Mancini can do a lot better than the Russian national team. Just sayin. -- 3 hours ago
Wait, what? What is this Wenger to PSG nonsense? I'm confused -- 4 hours ago
For the record I dont trust that twitter account I saw the fixture "leak" on at all but we'll see -- 4 hours ago
The leaked fixtures I saw has us opening at Stoke. No idea if its reliable but if true at least we'd get that one out of the way early -- 4 hours ago
The fact that a football-crazy country such as Brazil is protesting hosting the World Cup says ton. Wont go back, but huge statement made -- 5 hours ago
Schalke manager Horst Heldt has confirmed the club’s interest in Fulham right-back sensation Sascha Riether, but warned “if the demand is too high, it will not materialize.”
The Bundesliga club wants the former Koln defender as cover for current right-back Atsuto Uchida.
Just because he’s on their wish-list doesn’t mean this is going to happen, and it seems Schalke have a very strict evaluation of the 30-year-old, but it’s a possibility.
He has just signed a new 2-year deal with Fulham, turning his season-long loan deal permanent with a €1.4 million transfer fee to Koln.
That makes this even more unlikely, but word is the two teams are already in discussions. How serious those discussions are remains to be seen.
I believe this move is relatively a longshot, because of how cautious Schalke are per Heldt’s quote, and I would assume Fulham would wish to make a decent profit on the defender before the rid themselves of last year’s Player’s player of the year.
Therefore, I would imagine the two clubs would have very different valuations of Riether, and I can’t imagine the two come to an agreement.
However, if they do, it will be incredibly hard to replace Riether, and Fulham will have a tough time finding someone who can fill his shoes. Let’s hope this doesn’t come off, because I can’t imagine the club will profit that greatly from his sale.
This isn’t the first time Schalke have tried to pull off a deal for a player who just signed a contract with their club. In 2011 they purchased Austrian left-back Christian Fuchs just after he had signed a permanent deal with FSV Mainz following a season-long loan there.
Fernando Amorebieta joined Fulham on a free transfer this summer. Before making the move to London, he’d spent his entire career with Athletic Bilbao.
When asked about leaving La Liga to come to the Premier League, the 28-year-old said it was tough and a bit emotional to leave his first and only team.
“I appreciated Athletic’s offer, which was very good, but in the end I thought I would be fooling myself. I was very excited about the Premier League and was eager to go there, even though my dream was to triumph with Athletic.”
He even said the money he was offered in London wasn’t the deciding factor. “Money did not make the difference. I’d still have accepted less to sample a new league.”
The fact he speaks of less money in the fictional sense suggests he’s getting more with Fulham than what Athletic offered him.
The Venezuelan has a few regrets about how he parted ways with his old club, but he’s moved on to greener pastures, and more playing time.
“It wasn’t easy to make this decision. It’s true that I would have liked to say goodbye on the pitch after helping the team, but the coach decided that others were in a better condition to play rather than myself and that must be respected. On one hand I’m grateful that we got to two finals [under Marcelo Bielsa] and that is something hard to forget. But the end of last season was very difficult to take because I was deprived of game time.”
It will be extremely exciting to watch the Venezuelan in action, most likely alongside Brede Hangeland. With so much experience and yet still young enough to be in his prime, it’s a perfect combination to add to the Fulham squad.
John Pantsil and Derek Boateng play together on the Ghana national squad. (Image credit: Reuters)
White-for-life John Pantsil and fellow Ghana international has given Fulham the thumbs-up for signing Derek Boateng.
Pantsil told Ghanasoccernet.com, “It is a great move and Fulham is a good team and especially when an African player moves there, they really take good care of the player. There he will get much playing time which will help him and the national team, with the exposure and experience he will succeed.”
While I’m sure Pantsil is a tad biased, it’s good to hear from someone who plays with him that he believes the player will help
It’s also really good to hear that the club welcomes not just African players but foreign players in general with open arms and former players felt comfortable in the environment.
Boateng signed for Fulham on a free transfer May 22 of this year, and will help boost a weakened Fulham midfield that was exposed in the final third of the Premier League season.
Boateng has been capped 32 times for Ghana since 1999, while Pantsil has seen the national squad 62 times since his first cap in 2001.
The two most recently helped Ghana to the semifinals of the African Cup of Nations before losing to Burkina Faso on penalties.
Remember this? Karagounis became a fan favorite right off the bat.
Often times, when players are figuring out whether their time with a club will come to an end or not, their quotes to the media following the season’s end are good look into their minds to see where they stand with the club.
We’ve recently found out how two possibly-ex-Fulham players stand.
Giorgos Karagounis took the time and effort to gush about the support he’s received from the Fulham fans. The Greek international left it all out on the pitch at Craven Cottage, and the fans recognized it right away and fell in love. He’s noticed.
“I’ve really taken to the Fulham fans, and from the moment that I arrived they gave me a lot of respect and support,” he told the official website. “For a player to have that when he joins a new club is very special. I’m a player that gives my all to a team and to a game, I think the fans see that and appreciate it. They like their players to give their all to the cause. I gave my all to every single game.”
Then the best part: “There’s nothing better for a new player to feel accepted and I had that with both the fans and my teammates from the very start. It’s something that made me feel very proud. I gave 100 per cent every time I put on a Fulham shirt, and that is my way of saying thank you to the fans.”
How bout that from the 36-year-old? If he comes back he wouldn’t be much more than a squad player, but I’d love to see it happen. The guy’s got guts and heart, two heavily undervalued attributes in the game today.
On the other side of the coin, Emmanuel Frimpong had surgery on his knee recently, and acknowledged Fulham in about the bare minimum way he possibly could have. I realize the medium has a character limit, but Frimpong took to Twitter to discuss his knee surgery and return to Arsenal at the end of the loan. He spent a few tweets on the subject, and the final one hinted he’s happy the extended trip across London is over:
from the game also wanna thank everyone at fulham for their support but also is a great feeling to be back at arsenal. have a good day— Emmanuel Frimpong (@IAMFRIMPONG26) May 23, 2013
Not nearly as warm and fuzzy as Giorgos, now is it?
We’ll have to see where both these midfielders end up next season. I have a feeling though that one will be back and one will not. I’ll let you decide which.
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.
Giorgos Karagounis and the rest of the Fulham midfield have, despite age, revitalized a seemingly dire situation into a reliable unit.
It wasn’t long ago that Fulham fans were bemoaning a midfield which to describe as “thin” would be generous beyond recognition. Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey were no longer an asset on the Fulham FC books, Mahamadou Diarra’s injury left a gaping hole in front of the back 4, and Danny Murphy’s ability to dictate the pace and direction of play in the center of the pitch was a role left unfulfilled.
Fast forward to now. The club has picked up 7 points in their last 4 matches, and while there is still an obvious gap in the creativity department, Martin Jol has figured out how to position his players to utilize each one’s best attributes and scrape by despite the missing cog between midfield and striker.
More importantly, he’s taken rusty old parts and shined them up like new to revitalize careers.
It’s already been mentioned numerous times here how Steve Sidwell’s career has flourished once again now that the Dutchman has moved Ginger Iniesta a touch further back and charged him with running the defensive midfield department. Since Diarra’s transfer to the physio room, Sidwell has performed admirably, and one could argue the knee injury to the Malian is one of the better things to happen to Sidwell’s career. Sidwell’s made 76 tackles this season, which is up there for most of anyone at any position in the Premier League.
Speaking of rusty old parts, Martin Jol plucked Giorgos Karagounis off the free transfer market from Panathinaikos and has turned the 35 year old into Danny Murphy 2.0. Even Jol admitted, “Giorgos is not the youngest at 35 but I miss him every game I play the other players.” In a sense, Jol admits Karagounis has played his way into the starting lineup, not just by what he brings when he plays, but what the team misses when he sits. More gaffer on the Greek, “against Stoke I knew that we needed someone, who could play and make us tick in midfield and I think he did that.” Seriously think to yourself, when was the last time Fulham fans have been able to say that about a midfielder? Hasn’t been since Danny Murphy.
Karagounis’s performance in the Stoke match was fantastic. 67/71 passing (94%!), and not only was he spot on, he distributed his passes in a way that kept the Stoke defenders completely off guard. 22 forward passes, 26 backwards passes, and 23 square passes. With that kind of distribution, it’s obvious Karagounis was running the offense, deciding where the next attack would come from. Check out his dashboard:
The Greek’s heart, desire, and most of all work rate are second to none, and it’s obvious by this dash. Look how all over the pitch he was! He was concentrated a bit on the left simply because that’s the side of the midfield he played on (Sidwell was on the other) but he ended up just about everywhere. In fact, Karagounis was involved in 3 of the top 4 highest passing combinations in the match. He sent it to John Arne Riise 17 times, to Ruiz 13 times, and got the ball from Hangeland on 11 occasions.
And when needed, Chris Baird has filled in admirably, using his skills as a defender in conglomeration with pinpoint passing, which is the theme under Martin Jol’s possession scheme. Passing success this season as a whole: Baird: 84%, Sidwell: 85%, Karagounis: 91%, Diarra: 90%, Frimpong: 90%, Richardson: 86%. For the type of game Jol likes to play, those numbers are perfect fits.
The wing play has been fantastic as well recently. Damien Duff just got his new contract (and deservedly so) and once again has shown quality on touch. His 7 assists are his highest single-season total since his Chelsea days, and we’re only in February. In addition, 4 of those assists have come in his last 9 matches, which shows he didn’t pad his assist stats early in the season when Fulham were banging in goals left and right. They have come more so since the goals have somewhat dried up for the team.
On the other end, Ashkan Dejagah has impressed in his last few starts. The Iranian has struggled to stand out in his first season in the Premier League, but most recently against Stoke, he was fantastic on the offensive end. He created 5 chances, and completed 91% of his passes (40/44), including 22/26 in the attacking third. He provided linkup play on the right side, noted by the fact that Sascha Riether passed to Dejagah 14 times, good for the 2nd most effective passing combination in the match.
While the situation isn’t ideal, and there’s still a long way to go, the overall state of Fulham’s midfield isn’t as dire as was once thought. Though reinforcements have been brought in in the forms of Emmanuel Frimpong and Urby Emanuelson, just about the time they’ve gotten here the players already in place have stepped things up. Once Diarra returns, Martin Jol is going to have a real selection situation on his hands. Against the next 4 opponents Sunderland, Chelsea, Tottenham, and QPR, the midfield will become even more important, hopefully these guys can keep up their good form or it could be even more of a tough stretch than it already looks.
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