Friday Fulham Stuff - 12/11/21...

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Harris scores as Wales U17 beat Ukraine

Fulham midfielder Luke Harris led Wales Under 17s to a 3-1 win over Ukraine tonight as they began their European U17 Championship qualifying campaign in fine style.

The teenage midfielder, named as captain for the first group game by manager Rich Williams for the opening game of qualifying in Portugal, put Wales in from with an assured finish after being set up by Swansea forward Ben Lloyd. A second half strike from Alex Roberts doubled the Welsh advantage and, although Nazar Balaba reduced Ukraine's arrears, substitute Cole Fleming made sure of victory with seven minutes remaining.

The young Welsh side face hosts Portugal, who thrashed Kazakhstan 5-0 tonight, in their next game on Saturday.



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2021/11/harris-scores-as-wales-u17-beat-ukraine/

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Posh chairman has "never seen Darren Ferguson so angry" than after Fulham defeat
Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony has said that he has never seen Darren Ferguson so angry as after the defeat against Fulham on Saturday (November 6).

Posh put in an impressive performance against the side that currently sit in second in the table, creating more chances, hitting the woodwork on two occasions and creating a number of great one-on-one opportunities.

Jonson Clarke-Harris and Sammie Szmodics were the main two players that were guilty of not converting their chances but no one in the Posh side could find the breakthrough. They were then undone when Aleksandar Mitrovic was left unmarked in the box to score a free header and seal a 1-0 win.

Ferguson was very downbeat after the game and commented that it was a "rubbish result" and that it was the most disappointed he had felt all season.

Speaking on his Hard Truth podcast, MacAnthony revealed that, when he spoke to Ferguson after the game, he was the agnriest that he had ever seen him.

He said: "I've never seen me manager so angry after a game. He was an angry man at full time; he was angry with our defenders for letting that goal in and he was angry that everybody was going to talk about how good we were, but we didn't get anything out of the game'

"He even said that somebody from their bench came over and said well done at full time and it's like for what? I expected to win this game and I like that about my manager. He's irritated and angry because you don't get any prizes for losing football matches.

"Whilst it was a very good performance and it was spirited, zero was the accumulation of points and we had a poor week at home with one point out of two games, when we really should have had minimum of four or even six.

"Our defenders need to start looking themselves in the mirror and ask themselves, how does the leading scorer in the Championship find himself on his own five yards from goal for a cross? He's not the most mobile centre forward.

"That's happening too often from experienced defenders and that can't happen anymore. Some of those defenders need to come out of the international break with their own minds reset."



https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/sport/football/peterborough-united/posh-chairman-has-never-seen-darren-ferguson-so-angry-than-after-fulham-defeat-3453588

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Mitrovic nominated for Championship player of the month

Aleksandar Mitrovic has been nominated for the Championship player of the month award for October.

The Serbian striker scored eight goals in Fulham's five matches as the Whites responded to a disappointing defeat in Cardiff with a flawless four-match winning run. Mitrovic scored a hat-trick as Marco Silva's side swept aside fellow promotion contenders West Brom in a 3-0 win at Craven Cottage.

The 27 year-old is up against Bournemouth defender Lloyd Kelly, Preston striker Emil Riis and the Blackpool forward Jerry Yates. The winner will be announced tomorrow morning.



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2021/11/mitrovic-nominated-for-championship-player-of-the-month/

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Silva shortlisted for manager of month

Fulham head coach Marco Silva has been shortlisted for the Championship manager of the month award for October.

The Portuguese boss, who won the award in August, bounced back from a dismal defeat at Coventry at the start of the month to led Fulham to four successive victories, including the 7-0 thrashing of Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park. The Whites also beat third-placed West Brom 3-0 and scored thirteen goals whilst conceding just one.

Blackpool boss Neil Critchley, new Swansea supremo Russell Martin and Bournemouth's Scott Parker have been nominated alongside Silva. The EFL will announce the winner tomorrow.



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2021/11/silva-shortlisted-for-manager-of-month/

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Liverpool keen on another transfer raid on academy that keeps producing England wonderkids

Liverpool are reportedly ready to consider a transfer swoop for Fulham wonderkid Fabio Carvalho with the help of super-agent Jorge Mendes.

The Reds are one of the names to have been approached by Mendes over a move for Carvalho, and are thought to be more interested than the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona, according to the Daily Mail.

Part of this is because Liverpool have successfully raided Fulham in the past for another exciting academy graduate in the form of Harvey Elliott.

Fulham clearly keep on churning out some fine English youngsters, and Liverpool could do well to take advantage once again with a move for Carvalho.

The 19-year-old looks like he has a big future in the game, and would surely develop well under the guidance of Jurgen Klopp.

Even if Carvalho is a player for the future, he could also have an immediate impact at Anfield, with Klopp in need of more depth up front.

Sadio Mane has been a little more inconsistent in the last year or so and isn't getting any younger, and former LFC midfielder Michael Thomas recently told CaughtOffside that he felt that area of the pitch is somewhere the club would do well to strengthen in this winter.

"In my opinion another winger that carries a goal threat will help a lot with all the competitions Liverpool find themselves in," Thomas told us earlier this month.



https://www.caughtoffside.com/2021/11/11/fabio-carvalho-liverpool-transfer-offer/

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The winner of the PFA Vertu Motors Championship Fans' Player of the Month - October

Aleksandar Mitrovic enjoyed another superb month / Minute Media

Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic has been voted the PFA Vertu Motors Championship Fans' Player of the Month for October.

The Serbian striker also bagged the award in September and has come out on top of the fan vote again after continuing his fine form in front of goal.

Mitrovic polled 26.2% of the votes cast by fans from around the Championship, seeing off competition from Bournemouth's Gary Cahill. The former England international - a serial winner with Chelsea during his Premier League days - came second after snaring 20.2% of the vote, while West Brom's Karlan Grant was third - he received 18.6%.

Dominic Solanke, Jamie Paterson and Jerry Yates were also shortlisted for the award but Mitrovic's outstanding displays for promotion-chasing Fulham means he takes home the honour.

The month of October actually started slowly for Marco Silva's side - and Mitrovic - as they slid to a disappointing 4-1 defeat to Coventry, but things soon picked up.

Fulham overcame QPR by the same scoreline - with Mitrovic netting twice - and followed that up with a 2-0 win over struggling Cardiff; a game in which the Serb scored once.

Mitrovic scored another brace in the 4-0 win at Nottingham Forest before the highlight of the month came against rivals West Brom. Fulham's star man was in lethal form in front of goal, claiming a hat-trick in a comprehensive 3-0 victory.

He is the runaway top scorer in the division to date, with 20 goals to his name in just 17 Championship appearances, and, incredibly, averages a goal every 74 minutes. Mitrovic has also chalked up five assists.



https://www.90min.com/posts/aleksandar-mitrovic-pfa-championship-fans-player-of-the-month-october

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Mitrovic voted fans' player of the month

Fulham forward Aleksandar Mitrovic has been voted the PFA fans' player of the month in the Championship for the second month in succession.

The Serbian striker, fresh from winning the award in September, took more than a quarter of the vote – establishing a clear lead over Bournemouth's Gary Cahill and West Brom forward Karlan Grant. Mitrovic scored eight goals in October as Fulham bounced back from defeat at Coventry to record four consecutive victories and consolidate their grip on second place in the table.



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2021/11/mitrovic-voted-fans-player-of-the-month/

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Marco & Mitro Nominated

Marco Silva and Aleksandar Mitrović have been nominated for the latest Sky Bet Championship Manager and Player of the Month awards, respectively.

After kicking off October with an anomaly in Coventry, Fulham – and Mitrović – were relentless.

The four games that followed after the international break saw the Whites take the maximum 12 points available, including a derby day drubbing of QPR, a 4-0 triumph at the league's most in-form side, and a comfortable dispatching of promotion rivals West Brom.

Mitrović was at the forefront of those victories, bagging eight goals in the four matches, including a hat-trick as the Baggies were put to the sword at the end of the month.

Silva is up against Neil Critchley, Russell Martin and Scott Parker, while Mitro's competition comes from Lloyd Kelly, Emil Riis Jakobsen and Jerry Yates.

The winners will be announced on Friday.



https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2021/november/11/marco-and-mitro-nominated/

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Mitro Wins October PFA Fans' POTM

Aleksandar Mitrović has won the PFA Vertu Motors Fans' Player of the Month award for the second time in a row.

Six goals in September seemed like a fantastic feat, but Mitro went even better last time around, scoring eight times in the final four matches of October.

He beat off competition from Karlan Grant, Jerry Yates, Jamie Paterson, Gary Cahill and Dominic Solanke, claiming 26.2% of the vote to take the accolade once again.

It follows the news earlier this morning that both Mitrović and Marco Silva have been nominated for the Sky Bet Championship Player and Manager of the Month awards.



https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2021/november/11/mitro-wins-fans-potm-/

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'Awesome signing' – It took longer than expected, but Fulham midfielder is starting to prove these fans right

Fulham midfielder Jean Michael Seri is proving a real hit this season in the Sky Bet Championship, providing a reliable, regular presence in the middle of the park for the club and possessing bags of quality.

Certainly, he is looking every bit the player Fulham fans thought they had signed right at the beginning of his Craven Cottage career but he's certainly taken a little bit of time to get there.


https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/awesome-signing-it-took-longer-than-expected-but-fulham-midfielder-is-starting-to-prove-these-fans-right/

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Jorge Mendes 'pushing for Fabio Carvalho to join Liverpool'

Super agent Jorge Mendes is reportedly trying to persuade Fulham attacker Fabio Carvalho to join Liverpool over a host of other big names.

The 19-year-old is out of contract at Craven Cottage at the end of the season and has no shortage of suitors to choose from.

Chelsea, Real Madrid and Liverpool are said to be the frontrunners to land the England Under-18s international, who has four goals in 11 appearances for Fulham.

According to the Daily Mail, Mendes - who has a huge say on which clubs his clients join - would prefer Carvalho to sign for Liverpool over the other two sides.

Mendes has a close relationship with the Reds, most recently helping to broker Diogo Jota's move to Anfield last year.



https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/chelsea/transfer-talk/news/mendes-pushing-for-carvalho-to-join-liverpool_469879.html?newsnow

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Opinion: Fulham should look to sell on 29-year-old in January

There appears to be no future for Cyrus Christie at Fulham despite featuring over 50 times for them – and it means he will need to consider his options in the winter transfer window.

The defender has been with the Cottagers through their Premier League runs and through their Championship promotions but it appears that the two parties will have to go their separate ways sooner rather than later, with the player yet to get a single minute for the side so far this year.

Instead, he's been limited to playing for the club's reserve side. For a player who is still just 29-years-old, that is not the kind of gametime that he will want to getting.

Christie then will have to consider his options when the winter window opens its doors – and there should be a few teams who will consider launching bids for the player.

It shouldn't be too hard to tie up a deal for the defender. With his contract at Fulham set to expire in the summer, he could either agree a pre-contract, sort out a free transfer in January or be available on the cheap.

It means the door is certainly open for more teams to be able to bring him in – and whichever team does decide to take a punt on the player, they will be getting a very experienced and solid head.

He's played in the top flight of English football and managed to hold his own and has nearly 250 Championship games under his belt. This then, is a player who knows what it takes to win and succeed in the second tier and his addition could be a boost to any number of teams that are looking for defensive reinforcements in January.

Birmingham for example have had somewhat of an injury crisis at the back recently and perhaps they could benefit from having another, experienced right-sided option going forward if they could tie up a cheap deal for him. So too could Blackpool, who could perhaps benefit from having first-team player Jordan Gabriel learning on the job from someone like Christie behind him.

Wherever he ends up though, he could prove to be a valuable squad option or could even become a first-team regular.

What is clear though, is that he needs to wrap up a move to exit Fulham in January or risk spending the remainder of the campaign playing his football for the reserve side.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/opinion-fulham-should-look-to-sell-on-29-year-old-in-january/

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Kebano shines in vital DR Congo victory

Neeskens Kebano played a prominent role after coming on as a half-time substitute as DR Congo recorded a vital victory over Tanzania in their World Cup qualifier this afternoon.

The Fulham winger, who replaced Dieumerci Mbokani for the second period in Dar-es-Salaam, worked a clever short corner with fellow substitute Arthur Masuaka and Idumba Fasika fired in the crucial second goal after former Fulham forward Gael Kakuta had given the Leopards an early lead. Ben Malango's late strike – eight minutes from time – wrapped up the three points for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hector Cuper's side leapfrogged Benin, who play Madagascar later this afternoon, and Tanzania to move to the top of Group J on eight points.

Only the group winners will advance to third round of qualifying. DR Congo face Benin in their final fixture in Kinshasa on Sunday afternoon, whilst Tanzania take on Madagascar in Antananarivo.



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2021/11/kebano-shines-in-vital-dr-congo-victory/

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PREVIEW Fulham Ladies v Oxford United Women

Beth Lumsden steps up to train with the Men's First Team

Oxford United Women's top scorer Beth Lumsden has been gaining invaluable experience this week by joining the men's side in training.

Beth, who has already scored ten goals in the Women's National League, has been in great form for Liam Gilbert's side and a chance conversation with Karl Robinson led to an invite to come and work with the Sports Science team and add a couple of extra training sessions to her week, as Karl explains:

"Earlier in the summer Chris Neville came in to the club to lead the Sports Science side of the whole club and one of the things we did was make the gym at the Training Ground available not just to the Women's team but to the players in the RTC. That has worked really well and speaking to Beth she mentioned that she would like to do more if there was an opportunity. So provided it fits around her work commitments she comes in and joins in the warm ups and the non contact elements of training, then does a gym session then goes on to train with the Women's squad as well.

"That is only going to help her in terms of fitness and experience and she has fitted in really well."

Beth told us:

"It's a lot quicker than I am used to and obviously they are a lot taller and stronger so it was tough getting into it at the beginning but I have really enjoyed it. It can only help me get better and everyone has made me feel very welcome."

The midfielder will now turn her attention to the weekend when the Women travel to Fulham in the Women's FA Cup

"We are unbeaten at home but have dropped points away so we know we can improve on that. Sunday is a different thing though: it's the FA Cup, it's away, but we are going to go there determined to get through and see how far we can go" she said.

Sunday's game is at Motspur Park (Fulham's training ground) with a 2.30pm kick off and should be a great cup tie: Fulham are 7 games unbeaten, United have won the last 4

@OfficialOUWFC will have all the updates on Twitter with a report and reaction right here after the game.

Meanwhile Oxford United Women have been drawn at home to Billericay in the second round of the Women's National league Cup. The home league game v Southampton will be rearranged.



https://www.oufc.co.uk/women/news/2021/november/beth-lumsden/

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Opinion: How Fulham should approach Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa dilemma

Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa is enjoying a season-long loan move at Napoli from Fulham.

The Cameroonian was one of the Cottagers' best players in the Premier League last season and has swapped a Championship promotion race for a Serie A title push this term.

The 25-year-old's ability is levels above the English second tier and even a top-flight relegation battle, for that reason it feels unlikely that the classy midfielder will ever play for Marco Silva's men again.

There is an option for Napoli to enter negotiations on a permanent transfer at the end of the season however Patrick Vieira's Crystal Palace are showing an interest according to The Sun.

Fulham should not be allowing Anguissa to leave for the Eagles. The 29-time Cameroon international will have one year left on his contract at Craven Cottage when his loan agreement in Italy comes to an end, therefore Fulham will likely want to cash in on their asset, but it should not be to a potential direct rival.

Silva's men have a six point cushion inside the automatic promotion places in the Championship which they do not look like relinquishing anytime soon. The club have made a hash of competing in the Premier League on the last two occasions and allowing one of their best players to depart for Crystal Palace would be an error.

Anguissa is good enough to be playing for a team in European competition year on year. Napoli, who are battling it out in the Europa League this term, will likely be playing in the Champions League next season taking into account their start to the campaign.

That would also mean Gli Azzurri would have more available funds to fuel a move for Anguissa and compensate Fulham in the sale of the Cameroonian with just a single season remaining on his contract. If an agreement can be reached on a fee that Napoli would be required to pay for Anguissa's services in the summer than it should be prioritised.

Had Fulham stayed up in the top-flight last season Anguissa would have been a key man in establishing their place there, but the player has developed where the rest of the squad have not and deserves the opportunity to join the Italian giants.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/opinion-how-fulham-should-approach-andre-frank-zambo-anguissa-dilemma/

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2 players Fulham may look to sell or loan out in the January transfer window

Fulham have enjoyed a brilliant season so far, with Marco Silva's side currently second in the Championship and six points clear of third.

So, promotion looks a real possibility but the January transfer window is always crucial for those in the mix. Therefore, Silva will already be looking ahead to potential additions who will help the team over the line.

Whilst there will be an excitement about the one or two new recruits that may come through the door, exits are also inevitable.

And, here we look at TWO Fulham players who could leave Craven Cottage in the New Year...

Alfie Mawson

You can't imagine that Silva would want to lose an experienced player like Mawson but it may be difficult to keep the centre-back if he wants to go.

And, with Mawson fourth choice at the club, you would expect that he wants to secure a move to get regular game time. Michael Hector was given the nod ahead of the former Barnsley man following Tosin Adarabioyo's suspension, which would've hurt Mawson.

Fabio Carvalho

It's well-documented that Carvalho won't sign a new deal at Fulham, so with his deal expiring in the summer, a January exit may make sense.

Firstly, it would allow the Cottagers to get a fee for the player without a tribunal, whilst Silva might not want to have a player in the squad for a promotion push that doesn't want to be there.

A host of clubs are keeping tabs on the playmaker, so a transfer could happen.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/2-players-fulham-may-look-to-sell-or-loan-out-in-the-january-transfer-window/

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'This will be a big, big steal': Some Liverpool fans in dreamland after seeing rumour

Some Liverpool fans on social media have been reacting after the Mail reported that Jorge Mendes is trying to push Fulham youngster Fabio Carvalho in their direction.

Carvalho is out of contract in the summer and he's recently turned down a new contract at Fulham.

The 19-year-old has been attracting interest from some of the biggest teams in Europe including Real Madrid and Chelsea, but Mendes wants to push him towards Liverpool.

Mendes isn't actually Carvalho's agent, but with the attacking midfielder reportedly looking to change his representative in January, we have to imagine that the Portuguese super-agent will be in the running.

Liverpool fans online are absolutely buzzing to hear that Carvalho could be headed to Anfield, and for good reason.

This young man has been lighting up the Championship this season and he's even stated that he wants to win the Ballon d'Or one day.




https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/11/11/this-will-be-a-big-big-steal-some-liverpool-fans-in-dreamland-after-seeing-rumour/

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A certified goalscoring machine.

Aleksandar Mitrović is your #SkyBetChampionship Player of the Month! 👏 #EFL | @FulhamFC pic.twitter.com/apSAdufXUi

— Sky Bet Championship (@SkyBetChamp) November 12, 2021