Assessing our road form
By: timmyg |
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Tonight’s match against Burnley begins a nice little home stretch that expands across three competitions.
This offers ample time to reassess our road form. Per usual, much has been made regarding how awful we are away from home and the like. Yet after doing some research, we’re really not as bad as people make it seem. In fact, we’re probably just average:
The asterisks next to next gaffer’s name mean they took over with about a month left in the season. Also, statto ranks each team by points per game. So for some seasons we were actually tied with other clubs for higher positions. For space issues, I go into that here.
If we break down the standings using statto.com’s PPG (GD divided by games played) it further shows how our road form has improved under Roy:
The 2007-08 season was memorable for the Great Escape, but also for how well the team performed on the road while Roy was manager. Under Sanchez, Fulham played 8 games on the road, drawing 3 and losing 5, obtaining a .375 PPG and having a -10 GD. That is tied with Cookie’s 2005-06 season for the worst. So to rebound to 2007-08’s final away record — whilst adding Ray Lewington’s brief caretaker spell, the 5-1 to Spurs — is remarkable.
Coleman’s great 2003-04 season proved to be exceptional for his reign. In calculating each manager’s average road PPG I bundled Coleman’s tutelage at the end of the 2002-03 season with Tigana’s and Sanchez’s with his at the end of the 2006-07 season. Again, the results shows that the team has performed best under Roy.
It may be a bit unfair to compare the managers as each had differing number of seasons and games. But the point should remain.
Going back a bit, the results do show that this season has been one of the worst since Fulham have been in the topflight in regards to away form. Yet there are still 6 matches to go (granted to 3 of the big 4). Compared to other season’s Fulham’s GD of -9 is third best and we’ve failed to score in just 5 matches — tied for first. This could all go pear shaped, but it would be rather uncharacteristic considering the trends under Roy.
So, 1.5 really bad seasons under Coleman and one awful half-season under Sanchez and we’re the worst road team in the history of the league? Please. It’s disappointing, but I don’t see how it’s different from any other club of our stature.
Lastly, if any statistician wants to debunk my claims feel free. I’d rather have someone very knowledgeable in math prove points rather than a dilettante like myself.
Loaner Report 2/8/10
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Diomansy Kamara started in and played 90 minutes in Celtic’s 1-0 loss at Kilmarnock last Tuesday. He started, played 65 minutes and scored a goal in Celtic’s 4-2 win at Dunfermline Athletic in the Scottish Cup on Saturday.
Eddie Johnson started and played 45 minutes in Aris Thessaloniki’s match against Panthrakikos on Saturday. The match was abandoned at halftime because of a waterlogged pitch.
David Stockdale started and played 90 minutes in Plymouth’s 1-0 loss against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. He recorded 6 saves, including a penalty.
Toni Kallio started, played 90 minutes, and received a yellow card in Sheffield United’s 1-1 draw with Derby County on Saturday.
Matthew Briggs was an unused substitute in Leyton Orient’s 3-0 win over Bristol Rovers last Tuesday and the O’s 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
Wayne Brown started and played 67 minutes in Bristol Rovers’ 3-0 loss at Leyton Orient last Tuesday. He started and played 90 minutes in the Pirates’ 0-0 draw at Walsall.
Fulham Podcast 2/7/10
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Rich Allen of Craven Cottage Newsround joins the pod as we discuss Fulham’s up and down form over the past few weeks, all the deals done on transfer deadline day, and what to make of maligned Stephen Kelly.
Collins John speaks
By: timmyg | 1 Comment
Former Fulham starlet Collins John recently sat down with American soccer columnist Ives Galarcep and gave a fairly decent interview. As you may recall he is currently on trial with the Chicago Fire, hoping to link up with former team-mate Brian McBride.
“You can’t really say ‘from now for the next five years I’m going to be playing well or scoring goals’,” John said. “The first three years at Fulham I was playing every game. I played in the biggest league in the world, I was scoring goals and was having fun, and for a few reasons it went another way..
And as Ives points out, one often forgets he is just 24.
Category: Player NewsQuestions abound over the Europa League roster
By: timmyg | 4 Comments
It seems little focus has been made to how all the injuries and transfers will affect our Europa League roster.
By my count we’ll have just two strikers available when we play Shaktar Donetsk in two weeks time. Right now, according to UEFA’s website, the roster looks like such:
Goalkeepers
1 Mark Schwarzer »
12 David Stockdale »
38 Neil Etheridge *
39 Wesley Foderingham *
41 Marcus Bettinelli *
Defenders
2 Stephen Kelly »
3 Paul Konchesky »
4 John Pantsil »
5 Brede Hangeland »
6 Christopher Baird »
18 Aaron Hughes »
26 Christopher Smalling »
28 Adam Watts *
36 Joe Anderson *
37 Matthew Briggs *
45 Alex Smith *
Midfielders
11 Zoltán Gera »
13 Danny Murphy »
16 Damien Duff »
17 Bjørn Helge Riise »
20 Dickson Etuhu »
23 Clint Dempsey »
27 Jonathan Greening »
29 Simon Davies »
31 Matthew Saunders *
42 Courtney Harris *
43 Reece Jones *
44 Keanu Marsh-Brown *
Forwards
8 Andrew Johnson »
10 Erik Nevland »
15 Diomansy Kamara »
25 Bobby Zamora »
40 Michael Uwezu *
[n.b. Names with an asterisk are on the B-list]
We all know Kamara is away on loan, so immediately scratch him off the list. Same with Joe Anderson and Adam Watts who are now at Lincoln City.
Matthew Briggs is currently on loan with Leyton Orient but will return in time, whereas David Stockdale is supposed to get back from Plymouth the day of the Shaktar match. So keep your eyes peeled on that loan deal.
Long term injuries plague Johhny Panstil and Clint Dempsey, so you might as well star those names as ones who probably won’t feature until at least the quarter-finals — assuming we advance there — or if at all. The future also remains unclear for the injured Andy Johnson, Paul Konchesky (both of whom are injured) and Simon Davies (who is sadly never fit).
So let’s just assume the worst-case scenario and remove the names that I expressed concern over.
Goalkeepers
1 Mark Schwarzer »
12 David Stockdale »
38 Neil Etheridge *
39 Wesley Foderingham *
41 Marcus Bettinelli *
Defenders
2 Stephen Kelly »
5 Brede Hangeland »
6 Christopher Baird »
18 Aaron Hughes »
26 Christopher Smalling »
37 Matthew Briggs *
45 Alex Smith *
Midfielders
11 Zoltán Gera »
13 Danny Murphy »
16 Damien Duff »
17 Bjørn Helge Riise »
20 Dickson Etuhu »
27 Jonathan Greening »
31 Matthew Saunders *
42 Courtney Harris *
43 Reece Jones *
44 Keanu Marsh-Brown *
Forwards
10 Erik Nevland »
25 Bobby Zamora »
40 Michael Uwezu *
Newly acquired Nicky Shorey are Stefano Okaka Chuka are cup-tied because of the following regulation:
18.18 One player from the above quota of three who has played UEFA club competition matches for another competing club in the current season may exceptionally be registered provided that the player has not been fielded:
- in the same competition for another club,
- for another club that is currently in the same competition.Furthermore, if the player’s new club is playing in the UEFA Europa League, his former club must not have played in the UEFA Europa League at any point in the current season.
Rats. And then to compound the issue, there’s this nugget:
18.17 For all matches from the start of the round of 32, a club may register a maximum of three new eligible players for the remaining matches in the current competition. Such registration must be completed by 1 February 2010 at the latest. This deadline cannot be extended
Ack.
Hopefully, Roy and the lads added Elm, and others, to the roster before Kamara was sent out on loan, otherwise we’ll have just two available strikers for the foreseeable future. And we all better hope, more so than usual, that no one, especially Zamora and Nevland, gets injured, those injured return ASAP, and Gera’s knee returns as he hoped.
Or, maybe the club did file the roster changes in time and just haven’t bothered notify us yet.
I’m hoping for the latter.
And on the Third Day of February Two-Thousand Ten
By: timmyg | 3 Comments
Jonathan Greening rose from oblivion to smite Pompey 1-0, as it was written.
Okay, maybe no one saw that goal-scorer coming. But three points is three points, especially considering Fulham’s awful run of form and how anonymously they played.
Large, overarching differences are often made between Roy and his predecessors. Style of play is often the number one topic brought up. But last night was a subtle yet more-revealing difference: Fulham won. Under Cookie, Sanchez, and perhaps even Tigana, that match would have ended 0-0. Last night Fulham vaulted back into the Top 10, and rightfully so.
Whereas we saw great debuts from Nicky Shorey and Stefano Okaka Chuka, much has been made of Kelly’s poor performance last night, be it through his own shortcomings or Pompey exploiting our “weakest link”. But according to this Soccernet chart, Pompey did attack more down their left flank than the center or right, but they didn’t necessarily overload it. Granted, Kelly was subbed off after 55 minutes so the chart reflects the whole match. But even then, unless Pompey gave up going down their left side completely, the numbers should not be impacted that much, right?
Plus, is Kelly’s problems more about what is in front him? Compare Duff’s passing to Greeing’s in the chalkboard below.
We all know that the further upfield the midfield runs, the more stranded the fullbacks become as more space opens up. Duff is clearly further upfield and attacking whereas Greening was a bit more conservative — in fact, some commenters on Rich’s site mention how “pedestrian” Greening was.
So, was Roy’s plan to keep Greening back so as not to expose Shorey on his debut? It would make sense as anyone who plays sports can attest that new defensive players, be it freshman recruits, new substitutes, etc, will always be tested quickly by the offense. And, whether they’ll admit it or not, coaches have to plan around that.
Or is it just that Duff (or last season’s Dempsey or Davies) likes to run forward and attack, which basically condemns our right back to a long afternoon? Thankfully we had Johnny Pantsil playing superbly (remember, his speed allowed him to go far forward and then track back to make a saving tackle with ease — something even most top flight backs cannot do) so we may not have noticed how marooned our right backs are. But other players in his position — Kelly, Stoor, Hughes, even Baird — have often had their hands full to say the least.
I’m beginning to wonder if it’s the system beginning to show some flaws, or really just one player.
Well, Bolton on the weekend. Should be an interesting match because we actually won there last year but Bolton are still in that ‘new-manager-shine’ and are thus a bit unpredictable.
Sven on Valentines Day
By: timmyg | Add Comments
Notts County defeated Wigan 2-0 in their FA Cup replay. So Sven and the Magpies will be our FA Cup 5th Round dates on Valentines Day.
Which means you English-based friends best sing this song to him (scroll to the 45 second mark):
Category: Off TopicTransfer Deadline Day was not dead
By: timmyg | Add Comments
After a event-less January, February sprung into life. Let’s get to what happened today alone:
In
Stefano Okaka Chuka AS Roma, loan
A player we saw glimpses of in our Europa League battles against Roma. He was fairly anonymous in the match at the Cottage, but scored the winning goal in that corrupt crapfest at the Stadio Olimpico. With Zamora still(?) carrying a broken collarbone, AJ out with whatever injury du jour, Nevland in a funk, and Kamara off to Celtic (more on that below), our strike force needed some reinforcements — and that’s not even mentioning Dempsey’s injury. I really don’t know enough about the lad to give a proper forecast, but his 6′1″ frame makes him taller than Zamora. We all know how Roy loves big men — and how well the triangle works with a fit one — so this move could pay off massive dividends.
And cheers to all the Roma fans leaving comments. I appreciate the kind words!
Nicky Shorey Aston Villa, loan
I’m a big fan of the ESPNSoccernet podcast — I think it’s probably one of the most underrated podcasts around. Anyway, they often discuss how poor Nicky Shorey is. So much so that last season, Martin O’Neill often deputized Nigel Reo Coker at left back rather than play Nicky. This season, Shorey has not started in the league since August — coincidentally when Villa defeated Fulham 2-0. He was loaned out to Coca-Cola side Nottingham Forest wherein he had a great impact. In his 9 games with Forest the team won 7 and drew 2, and conceded just 4 goals. Although the deal has been officially announced, Sky Sports was mentioning that the deal violates FIFA’s 3-clubs-a-no-no registration rules. You know, the same rule that was OK for Javier Mascherano to violate (because he came from a different confederation, they said) but not for Daniel Cousin.
Christopher Buchtmann Liverpool, £100,000
I had never heard of the lad until a few minutes ago, but in May 2009 he was named as one of UEFA’s top ten stars of the future after competing in the U17 Euros. He can play left wing (HatterDon will be pleased with that!) and left back. Not sure whether or not he’ll play immediately, but he is a welcome addition to a burgeoning core of quality youth Fulham have. It’s not often managers bolster first team AND youth ranks, but Roy has been doing just that. Thank God for that man.
Out
Diomansy Kamara Celtic, loan
It just doesn’t sound right, but Kamara is the longest-tenured striker with the club. Perhaps it’s because Kamara has played very sporadically this season (5 starts/4 subs), last season (3/9), and the season before that (17/11) because of various injuries. Or maybe I am just getting old and feel like he signed yesterday. Nonetheless Rich recently had a great bit of analysis on his impact on the road. The statistics don’t tell lie: he was both catalyst and buoy for the club’s road form. For me, his presence was always felt with his clutch goals at home and away:
- September 1, 2007; Tottenham Hotspur; Bicycle kick off a throw-in in the dying seconds to draw the match at 3
- April 26, 2008; at Manchester City; Two goals in the last 20 minutes to saves the season.
- May 16, 2009; at Newcastle United; Match’s lone goal basically seals Newcastle’s fate and puts Fulham into the 7th Place/Europa League drivers seat.
- September 17, 2009; at CSKA Sofia; Lone Fulham goal rescues a point, embarrassment, and would later be the difference in giving Fulham even an opportunity to advance to the Europa League Round of 32, which they would do.
I think Roy and the club decided to place the injury worry on Celtic’s door, rather than sit around and wait for Kamara’s moments of brilliance to return. And who knows, maybe the mightily struggling Tony Mowbray and Celtic could use some of his magic. It’s a bit saddening to lose someone of his quality but this sport is a business, not a friendship.
Toni Kallio Sheffield United, loan
This isn’t surprising. Kallio has been a fringe player since arriving way back in 2008 (oddly enough he is one of the few remaining players that Roy initially purchased), and was practically driving himself to Sheffield to join the Blades on loan earlier in the window, but it quickly and oddly fell through due to an “defensive injury crisis” or something. This move may also reveal that maligned Fredrik Stoor may have a future with the club after all…
***
And so ends this transfer deadline day. I would add Wayne Brown to this list but his deal is only a month long. On a final note, here is some praise from ESPNSoccernet’s live chat:
Tom Adams: You have to say that Wigan have done very well on deadline day. Credit to Roberto Martinez. Their work has been rivalled only by Fulham probably.
Loaner Report 2/1/10
By: timmyg | 6 Comments
I’ll have a transfer recap once the deadline passes in just over 2 hours. Until then, here’s some loaning news.
Eddie Johnson had a busy Sunday — he came off the bench in the 70th minute, received a yellow card and scored a GOAL in Aris Salonika’s 2-1 loss vs. FC Xanthi on Sunday.
David Stockdale started and played 90 minutes in Plymouth’s 1-0 win against Derby County last Tuesday and the Pilgrims’ 2-1 loss at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
Matthew Briggs was an unused substitute in Leyton Orient’s 1-0 win at Charlton Athletic last Monday and 2-2 draw at Carlisle United on Saturday.
Michael Uwezu and Matthew Saunders did not play this weekend due to Lincoln City’s match against Dagenham & Redbridge being postponed because of a frozen pitch.
Uwezu and Suanders have returned to Fulham after their month-long loan expired over the weekend. Both Saunders and Uwezu made just two league appearances and one FA Cup appearance for Lincoln City. The Imps had three games postponed this month, yet were able to reschedule one of them.
Oh, and lately I’ve forgotten to mention Elliot Omosuzi and his MLS-esque loan/registration in the report. He’s been an unused substitute for the Addicks’ past 3 matches, and has not made an appearance since January 16 when we was brought off at the 67th minute in Charlton’s 2-1 win at Wycombe. Nonetheless his deal expired over the weekend and there’s no word from Charlton if he’ll be signed — I’m going to say he won’t considering his lack of PT lately.
This makes me want to vomit
By: timmyg | Add Comments
Even if it’s only (hopefully) temporary:
Category: Team News
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