Tuesday Fulham Stuff - 12/04/22...

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Results

Monday
Huddersfield	2-0	Luton

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Neil Etheridge: Birmingham City keeper released from hospital after being knocked unconscious

Birmingham keeper Neil Etheridge received treatment for around 10 minutes on the pitch at the City Ground

Birmingham City keeper Neil Etheridge has been released from hospital after being knocked unconscious during Saturday's loss at Nottingham Forest.

Etheridge, 32, received lengthy treatment and was carried off after the 60th-minute collision with Forest defender Djed Spence.

He was taken to the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham but was released on Saturday night.

Birmingham said Etheridge would be monitored over the coming days.

"Thankfully, CT scans revealed no injury to the bones in the head but considerable swelling to the right side of the face, which took the full force of the impact," said a club statement.

"Following close consultation with the club's medical staff, he was cleared to return home late on Saturday evening.

"The club will follow the FA's concussion protocol over the coming days whilst continually monitoring Etheridge's condition to ensure his safe return to action.

"We would like to place on record our thanks to the staff at the City Ground and the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham for their quick and effective response to what was an extremely concerning situation."

Speaking after his side's 2-0 defeat at the City Ground, Blues boss Lee Bowyer told BBC Radio WM: "He was out cold getting treatment on the pitch but everyone reacted in the right way.

"He got to the ball first and unfortunately sometimes you get those collisions. Two players committed to going for the ball and that's all it was."



https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61059454

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Fabio Carvalho's Liverpool transfer set to reward Fulham attacker's former club

Jurgen Klopp's side are understood to have agreed a fee in the region of £8million with Championship leaders Fulham, with Portuguese teenager Carvalho heading to Anfield at the end of the season

Fabio Carvalho's impending move to Liverpool will have big financial benefits for his old youth club.

The Portuguese attacker is poised to move from current club Fulham to Anfield once this season is complete, with the Reds expected to complete a transfer worth around £8million.

As part of the deal, Liverpool will pay an initial £5m fee with add-ons expected to reach £2.7m, with the Merseyside outfit also agreeing to a 20 per cent sell-on percentage. There are not currently any plans for Carvalho to be loaned back to Fulham next season. The Athletic claim that the pending transfer will now benefit Balham FC, the club where Carvalho first played after moving to London from Lisbon with his family in 2013.

Balham took a leading role in handling Carvalho's future and the Liverpool transfer is expected to see them land a small percentage of the deal. There was a chance Balham could have missed out on a windfall altogether as Carvalho's contract was due to expire at the end of this season. Had he chosen to join a club abroad the compensation fee to Fulham would have been much smaller.

The 19-year-old has enjoyed a breakthrough season at Craven Cottage, with seven goals and seven assists in 30 Championship appearances.

Balham, whose men's first team play in the Combined Counties Football League Premier South Division, has over 20 age-group squads from under-sevens up to under-18s.

Speaking to Mirror Football back in February, Balham's founder Greg Cruttwell spoke of how he and a fellow coach discovered what a special talent Carvalho was from a young age. He said: "I pinged him a ball and he pinged it back to me and Ollie Kanner, who was the other coach with me, and we both immediately looked at each other and went, 'hello!'.

"Just the way he struck the ball from 30 yards away at the age he was, the power and technique. He joined in the session and he was mustard. You could see he had real poise, agility. It was clear he was extremely talented, so we said at the end to him and his mum to come along to more sessions, which he did. Fabio still bleeds Balham blood. He comes back to watch Balham games, I'm in touch with him all the time and he wants to know what's happening with Balham.

"He comes and supports us as much as he can which just shows the kind of person he is - he doesn't forget where he came from and he's so appreciative of the work we did with him at Balham. To be standing at Craven Cottage or at away games hearing the fans singing the name of a Balham player, it's magical."

Before his summer move, Carvalho will be hoping to help Fulham seal an immediate return to the Premier League. Sunday saw them suffer a shock 3-1 defeat at home to Coventry but Marco Silva's men need just six more points to confirm promotion.



https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/fabio-carvalho-move-liverpool-fulham-26683242

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Wayne Rooney points to Derby County's strength as leaders Fulham head to Pride Park

The Rams are battling against the odds to stay up while Fulham are on course for promotion

Derby County will look to their solid home form to keep alive their slim chance of escaping relegation. Defeat at Swansea on Saturday left the Rams nine points from safety in the Championship with only five games remaining and their next fixture is against leaders Fulham at Pride Park Stadium.

Fulham lost at home to Coventry City on Sunday to delay their promotion push but they still hold a 10-point lead over second-placed Bournemouth and sit 16 points ahead of Nottingham Forest, who are third.

Asked if Derby can defy the odds and stay up, manager Wayne Rooney said: "It will be tough, as it has been all season. All we can do is keep trying to pick up as many points as we can.

"We haven't got the easiest game coming up on Friday against Fulham, but we know Fulham won't enjoy coming to Pride Park.

"Our form at home has been really good and we will be competitive. We will try and give ourselves the best chance of staying up. If it is not to be, and I have said this to the players, it is through no fault of theirs.

"We have accumulated enough points now to stay in the division but obviously the points taken off us for what happened in the past will cost us in the end if we don't pick up the points we need."

Derby have won 10 and drawn seven of their 20 home league games this season. Only six teams in the division have a better home record despite the Rams sitting second bottom. They have won seven and drawn two of their last 10 at Pride Park.

Fulham have the best away record in the Championship - 13 wins and four draws in 20 matches.



https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/derby-county-fulham-rams-rooney-6934298

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Wayne Rooney offers Derby County verdict ahead of Fulham clash

Wayne Rooney has pointed to Derby County's home form as the club looks to avoid relegation.

The Rams welcome league leaders Fulham to Pride Park on Friday, but Rooney is not phased by the difficulty of the clash.

The Derby boss has claimed that his side's form at home will be a huge strength over the closing stages of the season.

Rooney's side lost ground on their rivals at the weekend following a 2-1 defeat to Swansea City away from home.

But the 36-year old believes Derby still has what it takes to earn their way out of the bottom three and that they'd be safe already but for the 21-points deduction they received for going into administration in September.

"We haven't got the easiest game coming up on Friday against Fulham, but we know Fulham won't enjoy coming to Pride Park," said Rooney, via Derbyshire Live.

"Our form at home has been really good and we will be competitive. We will try and give ourselves the best chance of staying up. If it is not to be, and I have said this to the players, it is through no fault of theirs.

"We have accumulated enough points now to stay in the division but obviously the points taken off us for what happened in the past will cost us in the end if we don't pick up the points we need."

Derby have a good home record this campaign, having won 10 and drawn seven of their 20 games at Pride Park.

That puts the Rams seventh in the home form table in the Championship.

But Friday's opponents Fulham have the best away record in the division, winning 13 and drawing four of their 20 games this season.

Derby will need an unlikely victory to maintain pace with 21st place Reading, who are nine points clear of the club with only five games left to play.

The Verdict

Rooney's side could be unofficially relegated come Friday evening if Derby lose and Reading win.

That would make the gap 12 points with four games left to play, which would make an escape incredibly unlikely.

But a win could close the gap to six points if Reading lose to Sheffield United, so all is not lost just yet for Derby.

However, Fulham will pose a massive threat as Marco Silva's side look to officially secure promotion to the Premier League following their loss on Sunday afternoon to Coventry City.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/wayne-rooney-offers-derby-county-verdict-ahead-of-fulham-clash/

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Marco Silva bemoans individual errors in defeat to Coventry

Fulham manager Marco Silva blamed a lack of a winning mentality and individual errors for his team's stumble at home to Coventry, when a win would have left them just three more points from promotion.

Fulham trailed at the break to goals from Michael Rose and Viktor Gyokeres – a set play and a goalkeeping error respectively – and although they pulled one back through substitute Bobby DeCordova-Reid, Callum O'Hare made sure of the win that Coventry deserved with a goal in added time.

It was the first time this season a team has done the double over the Cottagers.

"At this level it is tough but the winning mentality is about focus, concentration every time and this afternoon we lost the game because of individual mistakes," Silva said.

"It was not tactical. All the chances they had came from individual mistakes and when you make these mistakes at this level it's easy for them to create chances."

He denied that his players had felt any added pressure with promotion in sight and insisted that they would go to Derby on Friday expecting to move three points closer to their target.

"I don't see reasons to have more pressure today," he said. "I don't feel it. I hope our players don't feel it either. It is our job, pressure is normal. We have to enjoy it a little bit, embrace the challenge and show the mentality every time, the right mentality at certain moments.

"I'm confident next Friday we will go to Derby and fight for the three points and to be better than Derby and do our best to win the match."

Coventry boss Mark Robins was full of praise for his team's courage in taking the game to Fulham as well as standing up to the home side's attacking power.

"Today that was up there with the performances of the season," he said.

"It was the first time we've beaten a top-10 team away from home, never mind a team that is going to be champions, so it should give us confidence and belief. But the way that we played, with bravery, courage and quality that we showed, we created chances off the quality we showed and we took them.

"The positioning of our defenders was very good against the top striker in the Championship. We kept them at bay until and the 82nd minute and had the confidence to break out again.

"There was no panic in the back line or midfield. We were outstanding and we had to be against the top team. They put real quality into the box but the way we handled it was it was a brilliant, not just the three points but the performance on top of that."



https://www.theleaguepaper.com/latest-news/football-league-championship/382520/marco-silva-bemoans-individual-errors-in-defeat-to-coventry/

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Marco Silva sends Derby County and Wayne Rooney warning after Fulham shock

Fulham would have moved three points away from Premier League promotion with a win over Coventry on Sunday, but instead fell to defeat ahead of Friday's trip to Derby

Fulham head coach Marco Silva is "confident" that they will bounce back from their shock weekend defeat to Coventry City and "fight" to "be better than Derby County" when they meet on Friday night.

Two first-half goals in the space of four minutes from Michael Rose and Viktor Gyokeres put Coventry on course to victory. Bobby DeCordova-Reid did halve the deficit eight minutes from time, but the two-goal advantage was restored in added time by Callum O'Hare.

Despite tasting defeat on home soil for just the fourth time this season with promotion in touching distance, the Fulham boss was not feeling the pressure post-match. "I don't see reasons to have more pressure today," Silva said. "I don't feel it. I hope our players don't feel it either. It is our job, pressure is normal.

"We have to enjoy it a little bit, embrace the challenge and show the mentality every time, the right mentality at certain moments. I'm confident next Friday we will go to Derby and fight for the three points and to be better than Derby and do our best to win the match."

Silva continued: "At this level it is tough but the winning mentality is about focus, concentration every time and this afternoon we lost the game because of individual mistakes.

"It was not tactical. All the chances they had came from individual mistakes and when you make these mistakes at this level it's easy for them to create chances."



https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/fulham-derby-county-marco-silva-6934809

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'There is the desire' – Offer for Fulham player will arrive 'in due time', expected 'end of June'

Despite the multiple reports over the course of the season claiming that Napoli would make Fulham's André-Frank Zambo Anguissa's loan permanent before the end of the campaign, that has yet to happen.

The Cameroon international was sent by the Cottagers to Italy as he wasn't prepared to play in the Championship, and a €15m option to buy was agreed.

That immediately looked like a bargain, as the midfielder excelled almost instantly under Luciano Spalletti, which is when the stories of Napoli paying the money to Fulham early started to emerge.

However, with no rush, the Serie A side are biding their time, and there has even been talk of trying to negotiate the price down.

It seems unlikely that Fulham would agree to such a thing, but there's no harm in trying, even if the general consensus is that a deal will be struck.

That comes from Gazzetta dello Sport, who look at the future of a few Napoli players, including the midfielder, with it stated his situation 'is also highlighted on the club's agenda'.

On the pitch, the response was 'satisfactory', and 'there is the desire to make the redemption in due time', meaning 'the end of June'.

So, just a little bit more patience, and Fulham will get their money, it seems.



http://sportwitness.co.uk/desire-offer-fulham-player-will-arrive-due-time-expected-end-june/

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Update emerges on Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa's Fulham future with Napoli's transfer stance clarified

Napoli are supposedly waiting until the end of the season before making Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa's loan from Fulham a permanent move.

Zambo Anguissa, 26, was a marquee signing for Fulham upon their promotion to the Premier League in 2018.

The Londoners paid Marseille upwards of £30million for the Cameroonian midfielder who has since racked up 61 league appearances for the club, including three in the Championship at the start of this season.

Soon after though, Anguissa headed for Napoli. He joined the Italian giants on loan and quickly impressed, with reports surfacing claiming that Napoli were keen to trigger an option-to-buy for a reported €15million.

Since, little has been reported on that front. Anguissa has spent time in and out of the squad owing to injury, having recorded 19 Serie A performances for the club so far this season.

And now, fresh reports coming out of Italy (via Sport Witness) have suggested that Napoli are biding their time in their permanent pursuit of Anguissa.

These reports say that Napoli have a 'desire' to make Anguissa a permanent player before next season, but that they might wait until June before making a decision.

An inevitable move?

It always seemed like Zambo Anguissa would eventually become a permanent Napoli player. For Fulham and Marco Silva, it's no real surprise that it still seems like the midfielder won't play for the club again, and so they'll be hoping to recoup some funding for the player.

They spent a lot of money on Anguissa and never really got their money's worth, despite him impressing in the Premier League last time round.

Fulham look a much more rounded unit this season under Silva though, and fans will be hoping that next season is finally the season where they can last in the top flight.

Up next for them is a trip to Derby County this Friday.



https://the72.co.uk/269947/update-emerges-on-andre-frank-zambo-anguissas-fulham-future-with-napolis-transfer-stance-clarified/

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8 shots, 1 on target – This Fulham star was disappointing in the 3-1 defeat v Coventry City

Fulham have been storming the Sky Bet Championship, underlining the potential that they have. They failed to show that in a 3-1 defeat at home to Coventry City on Sunday.

It was only Fulham's seventh defeat of the season and they still top the Championship table with a lead of 10 points over Bournemouth. With six games to play, the Cottagers are pretty much guaranteed promotion.

Against Mark Robins' Coventry City side, Fulham weren't at the races. They suffered after a quickfire double from Michael Rose (20′) and Viktor Gyokeres (24′) put the Sky Blues 2-0 ahead.

The second half saw Marco Silva's Fulham side up the pressure and they pulled themselves back into the game when Bobby De Cordova-Reid (82′) made it 2-1. However, Coventry City rounded off affairs with Callum O'Hare (90+2′) netting a third.

It was a disappointing day for the Londoners in front of their own fans. Their disappointing display was typified by one man – Aleksandar Mitrovic.

The numbers don't lie...

The 27-year-old Mitrovic cost Fulham £22million when the Londoners signed him from Newcastle United in late July 2018. Sine then he's gone on to make 171 appearances for the Cottagers.

Those 171 appearances have seen him closing in on a century of goals – he has 91 at this present moment in time. The Serbian has definitely paid back his transfer fee with these goals.

And 76 of these goals – including a record 38 this season – have come in the Sky Bet Championship. With six games left for Fulham to play, there is every likelihood of him breaking the 40-goal mark.

However, as per WhoScored's match data from the Coventry City defeat, Mitrovic was never likely to add to his 38-goal season total on Sunday.

Mitrovic was disappointing, only earning a 6.25 rating from WhoScored. A positive was three chance-creating key passes from 19 completed passes.

However, what was more of a testament to his disappointing rating and display was what he achieve in front of goal. Mitrovic fashioned eight shooting opportunities against Coventry City but only one of these was an on-target shot that didn't work Sky Blues goalkeeper Simon Moore.

Next up for Fulham and Aleksandar Mitrovic is a trip to Pride Park to face Derby County this coming Friday. Mitrovic will be wanting to regain his lethal form and pass that 40-goal landmark.



https://the72.co.uk/269938/8-shots-1-on-target-this-fulham-star-was-disappointing-in-the-3-1-defeat-v-coventry-city/

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Liverpool 'to delay Fabio Carvalho announcement'

Liverpool have reportedly decided to delay the announcement of Fabio Carvalho's arrival while the winger is still embroiled in a Championship title fight with Fulham.

It has been reported that the 19-year-old has agreed to join the Reds on a five-year contract, with Liverpool paying an upfront fee of around £4.2m.

Although that deal still looks set to go through, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has suggested that Liverpool are holding off announcing their new signing in respect to Fulham, who are closing in on a return to the Premier League.

Marco Silva's side enjoy a 10-point cushion at the top of the Championship table, but with promotion not yet secured, Liverpool are unwilling to disrupt matters for the West London side.

Despite the delay, the deal has been completed and it is a matter of time before the youngster is unveiled as the latest addition to Jurgen Klopp's side.

Carvalho, who has scored seven league goals this season, was close to joining the Reds on deadline day in January, but the deal did not go through in time.



https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/liverpool/transfer-talk/news/liverpool-to-delay-fabio-carvalho-announcement_483029.html?newsnow

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Championship review promotion special: Fulham nailed on; Bournemouth can't relax; Forest flying

The race for Premier League promotion is down to the final games for many of the clubs involved. Here's a look at the state of play for each of the top ten sides in the Championship:


1st - Fulham (Played 39, Points 83)

Let's not stand on ceremony here, Fulham are as good as up and it's a matter of when rather than if. Even in this round and everything goes their way it could be all done by the time Huddersfield v Luton concludes on Monday night.


2nd - Bournemouth (Played 38, Points 72)

Bournemouth are hot favourites to take the second automatic spot with a six point lead over third placed Huddersfield and two games in hand. The only fly in the ointment for the Cherries is their tricky run-in and things could perhaps look closer in four games when they'll have promotion rivals Sheffield United, Fulham and Middlesbrough.


3rd - Huddersfield (Played 40, Points 66)

Carlos Corberan has turned Huddersfield from a leaky relegation candidate to a top three side as things stand. Like Bournemouth there's a difficult run of three games to get through against Luton, QPR and Middlesbrough, but one would imagine four of five points from those three would set them up nicely with three games to go


4th - Luton (Played 40, Points 65)

Like Huddersfield, Luton have stormed into the promotion picture this season as their rise over the past five or six years continues. It's almost a case of 'come back in two games and we'll know more' for Luton. First they visit Huddersfield on Monday night, then it's a juicy home match up over in form Nottingham Forest. If they come out of those two undiminished then a mid 70s total and a play-off spot looks likely.


5th - Nottingham Forest (Played 38, Points 64)

Nottingham Forest are the one everyone has their eyes on at the moment. They have streaked up the table since Steve Cooper took over and their games in hand could take them into third if they carry on their excellent form. If Forest don't drop off or get tired physically or mentally, then the play-offs is the least they'll get during the regular Championship season.


6th - Sheffield United (Played 40, Points 64)

The Blades points output since Paul Heckingbottom took over is an impressive 41 from 21 games, just shy of the fabled two points per game. United are probably going to need to be close to that over their remaining six games to get over the line and stay in sixth. The good news is four of the games are at Bramall Lane, the bad news is they're missing the injured Basham, Bogle and Sharp quite keenly.


7th - Middlesbrough (Played 39, Points 62)

Middlesbrough have a few aces up their sleeve in the run-in and they'll probably need to execute on all of them. Firstly their manager Chris Wilder has done it before very recently and secondly they're a fearsome home team. Thirdly and possibly most importantly they have a game in hand over three of the teams currently occupying the play-off spots. If Boro can stay in touch that game against Cardiff prior to the penultimate round could be a big difference maker.


8th - Blackburn (Played 40, Points 62)

Blackburn are only two points off the play-offs but the direction of travel is not looking good. Rovers led going into minute 99 against Coventry last weekend but a late equaliser meant more dropped points and Sheffield United and Forest took their chances to slip past during this past midweek. Other than a visit from Bournemouth the fixtures look kinder than others but it looks like four or five wins from the last six may end up being required.


9th - QPR (Played 40, Points 59)

Something doesn't feel right at QPR. Rangers lost for the ninth time in their last 13 games in all comps at Sheffield United in midweek but the lack of energy and drive in their performance looked ominous. It would take a miraculous change in fortunes at this stage to get things back on track and manager Mark Warburton looks like a man under pressure.


10th - Millwall (Played 40, Points 58)

Millwall have hit a winless three games at the worst possible time leaving their outside chances on the rocks. Let's say the Lions finish brilliantly and win five and draw one of their last six to add another 16 points on. That would be a 74 point haul that may well be surpassed by sixth place this season and perhaps Millwall have just a little too much to do now.



https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/championship-review-promotion-special-fulham-nailed-on-bournemouth-can-t-relax-forest-flying-4410858

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Domingos Quina hits back at Marco Silva's comments on Fulham loan spell

Domingos Quina has refuted Marco Silva's claims that he lacked commitment and work-rate during his unsuccessful loan spell with Fulham earlier in the 2021-22 season.

The Portuguese midfielder headed to Craven Cottage on transfer deadline day in August from Watford along with team-mate Nathaniel Chalobah – Quina's deal was a loan one but the Cottagers had the option to make it permanent at the end of the campaign.

Quina never made an impact though at the West London outfit, making just two league appearances under Silva and his last appearance in a league squad came on October 2.

With his final appearance coming in a January FA Cup clash with Bristol City, Quina headed back to Vicarage Road before moving to struggling Barnsley, where he's managed to find consistent minutes.

Back in October though when he wasn't making the Fulham squad, the 22-year-old's desire was questioned by Silva – something that he doesn't agree with to this very day.

"It's not nice," Quina told the Watford Observer.

"To me, that was the first time I'd heard that.

"If you can say one thing about me, I will always work hard.

"I think he could have said I need to work hard to understand the tactical side of his formation, or the game, but to say I just don't work hard and I need to work harder, I disagree with that.

"But I respect them, and I respect his opinion."

The Verdict

Following his split campaign last season with Watford and then Granada of La Liga, Quina was hoping to get regular minutes at one club under his belt.

But the same thing has happened in 2021-22 – you would have thought that he'd have challenged Neeskens Kebano for a starting place on the left wing but it just never happened for him.

We will never know if Quina really didn't show enough in training to impress Silva but considering the results Fulham have gotten this season it's hard to argue with his decision to leave the midfielder out.

Even though Barnsley are struggling, Quina has impressed at Oakwell but you have to wonder where his future lies beyond this season considering Watford were willing to let him go permanently to Fulham – a new challenge may await.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/domingos-quina-hits-back-at-marco-silva-following-fulham-loan-spell/

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Opinion: Fulham should make a play for 11 goal, 13 assist midfielder this summer as potential Fabio Carvalho replacement

Despite a surprise defeat at home to Coventry City this past weekend – their second of the season against the Sky Blues – Fulham are still well on course to make it back to the Premier League at the first time of asking once again.

It may be a case of a few nerves setting in as they get closer to the finishing line, but when it's all said and done, the Cottagers should be home and hosed in the coming weeks.

The closer the end of the season gets though, the closer Cottagers supporters get to not seeing Fabio Carvalho in the white shirt anymore.

The talented teenager will be joining Liverpool this summer and unless his career doesn't go as planned then it's unlikely that he will play for Fulham again – he will also leave a major void in the number 10 role.

It all means that Marco Silva's transfer team need to source a replacement from somewhere, and you wouldn't put it past a big-money arrival coming in judging by some of Fulham's more recent Premier League spending.

However there are still bargains to be had and there could be one or two lingering in the Championship still as Fulham make their way to the Premier League – could they take John Swift with them though?

Now 26 years old, Swift seems to be be hitting the peak of his abilities and at times he's carried a struggling Reading side through matches on his own.

His stat-lines for the 2021-22 campaign tell you all you need to know – 11 goals and 13 assists in an attacking midfield role for the Royals has seen him grab the headlines, but it's headlines that Reading probably didn't want as his contract is set to expire this summer.

Having gotten over the injury woes of last season, Swift has proven his fitness but also his cutting edge, but he's been playing at Championship level for a number of years now – firstly briefly with Rotherham United and then Brentford before departing Chelsea permanently for Berkshire in 2016.

You have to assume though that someone from perhaps the lower end of the Premier League – or a newly promoted club – will take a punt on Swift off the back of this season's performances – and he could really fit in well at Craven Cottage behind Aleksandar Mitrovic and next to Harry Wilson.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/opinion-fulham-should-make-a-play-for-11-goal-13-assist-midfielder-this-summer-as-potential-fabio-carvalho-replacement/

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Jack and Loz at the Cottage - Blog 216
Date: 10 April 2022

Opposition: Coventry City

Score: 1-3

Fulham goal scorer: Bobby Decordova-Reid

Weather: Spring returns to SW6

Atmosphere: uncertainty returns to SW6

MOTM (250 appearances): Tim Ream has been our MOTM a lot this season. In fact, he's been our MOTM for quite a lot of those 250 appearances. There was no MOTM on Sunday but Tim was the best Fulham player on the pitch and other than the aberration for the third goal, was his usual intelligent, incisive self. He is a fantastic, loyal, hard-working and inspirational player for Fulham and is one of the good guys in every way. We hope that Fulham features in his future in whichever way he chooses.

MOTM (non-football): it was great to see another of the good guys, Terry Angus receive his Forever Fulham award

Lunch (and wine): the Blue Boat

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the road to Fulham's promotion is carpeted with frustration.

After 5 games away from home, we thought the Fulham players would want to impress in front of the home fans, we thought they would have a point (or 3) to prove after the loss to Coventry earlier in the season. And we thought Fulham were the best team in the league.

So we arrived at the Cottage on Sunday after too long away expecting an exciting game in which our team would impose themselves on the opposition, score several goals and come away with promotion a step closer.

Instead, we watched Fulham's worst performance of the season since the last time we played Coventry and the only reason why this one was slightly better was because it wasn't raining,

Fulham did not impose themselves on the opposition. We looked worse in every department. Coventry had more accurate strikers, a stronger midfield, a more solid defence and a goalkeeper who could actually - but let's not go there. Yet.

Overall, Coventry were better organised and disciplined. They had effective tactics and they executed them well. They looked fitter, faster and fresher. Most importantly, they were first to every ball (even Fulham's short passes) and they were desperate to win the game.

The Fulham players meanwhile, looked like they thought they'd already booked a trophy presentation and would rather have been watching the golf.

Marco Silva blames individual mistakes for the defeat and he is correct, his own individual mistakes being to put Reed and Chalobah together in midfield when there is little evidence this structure works, and not bringing on Seri despite this being suggested loudly by the crowd at regular intervals.

As for the players, we have rarely seen such an error-ridden game. Tosin forgot how to control the ball, Reed was giving it away with merry abandon, and Chalobah mistimed every single interception. The Fulham Press, which was such a big factor in the victory at Boro dissipated in the spring sunshine. Ream only made one mistake but it was a huge one and Fabio seems to have checked out already. The forwards were anonymous for large chunks of the first half and as for Rodak - no, let's not go there. Yet.

What was interesting about Coventry is that they were dressed like rugby players and some of them even looked a bit like rugby players but they played football really well. Their first goal came from a very well taken corner. Fulham should have a. Not given away so many corners, b. Defended the corner better; and, c. Stepped up a few gears after conceding it. None of this happened. The second goal - no, let's not go there. Yet.

As for Fulham, one of the big issues was decision making. But one of the bigger issues was that once the wrong decision was made, it was executed poorly. The other big issue is that this was a game of Missed Chances (not missed shances which is a charming way of saying we could have scored more goals in a game we probably won anyway but Missed Chances which lost us the game or at least made us uncompetitive).

Kebano had the biggest miss of the first half with Mitro not far behind. In the second half everyone got in on the act - Harry's free kick, Neco forcing a decent save, Mitro just wide, Muniz too hesitant and Fabio hitting the bar. Fortunately, Bobby didn't get the memo and gave us something to cheer about.

The second half was a lot better than the first, partly because of Bobby's introduction and later (too late in fact) Onomah's. Robinson used his pace well and the attack took on some semblance of intensity as the clock ran down. But Coventry defended expertly and our composure let us down.

Coventry experimented with time wasting but then decided it would be more profitable to try to score a third goal. What followed was the most Triangle of Doomish moment since the formation's inception. We can hardly bear to describe it and we feel for the Putney Massive who must have seen the incident in all its gory detail. In short, a melange of miscommunication, hesitation and ineptitude allowed Coventry to seal the victory and increased the volume of the alarm bells already ringing in Fulham ears.

So, time to address the elephant on the pitch. We appreciate that goal-keeping is a difficult job and a thankless task. It's physically demanding, mentally challenging and some of the kits are horrible. You have to be hyper alert for the whole 90 minutes, even when play is at the far end of the pitch and you have to throw yourself around, contort your body and get up close and physical with outfield players more often than you'd like. It's not so much that you have to be lucky all the time and they only have to be lucky once, it's that you have to get every decision and every move right or they get the glory. Goalkeepers are heroes, usually understated, often underrated and totally indispensable.

We like Marek Rodak. He's strong, calm and agile. He's kept us in more than one game in recent seasons and he's made some fantastic saves. But recently, doubts have crept it. There has been a tendency to punch rather than catch and, worse, to flap rather than punch. There's been some erratic distribution and some questionable passing choices. As probable promotion draws near we have to ask, is Rodak good enough for the Premier League? Unfortunately, we know he isn't. And it looks like he knows it too.

It would be easy to write this match off as a bad day at the Cottage, as players being tired after the battle at Boro, an opponent raising their game and complacency creeping in with the job almost done. But complacency shouldn't be allowed and it's worrying that we were bettered in every area of the pitch. More than that is the fact that we're going to find ourselves 2-0 down at half time quite often next season and we need to react to it a lot better than we did on Sunday.

Random musings:-

- as good as the Man From Milk Tray look is, it works better when you don't wear a white T shirt under the black jumper

- we missed TC

- much has already been said about Fabio's now apparently definite move to Liverpool although you have to wonder if it ever crossed his mind why Neco is keen to come the other way

- back to Ream's 250th appearance. We hope the third goal doesn't take the shine off the achievement for him. He really is an outstanding player. We would certainly have conceded more without him on Sunday

- we quite liked the Neapolitan ice cream inspired Coventry away kit but it would have made more sense if they'd worn their home kit given that they looked like Man City.....

-.....and their fans were as good as the players.

Hopefully this result will do more good than harm. The players need to stop believing the hype and get stuck back into training. This should be only a blip and promotion postponed rather than cancelled. And there is a Silva lining: promotion is now more likely to be confirmed when we play Preston than Derby so we will be able to celebrate at the Cottage. At home.



https://werdsmith.com/p/PjadWaC5EB2YwX

[filham]

That Anguissa transfer needs sorting soon.
Clearly our midfield is looking weak at the moment and Anguissa will be needed  next season. If he is not returning then we need the cash early to find a good replacement.