bigmattb28 Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 Get in, promoted!! Well done 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 FULHAM PLAYER STATISTICS (2013/2014) Goalkeepers Apps Con Asts Yel Red MoM Av R ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Forde, John 46 45 0 0 0 2 7.46 1 Hudson, Wayne 7 7 0 0 0 0 7.14 Outfield Players Apps Gls Asts Yel Red MoM Av R ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 Cable, Wayne 31 (9) 5 7 0 0 2 7.13 8 Cooke, Daniel 25 (11) 3 5 1 0 1 6.89 9 Devlin, Peter 43 (9) 31 11 2 0 11 7.79 * Disler, Adrian 9 (5) 1 1 0 0 1 6.93 * Edwards, Graham 2 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 6.75 26 Friberg, Thomas 23 (10) 0 1 3 0 0 7.18 2 Gibson, Grant 36 (3) 2 2 0 0 0 6.97 15 Guðmundsson, Arnar 41 (2) 1 8 3 1 1 7.23 11 Hall, Jordan 15 (9) 5 4 0 0 1 7.04 20 Hayes, Paul 10 (5) 11 1 0 0 3 7.60 4 Heikkinen, Markus 3 (9) 0 0 0 0 0 6.92 17 Hill, Clint 46 (1) 2 0 11 1 2 7.64 28 Hogg, Gary 0 (4) 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 5 Ifil, Jerel 9 2 0 2 0 0 7.11 7 Iversen, Atle 10 (13) 3 1 2 0 0 6.65 * Magnusson, Halldór 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 39 Márquez, José Luis 0 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 29 McIntyre, Derek 11 (12) 2 3 0 0 0 6.78 12 Mitchell, Peter 43 (3) 2 2 2 0 5 7.22 19 Numme, Henning 31 (12) 2 6 2 0 1 7.05 36 Ryan, Colm 0 (5) 0 0 0 0 0 6.40 6 Schneider, Florian 42 (2) 5 6 12 1 2 7.14 18 Scott, Greg 20 (1) 6 6 2 0 2 7.52 3 Simpson, Terry 12 (9) 0 0 3 0 1 6.71 10 Stewart, Alan 38 (2) 10 9 2 1 3 7.50 37 Sturridge, Phil 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 14 Weber, Christian 30 (12) 1 5 6 0 0 7.07 * [Player not currently at club] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 JUNE 2014 A week after leading Fulham to victory in the Division 1 play-offs, my status as the Premiership's newest manager was confirmed with a new, long-term contract. Chairman Richard Bailey was delighted enough to double my salary too! I wouldn't be the only Cottager to get a pay rise. Winger Wayne Cable and top scorer Peter Devlin had already signed new and improved contracts, and they were soon followed by centre-back Peter Mitchell and captain Florian Schneider. Left-back Arnar Guðmundsson extended his contract until 2020, though his salary remained at £15,000 per week. And here's something you probably couldn't have foreseen back in October - even John Forde signed a new contract. The excellent Irish goalkeeper was a little reluctant to renew his contract after our previous bust-ups, but he eventually agreed to a new deal that'll earn him £20,000 per week for the next six years. He's now overtaken Cable as our second highest-paid player behind Alan Stewart, but that just shows how important I feel John is to this team. Sadly, after only playing 19 games in the past two seasons, there would be no new contract for Jerel Ifil... at least not at Fulham. The injury-prone centre-back ended his three-year stay at Craven Cottage to complete a £500,000 transfer to Division 2 runners-up Bristol City, who will be back in Division 1 next season. I hope Jerel has better luck there than he did with us. Christian Weber won't be going up to the Premiership with us either. After just one year at Fulham, the Austrian holding midfielder will in fact be dropping down to Division 2! Despite being a decent signing on the pitch, Weber had a rather strained relationship with me off it, so I reluctantly agreed to let him join newly-relegated West Brom for £1.7million. Reserve duo Jamie Davey and Stephen Richardson will also be in the third tier next season, as they respectively joined Darlington and Rotherham on free transfers. Veteran defender Markus Heikkinen was released at the end of his two-year deal and is now considering retirement. And despite enjoying a brilliant season at centre-back, Clint Hill decided that winning the Playoff Final at Wembley was the perfect way to bow out. At the age of 35, Hill announced his retirement from professional football, ending a 17-year career that saw him make 586 league appearances across seven different clubs. Thank you for your service, Clint. We also bade farewell to 30-year-old striker Paul Hayes, who returned to Everton at the end of his loan spell. Though the 11 goals he scored in his 15 appearances were undoubtedly vital to us securing a play-off place, I doubt I'll be buying him permanently. Then again, Devlin originally joined Fulham as a loanee - and he's just been named the Fans' Player of the Year for a second season in a row! So don't rule out a similar comeback for Hayes just yet... Four Fulham youngsters returned to the club after spending time out on loan in the Conference. Forward Douglas McNeil had a great time at Slough, getting 12 goals and 11 assists, while defensive midfielder Chris McDonald was also excellent for Maidenhead. Sadly, defender Seán Lynch wasn't quite consistent enough to inspire Cheltenham to promotion, and Craig Price literally could not save Farnborough from relegation. In the backroom, we parted with coach Jon Goodman - who wished to spend more time on his acting career - and scout Martin Ling. I replaced them with a couple of familiar faces from my previous clubs. Technical coach Andy Peake came in from Kidderminster, while former Dagenham right-back Michael Walsh joined our scouting team after working with the Greek club Panachaiki for three years. And now we get to what you've been waiting for - the new signings! Of course, getting into the Premiership meant a huge influx in TV revenue and season ticket sales, and so the board allowed me to invest up to £18million into the squad! If we were to stay in the top flight, I would need to invest that wisely. Naturally, I kicked off our spending spree with a free transfer. 33-year-old South Africa stopper Aaron Mokoena will add plenty of grit, intelligence and strength to the centre of our defence - not to mention a vast amount of Premiership experience - following his arrival from Everton. He has also previously played for Ipswich. Daniel Johnson is another new addition to our backline, arriving from Nottingham Forest for £2.5million. Though we beat his Forest side 3-0 in the Playoff Final, I was very impressed with the 26-year-old's man-marking and tackling. Getting a big move to the Premiership must have seemed unthinkable for Johnson 12 months ago, when he was playing part-time for Leigh RMI after being released by his hometown club Darlington! Mokoena and Johnson are joined by a couple of international left-backs. First up is the energetic and selfless left-back Erwin Maas, whom we poached from Eredivisie side Sparta for £2.7million. The 24-year-old made his Holland debut earlier this year and is currently in Scandinavia as part of their World Cup squad. On the other side of our defence, we've been boosted by the arrival of England right-back Nicky Hunt, who cost us £2.2million from Bolton. The 30-year-old is a calm and reliable presence at the back, with his excellent decision-making and passing skills catching the eye in particular. Hunt has won 19 caps for England since his debut in 2011, though he wasn't selected for the World Cup. Don't worry - I've not forgotten about our attack! Though I'm confident that our current crop of attacking midfielders and forwards can perform in the Premiership, I am looking for another centre-forward to be Devlin's backup. There's a striker in South Africa that I really like the look of, and we're hoping to get him a work permit next month. Thinking further ahead, we brought in the explosive young forward Ian Donaghy from Cambridge United for £250,000. At the tender age of 17, the Northern Irish prodigy has already played in 80 Football League matches for Cambridge, scoring 28 goals. Ian is probably not ready for regular Premiership football, so he'll start off in our reserve team before maybe going out on loan next year. We also signed a 17-year-old Scottish left-winger called Brian Lindsay, who looks pretty quick and skilful. Lindsay's arrival means we now have nine Scots on our books - four in the first-team, and five in the reserves. And coming straight from our youth team is a new midfielder - 16-year-old set-piece specialist Ivan Lynch. And no, he isn't related to Seán Lynch, who also emerged from our academy a few years ago. While Seán is Irish through and through, Ivan is a local boy whose mum is half-Croatian. With plenty of money still in the bank, I'm sure there'll be more signings before the big kick-off. Our first game back in the Premiership - and my first ever match as a top-flight manager - will be at Elland Road against former champions Leeds on 16 August. Four days later, we will play our first home game of the season against... Arsenal! I can't wait! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Vicente del Bosque retires as Real Madrid manager after 15 years in charge, following a dismal 8th-place finish in La Liga. Former Sporting head coach Dong-Keun Lee leaves Botafogo to take over at the Santiago Bernabéu. After being snubbed by Real, current Sporting boss José Mourinho sulks, "But I'm the special one! I've just won my second Taça de Portugal!" Celta qualify for the Champions League after coming 3rd in La Liga, and excitement for next season grows when Los Celestes announce the £8.25million signing of 18-year-old Fluminense wonderkid Moacir da Rosa. Of course, it helps that Brazil legend Roberto Carlos happens to be a first-team coach at Celta. Moacir then takes the World Cup by storm as he scores FIVE goals in the Group Stage... only for Brazil to crash out to Serbia & Montenegro in Round 2. Spain are the first World Cup holders since 1966 to be eliminated at the Group Stage. La Roja feel 'La Furia' of their fans after losing their first two group games against Serbia & Montenegro and Colombia. 2010 runners-up Wales also suffer an early exit, though Craig Bellamy's penalty ensures that they sign off with a 1-0 win over England. The Three Lions then avenge their Euro 2012 defeat against Holland to reach the Quarter Finals. Ligue 1 champions Marseille add even more Iberian flair to their team, paying Atlético Madrid a combined £34million to sign striker Fernando Torres and winger Ricardo Quaresma. Les Phocéens also bring France goalkeeper Sebastien Frey back home, as he ends his 13-year stay at Parma with just a single trophy - the 2013 Coppa Italia. Former Italy and Roma captain Francesco Totti retires aged 37, having finished his playing career in Germany with 1.FC Köln. Ex-France striker David Trezeguet also calls it quits at 1860 München, though he'll never stop reminding Totti about Euro 2000. Ex-England boss Kevin Keegan retires from management after 13 years in the Scottish leagues with Elgin City. IN OTHER NEWS... Juan Carlos I - who had been King of Spain since the death of General Francisco Franco in 1975 - abdicates the throne at the age of 76. He is succeeded by his only son, who is crowned King Felipe VI. Barack Obama considers taking military action against the Islamic State jihadist group, who begin an offensive through northern Iraq and attempt to overthrow the country’s government. The United States still have troops in Afghanistan, by the way. Comedian and actor Rik Mayall suffers a heart attack after a morning jog and dies suddenly, aged just 56. Mayall was a pioneer of British alternative comedy in the 1980s, appearing on “The Young Ones”, “Filthy Rich & Catflap” and “Bottom” alongside his regular screen partner Ade Edmondson. LeBron James and the Miami Heat bid for a third consecutive NBA championship, as they meet San Antonio Spurs in a repeat of the 2013 NBA Finals. This time, the tables are turned when Kawhi Leonard inspires San Antonio to a 4-1 series win. A sports team called Spurs that actually wins championships - how novel! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 SEASON REVIEW 2013/2014 ENGLAND NOTE: All goals and assist records relate to league matches only. PREMIERSHIP Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Chelsea 38 13 5 1 44 12 11 3 5 34 29 80 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Burnley 38 16 1 2 45 9 4 8 7 14 18 69 3rd Crewe 38 11 6 2 42 25 7 5 7 21 25 65 4th Man Utd 38 9 4 6 35 25 10 3 6 28 20 64 5th Middlesbrough 38 13 3 3 35 18 7 1 11 21 30 64 6th Everton 38 12 3 4 29 17 5 4 10 9 17 58 7th Sheff Utd 38 10 1 8 28 21 7 4 8 19 20 56 8th Sheff Wed 38 9 5 5 23 14 6 5 8 24 27 55 9th Southampton 38 12 1 6 28 17 4 6 9 21 29 55 10th Liverpool 38 9 5 5 31 24 6 5 8 22 30 55 11th Bolton 38 10 4 5 23 11 5 3 11 15 29 52 12th Arsenal 38 10 4 5 39 26 3 6 10 21 30 49 13th Leeds 38 8 7 4 25 14 4 6 9 23 32 49 14th Crystal Palace 38 6 3 10 20 26 8 4 7 21 23 49 15th Ipswich 38 10 7 2 30 18 3 2 14 11 43 48 16th Blackburn 38 8 3 8 25 26 5 4 10 24 32 46 17th Torquay 38 8 4 7 28 27 3 4 12 23 43 41 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th R Newcastle 38 6 5 8 27 26 4 5 10 18 33 40 19th R Stoke 38 6 6 7 21 17 4 3 12 14 37 39 20th R Notts Co 38 3 7 9 8 17 1 3 15 7 39 22 Top Goalscorer - Cristiano Ronaldo (Chelsea): 33. Most Assists - Andrew Nixon (Chelsea): 10. Highest Average Rating - Cristiano Ronaldo (Chelsea): 8.55. PFA Player of the Year - Cristiano Ronaldo (Chelsea). PFA Young Player of the Year - Barry Buxton (Blackburn). DIVISION 1 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Preston 46 13 6 4 47 33 15 5 3 37 23 95 2nd P Charlton 46 17 3 3 46 22 10 7 6 41 28 91 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd P Fulham 46 14 5 4 42 17 11 7 5 43 29 87 4th Nottm Forest 46 15 5 3 45 16 10 3 10 34 33 83 5th Aston Villa 46 15 5 3 40 13 8 4 11 27 31 78 6th Norwich 46 14 3 6 53 34 10 2 11 38 41 77 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th West Ham 46 14 4 5 30 15 7 9 7 27 23 76 8th Wolves 46 15 4 4 59 34 7 5 11 33 44 75 9th Man City 46 12 6 5 50 33 8 5 10 43 49 71 10th Birmingham 46 11 6 6 40 23 7 8 8 29 36 68 11th Grimsby 46 14 7 2 39 21 4 6 13 25 34 67 12th Sunderland 46 11 5 7 32 25 7 7 9 37 46 66 13th Huddersfield 46 13 5 5 43 30 4 8 11 32 46 64 14th Gillingham 46 14 5 4 52 28 2 9 12 27 41 62 15th Reading 46 13 3 7 43 26 4 5 14 28 42 59 16th Macclesfield 46 11 5 7 40 33 4 5 14 20 42 55 17th Bradford 46 8 7 8 31 28 5 7 11 19 30 53 18th Carlisle 46 12 4 7 42 34 4 1 18 28 60 53 19th Oldham 46 10 4 9 41 40 3 6 14 24 48 49 20th Rochdale 46 9 4 10 40 39 4 4 15 24 48 47 21st Coventry 46 11 3 9 37 42 3 2 18 24 59 47 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22nd R W.B.A. 46 8 6 9 32 37 5 1 17 21 44 46 23rd R Tottenham 46 6 10 7 36 38 3 4 16 23 55 41 24th R Chesterfield 46 6 6 11 35 42 0 1 22 19 63 25 DIVISION 2 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Brentford 46 18 4 1 42 15 10 5 8 20 17 93 2nd P Bristol City 46 17 2 4 48 23 11 6 6 44 33 92 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Kidderminster 46 14 6 3 44 24 11 5 7 42 33 86 4th Peterborough 46 17 2 4 57 34 6 10 7 46 48 81 5th Blackpool 46 14 3 6 43 26 11 2 10 39 40 80 6th P Wigan 46 15 4 4 44 23 8 5 10 41 42 78 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Barnsley 46 15 3 5 57 36 7 6 10 27 38 75 8th Stalybridge 46 9 7 7 39 27 10 3 10 49 48 67 9th Swansea 46 13 4 6 44 31 6 5 12 31 39 66 10th Leyton Orient 46 11 9 3 43 30 7 3 13 30 41 66 11th Shrewsbury 46 15 5 3 38 13 2 7 14 16 35 63 12th Cambridge Utd 46 13 5 5 44 31 6 1 16 29 55 63 13th Swindon 46 9 6 8 43 34 6 10 7 37 39 61 14th Millwall 46 11 9 3 44 32 3 9 11 26 40 60 15th Darlington 46 8 11 4 31 23 6 6 11 25 32 59 16th Derby 46 14 6 3 39 16 2 4 17 20 48 58 17th Morecambe 46 12 7 4 45 25 4 3 16 20 46 58 18th Doncaster 46 12 3 8 40 35 4 7 12 24 39 58 19th Stockport 46 10 7 6 30 25 3 8 12 14 33 54 20th Bristol Rovers 46 13 3 7 34 25 2 6 15 12 37 54 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21st R Bury 46 8 5 10 39 46 6 7 10 35 46 54 22nd R Dag & Red 46 6 6 11 29 44 3 6 14 31 51 39 23rd R Wrexham 46 7 4 12 33 36 2 5 16 26 51 36 24th R Luton 46 4 8 11 28 42 2 0 21 12 47 26 DIVISION 3 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Hull 46 17 4 2 36 12 8 5 10 26 29 84 2nd P Q.P.R. 46 10 11 2 47 34 12 4 7 36 28 81 3rd P Rotherham 46 14 4 5 50 35 8 6 9 35 38 76 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th P Colchester 46 11 8 4 47 34 9 7 7 43 42 75 5th Wycombe 46 12 6 5 43 32 9 4 10 38 43 73 6th Oxford 46 10 5 8 36 26 11 4 8 33 28 72 7th Watford 46 13 5 5 38 23 8 3 12 34 40 71 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8th Tranmere 46 11 9 3 27 14 6 9 8 20 27 69 9th Port Vale 46 13 7 3 40 22 4 10 9 36 45 68 10th Mansfield 46 12 3 8 38 25 8 3 12 32 37 66 11th Leicester 46 12 4 7 39 26 7 5 11 33 40 66 12th Scunthorpe 46 14 6 3 46 23 5 3 15 26 45 66 13th Exeter 46 11 5 7 28 19 5 10 8 15 22 63 14th Plymouth 46 11 4 8 34 19 5 10 8 20 27 62 15th Walsall 46 8 8 7 19 21 7 9 7 18 21 62 16th Cardiff 46 11 6 6 37 29 4 9 10 23 34 60 17th Rushden 46 11 7 5 37 27 5 4 14 18 33 59 18th Telford 46 10 7 6 22 16 4 7 12 21 35 56 19th Northampton 46 12 5 6 34 28 3 5 15 30 54 55 20th Northwich Vics 46 11 9 3 47 29 2 6 15 19 42 54 21st Bournemouth 46 6 10 7 15 17 3 11 9 11 25 48 22nd Hartlepool 46 10 4 9 25 22 2 6 15 14 36 46 23rd Bath City 46 7 9 7 50 50 4 3 16 19 41 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24th R Portsmouth 46 6 4 13 17 29 0 7 16 12 40 29 CONFERENCE Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Harrow Borough 42 16 3 2 43 15 9 3 9 35 37 81 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Salisbury 42 13 7 1 33 12 9 8 4 24 21 81 3rd Cheltenham 42 12 3 6 35 25 12 5 4 42 26 80 4th Boston Utd 42 10 4 7 37 26 12 7 2 47 30 77 5th Lincoln 42 11 6 4 33 21 10 4 7 29 23 73 6th Scarborough 42 10 4 7 23 19 9 4 8 41 32 65 7th Slough 42 14 5 2 44 21 4 4 13 29 46 63 8th Burton Albion 42 11 4 6 40 25 7 3 11 32 35 61 9th Barnet 42 11 6 4 29 16 5 7 9 31 41 61 10th Runcorn 42 10 6 5 26 20 7 3 11 20 30 60 11th Nuneaton Borough 42 9 8 4 34 24 5 4 12 28 43 54 12th Hereford 42 12 3 6 37 26 3 5 13 23 42 53 13th Merthyr Tydfil 42 8 6 7 27 27 5 8 8 22 30 53 14th Canvey Island 42 9 4 8 36 33 5 6 10 17 22 52 15th Gainsborough 42 8 7 6 45 43 6 3 12 25 39 52 16th Clevedon 42 11 7 3 39 20 2 5 14 12 36 51 17th Tamworth 42 6 6 9 27 30 7 5 9 26 33 50 18th Burscough 42 10 4 7 30 29 2 8 11 10 22 48 19th Maidenhead 42 7 4 10 28 36 5 5 11 10 22 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20th R Dorchester 42 5 6 10 17 24 4 8 9 21 31 41 21st R Worksop 42 5 7 9 34 43 2 7 12 26 41 35 22nd R Farnborough 42 7 6 8 25 27 1 4 16 12 40 34 Promoted to Conference: Dulwich, Folkestone, Spennymoor. FA Cup: Middlesbrough 2-0 Everton. League Cup: Chelsea 4-1 Man Utd. Community Shield: Chelsea 3-0 Arsenal. Football League Trophy: Oxford 1-0 Port Vale. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 (edited) OTHER LEAGUES FRANCE Ligue 1 Top Three: Marseille (1st), Sedan (2nd), Monaco (3rd). Relegated: Auxerre (18th), Nîmes (19th), Lens (20th). Promoted from Ligue 2: Reims (1st), Sochaux (2nd), Rodez (3rd). Top Goalscorer - José Luis Fernández Pérez (Marseille): 25. Most Assists - José Antonio Reyes (Marseille): 13. Highest Average Rating - José Luis Fernández Pérez (Marseille): 8.24 Coupe de France: Monaco 3-0 Paris-SG. Coupe de la Ligue: Marseille 3-2 Troyes. GERMANY 1. Bundesliga Top Three: VfB Stuttgart (1st), Werder Bremen (2nd), Dortmund (3rd). Relegated: SVW Mannheim (16th), Saarbrücken (17th), Mainz (18th). Promoted from 2. Bundesliga: Düsseldorf (1st), Rostock (2nd), Greuther Fürth (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Van Linh Tô (Kaiserslautern), David Villa (Dortmund): 23. Most Assists - Martín Franco (VfB Stuttgart): 13. Highest Average Rating - Maksim Tsyhalka (FC Bayern): 8.13. DFB-Pokal: SC Freiburg 1-0 Rostock. DFB-Liga Pokal: VfB Stuttgart 2-0 M'gladbach. HOLLAND Eredivisie Top Three: PSV (1st), Feyenoord (2nd), Ajax (3rd). Relegated: Volendam (17th), Groningen (18th). Promoted from Eerste Divisie: Cambuur (1st), TOP (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Ahmed Jafar (De Graafschap): 18. Most Assists - Diego Jongen (RKC): 13. Highest Average Rating - Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (PSV): 7.96. KNVB Beker: Ajax 3-2 Feyenoord (aet). ITALY Serie A Top Three: Lazio (1st), Juventus (2nd), Genoa (3rd). Relegated: Sampdoria (15th), Palermo (16th), Udinese (17th), Chievo (18th). Promoted from Serie B: Venezia (1st), Gualdo (2nd), Napoli (3rd), Salernitana (4th). Top Goalscorer - Cláudio Leite Ribeiro (Juventus): 20. Most Assists - Aleksey Eremenko (Milan): 15. Highest Average Rating - Adriano (Inter): 7.88. Coppa Italia: Lazio 4-0 Inter (aggregate). PORTUGAL Primeira Liga Top Three: Porto (1st), Sporting (2nd), Benfica (3rd). Relegated: Leixões (16th), Leiria (17th), Sporting Covilhã (18th). Promoted from Segunda Liga: Aves (1st), Lourosa (2nd), Barreirense (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Mauricio Moreno (Leixões): 28. Most Assists - Mário Amorim (Salgueiros/Beira-Mar): 17. Highest Average Rating - Rogério Batista (Porto): 8.37. Taça de Portugal: Sporting 2-1 Campomaiorense. SCOTLAND Premier League Top Three: Celtic (1st), Rangers (2nd), St Mirren (3rd). Relegated: Forfar (12th). Promoted from Division 1: Clyde (1st). Top Goalscorer - Scott Dawson (Dundee Utd): 28. Most Assists - Michael Doyle (Motherwell): 12. Highest Average Rating - Gordon Weir (Celtic): 8.34. Scottish Cup: Hibs 3-0 St Mirren. League Cup: Celtic 3-0 Aberdeen. SPAIN La Liga Top Three: Barcelona (1st), Levante (2nd), Celta (3rd). Relegated: Las Palmas (18th), Racing Santander (19th), Tenerife (20th). Promoted from Segunda División: Rayo (1st), Salamanca (2nd), Villarreal (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Lionel Messi (Barcelona): 27. Most Assists - Râzvan Cocis (Levante): 11. Highest Average Rating - Lionel Messi (Barcelona): 8.34. Copa del Rey: Barcelona 2-1 Alavés (aet). CONTINENTAL & INTERNATIONAL CLUB Champions League: Chelsea 3-1 Wolfsburg - in London. UEFA Cup: Barcelona 1-0 Porto - in Copenhagen. Super Cup: Lazio 2-1 Marseille. Club World Cup: Lazio 2-0 Internacional. FIFA World Player of the Year - Robinho (VfB Stuttgart & Brazil). World Footballer of the Year - Cristiano Ronaldo (Chelsea & Portugal). African Player of the Year - Samuel Eto'o (Real Madrid & Cameroon). European Player of the Year - Cristiano Ronaldo (Chelsea & Portugal). South American Player of the Year - Moacir da Rosa (Fluminense & Brazil). Oceania Player of the Year - Harry Kewell (FC Bayern & Australia). LEADING TRANSFERS (Premiership) DATE NAME POSITIONS FROM TO FEE 03/07/13 Andrew Nixon AM RC Celtic Chelsea £14.25M 17/09/13 Michael Essien DM C Nürnberg Man Utd £13M 30/07/13 Michael Dawson D C Dortmund Arsenal £12M 30/11/13 Alexander Farnerud AM RLC Liverpool Middlesbrough £10.75M 22/08/13 Niko Kranjcar AM LC Southampton Stoke £9.75M 19/08/13 Dave Nugent S C West Ham Leeds £9.5M 29/08/13 Jermain Defoe S C Stoke Leeds £8.25M 03/07/13 John Nicol AM C Preston Everton £7.75M 06/08/13 Francis Leclerc M C Nîmes Chelsea £7.5M 12/09/13 René Evald F C Man Utd Sheff Wed £7.25M LEADING TRANSFERS (not including Premiership) DATE NAME POSITIONS FROM TO FEE 01/06/14 Fernando Torres S C Atlético Madrid Marseille £18M 07/08/13 Jorge Pérez S C San Lorenzo Celtic £16M 30/12/13 Alexandr Kerzhakov F C 1.FC Köln Rangers £16M 01/06/14 Ricardo Quaresma AM RL Atlético Madrid Marseille £16M 02/01/14 Guy Levi F LC Roma Juventus £15.75M 21/08/13 Salvatore Annunziata S C Porto Lazio £15M 17/07/13 Julius Aghahowa F C Schalke 04 Leverkusen £14.75M 02/01/14 Carlos Diogo D/M R Espanyol Milan £14.75M 01/07/14 Andrey Arshavin AM/F RLC Dortmund Hertha BSC £13.75M 11/07/14 Julio César Lemme S C Hertha BSC 1.FC Köln £12.5M Edited March 30 by CFuller Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 WORLD CUP REVIEW: NORWAY/SWEDEN 2014 GROUP A 11 June (Oslo, Norway) Spain - 0 (Daniel Aranzubia s/off41) Serbia & Montenegro - 2 (Andrija Delibasic 31, Mateja Kezman pen41) 11 June (Malmö, Sweden) Ghana - 0 Colombia - 0 17 June (Halmstad, Sweden) Serbia & Montenegro - 1 (Mateja Kezman 49) Ghana - 1 (Aziz Ansah 50) 17 June (Norrköping, Sweden) Colombia - 1 (Falcao 21) Spain - 0 24 June (Stockholm, Sweden) Spain - 2 (Mikel Arteta pen5, Pablo Torres 90) Ghana - 0 (Richard Kingson s/off4) 24 June (Oslo, Norway) Serbia & Montenegro - 1 (Andrija Delibasic 7) Colombia - 2 (Carlos Eduardo Yepes 13, Sergio Darío Herrera 38) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Colombia 3 2 1 0 3 1 7 2nd Q Serbia & Montenegro 3 1 1 1 4 3 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Spain 3 1 0 2 2 3 3 4th Ghana 3 0 2 1 1 3 2 GROUP B 12 June (Halmstad, Sweden) Iran - 2 (Arash Bajat 48, Andranik Teymourian 71) Ivory Coast - 3 (Siaka Chico Tiéné 60, Didier Dao 66, Mamadou Coulibaly 89) 12 June (Trondheim, Norway) Russia - 0 Brazil - 3 (Moacir da Rosa 4,20, André Amorim 18) 18 June (Oslo, Norway) Brazil - 3 (Moacir da Rosa 1,8, Elano 32) Iran - 1 (Arash Bajat 89) 18 June (Malmö, Sweden) Ivory Coast - 0 (Serge Konan s/off90) Russia - 2 (Alexandr Kerzhakov 17, Anzor Agapov 85, Igor Morev m/pen90) 24 June (Norrköping, Sweden) Iran - 1 (Mohammad Rahimi 26) Russia - 4 (Igor Morev 39, Yury Sergeev 48, Aleksey Eremenko 70, Andrey Arshavin 81) 24 June (Oslo, Norway) Ivory Coast - 0 Brazil - 3 (Robinho 34, Moacir da Rosa 57, Ricardo 60) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Brazil 3 3 0 0 9 1 9 2nd Q Russia 3 2 0 1 6 4 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Ivory Coast 3 1 0 2 3 7 3 4th Iran 3 0 0 3 4 10 0 GROUP C 13 June (Molde, Norway) Guatemala - 0 (Luis López s/off56) Chile - 2 (Manuel Carreño pen57, Luis Ignacio Quinteros 76) 13 June (Stockholm, Sweden) Sweden - 0 Holland - 3 (Rafael van der Vaart 32, Robin Van Persie 43, Dirk Kuijt 75) 19 June (Oslo, Norway) Chile - 0 Sweden - 3 (Zlatan Ibrahimovic 33, Johnny Andersson 56, Kim Källström 71) 19 June (Trondheim, Norway) Holland - 2 (Robin Van Persie 16,42, Rafael van der Vaart m/pen76) Guatemala - 0 25 June (Halmstad, Sweden) Holland - 0 Chile - 0 25 June (Göteborg, Sweden) Sweden - 0 Guatemala - 0 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Holland 3 2 1 0 5 0 9 2nd Q Sweden 3 1 1 1 3 3 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Chile 3 1 1 1 2 3 4 4th Guatemala 3 0 1 2 0 4 1 GROUP D 13 June (Malmö, Sweden) England - 4 (Chris Worthington 3,45, Jermaine Jenas 9,16) Honduras - 0 14 June (Norrköping, Sweden) Wales - 0 (Danny Collins s/off45) France - 4 (Frédéric David 45, David Queiros 48, Djibril Cissé 52,69) 21 June (Oslo, Norway) Honduras - 0 Wales - 2 (Jason Barton 42, Rob Griffiths 55) 21 June (Stavanger, Norway) France - 0 England - 2 (Matthew Simmonds 41, Craig Ward pen48) 25 June (Trondheim, Norway) England - 0 Wales - 1 (Craig Bellamy pen70) 25 June (Molde, Norway) Honduras - 0 France - 5 (Patrice Evra 3,9, Frédéric David 27, Djibril Cissé pen45,85) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q France 3 2 0 1 9 2 6 2nd Q England 3 2 0 1 6 1 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Wales 3 2 0 1 3 4 6 4th Honduras 3 0 0 3 0 11 0 GROUP E 14 June (Göteborg, Sweden) Angola - 1 (Sérgio Pereira 71) Turkmenistan - 2 (Azat Kerimow 36, Mekan Nasyrow 43) 14 June (Oslo, Norway) Argentina - 2 (Javier Saviola 36, Martín Díaz 63) Bosnia & Herzegovina - 2 (Zvjezdan Misimovic 17, Ivan Katic 30) 21 June (Halmstad, Sweden) Bosnia & Herzegovina - 2 (Ismet Milosevic 13, Admir Halilovic 24) Angola - 0 21 June (Stockholm, Sweden) Turkmenistan - 0 Argentina - 2 (Lionel Messi 32, Emanuel Villa 72) 26 June (Stavanger, Norway) Argentina - 2 (Martín Díaz 24, Javier Saviola 50) Angola - 0 26 June (Oslo, Norway) Bosnia & Herzegovina - 1 (Mirsad Bajramovic 56) Turkmenistan - 1 (Azat Kerimow pen65) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Argentina 3 2 1 0 6 2 7 2nd Q Bosnia & Herzegovina 3 1 2 0 5 3 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Turkmenistan 3 1 1 1 3 4 4 4th Angola 3 0 0 3 1 6 0 GROUP F 15 June (Oslo, Norway) South Korea - 0 Burkina Faso - 1 (Beli Moumouni Dagano 25) 16 June (Stavanger, Norway) Portugal - 3 (Cristiano Ronaldo 33,pen59, Nuno Coelho 90) Italy - 3 (Mauro Capuano 24, Filippo Sarti 39, Sergio Zani pen53, Christian Abbiati s/off58) 22 June (Molde, Norway) Burkina Faso - 2 (Mamadou Zongo 5,58) Portugal - 0 22 June (Göteborg, Sweden) Italy - 3 (Filippo Sarti 14, Mauro Capuano 31, Matteo Brighi 58) South Korea - 0 26 June (Norrköping, Sweden) Burkina Faso - 2 (Mamadou Zongo 15, John Pelu 49) Italy - 3 (Salvatore Annunziata 35, Filippo Sarti 38, Matteo Brighi 45) 26 June (Malmö, Sweden) South Korea - 1 (Kim Lee 80) Portugal - 0 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Italy 3 2 1 0 9 5 7 2nd Q Burkina Faso 3 2 0 1 5 3 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd South Korea 3 1 0 2 1 4 3 4th Portugal 3 0 1 2 3 6 1 GROUP G 16 June (Stockholm, Sweden) Norway - 1 (Trond Fredrik Ludvigsen 79) Croatia - 2 (Ante Nago 59, Vladimir Simic 76) 16 June (Göteborg, Sweden) Nigeria - 2 (Julius Aghahowa 22, Yakubu Aiyegbeni pen45) Saudi Arabia - 0 23 June (Malmö, Sweden) Croatia - 3 (Ante Nago 13, Drazen Kalinic 15,61) Nigeria - 2 (Yussuf Ayila 33, Victor Anyemene 38) 23 June (Trondheim, Norway) Saudi Arabia - 0 Norway - 2 (Dagfinn Sæter s/off15, Rune Wiken 47, Sigve Hoseth 87) 27 June (Molde, Norway) Croatia - 3 (Ante Nago 12, Drazen Kalinic 33,90) Saudi Arabia - 1 (Abdulrahman Al-Bishi 50) 27 June (Oslo, Norway) Norway - 1 (John Carew 29) Nigeria - 1 (Joseph Yobo s/off45, Julius Aghahowa 71) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Croatia 3 3 0 0 8 4 9 2nd Q Nigeria 3 1 1 1 5 4 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Norway 3 1 1 1 4 3 4 4th Saudi Arabia 3 0 0 3 1 7 0 GROUP H 15 June (Trondheim, Norway) Paraguay - 0 United States - 2 (Landon Donovan 46, Paul Schweitzer 70) 15 June (Molde, Norway) Belgium - 0 Germany - 0 (Sven Peters s/off61) 21 June (Norrköping, Sweden) United States - 1 (Kelly Gray 68) Belgium - 0 22 June (Stavanger, Norway) Germany - 1 (Uwe Henning 36) Paraguay - 0 27 June (Halmstad, Sweden) Paraguay - 0 Belgium - 2 (Thomas Buffel 6, Birger Maertens 43) 27 June (Göteborg, Sweden) United States - 0 Germany - 1 (Robert Huth 29) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Germany 3 2 1 0 2 0 7 2nd Q United States 3 2 0 1 3 1 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Belgium 3 1 1 1 2 1 4 4th Paraguay 3 0 0 3 0 5 0 ROUND 2 28 June (Stockholm, Sweden) Colombia - 2 (Carlos Alberto Rodríguez 52, Falcao 68) Russia - 1 (Alexandr Kerzhakov 90) 28 June (Stavanger, Norway) France - 1 (David Queiros 20) Sweden - 0 29 June (Oslo, Norway) Germany - 2 (Uwe Henning 20,68) Nigeria - 1 (Yakubu Aiyegbeni pen35) 29 June (Molde, Norway) Argentina - 4 (Lionel Messi 18,62, Javier Saviola pen31, Gustavo Arce 83) Burkina Faso - 1 (Bureima Maïga 28, Rahim Ouédraogo s/off30) 30 June (Trondheim, Norway) Holland - 0 England - 1 (Jermaine Jenas 82) 30 June (Halmstad, Sweden) Brazil - 0 (Luís Carlos s/off56) Serbia & Montenegro - 1 (Danko Lazovic 70) 1 July (Oslo, Norway) Croatia - 0 (Mato Neretljak s/off17) United States - 0 (Landon Donovan m/pen17) [after extra-time, Croatia win 4-2 on penalties] 1 July (Helsingborg, Sweden) Italy - 2 (Salvatore Annunziata 12,37, Mauro Capuano s/off85) Bosnia & Herzegovina - 0 QUARTER FINALS 4 July (Norrköping, Sweden) Argentina - 0 Germany - 1 (Jürgen Mohr 59) 4 July (Oslo, Norway) Colombia - 0 France - 4 (Frédéric David 14, Jérémy Toulalan 20, Djibril Cissé 68, Franck Andenas pen73) 5 July (Göteborg, Sweden) Italy - 2 (Agostino Piccolo 27, Matteo Brighi 78) Croatia - 1 (Hrvoje Olujevic 71) 5 July (Stockholm, Sweden) Serbia & Montenegro - 2 (Ranko Djukic 45, Danko Lazovic 48) England - 1 (Ashley Cole pen80) SEMI FINALS 8 July (Stockholm, Sweden) France - 1 (Bernard Aristouy pen32) Germany - 1 (Sven Peters s/off31, Jörg Kretschmer 60) [after extra-time, France win 8-7 on penalties] 9 July (Oslo, Norway) Serbia & Montenegro - 0 (Sladjan Jankovic s/off95) Italy - 1 (Filippo Sarti s/off10, Cristiano Viganò 95) [after extra-time] 3RD-PLACE PLAY-OFF 12 July (Stavanger, Norway) Serbia & Montenegro - 0 Germany - 1 (Ilan 75) FINAL 13 July (Oslo, Norway) France - 2 (Djibril Cissé 22, Bernard Aristouy 89) Italy - 3 (Agostino Piccolo 27, Salvatore Annunziata 76,86) FRANCE (4-3-2-1 Narrow): Sebastien Frey [C]; Bernard Mendy, David Queiros, Eric Abidal, Djimi Traoré (Franck Andenas); Julien Sablé, Jérémy Toulalan, Francis Leclerc (Gaël Givet); Bernard Bouger, Bernard Aristouy; Djibril Cissé. BOOKED: Givet. ITALY (4-4-2): Marco Amelia; Cristian Zaccardo, Nicola Barbieri (Daniele Baffoni (Maurizio Domizzi)), Cristiano Viganò, Matteo Ceragioli; Arnaldo Calderoni, Matteo Brighi (Franco Semioli), Mauro Capuano [C], Lorenzo Venturini; Agostino Piccolo, Salvatore Annunziata. BOOKED: Zaccardo. Top Goalscorer - Djibril Cissé (France): 6. Most Assists - Salvatore Annunziata (Italy): 4. Highest Average Rating (at least 4 matches) - Moacir da Rosa (Brazil): 9.00. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 I am now more than halfway through this story. Thanks for your continued support throughout this journey so far. But that first season in the Premiership will have to wait a bit longer, as I'll be taking another lengthy break. All being well, I will FINALLY be moving house at some point later this year, so I'll need to focus on sorting all that out. "25 Years" will resume in the summer once things have settled down. As of right now, I've already played and written the next four seasons of this story - meaning I still have eight more to go. I might have time to complete another season or two before the house move, but I'll see how things go. As some of you might know, I've lately become disillusioned with playing Football Manager, and burnt out with writing FM content, which I've now been doing for the best part of a decade. Unless FM25 wins me over by actually delivering some vital improvements to a stale franchise, I will probably stop playing FM altogether. At any rate, it's very unlikely I will ever write another FM story again - certainly not on the same scale as my previous works on here. However, these recent events has only made me enjoy revisiting the Championship Manager games even more. I feel like I can play CM at a steady enough pace and write about it without any deadlines or time constraints. Even the struggles and quirks in this save are fun to write about. I've also just started a new Championship Manager 3 story with Napoli on my blog, in case anyone wants to follow that. That'll be all for now. See you again soon. Chris 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navelgazer Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Best of luck the house move. Looking forward to the Premier League season, whenever it comes around Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmattb28 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 On 29/03/2024 at 08:56, CFuller said: A sports team called Spurs that actually wins championships - how novel! THIS!!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted September 2 Author Share Posted September 2 JULY 2014 After nine years in the wilderness, a new dawn was breaking at Fulham. Having won the Division 1 play-offs last season, the Cottagers were returning to the Premiership for the first time since 2005. When I arrived in west London in November 2010, Fulham were at a low ebb, having endured successive battles against relegation to Division 2. It took three-and-a-half years of blood, sweat and tears - not to mention a massive squad rebuild - to bring this great club back into the big time. The full scale of how far we'd come was apparent when the players reconvened for training. The Fulham board had spent the best part of two years investing in a new state-of-the-art training ground, complete with a youth academy that promised to rival even Manchester United's. This was clearly a club that was intent on staying in the Premiership for the long haul. While they were at it, the board also got rid of that silly Michael Jackson statue, which had stood outside Craven Cottage since it had been commissioned by the club's former owner Mohamed Al-Fayed. Current chairman Richard Bailey intended to replace it with a monument to Peter Devlin - our two-time Player of the Year who had now netted 71 goals in 117 matches. Though Devlin remained the centrepiece of a familiar Fulham attack, we headed into pre-season with several new faces in our defence. Premiership veterans Nicky Hunt and Aaron Mokoena had been joined by the rather fresher legs of former Nottingham Forest centre-half Daniel Johnson and Dutch left-back Erwin Maas. We were also in talks to sign a fifth defender, and we were still waiting on a work permit for a South African forward. We faced a difficult start to our top-flight adventure, visiting Leeds on 16 August before hosting Arsenal four days later. I wanted us to be as sharp as possible ahead of the big kick-off, so we would play no fewer than seven pre-season friendlies. The first of those matches was at Victoria Road, where I started my managerial career with Dagenham & Redbridge 13 years ago. I took the Daggers from the Conference to Division 1 before moving on in 2007... but things were now very different in east London. After a period of stability in the second tier, the Daggers had sadly been in freefall since 2010. Mismanagement both on and off the pitch had seen them endure two relegations in the last four seasons... and after entering administration earlier this year, many pundits now expected them to drop out of Division 3 as well. Talk about undoing all my hard work! 19 JULY 2014: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Fulham As expected, we dominated this match from start to finish and peppered the Daggers goal with shots. That said, we didn't break through until the 41st minute, when Alan Stewart gobbled up an easy finish after the fit-again Greg Scott's shot was spilt by home keeper Craig Holloway. Daniel Cooke added a second goal after the break, and Peter Devlin continued from where he'd left off last season to complete a 3-0 win. Dagenham & Redbridge - 0 Fulham - 3 (Stewart 41, Cooke 53, Devlin 63) Friendly, Attendance 1,204 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Hudson; Hunt (Guðmundsson), Mitchell (S Lynch), D Johnson, Maas (Hogg); Schneider, Mokoena; Cooke (Iversen (McDonald)), Scott, Hall (Cable); Stewart (Devlin). A strong start to pre-season, but this was tempered by some bad news regarding Atle Iversen. The Norwegian attacking midfielder twisted his knee just two minutes after coming on as a sub, and he would now be out for three weeks. In brighter news, we unveiled our newest defensive signing, as 33-year-old Belgian international Olivier Deschacht arrived from fellow promotees Preston for £1.1million. Olivier is a centre-half and occasional left-back who has a great work ethic, a tremendous physique, and a lot of experience. Deschacht joined the squad in time for a pre-season tour of Germany, where we would play in drei matches. Number eins was against Florian Schneider's former club Aachen, who were now playing in the third tier. 22 JULY 2014: Alemannia Aachen vs Fulham This was a much closer contest - and one in which we were ultimately edged out. The Kartoffelkäfer (or 'Potato Beetles') produced some stereotypically German defending to shut us out, though promising striker Douglas McNeil was unlucky to hit the bar in the 59th minute. Half an hour later, Aachen left us aching when their own 20-year-old forward Matthias Hennig stretched in a late winner. I might actually need to go to AA after this... and I don't even drink! Alemannia Aachen - 1 (Hennig 88) Fulham - 0 Friendly, Attendance 3,209 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Forde; Gibson (Hunt), Friberg (Deschacht), D Johnson, Maas (Guðmundsson); McDonald (Ryan), Mokoena (Sturridge); Cooke (Stewart), Scott (McGuire), McIntyre (Hall); McNeil. Scheiss! Not a gut start to our German tour at all! I demanded a much better performance four days later, as we took on semi-professional side Gütersloh. We were short on fit right-wingers, so I decided to try out the 4-4-2 diamond again. 26 JULY 2014: Gütersloh vs Fulham The first half of this match was dominated by Norwegian midfielder Henning Numme. After half an hour of Gütersloh resistance, Numme unlocked their defence with a couple of brilliant assists - first for Greg Scott, and then for Peter Devlin. From that point, we were in complete control. A couple of youngsters got on the scoresheet after the break, as striker José Luis Márquez doubled our lead to 4-0. Peter Mitchell then rounded off a brilliant defensive display by scoring the fifth and final day, though one of his new colleagues had a less happy experience. Dutch left-back Erwin Maas got in a silly argument with opposition winger Thomas Wiese about bicycles, and after pushing Wiese to the floor, Maas was told to get on his bike. Gütersloh - 0 Fulham - 5 (Scott 29, Devlin 37, Márquez 50, Cable 61, Mitchell 85) Friendly, Attendance 8,671 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-4-2 Diamond): Hudson (Forde); Guðmundsson (Gibson), Mitchell, Deschacht (Friberg), Simpson (Maas); Numme (Ryan); McDonald (Mokoena), Schneider (Cooke); Scott (Cable); Márquez (Donaghy), Devlin. SENT OFF: Maas. As they say in Germany, that was "très bien"... no, wait, that's not right. Anyway, I was impressed with most of our performances, though I warned Maas that he needed to improve his temperament after his stupid 90th-minute red card. You can't be losing your head in pre-season, let alone in the Premiership. Our last match in Germany saw us face a step up in class. Bochum were a mid-table team in the second division, so we expected a much tougher test this time. 29 JULY 2014: Bochum vs Fulham We got an almighty fright after just 16 minutes, when ex-Poland striker Piotr Frankowski headed Bochum into the lead. Aaron Mokoena nodded in a response within just four minutes, and Henning Numme turned the game around with a stunning long-ranger just before the break. Both sides had chances in a frantic second period, but the scoreline was left unchanged as we just about clung on for a 2-1 victory. Bochum - 1 (Frankowski 16) Fulham - 2 (Mokoena 20, Numme 45) Friendly, Attendance 15,984 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-4-2 Diamond): Forde (Hudson); Hunt (Guðmundsson), Mitchell (D Johnson), Deschacht, Simpson (Gibson); Numme; Mokoena (Ryan), Schneider (Cable); Cooke (Scott); Stewart, Devlin (McIntyre). BOOKED: Mokoena. Another good win in the bag, but I still wasn't sure we had enough firepower at our disposal. I really wanted to get that new South African striker signed up sooner rather than later. By the time we got back home, the Home Office had finally come to a decision. They would not be giving him a work permit, so the transfer was off. DAMN YOU, THERESA MAY!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted September 2 Author Share Posted September 2 (edited) ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... England's World Cup bid comes unstuck in Stockholm, where goals from Serbia & Montenegro duo Ranko Djukic and Danko Lazovic condemn them to a 2-1 defeat in the Quarter Finals. The Serbs had already knocked out Spain and Brazil, but their giant-killing run ends in an ill-tempered Semi Final, in which Betis defender Cristiano Viganò heads in a 95th-minute golden goal for European champions Italy. Djibril Cissé strikes first and Bernard Aristouy scores last for France at the World Cup Final... but it's Italy who win 3-2 in Oslo. Bologna striker Agostino Piccolo equalises before a late second-half brace from Lazio's Salvatore Annunziata brings the Azzurri a record fifth world championship. It's also their second major title under Giuseppe Pancaro, who becomes the third man to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager. After receiving a cash injection from a US investor, Roma go all out to try and end their recent trophy drought. The Giallorossi spend £61million on new players - including a record £26.5million on Wolfsburg midfielder Björn Ackermann, who is joined by Germany team-mate Bastian Schweinsteiger from Bayern München. However, Italy's World Cup-winning captain Mauro Capuano leaves the Olimpico after being sold to Porto for £12.5million. Chelsea begin their quest for a Premiership three-peat by forking out a combined £20.25million on Roma playmaker Rafael van der Vaart and 1.FC Köln midfielder Jérémy Toulalan. Meanwhile, Barcelona re-sign midfielder Andrés Iniesta from Dortmund for £17.25million... just as his old friend Xavi leaves on a free transfer to Oviedo. Two midfield greats take their first steps into management. Former Leverkusen and Milan captain Michael Ballack is unveiled as the new player/manager of German third-tier club Ansbach. Meanwhile, David Beckham leaves the dreary, rainy, hostile landscape of southern Russia... and decides to manage Millwall in Division 2 instead. IN OTHER NEWS... A Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur is shot down by Russian forces while flying over the war-torn Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. All 298 people on board - mostly Dutch nationals - are killed. "Guardians of the Galaxy" - a showcase of classic 1960s and 1970s pop tracks which also happens to be a superhero movie - becomes a huge box-office success. Turns out this Marvel cinematic universe is quite profitable, y'know. British comedy legends Monty Python are live (mostly) at London's O2 Arena, where Messrs Cleese, Gilliam, Idle, Jones and Palin perform 10 farewell shows. Tickets for the first show sell out within just 43 seconds. Real Madrid's legendary forward Alfredo Di Stefano dies from a heart attack, aged 88. Born in Argentina, Di Stefano scored 308 goals and won five European Cups with Los Blancos in the 1950s and 1960s. His memorial at the Santiago Bernabéu is attended by thousands of mourners, including Florentino Pérez, Iker Casillas and Julien Faubert. Edited September 9 by CFuller Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted September 3 Author Share Posted September 3 Fulham squad - Start of 2014/2015 season GOALKEEPERS 1. Wayne Hudson - GK, age 29, English Despite only featuring in 7 games last season, Hudson is content to stay as a backup. I'm certainly happy enough with his decision-making and his leadership qualities. 13. John Forde - GK, age 25, Irish [6 caps] Forde is immature, volatile, highly-strung... and utterly brilliant. I doubt there are many goalkeepers who can match the Irish enigma's agility or his shot-stopping capabilities. DEFENDERS 2. Grant Gibson - D R, age 25, Scottish [capped at Under-21s level] Former youth product Gibson had a decent season at right-back after returning home last summer. He's a brave tackler, but can he handle the rigours of Premiership football? 3. Terry Simpson - D L, age 26, English Simpson is a resilient and aggressive left-back who's been a decent backup option for two years. I'm not yet convinced that he is Premiership quality, but he at least deserves a chance. 5. Olivier Deschacht - D LC, age 33, Belgian [8 caps] Deschacht is a strong and hard-working left-footed defender with plenty of top-flight experience. He could well be a solid addition to the squad after signing from Preston. 12. Peter Mitchell - D C, age 28, Scottish [capped at Under-21s level] Mitchell has played 143 league games for Fulham - more than anyone else currently at the club. The ball-playing centre-back excelled last season and should continue to thrive here. 14. Nicky Hunt - D RC, age 30, English [19 caps, 2 goals] Ex-Bolton and Sunderland right-back Hunt adds some star quality to the Fulham defence. A dependable decision-maker with great passing skills, he's flourished over the last three years. 15. Arnar Guðmundsson - SW/D/DM RLC, age 25, Icelandic [33 caps, 1 goal] Now in his fourth season at the Cottage, Guðmundsson has become an invaluable squad member. The versatile wing-back's crossing technique can be a powerful weapon on his day. 16. Erwin Maas - D/DM L, age 24, Dutch [1 cap] Maas is a pacey and iron-willed left-back who has his best years ahead of him. He made nearly 200 Eredivisie appearances for Sparta and recently broke into the Holland squad. 17. Daniel Johnson - D LC, age 26, English Johnson has gone from non-league to Premiership in less than a year. The late-blooming centre-back is imposing in the air and loves to mark his opponents very tightly. 26. Thomas Friberg - D RC, age 22, Swedish Friberg has made steady progress at centre-half and right-back since arriving in 2012. He's determined, energetic and has great anticipation, but needs more first-team experience. MIDFIELDERS 4. Aaron Mokoena - D/DM C, age 33, South African [108 caps, 4 goals] Mokoena will be the senior man in the Fulham dressing room after joining from Everton. A robust defensive midfield stopper, he can also feature at centre-half if required. 6. Florian Schneider - DM LC, age 29, German [capped at B level] Schneider will finally lead us into the Premiership after three exceptional years at the Cottage. I expect our powerful defensive midfield general to continue posing a threat from set-pieces. 7. Atle Iversen - AM RC, age 20, Norwegian Our coaches are sceptical, but I still believe Iversen has great potential out wide. He's got bags of energy and off-the-ball awareness, but his crosses need to be a bit sharper. 8. Daniel Cooke - AM/F RLC, age 23, English Attacking midfielder Cooke has wonderful technique in both feet, but he needs to do a bit more with them. Three goals and five assists was not a great return in his first full season. 11. Jordan Hall - AM/F L, age 30, English I'm honestly not sure Hall has a future in the Premiership. Sure, his dribbling and crossing are still sublime, but he's a bit too one-dimensional and predictable for the top flight. 18. Greg Scott - AM/F RC, age 24, English I'm not sure we would have made it to the Premiership without Scott. Nicknamed the 'Barnsley Messi', the attacking midfield maestro was hugely productive after signing for us last December. 19. Henning Numme - DM C, age 20, Norwegian [capped at Under-21s level] Numme danced his way to stardom last season, shining in many of his 40 league games. The young long-range specialist has also proven himself to be a calm holding midfield presence. 21. Wayne Cable - AM L, age 20, Welsh [capped at Under-21s level] How has Cable not broken into the senior Wales squad yet? Now over 100 appearances into his Fulham career, the left-wing wizard is a bundle of energy, creativity and unbridled joy. 25. Colm Ryan - DM C, age 21, Irish [capped at Under-21s level] You feel it's now or never for Ryan at Fulham. The selfless defensive midfielder has not developed as well as expected and really needs to prove himself - perhaps out on loan. 34. Chris McDonald - DM C, age 21, Northern Irish The future looks brighter for McDonald, who impressed on loan at Maidenhead last season. The tall and valiant anchor man can now expect more first-team action with us. FORWARDS 9. Peter Devlin - S C, age 26, Irish [1 cap] 60 goals in two seasons - it's fair to say Devlin is now a Fulham folk hero. The explosive forward is unstoppable once he hits top form and will continue to lead our attack in the Premiership. 10. Alan Stewart - F RC, age 30, Scottish [14 caps, 1 goal] Stewart has found his calling at right wing, producing back-to-back 10-goal seasons for the Cottagers. However, his contract expires next summer, and he's unsure about signing a new deal. 29. Derek McIntyre - F LC, age 19, Scottish McIntyre is developing into a quality left-sided forward but needs to hit the target more consistently. I'm hoping to find a Football League club who can give him experience out on loan. RESERVES GOALKEEPERS: John Johnson (16), Craig Price (19) DEFENDERS: Kári Hansen (18), Gary Hogg (20), Seán Lynch (20), Steven Weir (20) MIDFIELDERS: Brian Lindsay (17), Ivan Lynch (16), Keith McGuire (16), Phil Sturridge (19) FORWARDS: Ian Donaghy (17), José Luis Márquez (20), Douglas McNeil (20) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted September 4 Author Share Posted September 4 AUGUST 2014 I had one more signing in mind before the start of Fulham's Premiership adventure. Peter Devlin might be a club legend in the making, but I felt we needed another master finisher - just in case the step-up from Division 1 proved too much for the Irishman. While our hunt for a new frontman continued, Craven Cottage opened its doors for the first time since the Division 1 play-offs. The visitors were Dutch giants PSV, whose happy-go-lucky manager Felix Magath had just led them to their second consecutive Eredivisie title. 2 AUGUST 2014: Fulham vs PSV The visitors were stunned after just eight minutes, when Alan Stewart's audacious long-range volley lopped past Holland international Romeo Janssen in the PSV goal. Despite losing Henning Numme to injury just moments later, we outclassed our opponents for the rest of the first half and were good value for our 1-0 lead at the break. Felix Magath must have brought out his German hairdryer at half-time (not that he needed it), as PSV were a totally different team in the second period. Captain Klaas-Jan Huntelaar headed past our skipper Wayne Hudson just two minutes after the restart, and the Dutch side then had several chances to complete the comeback. The magnificently named winger Bas Bos came closest with a last-minute volley that hit the woodwork, and thus we escaped with an admirable 1-1 draw. Fulham - 1 (Stewart 8) PSV - 1 (Huntelaar 47) Friendly, Attendance 4,422 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Hudson (Forde); Guðmundsson, Hunt (Friberg), Deschacht, Simpson (Maas); Numme (Schneider), Mokoena (Ryan); Stewart, Cooke (Iversen), Cable (Hall (McIntyre)); Devlin. BOOKED: Schneider. Unfortunately, we now had to deal with two more injuries in the squad. Midfielder Henning Numme was sidelined for three weeks with a knee injury, and winger Jordan Hall for a month with a hamstring injury. A midweek journey to Reading followed, as we faced off against the team that Craig Johnston led to 15th place in Division 1 last season. This was an opportunity to give some extra gametime to some fringe players. 5 AUGUST 2014: Reading vs Fulham 28-year-old left-back Simon Andrews had scored just two competitive goals in his career, but it was he who gave Reading a shock lead midway through the first half. That really knocked us off our stride, and we couldn't launch a strong response until Daniel Cooke struck deep into the second period. However, the Royals rumbled us again in the 79th minute. Scotland Under-21s defender Aldo Ruggeri (nice typical Scottish name, that) played a defence-splitting pass to captain Andy Lewis, who drove in Reading's winner. Okay, now I'm starting to have serious doubts about the depth in our squad... Reading - 2 (Andrews 22, Lewis 79) Fulham - 1 (Cooke 69) Friendly, Attendance 8,264 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Forde (Hudson); Guðmundsson (Gibson), Friberg (Mitchell), D Johnson, Maas (Simpson); Ryan (Sturridge), Schneider (Mokoena); Stewart, McIntyre (Cooke), Cable (McNeil); Márquez (Donaghy). We were back at home for our last pre-season friendly, against newly-promoted La Liga side Villarreal. As far as I could tell, this team was on a similar level to ours, so they would provide the perfect final test before the hard work really began. 9 AUGUST 2014: Fulham vs Villarreal Villarreal boss Juande Ramos had never been to London before, but he felt right at home in the 24th minute. Following a foul from Erwin Maas (who celebrated his 25th birthday the day before), the visitors crafted together a great move from the free-kick that culminated in a classy finish from left-winger Jonathan. Though Peter Devlin exploited some defensive shakiness later on to get us back on terms, it was clear that we had a real fight on our hands. A load of Fulham chances went begging after the break, as our blunt attacks failed to down the Yellow Submarine. To make matters worse, our defence was only sleeping in the 79th minute, as rookie striker Luis De Haro pounced to restore Villarreal's advantage for good. Somebody hand me my revolver... Fulham - 1 (Devlin 37) Villarreal - 2 (Jonathan 24, De Haro 79) Friendly, Attendance 4,091 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Forde (Hudson); Hunt (Guðmundsson), Mitchell (D Johnson), Deschacht, Maas (Simpson); Mokoena (McDonald), Schneider (Ryan); Stewart, Scott (Iversen), Cable (McIntyre); Devlin (Márquez). 14 shots, 1 goal. Yeah, we might have serious problems when it comes to converting chances. Naturally, I went into the transfer market during the week and signed... you guessed it, another defender. To be fair, 18-year-old Héctor Gómez is a strong Spanish centre-back who our scouts reckon has a bright future. Yes, I was still looking for another striker to provide competition for Devlin. Our search had switched its focus from South Africa to Sweden, where an explosive frontman was taking the Allsvenskan by storm. If we could agree a reasonable price with his club, he would be an exciting addition to the Fulham ranks. Closer to home, our pre-season results had given us a much-needed reality check. If we went into the Premiership playing the swash-buckling tactics which has taken us up from Division 1, we would surely get smashed to pieces. A more cautious approach was needed... at least for the time being. On Saturday 16 August 2014, Fulham took its first steps back into the top-flight at Elland Road. My first ever match as a Premiership manager was against 2012 champions Leeds, who had slipped into mid-table in recent years. The Whites were in full rebuild mode after the arrival of new manager Dermot Keely, and the departure of long-time captain Rio Ferdinand. 16 AUGUST 2014: Leeds United vs Fulham Leeds' greater class and experience was obvious from the early stages of this match. They almost took the lead after 16 minutes, when a header from Jermain Defoe (yes, a header!) forced a tricky save out of John Forde. Fortunately, Belgian defender Olivier Deschacht - one of four debutants in the Fulham team - managed to clear the loose ball away. The hosts' Ghanaian right-back John Paintsil tried to pants Forde with a volley in the 21st minute, but our goalkeeper did well to push it behind for a corner. We then launched a counter-attack in the 38th minute, but Alan Stewart's fierce strike went just over the Leeds bar. That was a missed opportunity - one we would soon regret. After 45 hard and gruelling minutes, Leeds' persistence paid off. Former Liverpool defender Ledley King - playing in a defensive midfield role - intercepted a long ball from our captain Florian Schneider and pumped it into our box. There, he picked out Defoe's strike partner Dave Nugent, who nodded United into a 1-0 lead. Leeds strengthened their advantage 10 minutes after the break, when a clever lay-off from Leeds' new captain Roberto Bruzzone allowed a criminally-unmarked Defoe to score. That said, we did launch a promising response, with Wayne Cable finding the net from Daniel Cooke's after 70 minutes. Sadly, Cable was caught offside, denying us our first goal back in the Premiership - and a potential route back into the game. Three minutes after Cable's disallowed goal, it was all over. The Italian midfield magician Bruzzone delivered another stunning assist for Nugent, who headed past a static Forde. This summed up a disappointing afternoon for our Irish goalkeeper, whose compatriot Peter Devlin also had a nightmare at the other end of the pitch. Welcome to the Premiership, fellas... Leeds United - 3 (Nugent 45,73, Defoe 55) Fulham - 0 Premiership, Attendance 36,786 - POSITIONS: Leeds 3rd, Fulham 20th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Forde; Hunt, Mitchell, Deschacht, Maas (Guðmundsson); Mokoena; Scott (Cooke), Schneider; Stewart (D Johnson), Cable; Devlin. BOOKED: Scott. Now that's what I call a baptism of fire. This could be a long and gruelling first season in the Premiership. Things aren't likely to be much better in the League Cup, which we'll enter in Round 2 this season. The draw has given us a home game, but it's against Division 1 Gillingham - not an easy tie at all. At least we don't have to worry about that until next month. Next up was our first home game of the league campaign, as Arsenal came to Craven Cottage. The Gunners were in their second season under the management of Rudi Völler, who had a point to prove after a dismal 12th-place finish last time out. They had made a positive start, seeing off Everton 2-0. Despite the disappointing result at Leeds, I made just one change to the line-up that had started at Elland Road. It was at centre-back, where Daniel Johnson came in for Olivier Deschacht. 20 AUGUST 2014: Fulham vs Arsenal Despite his poor showing at Elland Road, John Forde kept his place in goal for this match. Unfortunately, he lasted just 15 minutes before sustaining a game-ending leg injury. Backup goalkeeper Wayne Hudson - who had previously played in the Premiership for Southampton and Tottenham - came on to take his place. After Alan Stewart and Peter Devlin each hit the Arsenal woodwork, Hudson faced his first real test at our end of the pitch. It came in the 29th minute when veteran Finnish midfielder Keijo Huusko put a majestic cross into our penalty area. Arsenal captain Falcao headed home at the far post, and the visitors led 1-0. Five minutes later, though, a mistake by Gunners stopper Felipe Baloy handed us a corner. Captain Florian Schneider sent a magnificent delivery to our late-blooming centre-back Daniel Johnson, who headed in his first Premiership goal on his first Premiership start! It was 1-1, and the Cottagers had arrived in the top flight! Hudson made a string of fantastic saves just before and just after the half-time whistle as Arsenal threatened to regain their lead. He was having a fine game, but defensive midfielder Aaron Mokoena was not. Mokoena was booked for a clumsy challenge on the Gunners' teenage midfield wonderkid Iker Navarro, and I felt compelled to sub him off before he risked another. Peter Devlin was also subbed off another toothless display up front, but his replacement Atle Iversen would make a big difference in the 84th minute. Playmaker Greg Scott intercepted a chipped ball from Navarro and sent it out wide to Iversen, who crossed to Wayne Cable on the left wing. Cable headed the ball into the net for the second game in a row... but this one DID count! We were just six minutes away from beating Arsenal! Unfortunately, we went defensive too early, which played right into Arsenal's hands. In the 89th minute, a last-ditch cross from left-back James Panayi picked out Falcao, who beat Cottagers defender Peter Mitchell to the header and scored his second goal of the night. A 2-2 draw was still a great result, but we probably deserved more. Fulham - 2 (D Johnson 34, Cable 84) Arsenal - 2 (Falcao 29,89) Premiership, Attendance 36,317 - POSITIONS: Fulham 16th, Arsenal 4th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Forde (Hudson); Hunt, Mitchell, D Johnson, Maas; Mokoena (Guðmundsson); Scott, Schneider; Stewart, Cable; Devlin (Iversen). BOOKED: Mokoena, Maas. While the fact we had a point on the board was good news, John Forde's injury was not. The Irish keeper had gashed his leg, meaning that substitute Wayne Hudson would have to stay in goal for our next match at Burnley. Alan Stewart would have to miss the trip to Turf Moor as well, having picked up a similar injury in training. Burnley had surprised a lot of people since Mick Doohan took over as manager two years ago, leading them to back-to-back top-four finishes. Though the Clarets had made an indifferent start to this campaign, their fans could soon look forward to watching Champions League football against the continental giants of Barcelona, Dortmund and St Mirren. After Peter Mitchell's game-costing mistake against Arsenal, I replaced the centre-back with the solid Swede Thomas Friberg. His fellow Scandinavian starlet Atle Iversen got the nod at right-wing, replacing the injured Stewart. 20-year-old left-winger Wayne Cable was hoping to celebrate his first call-up to the senior Wales squad by finding the net once again. 24 AUGUST 2014: Burnley vs Fulham Before the match, I had a quick catch-up with one of Burnley's first-team coaches - my former Dagenham & Redbridge captain Lee Matthews. After just 14 minutes, Lee's current team were already getting the better of mine. Clarets winger Matthew Turner saw his shot turned away by Fulham keeper Wayne Hudson, but Phil Jagielka poked in the rebound to delight the home fans. It got even worse for us two minutes later. 19-year-old Paul Knight showed he was one of the most exciting attacking midfielders in English football when he skipped past Florian Schneider and crossed to the versatile Wales international Robert Evans, who volleyed in Burnley's second. The Clarets were soon threatening to run riot and score again. When they almost made it 3-0 in the 30th minute, I decided enough was enough. The bumbling Dutchman Erwin Maas was sacrificed, and the more solid Belgian Olivier Deschacht took his place at left-back. I made another change at the break, swapping Atle Iversen out for Daniel Cooke on the right wing. My third and final substitution, in the 64th minute, came out of necessity rather than choice. When right-back Nicky Hunt tried to chop down Burnley's long-serving striker Dimitris Papadopoulos, the referee brought out the red card. Nicky was soon hunting the Turf Moor soap, while vice-captain Arnar Guðmundsson replaced Schneider to plug the defensive gap. Incredibly, we played better with 10 men than with 11! In fact, the out-of-form Peter Devlin found the net... albeit only after his 72nd-minute shot took a huge deflection off Poland centre-back Jagielka. The own goal was sadly not enough to spark a late comeback, but if it hadn't been for some outstanding goalkeeping by Hudson, we would surely have lost by a much larger margin. Burnley - 2 (Jagielka 14, Evans 16) Fulham - 1 (Jagielka og72) Premiership, Attendance 28,277 - POSITIONS: Burnley 5th, Fulham 18th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Hunt, Friberg, D Johnson, Maas (Deschacht); Mokoena; Scott, Schneider (Guðmundsson); Iversen (Cooke), Cable; Devlin. SENT OFF: Hunt. After all the signings we've made to strengthen the defence, we've started off by conceding seven goals in three games... and now Nicky Hunt will have to serve a three-match suspension after the international break. That's not good. Okay, let's try and stay on the positive side. We've shown glimpses of what we can do on an attacking level, and it will take time for that new defence to gel. I just hope we don't have to wait too long to get some wins on the board... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted September 4 Author Share Posted September 4 PREMIERSHIP TABLE (End of August 2014) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Sheff Wed 3 2 0 0 5 1 0 1 0 3 3 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Arsenal 3 2 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 2 2 7 3rd Chelsea 2 1 0 0 4 1 1 0 0 3 2 6 4th Crewe 2 2 0 0 6 3 0 0 0 0 0 6 5th Burnley 3 2 0 0 4 1 0 0 1 0 1 6 6th Sheff Utd 3 1 0 0 2 1 1 0 1 1 2 6 7th Everton 3 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 2 6 8th Bolton 3 0 2 0 3 3 1 0 0 2 0 5 9th Southampton 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 4 1 4 10th Liverpool 3 1 0 1 4 5 0 1 0 1 1 4 11th Middlesbrough 3 0 0 1 2 3 1 0 1 4 3 3 12th Leeds 3 1 0 1 3 3 0 0 1 1 2 3 13th Blackburn 3 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 2 2 6 3 14th Charlton 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 3 6 3 15th Torquay 3 0 1 0 3 3 0 1 1 3 6 2 16th Preston 2 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 17th Man Utd 2 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Fulham 3 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 2 1 5 1 19th Ipswich 3 0 0 1 0 2 0 1 1 1 3 1 20th Crystal Palace 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Having defeated Middlesbrough 2-1 in the Community Shield, Premiership champions Chelsea beat Boro again in their second league match of the season. Cristiano Ronaldo shines once again in a 4-1 win at the Riverside, but the headlines are all about the Blues' 19-year-old goalkeeping starlet Peter Bechmann... who is sent off for an over-the-top challenge on home winger Michael Gibson. After 14 years at Leeds, former England defender Rio Ferdinand finally gets his big move to another United - that’s Newcastle United, in Division 1. Ex-Arsenal and England goalkeeper Richard Wright also drops to the second tier, as he agrees to sign for Carlisle. Just wait until Richard finds out where Carlisle is on the map... 34-year-old Liverpool stalwart Steven Gerrard signs for Rangers, and he begins his Ibrox stay in style, with three goals and three assists in his first four games. Celtic's new manager Alex McLeish gets off to a rather less impressive start, enduring back-to-back 1-0 defeats at St Mirren and Aberdeen. Oh 'Eck. It's the Champions League qualifiers, and all eyes are on Celta's new Brazilian wonderkid Moacir da Rosa. The 18-year-old scores 31 minutes into his home debut as 'Los Celestes' comfortably see off Dinamo Kiev to reach the Group Stage. Manchester United overwhelm Levski Sofia 6-0 on aggregate to go through as well, while St Mirren battle past Dinamo Minsk to secure a debut appearance, but Crewe are denied by Norwegian champions Rosenborg. The Euro 2016 qualifiers begin with a bang as Spain - and their new manager Fernando Vázquez - are held to a 0-0 away draw by the Faroe Islands! After shutting out Alberto Teixeira and co, Faroese captain Jón Rói Jacobsen celebrates with his team-mates Eyðun Jacobsen, Jón Jacobsen, Rúni Jacobsen, Uni Jacobsen and Miles Jacobson. IN OTHER NEWS... An outbreak of Ebola in west Africa is categorised as an "international concern" by the World Health Organization. By the end of the month, over 1,000 people have died - primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The much-loved comedian and actor Robin Williams is found dead at his home in California, aged 63. Williams is believed to have taken his own life shortly after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. It's a tragic end to a prolific career which included starring roles in films such as "Dead Poets Society", "Mrs Doubtfire" and "Aladdin". Actor and producer - and former Chelsea director - Sir Richard Attenborough dies at the age of 90. He directed the Oscar-winning 1982 epic "Gandhi" and enjoyed further acclaim in the 1990s for his roles in "Jurassic Park" and "Miracle On 34th Street". He was also the elder brother of fellow British institution Sir David Attenborough. A month after lifting the Open Championship, Rory McIlroy wins the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky. It's the fourth major title of 25-year-old McIlroy's career, and I'm sure it won't be the last. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted September 6 Author Share Posted September 6 SEPTEMBER 2014 The international break was a memorable one for several Fulham players. Winger Wayne Cable was named in the Wales senior squad for the first time, though the 20-year-old was left unused in a 2-0 defeat in Serbia & Montenegro. His international breakthrough would have to wait just a little longer. Despite a disappointing start to life at Craven Cottage, left-back Erwin Maas had done enough to earn a second cap for Holland. Also in action were fellow summer signings Oliver Deschacht (9th cap for Belgium) and Nicky Hunt (20th cap for England). Established internationals and Fulham favourites Arnar Guðmundsson and Alan Stewart were in action for Iceland and Scotland respectively. Defensive midfielder Chris McDonald and striker Ian Donaghy each made their debuts for Northern Ireland Under-21s. Also making their Under-21s bows were defenders Seán Lynch (for the Republic of Ireland) and Steven Weir (for Scotland). It seemed that promotion to the Premiership had put more of our youngsters on the international radar. Speaking of youngsters, we have just welcomed in three more graduates from our academy. 17-year-old Terry Lee is an agile winger who can play on either flank. 18-year-old Andrew Butler is an energetic attacking midfielder or centre-forward whose elder brother Michael came through our youth system a few years back (he's now at Liverpool). Lastly, Brian Preece is also 18 and is an aggressive and hard-working left-back. After the break, we returned to Premiership action with a Monday night match at Kings Dock. If Everton could inflict our third consecutive away defeat, we would be rooted to the bottom after just four games. It was time to prove our worth in the top flight. 8 SEPTEMBER 2014: Everton vs Fulham After 20 slow minutes, the game finally had its first major talking point. Fulham left-back Olivier Deschacht went all-in with a dangerous two-footed challenge on Everton midfielder Mark Lloyd, for which he was lucky to escape with a yellow card. Toffees skipper Wayne Rooney took the free-kick, which deflected off the wall... and safely into Wayne Hudson's hands. Our first real scoring chance came six minutes before half-time, when Alan Stewart's half-volley was parried by the experienced Everton keeper Andy Paxton. Both Paxton and Hudson continued to impress after the break, shutting out the few attacking threats either team could muster in a dismal match. Though Hudson's efforts helped us to a first clean sheet back in the Premiership, the first win continued to elude us. Substitute attacking midfielder Daniel Cooke had a golden opportunity to silence the Kings Dock crowd in the 81st minute, but his strike from Peter Devlin's cross hit the woodwork. 0-0 was how it stayed. Everton - 0 Fulham - 0 Premiership, Attendance 48,580 - POSITIONS: Everton 6th, Fulham 18th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Hudson; Guðmundsson, Mitchell, D Johnson, Deschacht (Maas); Schneider, Numme (McDonald); Stewart, Scott (Cooke), Cable; Devlin. BOOKED: Deschacht. That was our second point on the board, but once again, we were struggling to finish. As prolific as Peter Devlin had been in Division 1, it was clear that he needed stiffer competition up front. Before our next home game, we signed the man we hoped would be the answer to our goalscoring problems. 25-year-old Milan Lukas is a brave, quick and tall centre-forward who's as equally prolific with his head as with his feet. The Czech-born striker joins us from Swedish club Elfsborg, where he has scored at least 10 league goals in each of his last four seasons. Lukas was on the bench when Craven Cottage hosted a London derby against Crystal Palace. David Seaman's Eagles were 15th in the table and had scored just once in their opening three matches, so this was the kind of game where we'd need to show some ambition and go for the win. 13 SEPTEMBER 2014: Fulham vs Crystal Palace Crystal Palace seemed keen to rough us up in the first half, picking up a couple of bookings for dangerous fouls. After being pushed by Palace right-back Jamie McCunnie in the 27th minute, our young winger Wayne Cable took it very personally. He whipped the free-kick into the Eagles' box as soon as he could, and Daniel Johnson headed it home to give us the lead! At least one of our players knew where the net was. Lone striker Peter Devlin was hardly getting a sniff at goal, so it was up to attacking midfielder Daniel Cooke to lead the way... and he wasn't up to it. A wayward header in the 36th minute was followed up in the 47th minute by a tame lob that didn't bother Antonis Goutis in the Palace goal. The Eagles' own attacks were also lacking incisiveness, but they finally managed to get a shot on target in the 56th minute. Just moments after coming on as a substitute, 19-year-old Ray Harvey squared the ball from the left wing to former Arsenal midfielder Michael Jack, who lost his marker and buried the equaliser. Oww! By the hour mark, our new striker Milan Lukas was ready to come on. Within 10 minutes, the debutant had well and truly made his mark. Some excellent work up the right flank saw Thomas Friberg pick out Alan Stewart, who then lobbed the ball ahead of Lukas in the penalty area. Milan broke away, headed home, and Czech-mated Crystal Palace to steal all three points! Fulham - 2 (D Johnson 28, Lukas 70) Crystal Palace - 1 (Jack 56) Premiership, Attendance 38,877 - POSITIONS: Fulham 12th, Crystal Palace 16th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Hudson; Guðmundsson, Mitchell, D Johnson, Deschacht (Friberg); Schneider, Mokoena; Stewart, Cooke (Lukas), Cable; Devlin (McDonald). BOOKED: D Johnson. What an impact! A debut goal for Lukas, and a first Premiership win for Fulham - and in front of a record Cottage crowd too! Our League Cup campaign began in midweek, against a Gillingham team who were mid-table in Division 1. Though I expected a tough battle, I still decided to give some gametime to some of our hot prospects and 'forgotten men'. This meant full-backs Grant Gibson and Terry Simpson and winger Jordan Hall made their first appearances of the season. 17 SEPTEMBER 2014: Fulham vs Gillingham I also gave Peter Devlin another chance to try and rebuild his confidence - and get his campaign up and running. That took just three minutes. Atle Iversen skilfully turned away from Gills wing-back David Molina to deliver a cross to Devlin, who shrugged off his marker John O'Shea and slammed in the opener! Having quickly gone a goal up, things soon got even better for us. In the 15th minute, Gillingham striker Danny Morgan completely lost his head, thrusting it onto the nose of our other Norwegian youngster Henning Numme! Henning was lucky to avoid a nosebleed, but Morgan's moment of madness meant that he saw red - and Peter Reid's visitors were down to 10 men! We should have controlled the game from there... but instead, we got complacent. We eased off far too much and allowed Gillingham a route back into the match. O'Shea went closest to scoring when his 43rd-minute volley hit the crossbar, but all the warning signs were there. If we didn't get our act together in the second half, even a 1-0 lead against 10 men wouldn't be safe. Indeed, it wasn't. As Gillingham grew even stronger after the break, we retreated even further back, forcing our goalkeeping captain John Forde into even more work than he was anticipating. Inevitably, we crumbled in the 77th minute, when a dazed Numme lost the ball cheaply to Simon Rusk. The former Dagenham & Redbridge midfielder crossed deep into our penalty area, where Gills captain Jamie Reid headed his team back level. Only one team looked like winning the match now, but I was now hoping we could at least take it to extra-time. It had been a difficult night for holding midfielder Aaron Mokoena, who was replaced by the promising Chris McDonald for the closing stages. Of course, Chris twisted his knee in stoppage time, meaning that we too would have to finish the game with 10 men. Great. You can probably guess how this match ended. Deep into injury-time, another Rusk cross caused mass panic in our penalty area, and it was fired in by 21-year-old left-back Leon Brady, who scored his first ever senior goal for his boyhood club. Forde was ranting and raving at his defenders, and so was I after our League Cup run came to a spectacular - and very early - end. Fulham - 1 (Devlin 3) Gillingham - 2 (Reid 77, Brady 90) League Cup Round 2, Attendance 6,290 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Forde; Gibson (Guðmundsson), Friberg, D Johnson, Simpson; Numme, Mokoena (McDonald); Iversen, Scott, Hall (McIntyre); Devlin. BOOKED: Mokoena. Gillingham had to play with 10 men for 75 minutes, and we were in the lead for almost as long! How the hell did we lose that? Ah, never mind, at least Nicky Hunt has completed his three-match ban and is ready to return to ac... no, wait, he's also twisted his knee and is out for another three weeks. [Sigh] We knew we could fall into a death spiral if we weren't careful. Our next league game at the Cottage was against Sheffield United, who had defied all expectations by finishing 7th in their first season back in the Premiership. The Blades had not yet shown any symptoms of 'second-season syndrome', but a resurgent Devlin was out to change that. 22 SEPTEMBER 2014: Fulham vs Sheffield United The defensive frailties from our last home game were evident again after just eight minutes. When an early Sheffield United attack ended with a tame cross from veteran forward Delroy Facey, the interception should have been straightforward for Peter Mitchell. Instead, the centre-back got a horrible first touch that inadvertently turned it past Wayne Hudson... and into our net! Five minutes later, the ball was in our net again, this time via a visiting player. Billy Paynter's strike from a much better Facey cross was disallowed for offside, but it was clear that United were in a much more confident mood than us. Hudson had to make a good save in the 21st minute to stop Paynter's next effort, while some brave defending from anchor man - and yellow-card magnet - Aaron Mokoena kept our heads above water before the break. We had barely troubled Neil Dunn in the Blades goal during the first half, other than a low 16th-minute strike from Florian Schneider that needed to be pushed behind. I tried to liven our attack up by switching to an attacking 3-5-2 system for the second period... ...and while we did enjoy a bit more possession, we still couldn't make the most of our chances. Dunn was forced into a second and final save in the 61st minute by Daniel Cooke, while another effort from Peter Devlin 13 minutes later hit the woodwork. Not even Milan Lukas could make himself a 'supersub' for a second straight game, and so we endured back-to-back home defeats. Fulham - 0 Sheffield United - 1 (Mitchell og8) Premiership, Attendance 26,019 - POSITIONS: Fulham 16th, Sheff Utd 7th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Hudson; Guðmundsson, Mitchell, D Johnson, Maas (Numme); Schneider, Mokoena; Stewart (Lukas), Cooke (Scott), Cable; Devlin. BOOKED: Mokoena. One silly mistake, and it decides the whole game. You just can't legislate for that. I didn't hold anything against Peter Mitchell. He's a strong and confident character, so I had no qualms about starting the Scottish centre-back again in our next game. I also gave Simpson his first Premiership start at left-back - and if he didn't perform, it would probably be his last. Birmingham had made an offer worth £500,000 for Terry, and I was in two minds about whether to take the money. We were at Plainmoor - the home of Chris Kamara's Torquay. The Gulls were now spending an improbable fourth season in the Premiership, but after three successful battles against relegation, the odds were really stacked against them now. A hapless Torquay had conceded 18 goals in their opening six games, leaving them down in 18th with just three points to their name. 27 SEPTEMBER 2014: Torquay United vs Fulham Terry Simpson's date with destiny started so well that, after 15 minutes, I was already making plans to pay for his train tickets to Birmingham. The left-back bumped into Torquay midfielder Sebastian Larsson in our penalty area, giving the hosts the softest of penalties. Simpson's mistake was swiftly punished from 12 yards by Michael Barry - the Irish midfielder scoring his 8th goal in as many games. The other Fulham player making his first start of the season was Milan Lukas. The Czech striker was kept off the scoresheet in the 25th minute by Gulls keeper Brad Jones, who then produced another brilliant save just moments later to deny Greg Scott. Seriously, what did we have to do to score? Win a free-kick 20 goals from goal, apparently. Opportunity finally came knocking in the 66th minute, when Lukas drew a foul from Torquay defender Justin Phillips - in prime shooting opportunity for a set-piece specialist. Captain Florian Schneider then did what he does best, swerving in a fantastic free-kick to wipe the smile right off Kammy's face! I tried to rejuvenate our attack with a couple of subs either side of that Schneidi special, with Scott and Lukas making way for Atle Iversen and Peter Devlin respectively. Of course, it was a Torquay substitute who found the net in the 89th minute. French forward Sébastien Lemasson thought he had headed in the winner, but an offside flag went up against his strike partner Nathan Murray. While Jones had produced a stunning performance in the Torquay goal in place of the suspended Patrik Eklund, our goalkeeper had been solid if not spectacular. I was surprised, then, when the man over the Plainmoor tannoy announced that the 'man of the match' was Wayne Hudson. Of course, it later emerged that he was referring to Torquay's defensive midfielder, who was also named Wayne Hudson! Moments later, we made one last push for a winner. Right-winger Alan Stewart intercepted a wayward pass from Wayne Hudson (Torquay's one, not ours) and then hit a savage right-footer that forced Jones into a difficult save. The rebound fell invitingly to Devlin, who thrashed in just his second ever Premiership goal - and secured a stunning late win for the Cottagers! Torquay United - 1 (Barry pen15) Fulham - 2 (Schneider 66, Devlin 90) Premiership, Attendance 13,468 - POSITIONS: Torquay 18th, Fulham 11th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Friberg, Mitchell, D Johnson, Simpson (Deschacht); Mokoena; Scott (Devlin), Schneider; Stewart, Cable; Lukas (Iversen). BOOKED: Mokoena. Though our celebrations were tempered when right-back Thomas Friberg injured his thigh, this felt like a huge result. Getting an away win on the board this early in the season - even against a team as weak as Torquay's - is vital to our confidence. This means we will head into October sitting in 12th place - four points clear of the drop. Not too shabby, eh? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted September 6 Author Share Posted September 6 PREMIERSHIP TABLE (End of September 2014) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Chelsea 6 3 0 0 12 3 3 0 0 9 5 18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Everton 7 3 1 0 4 1 2 0 1 2 2 16 3rd Sheff Wed 7 4 1 0 15 5 0 2 0 5 5 15 4th Arsenal 7 3 1 0 7 2 1 1 1 3 5 14 5th Sheff Utd 7 1 1 0 3 2 3 0 2 4 4 13 6th Burnley 7 3 1 0 7 3 0 2 1 2 3 12 7th Leeds 7 2 1 1 7 4 1 1 1 4 4 11 8th Charlton 7 3 0 0 7 0 0 1 3 3 9 10 9th Crewe 6 3 0 1 12 5 0 0 2 1 5 9 10th Southampton 6 1 0 1 3 1 1 2 1 5 3 8 11th Man Utd 6 2 1 1 3 2 0 1 1 5 8 8 12th Fulham 7 1 1 1 4 4 1 1 2 3 6 8 13th Crystal Palace 6 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 2 4 7 7 14th Preston 6 0 3 0 6 6 1 1 1 2 2 7 15th Middlesbrough 7 1 0 2 4 4 1 0 3 4 5 6 16th Bolton 7 0 3 1 4 5 1 0 2 2 5 6 17th Liverpool 7 1 1 1 5 6 0 2 2 4 12 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Blackburn 7 1 1 1 6 6 0 0 4 4 12 4 19th Torquay 7 0 2 1 7 8 0 1 3 5 12 3 20th Ipswich 7 0 0 3 2 6 0 2 2 4 10 2 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Having not won Serie A since 1998, Juventus are determined to end their scudetto drought. Sporting director Roberto Bettega throws £19.75million at Chelsea to bring the world's best player Cristiano Ronaldo to Turin. The Portuguese preener makes an instant impact, scoring in his first two league games against Genoa and Napoli as the Old Lady begins her campaign with four straight wins. Chelsea don't seem to miss Cristiano too much, mind you. 21-year-old French forward Vincent Mercier takes up the scoring slack, hitting NINE goals as the Premiership champions open with six wins on the bounce. The Blues don't fare as well in the Champions League, following draws against Olympiakos and Sturm Graz with a shock 4-2 loss at Sporting. Dortmund's decline continues as they lose three Bundesliga matches - and two more key players. Brazil right-back Dani Alves heads to Porto for £16.5million, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic joins Lazio for £10.25million. New promotees Düsseldorf and Rostock each climb above Dortmund into the Bundesliga's top five after going unbeaten in their opening fixtures. Is this the end for Roma as a Serie A powerhouse? A youthful Giallorossi team is dismantled 4-1 by high-flying Parma and plummets into the relegation zone. Italy striker Sergio Zani - now one of their senior players at 25 - says he is tired of being a babysitter and urges head coach Masami Ihara to sign more veterans. Last season's Ligue 1 runners-up Sedan look like they could go the distance this term. Head coach Roland Gransart steers 'Les Sangliers' to the summit with six wins from seven games, while the club's fans come up with a special chant for 24-year-old goalkeeper Guy Narayaninnaiken: "Donnez-moi un N, Donnez-moi un A..." IN OTHER NEWS... 3.6 million Scots vote in a historic referendum on Scottish independence, with 55% voting to stay in the United Kingdom. Nationalist leader Alex Salmond concedes defeat and resigns as First Minister. And then there were three. Robbie Williams goes solo (again) and Jason Orange retires from music, but British pop icons Take That will carry on as trio - Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, and The Other One. Comedian, actress and plastic surgery addict Joan Rivers dies at the age of 81 while undergoing throat surgery. As per her request, her body is donated to Tupperware, and Meryl Streep cries at her funeral in five different accents. Ageing Irish rockers U2 try a novel approach to promote their new record "Songs of Innocence" - download it onto EVERY SINGLE iPhone and iPad in the world. The idea of free music would sound pretty cool... if it wasn't U2's worst album since "Pop". Just make another Band Aid record next time, Bono. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted September 9 Author Share Posted September 9 OCTOBER 2014 After taking seven points from our four matches in September, October gave us a great opportunity to pull clear of relegation danger. Three of our next four games were at home - and none of our opponents started the month higher than 9th place. We opened October with the 'toughest' of those fixtures, at home to Crewe. England legend Trevor Francis led the Railwaymen to a superb 3rd-place finish last season, and though his high-scoring team had not started this campaign quite so well, they would still pose a considerable threat. This match marked the return of John Forde to the Fulham goal. Forde had not played in the league since August, and the 25-year-old Irishman threw one of his usual paddies after our League Cup collapse against Gillingham last month. Even so, I still believed the enigmatic shotstopper had a big role to play - IF he could pull himself together. 1 OCTOBER 2014: Fulham vs Crewe Alexandra And pull himself together he did. John Forde was immense in the opening stages, saving a free-kick from Crewe midfielder Danny Patterson and then catching a dangerous cross from veteran winger Yossi Benayoun. After surviving an early onslaught, we launched a counter-attack in the 19th minute. Striker Peter Devlin skilfully chipped the ball out right to Alan Stewart, whose cross was then headed over the bar by Wayne Cable. Devlin was very frustrated about that - so much so that he angrily pushed Crewe's young Wales midfielder Rob Griffiths in the chest! That unprovoked attack brought a straight red card for Devlin the devil! Despite playing most of the first half against 10 men, Crewe couldn't make their advantage count. The Railwaymen were incredibly wasteful in front of goal - and indeed, we looked like the more likely scorers after the break! Substitute striker Milan Lukas came closest in the 73rd minute, hitting the bar with a half-volley. Ten minutes later, Stewart also hit the woodwork. The Scottish forward swivelled on the ball after collecting an incisive pass from Cottagers captain Florian Schneider and then curled a shot against the far post... but a good ricochet turned it across the line for 1-0! Crewe had just enough time to try and grab a late equaliser, but Forde produced one more excellent save to keep out Dave Crowley and secure all three points! Fulham - 1 (Stewart 83) Crewe Alexandra - 0 Premiership, Attendance 26,500 - POSITIONS: Fulham 11th, Crewe 12th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Forde; Guðmundsson, Mitchell (Deschacht), D Johnson, Maas; Mokoena, Schneider; Stewart, Scott (Numme), Cable (Lukas); Devlin. SENT OFF: Devlin. An incredible result in the circumstances, but while Forde was back in favour, my love affair with another Irishman had soured. Peter Devlin's red card was absolutely stupid, and he deserved his suspension. Forde impressed again a few days later, making five saves as the Republic of Ireland continued their preparations to host Euro 2016 with a valiant 1-1 draw against the mighty... ahem, San Marino. Can't you tell that Roy Keane is their manager? Wayne Cable had a week to remember, picking up his first two Wales caps in a couple of 1-1 draws against Estonia and the Czech Republic. Those results did the Dragons no good in terms of Euro qualification, but at least Wayne has finally broken through. Erwin Maas also picked up a couple more caps, because Holland seemingly don't have any better left-backs. Meanwhile, we bade farewell to a couple more players, both of whom left the Cottage after two years. Jordan Hall signed for Division 3 strugglers Scunthorpe for £250,000. I also accepted Birmingham's £500,000 offer for left-back Terry Simpson, who'd been fairly solid in Division 1 but was sadly not up to Premiership standard. Simpson's sale was partly influenced by the improvements of reserve left-backs Gary Hogg and Brian Preece, both of whom were making strong cases for first-team inclusion. 20-year-old striker Douglas McNeil was also in line for more first-team football - at Division 1 Gillingham, as he joined our League Cup foes on loan until the end of the season. Next up in the league, we hosted rock-bottom Ipswich. George Burley might have been close to his 20th anniversary as manager of the Tractor Boys, but he probably wouldn't be around much longer if their winless start continued. 11 OCTOBER 2014: Fulham vs Ipswich Town After scoring late in our last game, Alan Stewart found the net early in this one. Unfortunately, the big Scot - now playing up front as the lone striker - had strayed offside before heading in a 4th-minute cross from right-winger Atle Iversen. Our frustration grew further over the next 20 minutes, as Ipswich's 19-year-old goalkeeper Ross Fenton made a series of excellent saves. Fenton is a seriously impressive talent whom I'm sure will be England's number 1 in the future. However, it was another rising star who upstaged him in the 23rd minute, as 20-year-old Iversen buried a low cross from Stewart to break the deadlock! Ipswich almost levelled within three minutes, as our former midfield loanee Scott Mitchell fired a long-range effort against the bar. From that moment on, however, we were completely dominant, frequently cutting through the Tractor Boys' defence to create scoring opportunities. Had it not been for the fantastic Fenton, we would probably have been miles ahead by the hour mark. As it was, it took us 73 minutes to blow the floodgates open. Left-back Erwin Maas was enjoying his best game yet in a Fulham jersey, and it was his devastating cross that substitute midfielder Henning Numme fired home to double our lead. When Numme set up Iversen for our third goal to put the result beyond doubt just four minutes later, I gave Maas a well-earned rest - and gave a Premiership debut to 20-year-old Gary Hogg. Ipswich's Norwegian annihilation was completed in the 89th minute. Florian Schneider's free-kick was headed goalwards by Wayne Cable, and an overwhelmed Fenton could only push the ball on to Iversen, whose rebound strike completed his treble! What a performance by the young winger! Fulham - 4 (Iversen 23,77,89, Numme 73) Ipswich Town - 0 Premiership, Attendance 29,267 - POSITIONS: Fulham 7th, Ipswich 20th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Forde; Hunt, Friberg, D Johnson, Maas (Hogg); Mokoena (Numme), Schneider; Iversen, Scott (Lukas), Cable; Stewart. Ikke til å tro! Atle Iversen is a hat-trick hero! I kept the same starting XI in place a week later, when we went to St Mary's seeking a fourth straight Premiership victory. Southampton's recent form had been less consistent, but they were still a solid mid-table outfit. 19 OCTOBER 2014: Southampton vs Fulham Atle Iversen tried to carry on where he left off in the 2nd minute, when his cross to fellow winger Wayne Cable was headed into the hands of Southampton goalie Otto Fredrikson. This would prove to be a frustrating afternoon for Cable, who was booked in the 19th minute for diving. That understandably didn't impress Saints boss Mark Hughes, who also doubled up as Wayne's international manager with Wales. Shortly after Cable's theatrics, Hughes' hosts sparked into life. Fulham centre-back Daniel Johnson carelessly lost the ball to set the wheels in motion for a Southampton counter-attack, which ended with Czech international Ales Kroupa heading in a cross from his Spanish strike partner Alejandro Arias. From that point, we were really up against it. For starters, Southampton's Nick Ball lived up to his name by frequently taking possession and keeping it away from anyone wearing black and white. When his midfield colleague Nuno Coelho forced a difficult save out of John Forde in the 57th minute, Kroupa gobbled up the follow-up to double his and the Saints' tallies. I tried to fight fire with fire by bringing on our own Czech striker, but Milan Lukas hardly got a sniff at goal as the Saints marched to victory. Former Manchester United winger Rodrigo Taddei made that certain with a brilliant solo goal two minutes from time, rounding off an emphatic 3-0 win for Southampton. Southampton - 3 (Kroupa 19,57, Rodrigo Taddei 88) Fulham - 0 Premiership, Attendance 34,049 - POSITIONS: Southampton 8th, Fulham 11th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Forde; Hunt, Friberg (Deschacht), D Johnson, Maas; Mokoena, Schneider; Iversen, Scott (Cooke), Cable; Stewart (Lukas). BOOKED: Cable. No complaints about that. Our defence was a shambles. Having served his time, Devlin was back in the team for our next home game against FA Cup holders Middlesbrough. I made several changes to the starting line-up, including dropping our skipper Florian Schneider. Time for captain Forde to step up again! 25 OCTOBER 2014: Fulham vs Middlesbrough If the opening stages suggested anything, it was that this would be a close contest. Middlesbrough poacher Ole Pedersen was unlucky to hit the post in the 7th minute - just two minutes before Kevin Holmes' double save at the other end left the returning Peter Devlin frustrated. At least Peter didn't take his anger out on any opponents this time. A tense match had its first turning point in the 35th minute, when Pedersen rolled his ankle and needed to be replaced with winger Michael Gibson (remember him, Fulham fans?). The Boro would endure more pain in the 41st minute, when our attacking midfielder Daniel Cooke drove through their defence to drive in a killer long ball from Aaron Mokoena! 1-0 to the Cottagers! Gibson then came perilously close to restoring parity for Middlesbrough before we doubled our lead midway through the second half. 24 days after seeing the worst of Devlin, Cottagers fans saw the best of him once again when he dribbled past wing-back Ryan Larkin and thundered the ball into the top corner! A shaky Boro defence crumbled again in the 74th minute. A desperate fingertip save from Holmes denied Devlin his second goal of the night, but instead, it was Cooke who wrapped up his brace from the rebound! That completed a 3-0 victory... and if Daniel can play like this more often, Greg Scott might have a real battle to regain his place in the team! Fulham - 3 (Cooke 41,74, Devlin 66) Middlesbrough - 0 Premiership, Attendance 28,443 - POSITIONS: Fulham 8th, Middlesbrough 15th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Forde; Hunt (Guðmundsson), Mitchell, Deschacht, Maas; Mokoena, Numme (McDonald); Iversen, Cooke, Cable (McIntyre); Devlin. I couldn't be much happier with our results this month, to tell you the truth. Three shut-out wins at home, and plenty of goals to boot. We definitely deserve our place in the Premiership, that's for sure. It's been a particularly great October for Iversen, who was named Young Player of the Month after his hat-trick against Ipswich. The 20-year-old winger has blown hot and cold early in his career, but is Atle now about to take off? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted September 9 Author Share Posted September 9 (edited) PREMIERSHIP TABLE (End of October 2014) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Chelsea 10 4 0 0 15 4 4 1 1 16 12 25 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Sheff Utd 11 5 1 0 11 5 3 0 2 4 4 25 3rd Everton 11 5 1 0 8 2 2 0 3 2 5 22 4th Arsenal 11 4 2 0 12 5 2 1 2 8 10 21 5th Burnley 11 4 2 0 10 4 0 4 1 5 6 18 6th Man Utd 10 4 1 1 8 4 1 2 1 7 9 18 7th Southampton 10 4 0 1 12 2 1 2 2 5 4 17 8th Fulham 11 4 1 1 12 4 1 1 3 3 9 17 9th Leeds 11 3 2 1 11 6 1 2 2 6 8 16 10th Crewe 10 5 0 1 17 5 0 0 4 4 11 15 11th Sheff Wed 11 4 1 0 15 5 0 2 4 8 16 15 12th Charlton 11 4 1 0 10 1 0 2 4 4 12 15 13th Crystal Palace 10 3 1 1 11 5 1 1 3 7 11 14 14th Liverpool 11 3 1 1 9 8 0 2 4 6 17 12 15th Middlesbrough 11 2 1 2 10 8 1 1 4 7 11 11 16th Preston 10 1 3 1 10 10 1 1 3 2 6 10 17th Blackburn 11 2 2 1 10 7 0 1 5 6 16 9 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Bolton 11 0 3 2 6 8 1 0 5 2 12 6 19th Ipswich 11 1 1 3 4 6 0 2 4 4 17 6 20th Torquay 11 0 2 3 10 13 0 1 5 6 15 3 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Chelsea's £9.75million man Rafael van der Vaart breaks his leg on international duty with Holland and is ruled out for six months. Never mind, says Jean Tigana, who signs Ajax striker Marco Borriello for £5.5million as the Premiership champions continue to entertain at both ends of the pitch - 2-3 vs Liverpool, 3-2 vs Bolton, 3-1 vs Sheffield Wednesday, 2-2 vs Leeds! Liverpool finally sack Alan Cork and appoint a new German manager who vows to make the players work until their legs fall off. The Reds' star winger Sebastian Mila immediately expresses his concerns when Felix Magath suggests he rubs cheese on his injured knee after a League Cup defeat to Charlton. Germany suffer a shock 2-1 defeat to Slovakia in the Euro 2016 qualifiers - and the country's biggest club is soon in serious danger. Bayern München remain bottom of the Bundesliga after picking up just TWO points from nine games - even losing 3-1 to Nigel Winterburn's Hertha BSC! Ex-Bayern forward Harry Kewell recently started his managerial career in Division 3... but after just two months at Mansfield, Harry and his wife Sheree decide that they'd rather live in Las Palmas instead. Meanwhile, David Seaman is dropped by Crystal Palace, with Barry Ferguson becoming the Eagles' new manager after leaving J-League side Gamba. Celta cruise through their Champions League group, but their La Liga title hopes take a hit when 18-year-old Moacir da Rosa has a temper tantrum at surprise contenders Valladolid. In Round 2 of the UEFA Cup, Fernando Cavenaghi's hat-trick for Atlético Madrid wipes out Middlesbrough, while Lyon suffer a shock exit at the hands of Irish part-timers Cork City! IN OTHER NEWS... Malala Yousafzai - a 17-year-old Muslim schoolgirl from Pakistan who was shot by the Taliban for her activism for female education - is the youngest person ever to receive a Nobel Prize. She shares this year's Nobel Peace Prize with Kailash Satyarthi - an Indian Hindu man who campaigns for children's education and against child labour. Scotland has its first female First Minister after the Scottish National Party elects a new leader to replace Alex Salmond. Wee Jimmy Krankie enters the leadership contest under the name Nicola Sturgeon, and is elected unopposed after Sir Sean Connery and The Proclaimers pull out. Country-turned-pop singer Taylor Swift's wildest dreams come true when her new album shakes off her opponents in style - and becomes one of the best-selling records this year. It is named "1989", after the year in which she was born. Cliff Richard hopes for a similar career renaissance by naming his comeback album "59 BC". Edited yesterday at 08:25 by CFuller Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted September 11 Author Share Posted September 11 (edited) NOVEMBER 2014 Though Fulham were flying high in the top half of the Premiership after three successive home wins, we started November with a few injury concerns. Right-back Grant Gibson - who'd made just one appearance this season - was ruled out for a month due to a groin injury. There was even worse news for 17-year-old striker Ian Donaghy, who tore a groin muscle in a reserves match and was sidelined for three months. My biggest worry, though, was at left-back. Erwin Maas' upturn in form had played a big role in our rise up the table, but the flying Dutchman had hurt his shoulder in training. He would miss (at least) the first of our scheduled five matches this month. That match was a Monday night showdown at The Valley, which we entered for the first time since Charlton beat us to automatic promotion from Division 1 back in May. Though our play-off winners had actually been the best of the three promoted teams so far, Geraint Williams' Addicks were only two points behind us in 12th. They had also won four of their five home games so far this term. 3 NOVEMBER 2014: Charlton Athletic vs Fulham Charlton came out firing after 13 minutes, when former Scotland Under-21s midfielder Kevin Hughes opened the scoring with a powerful header from Scott Douglas' left-wing cross. Just two minutes later, though, Hughes gave away a free-kick 25 yards from the Addicks' goal - and Alan Stewart powered in a quick equaliser! Great Scots! Charlton continued to put our defence under intense pressure throughout the first half. By the 33rd minute, they were back in the ascendancy. Douglas was involved once again as he lifted the ball up towards captain Tranquillo Barnetta, before the Swiss maestro rolled in a cross that was expertly finished by ex-Liverpool striker Dean Ashton. We still trailed 2-1 at the break, when I urged the players to let go of any inhibitions and take the second half to Charlton. The response was emphatic. We fired more aerial balls into the Addicks' box, and though England Under-21s keeper Shaun Goodall brilliantly saved a couple of headers from Stewart, he wasn't quite good enough to deny our big centre-half Daniel Johnson in the 60th minute! Game on again! 36-year-old former Leeds striker Michael Bridges - now back in England after a year in Turkey - then fired over a great chance to give Charlton the lead for the third time. But when the scoreline did change to 3-2 in the 66th minute, we were on the right end of it! Wayne Cable wired a low cross from the left wing to pick out the run of attacking midfielder Daniel Cooke, whose calm finish stunned The Valley! This had been an end-to-end contest, but by the 72nd minute, there was finally some clear daylight between the teams. Stewart struck for the second time by nodding in a free-kick from substitute left-back Arnar Guðmundsson, and we were now leading 4-2! Surely that was the end of the drama? Not quite. Barnetta pulled one goal back from a Hughes corner just four minutes later, giving Charlton fresh hope. Athletic then went all-out to try and save a point, and our goalkeeping captain John Forde needed to be on top form to deny both Ashton and substitute forward Petrit Burniku. With those two vital saves, we held on to win a seven-goal epic! Charlton Athletic - 3 (Hughes 13, Ashton 33, Barnetta 76) Fulham - 4 (Stewart 15,72, D Johnson 60, Cooke 66) Premiership, Attendance 26,462 - POSITIONS: Charlton 12th, Fulham 7th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Forde; Hunt, Mitchell, D Johnson, Deschacht (Guðmundsson); Mokoena, Numme (Iversen); Stewart, Cooke, Cable; Devlin (Schneider). BOOKED: Numme, Iversen. What an incredible match! That made it five wins from our last six! Craven Cottage was buzzing five days later, when we hosted a struggling Blackburn team who were just above the relegation zone. Maas was fit again and back in the starting line-up, as was captain Florian Schneider. 8 NOVEMBER 2014: Fulham vs Blackburn Rovers Both teams had good chances to score in an even first half. Peter Devlin almost struck first for us in the 17th minute, when a ferocious strike was pushed away by Blackburn's goalkeeping captain Jonathan Berry. At the other end five minutes, Rovers' box-to-box midfielder Simon Dickinson saw his header fumbled by a hesitant John Forde, who recovered quickly to tip away Dickinson's follow-up! The first half ended with a string of wayward shots from Fulham trio Daniel Cooke, Wayne Cable and Florian Schneider. Two minutes into the second half, the three would be kicking themselves - the latter in particular. It was Schneider's push on Blackburn beanpole Peter Crouch that gave the visitors a free-kick close to our goal, and Dickinson's real-deal delivery was headed home by another experienced striker - Darius Vassell. Crouch almost doubled Rovers' lead on 51 minutes, towering over even big Daniel Johnson to plant a promising header wide. On the other end of the age scale, England Under-21s defender Paul Scott went close for Blackburn a few moments, only to see his effort pushed wide by Forde. Those misses would come back to burn Blackburn in the 67th minute. Wonderkid winger Wayne Cable capped off a quickfire counter-attack by flicking Peter Devlin's right-cross past Berry at the far post, drawing us back level! But just four minutes later, Danny Wilson's side were back on song. Vassell jumped above Peter Mitchell to head in his second goal of the night, putting Rovers back on course for victory. Leon Knight - who had replaced Crouch up front early in the second half - then finished us off in the 88th minute, completing a second home defeat at Craven Cottage this season. Fulham - 1 (Cable 67) Blackburn Rovers - 3 (Vassell 47,71, Knight 88) Premiership, Attendance 30,484 - POSITIONS: Fulham 8th, Blackburn 15th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Forde; Hunt, Mitchell, D Johnson, Maas (Guðmundsson); Mokoena, Schneider; Stewart (Lukas), Cooke (Scott), Cable; Devlin. BOOKED: Mokoena. And thump. Back down to Earth. Aaron Mokoena's fifth yellow card of the season meant that the South African destroyer would be suspended from our next home game, against a formidable Liverpool team going through a new manager bounce. Before that, however, we faced an even more difficult challenge on the road. Though Preston were in 15th place, I wasn't at all looking forward to facing our bogey team. Under my management, we had failed to beat David Moyes' boys in our previous eight meetings. My latest attempt to break the curse was to switch to a 3-5-2 counter-attacking system, which I hope would stifle their forwards and make us more potent on the break. Milan Lukas made his second Fulham start up front, having made his international debut for the Czech Republic in midweek. His strike partner Peter Devlin had picked up his second cap for the Republic of Ireland. Could Peter and Milan now form the greatest Irish-Czech partnership since Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová? 15 NOVEMBER 2014: Preston North End vs Fulham John Forde was one Irishman who certainly played the right notes. In the 23rd minute, our keeper extraordinaire dove across his goal to tip away what looked a surefire goal from Preston playmaker Mika Väyrynen. But while our Irish-Czech strike duo weren't yet making much impact at the other end, Anglo-German relations in the Fulham camp reached an all-time high six minutes later. A deft flick-on from captain Florian Schneider found its way to attacking midfielder Daniel Cooke, who broke the deadlock with his fourth goal in as many matches! Then, three minutes before half-time, a Fulham striker made it 2-0. The moment belonged not to Peter Devlin, but to Milan Lukas, who escaped his marker to drive in his second Cottagers goal from Aaron Mokoena's killer ball! Were we finally about to break the Preston curse? Er... maybe not. Preston took just three minutes in the second half to get themselves back in the contest, when striker Jacek Jarosz pushed our defender Thomas Friberg aside to set up an easy finish for Väyrynen. A furious Friberg then pushed Jarosz to the turf and was rewarded with a red card - our third already this season! We were now one man down, and only one goal up... but even that didn't survive for long. Jarosz was a big and strong Polish centre-forward, and after 56 minutes, he outmuscled Forde to head in a cross from right-back Mauro Melis. 2-2. Only one team looked like winning the match in the final half-hour, and we were ultimately very lucky that Preston didn't make their chances count. Their best one probably came right at the end, when John Forde was almost beaten by John Ford! The Lilywhites' 17-year-old striker volleyed over a fine opportunity to complete the comeback, and so we escaped with a draw. Preston North End - 2 (Väyrynen 48, Jarosz 56) Fulham - 2 (Cooke 29, Lukas 42) Premiership, Attendance 22,562 - POSITIONS: Preston 15th, Fulham 7th FULHAM LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Forde; Friberg, Deschacht, D Johnson; Hunt, Maas (Guðmundsson); Mokoena, Schneider; Cooke (McDonald); Lukas, Devlin (Stewart). BOOKED: Cooke. SENT OFF: Friberg. We're never going to beat these guys, are we? Well, Thomas Friberg, I hope you enjoy your suspension - and your spell in the reserves. Mokoena's suspension, combined with an ankle injury to Henning Numme, left our holding midfield options limited for the visit of Liverpool to Craven Cottage. The Reds had taken seven points from their first four league games under Felix Magath, though their defence still left plenty to be desired. Would this be another goalfest? 22 NOVEMBER 2014: Fulham vs Liverpool There was certainly plenty of action in Liverpool's goalmouth early on. Visiting goalkeeper Michalis Mouselimis proved he was no mouse with a couple of point-blank saves to thwart Peter Devlin, though our Irish striker would soon have the last laugh. In the 22nd minute, Devlin drove the ball through a gap in a fragile Reds defence, allowing Daniel Cooke to continue his scoring streak! Liverpool finally woke up in the 32nd minute, when the prolific Darren Bent forced John Forde into his first save of the afternoon. Their homegrown holding midfielder Mike Bradshaw also tested Forde late on, but our narrow lead stayed intact at the break. Heaven knows what Felix Magath had in mind for his team in the dressing room at half-time. Whatever Magath said to his team... it didn't work, quite frankly. Just two minutes into the second half, Liverpool's defensive rock John Heitinga was unable to keep up with Wayne Cable, who dribbled through on goal to double our lead! Despite being 2-0 up, we suffered a major setback in the 57th minute, when Cooke went down clutching his knee. He was stretchered off, and 21-year-old Colm Ryan had to try and protect our defence for half an hour on his Premiership debut. No pressure, Colm... Thankfully, any Fulham fears were gently lifted away just four minutes later, when Cable scored again. The Liverpool defence once again could not cope with our threat out wide, as their teenage left-back Niklas Blomberg was skinned by the comparatively 'ancient' Atle Iversen, whose right-wing cross was headed home by Cable. The Reds couldn't recover, and we cruised to a 3-0 win! Fulham - 3 (Cooke 22, Cable 47,61) Liverpool - 0 Premiership, Attendance 27,556 - POSITIONS: Fulham 7th, Liverpool 11th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Forde; Hunt, Mitchell, D Johnson, Maas (Deschacht); Schneider; Cooke (Ryan), Scott; Iversen, Cable (Lukas); Devlin. That had to be our biggest win yet - but it came at a cost, as Daniel Cooke had twisted his knee and was out for three weeks. The resurgent attacking midfielder was our leading scorer with five goals, so he would be a big miss. And what better way to finish the month than with a west London derby at Stamford Bridge, against the reigning Premiership champions? Jean Tigana's Chelsea were chasing a third league title in a row, and though they sat six points behind leaders Arsenal, they had two games in hand. The Blues also had the most dangerous frontline in the league, with Vincent Mercier leading the way on 13 goals. Sure, Chelsea would probably tear us to shreds, but we were well up for a fight... 29 NOVEMBER 2014: Chelsea vs Fulham In the first half at Stamford Bridge, one of the teams enjoyed 59% possession and registered about half a dozen shots on goal. You probably weren't expecting Fulham to be that team. Yes, it was the visiting Cottagers who played like champions, silkily passing through the Chelsea defence and creating several opportunities to break the deadlock. Chelsea had a combustible and inexperienced goalkeeper in Peter Bechmann - but unluckily for us, this was one of the 20-year-old Dane's better days. Bechmann had to beat away a couple of early efforts from the in-form Wayne Cable while the rest of his defence struggled to reorganise themselves. We gave them another scare in the 34th minute, when Florian Schneider's free-kick hit the bar. Chelsea had a bright spell early in the second half, when new signing Marco Borriello attempted to chip John Forde, only for our goalkeeper to tip it over the bar. That would actually be the Blues' only shot on target all game! Luckily for us, Vincent Mercier was nowhere to be seen, because Jean Tigana had decided to rest the Premiership's leading scorer after playing him against the mighty Macclesfield in the League Cup! As you do. We probably wouldn't have a better chance to beat Chelsea on their home turf, so we threw everything at them in the last half-hour. Milan Lukas came on to replace the misfiring Peter Devlin up front, but couldn't find the target either. Alan Stewart did beat Bechmann in the 90th minute... but his lob cannoned off the crossbar before being cleared by Blues winger Heinz Ahrens. As brilliantly as we had played, we STILL couldn't break through, and the deadlock stayed intact! Chelsea - 0 Fulham - 0 Premiership, Attendance 41,996 - POSITIONS: Chelsea 5th, Fulham 7th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Forde; Hunt, Mitchell, D Johnson, Maas (Guðmundsson); Schneider; Scott, Mokoena; Iversen (Stewart), Cable; Devlin (Lukas). Should we have won that match? Probably, yes. Am I still happy with a draw at the home of the Premiership champions? HELL YES, I am! With 16 games played, Fulham are just four points off the Champions League places - and 10 points clear of the relegation zone. Our first season back in the top flight is going very well... perhaps too well. Edited September 11 by CFuller Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted September 11 Author Share Posted September 11 (edited) PREMIERSHIP TABLE (End of November 2014) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Arsenal 16 6 2 0 19 8 4 1 3 13 14 33 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Southampton 15 6 0 1 17 3 3 3 2 12 8 30 3rd Everton 16 5 3 0 9 3 4 0 4 7 9 30 4th Sheff Utd 16 5 1 2 11 7 4 1 3 10 11 29 5th Chelsea 14 4 1 1 16 6 4 3 1 18 14 28 6th Man Utd 15 5 2 1 10 5 2 3 2 13 16 26 7th Fulham 16 5 1 2 16 7 2 3 3 9 14 25 8th Burnley 16 4 4 0 12 6 0 7 1 8 9 23 9th Charlton 16 5 1 2 16 8 1 3 4 5 12 22 10th Liverpool 16 5 2 1 17 11 1 2 5 9 22 22 11th Leeds 16 4 3 1 15 9 1 3 4 8 12 21 12th Sheff Wed 16 5 2 1 18 10 0 3 5 11 21 20 13th Crewe 14 5 2 1 21 9 0 0 6 6 16 17 14th Middlesbrough 15 3 1 3 14 12 2 1 5 11 16 17 15th Preston 15 2 4 2 16 15 2 1 4 6 11 17 16th Crystal Palace 14 3 2 2 15 10 1 2 4 7 13 16 17th Blackburn 16 3 3 2 16 12 1 1 6 9 19 16 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Ipswich 16 4 1 3 16 13 0 2 6 7 23 15 19th Bolton 16 0 4 4 6 10 1 2 5 4 14 9 20th Torquay 16 1 3 4 16 19 0 1 7 10 22 7 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... After taking a resurgent Arsenal to the top of the Premiership, Rudi Völler has a severe case of altitude sickness and flees to Spain, taking charge of La Liga mid-tablers Betis. Former France boss Jean-François Domergue takes the reins at Highbury after leaving Ligue 1 minnows Wasquehal, whose defender Branislav Ivanovic promptly bursts into tears. Völler isn't the only big name leaving Arsenal, as England defender Michael Dawson returns to Dortmund for £10million after 15 months in north London. Dawson arrives at the Westfalenstadion just in time to see BVB knock Burnley out of the Champions League, with Roland Linz's double firing the hosts into the second group phase. Bayern München finally get their first win in the Bundesliga, beating ten-man Babelsberg 3-1. Fellow strugglers Schalke 04 hire Italy's World Cup-winning coach Giuseppe Pancaro after sacking Eric Gerets, while Kaiserslautern spend a club-record £15.75million on 1.FC Köln midfielder Wesley Sneijder. There is just no stopping Barcelona, who go six points clear at the top of La Liga and don't concede a single goal in November. Goalkeeper Pepe Reina is so bored that he takes up knitting, while left-back Ashley Cole gets splinters in his backside after sitting on the Nou Camp bench for three weeks. Juventus race into a seven-point lead in Serie A, as Cristiano Ronaldo scores an equaliser and sets up a 90th-minute winner to stun Roma at the Olimpico. The heartbroken Giallorossi then crash to a 5-0 defeat against eternal rivals Lazio, whose star striker Salvatore Annunziata celebrates a hat-trick by... ahem, emulating his idol Paolo di Canio. IN OTHER NEWS... After four years of domination by Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton regains the Formula 1 driver's championship in Abu Dhabi. The Mercedes driver celebrates his second world title by breaking up with pop 'singer' Nicole Scherzinger. The new One World Trade Center skyscraper is officially opened in New York. Standing on the site of the original WTC, it is 1,776 feet tall - an obvious reference to the year that the United States declared its independence. Sir Bob Geldof decides to get Band Aid together once again, re-recording "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for a fourth time to raise funds for the Ebola epidemic in west Africa. This version is heavily rewritten to address the outbreak, and also features contemporary stars such as Olly Murs, Ed Sheeran and... er, Rita Ora. A British consortium announces that it plans to land a probe on the Moon in 2024. The mission will be led by a middle-aged inventor and cheese aficionado from Wigan - and his pet beagle. Edited September 11 by CFuller 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted September 13 Author Share Posted September 13 (edited) DECEMBER 2014 2014 had been a year to remember for Fulham fans. After the heartbreak of losing to Charlton in an automatic promotion decider, and then the joy of winning the Division 1 play-offs, the Cottagers were now making their mark in the Premiership. Having made a slow start, we had steadily worked our way up the table, rising as high as 7th. But all good things must come to an end, and our annus mirabilis would conclude after five more Premiership matches. Could we sustain an unlikely European challenge in our first season up, or would reality soon come back to bite us? December began with a home game against Sheffield Wednesday. Though the Owls were making great progress in the UEFA Cup, their continental exploits were having a negative impact on their league form, as they sat 12th in the table. We still had to be wary of their captain - Dutch striker Rene Adams, who had scored 19 goals in all competitions so far this season. We had an injury setback before this game, as right-back Nicky Hunt damaged his shoulder in training and was out for three weeks. Former skipper Arnar Guðmundsson made an increasingly rare start in Hunt's place, where his main task was to try and keep the French left-winger Bernard Aristouy quiet - not a simple task by any means. 7 DECEMBER 2014: Fulham vs Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday looked the livelier team throughout the first half. Star man Bernard Aristouy blasted a long-range shot well over the bar in the 7th minute, but a couple of his team-mates came closer to breaking through. Midfielder Marc Matthews was only denied in the 12th minute by a fingertip save from John Forde, while England striker Paul Everitt's effort a minute later was superbly blocked by Daniel Johnson. Though the Owls' threat lessened as the first half went on, I was still concerned enough to make major changes at the break. We switched from the 4-1-4-1 to a more attacking 4-2-3-1, while midfielder Colm Ryan and wide forward Alan Stewart came on in place of the booked Aaron Mokoena and the ineffective Atle Iversen. We showed much more ambition in the second period, and our efforts were rewarded after 59 minutes. Peter Devlin's advance into the Wednesday box was halted by a two-footed lunge from veteran Owls defender Jean-Alain Boumsong, who was shown the red card! As is tradition in modern football, our left-back took the penalty - and Erwin Maas showed an iron nerve as he fired in his first Fulham goal! Though the Owls fought hard in the final half-hour, Maas' penalty would be the decisive strike in a closely-fought contest. We almost added a second goal in the 82nd minute, but Peter Mitchell's ambitious long-ranger hit the bar, and Greg Scott couldn't quite get to the rebound before visiting keeper Alex Manninger smothered it. Fulham - 1 (Maas pen60) Sheffield Wednesday - 0 Premiership, Attendance 28,328 - POSITIONS: Fulham 6th, Sheff Wed 13th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Forde; Guðmundsson, Mitchell, D Johnson, Maas; Schneider; Scott, Mokoena (Ryan); Iversen (Stewart), Cable; Devlin (Lukas). BOOKED: Mokoena. Fulham were now in the top six! Who saw that coming? We finished the match just in time to catch the FA Cup Round 3 draw, which gave us a favourable draw away to Division 2 mid-tablers Blackpool. Of course, knowing our record in cup competitions, there really was no such thing as an easy tie. Incidentally, our very next league game was also in the north-west - against a Bolton team who were rock-bottom and in a full-blown crisis. The Trotters had just sacked Bruce Grobbelaar after failing to win any of their last 15 league matches, and so Aidy Boothroyd was placed in caretaker charge. 13 DECEMBER 2014: Bolton Wanderers vs Fulham Bolton's dire situation got worse just two minutes into this match. Trotters left-back Ifeanyi Udeze made a very iffy challenge on the fleet-footed Greg Scott, giving us a free-kick which captain Florian Schneider smashed in from 20 yards out. After John Forde kept out a potential equaliser from Bolton midfielder Martin Brown in the 14th minute, we hit the hosts with a swift counter-attack. Wayne Cable's dribbling skills made Udeze go whoops-a-daisy, and right-back Peter Crowley was also sent sliding helplessly as the Welsh wonder drove in our second goal of the afternoon. Our dominance continued as Milan Lukas fired a woeful shot wide in the 30th minute, while Alan Stewart hit the bar in the 37th. The Trotters then advanced on our goal just before half-time - the attack ending with midfielder Kennedy Bakircioglü clattering into John Forde after the latter had made a brilliant save. The collision was entirely accidental, but Forde was clearly in a lot of pain... though John insisted at half-time that he was fine, so I took his word for it. Forde battled on throughout the second half, which was a quiet one for our defence. Bolton's players were disheartened and their long-ball attacking game was falling apart, so our 2-0 lead was never under any threat. Bolton Wanderers - 0 Fulham - 2 (Schneider 2, Cable 15) Premiership, Attendance 26,364 - POSITIONS: Bolton 20th, Fulham 5th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Forde; Guðmundsson, Mitchell, D Johnson (Deschacht), Maas; Schneider; Scott (Iversen), Numme; Stewart, Cable; Lukas (Devlin). BOOKED: Scott. Once again, John Forde had been magnificent in goal - especially as he was clearly in pain for such a long time. When he underwent a scan in hospital a few days later, his extraordinary bravery became even more apparent. John had literally played through the entire second half with a broken leg. Obviously, this injury would require extensive surgery and a long lay-off - potentially for the rest of the season. While I had faith that the long-serving Wayne Hudson could fill Forde's gloves for the meantime, I now had to look for another senior goalkeeper. Our first match without Forde was, thankfully, a nice and simple stroll in the park at home to 20-time English league champions Manchester United. Well, at least Daniel Cooke was now back from injury... 20 DECEMBER 2014: Fulham vs Manchester United Manchester United manager Giannis Kirastas loved to play a high-tempo attacking game, so it came as no surprise when we faced an early onslaught. Fortunately for us, it appeared that United's star had left their shooting boots in Manchester, as strikers Matt Harvey and Armando Di Renzo and midfield general Michael Essien all blazed early efforts over the bar. We didn't get our first chance to counter the Red Devils' 'threat' until the 29th minute, when their captain (and one-club man) Wes Brown was pressured into conceding a corner. Giving Florian Schneider any set-piece opportunity is just asking for trouble, as he showed here. A floated delivery found its way to winger Atle Iversen, who towered over his marker - the diminutive Italian midfielder Luigi Vianello - and sent Craven Cottage wild with a bullet header! Vianello had the chance to make amends just before half-time, when the 21-year-old's shot forced a save out of Wayne Hudson. That would Manchester United's only shot on target all game, as not even their Irish superstar Joe O'Shea could threaten our goal after his second-half introduction. Fulham centre-halves Daniel Johnson and Peter Mitchell shut the Red Devils out superbly, and we ground out another famous win! Fulham - 1 (Iversen 29) Manchester United - 0 Premiership, Attendance 27,588 - POSITIONS: Fulham 5th, Man Utd 8th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Guðmundsson, Mitchell, D Johnson, Maas; Schneider; Scott (Cooke), Numme (Mokoena); Iversen (Stewart), Cable; Devlin. BOOKED: Schneider. This season just keeps getting better and better! Three wins in a row, five clean sheets in a row - and now we were only being kept out of the Champions League places on goal difference! During our Christmas celebrations, we unwrapped a new goalkeeping signing when Sheffield United agreed to send 24-year-old Craig Collins to us for £500,000. Collins has actually never played in the Football League - his last appearance was at non-league Hucknall back in 2009 - but I've been reassured by my scouts that he's agile, strong, and a safe pair of hands. A solid backup, in other words. Of course, Hudson kept the gloves when we kicked off the second half of the Premiership season at home to Leeds, who'd smashed us 3-0 on the opening day. I expected the rematch to be much closer, especially as the Whites had slipped to 14th after just one win in seven matches. 27 DECEMBER 2014: Fulham vs Leeds United After a quiet afternoon against Manchester United, Fulham goalkeeper Wayne Hudson was a much busier man against Leeds United... at least in the first half. Hudson produced brilliant back-to-back saves to shut out Roberto Bruzzone and Robbie Keane in the 7th minute, before tipping away an 11th-minute header from Dave Nugent, who'd scored twice against us at Elland Road on opening day. After withstanding the early Leeds pressure, we countered to devastating effect on 15 minutes. Peter Devlin might not have been as prolific as he was in Division 1, but the 27-year-old Irishman was on fire here - effortlessly finding the target after a clever one-two with Atle Iversen! Though Devlin narrowly missed out on scoring again in the 33rd minute, we would only need to wait four more minutes to score again. This was Daniel Cooke's first start since returning from injury, and the attacking midfielder marked it with a brilliant strike into the top corner of Paul Robinson's net! At half-time, we were leading 2-0 against the team who were champions of England just three seasons ago! The ex-champs continued to play like chumps in the second half. 34-year-old Leeds legend Keane was not the scoring machine of old, and a weak shot in the 57th minute was easily caught by Hudson, who didn't have to do much more in the closing stages. After a FOURTH clean-sheet victory in a row, Fulham were walking in a winter wonderland! Fulham - 2 (Devlin 15, Cooke 37) Leeds United - 0 Premiership, Attendance 27,576 - POSITIONS: Fulham 3rd, Leeds 15th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Hunt, Mitchell (Guðmundsson), D Johnson, Deschacht; Schneider; Cooke (Mokoena), Numme; Iversen, Cable (McIntyre); Devlin. BOOKED: Mitchell, Deschacht. No, your eyes are not deceiving you. With this latest win, as well as defeats for both Everton and Sheffield United, we have soared all the way up to 3rd place in the Premiership! Only two teams now stood ahead of us. Southampton were in 2nd place on goal difference, while Arsenal had gone five points clear at the top of the table. Our final match of the year would be at Highbury. While we were clearly the form side in the Premiership, Arsenal were the team to beat for a good reason, with Jean-François Domergue continuing the fine work that Rudi Völler had left behind. The Gunners were a high-pressing and offensive team with the perfect blend of youth and experience - so if anyone was to end our purple patch, it would surely be them. 30 DECEMBER 2014: Arsenal vs Fulham From the outset, it became clear that Arsenal posed a much greater threat than our previous opponents. An 18th-minute header from Gunners captain Falcao was frantically tipped behind by Wayne Hudson for a corner. France Under-21s winger Franck Abardonado lifted the corner into our penalty area, where veteran defender Felipe Baloy climbed above Daniel Cooke to head the ball beyond Hudson's reach. That was the first goal we had conceded in 593 minutes of football... and we then conceded two more in the next nine minutes. Baloy returned the favour to Abardonado in the 22nd minute, delivering a killer cross that was half-volleyed in by the former Rennes wonderkid. We then went 3-0 down to another Abardonado corner in the 28th minute. This time, it was the Spanish striker Carlos Ballesta who headed home after overwhelming Cooke. Maybe you should just leave the man-marking to the defenders, Daniel... Arsenal were now in total control, though a fierce 39th-minute shot from Peter Devlin did at least make them think about a potential Fulham comeback in the second half. We certainly believed it was possible shortly after the break, when Alan Stewart's header hit the bar, and Devlin's low drive was turned away by Gunners goalie Roman Weidenfeller. Another ray of hope came in the 57th minute, when Falcao twisted his knee and was unable to play on for Arsenal. Jean-François Domergue didn't have any strikers on his bench, so he instead brought on left-back George McCartney - the 33-year-old former Fulham captain who had just signed a new 18-month contract at Highbury. Sadly, it was false Fulham hope. Arsenal wrapped up the points in the 70th minute, when 20-year-old Spanish midfielder Iker Navarro came off the Gunners bench to blast a brilliant strike past Hudson. This had been Hudson's worst performance in years, though there were maybe four other Fulham players - Stewart, Florian Schneider, Nicky Hunt and Henning Numme - who had played especially poorly as well. Arsenal - 4 (Baloy 19, Abardonado 22, Ballesta 28, Navarro 70) Fulham - 1 (Devlin 39) Premiership, Attendance 38,391 - POSITIONS: Arsenal 1st, Fulham 4th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Hunt (Guðmundsson), Mitchell, D Johnson, Maas; Schneider; Cooke, Numme (Mokoena); Stewart (Lukas), Cable; Devlin. There's no shame in being beaten by the best... but Christ, that result will sting for a while. It's a painful reminder that you can't afford to let your guard down in the Premiership, or you'll be punished. But let's not get ourselves down too much. 40 points is usually enough to stay up, and we're already up to 37. If we can secure our survival as quickly as possible, maybe we can start to dream bigger... Edited Friday at 20:28 by CFuller Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted September 13 Author Share Posted September 13 (edited) PREMIERSHIP TABLE (End of December 2014) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Arsenal 21 8 2 0 26 9 6 1 4 16 16 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Southampton 21 7 3 1 23 7 4 4 2 18 12 40 3rd Everton 21 7 3 1 12 4 4 2 4 9 11 38 4th Fulham 21 8 1 2 20 7 3 3 4 12 18 37 5th Sheff Utd 21 7 1 3 18 11 4 3 3 11 12 37 6th Chelsea 20 5 3 1 18 7 4 4 3 19 18 34 7th Liverpool 21 7 2 1 22 11 2 4 5 14 25 33 8th Man Utd 21 5 3 2 14 11 3 4 4 17 23 31 9th Middlesbrough 21 6 1 4 18 15 3 2 5 12 16 30 10th Burnley 21 5 6 0 16 9 0 8 2 9 13 29 11th Charlton 21 7 1 2 20 9 1 3 7 6 17 28 12th Crewe 21 6 2 2 23 10 1 2 8 12 22 25 13th Sheff Wed 21 6 3 1 20 10 0 4 7 12 25 25 14th Crystal Palace 21 5 3 3 21 14 1 3 6 8 17 24 15th Ipswich 21 7 1 3 21 14 0 2 8 7 28 24 16th Leeds 21 4 5 1 17 11 1 3 7 9 17 23 17th Blackburn 21 4 3 3 18 14 2 1 8 12 24 22 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Preston 20 3 5 3 20 18 2 1 6 6 14 21 19th Torquay 21 2 5 4 20 21 0 1 9 10 26 12 20th Bolton 21 1 4 5 8 12 1 2 8 5 21 12 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Ashley Cole rejects a new contract at Barcelona after the three-time defending Copa del Rey holders crash out to Oviedo on penalties in Round 1. Another England star is on his way to La Liga when Valencia complete the £19million signing of Wayne Rooney, who leaves Everton after scoring 181 goals in 503 games. Rooney promptly nets twice on his Mestalla debut against... Oviedo. 1.FC Köln top the Bundesliga at Christmas, as the Trond Sollied crew finish the year with home wins over fallen giants HSV and Bayern München. Champions VfB Stuttgart are just a single point behind, mind, and 'Die Roten' strengthen their squad with the signings of Dortmund defender Christoph Metzelder and Marseille winger José Antonio Reyes. 11 points adrift of safety at the winter break, Bayern's search for a striker gets desperate. They pay Ajax a club-record £18.5million for 26-year-old Marc Van Roosmalen, who has won 25 caps for Holland... and scored one goal. Bayern also sell their top scorer Landon Donovan to Chelsea for £2.4million. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge contemplates sacking manager Bernd Krauss on the spot, but instead buys him a new chequebook for Christmas. Leverkusen are also in the Bundesliga relegation zone and part company with Héctor Raúl Cúper. Bayer hope that new manager Marcelo Salas will turn their fortunes around like he did in 18 months at Lille, taking 'Les Dogues' from 2nd place in Ligue 1 to 2nd-from-bottom. Naturally, the Chilean is replaced in the Lille hotseat by... Héctor Raúl Cúper. Despite crashing out of the UEFA Cup to IFK Göteborg, Ajax look set to cruise to the Eredivisie crown after taking 53 points from their first 19 games. Frank Rijkaard's Godenzonen underline their dominance with a 4-1 Christmas Eve demolition of defending champions PSV - now managed by Patrick Vieira. Roy Keane watches on in amusement. IN OTHER NEWS... A grand jury in New York decides not to indict two NYPD police officers in connection with the death of Eric Garner - a black man who was choked to death in July. The Black Lives Matter social movement subsequently organises a series of demonstrating across the United States, protesting police brutality against the African-American community. Peter Jackson's final Hobbit film "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" enjoys its premiere just in time for the holidays. For the record, those five armies are the Dwarves, the Elves, the Goblins, the Men, and the hordes of JRR Tolkien super-fans who are always keen to angrily point out every minor inaccuracy with the book. The music world mourns Joe Cocker - the gravel-voiced soul singer from Sheffield who got by with a little help from his friends. The 70-year-old was perhaps best-known for "Up Where We Belong" - his 1982 duet with Jennifer Warnes - as well as his 1974 recording of "You Are So Beautiful". Germany's most successful TV show "Wetten, dass..?" - which inspired the hit ITV series "You Bet!" - is taken off the air by ZDF after 33 years. International fans fondly recall a classic episode in which Mikaeli hit metal 17 times. Edited September 13 by CFuller Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted Monday at 08:23 Author Share Posted Monday at 08:23 JANUARY 2015 With Fulham flying high in the Champions League places, it was inevitable that there would be more interest in our players as the new year kicked off. Some of this interest was quite welcome... some of it less so. I spent much of New Year's Day trying to figure out how to block Trevor Francis' phone number, after he made a couple of offers to bring Wayne Hudson to Crewe. I absolutely did NOT want to sell our most experienced goalkeeper, especially not while our first-choice John Forde still had his leg in plaster. However, I did accept Wolves' offer to take Thomas Friberg on loan for the rest of the season, as they battled against relegation from Division 1. The 22-year-old Swedish defender hadn't featured for us since being sent off at Preston in November. Though Tommy perhaps wasn't up to Premiership standard yet, I hoped that taking a temporary step down would allow him to move his career forward again. A couple of days later, we kicked off 2015 by travelling to Blackpool for Round 3 of the FA Cup. Against my better judgement, I decided to field a heavily-rotated squad against the team who sat 11th in Division 2. This included recalls for right-back Grant Gibson, 21-year-old midfielder Chris McDonald, and 20-year-old wide forward Derek McIntyre... and a Fulham debut for our new backup keeper Craig Collins. 3 JANUARY 2015: Blackpool vs Fulham We almost took the lead in the sixth minute, when left-back Erwin Maas briefly thought he was a centre-forward. The Dutchman flew way out of position to meet Greg Scott's cross into the Blackpool penalty area, only to head it against the post. After their early scare, Blackpool's Alan Parsons project clicked into gear in the fourth minute. The 21-year-old winger named after an 80s prog-rock band put a low cross in for the Seasiders' top scorer Darren Mansaram to give the hosts a shock lead. As far as we were concerned, it was the turn of an unfriendly card. We couldn't force in an equaliser before the break, as misfiring striker Milan Lukas proved to be about as useful as a three-pin plug in his native Czech Republic. I was tempted to launch a tirade of expletives at him and his underperforming team-mates, but a gentle Scottish voice told me, "Don't say words you're gonna regret, don't let the fire rush to your head..." I had to bite my tongue again two minutes into the second half, when Mansaram effortlessly dribbled past Lukas en route to scoring a second goal. Time was still just about on our side, but it seemed like everything was coming up snake eyes for us. (Seeing as Alan Parsons didn't play any part in Blackpool doubling their lead, I think I'll spare you any more stupid music puns.) Lukas soon made way for Peter Devlin, who showed him how to find the net with an excellent 67th-minute header set up by Maas' cross. Devlin could have completed the comeback a minute later, but he was denied by some fine goalkeeping from Phil Hayes, who also kept out a couple of efforts from Scott. Sadly, our late push was not enough, and another Fulham cup adventure ended after just 90 minutes. Blackpool - 2 (Mansaram 24,47) Fulham - 1 (Devlin 67) FA Cup Round 3, Attendance 6,100 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Collins; Gibson (Weir), Mitchell, Deschacht, Maas; Mokoena; Scott, McDonald; Iversen, McIntyre (Cooke); Lukas (Devlin). Another pathetic defeat to lower-league opposition. Some of those players who served up that mess will be lucky if they ever get to play for Fulham again. The big boys were back in action in midweek, when we faced our - and I can't believe I'm writing this - top-four rivals Everton at Craven Cottage. Toffees manager Gary Butterworth tried some mind games before the match, making an £8.25million offer for our star striker Peter Devlin. I turned it down, obviously. 7 JANUARY 2015: Fulham vs Everton After a slow start to proceedings, we took the lead in the 26th minute. Fulham left-winger Wayne Cable got ahead of Everton goalkeeper Allan Poulsen to skilfully flick Florian Schneider's cross into the path of Daniel Cooke, who volleyed in his seventh goal of the campaign - as many as in his previous season-and-a-half combined! Despite having the explosive talents of my former Kidderminster poacher Albert Mulder, Everton were struggling to fill the goalscoring void left by Wayne Rooney's move to Valencia. Mulder's strike partner John Nicol had a great chance to equalise in the 38th minute, but Wayne Hudson's fingertip save shut him out. After Hudson also denied the experienced midfielder Luke Chadwick in the 51st minute, the Toffees wouldn't trouble us again. Indeed, the only team who looked capable of beating us in this match was ourselves. The red mist descended over Fulham once again in the 58th minute, when Alan Stewart lashed out at Chadwick before a home corner. With that, Stewart was sent off for the second time in his Cottagers career; by contrast, he never saw red during his eight years with previous club Livingston. Having to play half an hour with 10 men could have been a disaster, but we managed to compose ourselves and see it out without further incident. Everton just weren't at the races. Fulham - 1 (Cooke 26) Everton - 0 Premiership, Attendance 30,456 - POSITIONS: Fulham 3rd, Everton 4th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Hudson; Guðmundsson (Hunt), Mitchell, D Johnson, Maas; Mokoena, Schneider (Numme); Stewart, Cooke (Iversen), Cable; Devlin. SENT OFF: Stewart. It's another win, but I think that's the fourth time we have had a player sent off for violent conduct this season. Sometimes I wonder if I'm managing a football team or the world's worst anger management class! Alan Stewart was left at home when we made the short journey south for a London derby with Crystal Palace. The mid-table Eagles parted company with David Seaman shortly after we beat them 2-1 in September, and so Barry Ferguson was now at the helm as player-manager. 10 JANUARY 2015: Crystal Palace vs Fulham After 13 minutes, it became clear that Wayne Hudson was in for a much busier day than in the previous game. Labinot Harbuzi's long-range drive for Crystal Palace brought out an uncomfortable save from Hudson, and another Eagles midfielder - the in-form veteran Michael Jack - blasted in the rebound. Things only got worse for us four minutes later. Henning Numme's wandering hands gave away a free-kick, and England left-back Ian Gibson's delivery was nodded in by the experienced winger Steven Reid. Crystal Palace were on fire! After an extended spell of Fulham pressure, we pulled a goal back on the half-hour, courtesy of Peter Devlin's header from Arnar Guðmundsson's right-wing cross. By half-time, though, the Eagles' two-goal cushion had been restored. Palace centre-back Christian Hanson - who broke into the England squad a few months ago at the tender age of 33 - used all his experience to shrug off Guðmundsson and score from a Reid flick-on. We went into the break 3-1 down, and with Peter Mitchell having a nightmare at centre-back, I brought on Nicky Hunt's wiser head for the second half. The substitution worked out so well that... Palace went 4-1 ahead seven minutes after the restart. Our left-back Erwin Maas was left on his backside as Scottish talent David McCulloch raced through to add his name to the scoresheet. We could have easily given up at that point, but a couple of our younger bucks didn't. The 69th minute was a nice one for right-winger Atle Iversen, who brought us back to 4-2 by half-volleying in an excellent ball from Greg Scott. That was actually Greg's first goal contribution in 18 matches this season - he got 12 in 21 last term! Sadly, that second goal was of little consolation to us when Wayne Hudson was showing the goalkeeping capabilities of Kate Hudson. Wayne was beaten for a FIFTH time nine minutes before the end, as Reid got his second goal and Harbuzi his second assist. This was the first time Fulham had conceded five in a single match since 2008 - and the first time ANY of my teams had shipped that many! Crystal Palace - 5 (Jack 13, Reid 17,81, Hanson 45, McCulloch 52) Fulham - 2 (Devlin 30, Iversen 69) Premiership, Attendance 32,270 - POSITIONS: Crystal Palace 9th, Fulham 3rd FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Guðmundsson, Mitchell (Hunt), D Johnson, Maas; Schneider (McDonald); Scott, Numme; Iversen, McIntyre (Cable); Devlin. BOOKED: Mitchell, Schneider. Guys, what are you playing at? That's 23 goals conceded in 11 away league matches now - including nine in our last two! As great as Peter Mitchell had been in our defence for the past three-and-a-half seasons, I was starting to feel that he was our weak link. His aerial ability isn't the best, and it's this area where we have so often been let down. Might it soon be time to phase out the 28-year-old and bring in a more accomplished top-flight centre-back? Mitchell and Hudson were both dropped for our next match, as Collins made his Premiership debut in goal against Burnley. The Clarets might have finished 2nd last season, but they were now quintessentially mid-table - an incredible 15 of their 23 league matches this season had ended in draws! 19 JANUARY 2015: Fulham vs Burnley Burnley had the first chance to strike after just two minutes, when 20-year-old Paul Knight was pressured into firing over the bar by some resilient defending from centre-half Olivier Deschacht. Alongside him was right-back Nicky Hunt, who made an even bigger impact at the other end in the 14th minute by setting up a wonderful finish for Peter Devlin! Peter's strike would be the only one in the first half, but we arguably should have been leading 2-0 at the break. A handball from Burnley winger Uche Aikhomogbe gave us a free-kick close to the Clarets goal, and Devlin's free-kick found Atle Iversen in a very promising position. Unfortunately, the Norwegian winger's shot was too tame to seriously worry keeper Cédric Carrasso. Burnley had been let off the hook, and they capitalised four minutes into the second half. Phil Jagielka pumped a long ball into the box for Knight, who rode away from our defence and volleyed past a helpless Craig Collins. Six minutes later, Knight was eyeing up the goal again after Jagielka was fouled by Aaron Mokoena. His 20-yard free-kick deflected off the Fulham wall and fell to Swedish defender Fredrik Risp, who also managed to hit the wall. This time, though, the ricochet diverted the ball towards the net - and Collins was far too hesitant. Despite technically facing just one shot on target, Collins had conceded two goals, and we were 2-1 behind! I'd seen enough. Collins was hauled off straight away, with Wayne Hudson going in goal for the final 35 minutes. Hudson did at least look like he vaguely knew what he was doing, but he was still unable to prevent Burnley scoring again through Aikhomogbe in the 80th minute. The skilful Nigerian's swerving effort put the game well beyond our reach, and Craven Cottage witnessed its third home defeat of the season. Fulham - 1 (Devlin 14) Burnley - 3 (Knight 49, Risp 55, Aikhomogbe 80) Premiership, Attendance 28,472 - POSITIONS: Fulham 6th, Burnley 9th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Collins (Hudson); Hunt, Deschacht, D Johnson, Maas; Schneider (McDonald); Cooke, Mokoena; Iversen (Stewart), Cable; Devlin. BOOKED: Schneider. Well, that's £500,000 down the drain. I feel like my scouts have duped me into signing a goalkeeper who’s actually a striker - like Ronnie Van Needlemans, but in reverse! (If you don’t get that reference, you need to watch the Mike Bassett TV series.) I also feel like I’ve wasted £2.4million on Milan Lukas - the Czech-born striker who has scored just twice in 13 games. Though he grew up in Sweden and has several Nordic team-mates that he can speak to, Milan is struggling to adjust to the English lifestyle. I've given him some compassionate leave and hope he can come back with renewed motivation, but recent Fulham history tells us that it doesn't always work... After stewing over the Burnley defeat for almost a fortnight, we visited Gresty Road to finish what had been a frustrating month. Just like the Clarets, Crewe had struggled to replicate last season's heroics and were down in mid-table, though their results had been far less predictable. 31 JANUARY 2015: Crewe Alexandra vs Fulham With Alan Stewart officially serving his one-match ban, we needed Atle Iversen to deliver another big performance on the right wing. The young Norwegian got off to a bright start in the 11th minute, as his cross to Daniel Cooke - via Peter Devlin - was expertly finished by the free-scoring attacking midfielder. Just four minutes later, though, we had gone off the rails. Crewe equalised in the 13th minute when midfielder Danny Patterson found the 21-year-old striker Mark Vaughan criminally unmarked, leaving him with a simple finish. Peter Mitchell was responsible for marking Vaughan, but he was completely absent again when the latter struck for a second time just moments later. When the Railwaymen scored their third goal on 23 minutes, you could point to multiple Fulham failures. The ball was deep in Crewe territory when Iversen apparently tried to head it to the invisible man, giving right-back Stephen Wright an easy interception. Wright's long ball to Vaughan was blocked by Erwin Maas, but our left-back's clearance was not strong enough. Lastly, our right-back Nicky Hunt failed to pick up the hosts' left-sided midfielder Yossi Benayoun, whose strike completed the counter-attack. Crewe manager Trevor Francis was forced into a change in the 37th minute, when attacking midfielder Darren Pratley broke his toe. At half-time, I was wishing I had the power to change my entire team. In the end, I made do with a couple of subs - Mitchell and Hunt were both hooked, with Aaron Mokoena and Arnar Guðmundsson taking their places in defence. To their credits, both Aaron and Arnar tightened us up in the second half, and we didn't concede any more goals. Vaughan had a couple more chances, but couldn't complete his hat-trick. Unfortunately, Devlin's threat at the other end was non-existent, and so we turned an early lead into a 3-1 loss for the second game in succession. Crewe Alexandra - 3 (Vaughan 13,15, Benayoun 23) Fulham - 1 (Cooke 11) Premiership, Attendance 16,288 - POSITIONS: Crewe 9th, Fulham 7th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Hunt (Guðmundsson), Mitchell (Mokoena), D Johnson, Maas; Schneider; Cooke, Numme; Iversen, Cable (McIntyre); Devlin. And there's your mid-season slump, ladies and gentlemen. After a run of six consecutive league clean sheets, our next five matches have seen us concede FIFTEEN goals... and we have slipped from 3rd place to 7th. This has still been an excellent season, and we should still stay up from here, but we won't be entirely safe if we keep on leaking goals. I need to find a new centre-back... and someone with magical healing powers who can fix John Forde's leg. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted Monday at 08:25 Author Share Posted Monday at 08:25 PREMIERSHIP TABLE (End of January 2015) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Arsenal 25 9 2 1 28 10 8 1 4 20 18 54 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Southampton 24 7 4 2 24 9 5 4 2 19 12 44 3rd Chelsea 25 7 4 1 25 10 5 4 4 21 20 44 4th Everton 24 8 3 1 13 4 4 2 6 9 14 41 5th Sheff Utd 24 7 1 5 21 17 5 3 3 13 12 40 6th Man Utd 25 7 3 2 20 11 4 4 5 19 27 40 7th Fulham 25 9 1 3 22 10 3 3 6 15 26 40 8th Liverpool 25 8 3 1 26 13 2 4 7 16 31 37 9th Crewe 25 8 2 2 28 11 2 3 8 15 24 35 10th Middlesbrough 25 6 2 5 19 17 4 2 6 15 20 34 11th Burnley 24 5 6 1 16 11 1 9 2 13 15 33 12th Sheff Wed 25 8 3 1 24 11 0 6 7 12 25 33 13th Crystal Palace 24 6 3 3 26 16 2 3 7 11 19 30 14th Ipswich 24 8 1 4 24 15 1 2 8 9 28 30 15th Leeds 25 4 5 3 19 16 3 3 7 12 17 29 16th Blackburn 25 5 4 3 23 16 3 1 9 14 27 29 17th Preston 25 5 5 3 25 20 2 2 8 10 20 28 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Charlton 25 7 1 4 20 11 1 3 9 6 21 28 19th Bolton 25 2 4 6 10 14 1 2 10 7 26 15 20th Torquay 25 3 5 5 22 24 0 1 11 10 33 15 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Despite suffering a 1-0 defeat to surprise title rivals Southampton, Arsenal continue their imperious goalscoring form and finish January with a 10-point lead in the Premiership. Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Felix Magath bombards his players with German curd cheese after they are knocked out of the FA Cup by Division 3 Wrexham. The Neville brothers face each other as opposing Premiership managers for the first time, as Gary's new club Bolton win 2-0 at home to Phil's Middlesbrough. Sister Tracey has to break the pair up at full-time, when an argument over who should be the new chairman of non-league Salford City comes to blows. After two years at Brazilian club Bahia, legendary striker Ronaldo retires at the age of 38. The former Inter striker becomes a coach at Belgian second division side Tienen, where he can indulge his love for chocolate and waffles. Sedan hit a mid-season slump, and Marseille capitalise to build a strong eight-point lead as they seek a third straight Ligue 1 title. Though Marseille's usual goalscorer José Luis Fernández Pérez is out through injury, Spanish compatriot Fernando Torres and young France hotshot Franck Lannoy fill the void by scoring twice apiece in a 5-0 demolition of Toulouse. It looks like another La Liga title is coming to Barcelona... but perhaps not to the Nou Camp. As Barcelona stumble to their first league defeat of the season at home to Deportivo, city rivals Espanyol enjoy a seven-game winning run that takes them within one point of the perennial champions. Things don't go quite so well for Rafa Benítez, who is sacked by lowly Zaragoza, only to end up in a cushy new job at Primeira Liga giants Porto! IN OTHER NEWS... Two gunmen storm into the Paris headquarters of the French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo" and shoot 12 people dead, injuring another 11. Al-Qaeda claim responsibility for the terrorist attack, which is presumed to be in retaliation to the magazine's publishing cartoons that depict the Prophet Muhammad. The Charlie Hebdo attack fuels more Islamophobia on US network Fox News, whose terrorism 'expert' claims that the English city of Birmingham is "totally Muslim" and that "non-Muslims simply just don't go in". David Cameron calls him a "complete idiot" and vows that similar right-wing propaganda will never be allowed on British news television. The Church of England ordains its first female bishop when the Reverend Libby Lane is consecrated as Bishop of Stockport. It seems that the Vicar of Dibley might soon be in line for a promotion of her own. After nearly 35 years, British tabloid rag The Sun finally decides to stop publishing photos of topless women on Page 3. "It's political correctness gone mad," rages Simon, 39, from his parents' attic in Portsmouth. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted yesterday at 08:19 Author Share Posted yesterday at 08:19 FEBRUARY 2015 It's a bit extreme to be talking about a 'crisis' when your newly-promoted team is 7th in the Premiership, but Fulham were in a goalkeeping crisis. John Forde was out for the season with a broken leg, backup Wayne Hudson was playing as if he had broken both his arms, and third-choice Craig Collins was a plumber from Nottinghamshire masquerading as a professional goalkeeper. After leaking 15 goals in five league games, we desperately needed to find a safe pair of hands. Unfortunately, there weren't many good and cheap goalies in the transfer market, and I didn't want to spend another 500 grand on another mediocre backup. My only other option was to bring up a keeper from the reserves. I had to decide whether to promote Craig Price or John Johnson to the first-team. Price was 20, more experienced, and a more reliable shotstopper... but his loan spell at Conference side Farnborough last year ended in relegation disaster. Johnson was 17, more agile, and a better long-term prospect... but his performances in the reserve league this season had been terrible. In the end, I plumped for the younger man, and so Johnson made his Premiership debut at Portman Road against 14th-placed Ipswich. I also included a couple of Spanish reserves - 19-year-old centre-back Héctor Gómez and 20-year-old striker José Luis Márquez - on the bench. Alan Stewart returned at right wing after a one-match ban. In another big change, Aaron Mokoena - usually a defensive midfield destroyer - started at centre-back against his former club. I was looking at a couple of Scottish Premier League defenders to potentially replace the out-of-form Peter Mitchell, but could Aaron be the answer to another problem position? 4 FEBRUARY 2015: Ipswich Town vs Fulham Wayne Cable got us off to the perfect start in the second minute, playing a one-two with Greg Scott before heading in the opening goal. Six minutes later, though, we almost gifted Ipswich an equaliser. Captain Florian Schneider tried to block an effort from home midfielder Alex Yates, and the deflected ball was heading for our goal until John Johnson fumbled it behind. It had been a nervy start to Johnson's senior career, and when Ipswich right-back Alan Navarro hit the bar in the 12th minute, I had some concerns about our young shotstopper. Thankfully, he answered those concerns with a fine save to deny Yakubu Aiyegbeni in the 40th minute. Alan Stewart had hit the post at the other end just moments earlier, spurning a great opportunity to give us a 2-0 lead. At half-time, I replaced the misfiring Peter Devlin with our other regular scorer Daniel Cooke, who almost added another goal to his tally in the 54th minute. Sadly, Cooke's volley from Cable's left-wing cross flew over the bar. Cable's match would soon be cut short through a shin injury, which meant a Premiership debut for young forward José Luis Márquez. With Cable out of the game, Ipswich could now attack with a bit more confidence. Captain Darren Fletcher fired a shot over the crossbar on 84 minutes, but the 31-year-old Scottish midfielder would come good three minutes later. A skilful chip into our penalty area was finished by a deft header from Nigerian hotshot Aiyegbeni, and it seemed we had thrown two points away... ...but Cooke didn't believe that. Though the prolific attacking midfielder had not set up any goals this season, he showed his creativity in the 89th minute with an elegant low cross into Ipswich's box. Márquez controlled the cross, and then put it past the Tractor Boys' goalkeeper Ross Fenton to snatch a dramatic 2-1 win! Ipswich Town - 1 (Aiyegbeni 87) Fulham - 2 (Cable 2, Márquez 89) Premiership, Attendance 28,405 - POSITIONS: Ipswich 15th, Fulham 5th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): J Johnson; Hunt, Mokoena, D Johnson, Maas; Numme (McDonald), Schneider; Stewart, Scott, Cable (Márquez); Devlin (Cooke). After congratulating Johnson and Márquez on their impressive top-flight debuts, I sought an update on Wayne Cable's shin injury. Fortunately, it was only a bruise, though Wayne would still miss our next match. Unfortunately, Daniel Johnson suffered a more serious knee injury in training, putting the big centre-half out for at least a fortnight. Olivier Deschacht would have to cover on the left side of our central defence, and the Belgian veteran's recent performances had been... not amazing. Next up was a tricky home game against Southampton, whose impressive away form had lifted the perennial mid-tablers all the way up to 2nd place this term. We were out for revenge on Mark Hughes' men, who ran out comfortable 3-0 winners at St Mary's in October. 9 FEBRUARY 2015: Fulham vs Southampton Ales Kroupa might have scored twice against us at St Mary's, but the Czech striker couldn't repeat the trick at Craven Cottage. His 13th-minute half-volley was beaten away by John Johnson, and another attempt 11 minutes later went just over the bar. The Saints' best chance fell to their leading scorer Alejandro Arias, whose free-kick hit the post just before half-time. We had a few chances of our own, though Peter Devlin was unlucky to be denied twice by Southampton's goalkeeping captain Paul McDonald. Unable to make the breakthrough in the first half, we switched to a very attacking 4-3-3 - with Alan Stewart moving inside and José Luis Márquez coming off the bench to join Devlin in a three-pronged strikeforce. McDonald denied Devlin for a third time after the break, and Márquez later skimmed the bar with what would be his only shot before hurting his toe. However, our other frontman would have much better luck in the 68th minute. Right-back Nicky Hunt did all the hard work for us with an excellent run out wide - skilfully dribbling past Saints playmaker Nuno Coelho in the process - before his low and hard cross allowed Stewart to do the rest! Johnson made a fantastic fingertip save to deny Arias a quick Southampton equaliser in the 70th minute. JJ also punched away Tom Holm's floated corner, starting off the counter-attack that led to our second goal. Stewart had to work a bit harder for this one, latching onto Devlin's through-ball and then playing it past right-back Lee Roche before thundering home! Mark Hughes' Saints couldn't spark themselves back into life, even after Márquez's injury reduced us to 10 men for the final few minutes. Unsurprisingly, Stewart ended the night as 'man of the match', with Johnson also making a strong case after a home debut to remember! Fulham - 2 (Stewart 68,71) Southampton - 0 Premiership, Attendance 28,865 - POSITIONS: Fulham 4th, Southampton 2nd FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): J Johnson; Hunt, Mokoena, Deschacht, Maas; Numme (Iversen), Schneider; Stewart, Scott (Sturridge), Cooke (Márquez); Devlin. It's not often that a half-time tactical switch pays off as handsomely as that, so I'm quite happy with that. Getting back into the top four is quite good too, I suppose. Unfortunately, Márquez's emergence had been stifled by a toe injury. In his absence, there would soon be another chance for the homesick Czech striker Milan Lukas, who was now back in training after returning to Sweden for a fortnight. However, this was the end of the road for one of our reserve defenders. 21-year-old Steven Weir had made just one senior appearance for Fulham - in our FA Cup defeat to Blackpool last month. With his contract due to expire in the summer, I decided to cash in now and sell him to Conference side Slough for £110,000. After missing a week because of that early FA Cup exit, we continued our campaign at Bramall Lane against Sheffield United. The Blades had stolen a 1-0 away win in our last encounter thanks to a fluke own goal from Peter Mitchell. Luckily for us, Mitchell wasn't a regular starter anymore, as Mokoena had taken his place at centre-half! 21 FEBRUARY 2015: Sheffield United vs Fulham After narrowly surviving a couple of early scares, the Blades tried to figuratively cut us down to size in the ninth minute. Wales midfielder Lee Fowler did what it says on his passport with a dangerous two-footed lunge on our enigmatic playmaker Greg Scott, and out came the red card! Sheffield United would have to play 90% of this match with one player missing from the pitch! If we just kept our cool, the match was surely ours for the taking. Of course, we didn't create anything until the 44th minute... when captain Florian Schneider created a HUGE problem. Billy Paynter took United into our penalty area for the first time, and when Schneider carelessly stuck a leg out to bring him down, the referee pointed to the spot. Finnish wing-back Juha Nyman scored the penalty, and the Blades were leading 1-0 against the run of play. Schneidi's shocker cost him his place for the second half, with Milan Lukas coming on to join Peter Devlin up front. I was half-tempted to try the three-striker system again and move Alan Stewart further forward as well... and in hindsight, I probably should have. Stewart almost headed in an equaliser in the 59th minute, but his header from Nicky Hunt's cross was saved. The final half-hour, though, was a big load of rubbish. Wayne Cable's free-kick in the 70th minute... wide. Lukas' header in the 74th minute... wide. Hunt's last-minute header from an Arnar Guðmundsson cross... well, Nicky hasn't scored in the Premiership since 2008, so you get the idea. Whatever we tried, we lacked that killer final touch to pull it off. Sheffield United - 1 (Nyman pen44) Fulham - 0 Premiership, Attendance 25,513 - POSITIONS: Sheff Utd 7th, Fulham 6th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): J Johnson; Hunt, Mokoena, Deschacht, Maas (Guðmundsson); Schneider (Lukas); Scott, Numme; Stewart (Iversen), Cable; Devlin. BOOKED: Schneider. 81 minutes with 10 men... and they still won with their only shot of the entire game. This isn't good enough, lads. There would be a raft of changes before the home game against Torquay, which we expected to win quite comfortably. Stranded in the relegation zone and 11 points adrift of safety, Chris Kamara's unbelievable Premiership adventure with the Gulls looked like it would finally end this season. One of those big changes was to drop Florian Schneider, whose mistake had cost us dear in Sheffield. With Schneider on the bench, I decided to give the captain's armband to... Wayne Cable. Yes, in his 137th game for the Cottagers, the 20-year-old Welsh wonder would lead his team out for the first time. 28 FEBRUARY 2015: Fulham vs Torquay United Captain Cable almost broke through after just three minutes, only for a last-minute Steve Powell clearance to keep Wayne at bay. Thankfully, we had much better luck from our next effort in the 15th minute. Following a foul on Daniel Cooke, Alan Stewart flighted in a free-kick from the right, and it was fired in with fury by... Peter Mitchell! Yes, after sitting out our last three games, Mitchell was back in the team... and back on form. As well as giving Fulham the lead with just his fifth goal in 175 games, Peter also impressed in his day job at centre-half. He made vital headed interception in the 31st minute to deny Torquay's 18-year-old striker Mark Neill what would have surely been a clear shot on goal. We were controversially denied a penalty just before half-time, when Powell wiped Cable out in the Torquay box and somehow got away with it. By the 53rd minute, though, all that was forgotten. Daniel Cooke's ninth goal of the season - after a clever exchange of passes with Peter Devlin - doubled our lead and put the Gulls firmly on the ropes. Victory was secured in the 77th minute, when two more underperforming stars redeemed themselves. Milan Lukas got his first Fulham assist by flicking Cooke's cross into the path of Florian Schneider, who came off the bench to drive in our third goal of the afternoon! It was another heavy away defeat for Torquay, who surely looked doomed now. Fulham - 3 (Mitchell 15, Cooke 53, Schneider 77) Torquay United - 0 Premiership, Attendance 25,980 - POSITIONS: Fulham 4th, Torquay 19th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): J Johnson; Hunt, Mitchell, Deschacht, Maas (Guðmundsson); Mokoena, Numme (Schneider); Stewart, Cooke, Cable (Devlin); Lukas. BOOKED: Maas. And that caps off a positive month for Fulham - a strong rebound after January's disappointments. But what about John Johnson, eh? Four games, two goals conceded, two clean sheets - and he's only 17 years old! This kid might have a bright future, you know... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFuller Posted yesterday at 08:20 Author Share Posted yesterday at 08:20 (edited) PREMIERSHIP TABLE (End of February 2015) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Arsenal 28 10 2 1 30 10 9 2 4 24 18 61 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Southampton 29 9 4 2 28 10 6 4 4 21 17 53 3rd Chelsea 29 9 4 1 29 11 5 4 6 22 25 50 4th Fulham 29 11 1 3 27 10 4 3 7 17 28 49 5th Everton 28 10 3 1 21 7 4 3 7 10 16 48 6th Liverpool 28 10 3 1 30 13 3 4 7 18 32 46 7th Man Utd 29 8 4 2 23 13 4 5 6 21 31 45 8th Sheff Utd 28 8 1 5 22 17 5 4 5 16 19 44 9th Crystal Palace 29 8 3 4 32 20 3 4 7 15 20 40 10th Crewe 29 9 3 2 30 11 2 3 10 16 27 39 11th Burnley 28 7 6 1 22 12 1 9 4 14 18 39 12th Sheff Wed 28 10 3 1 28 11 0 6 8 12 27 39 13th Middlesbrough 28 6 4 5 20 18 4 2 7 16 22 36 14th Leeds 28 5 5 3 21 16 4 3 8 13 20 35 15th Preston 29 7 5 3 30 21 2 2 10 10 24 34 16th Charlton 28 7 2 5 20 12 1 4 9 7 22 30 17th Blackburn 28 5 5 4 25 22 3 1 10 14 29 30 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Ipswich 28 8 1 6 25 20 1 2 10 10 36 30 19th Torquay 29 4 6 5 24 25 0 1 13 12 39 19 20th Bolton 28 2 4 7 11 16 1 3 11 7 28 16 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Celta's Champions League debut gets even better, as they are the first team into the Quarter Finals after back-to-back wins over Manchester United. And it's all down to the brilliance of their undisputed star man - journeyman forward Gaizka Saizar, playing arguably the best football of his career at the age of 34. With no European football to distract them, Arsenal have their sights on an unprecedented domestic treble. After strengthening their Premiership lead with three straight wins, the Gunners knock out Division 2 Morecambe to reach the FA Cup Quarter Finals, and then see off Sheffield Wednesday in extra-time to set up a League Cup Final versus Burnley. After his £14.25million move from Betis in December, Francisco Salazar scores five goals in his first seven La Liga matches for Barcelona... but the Chilean is then ruled out for the season with a torn groin muscle. Barça boss Franky Van der Elst weeps that he has only four world-class forwards left, and that Lionel Messi has scored just 20 goals in 25 league games. Juventus' Serie A charge hits a snag when they lose 3-0 at a resurgent Napoli. Cristiano Ronaldo is so furious that he snatches the 'man of the match' award from Partenopei midfielder Elano. Parma close in on the Old Lady with six wins in a row, and even 3rd-placed Inter still hold hopes of taking the scudetto from Lazio - now 17 points adrift after selling captain Giorgio Chiellini to Chelsea for £12.75million. Despite their Bundesliga struggles, Bayern München reach the Final of the DFB-Pokal after Yaw Quaye bags a late winner against Wolfsburg. Immediately after the game, manager Bernd Krauss flees the country and seeks refuge at Sevilla. Bayern's new head coach is a certain Nigel Winterburn - recently sacked by Hertha BSC. IN OTHER NEWS... After living long (for 83 years) and prospering (on American TV), legendary "Star Trek" actor Leonard Nimoy boldly goes to the other side. Steve Strange from synth-pop pioneers Visage fades to grey, and fellow LGBT+ music icon Lesley Gore tells her mourners, "It's my funeral, you can cry if you want to." EL James' attempt at making Twilight fan-faction gets completely out of control when it is turned into a Hollywood film. In "Fifty Shades of Grey", Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan... ahem, discuss the merits of charcoal, pewter and graphite. Canadian hip-hop star (who knew such a thing existed?) Drake threatens to bore everyone to death with an hour-long mixtape of mumble-rap songs, some of which might include traces of Lil Wayne. If you’re reading this, it’s too late. Hollywood's swashbuckling superstar Johnny Depp gets married for the second time, tying the knot with fellow actor Amber Heard. And they all lived happily ever after... Edited yesterday at 08:22 by CFuller Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now