Mission accomplished? Well, sort of…

Roy did add several new faces, but are they the class that the media and fans were wanting?

Former Brummie Stephen Kelly was Fulham’s only defensive signing, coming in on a free. To date, he has 14 caps for the squad. Not a whole lot, but we know how much national team caps depend on politics more so than skill (e.g. Brian Ching with 42 caps for the USA). So the initial reaction jury is out in my mind.

The center of the park saw an entire midfield core arrive. Bjørn Helge Riise of Norway, Damien Duff of Chelsea and Newcastle, and Kagisho Dikgacoi of South Africa all signed for undisclosed amounts while Jonathan Greening of West Brom penned a year-long loan deal. Excluding Greening, those are all stalwarts on their national teams. And if we were to count the return of Simon Davies from injury (been nearing 5 months) we have a substitute, and another stalwart, to boot.

In recent weeks, the need for a striker has overshadowed the demand for more midfielders and overall depth. But despite many reported attempts for another striker that reached double digits, only the nameless Swede David Elm and his 6’3” frame came to SW6. Roy sure loves his Scandinavians.

With no one else coming in, and no one else leaving – the big surprise of the entire window – many fans started their temper tantrums against the board and MAF and our endeavor; everything short of us being relegated was being said.

But just because there’s little headlines to show for it, that doesn’t mean he didn’t try. (Oh boy, I sound like an elementary school teacher. Let me explain…)

Al-Fayed doesn’t splash the cash. Roy doesn’t make panic buys. We all know he is methodical with training and preparation and systematic in play. And the same goes for his transfer policy.

Excluding the untested crop of players’ now arriving, name one panic buy or bust Roy made.
Litmanen? He was on a pay-as-you-play so I wonder if he even made it on the payroll. EJ? I inexplicably think he’ll come good, and also believe he was lined up outside of Roy’s auspices. Gera? I’ll bite, but he was free.

This summer Roy targeted numerous strikers he felt could cut it, but not a single one panned out. In fact, it reminded me of playing FIFA 07 or 08 when the computer just won’t let you purchase anyone short of a 10 million quid fee and 60,000 quid a week salary. Only with this we can’t throw our controller onto the ground and press reset.

Instead, not a single player was loaned out or sold before the deadline. And Schwarzer, Dempsey, and Murphy were all locked up in long term deals. Instead of rebuilding, or even reloading, Roy decided to reinvest.

But this season won’t be about who we did or do not sign, I’m afraid.

The clubs that finished directly below us last year are going to finish directly above us this year. City has spent too much money not to be below seventh, again. Tottenham appear to have finally found its guy in ‘Arry; that is before he leaves Spurs bankrupt and jets off to Anfield whenever Rafa leaves. And a financially-settled West Ham team is bound to give us problems, especially considering they’re our bogey team.

So short of Roy making panic buys on overpriced and overhyped players, which would be akin to him shaving his head and quoting Sham 69 lyrics at press conferences, the season just cannot be like last. And I’m okay with that.

So, by my count, that means a 10th place finish, and Roy is a good Cup manager so hopefully we’ll get a good run in. Not a bad finish by any means.

After cruising to a 3-0 lead, Amkar Perm rescue a crucial late away goal to blemish an otherwise respectable 3-1 result. And then we learn AJ will be out for 8 weeks with a dislocated shoulder/collarbone.

No wonder other managers throw in the towel in this competition at a certain point?

Roy is as incensed as ever, and for good reason. There isn’t any video footage of the match or assault from Dmitri Belorukov anywhere, but from what I understand it was a body check. A 5 minute major in hockey, plus suspension. A red card in footy, suspension in tow.

But instead Amkar, and Belorukov — only receiving a yellow — get to live on another day. Jerks.

And its interesting to note that Roy prepared the lads quite well without having seen much of them prior to today, according to the Daily Mail.

Hodgson’s side did not know much about their Russian opponents, who were founded just 15 years ago and are named after an ammonia-based fertiliser. F
ulham had relied on three matches of video footage after their manager had been unable to secure a visa to travel to Russia.

One positive about today is Duff’s triumphant arrival, assisting Zamora a mere 30 seconds into the his substitution appearance. Hope to see more good things from him, as Gera’s reviews have been consistently woeful.

Not really sure how much AJ’s injury screws up our plans for Sunday. I know long term Roy will have something figured out. But if its good news for anyone its good news for Eddie Johnson. Kamara is above him in the depth chart, but has not been as active during the preseason as EJ so its a little unclear who is our #3 now. Time for EJ to step up, finally.

Oh, and the Greening saga rekindled and then ended rather abruptly, again. But this time he’ll be joining us on a season-long loan. Huzzah!

And Adrian Leijer is going back to Australia. In his two years with the club made 6 total first team appearances — on the bench. While with Norwich for the second half of last season, he made just 4 actual playing appearances. Things can only improve for the lad.

More (great) info from Nordic Football, replete with gushing quotes from the loanee about his stay:

“Please don’t take my Wayne Brown away” is the last line of a TPS supporters’ chant composed to honour one of their campaign’s heroes. But talking to NFN minutes after he coolly netted a last-second penalty to give TPS a vital set of points against Tampere United, he revealed that as much as he appreciates his fans’ prayers, they are to no avail.

“I am going to play against VPS in Vaasa (on August 16th). Then that’s it for me, I’ll be going back home.”

…

“This has been exactly what I needed, the very reason I came here was playing games. This has been great for my experience as a player. It was a great decision from me to come here.

“Everyone has been great to me – the club, the players and the fans. I’m delighted that we are doing so well in the league,” enthused Brown, whose penalty meant TPS reduced the gap to HJK to just one point at the top of the table.

Four goals and four assists in 17 matches for TPS are not bad statistics for the player that surely should be a fixture on the reserves. And perhaps Brown will see some minutes for the first team in some cup competitions, domestic or otherwise. Although I haven’t seen him play very much, reliable sources see a tremendous upside. Which is always a good thing. Just imagine if he, Smalling, Milsom, Saunders, and Briggs can compete seemlessly in the top flight in the seasons to come. Wishful thinking, but the thought forces me to smile.

More transfer drama, as Bafana Bafana midfielder Kagiso Digacoi (can someone PLEASE spell that phonetically??) is telling the media he signed with Fulham. After the he said/she said that he, his agent, and Roy got into before, I’m holding my breath until I see it on the offal.

But the transfer we should be watching is Xabi Alonso’s move to Real Madrid. Why? Because now there’s no way Christian Poulsen is coming to Craven Cottage, but headed to the Kop. Rats.

Rich at CCN has some sublime insight into team’s composition, particularly in midfield. I agree with him, but still maintain the defense needs a body or two. Am I wrong?

Which is just under a fortnight away.

All the preseason friendlies are over for the first team, as the scheduling powers decided to focus on the Europa League. And thanks to the 3-0 drubbing at Vetra last Thursday, Roy can probably rest a little easy for the return leg on Thursday.

Perhaps the break will allow him to focus a bit more on opening day, whoever Fulham draw on Friday for the (official) Play Off Round, and the final two reserve matches.

Fulham are away to Walton Casuals on Friday August 7 and home to the U-20 Uzbekistan National Team (!!!) on Tuesday August 11. Last Tuesday they lost 2-1 to AFC Wimbledon and won 1-0 over Ali G’s Staines Town on Friday. Thankfully Staines Town posted some photos. Respek! Interesting to note Bouazza did not make the bench in either matches. If Fulham had a beat reporter, we’d know whether he’s injured or surely on his way out.

Still crickets on the transfer front. But after years past, is that such a bad thing?

Anywho, check out St. Vincent’s newest album Actor. Not my personal favorite song (definitely tracks 1 and 6), but a good one nonetheless:

Been a busy 24-plus hours! Where to start?

Well, according to the News of the World, Hodgson said Zamora rejected terms with Hull. Whether that’s before or after he scored a brace against Peterborough is unclear.

Speaking of Peterborough, a 3-0 lead quickly evaporated as time expired but thankfully Fulham wasn’t humiliated like Newcastle. Roy, as always, sums up the match superbly:

“I’m not too bothered about results in pre-season matches quite frankly. I’m worried about the performances and as I said I thought we played very well.“

Then today SkySports reports that Pompey have accepted an offer for Crouch. But then ‘Arry says he’s unaware of that. I doubt that.

Nonetheless Crouch going to Spurs doesn’t surprise me because the move, like most of Tottenham’s dealings, doesn’t make any sense. It just raises more questions than answers. Can he play with Robbie Keane? Will Defore now be a supersub? Will Bent and Pavlyucehnko fart around in the reserves? Why isn’t Spurs spending the 10 million on a defender, something they need?

Sorry to jump back to Friday, but EJ’s lone goal was enough for the reserves, including newbie Riise and more familiar faces, to win 1-0 over the Rising Phoenix. After today’s shocking display by the USMNT Development Squad, I expect a call up for EJ’s services up front soon.

I’m going to miss the reserves match on Tuesday and the Europa League match on Thursday as my new job (Americorps) requires a four day orientation in Philadelphia. Have a good week!

Against Bournemouth and Woking.

Nevertheless, the first team drew 0-0 with the Cherries and Kamara featured after halftime. The reserves won 4-1 against Blue Square Premier Woking F.C. No details, including who even played, up on the offal on that one.

With plenty of rumors and preliminary reports abounding nothing so far has been accomplished.

West Brom don’t seem interested in selling Greening. Crouch is “favoring” Fulham, but there’s no way we can afford his reported 70k/week salary. Zamora is leaving only if Crouch is arriving. No word on Kagisho Dikgacoi. Riise should be announced soon. Like with Crouch, Christian Poulsen seems a pipe dream.

Its interesting to note though that Roy, according to “reports”, doesn’t appear to be looking for more cover at the back after signing Kelly on a free. Especially when Fulham is already thin therein.

Despite having 10 players on the depth chart, I have little confidence for most beyond last year’s starting four.

I’m willing to be convinced about Baird and Kallio.

The others? Not so much. Stoor seemed mediocre in his FA Cup appearances and allegedly wants out. Smalling appears very promising, but there’s no way we can expect him to fill in just yet. Leijer still hasn’t made a first team appearance — and is not even on the first team page . And will we ever see Omosuzi again?

Its easy (and definitely required) to focus on the midfield to greatly reload as Bouazza is most definitely gone, Davies is injured until the fall, and who knows what will happen with Seol and Andranik during the season.

But defense still needs some final touches. Think Wigan may reconsider the Scharner deal? Any other suggestions?

Not because (we think) he’s staying in Poland, but he’s Cup-tied since he played in Wisła Kraków’s 1-1 draw with Levadia Tallinn in yesterday’s Champions League second qualifying round match.

Rats.

I guess Brożek could still come to Fulham, but not as much sense in it now if we’re after players to bolster the squad for the rigors of both the Premier and Europa League.

And a player I thought was STITASS (Rodrigo Palacio of Boca Juniors) left for Genoa. And after looking at Palacio’s fee (about 5 million euros), we could have easily snapped him up.

Rats, again.

John, Gray and Laribi (?) are also being let go.

No real surprises for any of them as Dacourt was the only player to even see the field last season.

Its still sad to see Volzy go. Hopefully he doesn’t hang up his boots. But if he does, there should be a spot on a tv show waiting for him. Especially since Friday Football Show got nixed. We’ll miss ya bud — and thats an understatement.

Alright back from work. Where was I?

CJ seems to be another example of “too much, too soon”. He had a great season when first arriving, got called into the nation team, lost his scoring boots, then ended up in the wilderness. He recently signed with KSV Roeselare in Belgium.

Gray? Sadly never got to even see him play. I wrote a post several months ago questioning why he and Barnes were brought into the fray. And I still don’t any remote answer.

Enough of this sadness. When’s the next signing?

Glad to hear we’re doing things like this. I really do cherish this club.
And there should be a new website soon. Hopefully they don’t gut the existing site because I really do enjoy it — in fact, it was one of several reasons that turned me onto the club!

Although I don’t mean to steal his idea, his challenge got me thinking about silly transfer ideas that aren’t so silly. Or STITASS. Essentially its a realistic dream; a dream that could be real.

He started with Michael Owen. Me, I’ve got some other quickies…

Look no further than Stephen Appiah.
The captain of Ghana has had numerous trails with other Prem-sides that went nowhere because of his dodgy knee. But we’ve had players with dodgy knees before! And at 28 there’s still at least two years left in him. And if thats not enough, he owns a clothing line. So instead of Papa Bouba Diop being named the wardrobe, we’ll have a player with his OWN wardrobe. Whats not to like? Sign him up to a pay-to-play contract and there’s nothing to lose — we did it with Jari Litmanen.

What about Djibril Cissé?
Sure, he’s a maniac who occasionally commits spousal abuse. And extremely streaky. But think of this: Roy Keane convinced him to play in Sunderland. Do we not think Roy Hodgson can’t convince him to play in London? I sure don’t. Give him a six month contract that is cancelled as soon as he gets arrested. No risk, high reward deal.

Landon Donovan?
So he’s batting 0-3 in Germany. Doesn’t mean he wouldn’t work out in England? His LA Galaxy team seem more than content with drawing every single game for the rest of the season, as Bruce Arena doesn’t believe in positive football. And there has to be some level of hunger (at least, as a Nats fan I PRAY SO) to leave the friendly confines of the MLS for something with actual competition. Plus, it could be the return of FulhamUSA!

Don’t laugh, but Ricardo Quaresma?
Sure, he was a total flop at Chelsea AND Inter. So much so he was given the Golden Bin award. And, inexplicably, he’ll probably cost over 10 million quid. But he’s a left winger, and Don wants a left winger. Maybe Roy can use some his clout at Inter to get him on loan — I don’t think Jose wants him any more than Hiddink did– for pennies on the dollar. Or pences on the pound. What’s not to lose?

Maybe Rodrigo Palacio?
Okay, this lad would be WAY too expensive. And I have no clue why he isn’t in Europe yet. But we can dream can’t we?

Well, any other suggestions?

And whether or not Seol is coming back remains to be seen as the Saudi league ended, but I have heard no reports he’s back at Motspur Park.

EJ was a 70 minute substitute in Cardiff’s 6-0 thrashing by Preston yesterday. Cardiff are currently 4th with a game in hand.

Andranik started and played 90 minutes in Barnsley’s 0-0 draw at Reading yesterday. Barnsley is 21st, just one point above the relegation zone with a game in hand.

Adrian Leijer was an unused sub in Norwich City’s 3-2 loss to Ipswich in the East Anglia derby today. Norwich are in 22nd place, one point from safety.

Leon Andreasen started and played 54 minutes in Hannover 96’s 2-1 loss to Hamburg today.

Hameur Bouazza was an unused sub in the Brummies 1-0 win at Watford yesterday. Birmingham are four points clear in second place.

David Stockdale started and made 7 saves in Leicester City’s 2-0 win at Southend United yesterday.

Volzy did not dress in Ipswich Town’s 3-2 win over Norwich.

Wayne Brown started and scored a goal in FC TPS’ 2-1 loss to FC Haka.

Adam Watts was an unused substitute in Northampton Town’s 3-1 win over Leyton Orient.

And Seol Ki-Hyeon has vanished, again.