I hope that the story circulating in the media about Arsenal considering allowing Emmanuel Frimpong to join Fulham on a permanent basis in the summer is not correct. The 21-year old is currently having a loan spell with Martin Jol's team, but that is to get some valuable playing time and experience in the Premier League.
In retrospect, we shouldn't be surprised that two teams fielding three defensive midfielders each would get a bore draw on a cold night in West London. Both teams battled in a rather fruitless affair and Fulham could have snatched all three points, conjuring up the best chances in the second half.
In retrospect, we shouldn't be surprised that two teams fielding three defensive midfielders each would get a bore draw on a cold night in West London. Both teams battled in a rather fruitless affair and Fulham could have snatched all three points, conjuring up the best chances in the second half.
There is genuine competition for a starting place as an Arsenal striker at the minute, with Theo Walcott, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud all wanting the role of central striker. Add to that the fact that Marouane Chamakh knows that he has maybe one more chance to breathe some life back into his Arsenal career following his two goals in the Capital One cup against Reading, and you have a hungry strike force who are starting to fire.
Arsene Wenger has received support from an unexpected source today. Former Tottenham and current Fulham manager Martin Jol has stated his belief that Wenger has worked wonders at Arsenal, and should not be criticised for failing to guide the Gunners to a trophy for seven years.
"I'm not an Arsenal fan, as you well know, but I always admired Wenger for what he did.
Note: For those older readers, the use of ‘old' in this article is purely in a footballing context
With club football finally about to get back underway after yet another asinine international break, I thought I would investigate one of the less heralded issues that Fulham currently have at the moment – the age of the squad.
Note: For those older readers, the use of ‘old' in this article is purely in a footballing context
With club football finally about to get back underway after yet another asinine international break, I thought I would investigate one of the less heralded issues that Fulham currently have at the moment – the age of the squad.
Andrey Arshavin was the most expensive signing ever for Arsenal until Arsene Wenger made the genius move of bringing Santi Cazorla to the Emirates this summer, and that must simply be the best transfer into the Premier league this year.
Despite sometimes showing his brilliance for the Gunners, Arshavin has not done enough and must know that his career at Arsenal is all but over.
It looks like Bobby Zamora has sour grapes regarding his departure from the greener pastures of Fulham to the relegation threatened Queens Park Rangers. The gifted striker claims that most Fulham players are unhappy with Martin Jol and that many players, himself included, didn't see eye-to-eye with Jol, which is why many of them such as Dembele, Dempsey and Andy Johnson left.
Fulham's big defender brede Hangeland has been linked with Arsenal for many years, but since then Arsene Wenger has brought in Thomas Vermaelen (now captain), Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker, leaving the Swiss Johan Djourou as the odd man out in a brilliant foursome, with many Arsenal fans begging Wenger to sell him this summer.
Douglas McNeill is back with another guest post. Enjoy.
After my July piece on Fulham's finances, I promised a follow-up once the transfer window had
closed. So here goes. I see eight key points.
1. There has been a marked reduction in squad size. Eleven players have gone (Dembele, Dempsey,
Etuhu, Gecov, Gryhgera, Halliche, Johnson, Murphy, Pogrebnyak, Riise BH, and Sa) and only six have
come in (Berbatov, Dejagah, Petric, Richardson, Riether and Rodallega).
Douglas McNeill is back with another guest post. Enjoy.
After my July piece on Fulham's finances, I promised a follow-up once the transfer window had
closed. So here goes. I see eight key points.
1. There has been a marked reduction in squad size. Eleven players have gone (Dembele, Dempsey,
Etuhu, Gecov, Gryhgera, Halliche, Johnson, Murphy, Pogrebnyak, Riise BH, and Sa) and only six have
come in (Berbatov, Dejagah, Petric, Richardson, Riether and Rodallega).
What happens when your team gets stripped to the bones during the transfer window? See for
yourself: Nolan scored in under a minute and West Ham rolled Fulham 3-0 in what looked like a
dominating first half and a sit back and laugh second. Jol has got to be hating life right about
now. Video: footytube
Season previews always seem so half empty. Not because the writers are lazy (okay, some are) but
because there's always that spectre of "well, shit can get real around the transfer deadline, so,
here's some vague material that should be read skeptically. Enjoy!"
Season previews always seem so half empty. Not because the writers are lazy (okay, some are) but
because there's always that spectre of "well, shit can get real around the transfer deadline, so,
here's some vague material that should be read skeptically. Enjoy!"
Arsene Wenger's chase for a top striker for the Arsenal team continues as the Gunners are now faced
with another closed door after Fulham's manager Martin Jol dismissed the possibility of star
striker Clint Dempsey to leave, despite him so far refusing to sign a new contract. The American
hitman has scored 23 goals this [.
A great game of football that ended the right way, but boy was it close.
We've often talked about moments being decisive in these games, isolated incidents that on their
own seem to change the game thoroughly and remarkably. In this case Clint Dempsey slid the ball
across Ruddy onto the Norwich post.
A great game of football that ended the right way, but boy was it close.
We've often talked about moments being decisive in these games, isolated incidents that on their
own seem to change the game thoroughly and remarkably. In this case Clint Dempsey slid the ball
across Ruddy onto the Norwich post.
Fulham's manager, Martin Jol, left with a bit of bitterness after his team's 1-0 defeat against
Manchester United on Monday, believing that his team had a penalty claim waved away right at the
dead, which could earned them a point from Old Trafford.
Jol believes that the referee wasn't brave enough to call for that important decision, adding
that the officials should have spotted the incident as it wasn't far from ref, Michael Oliver's
position at that time.
There was a moment in the buildup to the fifth (knockout) goal in which Mahmadou Diarra seemed
to have lost control. A challenger saw him moment, but while Diarra re-orientated himself and
relocated the ball, the tackler seemed to bounce off an invisible force field, perhaps more than
once. It was like a lion cub trying to play with its mother: yes, yes, I know you're there but I'm
busy at the moment, get off and go away.
The game was Fulham under Jol in microcosm: lots of lovely attacking play in the first half,
then a complete shutdown and hanging on phase that could easily have seen us lose the three
points. I don't know why it happens but it is frustrating. That was a 4-0 win waiting to
happen.
Saturday's win did many things but most of all it reminded us that, while the current Fulham
squad does need a bit of tweaking, it contains a number of good players and making moves in January
for the sake of making moves in January is probably not something we need to get too involved
with.
Following on from yesterday's post about space, watch this a few times (Messi scoring last night
against Real Betis).
The Betis defence is mainly on the far side of the pitch. Barcelona who habitually station a man
very wide on either flank move the ball quickly to the other side, stretching the play and making
the pitch big.
Depressing. Very depressing. As bright and incandescent as Arsenal were the first half, the
second half was an absolute blight. The Gunners looked drained, bereft of ideas, and they let
Fulham walk all over them. It was an reversion to many a game last season where Arsenal showed
distinctly no ambition other than to run out 90 minutes.
Fulham 1 Liverpool 0: Christmas comes early for Jol as Reina gifts Cottagers
win
Clint Dempsey took advantage of a glaring error from Pepe Reina as Fulham grabbed all three
points at home to Liverpool. Jay Spearing was sent off for the visitors.
View the full story here: The Mail
A news article on 2011-12-05 21:54:18 from: The Mail
This news item has been reproduced from today's media.
Fulham players have been hit with a gagging order to stop tales of dressing-room unrest leaking
to the media.
Players face a fine of two weeks' wages if they speak publicly without the club's
permission.
Fulham sent all squad members a letter outlining the possible punishment — which could cost
the club's highest-paid stars more than £100,000 — after it was revealed Pajtim Kasami was fined
£500 for missing a penalty against Chelsea in the Carling Cup in September.
There are stats that could make Fulham's visit to the Emirates look like a walk in the park for
Arsenal. The Cottagers haven't won away against Arsenal in any competition, losing 22 of the 25
games played. They are currently just 2 points above the relegation zone and have won only 2 of
their 12 league games.
As we gnash teeth, but before we point fingers and burn Jol in effigy and point out that was our
100th goal conceded in the final 15minutes this season and make excuses such as the
following...
Where in the blue blazes did 5 minutes in stoppage time come from?!?
In July I wrote a post about Jol's pledge to youth-en-ize the squad, but it contained many
asterisks. Mostly the fact that Dempsey had yet to feature for the side, and I thought Salcido had
a role to play for the team.
Now that we are well on a third through the season (ugh, really need to make that awards
post.
The team was hell-bent on keeping shape, which gave us some perhaps surprising (but perhaps not)
tackling information. Etuhu and Murphy, and the entire back four, really didn't go for many
tackles. Instead Dempsey, Dembele, and to a lesser extent, Ruiz, were doing a lot of the actual
harrying.
I'm not trying to make one of those posts that exist solely to generate pageviews, but I'm
seriously wondering if it's time for Riise to start the next game on the bench.
What is he offering at this point that is so unique that different looks through Briggs or Baird
or Kelly can't provide?
On the whole Senderos Hughes thing, I decided to look at all the games Philippe has played in
and compare them to the games Aaron has played in. Except I couldn't do that because Hughes has
barely played CB in league games this year.
Instead I looked at the games Senderos has played in this year versus the equivalent games from
last year:
One of the worst first half performances in memory. Newcastle were very impressive, well
drilled, pressurising perfectly, timing their confrontations and ganging up on our players
relentlessly. We couldn't keep the ball. They could, spraying it around and running us
ragged.
Eloping with Yossi Ep.7 Smokey Jol by Off The Post on Mixcloud It may not have been a classic
weekend of Premier League action, but the Off The Post Podcast is back to scrape what we can from
the bottom of the footballing barrel. Ben is currently serving a one Pod suspension for comments
made [...]
he did not reveal to Ruiz that he was cup-tied before he had secured his signature from Twente
on transfer deadline day. Ruiz is ineligible because he played for the Dutch side in the Champions
League before they were eliminated earlier this season and dropped into the Europa League.
