The rise of Fulham

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For the third game in a row, we score two goals, and for the third game in a row Woodrow and Kacaniklic are the scorers. Alexander scored very early into the game after The Saints defense failed to clear a long ball and made a complete mess of it. Jake Hesketh equalized for Southampton after a neatly worked cross from their right flank. The game was finely balanced at half-time and I told the boys that they could win the game.
The teams were evenly matched until the 65th minute when Yoshida tripped Barker inside the penalty area. Woodrow converted the resulting penalty giving us the lead, which we held on to for the next half an hour or so. A vital away victory against Southampton which takes us to 6th spot in the League.
 
A good result. To come away from the Etihad stadium with a point is something I'd am content with. City have been disappointing this season in the league. City came into this game on the back of 8 games without a win in all competitions. But their performance didn't suggest that whatsoever. They threatened to score on several occasions through Aguero, Silva, Toure, Nasri and Milner but none of them could find a way past Balanta and Amorebieta who were just too good. City's rather short and physically not-so-strong frontline wasn't a match for our strong central defense.
All post-match analyses suggested that we were lucky to draw. I wouldn't call it 'lucky' - our defense won the contest against the fearsome City offense with a top draw performance.

The League Table:
We've been doing very well recently. Three consecutive wins against Norwich, Swansea and Southampton took us to 6th place in the league. City are definitely struggling as they are below us. Mancini must be under immense pressure at the moment.
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FA Cup - third round.

We were drawn Ispwich at home for the third round. This should be an easy one, I said to myself, after our recent triumphs in the EPL. And I was in for a surprise.....

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No! No! Not so early, No. To get eliminated in the third round, our very first FA Cup game is disappointing. I was confident of winning this and with the chances we created, we should have. Ipswich took the lead after our defense did a terrible job in clearing a ball from the penalty area.
Dan Burn was trying to hold up play inside our own penalty area. That is just pure ********. Just kick it out, man - anywhere would do. Murphy easily won the ball from Burn and put it past Stekelenburg. Ah, **** it!
Brandon Bakker, the 19 year old winger, on loan from City had two great chances to equalize. The first one had the Ipswich keeper Bialkowski at full stretch while the second one was a laughable effort as Barker scuffed it horribly wide from 10 yards out. Ruiz, Woodrow, Parker all came close but not close enough.

Upon hearing the ref's final whistle, Ipswich players were off to celebrate. I was standing on the touchline, with my hands in my coat pocket and being drenched in rain. I waited there until Robinson (the Ipswich manager) finished his celebrations, gave him a congratulatory handshake and a hug before heading into the tunnel.

It was time for a nasty team talk. A nasty one indeed.​
 
Two important things to report:
  • Alan Miller, who was sent to scout Brazil has turned in his recent report as we are looking for some midfield playmakers. A few players look promising, with two of them standing out:View attachment 290206 View attachment 290205
    I have submitted an official enquiry for these two. If Atletico and Vitoria reject my offer, I'll look for some other players. There are others like Adryan, Octavio and Lucas Lima who caught my eye. Only time will tell.

  • Marcus Bettinelli, who has been pretty good in goal for us got himself injured during our last league game against City. Initial physio report indicated that the injury wasn't serious and that he'd be out only for a week.But Mark Taylor submitted a report yesterday which states that the situation is much worse than we though. He'll be out for 6-7 weeks more. I cursed almost non-stop after reading it but what can I do... I wished him a speedy recovery and told Taylor to send him to a specialist and get him fit within 3-4 weeks. Maarten Stekelenberg will have to fill in for us in the absence of the 23 yr old.
 
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NEWCASTLE vs. FULHAM PRE-MATCH: Newcastle are flying high this season, as they are second in the league. This is a huge game for us facing them at St. James' Park. Our recent league performances have been good but the loss to Ipswich in the FA Cup hurt the team and we needed to pull ourselves back.

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A good result for us. Newcastle have a really good attack and have been racking up goals this season. They scored very early through Giovinco. For a while, it looked like Newcastle would score more. As the game progressed, we started to retain possession better and created chances of our own. Upon my touchline encouragement, they pushed forward and started to threaten the Newcastle defense.
Around the 32nd minute mark, Lustig whipped in a beautiful and Woodrow headed it onto the path of Baselli. As Krul rushed forward to block Baselli's shot, he slipped in a ball through Krul's legs for Barker to hammer it home. After that goal, Daniele Baselli started to pull all sorts of strings from the midfield. He won several tackles and his passing was a joy to behold. He is slowly proving to be a very good signing.

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In my second Premier League game as manager, West Ham gave us an absolute thumping as they won 6-0 at Upton Park. It's time for the return fixture and we all wanted to get revenge!
The first half was an absolute thriller. There was so much action near the penalty areas of both teams. The very first attack in the game resulted in a goal as Woodrow found himself at the end of a wonderful 50 yard pass from Brandon Barker and coolly passed it into the net.

West Ham struck twice in quick time as Zarate skipped past our defense with rather ease. He ran rings around our defense for the first half an hour. Fortunately for us, he had to go out injured in the 35th minute. It was such a relief to see the end of him in today's game. He tormented us in just 30 minutes. I don't even want to imagine what he'd have done if he had stayed on. He got a rating of 9.1 in 30 minutes and got the player of the match. That should make it clear as to how dominant he was.

Anyway, we pulled level from a trademark Woodrow shot. He held the ball on the edge of the box, gave himself some room before he mercilessly hammered the ball into the back of the net. West Ham goalie Robles had no time to react. The second half was a bit less entertaining. Both teams had a few chances but none clear-cut enough to end in goals.

Fourth game in a row without a victory. Not really disappointed to be honest but we should get the 3 points soon as Q.P.R., Spurs and Everton are snapping at our heels in the League table.

Woodrow's goal:
[video=dailymotion;x2k7jfw]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2k7jfw_fm-15-barker-s-pass-and-woodrow-s-goal_videogames[/video]
 
ANOTHER DRAW!

Sigh! Another draw - our fourth in a row. But I wouldn't mind it here. The dominance from Liverpool was near impossible for us to keep in check. Waves of red players kept our defense busy. Liverpool have every right to feel unlucky as they could only manage a draw.
With Stirling, Sturridge, Walcott, Can and Henderson in their side, they are looking so dangerous.

The stats indicate that we were hardly in the game. With 58% possession and 32 shots at goal (compared to our 11), Liverpool were clearly the better side. I am not sure if I should be concerned with our weak performance. However, I am not too worried because Liverpool is clearly a much better side than ours.

Our last 8 games:
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14 points from 8 games is not great but we haven't lost a game among those 8. It's finely balanced at the moment.
 
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Some impressive results in that run despite the draws. How's the table looking?
 
Lippo255 said:
Some impressive results in that run despite the draws. How's the table looking?
Click to expand...
6th :)
Arsenal, United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle are above us.

The recent weeks have been good as Spurs, City and Everton (who are snapping at our heels) all dropped points.
 
Louis Van Gaal and his mind games!

After four draws in the Premier League, it was time to turn our focus elsewhere - the Capital One Cup. The red devils are visiting tomorrow to play the first leg of the semi-final.

I got the news that it's a sell-out. No empty seats; fans from both teams are going to be flooding the stadium. Van Gaal certainly doesn't like me. He once again told the press of how we've been lucky in the league and that he's relishing to get one over me.

Ah, the mind games. I don't want to go into those now. May be when Fulham are well established as a top team in the League, I'll give him a piece of my mind, if he's still around. I sent Baresi to handle the press conference. It seems like a bad decision now but it's done.

None of the off-field incidents seem to be affecting the players though as the morale has been pretty good recently. They are certainly giving it all in the training sessions. Baresi approaches me after the session and says the staff wants to meet me. I said OK, and went back to my office and we discussed things regarding staff additions, training performances, players to buy/sell etc.

I feel confident that we can get a result at home, in the first leg. Not sure why thought - after all we are facing a highly successful club. I am confident of this fixture and the League Cup in general.
 
HAT-TRICK HERO WOODROW DOWNS UNITED!

Capital One Cup Semi-Final (First Leg)I am speechless. Literally speechless. I still can't believe we beat United 4-0. Beating United itself is a huge deal, but beating them 4-0 is just crazy.

I could write a book about this game but I'd rather not. Woodrow was just brilliant in front of goal. He had really good support from the wingers Barker and Kacaniklic. Woodrow's first two goals were from the edge of the area and he drilled the ball into the back of the net both times - typical of the man.
His third came from an indirect free kick as he beat De Gea from an extremely narrow angle.
Amidst the Woodrow show, Mikael Lustig scored one in the 33rd minute when the ball fell to him after United only partially cleared a ball into the box.

United were wasteful in front of goal. They had a few decent chances and they really should've hit the back of the net atleast once. Instead they scuffed it wide or hit it straight at Stekelenberg.

I'll just leave this here:
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Before the United win, we had four draws on the trot and my assistant Baresi said that the players' morale has slightly declined. After we beat United at Craven Cottage, I was confident that the morale increased. However, there's only way to find this out. I called in Scott Parker, the club captain to have a quick chat. My initial thoughts were correct, as Parker spoke of good morale in the dressing room at the moment.
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It is important for us to keep up our good performances recently as we enter the second half of the season.
 

I can confirm these rumors. We made an $9.5M offer for United's Wayne Rooney. After a few negotiations between our boards, they accepted a bid of $12.5M.

It was time to have a chat with Rooney. He was reluctant to meet me personally and insisted on having a phone conversation. I agreed.
However, things didn't go as planned for me, as Rooney didn't want to join us as he doesn't want to leave United now, and even if he did, we are too 'small' a club for him. I told him that I'd be willing to make him the club captain as Parker is nearing the end of his career. But Rooney didn't budge.

Oh well, I am not too disappointed. It was an audacious bid anyway.

A new contract for Woodrow:
So, Rooney rejected us and we had to tie down our main striker to the club. I told the board of my wishes and they told me to go ahead with the deal. After having a discussion with Baresi and Pembridge, I made a phone call to Townsend, Cauley's agent and we drafted a renewed contract to Woodrow for $4.5M per year and a few other clauses, and would extend his stay till 2020.
Townsend said he'd talk to Woodrow and let me know in a few days.
I hope he signs the deal...he is vital to my plans.
 
Very good performance from the lads. The goals came from some really good passing - especially the second and third goals. Quick exchanges between Jones, Baselli, Barker and Woodrow opened up the Sunderland defense for the second and third goals. Barker got the assist for Woodrow's goal and Woodrow got the assist for Barker's goal.
We tried to increase our lead in the second half but Sunderland tightened up their defense and made it harder for us.

I took the gas off the pedal a little bit as both Barker and Woodrow were substituted with 25 minutes left on the clock. I needed them in fully fit condition for the big game against United at Old Trafford.

Here's Woodrow's second goal (our third):
[video=dailymotion;x2k80pb]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2k80pb_fm-15-woodrow-goal-vs-sunderland_videogames[/video]
 
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MY SECOND TRIP TO OLD TRAFFORD

My second game against United at Old Trafford. Such different circumstances though - I was nervous before my first game, but am more confident now. It had to do with the 4-0 advantage we have over the Red Devils.

All we have to do is to not lose by 4 or more goals. It sounds easy on paper, but against United, at Old Trafford nothing is easy. After a quick chat with the boys before the game, we made the walk through the tunnel onto the field. A couple of interviewers wanted pre-match comments and I sent Baresi to handle those.

Right. Just a couple mins before kick-off. Baresi and I were talking about potential Man Utd gameplan. It was obvious - they will be coming at full force, after all they have a 4 goal deficit to overturn. I set-up my team defensively but not 'park the bus' style. My full backs, who are usually in support role were told to defend. Jermaine Jones was instructed not to enter into the opposition area at all. He is there to provide support to our central defensive duo of Balanta and Amorebieta. Woodrow, Barker and Kacaniklic were all told to look for the counter attack. That was our key strategy as United's overly offensive attack might leave them open at the back.

The Match:
United went overload from the very first minute. Their full backs played like wingers, midfielders like false nine and so on. They got 2 goals before half time, through Rooney (27) and Schneiderlin (40). United were definitely back in it. I was a relieved man at half time as I wanted something to halt this United attack.
I made a couple of changes at half time. The biggest one was to remove Ruiz, our creative force and bring on Dan Burn, a central defender. The idea was obvious. Prevent United from scoring. I wasn't confident enough to attack and had to put bodies behind the ball.

The second half produced more of the same from United. But we held tight. The clock kept ticking on and United couldn't break our defense. I was on the touchline, constantly telling the lads to concentrate. United started trying long shots, from well outside the box. That was actually encouraging for me as they were unable to produce the final killer ball.

And it was 90'. The ref blew his whistle and I was over-joyed. Van Gaal approached me and we exchanged some words. After that, I ran towards the lads, congratulating each and every one of them. We beat United over two legs. And we advance to the League Cup final!!!!

League Cup final pits Fulham against West Ham
 
Oh ****! Another 1-3 defeat to Tottenham. This was an important game for us because Spurs were only one point behind us but with an extra game played. Eriksen gave Spurs the lead after just 7 mins. But our players responded immediately as Stafylidis equalized for us. It was a rare sighting as the left back wandered into empty space just inside the box and smashed it home.
Christian Eriksen was splendid during the game. His raw pace and acceleration pressurized Balanta, who has been one of the best defenders in the entire league. His movement with and off the ball confused our defenders and Harry Kane found himself unmarked inside our box. Eriksen slipped a through ball and Kane gave Spurs the lead.
With the game heading into added time, Eriksen made yet another threatening run but was fouled just outside our box by Stafylidis. Eriksen stepped up and scored, giving them a comfortable 2 goal lead.

With the kind of performance Eriksen put in, they deserved to win. He was absolutely magnificent.
 
Michael Essien signs for Fulham as Youth coach

His aggression and determination made him a fantastic midfielder for Chelsea. He moved to A.C. Milan later. Once his contract with the Italian giants expired, he moved onto coaching. When I heard about this news, I immediately approached him to join us U21 coach on a 3 year contract.

He didn't hesitate and agreed to the deal almost immediately. Done deal!
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Essien during his playing days​
 
Fulham do the double over rivals Q.P.R.

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The fans are delighted, and so am I. We gave away a dangerous free kick in the 8th minute and Leroy Fer scored from 20 yards. We were a bit unlucky as the ball took a deflection off the wall and wrong-footed Stekelenberg.
Our high pressing gameplay certainly put Q.P.R. defense under some stress. When they gave away a cheap freekick at the edge of the area, Daniele Baselli stepped up and curled one into the back of the net.

After that equalizer, Baselli produced a midfield masterclass, just like he did against Sunderland. With over 85% passing rate, he made several key passes and stretched the Q.P.R. defense multiple times by cross-field long balls. Paul Scholes, a member of our coaching staff would've been proud of those long balls.

In the 45th minute, he started a counter attack and was at the end of it as well. Lustig got the ball on the right wing after a few passes and his cross was softly headed down by Baselli into the path of Woodrow, who had a glorious chance. The ball flew into the back of the net and we took the lead!

The second half saw more of the same from our playmaker, Baselli. We kept hold of the ball well but couldn't break past a determined Q.P.R. defense. But we were already ahead and when the ref blew his final whistle, 3 points were in the bag!

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We should've won that one. Really should have. It was just one of those days when our shots at goal went everywhere except the goal. We came close twice by hitting the post. Apart from that, the game was full of half chances which neither team capitalized on.
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An absolute thriller. It was so close, something the result doesn't really show. The scorers were Alex Kacaniklic and Cauley Woodrow, who have scored quite a few for us this season. We had to come from behind to take the lead in this contest, but Villa were always threatening to equalize.

Leicester and Aston Villa are both in the relegation zone and we really should've won convincingly against them. Atleast, I wanted to. But both the teams put on a good show with Leicester denying us at Craven Cottage and Aston Villa putting on an excellent show at Villa park.
 
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