Premiership Preview--16. Fulham

Fulham's "Great Escape" was one of the best stories of the '07-'08 Premiership season. The Cottagers looked down and out so many times, so close to the end of the year, but a shocking 3-2 come-from-behind victory at Manchester City was the first of three consecutive triumphs and the second of four in five games that vaulted Fulham from certain relegation to safety for another year. Master midfield playmaker and set-piece taker extraordinare Jimmy Bullard, American target man Brian McBride, and manager Roy Hodgson worked their magic in West London, and while McBride has come home to Chicago to play in MLS, the other two remain.

No Premiership club has been as active this summer as Fulham. Eight players have come to Craven Cottage so far while 14 others have packed their bags and headed elsewhere, either through release or transfer. The player movement has been overwhelmingly positive for Fulham; they've acquired no fewer than three starters -- goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer from Middlesbrough and striker Bobby Zamora will certainly feature, and either John Paintsil (West Ham) or Fredrik Stoor (Rosenborg) will play right back -- and lost just one in McBride. They've also added some quality midfield depth in Andranik Teymourian from Bolton and Zoltán Gera from West Brom just in case the injury-prone Bullard goes down again. When I say no one of importance or Premiership ability has left (except McBride and perhaps Kasey Keller), I mean no one. Hodgson has gotten rid of the dead weight to make this a more complete, sturdy team.

The midfield group carried Fulham to safety on its collective back. The previously-mentioned Bullard is the team's on and off-field leader, even though center back Brede Hangeland wears the captain's armband, as well as a terrific player right in the center of the pitch. Clint Dempsey has the highest work rate on the team and can run all day from any midfield position or up front, Simon Davies brings much-needed pace and crossing ability to the right wing, and Danny Murphy's high-level experience from his days at Liverpool, cool demeanor, and propensity for clutch play can't be undervalued. There is solid depth here now too; not just Andranik and Gera, but Leon Andreasen and Alexey Smertin when the latter is healthy. The only thing lacking is an out-and-out left winger, and the group as a whole doesn't have much speed.

Projected Starting Lineup (4-4-2):
GK: Schwarzer

RB: Paintsil
CB: Hangeland (captain)
CB: Aaron Hughes
LB: Paul Konchesky

RMF: Davies
CMF: Bullard
CMF: Murphy
LMF: Dempsey

ST: Zamora
ST: Andy Johnson

Last year was a disppointing one for Fulham at home, where they went just 5-5-9 after a 7-7-5 campaign in '06-'07 and an impressive 13-2-4 the year before. Craven Cottage is a more difficult environment to play in for visitors than that 5-5-9 shows, so especially with a better team this go-around, expect Fulham to be closer to somewhere in between those other two records. Even if they don't play well at all on the road, a better mark at home will keep Fulham in the Premiership for another year.

The first month of the season brings back-to-back games against Arsenal and at Manchester United, but before those fixtures lies opening day at Hull City. We saw lowly Derby outplay Portsmouth and be unfortunate to only get a draw when those two squared off at Pride Park to kickoff the '07-'08 season, so Fulham will need to be wary against Hull.

October is a manageable month; the Cottagers should take six points against Sunderland and Wigan at home and possibly steal another victory at West Brom or Portsouth.

November brings the most difficult run of games of the season with Everton, Liverpool, and Aston Villa all away, with Newcastle and Spurs at home after the Everton match.

Christmas and New Year's will be celebrated in style in London as Fulham hosts Chelsea in the West London Derby on December 28, just two days after a trip to North London rivals Tottenham.

To finish out the year, Fulham has four difficult games and would love to have secured safety already. They're not going to get much, if anything, at Chelsea or Newcastle, and it'll be just as tough against Villa and Everton at home.

Bottom Line: It's no secret that Roy Hodgson is not a master tactician or specialist with the X's and O's, but he's a good motivator and the players love working for him. He should be able to coax enough out of this roster, one that he's clearly strengthened this summer, to stay in the Premiership, and it wouldn't surprise me if Fulham was able to sneak up a spot or two in the table. After the way they finished last year, nothing is impossible.

Boys and Girls, the Great Escape is Complete

Music fans may appreciate the title of this post, seeing as one of last summer's biggest hits was "The Great Escape" by Boys Like Girls.

Back to soccer though, and Fulham has escaped what was near-certain relegation a few weeks ago and will remain in the Premiership for another season.

This has been an ongoing theme here recently, as I'm sure you all have seen. I'm not going to go over the reasons I cheer for Fulham because I've done that before on multiple occasions, but I couldn't be more thrilled that Roy Hodgson's men got the job done at Fratton Park today with a 1-0 victory.

Fulham had their doubters all season, and even I was starting to give up hope a little bit about a month ago when they looked doomed for the drop. A remarkable comeback at Manchester City sparked by Diomansy Kamara turned everything around, though, and with their destiny in their own hands (or feet, or heads, as the case was today when Danny Murphy finished Jimmy Bullard's terrific free kick), Fulham was able to take care of business and beat Birmingham last week and then Portsmouth this afternoon.

It was a wonderful scene on the South Coast after the final whistle. Fulham's fans supported their team all season long, through thick and thin, from Lawrie Sanchez to Roy Hodgson, from mid-table to the relegation zone to safety. The players paid tribute to them today and you could tell how much it meant to both parties.

Roy Hodgson deserves a lot of credit for the work he's done this season, inheriting the mess that Sanchez left behind and molding them into a team with belief. He was the quintessence of calm today on the bench, even when Fulham were goalless for the first hour and ten minutes and needed to change that in order to survive.

The Americans on the team are so important, and we've seen that all year. When Brian McBride has been healthy, he's been able to score some hugely important goals. Clint Dempsey has been a workhorse, Kasey Keller played very well in goal since joining the club, Eddie Johnson got a couple run-outs up front in February and March, and even Carlos Bocanegra had a role at the beginning of the season.

Jimmy Bullard's return from injury was what really turned Fulham's fortunes around; he is a masterful set piece taker and is the creative force that Fulham desperately needed to have in their midfield. Danny Murphy came on strong at the end of the season and capped it off with the game-winning goal today.

It's a shame that the relegation battle came down to goal difference, just like it did last season. You all know my feelings on that; I touched on it briefly in my earlier post about Manchester United, and I truly feel bad for Reading.

As with United, I have to give my congratulations to Fulham, a team I picked to finish 13th this season. They didn't do that obviously, but they avoided the drop that many people believed they'd suffer and it'll be good to watch the Cottagers in the Premiership next season.

The Dream Lives On!

Fulham is a victory at Fratton Park next weekend away from completing a great escape after their 2-0 win today over Birmingham. A trademark Brian McBride diving header to finish off a fabulous in-swinging free kick from Jimmy Bullard opened the scoring for the Cottagers, and Erik Nevland sealed it late once again to account for the final scoreline. Kasey Keller continued to prove why he’s become Roy Hodgson’s first choice in goal over Antti Niemi with the clean sheet.

Their third win in four matches propelled Fulham out of the relegation zone (for now, anyway) and into 17th place, as they have a better goal differential than Reading. Both clubs have 33 points, Birmingham is in 19th with 32 points, and obviously each of these three teams have one game to go.

As previously mentioned, Fulham's game is at a Portsmouth team playing for nothing right now except to stay healthy for the FA Cup final, Birmingham hosts Blackburn in a game that has draw written all over it, and Reading will visit Derby, who will want to bow out of the Premiership with a great performance for their fans. Bolton is playing Sunderland right now, and the Trotters also have 33 points. A victory should mean safety, but a loss would make things hairy for Gary Megson's team as they aren't going to get anything against Chelsea next weekend.

There was a terrific atmosphere at Craven Cottage for Fulham's last home game of the year. Fulham has some of the best fans in the Premiership and it showed today. You can really tell how much that team means to the supporters, and you can't say the same about other fans and teams in the league.

90 minutes left for Fulham and three points would do the trick. They are playing with so much confidence right now and I really believe they're going to get the job done at Portsmouth next week.

Fulham's Premiership Survival Battle Is Not Over Yet

Those of you who read this blog on a regular basis know of my undying hope for Fulham to stay in the Premiership. It seems like every couple weeks for the past two months, I’ve written a post saying that it’s unwise to write Fulham off, but then they go and screw up where they shouldn’t screw up and it looks like crow will become a new part of my diet at the end of the year.

I picked them to finish 13th this season and while that won’t happen, I would like to see my prediction somewhat vindicated by the Cottagers staying up. Their roster is full of Americans — Kasey Keller, Clint Dempsey, Carlos Bocanegra, Eddie Johnson, and the captain, Brian McBride — and as an American myself, I’m rooting for my fellow countrymen to get the job done each and every week. I also have a soft spot for them as an underdog, playing in the shadow of much bigger clubs in London in a small, old (but cozy and picturesque) stadium.

So yes, it’s no secret that I want Fulham to be successful.

I had a previous engagement on Saturday and wasn’t able to turn the Manchester City-Fulham game on until about the 55th minute, by which City was already up 2-0 through a couple of early goals. I watched for five or ten more minutes and wasn’t exactly thrilled by what I saw out of the West London club. At that point, I was resigned to Fulham losing, so I turned on the NFL Draft to check out who my Buffalo Bills were going to take in the 2nd Round.

I won’t lie to you. I wish I could say I was a diehard fan who watched the game until the very end, but I can’t. I wish I could say that I always knew Fulham would find a way back and get something out of that game, but again, that wouldn’t be the truth.

Watching the Everton-Aston Villa game the next afternoon, I was talking with my brother, an avid Liverpool fan, about useless strikers in the Premiership. He, of course, went on and on about Andriy Voronin and Dirk Kuyt earlier in the season. I then threw out Diomansy Kamara, who is usually a late game sub brought on by Roy Hodgson to have an immediate impact. That seems to never, ever, happen though; Kamara generally replaces David Healy and does very little when he comes into the game.

Then he told me Kamara scored twice on Saturday.

“Twice?!? Fulham lost 2-0, how’d he score twice??”

“They didn’t lose, they won 3-2.”

“No they didn’t! It was 2-0 when I turned the game off, how did they win??”

“Well, Danny Murphy put in his own rebound from a missed PK, and they got the winner from Kamara in stoppage time.”

As a Liverpool supporter, he had to mention Danny Murphy. He just had to.

When I saw the highlights on the Premier League Review Show last night, I was still stunned. Diomansy Kamara looked like a world-beater out there. He looked like a guy who had no business playing for a small club like Fulham. His two goals came from cool, cool finishes, and Murphy was composed enough to score from close range as well.

Manchester City seemed to have bossed the game, with Kasey Keller repeatedly coming up huge in net for Hodgson’s team. Then all of a sudden, boom, boom, boom, Fulham won the game and took the valuable three points.

Because of that incredible comeback, Fulham now has a chance to avoid relegation. They’re still in 19th place with 30 points, but they’re only three points away from safety and have a better goal differential than 17th-place Reading.

Next weekend, the Cottagers host Birmingham City, who are in 18th with 32 points and have lost a whopping 13 games away from home this season whilst winning just two. A victory for Fulham would potentially propel them ahead of Reading, not to mention Birmingham, because Steve Coppell’s side has a home game against Tottenham. I can’t see Reading winning that game, although a draw is very likely, but they could just as easily lose. If they don’t come away with anything and Fulham wins, Fulham would leap into 16th place heading into the last game of the season.

Now, I’ll admit, I think the Reading-Spurs game will end in a tie. That would put Reading on 34 points, one ahead of Bolton, who plays host to Sunderland next weekend. I can also see that game ending all square, so Bolton would be on 34 points as well. A Fulham victory would give the Cottagers 33 points with one game to go, and for Fulham, it’s a trip to Fratton Park against a Portsmouth team who have put all of their eggs in the FA Cup final basket. Bolton’s last game is at Chelsea, where they’ll get nothing, Reading’s is at Derby, who will be anxious to give their fans one last solid Premiership performance, and Birmingham is home to Blackburn, which has “draw” written all over it.

What does this all mean? Well, let’s say Fulham manages to get a draw at Portsmouth, Reading get beat at Derby, and Birmingham do pick up a point against Blackburn. Assuming Fulham does, in fact, take care of business and beat Birmingham, that would leave Fulham on 34 points, Reading on 34, Bolton on 34, and Birmingham on 33. Birmingham would be relegated, and it would come down to goal differential between the three tied teams. Fulham’s is currently three goals better than that of Reading, and five goals worse than that of Bolton. If it all stays the same, Reading would go down as well, leaving Fulham and Bolton in the Premiership.

Whatever happens, it’s going to be a great end to the Premiership season. I sincerely hope that Fulham can pull off the great escape and stay in England’s top flight, and yours truly will be cheering for them in each of their last two games.

Tomorrow's Upset Special

Tomorrow's six-game slate certainly isn't the most attractive we've seen this season, especially not before closer inspection. When you really look at it though, there should be a couple of good games and I'm going to go on the record in one of them and say that Fulham will take points against Liverpool.

Part of me wants to take the safe route and predict a draw. You know what, though? Screw that. I'm going to lay it on the line right now; Fulham will BEAT Liverpool at Craven Cottage tomorrow. You heard me correctly. Fulham. Win. Over Liverpool.

Why? For several reasons:

1. The Cottagers have everything to play for -- Premiership survival. Liverpool has..well..nothing to play for. With Everton's loss to Chelsea yesterday, Liverpool is basically assured of 4th place and the final Champions League spot that comes with it. Don't underestimate the motivation of a desperate team against a team just playing out the string in the league.

2. Liverpool has their Champions League semifinal first leg on Tuesday. Make no mistake, that is the one thing driving Liverpool FC. Rafa is already known for his squad rotation system, and I just can't see guys like Torres, Gerrard, and either Mascherano or Alonso playing much tomorrow for fear of injury. Without that opposition spine right down the middle and with their team fully healthy, Fulham may have an advantage.

3. Remember last year's game at Craven Cottage between these two teams? It was a very similar situation; Fulham needed points and Liverpool was only competing for the Champions League. Benitez fielded a much-weakened team to rest his stars and Fulham got the victory.

4. Liverpool's fans -- will they travel down to West London? It's a long trip to the other end of England to likely see a less-than-full-strength Reds team. Even if the Scousers do make the journey, Fulham's fans are definitely going to outnumber them in that smaller stadium and Craven Cottage will undoubtedly be sold out.

Prediction: Fulham-2, Liverpool-1

Fulham is Not Done and Dusted Yet

Amazing.

Just last week, I wrote, in effect, that if Fulham didn't beat Sunderland at Craven Cottage, their hopes for retaining a place in the Premiership were finished. Their remaining schedule didn't provide too many opportunities to pick up points, so the Cottagers absolutely needed to get a victory against a team that had been poor on the road all season.

We all know what happened; Sunderland came into London and walked out with a 3-1 victory, despite a great goal from Fulham striker David Healy. At that point, I thought Healy's team was doomed for the drop.

Not so fast. Yesterday's game against Reading was truly, in all senses of the term, a must-win affair. Fulham HAD to have all three points, no if's, and's, or but's. They played like it too, dominating the match for all 90 minutes and in the end, earned a 2-0 victory that could've eaily been 4-0 or 5-0. Brian McBride scored in the 24th minute, and Erik Nevland, one of the Scandinavian players brought in under Roy Hodgson's watch, finished it in second half stoppage time.

Sure, Reading didn't show up, but you have to give Fulham a lot of credit for taking their fate by the scruff of the neck and fighting for survival. Anything else besides a victory and the fans back in West London would've needed to get used to drinking Coca-Cola for at least a season.

Fulham will be a bit disheartened by Bolton's 1-0 win over West Ham, as the Trotters moved themselves to within two points of safety and kept their position in 18th place, two points ahead of Fulham.

With that said, though, 18th isn't Fulham's ultimate goal; 17th is, and they moved two points closer after Birmingham's home draw against Everton. Again, Fulham will feel a bit unlucky because Birmingham equalized in the 83rd minute to snatch a share of the spoils, but making up two points (instead of three) is still huge right now.

Let's take a look at the run-ins for Fulham, Birmingham, and Bolton, and we'll even throw Reading in there as well as Steve Coppell's club is only three points clear of the drop zone. These four teams are likely to fight it out until the last kick of the ball this season; I believe everyone ahead of Reading is safe and obviously Derby County has long been relegated.

Fulham (27 points): Liverpool, @ Manchester City, Birmingham, @ Portsmouth
Bolton (29): @ Middlesbrough, @ Tottenham, Sunderland, @ Chelsea
Birmingham (31): @ Aston Villa, Liverpool, @ Fulham, Blackburn
Reading (32): @ Arsenal, @ Wigan, Tottenham, @ Derby County

Clearly, the biggest game of the 16 shown here is Fulham-Birmingham at Craven Cottage. If Fulham can manage to leapfrog Bolton and, in the process, cut their deficit to two points or less when they host Birmingham on Saturday, May 3, a victory would catapult the London side out of the bottom three.

How do I see things going, you ask?

Well, I can see Fulham taking five points (draw with Liverpool and at City, victory over Birmingham), Bolton taking only one (draw with Sunderland), Birmingham only one (draw with Blackburn), and Reading three (draws at Wigan, with Spurs, and at Derby).

If those predictions stayed true, the final standings would look like this:

16. Reading (35)
T17: Birmingham (32)
Fulham (32)
19. Bolton (30)

Birmingham and Fulham would then have to be sorted out by using goal differential. At this point, it definitely favors Birmingham (-13 to Fulham's -24), but three Birmingham losses, including the one at Fulham, could turn that around. I would still say that Birmingham would win a tiebreaker, but you never know.

The last four games of the season are going to be great. This is a relegation battle that will go down to the last day and for Fulham to even make this a contest after last week's loss to Sunderland is great. As I said, I'm not sure if they climb out, but they're going to keep fighting until the end.

John Collins Set to Take Over at Fulham

According to the Times Online, and you can read it for yourself at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article3701789.ece, former Hibernian manager and Everton and Fulham (amongst others) player John Collins will begin talks with ownership later this week, with a formal announcement to be made if/when Fulham get relegated.

Current boss Roy Hodgson would head upstairs to become director of football. The Cottagers would like to keep him around for his experience in the game and could benefit from the contacts he's made across Europe during his managerial career.

Collins did a good job at Hibs, leading them to their first trophy in 16 years after beating Kilmarnock to win the Scottish League Cup in March of last year. There were strong rumors and talk about dressing room mutinies and uneasiness in the relationship between Collins and his players, but he was 23-15-16 in his 54-game SPL tenure and that's a solid record in a league annually dominated by Rangers and Celtic.

If you’ll remember, he also was in the running to take over at Craven Cottage when Lawrie Sanchez was fired right around Christmastime, but chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed believed that the club needed a battle-tested manager to guide his team out of the drop zone and into safety.

At 40 years of age, Collins is relatively young for a manager and marks a stark contrast to the calm, stoic figure that has been Roy Hodgson. If Fulham were to be relegated, Collins' energy and passion would really need to be harnessed and used in a positive way; as I recently wrote, the 24-team Championship is built on parity and there isn't much between clubs. Every game is a fight and each point is crucial in the race for promotion.

On the surface, this seems like it would be a good move for Fulham. They're a team that I have a soft spot for and if Collins is the man to bring them back up, that'd be a great story.

Fulham Needs Victory Against Sunderland

The title of this post says it all.

It's straightforward for the Cottagers. Anything but a win against Sunderland tomorrow and Fulham can start packing their bags for the Coca-Cola Championship next year. Instead of lucrative home games against the likes of historic Premiership city rivals like Tottenham, Arsenal, and Chelsea, the fans at Craven Cottage will have to get used to seeing their team play Queens Park Rangers (QPR) and Crystal Palace.

Fortunately for Fulham, tomorrow's match will be played in London and Sunderland has struggled mightily away from home all season. The Black Cats have managed just one win in 16 road games and taken only four points outside of the Stadium of Light, but, to their credit, that one win came at a pretty good Aston Villa team on March 22. Possible starter Dwight Yorke will miss the game due to a knee injury, and Dickson Etuhu won't take any part either, also because of a knee problem. Fulham is healthy and ready to go, having been unbeaten in three of their last four contests.

Right now, Fulham is six points adrift of 17th place, where they need to be at the end of the season to avoid relegation. With the 24 points they have now, it appears like they'll need to find a way to earn anywhere from 6-9 more to escape the drop. A victory tomorrow and that task would become far more manageable, but a loss and Fulham are doomed with the schedule they still have to navigate.

Hypothetically, let's say that they do scratch out a win. That would probably vault the West London club into 18th place ahead of Bolton, who seem unlikely to go to Villa Park and get anything from their hosts. Birmingham, in 17th, travel to Wigan in a huge six-pointer as those two teams are separated by only one point and one place in the standings at the moment. Fulham will be rooting for either a draw in that game or a Wigan victory, because either would make climbing out of a relegation spot more realistic.

After tomorrow, Fulham will travel to Reading and take on another team in the relegation battle. The Cottagers are eight points behind Reading right now, but two consecutive victories could see that deficit slashed to two heading into the last four games of the season. Reading is alright at home, but they've conceded more goals at the Madejski than they've scored and that will give Fulham some hope.

The key game of the season in the quest to stay in England's top flight could very well come on May 3, the second-to-last weekend of the year. Fulham will welcome none other than Birmingham to Craven Cottage and their guests are another team that are absolutely abysmal on the road. At that point, Fulham would need to be two points (or less) behind to leap into what could be safety, because their goal differential is inferior to Birmingham's and that is the first tiebreaker if needed.

It's no secret that I have a soft spot for Fulham, given the fact that their roster is loaded with Americans and I want to see them do well. I also picked them to finish 13th this season, which may have been a bit of a reach, but I'm rooting for them to make me look good. Guys like Brian McBride, Clint Dempsey, and Kasey Keller all deserve better than the Championship and I'm hoping their team stays up.

It all starts tomorrow though, and Fulham desperately, desperately needs to beat Sunderland. Failing to do so wouldn't result in mathematical relegation yet, but they could very well need to run the table to remain in the Premiership and that's unrealistic. A win and Fulham would be in business.

The last six games of the season are going to be extremely enjoyable for viewers, as we have a little bit of a title race and a full-on relegation battle. Here's to Fulham coming away with three points tomorrow.

Americans on Display in Fulham-Everton Match

I kept hearing the Star-Spangled Banner in my head during Fulham's critical 1-0 victory over Everton today as six Americans, five of whom currently still play for the national team, took part in the game. Kasey Keller, the US all-time leader in wins and shutouts, posted another of each at the club level for Fulham and his opposite number, Tim Howard, the present and future in goal for the national team, only conceded one goal.

Who scored the goal for the Cottagers? None other than Brian McBride, the only American ever to score in more than one World Cup. McBride was replaced late in the game by another American, Clint Dempsey, who has arguably been Fulham's best player all season. McBride's goal was straight out of his personal scrapbook, a trademark header in front of the net that didn't look pretty, but got the job done.

Carlos Bocanegra also came on as a substitute for the home team and didn't acquit himself too badly, and Eddie Johnson started the game alongside McBride up front and had a few chances.

Fulham desperately needed the three points today and they got them, moving themselves to within reach of safety, something I predicted for this club before the season started. Everton, on the other hand, dropped points they couldn't afford to drop with Portsmouth and Aston Villa charging hard for 5th place behind them, and the Toffees' schedule gets considerably trickier in the next few weeks.

One thing I know is the fortunes of both Fulham and Everton depend largely on the Americans on both clubs' rosters. Tim Howard is going to have to come up big in goal for Everton, which, to be fair, he has done all season, and Fulham will be in dire need of goals down the stretch, something Johnson, McBride, and Dempsey are all capable of providing.

I Told You So..Not Yet, but Soon

Listen. I’m not the type of guy to fake humility and modesty; when I predict something or hype something up beforehand and it comes to fruition, I’m the first person to stand up and say “Yeah, that’s right, I said that would happen.” I don’t see what’s wrong with that. To me, the majority of people who don’t say “I told you so” really want to, but they just don’t give in to that urge for the sake of wanting to appear humble. That’s it, it’s to keep up appearances so they don’t sound cocky.

Whatever. I don’t believe in that.

Go back and look at my preseason capsules for each Premiership team; I picked Fulham to finish 13th this year. Alright, I may have overestimated the players ex-manager Lawrie Sanchez brought in last summer. Upon further review, some of those players were more squad guys and depth guys than actual regular contributors. With that said though, this is all in hindsight. Steven Davis, Diomansy Kamara, David Healy, Aaron Hughes, and Chris Baird are all internationally-capped players. Healy holds the record for most goals scored in one European Championship qualifying campaign (13). Kamara averaged better than a goal every three games for West Bromwich Albion from 2005-2007. These acquisitions all seemed like legitimate, significant moves at the time, and they just haven’t worked out as well as I thought they would.

My preseason prediction was heavily influenced by a healthy Brian McBride and having creative midfielder Jimmy Bullard return from injury by Christmas, which was the timetable for his recovery from his severe knee injury, suffered on September 9, 2006 in a game against Newcastle, entering this season. McBride dislocated his knee–--ironically, while scoring a goal–--on August 18 and only made his return to the lineup today in the 2-1 win victory over Aston Villa as a late substitute. McBride, the captain, was coming off a fans’ player of the year 2006-2007 season in which he scored 12 league goals and really helped Fulham retain their Premiership status. Bullard started the 2006-2007 season for the Cottagers like a house on fire, winning two Man of the Match awards in his team’s first three games played. He was terrific for Wigan from 2003-2006 when he was at the JJB, playing an integral role in their promotion to the Premiership in 2004-2005 and spearheading his team’s run to the Carling Cup final the next year.

When I did my Christmastime season summaries for every team and their respective outlooks for the rest of the year, I again was counting on both McBride’s and Bullard’s return. As I said, that was the original mark for Bullard and after McBride’s injury, the estimated timetable for his recovery was around that same time as well. The Cottagers were in 13th place at the time I wrote their summary, so things were looking good for me.

But then, things didn’t exactly go according to plan. After Christmas (December 25) and before today’s victory, Fulham did not record a win. They slipped gradually down the standings from 13th place to 19th place, where they now sit. The returns of Bullard and McBride kept getting pushed back and pushed back and no hope looked to be in sight. At that point, I was preparing to eat my words and take the heat for predicting a mid-table finish.

Not so fast. New manager Roy Hodgson tapped into his Scandinavian connections and brought in five players from that region this January, including three from Finland, his most recent place of employment (as national team manager). Jari Litmanen was the most recognizable name of those five with his background at Ajax, Bareclona, and Liverpool, but some under-the-radar moves have really proved beneficial.

Norwegian center back Brede Hangeland was signed to help shore up the leaky defense corps and at 6′5″, is a force in the air. Hangeland won the SkySports Man of the Match award in his Fulham debut against Bolton on January 29, proving his worth instantly.

Danish midfielder Leon Andreasen played well today in the victory. Erik Nevland, a Norwegian striker, made his debut today after signing from FC Groningen, where he scored 53 goals in 116 league games. Two North Americans, Eddie Johnson (USA) and Paul Stalteri (Canada) were brought in as well to help address the club’s most glaring needs (up top and in the back). Toni “Bonecrusher” Kallio is another defender, capable of playing both center and left back, and has made 35 appearances for Finland.

Most importantly though, and we saw this today, Bullard and McBride are healthy again and back in the lineup. Bullard’s free kick late in the match was a thing of magic and a perfect way to take the three points. McBride entered the game as a sub and showed his value as a target man, playing with his back to goal, controlling long balls and then either nodding them down to teammates or to himself, followed by a pass to a teammate.

Aston Villa are a very, very good young team. I had them finishing 7th this season and look to be right on that line. This was a big win for Fulham today and with the mediocrity and downright poorness of some of the teams at the bottom of the table, I can honestly see Fulham making a real run towards safety. They’re simply a better team and have a more experienced manager than the likes of Birmingham, Wigan, and Sunderland, all sides ahead of them right now. Their poor run of form was duly noted, of course, but let’s be honest with ourselves. Two of their best players in Bullard and McBride were injured for that whole period of time. No club, no matter who it is, can survive long-term injuries to their top two players.

The Cottagers have two winnable games upcoming as they’re at Middlesbrough next week, followed by a home game against London rival West Ham. The Cottagers also still have Derby, Sunderland, Reading, and Birmingham on their schedule, and their two most difficult games (against Liverpool and Manchester United) both come at Craven Cottage.

Come May, if Fulham do what I think they will do and finish very close to 13th, believe me, I’ll be here saying “I told you so” and laughing at the rest of you who wrote them off as dead and buried by Christmas.

A Trio of Six-Pointers

Things have been pretty busy in the soccer world recently at least as far as this site goes, what with the African Cup of Nations in full swing and the FA Cup 4th Round ties and 5th Round draw over the past few days.

Let’s not forget the bread and butter though. Premier League action heats up again with a round of midweek games, starting with four tomorrow and then five on Wednesday. Three of tomorrow’s matches are extremely, extremely important and so I wanted to give you a brief preview of what to watch for. These games are the definition of the term “six-pointers”, as each of the six teams involved are in the relegation fight and could either go three points closer to safety or three more points behind the teams they’re chasing in the battle to remain in the Premier League.

Middlesbrough (13th; 22 pts) vs. Wigan (17th; 20 pts):

This will be game #1 of the post-Jonathan Woodgate era at Middlesbrough. Say what you like about Woodgate and how injury-prone he is, but he’s a quality center-back and his presence will sorely be missed at the Riverside, especially as Boro have already conceded 37 goals this season. They’ve won just once in their last six league matches and only twice at home all season. Both Tuncay Sanli and Gary O’Neil should return to the lineup, however, and that will be a boost to Gareth Southgate’s club.

Marlon King should be set to make his debut for Wigan after recently joining the Lancashire side from Watford. King is a serviceable striker who will help Wigan up front; they’ve scored only 23 goals in as many matches this season. They’ve won just once away from the JJB this year but have earned points in five out of their last seven league games, including their sole road win at Derby. As a sidenote, this will be Wigan’s 100th match in the Premier League.

Bolton (15th; 21 pts) vs. Fulham (19th; 15 pts):

Out of the six clubs I’ve highlighted today, I think these two need a victory the most.

Bolton lack any type of scoring punch now that Nicolas Anelka has continued his nomadic ways and moved to Chelsea, and the likely signing of Aston Villa central defender Gary Cahill doesn’t address that need whatsoever. The Trotters have won just twice in their last seven league games and those wins came against Derby and Birmingham. El-Hadji Diouf and Abdoulaye Meite are both away due to African Cup of Nations duty and that doesn’t help matters at all.

One thing that does work in Bolton’s favor, however, is Fulham’s awful road form. Bolton have been solid at home this season (5-3-4) and Fulham have picked up only four points in eleven away league matches so far (0-4-7). The Cottagers actually hadn’t won away from home in the 2007 calendar year either, so Bolton should have the advantage tomorrow in that regard. Fulham will need Clint Dempsey to have a good game tomorrow if they have any hope of gaining a much-needed three points.

Sunderland (18th; 20 pts) vs. Birmingham City (16th; 20 pts):

Sunderland will head into tomorrow’s match with a much-weakened side as Michael Chopra, Danny Higginbotham, Grant Leadbitter, Ross Wallace, Kieran Richardson, Carlos Edwards, and Dickson Etuhu will all be out and each of those players has had an appreciable role with the club this season. The Black Cats have shown improvement recently with two wins in their last five league matches, including the dominant 2-0 win against Portsmouth at the Stadium of Light on January 13. Kenwyne Jones is capable of scoring every time he walks onto the field and Birmingham will likely have trouble containing him in the air.

The Blues have the most away wins (2) out of any team in the bottom seven in the Premiership and will likely hand James McFadden his first start since his recent move from Everton. Mauro Zarate has joined the club on loan as well and trust me, this kid is a star in the making. He scored the winning goal for the Argentine U-20 team in the final of last summer’s FIFA U-20 World Cup against the Czech Republic, and was the co-top scorer in the Argentine Apertura in 2006-2007 with 12 goals. Birmingham are healthy and will have every opportunity to steal a victory on the road, although they’ll have to earn it as Sunderland are 5-3-3 on home turf this season.

Fulham Hires Roy Hodgson

Fulham hired well-traveled English manager Roy Hodgson today to what the club described only as a "long-term contract", and the former Inter Milan boss will take over after the Cottagers' match against Birmingham City tomorrow.

Hodgson's last stop as manager was with the Finland national team from January 2006 to November 2007, and the 60-year-old nearly led the Scandinavian team to a place in Euro 2008 next summer. Among others, Hodgson has been in charge at Inter Milan, Udinese, Blackburn, Malmö FF, Grasshoppers, and F.C. Copenhagen on the domestic scene, as well as the UAE and Switzerland internationally. He was considered to be a long shot candidate for the England job as well this winter before Fabio Capello was hired.

Hodgson should command immediate respect with his background and experience as a manager. He's inheriting a team that's had more than their share of tough breaks this season but has the talent, at least in my opinion, to stay in the Premiership. Captain Brian McBride and Jimmy Bullard should return to the lineup within the next few weeks and that will really be a majoy boost for the Cottagers.

Goodbye, Lawrie Sanchez

Another Premiership manager has bitten the dust as Fulham fired Lawrie Sanchez today with immediate effect.

Sanchez joins Martin Jol, José Mourinho, Chris Hutchings, Sammy Lee, and Billy Davies as managers who started the year with a Premiership club and have been fired or have left by "mutual consent" during the season. Steve Bruce left Birmingham to join fellow relegation candidate Wigan in mid-November as well.

After a decent start to the season, Fulham have struggled recently and are in 18th place in the Premiership right now. The Cottagers haven't won since November 3 when they beat Reading and have picked up just one point in their last five league matches. To be fair though, they've been one of the most unlucky teams in the Premiership all season. Fulham very nearly won at Chelsea on September 29 but had to settle for a 0-0 draw, outplayed Arsenal at the Emirates for 80 minutes in the first game of the season but lost 2-1, were robbed of a point by a poor refereeing decision (what else is new?) at Middlesbrough on August 18, conceded a 90th minute goal to lose 2-1 at Aston Villa the week after the Boro loss, and on and on and on.

The injury bug has also hampered Fulham, with Brian McBride's absence due to a dislocated kneecap since that Boro defeat really limiting the options Sanchez could throw out there up front and making it much tougher for the London club to score goals. Creative midfielder Jimmy Bullard has been out for over a year with knee ligament damage but is back in training and could return to the lineup within a week or so, and McBride was no more than a month away from doing the same.

Still though, the Premiership is a business and Fulham have decided to cut ties with Lawrie Sanchez and move on. This club is too talented to be relegated in my opinion, but with Sanchez gone, you'd have to believe that the Northern Irish players he brought in this summer may want to leave during the January transfer window.

Former Fulham midfielder and Scotland international John Collins is now the favorite to replace Sanchez as the former just resigned from his managerial post at Hibernian. Collins is relatively young for a manager at 39 years of age and is very inexperienced as a manager, having only coached Hibs. He was at the helm for 54 games with the Hibbies and won 23 of them, with 15 draws and 16 losses as well.

Season Summaries--13. Fulham

13. Fulham (My preseason prediction: 13th)

Even though they've played only 13 games, roughly a third of the season, I'm proud to say that so far my preseason prediction for Fulham has been spot-on. As an American, Fulham are a team I root for with Brian McBride (currently injured), Clint Dempsey, Carlos Bocanegra, and Kasey Keller all on the roster and playing important roles with the London club, possibly soon to be joined by MLS Defender of the Year Michael Parkhurst.

Lawrie Sanchez is an underrated manager, in my opinion, and I'm not sure that people recognize how good of a job he did with Northern Ireland before he left the post to take charge at Fulham at the end of last season. I know that the national team job is different from managing at the club level, but Sanchez was able to get some pretty good results from a mish-mash roster (some of which he took to Fulham) and if he would've seen it through, I believe Northern Ireland would've qualified for Euro 2008.

As it is, the English-born Sanchez has done a good job at Fulham with pretty much the same type of roster: no stars, just a bunch of hard-working players who sail under the radar as far as name recognition goes, but a pretty solid group as a whole. Dempsey leads the team with 4 goals in the Premiership and when fellow American McBride returns from a dislocated knee, he'll provide the Cottagers with a boost and an aerial threat to complement Dempsey and David Healy. The only major disappointment to this point for Fulham was a 3rd Round Carling Cup defeat at home (in extra time) to Bolton. You can bet that Fulham's games will be close until the end; they've neither scored nor allowed more than 3 goals in any match this year.

Premiership Preview--13. Fulham

13. It's lucky number 13 for Northern Ireland--excuse me, I mean Fulham. Manager Lawrie Sanchez will begin his first full year in charge of the Cottagers with a revamped roster and higher expectations for a team that was going nowhere fast under Chris Coleman. Sanchez managed Northern Ireland from January 2004-May 2007 and took them from 124th in the FIFA world rankings to 33rd, the spot they held when he resigned, and did it with a team that wasn't exactly teeming with individual talent. He's shown that he can be successful but the club level is different than the international stage, so he'll be looking to prove that he can cut it in the Premiership. Fulham finished in 16th place last season, just one point clear of relegation, and were rescued from the drop only by a victory over a Liverpool side that was without many of its top players.

If Sam Allardyce has been proactive in the transfer window this summer, Lawrie Sanchez may have been even more so. He brought in seven players and bid goodbye to eight more, most notably Heidar Helguson, who went to Bolton. Aaron Hughes, Chris Baird, Steven Davis, and David Healy all played under him for Northern Ireland, and striker Diomansy Kamara and versatile defender Paul Konchesky came to Craven Cottage this summer as well. Fulham were tied for the most goals allowed in the Premiership last year (60), and the signings of Hughes, Konchesky, and Baird will give Lawrie Sanchez more options in the back to help shore up the defense. Healy and Kamara join a striking corps that also includes holdovers Brian McBride and Collins John. The attack certainly won't be dynamic, but should be good enough if the defense does the job that's expected of them this season. Heidar Helguson is the only player worth mentioning that left Fulham this summer, so Lawrie Sanchez has a team that will be entrenched in the top 15 this season.

To be honest, Fulham's schedule appears to be the easiest of any of the teams covered in this Premiership preview so far. There's a five-game stretch that covers all of November and into December that brings road games at Manchester United, Liverpool, and Everton, as well as home games with Reading and Blackburn. January will be tricky as well, but Chelsea and Arsenal both come to Craven Cottage and Fulham have winnable road matches at Bolton and West Ham. There are no runs of games of any real length other than those two so Fulham will have every chance to at least challenge for a top half position, though that seems unlikely.

Bottom Line: Lawrie Sanchez will be out to show that he can manage at the club level. I wouldn't be surprised if they swap places with Newcastle (Fulham finishes 14th, Newcastle 13th), but I also wouldn't be surprised if Fulham finish a spot or two higher than 13th either. They've got a decent team in place, a schedule that's not particularly difficult, and a billionaire Egyptian chairman behind them in Mohamed Al-Fayed.

Roundup of Recent Friendlies

•Manchester City-3, Doncaster-1
•Manchester City-4, Orgryte-1
•Manchester City-2, Shrewsbury-0
•Manchester City-0, Valencia-1
•Arsenal-2, Barnet-0
•Arsenal-3, Genclerbirligi-0
•Arsenal-0, SV Salzburg-1
•Arsenal-2, Paris Saint-Germain-1 (Emirates Cup)
•Arsenal-2, Inter Milan-1 (Emirates Cup; Arsenal wins Emirates Cup)
•Arsenal-2, Lazio-1 (Amsterdam Tournament)
•Liverpool-3, Crewe-0
•Liverpool-3, Werder Bremen-2
•Liverpool-2, Auxerre-0
•Liverpool-3, South China-1 (Barclays Asia Trophy)
•Liverpool-2, Shanghai Shenhua-0 (Port of Rotterdam Tournament)
•Liverpool-1, Feyenoord-1
•Bolton-2, Chivas Guadalajara-0 (Peace Cup)
•Bolton-2, Racing Santander-1 (Peace Cup)
•Bolton-0, Lyon-1 (Peace Cup Final, Bolton wins Peace Cup)
•Bolton-3, Espanyol-0
•Reading-0, River Plate-1 (Peace Cup)
•Reading-1, Lyon-0 (Peace Cup)
•Reading-1, Shimizu S-Pulse-0 (Peace Cup)
•Reading-6, Brentford-1
•Reading-3, Wolverhampton-2
•Portsmouth-2, Yeovil-0
•Portsmouth-2, Havant & Waterlooville-0
•Portsmouth-1, Eastleigh-0
•Portsmouth-1, Fulham-0 (Barclays Asia Trophy)
•Portsmouth-0, Liverpool-0 (Portsmouth wins on PK’s, Barclays Asia Trophy Final)
•Portsmouth-4, Bournemouth-1
•Portsmouth-3, Leicester City-1
•West Ham-2, Dagenham and Redbridge-0
•West Ham-1, Leyton Orient-1
•West Ham-2, MK Dons-3
•West Ham-3, Southend United-1
•West Ham-2, AC Roma-1
•Chelsea-2, Club America-1 (World Series of Football)
•Chelsea-1, Suwon Bluewings-0 (World Series of Football)
•Chelsea-1, LA Galaxy-0 (World Series of Football)
•Chelsea-1, Feyenoord-1
•Chelsea-0, Rangers-2
•Chelsea-2, Brondby-0
•Middlesbrough-0, FC Schalke-3
•Middlesbrough-1, Burnley-1
•Middlesbrough-2, Darlington-0
•Manchester United-2, Urawa Red Diamonds-2
•Manchester United-4, FC Seoul-0
•Manchester United-6, Shenzhen Jianlibao-0
•Manchester United Reserves-2, Port Vale-3
•Manchester United-3, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical-0
•Manchester United-2, Inter Milan-3
•Manchester United-2, Doncaster-0
•Manchester United-3, Glentoran-0
•Manchester United-4, Dunfermline-0
•Newcastle-3, Hartlepool-1
•Newcastle-1, Carlisle United-1
•Newcastle-4, Celtic-1
•Newcastle-0, Hull City-1
•Newcastle-2, Juventus-0
•Newcastle-1, Sampdoria-0
•Fulham-1, Dagenham & Redbridge-0
•Fulham-4, South China-1 (Barclays Asia Trophy)
•Fulham-1, QPR-2
•Sunderland-2, Darlington-0
•Sunderland-4, Galway United-0
•Sunderland-1, Juventus-1
•Tottenham-2, Kaizer Chiefs-1
•Tottenham-2, Orlando Pirates-1
•Tottenham-3, Orlando Pirates-0 (Tottenham wins Vodacom Challenge Trophy)
•Tottenham-4, Leyton Orient-2
•Tottenham-2, Torino-0
•Everton-0, Real Salt Lake-2
•Everton-4, Ventura County Fusion (PDL)-0
•Everton-2, Werder Bremen-2
•Everton-0, Crystal Palace-0
•Aston Villa-4, Toronto FC-2
•Aston Villa-3, Columbus Crew-1
•Aston Villa-2, Stoke City-0
•Aston Villa-3, Inter Milan-0
•Wigan Athletic-2, Blackpool-1
•Wigan Athletic-2, Barnsley-0
•Wigan Athletic-2, Leeds United-1
•Derby County-2, Nottingham Forest-0 (Derby County wins inaugural Brian
Clough Trophy)
•Derby County-2, Espanyol-2
•Blackburn-1, Huddersfield-2
•Blackburn-3, Preston North End-0
•Birmingham-3, Peterborough-0

Note: Premiership team listed first, NOT home team