Fulham Story - an attempt at making them a strong force in the league and europe

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phil06

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This is the first attempt i have at a story, i realize that the forum has been flooded with stories lately, but gonna give it a shot anyway. I´ll try to update it regularly. Hopefully it´ll be enjoyable to read. So here goes J.

Roy Hodgson decided to resign from English Premier League club Fulham after almost 2 years in their service due to personal reasons. With the pre-season about to start the Fulham board decided to employ the unknown portuguese manager Filipe Beleza, which will most likely not please a fair amount of the club´s loyal followers. With the hope to finally push through to the european competitions qualifying spots, that dream seems unreachable now.
A press conference officially introducing the new manager will be scheduled for later today.


Press conference




Reporter:


How do you feel, now that you´ve been appointed manager of Fulham?
There have been a few portuguese speaking managers Mourinho and later Scolari, trying their luck in the Premier League in recent years, do you think you´ll be able to achieve similar goals?



Beleza:

Of course i´m very happy to be given a chance like this. I suppose that´s what every new manager says, ain´t it? Oh well…
To answer your other question, i don´t really like to compare myself to other managers as i prefer to focus on my own career. Mourinho still is well respected among the Chelsea supporters while Scolari has probably been forgotten by now for obvious reasons.
I hope of course, that i can live up to the boards as well as the supporters expectations and even my own expectations for that matter.


Reporter:

Would you care to give us a little insight on your approach to the game?


Beleza:

Well, i´m fairly stubborn when it comes to tactics to be honest. Once i make up my mind i´ll stick to it. Of course there´ll always be little tweaks, but nothing major. What i can tell you is that i definatly like to see attacking football. In my opinion it makes the game more interesting.


Reporter:

What about your expectations for this club?


Beleza:

Well, minimum expecation is to get Fulham to the top half of the league table this season, but i hope that we can achieve more than that. Especially with the right investments and team structure.


Reporter:

Speaking of investments, what will be your approach on the market? Do you plan to make changes to you squad?


Beleza:

I´m glad that the club doesn´t have any outstanding loan depts, not to my knowledge anyway. Hopefully i won´t be in for a surprise later on…
Anyhow, once i´ve had a better look at the full squad and decided on a tactic i´ll make my decisions. I´m keeping an eye out for youngsters and free transfers, but also some experienced players to form a balanced squad.
It is certain that i may be needing to sell some players or loan them out,
since i´ve only been given £3 M for transfers and £2.3 M for wages. We´ll see…


Unfortunately i won´t be answering any more questions at this time. I´ve scheduled an intra-squad match for tomorrow and i´d like to prepare my squad for it.

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cheers :)

Month of July 09 update

first set of pre-season matches as well as 1st leg of the 3rd qualifying round in the europa league against Sturm Graz:





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After a decent performance from Fulham, that now are forcing Sturm Graz to win atleast by 2 goals in the second leg, in order to still pass to the next round, their manager Beleza was approached for a quick interview.

Reporter:

It came to our knowledge that you already made a few deals on the market, care to comment?


Beleza:

Indeed, it was a busy month, i decided to sell 5 players and bring in 2 new ones with international experience. I´m quite happy how the deals have turned out price-wise so far and it turned out well for the club too. With no monlthy installments needed for the deals to go through, the financial status of the club received a boost that hopefully will last.
 
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Month of August update​

Due to the EURO cup qualifying games the rest of the pre-season games were cancelled.

Transfer rumour update:
It seems that french club Valenciennes are trying to get rid of the CB Rafael, offering him around £1.6 M. Fulham´s manager Beleza denied any interest in the player, stating that he had adequate cover for that position and doesn´t see the need to bring the 28 year olf defender in. Furthermore he said that it would be unlikely for any more players to join or leave his club during this transfer window. With a remaining fund of £11.77 M there would still be enough money available to get a few more players.

Rafael decided to join Chelsea, although he´ll probably only be a backup for the squad.

Sturm Graz 2nd leg:
Last minute win for Fulham by 1-0, with 3-1 being the aggregate result.
“We should´ve won this game by a bigger margin, with all the clear chances we created. I´m pleased though that our defensive behavior was very impressive. We only allowed 3 shots on goal during the whole match.
Considering that the odds were against us, I have to say that all in all it was a decent performance.”
Zoltán Gera got injured and will be ruled out for roughly 2 weeks and therefore most likely won´t be available for the 1st league match against Bolton. He´s the 2nd midfielder that manager Beleza won´t be able to count on for that match, with Simon Davies still being treated for a sprained ankle for another 2 months.

Fulham qualify for next round and are eager to find out the result of the next draw.

 4th round draw for the EURO cup:
This draw will let Beleza´s side confident of qualifying for the next one by getting to play against CSKA (Sofia).

Injury update:
Fredrik Stoor will be joining the list of injured players, being expected to be out for about 7 weeks after getting injured when playing for Sweden.

Bolton vs Fulham:
1-3 was the final result of this match which Fulham started out being behind. A solid performance by Fulham, having 58% of possession and making a third of their chances count. Although one of their goals resulted from a penalty which not every referee would have given.
Highlight of the match was Fulham´s new signing Harry Kewell, scoring on his debut.

Injury update:
Damien Duff had to be taken off due to injury, but it doesn´t look like something serious, he should be fit to play for the 1st leg against CSKA (Sofia). Also back to action will be Zoltán Gera, if the manager decides to bring him back into the squad.
Just as most players were getting fit, Bjorn Helge Riise got injured while playing for Fulham´s reserve squad and will be out for 2 weeks.

EURO cup 4th round – 1st leg Fulham vs CSKA (Sofia):
4-1 victory for Fulham and again they were behind at first. Better hope they let go of that habit, because at some point it may happen that they don´t maange to turn the result. Sofia only managed to make 1 of their few chances count. It seems almost impossible for Sofia to still make it to the next round.
Highlight was Zoltán Gera´s goal, he had been out injured and made it back just in time for this match, to put up a performance with a 7.9 rating. Hopefully he´ll stay fit and on form in the future.

Transfer rumour update:
Fulham have just received an offer worth £425 K + clauses, made by Auxerre, for promising 18 year old striker Danny Hoesen. The offer is likely to be rejected though since it isn´t much of a change compared to the players current value.

EURO cup 4th round – 2nd leg CSKA (Sofia) vs Fulham:
2-4 was the final result of this game. Fulham scoring all their goals in the first half and again they decided to let the opposition score first. The second half didn´t bring much more to the game and it seemed that Fulham started losing focus.
The aggregate result turned out to be 8-3 for Fulham, which cleared the way to the group stages for them. It´ll be interesting to see what teams they´ll be up against there.

EURO cup group stage draw:
According to experts Fulham was handed a tough group.
Zenit, Heerenveen and Timisoara will be in the way of Beleza´s side.
Beleza´s comment on the group his squad was given was: “It´s gonna be tough, but I think we have a good chance if we stay focused. We´ve been playing well and eventually we´ll have a bad run, but until that happens I´m optimistic.

League Cup draw 3rd round:
Fulham will be playing against Plymouth. Manager Beleza commented that he thought that they could consider themselves lucky for not getting a tougher opponent this soon in the competiton. He added that Plymouth are not to be underestimated though remembering the pre-season game against Sheffield United which ended in a draw, which he thought would end in a win for his team.

Transfer rumour:
Auxerre decided to increase their bid for Fulham´s Hoesen, now the bid is worth £575 K. This time round Sunderland decided to join in trying to outbid Auxerre by offering £675 K.
It don´t seem that the bid is high enough though, to convince Beleza to let the promising youngster move.

Fulham vs Birmingham:
Decent performance by Fulham, that led to a narrow 1-0 win. In the end Fulham´s side can consider themselves lucky that one of Birmingham´s attacks managed to only hit the woodwork towards the end of the game.


 
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nice layout mate and a promising strart but good lord 12.25M for Harry Kewell?!
 
thanks mate, yeah he was sort of expensive... Galatasaray simply wouldn´t budge with the price and he fits well into my system as he can play almost every position in the midfield that´s mainly why i bought him (will be posting tactic/line-up with this months awards before the september update).
 
Harry Kewell?! Surely you could have got someone younger and just as useful, for half the price?

GL.
 
Hehe, yeah well... i have a slightly different approach to the game, thing is i don´t tend to buy the same players for every club as for me it makes the game boring if i´d buy, Dzeko, Villa, Maicon, Vidic, Ribery, Toulalan and so on.
Apart from that i was looking for an experienced player that was already familiar with the english league and as such would have it easier to get settled. :)
 
Monthly Awards / Major transfer activity in Premier League


as well as the tactic in use
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Month of September Update​

Injury update:
Bjorn Helge Riise is available again, but it is likely that Beleza still wants him to sit out the first match of this month against Burnley,

Fulham vs Burnley:
Classy performance by Fulham winning 3-0 at home. It could have easily turned into a high scoring game, if not for Burnley´s keeper Diego Penny who made the game of his life. Despite that he was substituted by Owen Coyle after the first half at that point only being behind by one goal. A rare sight, to see a manager take off his keeper without a hint of an injury.
Highlight being Chris Smalling´s first career goal.
Fulham manager Beleza stated in a short interview that he is very pleased with his team´s performance and the good run they had since last month. Now with the next match being the first real challenge when they have to take on Man City, it´s gonna be interesting to see if Fulham can keep up their good results.

Man City vs Fulham:
First loss for Fulham in this season. Losing the game 4-2, a result that doesn´t show how the game really was. The first Man City goal by Robinho seems to have been scored from a irregular position, but that´s no excuse. Fulham´s side should´ve made more out of the chances they were presented with, way too many shots went off target today. Fulham´s midfield had an off day, possibly due to overconfience resulting from the good previous results.
New Fulham signing Rodrigo Tello scored his frist goal for his new club today.
Beleza said after the match that no good run lasts forever, and they won´t be dishearted by this loss.

EURO cup Group stage – Timisoara vs Fulham:
Only decided by a late goal by Andy Johnson, this match was quite balanced. With Mark Schwarzer guaranteeing the win for his team.
Again too many chances for Fulham that they didn´t convert to goals.

Transfer rumour update:
Auxerre´s manager Jean Fernandez, seems to get senile these days. Placing yet another bid on Fulham´s Hoesen, after his previous offers having already been rejected, this time lowering the offer again. Fulham´s manager Beleza already stated not to bother with offers for that player any longer.

Fulham vs Everton:
Fulham lose at home 1-2 somewhat unlucky. Hitting the post once, if it would´ve gone in they would´ve been in the lead and most likely won this game. Without many chances created on either side, this was a game that surely didn´t excite many supporters.
Damien Duff got injured during the match and will be out for 2 weeks. He´ll probably miss the next 3 matches against Plymouth, Stoke and Zenit.

League Cup 3rd round – Fulham vs Plymouth:
A very good performance by Fulham, winning 3-0 although it easily could´ve been by an even bigger margin if not for Plymouth´s keeper Romain Larrieu, who got the man of the match award.

League Cup 4th draw:
Fulham will be playing against Man City. Surely Fulham´s manager Beleza would have prefered to be given a different draw.

Fulham vs Stoke:
An entertaining match this was. With Fulham getting the 3 points by winning 3-2. Zoltán Gera scored the deciding goal. Fulham side add another player to the injury list though with Andy Johnson set to miss the important match against Zenit for the EURO cup.

Injury update:
Fredrik Stoor is set to make his return for the Zenit match next month.


 
Month of October update​

Fulham vs Zenit:
Fulham put up a solid performance in this match and won 2-1 in a game where they weren´t considered favorites the goal that sealed the deal, was hit from the spot by Bobby Zamora. As surprising as it may seem the margin could´ve been even bigger. With one shot hitting the post, a goal disallowed for supposed offside, according to the referee as well as a penalty not given Zenit can consider themselves lucky with the outcome. Manager Beleza appears to have been furious with the referee´s performance, saying that such an abundance of mistakes is difficult to tolerate.

Transfer rumour update:
Apparently Seol Ki-Hyeon asked his manager Beleza to be transfer listed. With him failing to make a single appearance for The Cottagers. It is reported that Fulham´s manager already tried to sell him in the first transfer window, but was unsuccessful. Maybe now that he´s transfer listed, more clubs will become interested in the player who officially is worth around the £2.1 M

Portsmouth vs Fulham:
Nothing worth writing home about in this match. An average performance by both sides ended with a lucky win by Fulham. Both sides had plenty of chances which were mostly wasted. Dickson Etuhu suffered an injury in todays match and will be out for 2 weeks.
Beleza was heard saying that he was pleased with the team´s possession of the ball and felt that the win was deserved.

Injury update:
Andy Johnson. Damien Duff, Dickson Etuhu and Simon Davies are back to being fit, latter after having been injured for 4 months.
Unfortunatelly a whole new set of players have come back with injuries from the international squad and reserve matches, these being Aaron Hughes, Bobby Zamora and the club´s top scorer Clint Dempsey. Who´ll definitely miss out on the matches against Tottenham and Heerenveen and possibly the league cup game against Man City as well.

Transfer update:
Unhappy Seol Ki-Hyeon has recently agreed moving to FC Porto after having rejected contract offers from Sporting and Hoffenheim. The deal worth around £2 M will surely please Beleza as it wasn´t expected that this transfer would genereate this kind of fund. Only two and a half months until the January transfer window opens.

Tottenham vs Fulham:
Tottenham managed to take 3 points home on this dull game. Lennon´s only goal being the highlight of the match. If it wasn´t for Mark Schwarzer, the only player from the Cottagers that was on form, it could have turned out to be a loss by even more goals.
Beleza seemed to be quite unhappy with his side´s performance, and will probably be wishing for his injured players to return asap.

EURO cup group stage – Fulham vs Heerenveen:
Good performance by Fulham, winning 2-0 without ever really being threatened by the opposition. This is their 13th win in 16 games and losing only 3 so far. The club´s supporters will be hoping that this good run continues, as will the manager.

Injury update:
Aaron Hughes will be back in action for the league cup match against Man City.

League Cup 4th round - Man City vs Fulham:
A fairly good game with few goals scored in regular time. 1-1 was the score at the final whistle. With Micah Richards being sent off, due to being given a second yellow card in extra time after an unfair challenge Man City parked the bus infront of goal so that a penalty shootout was needed to see who´d be the winner. And who´d have guessed that Fulham woud be going through to the next round, winning the game 3-5 in the end. Andy Johnson got injured again and will be out of the picture for another 3 weeks.
A happy Fulham manager was asked to give his view on this match. “I´m proud of my players, they showed great character and would actually have deserved to win this game in regular time. So I´m pleased that this turned out the way it has.”

Injury update:
Mark Schwarzer will be missing out the matches against Blackburn and Heerenveen, after suffering a strained neck in training. He´s expected to be back in a week. David Stockdale will most likely take his place between the posts.

League Cup quarter final draw:
With Fulham still being in the competition, and thus above the board´s expectation it´ll be interesting to see how they´ll do against Tottenham now.

Blackburn vs Fulham:
A narrow win for Fulham by 1-2, and a not really deserved one at that. With Blackburn being disallowed a clear goal, Fulham were the luckier side. Blackburn´s Vicenzo Grella got sent off towards the end of the game.
 
Can we have a picture of the League table please, you seem to be doing quite well.

Very surprised you paid so much for Kewell but if it works for you, then fair enough.

I'll keep an eye on this.
 
here you go already includes one match from november against Chelsea which i lost (more detailed in the november update being posted later today, unless my internet provider decides to quit on me like yesterday lol)
 
yeah you're doing a good job here :) Harry kewell, big money that is, but like you say it's more interesting than buying the same old players as everyone else does.

hope you can keep this up.
 
cheers mate :) yeah i still feel the midfield needs a little more boosting up though. Thinking of getting another one in january. This time a bit cheaper :p
 
Month of November update​

Injury update:
Chris Dempsey and Bobby Zamora will now be available again.

EURO cup group stage – Heerenveen vs Fulham:
Another narrow and undeserved win for the cottagers. 1-2 was the result that could´ve been different, if the referee would´ve given Heerenveen a deserved penalty. A win that qualified Fulham for the next round of the competition.David Stockdale played his first match of the season, but didn´t really stand out.
Beleza seemed pleased with his team qualifying, especially because the board´s expectation was only to reach the group stage. Now they can expect a decent financial boost, even if Fulham doesn´t win the outstanding games.

Injury update:
Mark Schwarzer is fit again, and will be back in the starting line-up against Chelsea.

Fulham vs Chelsea:
Fulham lose at home by 2-0. Completely dominated by the Chelsea squad the Cottagers hardly ever managed to get a shot on goal. Not only manager and team will be disappointed with the performance, the fans won´t be happy either losing against the rivals. Chelsea haven´t lost a single league game so far, with 10 wins and 2 draws they´re top of the league.

Fulham vs Sunderland:
Looks like the Fulham side managed to pick themselves up after the defeat against Chelsea earlier this month. Banging in 3 without conceding against Sunderland. Great game, atleat for the Fulham supporters.
“Some great attitude from my players today, I´m very pleased with how we dominated this match” these were the words from Fulham´s manager Beleza after the game.

Injury update:
Andy Johnson will make his return against Wigan, who are Fulham´s next opponents in the league. For the first time since Beleza took over the manager position, he´ll have a fully fit squad available.

Well it seems like the most recent fitness news were jinxed, as it just so happens that Chris Smalling suffered from food poisoning and is on his way to the hospital to have his stomach pumped out. He´ll be out for a week and with a bit of luck he´ll be back just in time for the Wigan match.

Wigan vs Fulham:
Another solid win for Fulham, this time the result at the final whistle was 1-3. With Fulham making the most of their chances and a bit of luck, with the referee awarding a penalty in their favour, they´re pushing up the table. We´ll see if they can keep it up.

Wolves vs Fulham:
A narrow win for the Cottagers here, by just 0-1. This win leaves them at 9 points from the being 1st in the league. The only goal scored by Harry Kewell sealed the deal in a fairly balanced match between tehse two sides. A good defensive attitude towards the end guaranteed them the 3 points.

Fulham vs Aston Villa:
Fulham played dreadfully and somewhat unlucky lost 1-2. Only being able to score from the spot and an own goal by Mark Schwarzer this must have been their worst display yet this season.
Not all that´s good last forever were Beleza´s words when he was asked about his teams performance today.

FA Cup 3rd round draw:
Bristol City will be playing against Fulham. The Cottagers are considered clear favorites for this match, scheduled for January.

 
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