Earlier today, Roma sporting director Franco Baldini confirmed, “I went to London to sell Stekelenburg to Fulham. There were many issues to be resolved. I reached an agreement subject to a number of conditions, like the player’s personal demands and the medical.”
While the deal isn’t DONE, it’s pretty darn close. Roma still need to tie up a replacement, which if you remember is the same issue they had in January that ultimately killed the deal at the transfer window closure (while Stek was in flight to London). They’re looking at young Santos goalkeeper Rafael Cabral, but nothing’s finalized on that front either.
Either way, it looks like this is about a 95% chance to complete, at a price range that speculation has anywhere between £3-£5 million, a bargain either way.
And it couldn’t have come at a better time for Fulham.
There have been mixed reactions by fans on Twitter and on story comments, but it’s a wonderful move by Martin Jol with the present and future in mind.
Stekelenburg is 30 years of age, which by goalkeeper standards is right around the peak. He struggled at Roma, but more due to the manager’s personal preference (a la Casillas and Mourinho) than the keeper himself performing poorly. This means he’s still at the top of his game while also being cheap.
If you remember, Fulham captured Mark Schwarzer himself at the ripe age of 35 and he gave the club five fantastic seasons that showed no signs of his age until the final one.
Speaking of Schwarzer, despite looking slowed by age in the first half of the season, he appeared reinvigorated in the second half and proved to the world he still has some left in the tank. However, would you rather see the Australian, who’s given nothing but his all to the club in the last five years, finish his Fulham career on a high note? Or would you rather Jol ride him out until he falls apart on the pitch? I think the former is much more preferable. Why make him prove to everyone he’s done before making a move for another goalkeeper?
Then there’s the curious case of David Stockdale. Stocko is 27, young in goalkeeper terms but at the age where he should indeed be seeking first team action. He impressed many at Hull in his loan spell and may choose the newly promoted side over the bench at Fulham, and rightly so.
Many fans have pointed to giving Stockdale the first team role as a cheaper and effective option. While this is true, Stockdale is still young and makes mistakes, as we saw in his limited time this season. It would be unfortunate to lose a promising young English player, but people must realize at this club you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
I certainly can’t blame Jol for splashing a little cash towards a keeper who has been the number one option at the world’s number 9-ranked team in the Netherlands?
Stekelenburg is a top option at Fulham for a bargain price at a time that allows our current beloved keeper to leave Craven Cottage on a high rather than peter out at an even older age. What more could we as fans ask for? It’s a perfect chance.
Kia Joorabchian, Mark Hughes’ agent, has spoken out in the media. Again. And nobody cares.
Behind every strong man there’s an even stronger woman.
Behind every Mark Hughes there’s a Kia Joorabchian.
There is nothing worse in sports – I repeat, nothing worse – than an agent who won’t shut their mouth and needs their quota of the limelight to make it through the day.
Kia Joorabchian is that type of person.
The agents don’t play on the field, they don’t make difficult personnel decisions, they don’t call plays or pick a formation, and they don’t build teams. Their sole job in the world of sports is to make sure players and managers they represent receive the maximum compensation they possibly can. No sports fan wants to hear about any of that. Everyone understands it’s a necessary evil, but no one wants to know what goes on. When an agent pipes up, it’s like nails on a chalkboard.
Joorabchian yesterday felt the need to defend himself when pundits began pointing fingers at him saying he’s behind some of the poor signings Mark Hughes made during his stint at Queens Park Rangers. The man’s brought all this on himself, really, considering the media wouldn’t even think to shake a finger at Hughes’ agent if Joorabchian wasn’t such an outspoken, arrogant, self-absorbed attention-seeker.
Look no further than what he said yesterday while defending his actions at QPR. “I am always interested to read or hear that I was responsible for so many players signed by QPR last season.”
Of course you are.
The man is attempting to defend his actions, and instead all he does is tell people how much he loves to see himself spoken about in the media! I realize he’s trying to make a point here, but aren’t there about 2,000 other ways to say the same thing without discussing how interested he is in seeing him own name in the papers?
American sports fans can relate Joorabchian to another arrogant person in the States with the same job, one Drew Rosenhaus. However, it seems over the years Rosenhaus has actually listened to much of the criticism of his attention-seeking strategies of the past, and has reformed his public persona to one of strictly business. Joorabchian could take a lesson from Rosenhaus, who is rarely seen in the media these days, and instead is rolling in piles of cash while his public image repairs itself over time.
Please, Kia, spare us. Shut up, and leave Mark Hughes to burn on his own. He doesn’t need any help, and he certainly doesn’t need someone to join him in the fire.
Fulham’s decisive 3-0 win on the road at Swansea moved the Whites up to 12th in the final Premier League table, but it can’t hide the shroud over the final quarter of the season. It was a limp down the stretch, one that saw them even become mired in the relegation talks for about 2 weeks in the final month.
Given the bright starts to both the beginning of the season and the new calendar year, it was a disappointing way to close out the season. During it, just about every single one of Fulham’s squad weaknesses were exposed.
This summer, Martin Jol is tasked with starting over…again.
The sale of Clint Dempsey and, more importantly, Moussa Dembele shredded Jol’s plans for building a long-term improvement at Craven Cottage to continue the groundwork begun by Roy Hodgson. Now, he must find a new foundation to structure his squad around.
That solution was thought to be Bryan Ruiz, but it seems his inconsistencies have caused Jol (and much of the fanbase) to reconsider.
The Dutchman in charge can’t be blamed for the exits of two cornerstones of his plans for success at Fulham. However, it is now his responsibility to move on and build anew.
This season was a struggle, forced by the departures to be a bridge rather than a step up. Jol had to piece together short-term stopgaps such as Giorgos Karagounis and Philippe Senderos. Karagounis will most likely move on (although his passion will be missed by many), and Senderos has signed another 1-year deal. These are not options for the future success of Fulham, however.
With the youth squads having another outstanding season and the budget still strained, it’s not going to be easy for Jol to make high profile purchases. The board may be instead focused on bridging the gap to when the young guns are ready for the big stage.
But this summer, with new pieces required in the central midfield, central defense, up front and even between the sticks, the duty for Martin Jol is a big one.
Will the squad recover enough to continue the slow climb up the Premier League table into established top-10 consistency? Or will financial restraints and a lack of action cause the squad to squander the progress made by managers past? It hangs seriously in the balance, and Martin Jol may indeed hold the key to whether Fulham can continue to work towards the long-term goal or whether relegation is in the conversations of the near future.
Martin Jol’s blank stare may vanish from Craven Cottage altogether if he’s not backed by the front office, according to a troubling article in The Mirror.
A recent article in the The Mirror has sent Fulham fans into a tizzy. The article suggests Martin Jol lacks financial backing by the Fulham front office for the coming transfer window, and as a result both he and Dimitar Berbatov could leave this summer.
Obviously there is much speculation involved in this news story, but in such circumstances, where there is smoke, there must be fire, and this is a bit too serious to simply discard as complete rubbish.
Contrary to the obvious concern about this story however, the issue isn’t the lack of Dimitar Berbatov on next season’s squad, or a change in manager. Martin Jol had a difficult year putting together a squad. He gets a pass this season due to the forced departures of Clint Dempsey and Moussa Dembele in the final days of last sumer, his tactics and approach left a bit for fans to question. No, this isn’t about whether the club will do well with someone other than Martin Jol in charge.
The biggest issue looming with this potential situation suggested by the Mirror would be the aftermath of a second straight managerial departure due to financial reasons. The self-destruction and fall of Mark Hughes began when he shocked Fulham by leaving, without another job secured, partly for the same reasons being suggested this time around. The Mark Hughes departure was also partly due to his egotistical issues, and we all saw how that has gone for him. But there’s no question that the lack of financial backing by Fulham had at least something to do with his decision to leave the club high and dry.
When he left, Hughes’ agent Kia Joorbachian was quoted with saying, “One of the things he looked for at the end of the season was to see if there was an ambition for Fulham to go to the next level.” He continued by saying Mark Hughes’ ambitions were above the club, blah blah blah, confirming his egotistical mindset. However, that quote suggests there was a part the Fulham board played as well in his departure, lacking either the means or the will to give Hughes what he wanted to transform Fulham into a contender at the “next level.”
If Martin Jol were to follow the same route, it would leave the club in a dire situation. Not that it wouldn’t have Martin Jol on the touchline, but the message sent out to the footballing community about the financial stance of the front office would doom the club in a manner that would be irrecoverable in the near future. What half-decent manager would want to take over the club and begin anew? This isn’t about hiring a well-traveled manager with a full resume and a big name. Not even a young, aspiring manager would want to take a club that now all of a sudden would become a bookie’s delight to be relegated in the next year or two. The patchwork squad that Martin Jol pieced together with free transfers and loan players, with hopes of replacing them with younger, more long-term solutions down the road, would now become the long-term solutions.
There would only be one ending to what would become a messy situation. Relegation.
Whether it would take just one year or maybe two, the lack of support by the front office would be met with the ruthless axe of the Premier League’s bottom three, the one that had no mercy and took no prisoners at Loftus Road this season. The quickest road from the Premier League to the lower divisions runs through the city of Bad Management.
Therefore, it only follows that something many Fulham fans believed last summer again becomes the mantra for the next few months – this summer may be the most important in Fulham’s Premier League history.
And the first step of the summer is to make sure the beloved club residing in Craven Cottage isn’t slapped with the dark mark of a parsimonious front office, or it will surely doom them to Championship obscurity in the coming years. While Fulham fans bask in the misfortune and mismanagement of their bitter rivals, one cannot help but be somewhat worried that, if things don’t pan out this summer, it will be themselves faced with the same disastrous result.
This is not an attack on the wonderful services Alistair Mackintosh and Mohammed Al Fayed have provided Craven Cottage over the years. If not for the generous gifts of our chairman and the long and hard hours the Chief Executive has graced the club with, they’d be nowhere near the levels it’s reached in the last decade. Mackintosh has always been known for finding diamonds in the rough, for discovering cheaper but effective options that don’t necessarily write headlines. The club’s stance against bidding wars has kept the wage and transfer bill down to a more than manageable level, even posting a surplus a year and a half ago, something which has become an endangered species in the footballing world.
This is not a condemnation of the path from which Fulham have traveled. This is a plea for the club to not veer into the thicket marred by excessive stinginess. Obviously the club doesn’t have access to the most extensive of resources. But where has some of the recent influx of funds gone? The sales of Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey netted the club approximately £21 million. The club also sold Bobby Zamora for £4 million. Fulham have finished in the top 10 of the Premier League in multiple seasons recently, garnering additional Premier League prize funds. The Europa League finals run plus an additional year in the European competition surely garnered a fantastic amount of profit. The Premier League has secured multiple new TV deals which surely has distributed new wealth to each participant. For a club that posted a profit as recently as 2 seasons ago, one cannot believe operating costs plus a new stand has eaten up all this additional influx of wealth. Obviously in this business it’s not as simple as money in, money out. However, this is not the financial blueprint of a club that relies on free transfers and loan deals year in and year out to piece together 11 players on the pitch. One year marred by unforeseen circumstances is forgivable, but multiple seasons with this makeup will lead to more failure than success.
The road to reestablished Premier League consistency begins with a stop at a gas station where the Fulham board must refuel, not buy a cheaper car. They must reasonably back Martin Jol to not only convince him to stay, but allow him to carry out his new plan for Fulham’s future that was so ruthlessly torn to pieces by a last-minute White Hart Lane raid at this same juncture a year ago. That, or face the possibilities that lie ahead of his departure.
A dejected Christopher Samba was torn apart by Dimitar Berbatov at the back. He took to Twitter to apologize to fans but also defended himself after much abuse.
Dimitar Berbatov admitted last night after Fulham’s defeat of QPR that he targeted a tentative Christopher Samba, and it worked. Berbatov dismantled Samba and the QPR defense, unleashing 2 goals and displaying the class he so often has this year.
However, after the match, Samba took to Twitter to apologize for his poor effort. Instead of appreciating his effort and apology, the classy QPR fans (and to be fair even fans of other teams *cough* Everton *cough*) decided to harang the center back about his wages. He did a bit of defending himself as well, but kept it clean and classy. Samba took it in stride, making a fantastic point in the process:
Then 2nd of all to all you keep talking about 100 k performance,tell me what is a 100k performance?we as players go out and give our all— Samba Christopher (@cs4christsamba1) April 01, 2013
Obviously we judge a player’s performance on the pitch; we do it all the time. I do out all the time. Pundits and journalists do it all the time. But to question a player’s effort who goes out and simply has a bad game is silly, and quite frankly hurtful, a especially after he came out and publicly acknowledged his poor performance. It’s not like he TRIED to be bad, or decided to just take a day off.
I gained a decent amount of respect for Samba after refusing to capitulate to some prettynastyabuse and instead taking the high road. Twitter can be a damaging tool for athlete, as often it’s better the public doesn’t know what’s actually running through their minds despite our innate desire to know, and their innate desire to express. Just ask Peter Odemwingie. Expressing his inner thoughts and desires via social media bought him a spot on the bench, an awkward gander to Loftus Road, and a private VIP room in the supporters’ doghouse.
Nothing good is going to ever come of expressing negative opinions of anyone to their face on Twitter or any social media site. So don’t do it. All it does is make the abuser look like a coward and a lowlife. It breeds hate and often times racism, something the game is furiously looking to stamp out.
Don’t get me wrong here. It is without question the coach’s, media’s, and ultimately the fan’s job to hold players accountable for their actions on, and sometimes even off the pitch. These players are in the public eye as part of their occupation, and sure are compensated handsomely for it. Dealing with what others have to say about their play and personality is part of what they signed up for. But in an eWorld which gives fans more access directly to the players, to their face yet anonymously over Twitter is the last place for fans to exercise that right.
Dimitar Berbatov has drawn lots of criticism for the appearance of his playing style despite garnering plenty of positive results.
I’ve had enough of one of the stupidest yet most polarizing debates in English football: is Dimitar Berbatov lazy, or is his style simply overwhelmingly technical? The answer is simple: it’s a combination of both, and in the end it doesn’t matter.
It’s just his playing style, there’s no other way to put it.
First off, I’m pretty sure no footballer could reach the levels of success he has, especially coming off the bench most of his time at United, if they were just plain old “lazy.” We’re going to tackle this in two parts. The first will prove that in a way, yes, he is lazy. The second part will prove to you why it doesn’t matter and this whole argument is stupid.
Is Dimitar Berbatov lazy?
Yes and no. Is lazy the right word? There are two official definitions of the word “lazy” from Dictionary.com, and they provide something quite interesting. The first definition: “Unwilling to work or use energy.” Does that apply? I think it does not. That definition has implications of a lack of effort, as characterized by the phrase “unwilling to work.” I do not believe for a second that the Bulgarian has effort issues. Take this for example: a heatmap of Berbatov’s game in the Newcastle win in December:
That’s not the heatmap of a player unwilling to put forth effort. He’s all over the pitch, contributing defensively (which I believe he’s done more at Fulham than he ever did at United) and both in chance-creating and chance-finishing positions up front.
However, there is a second definition of lazy. It reads, “Characterized by lack of effort or activity.” We’ve already discussed effort. However, watching Berbatov’s game, there clearly is a style to his game that could fall under the “lack of activity” portion. He’s even said it himself:
“I like to play with beauty and grace – that has always been my philosophy from a young age. That’s how I play and that’s what football is about. Plenty of football players play like this and that is what I want to watch. I don’t want to watch players puffing around the pitch. You see games where the ball is flying from one box to another and it makes my neck hurt. That is not football for me.”
So he’s not a runner. Does that mean he’s “lazy?” Well, as we’ve seen here, no he’s not based on the effort section, but yes he is in the simple terms of a general lack of activity. So, depending on your interpretation of the word, you could have an argument.
Does Berbatov’s technical ability outweigh his low energy output?
Absolutely, there’s no question about it.
Dimitar’s an interesting character. He’s not a guy who likes the limelight, and he’s certainly not someone who wants to be noticed. He just wants to play. Mark Ogden wrote an interesting article for The Telegraph in January in which he told an anicdote that very accurately describes the Bulgarian’s character traits. He scored a hat-trick for United against Liverpool to win the match 3-2, and after the match he attempted to sneak through the player’s lot to his car to avoid speaking to even the Red Devils’ own in-house TV channel.
However, many mistake this for a lack of desire. It’s not at all. Different people express themselves in many different ways. It’s just how he is as a person.
And the same can be said for his playing style.
Think about watching Dimitar play with Fulham. We all know about Martin Jol’s passing and possession style of play. Now, when have you ever seen Fulham play a long ball into the middle of the pitch? Almost never. When they do, who’s ALWAYS on the receiving end? Berbatov, of course. It’s almost like he’s got magnets in his boots. No matter if he’s playing up front or as a Number 10, he’s the only guy Jol will allow the rest of the players to play a long ball to. Look no farther than this past weekend’s win at Stoke. Here’s his passes received:
So many long balls! Now, to be fair, he played up front, so of course he’s going to get most of the long balls to an extent. But if you take a look at the passes received of even the wingers and of Bryan Ruiz, only Askhan Dejagah got more than 1 long ball, and his were 2 from the goalkeeper and 2 passes square across the pitch. Berba’s the only one.
An article by James Andrew for The Daily Mail from back in December brought up the previous month’s 3-3 draw with Arsenal from the Emirates. “Against Arsenal last month” the article reads, “with Fulham 2-0 down after 25 minutes he single handily dragged Jol’s team back into the game and earning a point by scoring two and creating the other one for Kacaniklic.”
That match couldn’t be a better example of how Berbatov is a master of placement, selection, and technical ability. He filled the leadership role that day, something he’s not terribly fond of doing (a leader isn’t exactly someone who sneaks out past reporters after a hat-trick), after Fulham fell down 2-0 early.
Look at the video. On the first goal (0:31), he may not have snuck past reporters that day at Old Trafford, but instead of running laps around the penalty area until he found an opening, he snuck behind defenders and directed his header in. For the second one, his assist to Kacaniklic (0:40), SURPRISE! Dimi is actually somewhat fast! How can you say someone making that quality of a run demonstrates a lack of effort? You can’t. His cross shows his ability with the ball, as he picks out the farthest of 3 possible targets. And for his second goal and the team’s third, albeit a penalty, there was never any doubt, and he cooly slots the ball. Is there a more Berbatov-esque penalty? Don’t think so.
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Still not convinced? This:
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Let’s end this section with a quote from one of the greatest managers of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson:
“I don’t think Dimitar was a failure here. He did a great job. The problem is I had choices and, at his age, it’s not easy to be part of those choices when he’s not playing. Some people like to see players run through brick walls all the time. Dimitar is not that type of player, but he is a very talented boy who had a decent goalscoring record here.”
I’ll let you take from that what you want.
Does Berbatov’s playing style limit what system he can play in?
Yes. I don’t think there’s any question about this, and we’ve seen it first-hand this season. It’s the one big downfall to his vastly distinctive style, and why many people often do come to the conclusion that he’s lazy. Because when he isn’t put in a system that suits his style, it ends very very poorly.
When Berbatov was at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson recognized his immense talent and acknowledged he was a massive asset. Unfortunately for the Bulgarian, it became all too clear over time that the style SAF wanted to play relied more on speed and accuracy of passing on the go than Berbatov’s special skills on the ball, and thus his role slowly but surely diminished. Barney Chilton, editor of Red News fanzine, said of his time at United, “We signed a square piece and wanted to put him in a round hole.” He just didn’t fit. Given that fact though, do you think Fergie would have stuck with a player who so poorly fit United’s schemes if he didn’t bring something else massive to the table? Absolutely not.
Martin Jol, however, has built Fulham’s blueprint this season around Berbatov. Everything runs through him, whether he’s up front or in the Number 10. There was a point in time this season when, because of Fulham’s dire situation in the central midfield for a period of time, Bryan Ruiz was slotted so far back in his attacking midfield role (almost a Dembele-like position) that Berbatov’s feeder system up front was completely dry. This sincerely hurt his production, and it appeared to many of us, including myself, that Berbatov had lost interest, and was almost regretting his journey to Craven Cottage in search of more playing time. This is a situation of how poorly it can go when the team’s situation doesn’t perfectly fit his style. Berbatov had to physically work for his chances, and that’s not how he plays. However, I am kicking myself for thinking that. It’s obvious that’s not the case, and he’s stuck with it, once again becoming a vital cog in the machine that’s picked up 7 points from their last 4 matches in the league.
Bryan Ruiz knew he was invested the whole time:
“Whatever it looks like, he does care. He is a different person, he doesn’t talk to everyone, but when you go up to talk to him, he is open. You see sometimes by his body language that he really wants to win. That means he cares. He is one of the best players I’ve played with. I don’t remember one player with the same skills as him.”
Why none of this matters:
He gets results. So what if he’s lazy? If put in a situation where he can play his way, which Fulham are currently providing him, he will put up the goals and assists, and he’s done just that this season and in the past. He’s won a golden boot and a title with Manchester United. 9 goals and 4 assists this year for the Whites. What more could we ask for, given the state of the midfield behind him? The new year has been especially kind to Berbatov. Since Southampton on December 26, Dimitar’s scored 4 goals and provided an assist over an 8-match span. Here’s to hoping he keeps it up, this season, and beyond.
So let’s please never have this discussion again. Cool? Thanks.
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