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

well so much for the first season, i hope those of you that followed enjoyed reading through this. Thanks for following, and i´ll probably start with the second season tomorrow.

---------- Post added at 03:07 PM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 08:50 PM ----------

Season 2010/11



Board Info

With the new season about to begin, some changes around the club were made. With the lack of a feeder club at this point, Beleza decided to approach the board and ask for a new one. The board agreed to present a few choices in the future.
The board also decided it was time to invest some money into the stadium and announced plans to install undersoil heating.
Also the new season expectations were announced. With the board making a transfer budget of £42 M available as well as £3.4 M for wages there is bound to be some activity on the transfer market

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Cheers :)

yeah i know Dzeko is good, but i try to avoid buying players that eventually everyone buys for their team. In the end it´s too easy and takes a bit the fun out of the game for me. Apart from that he just signed for Man City :p
 
Transfers
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Fulham went on a transfer frenzy this season selling a total of 7 players and sending another 5 on loan, 3 of which went to the new feeder club Charlton Athletic. As for transfers in, there were also made 7, Jonathan Greening is one of the players that have been loaned out right after joining the club.

Transfers out:
-Simon Davies decided to join Celtic after not getting enough first team football
-Zoltán Gera although having some good performances last season he wasn´t part of Beleza´s plans for the new season. He joined Villarreal
-Kagiso Dikgacoi wasn´t able to gain work permit for a contract renewal and therefore Beleza decided it was best to still get some funds out of him while possible. Palermo will be the new club for him.
-Mark Schwarzer was getting on with the years and thus a move to Birmingham was negociated.
-Aaron Hughes agreed terms with Juventus after being told that he´d only be used in a rotation system of the squad and wouldn´t have a first team place guarantee.
-Bobby Zamora´z sell might have been a mistake and maybe Beleza should´ve held onto him for another season as the deals to bring in another class striker didn´t seem to have gone anywhere.
-Eddie Johnson was beginning to feel unhappy at the club and so he was transferred to Lecce for a bargain price, since not many clubs showed interest in the player to begin with.Transfers in

Transfers in:
-Jonathan Greening, a deal already made before current manager Beleza took over at the club, was sent straight off to Cardiff on a loan to buy option.
-Ibrahim Toraman, a defender who´ll be the replacement for Aaron Hughes, came from Besiktas.
-Tiago came from Juventus and will be assigned the new role of playmaker at the club.
-Jaroslav Drobný was brought in Mark Schwarzer replacement. Although not being first choice on Beleza´s list to fill that position, it was a good bargain deal that will do just fine for a couple of seasons. Hertha may be regretting his departure.
-Mario Santana will be strengthening the midfield in the new season, although best as winger he´ll be able to fill the wide or attacking midfielder role.
-Cícero was a must buy for such a small fee. A player able to play almost everywhere on the pitch, except the cb and the whole right side of the pitch. With Hertha failing to pull the buy option on their loan deal last season, he returned to Trombense before being transferred.
-Chris Gadi, a hot prospect striker who has the talent to be atleast as good as Andy Johnson joined the club to fill up the position of a sub striker as higher profile targets weren´t interested in joining at this time.
 
Not doing in depth analysis on pre.season matches btw, as it´s just to get fitness levels up i don´t really rate them. August update will be up later today if i find time to play the game.
 
Doing well mate making Champions League 1st season!! Plus with a load of pretty unknown signings. Good luck!!
 
Thanks mate. :)
yeah well i only qualified for CL playoffs with the 4th place finish, but yeah was a good season went better than i had expected.

RRAKEYii said:
Doing very well, keep it up! (I love the layout) But £12m for Harry Kewell seems a bit much.

---------- Post added at 02:45 AM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 10:03 PM ----------

Hey I think if you included more detail on matches it would be a lot better e.g. Formartion/Starting line up and subs etc. Think about it. your doing a great job. What is your starting line up?
Click to expand...

thanks for the advice, well my formation and subs are usually the same, unless there are injured players among them... tactic is always the same one as well, only tweaking it a bit here and there. Will post the tactic with squad in the next post.
 
Month of August update
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Champions Cup best placed playoff draw:
Fulham will need to get past Anderlecht in order to get into the Champions Cup group stage. This should be a doable task.

Injury update:
Elliot Omozusi got injured in training and will be out for up to 6 weeks. Chris Baird will also be out for 2 weeks, both will miss the important matches against Anderlecht for the Champions Cup.

Bolton vs Fulham:
Fortunate win for Fulham in the first league game of the season. With Bolton trying twice as many shots as the Cottagers, but without knowing how to get the ball on the target. Highlight would be Mario Santana´s performance on his league debut scoring his first goal.

Champions Cup playoff, 1st leg – Fulham vs Anderlecht:
Solid win by 3-1 for Fulham. Anderlecht were outplayed in every department and were lucky to score a goal at all. Fulham could´ve done more with their chances, but a win by 2 goals is still good. Now they´re a step closer to qualifying for the group stage.

Newcastle vs Fulham:
Another narrow win by 0-1 for Fulham who had difficulties in the attacking front and only rarely posing threat to the opposition´s goalkeeper. Andy Johnson´s early goal saved the Cottagers from losing points early in the season. Mario Santana suffered an injury in this match and won´t be back in action until around mid-september.

Champions Cup Playoff, 2nd leg – Anderlecht vs Fulham:
Solid performance by Fulham who are through to the next round after winning this match 1-2, making the aggregate score 2-5. It was a good match wih many chances on both sides, but Fulham were more disciplined defensively. Fulham will now be hoping to end up in a group with not too many difficult challenges.

Champions Cup draw:
Fulham were handed a tough group for this stage of the competition. With Real Madrid, Juventus and FC Twente it´ll be a real challenge to get points here.
“ This must have been the toughest group we could´ve ended up in. If we get more consistent and the team gels, we may have a chance, but it´s gonna be hard for sure.” Tthis was the reaction of Fulham manager Beleza after the group stage draw.

League Cup 3rd round draw:
Hull will be Fulham´s first opponents in this competition, a doable task, but the opposition shouldn´t be underestimated.

Fulham vs Tottenham:
After being behind by 0-1 at half time, with a fairly weak performance by Fulham, they returned full of confidence after the break and were rewarded with a late equaliser by Paul Konchesky who had come on as a sub to replace Rodrigo Tello. A deserved equaliser which could´ve been the winning goal, if the referee wouldn´t have missed a penalty favoring Fulham.
 
Monthly Awards / Major transfer activity in Premier League


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Month of September update
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Injury update:
Mario Santana is back from injury, but will probably be left out against Man City to ensure that he´s fully fit before he gets back on the pitch.

Man City vs Fulham:
A fairly boring match that was only decided by an alleged foul in Fulham´s penalty box. Which then Gareth Barry scored from the spot. Neither team would have deserved a win today, but in the end Fulham just lost their first match of the season.

Injury update:
Elliot Omozusi is back in training and is expected to be fully fit in a few days.

Champions Cup group stage - Fulham vs Real Madrid:
With Drobny being in top form, Fulham managed ot get a valuable point today. With Real Madrid as clear favorites Fulham had a hard time to get into the game and mainly relied on their defense and fast counters. Fulham actually managed to be in the lead for a few minutes with a goal by Harry Kewell, but couldn´t fight back Real Madrid´s attacking force for the whole game and Higuain scored the equalizer. Ibrahim Toraman got his third yellow card in the competition and will miss the next match against Twente.

Fulham vs Stoke:
Solid performance by the Cottagers with Stoke not being able to cope. Only making two shots on target Stoke never really posed a threat and so Andy Johnson sealed the deal for Fulham by scoring two goals.

League Cup 3rd round - Hull vs Fulham:
A very disappointing match this one was. Hull hardly ever posed a threat making only one shot on target, while Fulham were unable to convert most of their chances. Clint Dempsey had to come off the bench to give Fulham the deserved win in the final minutes of the game.

League Cup 4th draw:
Arsenal will be Fulham´s next opponents in this competition.

Fulham vs Portsmouth:
A good comeback in the second half enabled Fulham to still get three points here. After being behing 0-1 at half time Beleza brought in the right subs for the second part of the game and the Cottagers started performing better, Kamara who came on as a sub scored the equaliser and later in the 68th minute Andy Johnson scored the winning goal. Mario Santana was sent off during the game due to accumulation of yellow cards and will now miss out against Aston Villa.

Champions Cup group stage - Twente vs Fulham:
Relying once again on striker Andy Johnson, Fulham managed to get a good win by 0-2. Being down to 10 man still in the 1st healf, and towards the end of the game only with 9 players on the pitch it turned out to be quite a struggle to take the 3 points. Tiago and Baird will miss the important match against Juventus due to having been sent off.

Injury update:
Paaul Konchesky will be out injuted for 2 weeks.
 
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Month of October update
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Aston Villa vs Fulham:
A not so fortunate start for Fulham in this month, losing 3-2. An all in all good match with many chances, that could´ve gone either way. In the end Aston Villa were able to save their lead until the end of the match.

Injury update:
John Pantsil will miss out the next match against Watford due to injury. Paul Konchesky on the other hand wil be available again.

Watford vs Fulham:
Easy win for Fulham by 0-3. Watford didn´t get a single shot on target and can´t complain about the outcome of the game. Harry Kewell got injured during the match and may be out for the rest of the month.

Champions Cup group stage - Juventus vs Fulham:
Fulham can consider themselves lucky with just losing 1-0 against Juventus today. A weak performance by the Cottagers that had difficulties when it came to get past the opposition´s defense. David Luiz scored the only goal of the match.

Injury update:
John Pantsil will make it back in time to take on Chelsea. Paul Konchesky got injured in training and will be out for 2 weeks.

Fulham vs Chelsea:
Fulham were close to get a draw in a match that Chelsea dominated. Michael Ballack´s goal, scored close to the end of the game made the final score 1-2. Overall a balanced match between both teams.

League Cup 4th round – Arsenal vs Chelsea:
A very balanced match between both teams, but Fulham were able to get the win. With 1-2 being the final score it could´ve turned out differently considering that Arsenal had a goal disallowed that could´ve been considered legit. The Cottagers new signing Tiago scored the winning goal.

League Cup quarter final draw:
Fulham will need to get past Burnley in order to afvance in this competition.

Blackburn vs Fulham:
A poor performance by both sides. If not for Andy Johnson´s scoring ability this would´ve eneded a bore draw. In the end the result was 0-1, and Fulham getting 3 points.
 
Month of November update
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Injury update:
Keeper Drobny will miss the Juventus match.

Champions Cup group stage – Fulham vs Juventus:
Fulham could´ve gotten a win here if they´d only have made more out of their chances. As it so often happens those who don’t score, concede and that´s how it turned out. Fulham losing 1-2 at home, Juventus get the points.

Injury update:
Kewell, Drobny and Konchesky are fit again.

Transfer rumour update:
Andranik seems to be unhappy at the club and may be thinking of a change of scenery. It also looks like Fulham are interested in bringing in another striker as reinforcement during the january transfer window.

Fulham vs Liverpool:
And yet another 1-2 loss for Fulham in a match that could´ve gone either way. Fernando Torres secured the win for Liverpool late in the game. As if this loss wouldn´t be enough already Andy Johnson sprained his ankle during the encounter and will be out for about a month.

Sunderland vs Fulham:
Fulham secure narrow win in an exciting match. With the final result being 2-3 Fulham got 3 points today. Two of the new signings from the summer transfer window were especially on form. Santana scored two out of the three goals and hot prospect Chris Gadi scored on his league debut. Sunderland could´ve gotten atleast a draw if Bent would´ve scored from the spot.

Managerial casualties:
Mark Hughes was sacked today after only being 10th in the league after 13 games played.

Fulham vs Arsenal:
Few chances in a boring match with Denilson scoring the only goal of the game. Arsenal got the 3 points, but they didn+t do much to deserve them. This is Fulham´s third loss this month and with Real Madrid and Man Utd to be played next, it will be hard to get a win from those as well.

Champions Cup group stage – Real Madrid vs Fulham:
Losing this match 1-0, Fulham are already out of the competition with one more match to be played. A good performance by Drobny and the back four prevented a heavier loss. Real Madrid hardly ever gave countering chances to Fulham and so only few attacks were made towards their goal. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal of this match.

Man Utd vs Fulham:
Former Fulham player Hangeland did his old team a favor by scoring an own goal and gifting them with a win by 0-1. Fulham were the side that seemed to want the win more. Creating more chances than Man Utd. And having more possession. This result saved somewhat the already bad month for Fulham.

FA Cup 3rd round draw:
Either Gillingham or Leeds will be Fulham´s first opponents in this competition.
 
Month of December update
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League Cup quarter final - Fulham vs Burnley:
Fulham seem to have recovered from the series of bad results and defeated Burnley 3-1. Solid perofmrance by the Cottagers, only getting complacent late in the game, which led to the only goal by Burnley.

League Cup semi final draw:
Plymouth or Man City will be Fulham´s next opponents.

Wigan vs Fulham:
Fulham are lucky to get a narrow win. Kamara who came on as sub, scored the only goal of the match, This goal seemed to have been scored from an offside position, but the referee decided that it was legit.

Champions Cup group stage – Fulham vs Twente:
Very good performance allournd by Fulham. Only letting the opposition have one shot on goal speaks for itself, as well as the two goals that got them the win. Now Fulham will enter the EURO Cup knockout rounds.

Injury update:
Andy Johnson is finally back and available for the match against Wolves.

Fulham vs Wolves:
Another win for Fulham thanks to Kilbane´s own goal. Fulham had twice as many chances as Wolves, but only managed to get a 3-2 win today. Andy Johnson celebrated his comeback with a goal.

EURO Cup 1st knockout round draw:
Fulham will play Club Brugge in this stage of the competition.

EURO Cup 2nd knockout round draw:
Olympiakos or Rubin will be playing against either Fulham or Club Brugge.

Fulham vs Cardiff:
Total domination by Fulham, getting a solid 3-0 win. Gadi got on the scoreshot after coming in as a sub for Andy Johnson who also managed to get a goal. Manager Beleza will be happy that both his strikers are scoring goals. Clint Dempsey, who came on as sub as well, also scored.

Fulham vs Everton:
Despite a weak performance, Fulham were able to get 3 ponts out of this game. Kewell scoring the only goal of the match sealed the deal. Everton clearly dominated the match, but wasn´t able to convert the many chances they had to score. Andy Johnson got injured and won´t be back for the West Ham match.

West Ham vs Fulham:
First loss for Fulham this month and a deserved one it was. With only 43% possession Fulham weren´t able to make their game creative. Kewell got injured in the match and will be out for over a month.

Fulham vs Bolton:
Solid win by 2-0 for Fulham. Completely dominating the opposition, Fulham almost didn´t have to bother defending. Bolton only managed to create a single chance on goal and were lucky to only concede 2 goals. Jan Polak was injured during the match and will be out for a month

Injury update:
Cícero is the latest addition to the injured key players. He´ll also be out for 3 weeks. On the bright side Andy Johnson will be available for the Leeds match.
 
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Monthly Awards / League Table


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