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Tuesday Fulham Stuff - 27/10/20...

Started by WhiteJC, October 24, 2020, 03:17:43 PM

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WhiteJC

Results


Sunday
Brighton
1-1
West Brom
Burnley
0-1
Spurs

WhiteJC

U18s: Aston Villa 0-3 Fulham

Aston Villa Under-18s' perfect start to the season came to an end against Fulham at Bodymoor Heath on Saturday.

Confidence was high after winning their opening five games of the U18 Premier League South campaign, but they came up short against the Cottagers.

Frankie Ealing and Sil Swinkels had chances to open the scoring before teammate Kahrel Reddin went close for the Villans after 19 minutes.

But the hosts were punished for their failure to convert their opportunities when Fulham struck on the stroke of half-time.

Luke Harris coolly slotted the ball past Filip Marschall as the visitors went in ahead at the break.

Lamare Bogarde nearly equalised for Villa before Fulham doubled their lead from the penalty spot after 62 minutes.

Harris was fouled in the penalty area, allowing Adrion Pajaziti to convert from the spot.

Fulham put the game out of reach three minutes later, with the goalscorers combining to add a third.

Harris headed home Pajaziti's corner to ensure all three points were heading back to London.

Villa, who remain top of the table, will look to bounce back from their first defeat of the season when they take on Southampton at Bodymoor Heath on Saturday.

Aston Villa: Marschall, Ealing, Appiah, Swinkels (Sewell), Chrisene, Reddin (Shakpoke), Lindley, Dialla Sylla, Young (Rowe), Bogarde, Raikhy.

Unused subs: Zych, Jay-Hart.



https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2020/october/U18s-Aston-Villa-0-3-Fulham/

WhiteJC

What the heck's happened to Michael Hector?
Sean Guest looks into the fall of Big Hec and asks what he needs to do to force his way back into Scott Parker's plans.


Let's face it, Fulham have become synonymous with bad defending in recent years. Those of us who were there in 2018/19 need no reminding that we conceded 81 goals. This season, meanwhile, the Whites shipped an embarrassing 10 goals in their first three games (four conceded in our next three, while better, won't keep us up).

It seemed as if the acquisition of Michael Hector might change all that. His long-awaited addition to the back four halfway through last season played a huge part in our push for promotion and offered a glimmer of optimism for the Premier League campaign ahead.

In a cruel twist of fate, he's actually been one of the team's most-error prone defenders so far this season, struggling to anchor a backline that Jamie Carragher claimed he and Roy Keane were "laughing" at during a recent episode of Monday Night Football.

Since then, the club has signed Joachim Andersen on loan and Tosin Adarabioyo and Terence Kongolo on permanent deals. All three are much-needed new additions that should fortify the back four, providing competition and depth as the team prepares to battle relegation.

Andersen and Kongolo are on the treatment table, but Adarabioyo immediately showed he'd be more than just depth, when he impressed during his debut at Bramall Lane against Sheffield United. He followed it up by looking more than comfortable against Palace at the Cottage this weekend, despite us conceding twice.

And Hector's been absent from not only the starting XI, but the squad, in both games.

So, what the Hec's happened?

Virgil van Mike
When he eventually became eligible to play last season, 'Virgil van Mike' contributed to three consecutive clean sheets in his first three appearances. His presence at the heart of the defence instantly made us more resilient, helping us survive late onslaughts in closely fought games against Hull and Middlesbrough that likely would have cost us points earlier in the season.

Building on that foundation, the Whites won six out of 11 before the season was put on hold, losing only once and conceding just eight goals during that stretch. Post lockdown, we then overcame a two-game slide to win five of our remaining seven league games, conceding just five goals (three of which came in that eight-goal thriller against Sheffield Wednesday) in that stretch.

Overall, Fulham's defensive record was fourth best in the Championship last season as we averaged 1.04 goals conceded per game, while keeping 17 clean sheets. As the numbers attest, Michael Hector was key to that; the Whites conceded 21 goals and kept 11 clean sheets in the 23 games he played, while without him we conceded 31 goals and kept just six clean sheets in 26 games.

Put simply, we were a far better team with Hector on the pitch. He averaged 1.3 tackles, 4.7 clearances and 3.9 aerial duels won per 90 minutes, while his presence, strength and ability to read the game gave the Whites a platform upon which to mount our promotion push. His role in the playoffs is not to be overlooked either. His improbable block in the early stages of the first leg of the play-off semi-final against Cardiff was almost as valuable as a goal, and his vital aerial intervention to deny Mbeumo early and his inch-perfect tackle to deny Watkins late helped us seal our famous victory in the final against Brentford.

Virgil van Yikes
With so little turnaround time between last season and this, Tony Kahn and his recruitment team had a ready-made excuse for not addressing Fulham's greatest weakness during the break.

In the absence of a new centre-back or two, Scott Parker opted to stick with the duo that had served him so well in the Championship, turning to Hector and Tim Ream for the opening game against Arsenal. While no one would have been particularly surprised to see Ream's error after eight minutes gift the Gunners their opener, Hector's decision not to challenge Gabriel as he leapt to head home their second from a corner shortly after half time was highly uncharacteristic. While he wasn't exactly at fault for the third goal, his clumsy attempt to win the ball from Alexandre Lacazette on the halfway line certainly didn't help.

After the game, Bic Hec turned to Instagram, writing: "I'm proud to finally make my debut in the premier league I know it wasn't the performance I wanted or the team wanted, but can promise we can and will play a lot better."

Prior to the international break, neither he nor Fulham delivered on that promise. Unofficially (the Premier League's official website disagrees), Hector was at least partly at fault for goals in both of Fulham's defeats at the hands of Leeds and Aston Villa, before being left out of the team for the game against Wolves.

We conceded just one goal without him, pairing Ream with Maxime Le Marchand in his absence.

Out of the blue, Big Hec's future with the club was thrown into doubt a few days later when he was linked with a loan move to QPR. On "Transfer Deadline Day II: EFL edition" another rumour surfaced linking him to a permanent move to Sheffield Wednesday. He was seemingly spared by the ankle injury sustained by newbie Joachim Anderson though, as announced by Scott Parker last Friday.

Still, things went from bad to worse on Sunday when Hector was left out of the side for the trip to Bramall Lane. To compound matters, Adarabioyo then started the game and played extremely well, striking up what has the makings of a solid partnership with the veteran Ream, after a slightly nervy start.

Hector was included in Parker's 25-man squad, announced on Tuesday, but the exact nature of his role at this stage is anyone's guess.

What the Hec happens now?
Unless Parker has decided to use particular defensive combinations against particular opponents, it seems likely that Hector has fallen out of favour. This is still vaguely surprising, given our current lack of depth at centre-back and the fact we know how good he can be, despite his nightmare start to Premier League football.

Thanks to last season's heroics, he'd earned the right to kick off the campaign in a starting role. But he failed to live up to expectation in those first three games, and gave Parker little choice but to mix things up. The fact that we looked so much better without him against Wolves and Sheffield United has raised questions about his future at the club. It'd be easy to label him the scapegoat in all this, citing the fact that he's spent the majority of his career bouncing around the lower leagues and concluding that he simply isn't good enough to make it at this level.

But if there's one thing we learned about Big Hec last season it's that he has a great attitude, and it seems highly likely that he'll be at Motspur Park day in day out, fighting for his place. If he can iron out the mistakes and get his head right, he's a genuine option to partner either Anderson, Kongolo or Adarabioyo in the long term. But at the moment, the training pitch at Motspur Park is the only place he can show what he's made of. And if he can't show it there, he may find himself embarking on a sixteenth career loan spell come January.



https://www.fulhamish.co.uk/post/2020-10-26-what-the-hecks-happened-to-michael-hector/


WhiteJC

Premier League pay-per-view figures labelled "disastrous" as clubs prepare likely U-turn

EXCLUSIVE: While figures for some games have been good, figures for others have been awful, and amid fan backlash and boycotts, neither the Premier League nor broadcasters are happy

Premier League chiefs will discuss making a U-turn over the pay-per-view row after "disastrous" viewing figures.

Sky and BT Sport have faced a huge public backlash after demanding £14.95 from fans to watch extra games with supporters organising widespread boycotts while using the cash to raise money for charity.

It has caused acute embarrassment for Premier League clubs while the broadcasters are fuming because they have been painted as the bad boys when ultimately they feel they are not to blame and were not responsible for setting the price.

Mirror Sport has been told Burnley's clash with West Brom last Monday tea time had the worst viewing figures to date and has been described as "exceptionally low".

That has caused embarrassment and raised question marks about the whole concept.

Premier League shareholders will meet on Tuesday when the 20 clubs will discuss the issue and whether to change it, scrap it or potentially reduce the price.

Some of the figures are understood to have been good which do make it commercially viable.

But the clubs are also frustrated because the revenues make very little difference to them and also they saw it as an extra service for fans to see games they would not otherwise be able to watch.

Other games have had a good take up with Newcastle's clash with Manchester United drawing in what was believed to be a good audience as well as Arsenal's game with Leicester getting high figures on Sunday night despite it being on pay-per-view.

Supporters have organised boycotts and campaigns with Liverpool fans collecting over £100,000 for local food banks after fans' group Spirit of Shankly organised the protest and a boycott of their home clash with Sheffield United on Saturday evening.

Arsenal fans also raised over £34,000 after urging supporters not to buy their home game with Leicester and the boycott has been embarrassing for the broadcasters.

There is frustration at Sky and BT Sport because ultimately fans have to pay them more, although the money is supposed to be going to the clubs with the broadcasters not getting any profit but merely covering their costs.

BT Sport have publicly insisted the Premier League set the price while Prem chief executive Richard Masters claimed the broadcasters had to set the price from a legal point of view.

However, both Sky and BT Sport were told the parameters of what the clubs wanted to make from the pay-per-view games, they had to both budget their overheads and they both agreed on £14.95.

The issue will be discussed on Tuesday but there is a feeling that it has become so toxic they may have to look again and Premier League chiefs will point to the fact that it was always being done on an experimental basis up until the end of October.

One television source suggested the clubs may opt to do one more round of pay-per-view games and then review it again after the international break.

But it has now become a source of huge embarrassment even though some of the more popular games would suggest it has been worth doing it for the clubs and the Premier League.



https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/premier-league-pay-per-view-22908860

WhiteJC

Loftus-Cheek: My future is still at Chelsea

"I still see my future at Chelsea. I believe in my ability 100 per cent. This is obviously not a permanent move."


Ruben Loftus-Cheek has insisted that his future is still at Chelsea, despite joining Fulham on a season-long loan.

The midfielder has struggled for regular first-team opportunities at Chelsea throughout his time at the club. This is despite him being one of their highest-rated youngsters in recent years.

Loftus-Cheek enjoyed a successful loan spell with Crystal Palace in 2017/18. His form for Chelsea's London rivals led him to be included in England's squad for the 2018 World Cup.

The 24-year-old returned to Chelsea that summer and enjoyed a great season for the Blues in 2018/19. He made 40 appearances for them in all competitions, scoring ten goals.

But an Achilles injury hampered his development as he missed a few months of action. He only managed to make seven league appearances for Chelsea last season before he joined Fulham on loan for the whole 2020/21 Premier League campaign.

In a recent interview, as cited by the We Ain't Got No History blog, Loftus-Cheek reiterated that he wants to return to Chelsea next summer:

"I was the one who initiated it. I felt like it was paramount that I played a lot of football this season.

"With the strength in depth at Chelsea and how I was feeling, I was not sure being out for so long that when I had the opportunity that I could play fantastically and hold down a place in the starting XI. I was not 100 per cent I could do that, because I need to build my confidence back up. That was basically the theme of the chat. The gaffer agreed on that and things went on from there."

"I still see my future at Chelsea. I believe in my ability 100 per cent. This is obviously not a permanent move. This is a platform for me to go and express myself and find that form that was showing a couple of seasons ago. I believe in my ability, and we will see where that takes me."



https://www.football365.com/news/loftus-cheek-my-future-is-still-at-chelsea

WhiteJC


Newcastle owner Mike Ashley calls on Premier League to review PPV prices

Newcastle owner Ashley proposes charging £4.95 per match until Christmas and calls on Government to waive VAT; Premier League shareholders' meeting on Tuesday

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has called on the Premier League to urgently review its current pay-per-view arrangements.

During October, matches not initially selected for regular TV broadcast have been made available on a pay-per-view basis accessed via Sky Sports' and BT Sport's existing Box Office platforms at £14.95 each.

The Premier League announced the decision following Government-imposed restrictions on supporters attending matches, which mean all games currently take place behind closed doors.

But ahead of a Premier League shareholders' meeting scheduled for Tuesday, where pay-per-view will be discussed, Ashley has called for a £10 reduction on current prices.

"I am calling on the Premier League to immediately act and review its current pay-per-view arrangements for live matches in the UK," he said in a statement on the Newcastle website.

"Charging £14.95 for single televised matches in the current climate is not acceptable to any football fan.

"Supporters have overwhelmingly rejected this offer and the Premier League must now act.

"Why not make it much more accessible at £4.95 per match until Christmas?

"The Government should waive VAT on the above pay-per-view matches so that as many of those who are unable to attend matches in person can at least watch their team.

"The profit from the above reduced-price pay-per-view option, I would suggest that 50 per cent would be retained by the Premier League and 50 per cent would go to the football pyramid below.

"As a club, Newcastle United did vote in favour of the pay-per-view proposal, but to be clear, this was because there were no realistic or any viable alternatives put forward to enable supporters to watch matches."

The Premier League has not yet commented on Ashley's statement.



https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/12115465/newcastle-owner-mike-ashley-calls-on-premier-league-to-review-ppv-prices