Saturday Fulham Stuff (05.02.11)

[White Noise]

http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/london-sport/fulham-fc/2011/02/04/tickets-to-the-sw6-derby-up-for-grabs-82029-28116488/

Tickets to the SW6 derby up for grabs!


Feb 4 2011


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Air Malta, Official European Airline Partner of Fulham FC has teamed up with Trinity Mirror Southern to offer two lucky readers a pair of tickets to see the Whites take on Carlo Ancelotti's side on Monday, February 14.

To stand a chance of winning, simply answer the following question:

What is the name of Chelsea's manager?

To enter, visit out Facebook page, click 'like' and post your answer underneath the question.

Closing date for entries is midday Wednesday. Normal competition rules apply.

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Read More http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/london-sport/fulham-fc/2011/02/04/tickets-to-the-sw6-derby-up-for-grabs-82029-28116488/#ixzz1D4EW0i34

[White Noise]

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/04022011/58/premier-league-matchpack-aston-villa-v-fulham.html


Premier League - Matchpack: Aston Villa v Fulham

Fri, 04 Feb 11:50:00 2011

Match facts, team news and a video preview ahead of Fulham's Premier League visit to Villa Park to take on Aston Villa.


Aston Villa v Fulham (15:00)

TEAM NEWS

Aston Villa newcomer Michael Bradley is included in the squad for the home Barclays Premier League clash with Fulham. The United States midfielder has joined Villa on loan from Borussia Monchengladbach for the remainder of the season. Winger Stewart Downing has recovered from a knock to his shin, leaving Luke Young (knee) as the only long term injury casualty - he has been advised to rest after seeing a specialist.

Dickson Etuhu will miss Fulham's Premier League game at Aston Villa after suffering a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury this week. But new loan signing Eidur Gudjohnsen is in line for his debut after not being considered ready to feature in Wednesday night's win over Newcastle. Bobby Zamora (broken leg) and Philippe Senderos (Achilles) are both nearing returns.

MATCH FACTS

Fulham have only won three of the 19 Premier League meetings with Aston Villa.

Aston Villa have won six and lost none of the nine home games against Fulham in the Premier League era.

Gabriel Agbonlahor has scored three goals in his last two appearances against Fulham.

Aston Villa have scored 497 goals at Villa Park in Premier League history.

Villa have kept only clean sheet in their last 15 Premier League games.

If the Premier League had started on Boxing Day, Fulham would be sixth, level on points with Chelsea.

Fulham have won every other game in their last seven games, if this run continues then they will fail to win this match.

Aston Villa have used 31 different players this season, the joint-most along with West Ham.

35 per cent of Fulham's goals this season have been headed, the highest proportion in the Premier League.

Villa have conceded nine goals from corners this season, more than any other side.

[White Noise]

http://blogs.soccernet.com/fulham/archives/2011/02/first_prem_win_at_villa_possib.php

First Prem win at Villa Possible?

Posted by Phil Mison 19 hours, 42 minutes ago


Both sides briefly sat in the bottom three midwinter. After an injection of fresh blood, both now go chasing a win and mid-table respectabilty. Two sides on the up and a good game in prospect.

Not an easy one to call on current form. Villa were undone last time out at Old Trafford - no disgrace in that. Fulham finally learnt how to 'win ugly' as Danny called it to see off a weakened Newcastle. Again we go to one of our least favourite venues, no wins here in nine attempts since being promoted. 3 draws and 6 defeats is the unenviable record.

Strange to explain that. Villa have generally performed better than us over the past decade, without ever threatening to evolve into a real force. Villa Park is a great venue for football and neither the crowd nor size of the stadium should be intimidating. Plus you do by and large with the Villans get a chance to play football. Could this be the season we finally get lucky? Villa have not won back to back at home since August and concede a lot of goals late on.

Here's the key. It's a battle of the centre backs. Hangeland must shackle the over-priced but always dangerous Darren Bent, Fulham's nippy front men have to exploit the weak link I think Richard Dunne represents - the veteran will not relish being run at and forced to turn on what will be his 400th league start. Friedel, at 39, must also be made to work, so plenty of shots from midfield please. The ideal opportunity here for Sidwell to show the fans what they missed out on.

Having Bent lead the line - 13 goals this seaon so far - ups the ante considerably when compared to the likes of Carew and Heskey. Serviced by two genuine wingers in Downing and Young, from the wings comes the Villa threat. This may well see our inverted wide men forced deeper than they would like to support Paintsil and Baird. If we can get on the ball enough and play to our strengths I see us carving our opponents open down the middle, so we need big performances from AJ and Moussa up front. After glowing praise from Mark this week don't be at all suprised to see Kakuta on after half-time. As for our starting line-up, it will be same again I'm sure. Etuhu's hamstring needs extra time to heal, but the bench is packed with experience and options, more so if Eidur comes into consideration.

Nice easy train ride north from London so at least a 1,000 plus fans will be following the Whites to what could well be our 2nd away win of the season, and first league win on this ground since 1973 - when Nixon was battling impeachment and Slade ruled the UK charts...Yikes!

Your blogger is strumming tonight in London (alongside the Bayou Brothers from the USA) otherwise I would be at the Cottage cheering Kit Symons kids on to further Youth Cup glory against Watford. I went to the last round and it was excellent! Kick off 7pm. Go if you can.

Here's to another good performance at Villa Park. Let's show we can do it on the road too. COYW!

Twitter@fulhamphil

[WhiteJC]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/football_focus/9386431.stm

Lawro's prediction


Aston Villa v Fulham

Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier and his Fulham counterpart Mark Hughes were on the brink of getting the sack a few weeks ago, but they are in much better shape now. Yes, Villa lost to Manchester United on Tuesday but that is nothing to be ashamed of, while Fulham have only been beaten in one of their last seven games.

I don't foresee any future problems for either of these two sides this season. Fulham have started to score and have got nearly all their players fit. They still have their trump card to bring back in Bobby Zamora too.

I'm going to go for Villa to come out on top in this one. The feel-good factor is back at Villa Park and they have got plenty of potential match-winners in their side.

Prediction: 2-1

[White Noise]

http://sportingpreview.com/matches/10111982.php

ASTON VILLA v FULHAM

BIG MATCH FACTS AND STATS


SportingPreview.com: 5 February 2011



Aston Villa have won six and lost none of the nine home games against Fulham in the Premier League era.

• Fulham have only won three of the 19 Premier League meetings with Aston Villa.

• Gabriel Agbonlahor has scored three goals in his last two appearances against Fulham.

• Villa have never lost at home to Fulham in the Premier League (W6, D3).

• Fulham last won a league game at Villa Park in March 1973: a 3-2 victory in the old Second Division. Fulham did, though, triumph 2-0 at Villa in the FA Cup fourth round in 1999. Their last top-flight away win in this fixture was 5-2 in March 1966.

• Villa have kept only clean sheet in their last 15 Premier League games.

• If the Premier League had started on Boxing Day, Fulham would be sixth, level on points with Chelsea.

• Fulham have won every other game in their last seven games, if this run continues then they will fail to win this match.

• Villa are vying to win back-to-back league matches at home for the first time since August.

• They have conceded an unrivalled 14 goals in the final 15 minutes of their league matches this season.

• Ashley Young has been fouled 61 times this season - more than any other player according to Infostrada sports.

• Darren Bent will be playing on the eve of his 27th birthday.

• Richard Dunne is poised to make his 400th career start.

• Fulham have won four of their last seven league matches but are yet to manage back-to-back victories this season.

• They have only conceded three goals in those seven games.

• Their victory at Stoke in December remains their solitary away success in 30 league matches since the opening day of last season.

• Steve Sidwell made 64 appearances for Aston Villa between 2008 and 2010.

[White Noise]

Michael Bradley Wants To Emulate Clint Dempsey -

http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2285539,00.html

[White Noise]

Matchpack - Villa v Fulham -

http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2285019,00.html

[White Noise]

AVTV Pre-match Show -

http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2285826,00.html

[White Noise]

http://www.thevillablog.co.uk/aston-villa-blog/avfc-live/wake-up-darren-bent-avfc-fulham-feb-2011/


Match day: Fulham at Villa Park. Someone go wake up Darren Bent, he has a job to do

Saturday, 05 February 2011 09:52


Written by Damian

I bet Roy Hodgson is regretting leaving Fulham and I'd also have a fiver on most Fulham fans wishing he never left too. Hodgson came very close at Fulham and if Hodgson could just figure out what he had to do to get a team to win away from home, he would have been playing in Europe every season.

He got good, not excellent or very good players, playing very good football and he did it in a short period of time. But as so many before him, the lure of taking over at a bigger club clouded his judgement. He'll have kicked himself a few times recently.

But all that is history. Fulham now have Mark Hughes and when Hughes took over at Fulham, he as good as signed his own surrender documents in ever wanting to manage a top club.

Hughes doesn't need the money, he has done very well out of his property investments over the years, but taking over at Fulham is a job he can only fail at. The only way to walk away from Fulham and not fail, is to win them silverware or have them regularly playing in Europe and he wont achieve either of those and I also wouldn't be surprised if he relegated them and that would be very sad.

Goals win you games
But enough of Fulham. We have a team capable of scoring a lot of goals today. We will be bubbling with confidence and we will be looking to attack and I have a feeling we'll not sit back on our lead in the second half this time.

I have a feeling that the manager will send them out to score as many as possible and fifteen to twenty minutes into the second half, after everyone has given 100% for the previous hour or so, he'll make a couple of changes to the midfield, but with instructions to keep going for more.

I've just got a good feeling about today. Makoun looks like the real deal. Darren Bent scored in his sleep last night and this morning. Ashley Young looks like he is interested again and if we start with a back four that includes Walker, Cuellar and Clark, I just cant see them getting past us today.

Saturday morning optimism
You can put my optimism down to anything you like, but I'm sober and not hungover. I'm not hungry and I've had enough coffee. Me, I put it down to how we have played football recently and while Fulham have had some good results of late, their away record still isn't great this season.

But to win, we have to go at them. We have to play the football we have started to play and we have to want it. that last bit sounds silly, but we have to make the runs even if nothing is going to come of it and we know it. We have to tear Fulham apart and having them always looking over their shoulder not knowing what is coming next.

I can see it happening today
Odds table below and as soon as we have team news, we will update this page. Please drop links below, don't forget you can still vote for our team of the generation at Footballocracy and come back closer to kick off. I'm off to finish a book and start an argument with the wife.

[HatterDon]

Youth Cup: Fulham 0-2 Watford


Friday 4th February 2011



A brace from Watford's Sean Murray was enough to put the Hornets through in a scrappy FA Youth Cup encounter at Craven Cottage.

Watford made a less than ideal start to this FA Youth Cup Fifth Round encounter, surrendering possession almost immediately from the kick-off and allowing the Whites a spell of possession, unfortunately Fulham were unable to force a shot on target after some desperate Hornets defending.

On four minutes a Josh Pirtchard corner from the left was headed on to the bar by Aaron Pierre, who out-jumped his marker by a comfortable margin.

Much like in the previous round against Norwich City, Kit Symons' men lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation with Marcello Trotta leading the line. However, Watford's physicality made for a scrappy first-half, with Fulham struggling to find their rhythm and unable to retain possession in a crowded midfield area.

Somewhat against the run of play, Watford took the lead with their first real effort on goal on 12 minutes. Adam Thompson, the Watford full-back, was able to deliver a cross to the far post which Sean Murray met with a firm header past Jesse Joronen.

A fierce shot from Alex Brister from a narrow angle forced an agile save from Hornets goalkeeper Jonathan Bond as Fulham looked to get back on level terms.

But as the first-half progressed Watford started to grow in confidence and despite not creating many scoring opportunities, their defensive play was enough to break up any potential Fulham attacking moves.

Ronnie Minkwitz made way for Albert Owusu-Ansah on the half hour mark. And as half-time approached, Fulham started forcing their way back into the game. Marcello Trotta had the best opportunity in the closing moments when he worked some space for himself in the Watford area, only to be denied by a last-ditch tackle.

Josh Pritchard tested Jonathan Bond's handling early in the second-half with a fiercely struck shot from 30 yards which forced a good stop from the visiting keeper. As Fulham started to utilise the width of the pitch more, the chances started to come. An excellent cross-field pass from Josh Pritchard found the run of Kerim Frei down the right wing. Frei linked up well with Christian Marquez-Sanchez to create an opportunity for Trotta who fired just over the bar.

But Watford impressively maintained their resistance and soon started to slow the Whites' momentum.

With time running out Kit Symons opted to make a tactical change, with first-half substitute Albert Owusu-Ansah being replaced by striker Corey Gameiro and the Whites switching to a 4-4-2 formation.

The tactical switch immediately had Fulham looking livelier up front with Gameiro looking to get in amongst the action. But with only minutes remaining Fulham still struggled to string their passes together as legs from both sides started to get heavier.

Aaron Pierre, who appeared to be suffering from cramp, made way for Michael Kamau on 81 minutes. 

Fulham missed a golden opportunity when fine cross from Frei saw Trotta rise well in the area, only to direct his header on to the crossbar on 85 minutes.

Watford made sure of their place in the quarter-final with a spectacular free-kick from Sean Murray on 88 minutes. Josh Pritchard gave away the free-kick some 25 yards from goal after getting caught in possession and Murray stepped up to fire an unstoppable rising effort into the top corner. It was certainly a strike worthy of winning the tie.

Fulham: Joronen; Marquez-Sanchez, Arthurworrey, Pierre (Kamau 81), Maloney; Frei, Minkwitz (Owusu-Ansah 31, Gameiro 70), Pritchard, Toure, Brister; Trotta

Watford: Bond; Thompson, Tumwa, Bevans, Hoban; Hamilton-Forbes, Assombalonga, Isaac, Murray; Smith, Massey


Read more: http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2011/February/YouthCupFulhamvWatford.aspx#ixzz1D48me08V

Congrats to the lads for a great cup run ... but I HATE losing to Watford -- always have, always will.