Seriously, Fulham have (counting backwards) gone from Rome to Wigan, London (Roma home) to Manchester City, London (Basle home) to West Ham, Sofia to Wolves and Perm to Aston Villa. Granted trips from London to ManCity and from SW6 to Upton Park aren’t that bad, it still doesn’t do much for preparation.

Tom writes,

Why would the Premier League schedule makers do this? Why was Fulham’s Europa League inclusions not taken into consideration when the schedule came out back in June? Was it a belief among the schedule makers that the Cottagers were not going to get out of the qualifying rounds? It is hard not to think something was up in trying to make Fulham travel so much when returning from their European adventure.

If Manchester United had a similar schedule, would we hear Sir Alex moaning about it? You bet.

Fredrik Stoor started and played 90 minutes in Derby County’s 2-1 win over Coventry City on friday.

Adam Watts did not dress in Lincoln City’s 3-1 win over Blue Square North side AFC Telford United in the first round of the FA Cup. According to Lincoln City’s website, Watts’ loan deal would not let him play. Assistant Manager and Fulham alum Ian Pearce did dress though, and came off the bench in the 85th minute. Huzzah!

Elliot Omozusi started and played 90 minutes in Charlton’s 1-0 loss at Blue Square North side Northwich Victoria in the first round of the FA Cup.

The offal says he is “still registered” with the club. And according to Charlton’s offal:

Although technically recruited on a month’s loan from Fulham, England U19 international Omozusi is out of contract at Craven Cottage.

“The situation is a bit complicated because Fulham still hold his registration, so it’s not a normal loan,” said Phil. “We’ve had to take him on a month contract, but we also have the option to make it permanent in January.”

Yet again, a Fulham beat reporter would be really handy right about now.

Nonetheless Omosuzi started and played 71 minutes in Charlton’s 3-1 loss at Carlisle United on Saturday.

Fredrik Olof Esaias Stoor Siekkinen (that’s his full name!) surprised no one by extending his loan deal at Derby County until December last week. He started and played 90 minutes in the Rams’ 1-0 loss at Ipswich Town on Saturday.

Lastly, Adam Watts started and played 90 minutes in Lincoln City’s 3-1 loss at Morecambe on Saturday.

Hmm. Not a good weekend for the loaners’ clubs.

Thankfully, Liverpool will be without Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, and Alberto Aquilani. Excluding Stevie G, that’s nearly 35 million pounds — 56.8 million dollars — unavailable. Fernando Torres will be given a late fitness test. Hopefully for us, the 33 million dollar player doesn’t pass fit.

Speaking of Torres, the ESPNsoccernet podcast mentioned that Torres rarely shot across the face of goal against Manchester United last weekend because it hurt his groin too much. If he does play tomorrow, it’ll be interesting to see if the same occurs.

Lastly, we should all bid adieu to Jason Gatties’ blog, cravencottage.us. It was always an interesting read that sadly had to stop. Here’s hoping he finds time to restart it.

View Fulham FC in a larger map

Fredrik Stoor started and played 61 minutes in Derby County’s 4-2 loss to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday. He was substituted because of a sustained facial injury. Stoor’s loan has expired, but Rams manager Nigel Clough wants to extend the deal.

The rosters then were about the same size, but the lack of substitutes created a larger margin for error. So stalwarts like Carlos Bocanegra and Moritz Volz played practically the entire defense and midfield positions while at Fulham. And although not very successful at either role, Tomasz Radzinski could play up front or out wide.

Yet those three and others were sold in exchange for players like Stephen Kelly and John Painstil (up until last night anyways) who only play right back, or someone like Damien Duff who often stays on the left side of midfield.

Now, granted a footballer has their favored position. But Roy’s stressing on systemic tactics and role-playing that leaves little for generality, makes it ever more difficult for any remaining “jack of all trades, master of none” to see ample field time (see: Seol Ki-Hyeon).

But then there is Chris Baird.

Baird was a center back while captain at Southampton. Under Lawrie Sanchez he played at right back to mixed results, but still earned the “Player We Hate of the Year” by the fans. Roy Hodgson used him once, as a center back, in the second half of 2007-08. For 2008-09 he was used sporadically as a center mid, right back, and center back in predominately cameo roles, but he always made the bench.

So far this season he has started and been substituted to be both a center back and a center mid, performing admirably in both in three different competitions. Although we’re just nearing the end of October, no other player has seen such time in two different roles.

Assuming that Danny Murphy and Dickson Etuhu are the bona fide starting midfielders, Baird has to be the #3 center-mid based on the number of appearances alone. That puts him over Jonathan Greening, The Evidence and Andranik (remember him?).

Excluding the promising but still green Chris Smalling, Roy appears to have so much faith in him that he is really the only substitute center back on the roster. (Think about that for a second – under Cookie we used what, 5 center backs? Sanchez utilized at least 4? Now we have three, plus the young Smalling and the oft-injured Kallio. Although it’s good to have some continuity, is anyone else a little bit concerned about this?!?)

We could chalk up Baird’s deputizing toward our involvement in the Europa League, the solo Carling Cup match, and a hopeful FA Cup run. But there are other players, specific-role players, that are not seeing time that Baird is.

Perhaps Roy just really rates him (he did sock Jimmy Bullard in the jaw after all). Or maybe he proves that there is always an exception.

At least he’s playing well.

Sure, there are only three players on loan and all will be back by the end of the month. But why not see how our lads are doing outside SW6?

Adam Watts joined Fulham alumnus Ian Pearce at Lincoln City on Friday, October 2 and went straight into the starting lineup on Saturday, playing 90 minutes in the Imps’ 1-0 win over Aldershot Town.

Fredrik Stoor started and played 90 minutes in Derby County’s 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday. Stoor’s performance on Saturday was much better than Derby’s 6-1 drubbing at Cardiff City on Tuesday.

Wayne Brown started and played 90 minutes in Turun Palloseura’s disappointing 0-0 draw with lowly Jyväskylän Jalkapalloklubi. Brown’s third-placed TPS have one match remaining against second-placed FC Honka. Both TPS and FC Honka are three points off first place HJK Helsinki, who face midtable FF Jaro. October 17 should be a big day for Wayne Brown, and Finnish football.

The tantrum was Scott Parker’s reaction to the yellow card he received after instigating an altercation with The Evidence. The photo is here, and resulted in The Evidence being sent off and Fulham playing better for the remainder of the match despite being down to 10 men.

After waiting all afternoon to catch the match, the otherwise stalwart FSC feed on TVU was down. So I can only rely on what I saw on MOTD2.

What stood out most was Parker’s reaction to being booked. Sure, The Evidence needs to be held accountable for stroking Pretty-boy Parker’s face. But there’s no reason Parker should get the lesser punishment — even hockey (all things considered, the most violent sport) realizes this dynamic, and punishes all fight instigators with additional penalty minutes. Or, if the instigator wasn’t involved in the actual fight, they can still receive a penalty. Even if he truly felt he was innocent, Parker’s petulant reaction surely deserved a booking itself. Not since Ronaldo’s antics last March at the Cottage has a footballer acted like a child and not been punished.

So did anyone who watched the match recall if Parker had been chippy or vocal with The Evidence’s before the altercation? It would make sense for a jerk like him to get in a rookie’s head, and then hope he would snap and get sent off. Or send me the tape and I’ll check it out and report back.

After roaring back to life from another set-piece concession, Fulham were leading 2-1 – thanks to Zoltan Gera’s resurrection from the dead now complete and Danny Murphy with another timely penalty – and heading into an inexplicable 4 minutes of stoppage time. Then in the dying seconds Junior Stanislas’ shot deflects off Aaron Hughes and ties up the match and punches the stomach of each and every Fulham fan with a devastating haymaker.

But according to the MOTD2 statisticians, something in the match had to give. With Fulham and Blackburn, Roy Hodgson has never beaten West Ham. West Ham had yet to get a point at home this season. Fulham have yet to get a point off West Ham since Jan. 2007 and haven’t beaten them since 2001. West Ham had lost every time Carlton Cole scored.

So maybe a draw was an expected result?

Boo, another international break is upon us. Fulham return in two weeks against Hull City. Despite last year’s ridiculousness against the Tigers, I fully expect 3 points.

So we’re looking at a thin midfield with the likelihood of Matthew Saunders, Courtney Harris, or Reece Jones on the bench. Roy may throw Chris Baird into center-mid or start Jonathan Greening. And Chris Smalling or Baird may be at center back.

It’s going to be interesting.

Olivier Dacourt signed for Standard Liège last week as replacement for the injured Steven Dafour. He penned a one year deal but has yet to feature for the club. Like when he first arrived at Fulham, he probably needs some time to get match fit.

Elliot Omosuzi, who Wikipedia still lists in Fulham’s reserve squad, had an unsuccessful trial with Coca-Cola Championship side Sheffield United. In Sky’s article, Blades’ gaffer Kevin Blackwell lambasts several agents. No word on whether Elliot’s was one of them.

Julian Gray, the “most head scratching-signing” of the 2008-09 season (I just made that award up) signed for Barnsley in mid-September on a monthly contract. He was newly appointed Tykes’ manager Mark Robins first signing.

And Ian Pearce retired from football on Sunday, after signing with Kingstonian F.C. of the Isthmian League Premier Division in late August. That same day he joined Chris Sutton’s staff at Lincoln City and is currently an assistant manager. Best of luck, Ian.

Basle on Thursday. Should be a tough one, as the club are already ten points off the top of the Swiss Super League and will probably be focusing on the Europa League to salvage their season. More on Thursday.