Thursday fulham Stuff - 14/01/21...

[WhiteJC]

Cottage Talk Full Time: Well Deserved Point For Fulham But Should It Have Been A Victory?

Take a listen to a podcast that focuses on Fulham Football Club.

In this episode, Cottage Talk co-host Emilio Di Nello and Fulham legend Rob Wilson shared their initial reactions to the 1-1 draw for Fulham against Tottenham Hotspur.

The guys shared their views on the goal for Spurs in the first half, but later they mentioned how well Fulham played in the second half and got a well deserved equalizer. At the end of the show, they talked about Man Of The Match and shared their biggest takeaways from this match.


You can also listen to the show by following this link...
https://cottagersconfidential.sbnation.com/2021/1/13/22229888/cottage-talk-full-time-well-deserved-point-for-fulham-but-should-it-have-been-a-victory

[WhiteJC]

Parker proud of 'immense' Fulham

Scott Parker was delighted with his team's spirit as Fulham battled back to grab a precious point at Tottenham tonight in a game hastily rescheduled at short notice by the Premier League.

The Fulham manager hailed his side's bravery and character as they shrugged off the setback of conceding to a Harry Kane diving header midway through the first half to dominate the second period and grab a deserved equaliser consider of Ivan Cavaleiro. Parker was proud of Fulham's efforts, especially as a matter of players have only just shaken off coronavirus themselves. He told his post-match press conference:

I thought we were immense tonight. To a man we were superb under what we faced, with a lot of speculation, a lot of talk from everyone outside. No-one really understood and no-one really knows the full extent of what we've been through. We had players out there tonight who've had one day's training after coming back from illness, players in the squad who've had two, three, four days of training.

Overall I'm very, very proud because of what we faced, but I don't want to lose sight of our bravery, commitment, desire. It was all there, but there was also a real quality. I thought we were immense tonight, with the ball, our gameplan, the way we went about it. We caused Spurs a lot of problems. Of course you come to this place and you're going to need your 'keeper to pull off a couple of saves, which he did, but for large parts I thought we controlled the game really well and showed some real quality about us.

Parker admitted that Fulham used the fact that they were up against adversity, having had this game fitted into the fixture list with only two days notice. He had been outspoken about his disappointment in the lead up to the match – and detailed some of what his side have had to deal with recently.

We definitely needed that tonight because it's been a tough couple of weeks for us, with 10, 11 positive tests. It was 14 days ago this game was scheduled, so we had players who have been in isolation and indoors now for 10 days. A game then gets put in our laps on Monday morning at 9.30 so players had to come in and play the game.

We used that, of course we did, because we felt it was unfair, we didn't think it was right what happened tonight in that sense. So certainly yes that helped, but I'm more pleased with the way we played. I thought we played ever so well.

Confidence is clearly growing within the Fulham ranks that the Cottagers can beat the drop – and Parker believes his side can survive if they continue to replicate their excellent performances of late.

I think we can. I see a team growing, from the start of the season to now, a team that are relentless in their work. Every day we come in, work tirelessly on the training pitch. These are players who are engaged, players who want to learn, players who want to be successful. With that, and with that spirit and that hunger to learn and get better, you always have a chance. We're going to need that desire, but you also have to show your quality, and I thought we had a real identity about us tonight.



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2021/01/parker-proud-of-immense-fulham/

[WhiteJC]

We don't owe anyone an apology - Scott Parker

Scott Parker said Fulham do not owe anyone an apology after they made light of their fury at having to play Tottenham at just 48 hours notice by earning a deserved 1-1 draw.

Parker called the Premier League's decision on Monday to cram this rearranged game into the Wednesday night slot as "scandalous" after a recent outbreak of coronavirus at the club, yet Spurs counterpart Jose Mourinho said the Cottagers should have to say sorry to everyone if they named a strong team.

They did that, with 10 of the players who played their last Premier League game on Boxing Day in the starting line-up, and Parker was rewarded with a performance that he described as "immense".

They fell behind to Harry Kane's first-half header but put up a spirited response after the break and earned a worthy point through Ivan Cavaleiro's 74th-minute effort.

Former Spurs midfielder Parker, who also played under Mourinho at Chelsea, was in bullish mood after the game.

"Myself and this football club owe no one an apology because you can talk from the outside and people can see what they want to see and work out what the script was but it was far from that," he said.

"There were two players on that pitch that had trained one day, come back from Covid and had one day's training. Players had three or four dayss training.

"The issue was never about only having two days to prepare for it. I understand that. The issue was 16 days ago this game was scheduled in, since then 10 positive cases of Covid, staff as well, and then 9.30 on Monday we got told that we were playing in the game.

"People need to understand the predicament we were in. We are not making it up. We have been very open and had worries for the safety of others too.

"That was my worry, so we don't need to apologise for anything. We came here with a performance and we go away with a pleasing result.

"I thought we were immense tonight, I thought we were superb with what we faced, with a lot of speculation and talk from outside and no one really knows the full extent. I was very proud because of what we faced."

Mourinho had little sympathy before the game for Fulham and even after the match suggested they knew for a long period that this fixture could be played.

"Look, I truly believe, I have to believe and I know the top hierarchy at Fulham Football Club and we're dealing with honest people and of course they had problems," the Portuguese conceded.

"Of course the reason why we didn't play the game when we should, there were reasons for that. Let's put that very, very, very clear.

"The reason why they were not happy to play today is a different question you have to ask Scott not me. But in the football world it's very difficult to keep secrets.

"Somebody tells somebody who tells somebody who tells somebody and it arrives to somebody else. And of course we knew for a few days that they were ready and had the players to come.

"Aleksandr Mitrovic is not a Covid situation, [he] had a small injury from the last match.

"We knew that so it's something you have to ask Scott. But make things very, very clear. Of course they had problems and of course there was a reason for them not to play the game a couple of weeks ago."

A long night for the visitors looked on the cards when Kane put Spurs ahead with his 18th goal of the season, coming after a string of missed chances by the hosts.

Son Heung-min hit the post when through on goal and then Cavaleiro delivered an all-too familiar gut punch, making it the same old story - a game of early domination, missed chances and ultimately dropped points.

That is six points lost from winning positions just at home this season and that will ultimately cost them any real shot at the Premier League title.

Mourinho pointed to the missed chances, but also suggested his defence was not individually good enough.

"This is the same story basically since the beginning of the season," he added.

"We can talk about not killing the game yes, we can speak about that, and today was a clear situation where we could and should have killed the game in the first half but then you go back to the goals that we concede and it's not also easy to assimilate that.

"There are some things they have to do with organisation of the team, but other things they have to do with individual skills, individual ability, and it's as simple as that."



https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2021/0113/1189604-we-dont-owe-anyone-an-apology-scott-parker/

[WhiteJC]

Fulham boss Scott Parker proud of draw in hastily rearranged game

Fulham boss Scott Parker said "no-one knows what we have been through" after his side drew 1-1 with Tottenham despite having just two days' notice the game would go ahead.

The fixture had originally been scheduled for 30 December but was postponed because of a coronavirus outbreak at the Cottagers.

"I'm very proud of this team for what we've been through," said Parker.

"We had players out there who had only trained one day."

He added: "There's a lot of talk around - everyone assumes about what happened. I know what we've been through the last two weeks.

"I thought we were immense tonight, I thought we were superb with what we faced, with a lot of speculation and talk from outside and no-one really knows the full extent. I was very proud because of what we faced."

Prior to Wednesday's game, Parker had described the short notice his side were given as "scandalous", prompting Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho to say the Fulham boss should apologise if he named a strong team.

Parker did name a strong side and was rewarded with one of Fulham's best performances of the season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Ivan Cavaleiro's goal cancelled out Harry Kane's opener.

"Myself and this football club owe no-one an apology because you can talk from the outside and people can see what they want to see and work out what the script was, but it was far from that," said Parker.

"The issue was never about only having two days to prepare for it. I understand that. The issue was 16 days ago this game was scheduled in, since then 10 positive cases of Covid, staff as well, and then 9.30 on Monday we got told that we were playing in the game.

"There were two players on that pitch that had trained one day, come back from Covid and had one day's training. Players had three or four day's training.

"People need to understand the predicament we were in. We are not making it up. We have been very open and had worries for the safety of others too."

The draw extended Fulham's unbeaten run to five games and moved them to within two points of safety.

Mourinho - we have to kill off games
Tottenham boss Mourinho, meanwhile, was left frustrated by his side's lack of killer instinct as they failed to put the game beyond Fulham after Kane's first-half strike.

Spurs have won just two of their last six league matches and sit in sixth place, six points behind leaders Manchester United.

"Once more we concede a goal that is completely avoidable," Mourinho said.

"We have lots of opportunities to kill off matches. In other cases, especially away, we are winning but then don't have that ambition to get the goal and kill the game."



https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55642017

[filham]

That first picture above of the Cav. goal is interesting, it shows how high he was off the ground , he did well and I need to give him more credit than I first did, he had a lot to do to turn the cross into a goal.

[Somerset Fulham]

Martin Samuel is a 24 carat arsehole.

[ScalleysDad]

"We don't owe anybody an apology"
I'm am liking SP more and more and I am a long term disciple. As said above the Cav goal was pretty good on many levels, build up, cross and a proper header. I expect he will take some grief for something though.

[mrmicawbers]

They got the Riverside Capacity incorrect will be 8650 they mentioned the old capacity.

[Jim©]

That first picture above of the Cav. goal is interesting, it shows how high he was off the ground , he did well and I need to give him more credit than I first did, he had a lot to do to turn the cross into a goal.

Interesting in his interview that he spent the day before doing specific header training with Matt Wells....