Wednesday Fulham Stuff - 06/09/23...

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Bayern Munich CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen hints at signing João Palhinha in January
Both sides really want this transfer to happen

Bayern Munich thought they got João Palhinha on deadline day of the transfer window a few days ago, only for the deal to fall through because Fulham FC could not find a replacement in time. Palhinha had already travelled to Munich to perform his medical and had official photos taken. Nevertheless, the Bavarians said they will go back for him later. Club CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen saying that the club will try again in the winter:

    He was extremely sad yesterday. He would've liked to stay (in Munich). But as we say: most of the time, you see each other twice in life.

    – As captured by Twitter account @iMiaSanMia

Palhinha's brother/agent wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post that the club "did not kill his dream, but merely delayed it". This shows the intent of both parties to go for each other again. #ServusPalhinha and #Palhinha2028 might happen in four months' time.



https://www.bavarianfootballworks.com/2023/9/5/23858090/bayern-munich-ceo-jan-christian-dreesen-signing-joao-palhinha-in-january-fulham-transfer-rumor-news

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Fulham FC reveal Alex Iwobi's shirt number after joining from Everton
Premier League side, Fulham, have released the shirt number of their new signing, Alex Iwobi, after signing him from Everton.

Former Arsenal midfielder, Alex Iwobi has had his jersey number revealed by his new club, Fulham, after they secured his services from Everton, Soccernet.ng reports.

The Nigerian international joined Fulham three days ago, departing the blue Merseysiders, Everton, on a fee going up to £22 million.

However, the club announced on their official X (formerly called Twitter) page, that Iwobi will be wearing the number twenty-two jersey. At the same time, Fodé Ballo-Touré was handed the number twelve jersey.

The Hale End Academy graduate is second in Everton's list of expensive acquisitions, standing just behind Jean Michaël Seri, who joined The Cottagers from OGC Nice for a fee of €30m in July 2018.

Iwobi went from number forty-five at Arsenal to take over the number seventeen shirt at the Emirates Stadium and continued his trademark at Goodison Park, but cannot wear the number at his new club as his former teammate, Bernd Leno wears the shirt number for Fulham.

Iwobi's new number has been worn by famous Fulham faithful, with memories that fans will never forget. Paulo Gazzaniga, former Chelsea striker – Eidur Gudjohnsen, Elliot Omozusi, Wayne Routledge, Dean Leacock, Luís Boa Morte and Steve McAnespie.

The Nigerian midfielder signed a five-year contract with Fulham, running through till the summer of 2028, and his brilliance last season was pivotal in making sure the Evertonians stayed up and is excited to start his new journey with the London clubs.



https://soccernet.ng/2023/09/fulham-fc-reveal-alex-iwobis-shirt-number-after-joining-from-everton.html

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Antwerp sign Owen Wijndal on loan from Ajax following interest from Fulham
Royal Antwerp have completed the loan signing of Owen Wijndal from Ajax. The Dutch left-back will spend the season with the Belgian champions, having featured just 20 times in the Eredivisie for Ajax last season. The 23-year-old only started 11 of those games.

Owen Wijndal joined Ajax from AZ Alkmaar in the summer of 2022 for around €10m. It's been a tough start to life in Amsterdam for the 11-time Netherlands international, but the move to Antwerp will certainly help to regain his confidence. During the summer, Ajax signed 21-year-old left-back Gaston Ávila from Antwerp. This was an indication that Wijndal had fallen further down the pecking order.

During the final few days of the transfer window, Fulham were reportedly interested in Owen Wijndal. The Premier League side were looking for a left-back to compete with US international Antonee Robinson. A move to Craven Cottage would have seen Wijndal link up with former teammate Calvin Bassey, who recently made a permanent move from Ajax to Fulham.



https://getfootballnewsbene.com/antwerp-sign-owen-wijndal-on-loan-from-ajax-following-interest-from-fulham/#google_vignette

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Secure Your Seat For This Sunday

Join us at Motspur Park this weekend as Fulham FC Women take on Ebbsfleet United!

After their 6-1 win over Aylesford on Sunday, the team are looking to take another three points as they continue in their 2023/24 London and South East Regional campaign.

The Whites will be welcoming Ebbsfleet United to Motspur Park on Sunday 10th September, kick-off 2:30pm.

Tickets for this fixture are priced at just £5 for Adults and £1 for Juniors, so bring the family down to Motspur Park to catch all the action!

SECURE YOUR SEAT
HOW TO BUY

Supporters can purchase their tickets online at tickets.fulhamfc.com, over the phone by calling 0203 871 0810 (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm) or in person from the Fulham FC Ticket Office (Monday-Friday, 9:30am-4:30pm).

Tickets will be available to purchase on the door, subject to availability.

WHERE CAN I WATCH FULHAM FC WOMEN?

Fulham FC Women are currently scheduled to play all home league matches at Motspur Park Training Ground, New Malden, KT3 6PT.

HOW MUCH ARE TICKETS?

Match tickets are priced at £5 for Adults and £1 for Juniors.

We encourage fans to purchase their digital tickets in advance of matchday which must then be either downloaded to a smart phone or printed before arriving at the Training Ground.

Tickets can be purchased online at tickets.fulhamfc.com or over the phone on 0203 871 0810.
WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT FULHAM FC WOMEN?

You can keep up to date with all things Fulham FC on Twitter and Instagram: @FULHAMFCWOMEN



https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2023/september/05/secure-your-seat-for-this-sunday/

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Marco Silva was the man who rejected the chance to sign 22-year-old from Chelsea for Fulham
Fulham manager Marco Silva rejected the chance to sign Callum Hudson-Odoi from Chelsea this summer.

That is according to a report from The Athletic.

They report that the Fulham manager decided he didn't want to bring Callum Hudson-Odoi to Craven Cottage during the summer transfer window.

Eventually, Chelsea did end up getting rid of the 22-year-old attacker and selling him to Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest.

Forest ended up paying £5million (Evening Standard) to sign Hudson-Odoi, which could turn out to be a bargain if can get back to showing his form pre-injury.

We think Hudson-Odoi could have been a good fit in the current Fulham line-up.

However, Silva clearly doesn't share the same opinion, and he's the most important individual in the manager's dugout.

Chelsea supporters will now watch from afar to see how Hudson-Odoi's career unfolds at Forest.

The Evening Standard reported last month that Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino neve even held a conversation with Hudson-Odoi during the summer. Therefore, it sounded like the writing was on the wall as he entered the final year of his contract at Stamford Bridge.

It feels like the quick winger needs this fresh start in his career to get back on track.

Aged 22, Hudson-Odoi fits the profile of the kind of player Chelsea have been signing under this ownership. He's a product from the Blues academy at Cobham, too.

However, he's fallen off a long way since a serious injury some years ago and has got to rebuild from the bottom now in Forest colours.



https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/transfer-news/marco-silva-was-the-man-who-rejected-the-chance-to-sign-22-year-old-from-chelsea-for-fulham/

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Team GB stars and Fulham FC open new all-weather pitch for school
Two Team GB hockey players, including one Olympic gold medallist, attended the official opening of a new sports ground as part of an ongoing effort to improve sports offered to pupils.

Olympic gold medal winner Giselle Ansley and hockey star Chris Griffiths opened the new all-weather sports pitch at the Blagdons Sports Ground in Beverley Way, Merton at the weekend, which will be used by pupils at Emmanuel School in Battersea Rise.

They were joined by Merton's cabinet member for sport, Councillor Caroline Cooper-Marbiah and Cllr Hina Bokhari, as well as Robert Milne, headmaster of Emanuel School.

The project was completed in collaboration with the Fulham Football Club Foundation, which provides weekly disability football in partnership with the school.

Mike McSweeney, chief executive of the Fulham Football Club Foundation, said: "Fulham Football Club Foundation has a proud history of curating and supporting programmes tailored to girls' and disability sport.

"We can already see the difference the new facilities will make to our offer and we are delighted to be continuing our partnership with Emanuel School."

The day began with girls' and disability sport on the new all-weather pitch as well as rugby, cricket and boat club athletes joining the hockey players in all-star matches.

Emmanuel headmaster Mr Milne said: "We are proud of our well-established community partnership and outreach work, which will see local sporting groups and charities using the all-weather pitch.

"The new pitches at Blagdons also allow us to offer a broader range of co-educational sport, netball, tennis, football and hockey, on top of the existing cricket and rugby pitches, to meet the growing demand for girls' sport."

The development, which was approved last August by Merton council, has meant that the number of pitches on the ground has grown from 29 to 35.



https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/team-gb-stars-and-fulham-fc-open-new-all-weather-pitch-for-school/

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Report: Everton really didn't want to let £22m player go, but they couldn't say no
Everton weren't in a position to turn down Fuham's bid for Alex Iwobi last week.

Accoding to The Athletic, the Toffees had previously made tying the midfielder down to a new contract a main priority.

However, after failing to reach an agreement with Iwobi, they decided they couldn't really say no to Fulham's £22 million offer.

Iwobi had looked set to return to action as usual as Everton faced Sheffield United at the weekend, however he instead completed a permanent move to Craven Cottage the previous day.

The Nigerian joined Marco Silva's side on a five-year contract after the Toffees had accepted a bid for his signature on transfer deadline day.

Iwobi's departure came as a huge surprise as Everton were already lacking squad depth and were now parting ways with one of last season's best performers.

The report has claimed that Everton initially saw getting Iwobi to agree to a new contract as a top priority and had already made him a number of offers, however they were unable to get the 27-year-old to put pen to paper.

With only a year left on his contract at Goodison Park, Everton quickly decided they weren't in the financial position to turn down Fulham's £22m bid and instead let him leave to avoid him going for free in less than 12 months.

Can Everton live without Alex Iwobi?
Everton have taken a huge risk in letting Alex Iwobi leave with no replacement for him, however to rake in £22m for him is actually very impressive.

With the midfielder unlikely to sign a new contract on Merseyside, Iwobi looked dead set to leave the club on a free transfer next summer. However, they have instead made a very decent fee less than a year earlier.

Keeping Demarai Gray could also be very important in Iwobi's exit, though they will definitely need to strengthen in that position and could opt to look into the free transfer market themselves. One player that could potentially fill that void is Jesse Lingard, who is still without a club after leaving Nottingham Forest.



https://www.everton.news/report-everton-really-didnt-want-to-let-22m-player-go-but-they-couldnt-say-no/

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Have Fulham built on last season's successful campaign?

Dan Cooke revisits his article from March 2023 and assesses whether Fulham have capitalised on last season's top-half finish.

Towards the back end of last season, I wrote an article that outlined four actions I thought we should take to use our exceptional return to the top flight as a springboard for prolonged Premier League success (aka mid-table mediocrity). With the transfer window slamming shut (apparently it can never be closed gently), now felt like a good time to review our business, compared to what I wanted to see from our recruitment team.

One caveat to bear in mind: I am just a fan; I don't have any experience of working in the recruitment team of a professional football club (I did temporarily work as a recruitment analyst for an Albanian basketball team, but it's not quite the same thing). These are just my beliefs as to how we could grow, using other clubs as blueprints for success.

1. Flesh out the squad
We all knew that we lacked squad depth last year. The size of the squad fluctuated during the season with players leaving and joining after our first game, as well as in the January window, however, we had a squad of roughly 24 players. Despite this, when you consider this included the likes of Mbabu, Kurzawa, Duffy, and Chalobah, there was a lack of quality outside of our 14 regular starters. Marco struggled to change games by utilising his bench options, with Manor Solomon being our only real impact substitute. We didn't have reliable back-ups for either full-back, Palhinha, Harrison Reed, and arguably Mitro (although Carlos Vinicius scored some important goals when utilised correctly). This is perhaps to be expected in a team's first season after promotion, as you gradually transition into a Premier League team, you first improve the starting XI, then build a squad. Have we done that this summer?

The addition of Timothy Castagne and Calvin Bassey has certainly improved our defensive ranks, although I'm unsure of the apparently panicked addition of Ballo-Touré. Regardless, we have certainly added quality and depth.

In the middle of the park, Alex Iwobi threatens to bring competition to Andreas Pereira's position, and based on how he's started the season, Saša Lukić has integrated himself into this squad and is starting to show why we signed him back in January. However, not signing another defensively-minded midfielder, to either provide cover for Palhinha or play alongside him in "backs to the wall" moments, has surprised me. We've played six league games without João since he joined, and lost five of them. We're always going to be a bit worse without him on the pitch, but a reasonable replacement would help minimise the negative impact of his inevitable absence at times this season.

We had six wingers last season. Three have left in the shape of Dan James, Manor Solomon, and everyone's favourite, Neeskens Kebano. Six wingers may have seemed a bit overkill, although all but Neeskens made more than 20 appearances in all competitions, and he made 17. Adama Traoré is an exciting signing, and we've already seen glimpses of what he'll bring to the table. Alex Iwobi is also capable of playing out wide, but his evolution into a ball carrying central-midfielder ignited his revival and resulted in him becoming Everton's player's player of the season. It definitely feels like we could have done with another option on the left, considering currently it's a 35-year-old Willian, and the industrious Swiss Army Knife, Bobby De Cordova-Reid.

Finally, our number nine, the most concerning of the lot. Raúl is an experienced striker, who has shown flashes of his ability, but we certainly haven't seen the best of him yet. He also hasn't scored a league goal since March 2022, and has only had one shot on target this season. Carlos Vinicius managed five goals last season, respectable given his lack of minutes, but he has only surpassed double figures in one season in his career. He has also been seemingly cast aside by Silva, considering he hasn't got on the pitch yet this campaign, and reports of a move to Turkey are growing stronger. Finally, we have Rodrigo Muniz, who has 11 career league goals, and was dropped early on during his loan spell at Middlesbrough, making only one substitute appearance in the last six months of his tenure there.

Mitro got 14 league goals last season, it doesn't look like we've replaced those – that's a big concern.

Ultimately, other than in defence, we don't seem to have grown as a collective, and that's really disappointing.

2. Trust/invest in youth
We had the oldest squad in the Premier League last season. The experience of the elder statesmen of the squad, Messrs Willian, Leno, and Ream, was a probably a large reason for our success. However, you have to start thinking long-term. An ageing squad was what ended our previous extended period in the Premier League, and it feels like the correct way to replace the older players in a team, is to have younger assets already in the squad who are ready to step into the role.

The average of our signings this summer was 26.5, with Calvin Bassey (23) and Steven Benda (24) being the youngest of the incomings. Both of those do suggest some element of future planning, with their best years still comfortably to come. Other than that, the rest of he signings appear to be in their prime, or in Raúl's case, potentially past his prime.

Luke Harris currently has a role in the squad, however, his appearance against Manchester City would've been unlikely had it not been for the injuries to Lukić and Cairney, the absence of Palhinha, and Iwobi not being registered in time. The availability of all of these players will unfortunately limit Harris's game time. Jay Stansfield has gone out on loan and has immediately ingratiated himself to the St. Andrews faithful, scoring in both of his first two games for Birmingham City.

Therefore, it seems as though Fulham are going with experience once again this year. Right now, that's not necessarily a bad thing, however I do worry that Fulham are not well prepared for the potential drop in performances from older players.

3. Make some tough decisions
This point was focused on not allowing sentimentality to cloud judgment when it comes to individual players. I felt we needed to be realistic about how much longer we can expect Tim Ream to be a superstar, and the signing of Bassey I think is smart, as it gives us a natural passing of the torch.

I also felt, that as much as I adore Neeskens Kebano, given his age and injury issues, it might sadly have been time to say goodbye, which we also did. Saying this, looking at our squad now, we probably could have done with our Congolese creator.

4. Don't sell João Palhinha
Ha. Not quite too sure to say about this...

Everyone, including myself, has an opinion about what happened on Deadline Day, but we'll ignore that in this article. Ultimately the most important thing is that we've retained one of the best players we've ever had and that's huge.

As addressed earlier, we simply aren't the same team without our Portuguese enforcer. I personally believe his value to us is far more than anyone is currently willing to pay. Despite this, West Ham have been a good example of how to handle your best player leaving, and seem to have reinvested well, improving their overall quality. We will sell him (ideally at the end of the season and not in January), but if we can get another stellar season out of him, and plan ahead with regards to what we do with the money, then I think we've got the best result possible.

Funnily enough, this section also said that we shouldn't sell Mitro, which at the time I didn't actually think was a possibility. As painful as it was to see him go, the fee received was very good, and unfortunately he made his stance clear.

5. Sign Manor Solomon
The last sentence of the article also snuck in one last action, which was to permanently sign Solomon. Clearly we failed at that, and his performance against Burnley at the weekend was tough to watch, proving to an extent that we've missed out on a quality player.

It's hard to apportion blame here, as we were always going to struggle to win a battle against Spurs. However, given the controversial way in which we signed Manor in the first place, I fear we may have missed out on a bargain 12 months ago.

It must also be said that Marco Silva never seemed to be a big fan of Manor, and so he is probably a big reason why Manor is playing in a different London postcode.

In summary
It's hard to pick out many positives here. We've not had a disaster window like Wolves, and barring injuries, we are better than enough teams in this league, that we probably needn't worry about relegation. However, it really does feel like a missed opportunity. Finishing 10th in the Premier League is no mean feat, and with the right signings, I think we could have made a real fist of doing it again.

Unfortunately, with the way things currently look, I fear we may see some regression this season. But maybe that's ok? Maybe the aim is just to ensure safety every season. It just would have been nice to see some real ambition.



https://www.fulhamish.co.uk/post/2023-09-05-have-fulham-built-on-last-seasons-successful-campaign/#google_vignette

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International Call-Ups

Details of the Fulham players who will be representing their nations over the upcoming international period.

Senior squad

🇳🇬 Calvin Bassey (Nigeria) - Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers

🇧🇪 Timothy Castagne (Belgium) - European Championship Qualifiers

🇯🇲 Bobby De Cordova-Reid (Jamaica) - Nations League

🇲🇽 Raúl Jiménez (Mexico) - Friendlies

🇵🇹 João Palhinha (Portugal) - European Championship Qualifiers

🇺🇸 Tim Ream (United States) - Friendlies

🇺🇸 Antonee Robinson (United States) - Friendlies

🇸🇰 Marek Rodák (Slovakia) - European Championship Qualifiers

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Harry Wilson (Wales) - Friendly & European Championship Qualifier

Under-21s

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Luke Harris (Wales) - Friendly & European Championship Qualifier



https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2023/september/05/international-call-ups/

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"Absolutely incredible.." - Birmingham City fan pundit makes Jay Stansfield claim
FLW's Birmingham fan pundit has opened up on Jay Stansfield's start to life at the club

    Jay Stansfield has had an incredible start at Birmingham City, scoring two goals in his first two league games.
    While he is currently playing in an attacking midfield/striker role, fans believe he could excel as a central number nine.
    Birmingham City fans are excited to see Stansfield's potential and believe he could be a key player for the team if he continues to perform at this level.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Jay Stansfield made the switch from Fulham to Birmingham City in the final couple of weeks of the transfer window.

The forward had been linked with numerous Championship sides, but ended up on loan at St. Andrew's.

Stansfield has been put straight into the first team squad, coming off the bench for his debut against Plymouth Argyle.

His goal in the 95th minute sealed all three points for John Eustace's side, earning a 2-1 win over the Pilgrims.

This earned him a start in the team's next two games, including a 1-1 draw with Millwall where the 20-year-old's strike levelled the scores to give the Blues a point.

What do Birmingham City fans think of Jay Stansfield's start to life at the club?
FLW's Birmingham Fan pundit Mike Gibbs has praised the impact that Stansfield has had with the team so far.

He has suggested that Stansfield is far from the finished product, so he is excited to see how he improves as the season goes on.

"Absolutely incredible start," Gibbs told Football League World.

"Two in two in league games and you can't ask for any more from an attacking midfielder/striker.

"I think we still need to work out what his best position is.

"I think he thinks his best position is number 10, but I think we're crying out actually for a number nine.

"He can play anywhere along the front line, but I think we're pretty well stocked in terms of creative attacking midfielders.

"I could see him playing through the middle instead of Scott Hogan, who's having a bit of a rough time of it at the moment.

"Really excited to see what he can really do when fully fit.

"He's not really been able to get 90 minutes under his belt yet so once he's fully fit I'll be excited to see him.

"I think he'll go from strength to strength."

Birmingham have made an excellent start to the new Championship season, earning 11 from a possible 15 points.

Eustace's side have gone into the September international break with three wins, two draws and zero defeats to the name, just two points off leaders Preston North End.

Next up for Birmingham is a trip to Vicarage Road to face Watford on 16 September.

How important could Jay Stansfield be to Birmingham City?
Stansfield is playing at a rate of a goal a game in the Championship, which is obviously excellent even from a limited sample size.

If he can continue to pose a dangerous threat like that over the course of this season then there is the potential for him to score 20 or more goals for the Blues.

That would be a huge boost to Birmingham's season, and could put them in the conversation for a promotion place.

However, it is still early days and it remains to be seen whether Stansfield can maintain this level of performance over a sustained period.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/hell-go-from-strength-to-strength-birmingham-city-fan-pundit-issues-verdict-on-jay-stansfield-signing/

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'This was an error' - Referees' chief admits Manchester City goal shouldn't have stood
Referees' chief Howard Webb admitted Nathan Ake's goal against Fulham should have been disallowed for offside in their 5-1 victory on Saturday.

Ake's header regained City's lead to put them 2-1 up on the stroke of half-time but Fulham complained about Manuel Akanji being stood in an offside position and appeared to affect Bernd Leno in the goal.

After a VAR review of the incident, the goal was given and City went on to win the match comfortably by four goals.

Following the game, Erling Haaland - who scored a hat-trick - said he thought the goal should have been ruled out for offside, while Fulham boss Marco Silva also continued his complaints and said it should have been "impossible" to allow the goal to stand.

The Premier League aired an episode of 'Match Officials Mic'd Up' on Sky Sports on Tuesday, showing viewers some VAR decisions that have been made through the early part of the season.

On the show, Professional Game Match Officials Limited chief Webb admitted the officials got the decision wrong with Ake's goal and that it should have been ruled out for offside.

He said: "From the outset, I want to say this should have been disallowed.

"These are not always easy to call because you are trying to get two pieces of information together. Is the player in an offside position, which official is in a good position to see, and what consequence was there of the player being in that position and how it impacts the opponents?

"It certainly appears that Akanji has an impact on Bernd Leno, the goalkeeper seems to hesitate. The officials on the field gave the goal, they did not see the obvious action that impacted Leno's ability to play the ball.

"They did not feel it was clearly impactful on Leno's ability to play the ball but when you see it, you can see that hesitation by the goalkeeper who was waiting to see whether the ball made contact with Akanji, which would have deflected the ball.

"Unfortunately it was not identified on the day and the learning from this will be shared from all of our group because we are looking to do better each and every week - and this was an error."



https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2023/0905/1403616-referee-chief-admits-man-city-goal-shouldnt-have-stood/

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Premier League: Howard Webb says Nathan Ake goal for Man City should not have stood

Manchester City restored their lead in first-half injury-time against Fulham, but Webb says the goal should not have stood

Referees' chief Howard Webb says Manchester City's second goal in their 5-1 win over Fulham on Saturday should not have counted.

City retook the lead through Nathan Ake but Webb believes Manuel Akanji, standing in an offside position, caused goalkeeper Bernd Leno to hesitate.

"It's a clear situation of offside," Webb told Match Officials: Mic'd Up.

This season referees' body the PGMOL and the Premier League are releasing in-game audio from officials.

"From the outset I think this should have been disallowed. It certainly appears Akanji has an impact on the goalkeeper who seems to hesitate," added Webb on the first episode of Match Officials: Mic'd Up, shown on Sky Sports and TNT Sports.

Webb also said the video assistant referee (VAR) should have awarded Wolves a late penalty against Manchester United in the two sides' opening game of the season.

He added that John Brooks' decision to send off Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk against Newcastle was correct.

And Alejandro Garnacho's strike against Arsenal for Manchester United was "rightly disallowed" for offside.

The application of VAR technology has been questioned and criticised by managers, players and pundits throughout the Premier League since its introduction in 2019.

Man City 5-1 Fulham - VAR does not overturn goal (2 September)
What happened?
Manchester City went into a 2-1 lead at home to Fulham after Ake headed the ball into the bottom corner. It narrowly passed Akanji standing in an offside position with Fulham stopper Leno checking his dive. VAR Tony Harrington upheld referee Michael Oliver's decision of a goal.

What did the officials say?
VAR Harrington: "Checking the goal, checking the goal. He's [Akanji] definitely in an offside position. Has he made an obvious action to impact on the ability of the goalkeeper? He's moving out of the way of the ball."

Assistant VAR Adam Nunn: "In my opinion he makes a full-length save. For me it's subjective, there's potential impact on the keeper, but does it clearly impact the keeper? I think the keeper sees the ball the whole way."

VAR Harrington: "So the keeper sees it, there's no difference, we're happy. Check complete?"

AVAR Nunn: "Personally, I'm happy for check complete."

VAR Harrington: "OK, check complete, check complete."

Webb's response:
"These are not always easy to call because you're trying to get two pieces of information together - is the player offside, and then the consequence of being in that position.

"From the outset I think this should have been disallowed. It certainly appears Akanji has an impact on Leno the goalkeeper who seems to hesitate.

"We think it's a clear situation of offside, unfortunately it wasn't identified on the day. This was an error."



https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66724505

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Referees' chief Howard Webb admits Manchester City's second goal against Fulham should NOT have stood as he says VAR made an 'error'

    Nathan Ake put Manchester City in front on their way to a 5-1 win over Fulham
    A VAR review allowed the goal but Howard Webb admitted the call was wrong

Referees' chief Howard Webb admitted Nathan Ake's goal against Fulham should have been disallowed for offside in their 5-1 victory on Saturday.

Ake's header regained City's lead to put them 2-1 up on the stroke of half-time but Fulham complained about Manuel Akanji being stood in an offside position and appeared to affect Bernd Leno in the goal.

After a VAR review of the incident, the goal was given and City went on to win the match comfortably by four goals.

Following the game, Erling Haaland - who scored a hat-trick - said he thought the goal should have been ruled out for offside, while Fulham boss Marco Silva also continued his complaints and said it should have been 'impossible' to allow the goal to stand.

The Premier League aired an episode of 'Match Officials Mic'd Up' on Sky Sports on Tuesday, showing viewers some VAR decisions that have been made through the early part of the season.


Referees' chief Howard Webb said Nathan Ake's goal against Fulham should not have counted
 

Ake scored City's second goal despite Manuel Akanji standing in an offside position (above)
 

A detailed breakdown of the conversation between VAR and the referee has been released

On the show, Professional Game Match Officials Limited chief Webb admitted the officials got the decision wrong with Ake's goal and that it should have been ruled out for offside.

He said: 'From the outset, I want to say this should have been disallowed.

'These are not always easy to call because you are trying to get two pieces of information together. Is the player in an offside position, which official is in a good position to see, and what consequence was there of the player being in that position and how it impacts the opponents?

'It certainly appears that Akanji has an impact on Bernd Leno, the goalkeeper seems to hesitate. The officials on the field gave the goal, they did not see the obvious action that impacted Leno's ability to play the ball.

'They did not feel it was clearly impactful on Leno's ability to play the ball but when you see it, you can see that hesitation by the goalkeeper who was waiting to see whether the ball made contact with Akanji, which would have deflected the ball.

'Unfortunately it was not identified on the day and the learning from this will be shared from all of our group because we are looking to do better each and every week - and this was an error.'


Webb, speaking on Sky Sports' 'Match Officials Mic'd Up', conceded VAR made a costly error
 

Marco Silva was left incensed by the decision, raging it was 'impossible' for the goal to stand



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12484563/Referees-chief-Howard-Webb-admits-Manchester-Citys-second-goal-against-Fulham-NOT-stood-says-VAR-error.html

[WhiteJC]

Manchester United decide against Joao Palhinha move in January?
Manchester United are reportedly unlikely to pursue a move for Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha in the January transfer window.

Palhinha was on the verge of joining Bayern Munich on transfer deadline day this summer, but a big-money move to the Bundesliga giants collapsed at the eleventh hour despite flying to Germany to complete a medical.

Fulham boss Marco Silva claimed that deadline day was possibly "one of the toughest days" of Palhinha's life after missing out on a move to Bayern, and the 27-year-old subsequently missed the Cottagers' heavy 5-1 loss at Manchester City in the Premier League last Saturday.

Meanwhile, Bayern head coach Thomas Tuchel expressed his sadness for the deal not being completed in time, and he remains unsure as to why the transfer fell through.

It remains to be seen whether Bayern will reignite their interest in Palhinha in January, while other clubs could enter the race for his signature.

Both Liverpool and West Ham United were credited with an interest in the former Sporting Lisbon man earlier this summer, with the latter understood to have seen a £45m offer rejected by Fulham.

Man United were also linked with the Portugal international, who still has four years remaining on his contract at Craven Cottage.

According to Football Insider, the Red Devils were 'very keen' to sign Palhinha in the summer transfer window, but they decided against stepping up their pursuit due to Financial Fair Play.

Erik ten Hag is said to be a "big fan" of Palhinha and "would have loved" to have lured him to the red side of Manchester.

Nevertheless, Man United instead completed the loan signing of Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat, and they have the option to sign the Moroccan permanently next summer.

Now that Amrabat has made the move to Old Trafford following a drawn-out negotiation process, the report adds that Man United are unlikely to pursue a move for Palhinha in January unless they raise significant funds from player sales.

The future of midfielder Donny van de Beek is currently up in the air after he was left out of Man United's 25-man squad for the Champions League.

The Dutchman has fallen down the pecking order under Ten Hag and it remains to be seen whether he will secure a permanent or temporary exit away from Old Trafford in the coming weeks, or remain as a backup option with the Red Devils.

Meanwhile, Scott McTominay was linked with a move away from Man United throughout the summer transfer window and allegedly attracted late interest from Fulham as they eyed up the Scotsman as a possible replacement for Palhinha.

Jadon Sancho is another who faces an uncertain future at Old Trafford, as he recently claimed on social media that he has been made a "scapegoat" by Ten Hag after being dropped from the matchday squad that lost to Arsenal last weekend.



https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/man-utd/transfer-talk/news/man-united-decide-against-palhinha-move-in-january_523341.html?newsnow

[MickTheBeard]

What happens in January transfer window if palhinha is still wanted by the Germans but we up the ante because players we want are dearer and they refuse and the player is disappointed,what a mess our Dof puts us in for offering a player at a low rate what was he thinking of or was he not thinking what a massive problem we will be in especially if no one is available that will kill our season and will cause us massive problems if we go down,I think our Dof won't Rigel out of that one fans would be up in arms.

[Bill2]

Premier League: Howard Webb says Nathan Ake goal for Man City should not have stood

Manchester City restored their lead in first-half injury-time against Fulham, but Webb says the goal should not have stood

Referees' chief Howard Webb says Manchester City's second goal in their 5-1 win over Fulham on Saturday should not have counted.

City retook the lead through Nathan Ake but Webb believes Manuel Akanji, standing in an offside position, caused goalkeeper Bernd Leno to hesitate.

"It's a clear situation of offside," Webb told Match Officials: Mic'd Up.

This season referees' body the PGMOL and the Premier League are releasing in-game audio from officials.

"From the outset I think this should have been disallowed. It certainly appears Akanji has an impact on the goalkeeper who seems to hesitate," added Webb on the first episode of Match Officials: Mic'd Up, shown on Sky Sports and TNT Sports.

Webb also said the video assistant referee (VAR) should have awarded Wolves a late penalty against Manchester United in the two sides' opening game of the season.

He added that John Brooks' decision to send off Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk against Newcastle was correct.

And Alejandro Garnacho's strike against Arsenal for Manchester United was "rightly disallowed" for offside.

The application of VAR technology has been questioned and criticised by managers, players and pundits throughout the Premier League since its introduction in 2019.

Man City 5-1 Fulham - VAR does not overturn goal (2 September)
What happened?
Manchester City went into a 2-1 lead at home to Fulham after Ake headed the ball into the bottom corner. It narrowly passed Akanji standing in an offside position with Fulham stopper Leno checking his dive. VAR Tony Harrington upheld referee Michael Oliver's decision of a goal.

What did the officials say?
VAR Harrington: "Checking the goal, checking the goal. He's [Akanji] definitely in an offside position. Has he made an obvious action to impact on the ability of the goalkeeper? He's moving out of the way of the ball."

Assistant VAR Adam Nunn: "In my opinion he makes a full-length save. For me it's subjective, there's potential impact on the keeper, but does it clearly impact the keeper? I think the keeper sees the ball the whole way."

VAR Harrington: "So the keeper sees it, there's no difference, we're happy. Check complete?"

AVAR Nunn: "Personally, I'm happy for check complete."

VAR Harrington: "OK, check complete, check complete."

Webb's response:
"These are not always easy to call because you're trying to get two pieces of information together - is the player offside, and then the consequence of being in that position.

"From the outset I think this should have been disallowed. It certainly appears Akanji has an impact on Leno the goalkeeper who seems to hesitate.

"We think it's a clear situation of offside, unfortunately it wasn't identified on the day. This was an error."



https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66724505

"Not easy to call".Polite words fail me, everyone who has seen this has called it offside. You can clearly see that Leno delays his dive until after Akanji flashed a leg at it, no one but Akanji knows if he meant to play it or not. But if you look at Akanji after the ball goes in he does not celebrate like every other Man City player. Incompetent does not do the decision justice.

[filham]

Interesting that the ref's chief is now admitting that the decision to allow the 2nd City goal was a clear mistake.
Before VAR that goal would have been disallowed by any ref.and lino 99 times out of a hundred.
You would have thought that with the added VAR check it would have been impossible to make that mistake.

VAR is not proving itself worthwhile.

[filham]

What happens in January transfer window if palhinha is still wanted by the Germans but we up the ante because players we want are dearer and they refuse and the player is disappointed,what a mess our Dof puts us in for offering a player at a low rate what was he thinking of or was he not thinking what a massive problem we will be in especially if no one is available that will kill our season and will cause us massive problems if we go down,I think our Dof won't Rigel out of that one fans would be up in arms.

Yes it could be a real mess, Man.u. have now expressed an interest and the chances of us finding a satisfactory replacement willing to come to the Cottage are slim.
Are we under any obligation to Palhinha and the Germans.

[sunburywhite]

What happens in January transfer window if palhinha is still wanted by the Germans but we up the ante because players we want are dearer and they refuse and the player is disappointed,what a mess our Dof puts us in for offering a player at a low rate what was he thinking of or was he not thinking what a massive problem we will be in especially if no one is available that will kill our season and will cause us massive problems if we go down,I think our Dof won't Rigel out of that one fans would be up in arms.

Yes it could be a real mess, Man.u. have now expressed an interest and the chances of us finding a satisfactory replacement willing to come to the Cottage are slim.
Are we under any obligation to Palhinha and the Germans.

I would far rather him go to Bayern as opposed to a team in the Premiership

[btffc]

What happens in January transfer window if palhinha is still wanted by the Germans but we up the ante because players we want are dearer and they refuse and the player is disappointed,what a mess our Dof puts us in for offering a player at a low rate what was he thinking of or was he not thinking what a massive problem we will be in especially if no one is available that will kill our season and will cause us massive problems if we go down,I think our Dof won't Rigel out of that one fans would be up in arms.

Yes it could be a real mess, Man.u. have now expressed an interest and the chances of us finding a satisfactory replacement willing to come to the Cottage are slim.
Are we under any obligation to Palhinha and the Germans.

Definitely aren't under any kind of contractual obligation. Very well could be a verbal agreement but that wouldn't be binding. However, even if Palhinha accepts the failed transfer this time due to it being too late, he certainly wouldn't accept it a second time then we have a toxic situation.