The rise of Fulham

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Injury Update

The Blackburn game is just a few days away, and the players just returned from intl. break. Some of the players returned with injuries, which is disappointing. I asked the physio to file an injury update.
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That doesn't look good - not one bit. Woodrow, Preece, Baselli and Lustig will all be out for close to a month.
Kacaniklic and Williams picked up slight knocks, but will be available for selection soon.
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November 23rd 2019
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Our winning form continued with a 3-1 win over Blackburn. Pedro was tripped inside the box early on, allowing Jiminez to convert the penalty. Ayala got sent off in the 27th minute and Blackburn were protesting and surrounded the referee. The Blackburn manager Gary Bowyer was absolutely livid on the touchline. It was a harsh decision. Unlucky Ayala.

Roberts and Jiminez added 2 more goals to make it 3-0 before the break. Our second half performance was below par though. We allowed Blackburn to control the game despite being a man down. A 'Jekyll and Hyde' performance from the players, which was exactly what I told.

We must show more concentration. I wanted a fourth premier league cleansheet in a row, but alas!
 
ECC 2019/20: Group Stage

November 26th 2019
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Disappointing draw. We started really well and Sporting were totally pushed back in the opening 20 minutes or so. Jiminez's shot was parried by the Sporting keeper and it fell to Artur, who scored. We played really well in the first half and I encouraged the players to keep it up.

Things changed when Willian equalized for Sporting Lisbon. Once they scored, our midfield went missing. We couldn't keep hold of the ball and our passing was atrocious, at times. To their credit, Sporting pressed us very hard in the second half and kept winning the ball in our half.

From a neutral standpoint, we were a wee bit lucky to come away with a draw.
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We are through to the first knockout round, for the third season running. We just needed a point before the game in order to qualify. Madrid thrashed Palermo 6-0 to give themselves a chance at qualifying.
 
Things are going well mate. Top of the league, already through in the CL.

:O Madrid could miss out!!!
 
Monthly awards

Our recent good form hasn't gone unnoticed. I won the manager of the month award for November after 4 wins, with a huge one against Stamford Bridge.
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Daniele Baselli's long range, sidefooted goal vs. Chelsea came second in the goal of the month contest, behind Derby's Markus Rosenberg.​
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Extending the unbeaten streak to 7 games!

December 4th 2019
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So'ton beat us 6-1 at home last season and this is the perfect payback. We went 4-0 up within 21 minutes and it looked like we were in for a cricket score. But So'ton got their act together after that and tightened up. Despite that, I am a bit disappointed that we switched off a little in the second half. But, it's still a win and another cleansheet!
December 7th 2019
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Good result at Etihad. The first half was even, but Bernard's sending off just before the half time turned the odds in our favour. We attacked with intent in the second half. When we got a penalty, Jiminez made a mess of it and shot wide. Jiminez then hit the post twice, once from under 6 yards. Foday Nabay nearly scored but his shot clipped the woodwork and went out of play.

Jiminez made amends for his penalty miss with a poacher's finish but Mangala equalized for City from a corner, with 3 mins left. It might be an away game against a good team, but given the way the game played out, I have to say we dropped 2 points.
 
ECC 2019/20: Group Stage

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A very nice way to seal the top spot in the Group. Roberts was once again sensational, as he has always been this season. Palermo's shoddy defending allowed Roberts to give us the lead.

For a while in the second half with the score at 1-0, I was worried as Palermo attacked us a lot. But Jiminez and Roberts calmed our nerves by adding two more in a space of 10 mins. A Vilhena's lob pass and Stafylidis' cross provided the assists for Jiminez and Roberts respectively.

Ex-Fulham player Christensen pulled one back for Palermo with a headed goal, but it was all too late for the Serie A team.
Group G:
Real Madrid won 3-1 against Sporting and qualified for the knockout stages. They were in a bit of a worry heading into the last set of games but our defeat of Palermo helped them a bit.
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ECC 2019/20: Round of 16 draw

The teams that progressed through to the first knockout stage are
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Barcelona are surprising absentees. Man United and Marseille finished first and second in Group B, where as Barca came third. All the other favourites made it through.
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Here's how the draw turned out:
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We face Atletico in the first knockout round. Not the kindest of draws, but it'll test our squad. We beat Atletico in last season's quarter final and it'll be interesting to see if we can repeat that.

Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo faces former club Manchester United, which is the highlight of the draw.
 
Injury Update

A couple of players picked up injuries during the Palermo and my meeting with head physio Mark Taylor was one with mixed news. Jiminez suffered a minor injury and will be out for 2-3 days. Luckily, our next game against Derby is 10 days away, so Jiminez should be available for that game.

Amorebieta will be out for 3 weeks, following an ankle injury. That'll leave us without the first two choices for the right back position presently. Thankfully, Lustig is making great progress on his injury and should be available in 2 weeks or so.

Woodrow and Baselli might be available for the Derby game, which is a huge boost.
 
December 21st 2019
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Derby are disappointing in the League this season, sitting at the bottom. Braces from Jiminez and Roberts were sufficient to see off Derby on a rainy day.

The heavy rain made it tough for us to play our usual passing game in the midfield. A lot of our passes didn't find the target in the initial few minutes. So, I switched to a more direct style. It was much better, as Jiminez and Roberts scored in a space of 8 minutes. Rosenberg pulled one back for Derby with an amazing team goal. I've gotta give it to them, it was a brilliant goal.

Jiminez scored from the spot after a lucky penalty for us, and restored the 2 goal lead. we've been on the receiving end of several bad penalty decision and it's about time we got one. Roberts finished the rout with his second goal.
 
December 26th 2019
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I am extremely disappointed with this result. This is the first home game View attachment 272067this season where we dropped points. However, we shouldn't have. Ramsey headed Arsenal ahead early in the game, and despite our dominance, it took us 75 minutes to score a goal.

A shot by Jiminez was punched by the Arsenal keeper Szczesny into Artur's path, who scored. That was the only error, albeit tiny by the Polish keeper. Szczesny had an otherwise brilliant game in goal as he kept out efforts from Roberts, Woodrow and Baselli.

We even hit the woodwork three times, which rounded off a frustrating evening. Chelsea now cutdown our 6 point advantage to just one point, but we do have a game in hand.

View attachment 272066Mini-goal:
I wanted upwards of 13-15 points against the big five this season. So, far I have 8 points from 4 games. So, we're looking good so far.

League table:
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Ending the year 2019

The New Year's time is my least favourite part of the season. Too many fixtures are jammed within a few days and it's very taxing on the players. After having drawn against Arsenal on the boxing day, we played Aston Villa away on the 28th, and Norwich away on the 31st. Here's how the two games unfolded:

December 28th 2019
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Young Nabay got the first goal with a lovely strike from outside the box. A thunderous strike. We looked really good in the first half but Aston Villa equalized in the 56th minute with a well worked goal inside our box. Once that goal went in, it went downwards for us. We gifted away the ball to Aston Villa several times and were lucky not to go down 2-1 down as Villa put together several good moves.

A bit of touchline screaming worked as the players got their act together and Kacaniklic gave us the lead with a left footed volley from close range. More yelling from the touchline made the players concentrate harder and secure the 3 points.
December 31st 2019
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Disappointing, but this was coming. This is our third game in 6 days and it showed. Lots of tired legs forced me to play a waiting game with a tactic aimed at keeping the players relatively fresh for the second half. An even first half saw Norwich score the only goal as Quaschner beat the offside trap to beat Andy Preece in goal.

Woodrow, who made his first start after his return from injury turned on the style by adding a brace in 5 second half minutes to give us the lead. But a lazy Dan Burn foul inside our box allowed Quaschner to score his, and Norwich's second from the penalty spot. Not the best way to conclude the year, but atleast we maintain our unbeaten streak.
 
FA Cup 2019-20: Third Round

January 1st 2020
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Good way to start the year 2020, but it wasn't without drama. I rested a few players like Woodrow, Baselli, Kranevitter and Vilhena for the game. Mace's 82nd minute goal cancelled Roberts' early goal, and it gave us a bit of scare. I don't want a replay and asked the players to push forward.

We were dominant but found ourselves needing a goal to avoid a replay. Thankfully, Artur scored with 5 mins left and gave me much needed joy. Roberts then hit a 20 yard freekick in the stoppage time to give us some breathing space.

Overall, a comfortable win but the 3 minutes between Mace's and Artur's goals was a bit nervous. Here's Roberts free kick. He's banging in goals at an excellent rate off late.
[video=dailymotion;x2pvo8o]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2pvo8o_fm-15-roberts-free-kick-vs-preston_videogames[/video]
Fourth round draw:
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My favourite layout on the site. Keep it up and cracking freekick from Roberts.
 
Full League table

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We're still unbeaten at home and we've already played Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal at home. In fact, we have only dropped 2 points at home during the 1-1 draw against Arsenal. We conceded the least number of goals, along with Chelsea and Tottenham.
 
Pat Roberts

Here's Roberts' performances in the club's last 20 games.
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Quite fantastic, to say the least. 14 games where his rating has been over 7.0, 9 games over 7.5 and 6 above 8.0. 14 goals and 7 assists in 19 games.

Barring the games against Man City and Norwich and maybe a couple others, he has been brilliant for us, and a nightmare for defenders to handle. Some of the goals he has scored are a bit like Robben - cutting in from the right, taking on left backs and getting to the edge of the area and unleashing a powerful shot.

I am generally a very strict manager, criticising players for tiny mistakes but I felt that Roberts deserved some praise. After finishing the training today (2 days before our next game vs. Newcastle), I asked Roberts to come meet me before heading out.

I told him how pleased I was with his recent form.
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