Monday Fulham Stuff - 15/06/20...

[WhiteJC]

Thomas Frank delivers confident message ahead of Brentford's clash with Fulham

Brentford manager Thomas Frank has insisted that he believes his side will be fully prepared for the resumption of the campaign, as the Bees look to cement their play-off place starting against rivals Fulham next weekend.

Frank's side are in a strong position to go on and secure at least a top six finish come the end of the campaign, with the Bees sitting in fourth place with a five point cushion over seventh placed Bristol City, while they are ten points adrift of the automatic promotion places.

The Bees will be looking to get up and running with some consistent performances and results, and they showed their quality by securing a win at Arsenal in one of their warm-up matches ahead of the campaign resuming – and that means confidence should be high.

Speaking to Sky Sports after Brentford's 2-0 defeat in a warm-up match against Watford on Saturday, Frank insisted his players will be ready to show their best form right from the start against Fulham, in what could be a vital game for both sides.

He said: "We need to be (ready) and we are. I'm confident, I think we have had the time to get them up to speed of course you would like to play more friendlies to get more match minutes into to everybody but that's the way it is.

"Physically they show they are in a good place, we know they have been training hard now its just about that final sharpness and quality on the day that will come with more and more minutes, so that will come, so we're ready and we're looking forward to it.

"Yeah I know we will be (ready for the Fulham clash) we are all looking forward to the season starting again and what's better than to start against Fulham a local derby and against two top sides that want to attack. So, we're looking forward to it and we'll be ready."

The verdict

It will be a very interesting last few weeks of the campaign for Brentford and they will be aiming to wrap up their place in the play-offs as soon as possible, and whether they can do that could well depend on the result they manage to pick up at Fulham in their first game back in action.

A win for the Bees would move them to within just a single point of their third placed rivals, and put a serious dent in Fulham's hopes of catching either West Brom or Leeds United, but a defeat would leave Frank's side potentially vulnerable to a cluster of teams bellow chasing the play-off places.

Perhaps having a derby game as the first game back will be something of an advantage for the Bees, who should be able to fully motivate themselves for the fixture despite the absence of a crowd inside the stadium – and Frank will be hopeful his confidence in his sides preparations will come to fruition.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/thomas-frank-delivers-confident-message-ahead-of-brentfords-clash-with-fulham/

[WhiteJC]

Birmingham City set sights on ex-Watford and Fulham manager

Slavisa Jokanovic is the "ideal choice" for Birmingham City as they hunt for a new manager, according to journalist Alan Nixon on Twitter (see tweet below).

The Blues are looking for a replacement for Pep Clotet, who is leaving the Championship side when the current season ends.

Their ex-boss Chris Hughton is also in the frame for the soon-to-be vacant position as the Midlands club target a boss with promotion experience.

Jokanovic, who is 51 years old, fits the bill for Birmingham. He has been promoted to the Premier League twice as a manager before with Watford and Fulham.

The ex-Partizan, Tenerife and Chelsea midfielder is currently managing in Qatar with Al-Gharafa but could the Blues tempt him back to England?

Jokanovic spent three years at Craven Cottage and won the Play-Offs with the London side after they beat Aston Villa in the final at Wembley two years ago. However, he was sacked by the Cottagers after a poor start to life in the top flight.

He has also managed the likes of Levski Sofia, Hercules and Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the past and is an experienced manager.

Birmingham have a big decision to make on their next boss and want to end their previous nine years of frustration since their relegation from the Premier League and start competing at the top end of the Championship.



https://the72.co.uk/172665/birmingham-city-set-sights-on-ex-watford-and-fulham-manager/

[WhiteJC]

New Rule: Substitutes

When Fulham and Brentford kick-off the recommencement of the Sky Bet Championship campaign on Saturday, fans will notice more names on the teamsheet than usual.

To look after player welfare, a temporary law change has been passed which permits clubs to submit matchday squads of 20, rather than the usual 18.

This means that each club will now name nine substitutes, five of which can be used throughout the match. To reduce disruption, substitutions can only be made on three occasions. If both teams make a substitution at the same time, this will count as one of the three opportunities for each side. Changes can also be made at half-time.

For sides competing in the Play-Offs, unused substitutions can be carried forward into extra-time, while an additional sixth sub will also be permitted.



http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2020/june/15/new-rule-substitutes

[filham]

Imagine if we made six substitutions at Wembley that could go into the Guinness book of Records.