixture, away to Cardiff City, this Friday evening and make sure two defeats on the bounce doesn't become three.

COYW's



https://fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/two-losses-in-quick-succession-for-fulham-but-its-not-as-bad-as-it-seems/

[WhiteJC]

Fulham player completes permanent transfer 'after disassociating' with Cottagers

Marcelo Djaló signed a three-year deal at Fulham after joining them from Spanish side Lugo in 2017.

Last summer, the English side allowed the defender to join Segunda Division side Extremadura on a season-long loan deal, but his stay was cut short and he returned to his parent club in January.

The 25-year-old did not feature for the Cottagers last season and earlier reports indicated the centre-back was out of favour at Fulham.

On August 27th, we relayed news from Spain that the Barcelona-born player was expected to rejoin Lugo on a loan deal and the two clubs were 'close' to reaching an agreement for the transfer.

Marcelo still had a year left on his contract with the Championship side. However, he terminated his contract with Fulham and completed a switch to Lugo on Tuesday.

This was confirmed by Lugo's official website as they state Marcelo arrives 'after disassociating' from Fulham. He has signed a three-year deal, which will keep him at La Liga 2 side until 2022.



http://sportwitness.co.uk/fulham-player-completes-permanent-transfer-another-club-disassociating-cottagers/

[WhiteJC]

Parker Must Change Fulham's Style Of Play If They Are To Be Taken Seriously As Promotion Challengers

With three wins on the bounce, the last being an emphatic mauling of Millwall 4-0, Scott Parker seemed convinced that the possession style of play was to be Fulham's route to success this season.

I am not on his side for that way of thinking. Forest came to the Cottage last Saturday and suffered similar statistics when it came to possession of the ball, however, they were not frightened to attack the home side as they were well aware of Fulham's defensive frailties.

Although the four-goal demolition of Millwall looked good on paper, and the amount of possession backed up that scoreline, in reality, at times it was quite boring to watch. Of course, I am delighted we won, and by a nice margin, but if we had attacked much quicker at times, we could have
netted double figures.

I knew that Forest would not be as poor coming forward as Millwall were. Fulham got beaten at home, and by a side that had yet to prove any quality looking at their early results this season.

Possession style football I believe should be left to the best teams in the world such as Man City and Barcelona, who have the players with the needed skill levels that can pass their way into scoring goals.

Parker may argue that if a team is chasing shadows and cannot get the ball, they are wasting energy and tire quickly. This is often not the case when teams play Fulham. We tend to pass the ball sideways and backwards far too often, even when building up an attack and our strikers are waiting for the ball to be delivered up to them. It often results in a pass back to Bettinelli, who has been instructed to pass the ball out at almost every occasion, and ultimately cost us the three points when young Sessegnon was robbed of the ball against Forest.

Parker must allow his players to change things up constantly during the game. We have probably the best striker in the Championship in Mitrovic who is a master of winning and holding the ball up allowing quick attacks from our two amazingly fast fellow strikers in Cavaleiro and Knockaert. We also have Cairney and Johansen ready to speed up our attacking style, but spend too much time knocking short sideways and backward passes to our defenders. Harry Arter is a very hard-working midfielder, who could benefit from quicker attacking motions.

If we are to be successful this season, our play needs to change, and we need to show the rest of this league just how good we are as a goal-scoring side. I could see our three strikers rattling up twenty to thirty goals apiece this year. If we let in a few during the campaign, so what, we are capable of out-scoring any team in the Championship.

How exciting a season this could be!



https://fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/parker-must-change-fulhams-style-of-play-if-they-are-to-be-taken-seriously-as-promotion-challengers/

[WhiteJC]

How realistic is a salary cap for clubs in the Football League? We asked an expert...

Bury have met their tragic fate, and Bolton's two-week countdown has begun. As football finance guru Kieran Maguire points out, clubs' wage bills are the major concern with secure futures

Kieran Maguire is a Senior Teacher in Accountancy at the University of Liverpool and runs the excellent priceoffootball.com

What did Notts County, Reading, Morecambe, Southend, Bolton, Bury, Macclesfield and Oldham have in common during the 2018/19 season?

The answer is that they all failed to pay wages at least once, leading to some commentators suggesting that a wage cap is needed in the domestic game.

But how much is too much?

UEFA recommend that clubs pay no more than 70% of their income in wages. In the Premier League, this 'red line' was surprisingly exceeded by eight clubs in 2017/18, the last season for which there are published figures.

What's noticeable in the top flight is that the self-styled Big Six are all well below the danger limit – the clear significance that participation in UEFA competitions has for their income totals.

The three clubs relegated that season, Stoke, West Brom and Swansea, all exceeded the danger level – perhaps due to broadcasting money being distributed by the Premier League via clubs' final position in the table.

Championship: the Wild West of football finance

The figures are far more alarming in the Championship. Over the past five seasons, second-tier clubs have generated income from matchday, broadcasting, commercial and parachute payments of £3.03 billion. Wages in the same period? £3.13 billion.

The biggest rise in that period took place in 2016/17, as the new Premier League TV deal kicked in and resulted in a 70% rise in cash from BT and Sky. This filtered through to the EFL in the form of increased parachute and solidarity payments – effectively, handouts from the Premier League to EFL clubs that don't receive parachute payments. These increased from £2.3m to £4.3m that season.

In 2015, former Tottenham owner Alan Sugar said that the top flight's new TV deal would be like 'prune juice' – that is, the money inherited from it would simply "go in one end and out the other".

He's been proved correct. Increases in income have been immediately converted into wages as agents and players have demanded their share of the extra TV money, as evidenced in 2016/17 by a £167m income boost being absorbed by a £161m rise in staff costs.

The following season, wages in the Championship increased by an additional 11% as clubs such as Aston Villa, Birmingham and Derby went for broke under owners who wanted promotion at all costs – resulting in near liquidation, a nine-point penalty and creative accountants inventing cunning schemes that would make Baldrick in Blackadder doff his cap.

With Championship clubs coughing up more in wages than they're generating in income, they are making losses before they even pay for switching on the floodlights.

Wage spending at this level has led to losses in the Championship doubling over the last five years, up to £570m in 2017/18, despite the theoretical restraint of the EFL's 'profitability and sustainability' version of Financial Fair Play (FFP).

These losses can only be financed by player sales (which tend to be volatile from season to season), owners underwriting them (risky given events at Villa, Bolton, Sunderland and other clubs where the owner is in a can't pay/won't pay situation), or by clubs agreeing to some form of wage restraint.

There seems to be little will for this from club owners, however, and ultimately they're the ones who will vote on any changes to how club finances are organised.

Leagues One and Two: Acronym City

There is (in theory, anyway) already wage control in existence via the snappily named 'Salary Cost Management Protocol' (SCMP) rules – part of the EFL's 108-page document that governs FFP. Player wage costs are broadly restricted to 60% of income in League One and 50% in League Two.

But not all clubs in the lower leagues publish wage data, with many using legal loopholes to avoid disclosing it. The clubs that do show their wage costs reveal that most are above the UEFA-recommended 70% threshold – some by huge amounts.

So how do clubs manage this when they have the SCMP limits? Well, the answer can be found by carefully reviewing the regulations' small print.

Different interpretations of income and what constitutes player wage costs mean that the emphasis from some clubs is on 'compliance' with the rules, rather than keeping a lid on wages. Chesterfield were fined £12,500 in 2018 by the FA for paying them through a third party.

Types of wage cap

There are, realistically, two types of wage cap that could be implemented. There could be a 'hard' cap, where every club is given a maximum total wage bill to spend on players. It's good for competitive balance, so highly unlikely to be supported by those clubs that have a financial advantage over their rivals.

The alternative is a soft cap, where the wage bill is a percentage of income – perhaps like in MLS, where clubs can have one or two marquee players whose pay packet is excluded from the wage total.

Conclusion and recommendations

Football clubs, especially those in the EFL, are in increasing danger of insolvency and there is no doubt that poor wage cost control is a significant contributory factor.

A cap would cause havoc in the Championship, however, given the financial disparity between clubs because of parachute payments up to £41m. The result would surely be promotion and relegation becoming even more of a yo-yo situation.

Even if rules are implemented, clubs will look for loopholes; some reckless owners are impatient for promotion and want to spend their money on players. In 2015, Derby County signed Tom Ince but paid his mother £700,000 for 'scouting services' to avoid increasing the wage bill too much. Ex-chief executive Sam Rush agreed 10 'sham' player scouting agreements, according to court papers filed against him.

Will they ever learn? This cannot go on.



Read more at https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/how-realistic-a-salary-cap-clubs-football-league-we-asked-expert#1ERuIgsrUsxE83RL.99

[WhiteJC]

3 things we clearly learnt about Fulham after Carabao Cup exit

Fulham were comfortably beaten 1-0  by Premier League Southampton at Craven Cottage on Tuesday night in the second round of the Carabao Cup.

Michael Obafemi's tap-in just before the hour settled what was at times an unbearably dull affair in South-West London.

Scott Parker made nine changes to the side who were beaten by Nottingham Forest at the weekend, with Aleksandr Mitrovic, Tom Cairney, Anthony Knockaert and Ivan Cavaleiro dropping out of the squad completely.

But what did we learn about the Whites?

Here are THREE things we noticed...

Prioritising the league
It was to be expected, and you cannot blame Parker too much for doing so, but the performance made it obvious where the club's priorities lay this season.

Fulham are in a great position to win an immediate return to the Premier League so getting knocked out of the League Cup, a tournament they have no real chance of winning, makes sense.

Nine changes made and their three best attackers dropping out of the squad completely showed next to no intent of progressing.

Cairney crucial
One thing that was obvious from last night's display was the distinct lack of creativity in the midfield.

Josh Onomah impressed on his debut, showing some neat touches, whilst Johansen showed his usual busy, energy, but ultimately both lacked the ability to unlock a defence and create a chance.

With a lot of focus on the front-three, it may well be the captain that future opposition should look to silence first and foremost.

Rodak puts the pressure on
Possibly the biggest positive to emerge from the match was the performance of Marek Rodak in the Fulham goal.

With Southampton the only side creating openings in the second period, Rodak was frequently called into action, keeping Nathan Redmond, Danny Ings and Oriol Romeu out when each will have expected to score.

Marcus Bettinelli will now surely be looking over his shoulder in coming weeks and will be keen not to make any mistakes.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/3-things-we-clearly-learnt-about-fulham-after-carabao-cup-exit/

[WhiteJC]

Match Preview: Cardiff City vs. Fulham

Cardiff City will host Fulham at CCS as the Bluebirds continue their 2019/20 Sky Bet Championship campaign on Friday night – kick-off at 7:45pm.

Tickets are still available for this fixture! Click here to secure your seat.

The Opposition

Fulham are currently fifth on the Sky Bet Championship table, having gathered nine points from their five matches played so far in the 2019/20 season. The Cottagers have won three of these matches so far, with their most recent victory coming in the form of a 4-0 home win against Millwall on Wednesday, August 21st.

Ivan Cavaleiro scored a brace during the match, with Anthony Knockaert and Aleksandar Mitrović each getting a goal each, putting the game out of sight for the visitors.

Mitrović is currently Fulham's top goalscorer in the Cottagers' current league campaign, having scored four goals in five appearances. The Serbian striker scored 11 goals from 37 appearances last season as Fulham played in the Premier League, and was the club's top scorer for that campaign.

Before joining the South West London side on an initial loan in February 2018, the 24-year-old played for Newcastle United in the Premier League and Championship. In his debut season for the Magpies, Aleksandar scored nine goals in 34 league appearances.

The Cottagers were knocked out of the Carabao Cup in Round Two on Tuesday night, as they faced Premier League side Southampton at Craven Cottage. The Saints took the lead in the 57th minute through 19-year-old striker Michael Obafemi, who turned home a cross at the far post to score his second goal of his career.

In our last match against Fulham at CCS, City came away with their first victory of the 2018/19 Premier League campaign. Despite the visitors going ahead with ten minutes played, Josh Murphy equalised, with the Bluebirds soon taking the lead for themselves shortly afterwards.

With the score level at 2-2 before the interval, Callum Paterson took the lead once more for the hosts in the 65th minute, before Kadeem Harris scored City's fourth with minutes of the match to spare, as the side took their first three points of the season.

In the Hot Seat

Scott Parker has been head coach at Fulham since May 2019, having previously stepped in as caretaker manager in February, replacing Claudio Rainieri who had himself joined the club in November 2018 following the departure of Slaviša Jokanović.

A former player, Parker's career spanned nearly 20 years, beginning at Charlton Athletic, with whom he was promoted twice to the Premier League from the First Division in 1998 and 2000. Following spells at Chelsea and Newcastle United (winning the 2006 Intertoto Cup at the latter), Scott made 113 league appearances for West Ham United between 2007 and 2011, before joining Tottenham Hotspur in the 2011-12 season. He made 50 appearances for Spurs before leaving for Craven Cottage in 2013, and made 119 appearances across seasons in both the Premier League and Championship.

Since retiring as a player, Parker has since managed 16 matches for the Cottagers, winning six and losing ten. Being relegated to the Championship at the end of the 2018/19 season, Parker's side has won three of their five league matches played so far this season.

Player Connection

Harry Arter made 25 appearances for the Bluebirds during his loan spell with the Club in the 2018/19 season, having been sent out by AFC Bournemouth. The 29-year-old midfielder has made 232 league appearances for the Cherries since joining them from Conference South side Woking in 2010.

Arter played for Bournemouth throughout their rise through the divisions, being promoted to the Championship from League One at the end of the 2012-13 season and then being promoted again into the Premier League at the end of the 2014-15 season. During the latter promotion season, the midfielder made 43 league appearances and scored nine goals.

Since joining the Cottagers over the summer on a season-long loan, the Republic of Ireland international has made four league starts for the club, and getting an assist on his Fulham debut against Blackburn Rovers in a 2-0 victory at Craven Cottage.



https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news/match-preview-cardiff-city-vs-fulham

[WhiteJC]

Games for the Weekend 30/08
Another Friday evening away trip, this time we travel down to Cardiff.

So after a couple of defeats, at home to Forest and the League Cup game in the week against Southampton its time to try and get back to winning ways in the league against Cardiff City.
We didn't play badly in either of the games against Forest and Southampton, however we didn't deserve to win either, perhaps a hangover from the Millwall game?

Neil Warnock is always a difficult manager to play against and unfortunately we don't have Ryan, who always liked to score against them, but perhaps his brother, Steven Sessegnon, can carry on the family tradition? wouldn't that be nice.

COYWs

Games of Interest...
Friday 30th
Cardiff v Fulham

Saturday 31st
Brentford v Derby
Leeds v Swansea
Reading v Charlton
Sheff Wed v QPR

come on over to the forum and join in the discussion...
https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0



https://www.friendsoffulham.com/wordpress/?p=912

[WhiteJC]

Josh Onomah has 'point to prove' to Tottenham with 'lifeline' Fulham move


Debut: Josh Onomah ( AP )

Josh Onomah is determined to prove a point to Tottenham after making his Fulham debut in Tuesday night's 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Southampton.

Onomah joined the Championship club on transfer deadline day as part of the £25million deal that took Ryan Sessegnon to Spurs.

The 22-year-old midfielder made 32 appearances for his boyhood club and represented England at every level from Under-16 to U-21, but his progress stalled under Mauricio Pochettino and he spent the past two seasons on loan at Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday.

"I believe I've got a point to prove and I've been given a lifeline here at Fulham," Onomah said, after playing 90 minutes of the 1-0 defeat at Craven Cottage. "I've just got to prove to everyone what I can do. I'll do my talking to the pitch and see what happens.

"Every boy's dream is to play in the Premier League and, yeah, that's my dream too, but sometimes you have to take a step back and build to get to the top.

"I had a difficult pre-season at Tottenham, but I always had faith the deal would get done. I was happy to move on deadline day and I'm happy to get started.

"The last couple of years have been stop-start. I had a decent loan at Villa but last year [at Wednesday] I had a couple of injuries that set me back. I've got  a fresh start now."

Part of the attraction of joining Fulham for Onomah was the chance to work again with former Spurs U-18 coaches Matt Wells and Scott Parker — now the Cottagers' first-team coach and manager, respectively.

"I know Matt Wells and the gaffer really well," he said. "I've worked with them and I trust them, so I was looking forward to joining them."



https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/fulham/josh-onomah-has-point-to-prove-to-tottenham-with-lifeline-fulham-move-a4223271.html

[WhiteJC]

Joe Bryan delivers questionable Fulham verdict after cup exit v Southampton

Fulham defender Joe Bryan has posted an update on social media after the team were knocked out of the Carabao Cup against Southampton last night.

The Whites were knocked out of the competition in the second round, losing 1-0 at Craven Cottage, with Michael Obafemi scoring the only goal of the game for the visitors.

Fulham manager Scott Parker made nine changes to his side from the 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

Several academy players were also involved and new signing Josh Onomah was one of four players to make their Fulham debut.

Bryan has taken to social media to react to the end of Fulham's cup run and has described it as magnificent, despite the fact it was only one game.

Bryan wrote on Instagram: "What a magnificent cup run. Buzzing to see some of the young players out there last night gaining valuable experience."

Bryan also added that he was pleased to see some of the younger players involved and that it will be good for them to gain some valuable experience.

The Verdict

Given that it was only one game, I'm not sure you can describe the cup run as magnificent, but joking aside, there were certainly plenty of positives for Parker to take away from the game last night.

Fulham made a strong start to the game, hitting the bar in the first half and dominated possession throughout the match against a strong Southampton side.

There were some good performances from many of the Fulham players and it was also pleasing to see so many academy players involved.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/joe-bryan-delivers-questionable-fulham-verdict-after-cup-exit-v-southampton/

[WhiteJC]

Fulham: Fans unimpressed as Southampton knock club out of Carabao Cup

Fulham's Carabao Cup campaign is already at an end after the Whites were knocked out by Southampton last night at Craven Cottage.

Scott Parker made nine changes for his side's first game in the competition this season, though despite dominating the possession against their Premier League opponents, they were eventually beaten by a Michael Obafemi strike – leaving fans unimpressed with the team's performance.

Parker admitted following the game that giving young players a runout was perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the night – but some fans certainly did not see it that way, with some even calling for the manager's head.

There seems to be a frustration amongst some parts of the fanbase that Fulham were not able to kickstart a cup run, with the team left to concentrate on the league for the remainder of the calendar year.

And with some yearning for the return of former boss Slavisa Jokanovic, it could be fair to say that last night's display has not gone down too well with these supporters:



https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/premier-league/fulham/fulham-fans-unimpressed-as-southampton-knock-club-out-of-carabao-cup/

[WhiteJC]

Fee agreed: Fulham close in on transfer of Leicester City midfielder

Fulham are reportedly closing in on a transfer swoop for Leicester City midfield outcast Daniel Amartey after agreeing a £6.5million deal.

Football Ghana claim an agreement has been struck for the versatile 24-year-old, who initially looked a big prospect at the King Power Stadium, but who has failed to progress in recent times.

Amartey joined Leicester midway through that memorable 2015/16 campaign, playing five games to pick up a Premier League winners' medal.

The Ghana international, who can play defensive midfield or centre-back, then became more of a regular the following season after the sale of N'Golo Kante to Chelsea, but has failed to really kick on from there.



https://www.caughtoffside.com/2019/08/28/fulham-close-in-on-amartey-transfer-from-leicester/

[WhiteJC]

Riverside Works Update

Piling work into the river started last week, with the first pile - measuring a depth of 32m below the riverbed - completed last Monday.

Once the core was hollowed out, steel cages were inserted and concrete was poured in. Four piles have been completed with the fifth pile due to be finished this week. Piling work will continue thereafter, with around 50 piles in total being inserted into the river.


Above: the first of 50 piles






Above: Earlier this month, the piling rig (the first of its kind in the country) arrived by barge. A team then arrived to test and commission the 70 tonne machine, before it was transferred onto the jacked up platform prior to the commencement of the piling.



http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2019/august/28/riverside-works-update

[WhiteJC]

Fulham linked with £6.5million January move for Leicester defender

Fulham have been linked with a £6.5million January move for Leicester City defender Daniel Amartey according to Football Ghana.

The 26-year-old is set to hold talks with the Championship side after becoming surplus to requirements at The King Power Stadium.

The centre-back has struggled to force his way back into the first team picture following a spell out with injury and Brendan Rogers is now willing to allow him to leave.

Amartey broke his ankle last October and has since failed to fully return back to form since. Manager Rodgers said: "He hasn't been able to train fully all of the time, with the ankle problem that he had, there's still a bit of soreness there from time to time."

The Leicester man can also play as a defensive midfielder and did train last week in the build up to the Sheffield United victory.

He could still move to clubs in Europe and, in theory, Leagues One and Two, before their transfer window closes on September 2nd but it now appears more likely that he will be making the move to the Championship and plying his trade at Craven Cottage.

Several clubs in Europe were in race to sign the former Copenhagen defender but Fulham seem to have won the race for his signature. With plenty of options at the disposal of Brendan Rodgers it makes sense for Amartey to move on.

Fulham are looking to win promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking and with more experienced players within their ranks such as Amartey this can only aid them in their quest to reach the top flight once more.



https://the72.co.uk/143473/fulham-linked-with-6-5million-january-move-for-leicester-defender/

[WhiteJC]

Fulham: Fans praise youngster after making Whites debut

Fulham were knocked out of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, but there may have been something positive for supporters to take from the 1-0 defeat to Southampton.

Scott Parker included a number of youngsters as the Whites were beaten at Craven Cottage for the second time this week, though a brief cameo from one of the club's youth prospects had some fans looking to the future.

Tyrese Francois, who was recently named as the club's academy player of the year, made his Fulham first-team debut after coming on as a late substitute during the slender defeat to Ralph Hasenhuttl's side – and supporters have praised the youngster online after his runout.

Some fans are hoping for the 19-year-old to gain more minutes in the weeks and months to come, while his short-lived performance gained a positive review from the supporters.

So despite Fulham's Carabao Cup adventure coming to an early end, it was potentially the start of a bright Whites career for Francois – as far as these fans are concerned:



https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/premier-league/fulham/fulham-fans-praise-youngster-after-making-whites-debut/

[WhiteJC]

Maidenhead United extend Ashby-Hammond's loan move from Fulham

Magpies boss Alan Devonshire has revealed he hopes to keep goalkeeper Taye Ashby-Hammond at the club on a rolling loan move.

Ashby-Hammond was brought in from Fulham as cover for the injured Chris Dunn – who remains on the sidelines.

But his performances have been so good the Magpies have extended the month loan deal to roll on to the end of September. And, if he keeps performing between the sticks, Devonshire hopes the player will be able to stay even longer.

"We're just taking it one month at a time," he said. "He's here, we've extended it (his loan move) and I'd like to think he's enjoying it.

"If he carries on doing what he's doing then we'd like to extend it again.

"I've got a few out injured at the moment. Chris Dunn has been out injured since the start of the season along with Freddie Grant.

"Jake Cassidy and Aron Davies both missed Monday's game (the 2-1 defeat to Bromley).

"If one of them had been ok to come off the bench we'd probably have held on and won the game. But we didn't and it cost us."



https://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/gallery/maidenhead-utd-fc/149252/maidenhead-united-extend-ashby-hammond-s-loan-move-from-fulham.html

[WhiteJC]

Some Fulham fans already unhappy with Josh Onomah after his debut performance

Tottenham Hotspur may have brought in Ryan Sessegnon this summer from Fulham, but they had to wave goodbye to Josh Onomah as a part exchange in the deal (BBC).

The 22-year-old was an academy graduate at Tottenham, but was never really able to catch Pochettino's eye with his spells out on loan.

The youngster made just 13 League appearances for Spurs during his four senior seasons at the club before moving down to the Championship (Wikipedia).

In that time, he also had loan spells at Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday, where he made a total of 51 appearances and scored four goals.

Fulham fans got the first taste of their new player this week as they took to the pitch to face Southampton in the Carabao Cup.

The Cottagers lost 1-0 to the Premier League side, which may have been expected, but some Fulham fans certainly were not happy with Onomah's performance on his debut.



https://www.spurs-web.com/spurs-news/some-fulham-fans-already-unhappy-with-josh-onomah-after-his-debut-performance/

[WhiteJC]

Five Game Assessment

It's always hard to assess how a manger is doing when he takes over a sinking ship. That's what we had last season when Scott Parker took the reins from Claudio Ranieri with the club needing more than a miracle to stay up. Parker brought back a sense of togetherness, and allowed the team to at least bring some joy to the banks of the Thames. I think the majority of fans were willing to give Parker a summer transfer window and the start of the season before jumping to any conclusions about him. But now, five league games into the season, we are beginning to see what Parker's Fulham really looks like.

In terms of matches, we have had a relatively simple start to the league – or at least it SHOULD have been relatively simple. OK, there are no easy games in the Championship, but we haven't yet come up against any of the leagues' heavy weights such as West Brom or Leeds. Performance wise, things have certainly been mixed. I was there at Barnsley when we had an absolute disaster of an opening game and I can tell you that I was worried about Parker's tactical awareness. We have a very strong side capable of hurting teams, but we got the game plan completely wrong. Contrast that to our game against Millwall were we played some of the most beautiful football seen this season in an empathetic 4-0 victory under the lights at the Cottage. Before that we also had a comfortable home win over Blackburn before beating Huddersfield at the John Smith Stadium.

What have we learned?

Parker clearly likes to play a fast paced, passing game with full-backs who attack high. We hold a lot of possession, switch the play constantly and put a lot of balls into the box. A lot of our goals have come from wingers or full backs making it to the back line and cutting the ball back for someone to prod home. We also push a lot of players forward meaning that we over load opposition boxes making it really difficult for teams to clear the ball. And with players like Mitrovic, Knockaert, Cavaleiro, Reid and Cairney we should score a lot of goals this season.

However, our style of play comes with a great deal of risk. As we saw on Saturday past, and on many occasions under Slavisa Jokanovic last year, that one miscued pass can allow an opposition team to cut through and be left with a one-on-one with our keeper. Our defence sits very high when we are in possession, so it's a lot of pressure on those players to get it right. If we continue this then we might turn some teams over, but we will surely be on the end of some bad defeats as well. We also need to be careful that we don't become a team with a single way of playing. On Saturday against Nottingham Forest we attempted 45 crosses with only 10 of them going to a Fulham player. Our goal came from when we finally kept the ball on the deck, but I really don't know why it took us so long to try that.

My other worry is that Parker finished the game with no apparent system. I don't believe for a second that putting every attacking player we had on the bench onto the pitch was plan B, it looked more to me that there wasn't another plan so we just went into kamikaze mode. We essentially had no formation for the last 10 minutes after taking our right back off for a left winger. Parker had already taken Johansen, a centre midfielder, off for Bobby Reid, a striker. There was nothing coherent about how we finished the game, and that does worry me about Parker's ability to come up with a plan B. Maybe I'm being harsh, but in any league around the world you have to be able to adapt your tactics according to each game, not just throw on a load of attacking players which results in losing your shape.

We come up against Cardiff on Friday night, and while they haven't had a great start, we know only to well what a Neil Warnock team can do. They are tough and will sit back, so Parker will need to think about how he approaches this. I really like a lot of what Parker has brought back to Fulham. The team are passionate and they look like they care massively about the fans, but I'm hoping that we start to see more from Parker tactically speaking.

#COYW



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2019/08/five-game-assessment/

[WhiteJC]

Forgotten Fulham man secures exit from Craven Cottage

Having already seen seven players leave Craven Cottage this summer, Fulham manager Scott Parker has now waved goodbye to one of the club's outcasts.

As confirmed by Spanish side CD Lugo's official website, Marcelo Djalo has rejoined the club following a miserable two year spell with the Cottagers.

The 25-year-old has signed a three-year-deal with the Albivermellos which will keep him at the Estadio Anxo Carro until 2022.

Brought to Fulham from CD Lugo by then-boss Slavisa Jokanovic in 2017, Djalo made his debut for the club in a League Cup clash with Wycombe Wanderers.

Although he was able to help his side keep a clean-sheet during this particular game, the defender was limited to three further appearances for the Cottagers in the remainder of the 2017/18 campaign.

Following Fulham's promotion to the Premier League, Djalo was made surplus to requirements by Jokanovic who loaned him out to Extremadura UD.

In what turned out to be a disastrous spell, the defender only managed to make 13 appearances for the Azulgranes in all competitions before returning to London in January.

The defender could be in contention to start for his new side when they face Alcorcon in the Segunda Division on Sunday.

The Verdict

Fulham shouldn't be losing any sleep over Djalo's departure as he ultimately failed to live up to expectations during his time at Craven Cottage.

Given that Parker currently has the likes of Alfie Mawson, Maxime Le Marchand, Kevin McDonald and Tim Ream at his disposal, he may not need to bring in a replacement for the defender providing that his players can continue to perform admirably in the Championship.

For Djalo's sake, a return to CD Lugo makes perfect sense as it will give him the opportunity to revive his career.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/forgotten-fulham-man-secures-exit-from-craven-cottage/

[WhiteJC]

Midfielder claims he has been given a lifeline after difficult pre-season at Tottenham

Josh Onomah has admitted that he has a point to prove after leaving Tottenham Hotspur.

The midfielder completed a deadline day switch to Fulham as part of the deal which brought Ryan Sessegnon to North London.

Onomah made his first team debut for Fulham last night in their 1-0 Carabao Cup second round defeat at home to Southampton and played the full 90 minutes.

The 22-year-old admitted that he endured a difficult pre-season with Tottenham which saw him not involved in the club's pre-season tour of the Far East or Audi Cup win, with Mauricio Pochettino instead deciding to play some of the younger members of his academy set up in the likes of George Marsh and Harvey White.

After spending the last couple of seasons on loan at Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday where injuries hampered his progress and saw himself fall down the midfield pecking order at Spurs.

Fellow midfield academy graduates Harry Winks and Oliver Skipp overtook him in Pochettino's plans and now finds himself in the Championship.

Onomah told the Evening Standard: " "I believe I've got a point to prove and I've been given a lifeline here at Fulham,"

"I've just got to prove to everyone what I can do. I'll do my talking to the pitch and see what happens.

"Every boy's dream is to play in the Premier League and, yeah, that's my dream too, but sometimes you have to take a step back and build to get to the top.

"I had a difficult pre-season at Tottenham, but I always had faith the deal would get done. I was happy to move on deadline day and I'm happy to get started.

"The last couple of years have been stop-start. I had a decent loan at Villa but last year [at Wednesday] I had a couple of injuries that set me back. I've got  a fresh start now."



https://www.spurs-web.com/spurs-news/midfielder-claims-he-has-been-given-a-lifeline-after-difficult-pre-season-at-tottenham/

[Matt10]

Parker Must Change Fulham's Style Of Play If They Are To Be Taken Seriously As Promotion Challengers

With three wins on the bounce, the last being an emphatic mauling of Millwall 4-0, Scott Parker seemed convinced that the possession style of play was to be Fulham's route to success this season.

I am not on his side for that way of thinking. Forest came to the Cottage last Saturday and suffered similar statistics when it came to possession of the ball, however, they were not frightened to attack the home side as they were well aware of Fulham's defensive frailties.

Although the four-goal demolition of Millwall looked good on paper, and the amount of possession backed up that scoreline, in reality, at times it was quite boring to watch. Of course, I am delighted we won, and by a nice margin, but if we had attacked much quicker at times, we could have
netted double figures.

I knew that Forest would not be as poor coming forward as Millwall were. Fulham got beaten at home, and by a side that had yet to prove any quality looking at their early results this season.

Possession style football I believe should be left to the best teams in the world such as Man City and Barcelona, who have the players with the needed skill levels that can pass their way into scoring goals.

Parker may argue that if a team is chasing shadows and cannot get the ball, they are wasting energy and tire quickly. This is often not the case when teams play Fulham. We tend to pass the ball sideways and backwards far too often, even when building up an attack and our strikers are waiting for the ball to be delivered up to them. It often results in a pass back to Bettinelli, who has been instructed to pass the ball out at almost every occasion, and ultimately cost us the three points when young Sessegnon was robbed of the ball against Forest.

Parker must allow his players to change things up constantly during the game. We have probably the best striker in the Championship in Mitrovic who is a master of winning and holding the ball up allowing quick attacks from our two amazingly fast fellow strikers in Cavaleiro and Knockaert. We also have Cairney and Johansen ready to speed up our attacking style, but spend too much time knocking short sideways and backward passes to our defenders. Harry Arter is a very hard-working midfielder, who could benefit from quicker attacking motions.

If we are to be successful this season, our play needs to change, and we need to show the rest of this league just how good we are as a goal-scoring side. I could see our three strikers rattling up twenty to thirty goals apiece this year. If we let in a few during the campaign, so what, we are capable of out-scoring any team in the Championship.

How exciting a season this could be!



https://fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/parker-must-change-fulhams-style-of-play-if-they-are-to-be-taken-seriously-as-promotion-challengers/

So 20 shots against Forest is not enough attacking prowess? Honestly, do people not look at the stats. If anything that confirms further that we have a solid attack, we just need to hit the target. Imagine that.