En glædelig nyhed tickede denne formiddag ind over min browser, da vores norske styrmand, Brede Hangeland, har forlænget sin kontrakt til sommeren 2013.

Den formodentlig lukrative kontrakt giver Fulham mulighed for at skrue prisen i vejret, hvis eventuelle bejlere (*host*Liverpool*host*) skulle byde ind i januar eller til sommer.

Hangeland giver udtryk for, at han er euforisk over den nye kontrakt, og at han ser frem til yderligere succes med Fulham:

“I am delighted to have just signed a new deal and hope that this will now end months of speculation about my future.I have always maintained that I am happy at Fulham and committed to doing everything I can to ensure ongoing success of the team.

It’s great to see that the club has made great progress since I first joined in January 2008 which has seen the highest ever finish for the team in the club’s 130-year history at the end of last season.

This is a testament to everyone involved at the club including the manager and chairman who is dedicated to the club.”

Inden længe regner Fulham også at forlænge med den måske vigtigste person i klubben, nemlig træner Roy Hodgson, som i går bekendtgjorde, at en kontraktforlængelse er lige om hjørnet.

Its good to be a Fulham-fan!

El Tel’s Stamford Bridge Blue Army have bid £6.6m for Fulham Defender Brede Hangeland. If this bid is successful Carlos Cuellar will be returned to the Transfer List.

Bidding for this player will close at 20:00 GMT on Wednesday.

To table bids for the player submit a comment to this article informing the league of your bid, your team name and the player you wish to sell. All other managers are entitled to submit a bid for this player.

Bids must be in blocks of 100K, you can bid higher than the next 100k increment. E.g. Player 1 bids 6.3, but Player 2 then counters with a 6.9 bid to ensure he scares off other managers.

AS Roma 1-1 Fulham - Well, they left it late, but they pulled through in the end. Sorta. I found what Goal.com called ‘a game full of excitement’ at Craven Cottage to be a bit of a yawner – sans-Totti Roma looked absolutely shaky in the first half and the English side went ahead thanks to a Norwegian Giant and some shoddy marking from Marco Andreolli on 24′. The only really interesting facet of this game was the battle of the two Riises – Roma’s John Arne coming face to face with his brother Bjorn Helge. For the record, Bjorn may very well be the better of the two. That aside, the brightest spot in the entire first half was commentator Ray Hudson referring to Craven Cottage as a ‘postage stamp of a football ground’. Stefano Guberti starting was a distant second. The second half saw ‘Tinkerman’ Ranieri replace Stefano Okaka Chuka (useless) and Matteo Brighi (made Okaka look good) with the should-have-started combination of David Pizarro and Simone Perotta. The second half seemed more of the same, though Roma began to take the initiative and at least caused ultra-defensive Fulham some problems. John-Arne Riise won a penalty kick for his side late in the half, but Jeremy Menez’s weak effort from the spot wasn’t enough to trouble Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer – prompting the question: Why the hell was Menez taking a spot kick anyways? Ah well – ultimately it would not haunt us all too much, thanks to Marco Andreolli, who redeemed himself with a picture perfect finish to equalize a minute into stoppage time. In the end it would all finish square and Roma would effectively rob the London side of what seemed like a sure two points. Not exactly brilliance from i Lupi, but I’ll take it. Oh, and Fulham? Craven Cottage is one thing – let’s see how you fare at the Olimpico.

Craven Cottage. It's down there... Somewhere.

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TSG readers Nick and Matthew N combined to give me a very good idea to kick off our “World Cup 2010 Roster” conversations.

Hangeland: Nationally, but not vertically challenged

If you’ve noticed TSG hasn’t really commented yet on who we think goes, doesn’t go to South Africa as we’ve still got a little less than a year left and there is a lot to sort out–not least of which is, who is injured or even eligible?

While Nick and I chatted about stars of yesteryear making roster cameos, Friedel and McBride to be precise, we’re going to shelve that piece for discussion in a little bit and come out with a pie-in-the-sky “What Could Have Been?” the starting eleven in 2010.

Here’s just a little fun for your Monday: (and I had fun too, I went with a 4-2-3-1 which I’m not sure is a legitimate formation and is illegal in 37 countries.)

*Remember, this….is…just…for…fun. Not our opinion on line-ups or formation. Most already know my feeling on the formation.

G: Tim Howard

DEF: Edgar Castillo, Brede Hangeland, Neven Subotic, Jonathan Spector

MID:  Jermaine Jones, Benny Feilhaber

FW: Landon Donovan, Giuseppi Rossi, Clint Dempsey

STR: Jozy Altidore

1ST TWO SUBS: Charlie Davies, Stu Holden

Summary:

Subotic: A Vidic in the making...

• Could you imagine having Subotic and Hangeland–who I believe is up there in the EPL with Vidic, Vermaelen, and King–in central defense. Wow! Speaking of Vidic, Subotic chose the Serbian national team, over the Americans and Germans, who boast Vidic and Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic in the lineage of great central defenders. Subotic for his part is no slouch. An alumnus of Bradentown and US U-20, he just locked up a 4-year deal to man the middle for the Bundesliga’s Borussia Dortmund.

• Yes, we know Giuseppi Rossi blah, blah, blah. How about Donovan and Rossi crashing the wings with Dempsey happy to find the right passes and Feilhaber coming up for BOOMbasas! (Thank you Peter Vermes for that word). Remember though, without a Dempsey or Brian Ching injury, even if Rossi was in the American squad, Bob Bradley might have confined him to the bench. Somewhere Jose Francisco Torres is weeping.

• What about Castillo (who many have annointed site unseen as the next coming of Roberto Carlos or something) channeling his inner Carlos and overlapping with a Donovan run, for a volley into the box for a Altidore head.

So with this little fun piece, we begin with an outlet pass from Howard to Spector on our 2010 “who makes it” pieces–which probably begin in earnest and more technically after the Costa Rica WCQ closer.

Oh, and Matthew N’s TSG HOF comment on Jermaine Jones that has us ducking for cover as we publish here, “Is this guy an American or a German.. I dislike these turncoat types.”

Notes:

With U.S. U-20 looking to bounce back against Cameroon tomorrow, it was none other than current U-20 coach Thomas Rongen who came under fire for Subotic’s decision to play for Serbia. Now, Rongen is currently drawing criticism for the largely inexperienced line-up selction that met the wrong side of 3-0 against Germany on Saturday.

Murphy til 2011

Pga. flytterod og stress er det lykkes mig at nedgradere nyhederne til et minimum, og derfor har jeg et par hængepartier, jeg lige skal have skriblet ned på sprødt blog-papir.

Først og fremmest har Danny Murphy forlænget sin kontrakt med yderligere et år, så den nu løber til 2011. Med det pasningsspil, som Murphy har udvist på det seneste, kan jeg godt have mine bange anelser om, at alderen måske er ved at indhente den gamle kaptajn.

Men ikke desto mindre er han vores kaptajn, og et godt eksempel for de (få) unge spillere, vi har i truppen, og på sine gode dage kan han flænse et modstanderhold op med en fremragende sukkerball.

Dernæst har australske Adrian Leijer forladt os til fordel for hjemlandets Melbourne Victory, hvor forsvareren har skrevet under på en tre-årig kontrakt.

Unge Leijer fik aldrig sat sit aftryk i Fulham på trods af de superlativer, der blev klasket på ham, da han ankom til klubben, og forhåbentlig går det bedre for ham på et lavere niveau i Hyundai A-League.

Held og lykke til Leijer.

In other news, har den tidligere Fulham-spiller, Hameur Bouazza, i en bizar kovending fået ophævet sin kontrakt efter bare fire dage og en enkelt kamp for Sivasspor.

Grunden til bruddet kan vi kun spekulere om, men ifølge klubben skulle Bouazza have angivet personlige grunde som årsag (Måske han ikke havde fortalt hustruen, at de skulle flytte til Tyrkiet…. Who knows..)!

Sidst, men ikke mindst, er Everton nu ude efter Brede Hangeland, hvilket formodentlig igen er mediernes forsøg på at gøre nordmanden utilfreds med livet på Craven Cottage.

The Toffees har modtaget astronomiske £24 millioner for Joleon Lescott(!), og har derfor lidt håndører at byde ind med på trods af købet af den russiske playmaker, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, for £10 millioner.

Jeg er dog rimelig sikker på, at Brede forbliver på The Cottage i mindst en sæson endnu; hvis ikke ser det i hvert fald sort ud, da vi så skal ud og hente en verdensklasse forsvarer inden transfervinduet lukker natten til tirsdag..!

Stay tuned!

What you missed while forking UNIX’s lawn for it’s fortieth birthday…

• Roy Hodgson would’ve loved to have scouted Amkar Perm prior to Fulham’s Europa League clash tonight; unfortunately, he couldn’t get a visa in time.
• David Moyes to Joleon Lescott: If you won’t play with me, you won’t play at all.
• Sir Alex Ferguson blamed Manchester United’s shock loss to Burnley yesterday on Michael Carrick’s penalty miss, not Michael Owen’s three clear-cut chances in front of goal.
• The 2009-10 Champions League is pretty much all over for Anderlecht after their 5-1 loss to Lyon.
• Wesley Sneijder still isn’t sure whether or not he wants to leave Real Madrid for Inter.
• Barcelona was held scoreless by Manchester City in Zlatan Ibrahimović’s debut game. It’s possible those two things are related.
• Brede Hangeland doesn’t plan on leaving Fulham for Arsenal, and would appreciate it if you’d all quit talking about it.
• Marouane Chamakh’s now planning on staying at Bordeaux. I still don’t know who he is.
• Bayern Munich’s “van Gaal Era” has yet to register a win.

Como no podía ser de otra manera, la Premier League alza el telón llena de pasión, incertidumbre y grandes puntos de interés. A continuación presentamos algunos de los más destacados a estas alturas de campeonato.

1. Roberto Martínez

El primer catalán y técnico más joven de la actual Premier está delante de un doble reto al mando del Wigan. El de Balaguer quiere mantener a los ‘Latics’ en la elite del fútbol inglés y quiere hacerlo con el mismo estilo con el que maravilló en el Swansea las dos últimas campañas: con buen fútbol. Para ello deberá sobreponerse a las adversidades en forma de bajas que han supuesto la marcha de Antonio Valencia (Manchester United), Lee Cattermole (Sunderland) y el egipcio Amr Zaki. Martínez ha apostado fuerte por hacerse con los servicios de Jordi Gómez, que será el encargado de hilvanar todo el juego del equipo, y cuenta con uno de los delanteros más atractivos de la presente campaña, el colombiano Hugo Rodallega, que ya marcó en el primer partido de la temporada en Villa Park.

2. Carlos Tévez

Todo el mundo habla de los problemas que tendrá el United para sobreponerse a la marcha de Cristiano Ronaldo, pero los ‘Diablos Rojos’ pueden acusar igual, o incluso más, la ausencia del argentino. Tévez es la guinda del multimillonario proyecto de los ‘Citizens’ que se inició la pasada temporada con la llegada de Robinho, Wayne Bridge y Shay Given. Las evoluciones del ‘Apache’ serán seguidas con lupa por todos los aficionados pero especialmente por los detractores (si hay alguno) de Sir Alex Ferguson, que prescindió del delantero por motivos personales y no estrictamente deportivos.

3. Stephen Ireland

El tapado del City. Pese a la llegada al equipo de Gareth Barry, el irlandés es la pieza cuyo buen funcionamiento dirimirá las opciones reales del conjunto que dirige Mark Hughes. Como ya se vio en el ‘Opening Day’ ante el Blackburn, Ireland es el verdadero cerebro del equipo y esta temporada, rodeado de compañeros de gran calidad, puede consagrase como uno de los grandes centrocampistas del campeonato inglés.

4. Nani

Siempre a la sombra de Cristiano Ronaldo, el extremo portugués estaá delante de su gran oportunidad para explotar definitivamente como futbolista. Surgido de la inacabable cantera del Sporting de Portugal llegó a Old Trafford en 2007 junto al brasileño del Oporto Anderson por un coste total que superó los 55 millones de euros, y,  pese a gozar de oportunidades y minutos, no ha tenido un peso específico en el equipo por la presencia del de Madeira. Ahora, Nani debe adueñarse de las bandas del conjunto de Sir Alex Ferguson y demostrar que puede convertirse en una de las piezas básicas de los ‘Red Devils’.

5. Fabio Capello

Tras años de frustraciones, Inglaterra recurrió a la “apuesta segura” del italiano para hacerse cargo de la selección en vistas al Mundial 2010. Con la cita de Sudáfrica a la vuelta de la esquina, los aficionados estarán atentos a todos los movimientos del ex del Real Madrid. Capello, por su parte, parece tener perfilado un bloque fijo con el que trabajar durante los próximos diez meses, pero cada jornada tendrá ante si decenas de jugadores con ansias de demostrar que pueden tener un hueco en la lista de convocados que acudirán a la cita mundialista, algo que supone un aliciente de motivación y agresividad para la temporada. Los casos más llamativos los protagonizan el guardameta del United Ben Foster o su compañero Owen Hargreaves, si supera los problemas con las lesiones, los defensas Micah Richards y Ledley King y el también ‘Red Devil’, Michael Owen.

6. Michael Owen

El próximo 25 de octubre el ex delantero del Liverpool visitará Anfield con la camiseta del eterno enemigo, el Manchester United, en el que se perfila como uno de los duelos más interesantes, y con un componente de morbo añadido, de la temporada. Más allá de la visita de uno de los últimos niños prodigio de la cantera ‘Red’ a la que fue su casa, la temporada de Owen estará marcada por sus aspiraciones de llegar al Mundial de Sudáfrica del próximo verano, si es capaz de relanzar una carrera llena de altibajos que parecía haber llegado al ocaso en Newcastle.

7. Brede Hangeland / Gianfranco Zola

El defensa noruego, una de las piezas más cotizadas del mercado, seguirá en Craven Cottage a las órdenes Roy Hodgson. El Fulham se convirtió en una de las grandes revelaciones de la pasada temporada y ha conseguido mantener en la plantilla los nombres con los que logró un billete para Europa. Además, de Hangeland, habrá que prestar especial atención a las evoluciones de Mark Schwarzer, Danny Murphy, Clint Dempsey y Andrew Johnson.

El técnico italiano, por su parte llegó al banquillo de Upton Park sin experiencia pero logró llevar al equipo a la zona media de la Premier pese a las dificultades económicas. Zola, que supo sacar el máximo de sus pocos recursos y de la interminable factoría de ‘The Academy’ (James Tomkins, Jack Collison, Junior Stanislas…), está delante de su temporada de consagración como técnico.

Fulham y West Ham sumaron los tres puntos en el ‘Opening Day’ con grandes triunfos ante Portsmouth (0-1) y Wolverhampton (0-2), respectivamente.

8. Newcastle

El Championship se presenta con un aliciente especial por la presencia de las ‘Urracas’. El conjunto norteño sigue sin sellar su venta a un nuevo grupo inversor y sin encontrar un técnico para reconducir la situación deportiva. Sin embargo, el equipo ha iniciado la campaña con un buen empate (1-1) a domicilio ante el West Bromwich y una contundente victoria en St. James’ Park ante el Reading (3-0) con hat-trick de Shola Ameobi. Pero el Newcastle no deja de ser el Nwecastle y seguro que nos tiene preparadas muchas historias rocambolescas para los próximos meses.

9. Jack Wilshere

La nueva perla de Arsene Wenger encabeza la lista de jóvenes promesas a seguir a lo largo de los próximos nueve meses. El francés ya ha asegurado que el centrocampista gozará de oportunidades a lo largo de una campaña en la que también habrá que  que estar atentos a las evoluciones de su compañero Kieron Gibbs. Tampoco habrá que dejar de lado al delantero argentino Franco Di Santo, cedido por el Chelsea al Blackburn, a Jay Spearing, última perla surgida de la cantera del Liverpool, a Dan Gosling (Everton), al ya archiconocido Federico Macheda, y a Fabian Delph, promesa del Leeds que ha recalado en el Aston Villa.

10. Rafa Benítez

Pese a ser considerado casi un Dios por la afición de Anfield, una nueva temporada en blanco puede ser fatal para el madrileño. Seguramente Benítez confía ciegamente en sus métodos y su capacidad, pero a la vista de todos los aficionados la plantilla del Liverpool es corta y mancada de jugadores desequilibrantes. Una eventual lesión de Steven Gerrard o Fernando Torres dejaría huérfano al equipo y está por ver como puede cubrir la marcha de Xabi Alonso el italiano Alberto Aquilani. De momento, los ‘Reds’ ya tuvieron un primer aviso el pasado domingo en White Hart Lane.

Being a hip-hop fan living in the UK, you know what’s always utterly fascinating to me? That month during the year when US rap blogs just decided to stop writing about, you know, actual rap music for a few weeks and instead decide to let me know how the New Jersey Carpool will be lining up this year, and whether or not DeDonnell Donnellson’s trade from the Fresno Baristas to Manhattan Transfer will change the shape of the league. Well, in a return gesture, here’s me writing about the line-up of my fantasy football team, maybe just beause I can. Last year, Put Ryan Donk On It finished 40,627th out of 2 million entrants, so I’m clearly a fucking genius. Here’s how this year’s team, Fat & A Clown, Bill line up week one. Americans may wanna play the back for this one.

Goalkeeper

Ben Foster (Manchester United, Cost £5m, selected by 5.5% of all FPL teams)

Being as Edwin Van Der Saar is starting the season injured, and presumably leaving him with a lot more time to drive his train made out of chocolate, Foster is pretty much a budger n0-brainer as your starting goalkeeper this year, and should at least take a team berth until week 5. “Funny” people may here like to make a gag about he shares his name with the dude out of Screeching Weasel.

Defence

Patrice Evra (Manchester United, £6.5m, 17.4%)

Hey, remember when this dude decided to claim a Chelsea groundsman had racially abused him, and then it turned out he hadn’t? What a character. Should knock up enough clean sheets to make up for the fact there really is little funny about him other than that, at least.

Brede Hangeland (Fulham, £5.5m, 41.9%)

Why are there no grime MCs called Bredda Hangeland?

Ryan Shawcross (Stoke City, £4.5m, 6.6%)

I know everyone’s tapping their chin and running into some “Ah, but Reading’s second season was utter balls” thought processes at the moment, but you’re forgetting that the reason Reading sucked dick in their second top-flight season was because Steve Coppell was having heavy acid flashbacks to the 80s while trying to fend off Nigella Lawson’s dirty phonecalls, and Dave Kitson was too busy shouting at copies of York’s Notes for not accurately summarising Shakesepeare They’ll be fine, Shawcross will net a bunch of cleans and probably score some fluke free kicks as well. Happy days.

Glen Johnson (Liverpool, £7.5m, 6.8%)

lol toilet seat lol lol lol.

Midfield

Frank Lampard (Chelsea, £12.5m, 32.9%)

Liam Lawrence (Stoke City, £5.5m, 0.9%)

And of course the other great thing about the Chicken Little act people are playing with Stoke is that it means you can snap up bargains like this. Being as Rory Delap is secretly shit, I think maybe his long throw assists will dry up this season, but Lawrence is a tricky little bastard and his name also suggests a late 80s “yoof” TV host, so we’ll roll the dice on him.

Nadir Belhadj (Portsmouth, £5m, 0.6%)

Pompey are going down rock bottom this season, and Paul Hart has the sort of glum face one has when dealing with cashed-up Arabs more commonly seen from US Marines in kidnap tapes. Still, they have a scrappy enough start and Belhadj has pretty dope eyebrows, imo, so he can take the first month in the squad no problem.

Strikers

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, £11m, 21.5%)

Is this cunt 23 years old already? Christ I’m skipping towards death fast.

Fernando Torres (Liverpool, £11.5m, 36.6%)

I do appreciate that loading your team up with two name strikers would have been death last year, when every single team was playing 4-5-1 and relying on Amr Zaki to stop dicking about and start scoring again, but I just have a feeling we’re gonna be seeing more points up front this season than before, especially with Alonso’s departure meaning Gerrard will be in less of a forward position, Ronaldo fucking off meaning Rooney plays more central, and EXCITING DIAMOND FORMATION TIME at Chelsea. Has anyone ever created a scale for rating lesbians on a Rooney (diesel dyke) to Torres (boyishly cute) metric yet?

Sylvan-Ebanks Blake (Wolves, £5.5m, 11.4%)

This year’s Zaki. Named after a racehorse, for what it’s worth. Other things named after racehorses include popular beat combo Franz Ferdinand, less popular beat combo Rooster, and the lollipop, named after 1900s racehorse Lolly Pop. Don’t say you never learn anything from this website.

Subs

Marton Fulop (Sunderland, £4.5m, 0.5%)

Hey, remember when Craig Gordon was the best goalkeeper in the UK and going to be an essential part of Sunderland’s climb into the big 6? Those were great days.

Michael Turner (Hull City, £4.5m, 11%)

If Phil Brown does get fired early into the season, he better do some “ironic” adverts for SingStar on TV.

Charles N’Zogbia (Wigan, £5.5m, 2.9%)

helllo i’m 68 years old and my name is badin bajrami. i’m from macedonia , gostivar . i heared this song 2 mothns ago and i liked so much. so please can some one send me this song by mail . my e-mail addres is : badin_sexy_boy68@hotmail.com

Sebastian Larsson (Birmingham City, £5.m, 1.5%)

Once fucked a lawyer at the back of the Electric Cinema in Birmingham, you know? If you can guess which London law corporate law firm she now works with, you can have every single promo CD currently littering up my bedroom.

What you missed while zombie ants were dying where this fungus told them to…

• Darren Fletcher blamed poor officiating for Scotland’s 4-0 loss to Norway in World Cup Qualifying yesterday; Scotland’s Gary Caldwell was sent off after being booked twice in two minutes. The loss puts Scotland in third place in their group, being Holland and Macedonia, and makes their road to qualification a lot more difficult.
• Mark Hughes is still interested in signing Joleon Lescott in spite of the fact that David Moyes has already rejected a written transfer request from the centerback.
• Wesley Sneijder wants to stay at Real Madrid; the Dutch midfielder has been linked with Inter and Aston Villa.
• Brede Hangeland insists he won’t be moving to Arsenal, which is good news for pretty much every fantasy player in our league.
• Holland and England drew 2-2 in a friendly yesterday amid what Fabio Capello called “stupid” and “careless” mistakes.
• Finally, according to “IllicitEncounters.com”, footie fans cheat on their spouses less than cricket and rugby fans.

Last Season: 7^th

Say hello to your new teammates: Bjorn Helge Riise, Stephen Kelly.

Close the door on your way out: Collins John, Julian Gray, Moritz Volz.

Predicted star: Another team where organisation and team work is the key, making it hard to pick out individual stars. Danny Murphy is enjoying an Indian Summer and was terrific last season while Clint Dempsey was better and better as the season went on. However, I think it will be Mark Schwarzer again, his saves being worth at least ten points a season (notice Boro go down after he left).

Underrated.

Needs a big year: Lack of goals was an issue last season (so many 0-0s and 1-0s) so Andy Johnson needs to show he still capable of more than the seven goals he scored in 2008/09.

One to watch: If Bjorn Helge Riise is half as good as his brother, Fulham will have a decent player on their hands. Chris Smalling could find himself playing a lot in defence.

What they want to happen: More of the same – good football, top half finish. Maybe Chairman Mo to loosen those purse strings just a touch. Oh and keep Hangeland away from the big clubs.

Nightmare scenario: Hangeland gets sold, the small squad gets found out and a return to bottom half struggles ensues.

Plan A: Knock it about prettily in midfield before playing through Andy Johnson or Clint Dempsey to finish.

Plan B, just in case: Play for 0-0.

Predicted finish: 11^th

Why? Last season saw everything go right for Fulham and the result was an unexpected highest ever finish of 7^th. The defence was inspired and Schwarzer was one of the signings of the season. Luckily for them the squad is intact and Hodgson has added a couple of unknowns to aid the squad with the extra games that Europa League qualification has brought. Assuming they keep Hangeland for now, Fulham should be able to cope with the demands of domestic and European competition.

The secret signals that are key to success!

Away form is still a bit of issue and a defensive midfielder to play ahead of/alongside Etuhu would be helpful in gaining more points on that front. An extra striker is also desirable given Hodgson’s willingness to let Zamora go. They will slip down a few places just due to the level of strengthening of the clubs behind them but their form at Craven Cottage should ensure another good season for Fulham.

.

T.

Arsenal finished their preseason campaign with disheartening 2-nil defeat at the Estadio Mestalla in Valencia last night. Valencia came out the stronger side in the pouring rain but as the weather improved slightly so did Arsenal. The first half finished scoreless. Almost wholesale changes to the lineup saw Arsenal start the second half much better. But Valencia took the lead in the 75th minute when Michel fired home a rebound inside the box past Lukasz Fabianksi, who had previously saved a dubiously awarded penalty from David Villa. Arsenal’s central defense of Djourou and Silvestre was caught numerous times with runs between them and David Villa finished the match off in the 90th minute taking advantage of this persistent Arsenal weakness.

It really must make one wonder why Arsene would schedule a trip to Spain only a week before the opening match at Everton. Following a grueling two-a-day training schedule, a trip to Austria, Hungary, and Germany, and two matches in two days the previous weekend, wouldn’t the players have been served better by a match against a lesser opponent closer to home?

What will Arsene take from this match? It is hard to say. He should be able to see that another central defender is absolutely necessary especially considering that Senderos’s absence from the team indicated his move to Everton may be imminent. Wenger must know, as we all do, that Silvestre is no centre back and to consider him one of your first four center backs is sheer lunacy. He makes our already glaring weakness even weaker. Chelsea’s sole tactical goal in last year’s FA Cup semifinal was to attack and expose Silvestre’s lack of pace by pumping balls over the top for Drogba to run on to. The only surprise was that it took him so long to finally exploit Silvestre in that match.

It seems to me that Hangeland is the ideal solution to our defensive deficiencies. He’s tall and strong in the air and no one is saying that he has to step in as one of the first two choices. However, he would give us options at the back and would give us that bit of force in the air that we have lacked against bigger and stronger teams with the Gallas-Toure partnership over the last few years. Obviously, Roy Hodgson desperately wants to hold on to Hangeland but he seems to be becoming increasingly resigned to the fact that his hand may be forced on the issue. Here is what he has had to say over the last week:

5 August:

7 August:

Fulham FC: En sæson på det jævne…

Stiftet: 1879 (som Fulham St. Andrew’s Church Sunday School)

Stadion: Craven Cottage (Kapacitet: 27.726)

Kælenavn: Cottagers, Whites, Lilywhites

Seneste tre ligaplaceringer (07/08/09): 16/17/7

Første fem kampe: 15/8 Portsmouth (U), 18/8 Blackburn (H), 22/8 Chelsea (H), 29/8 Aston Villa (U), 12/9 Everton (H)

Manager: Roy Hodgson (Siden december 2007)

Fulham har efterhånden været et fast indslag i den bedste engelske række i en årrække. Holdet rykkede op i 2001 efter en markant længere årrække i de lavere divisioner. Holdets comeback i det fine selskab hang uløseligt sammen med rigmanden Mohammed Al-Fayeds økonomiske engagement, som startede i 1997. Med hans penge, og franske Jean Tigana (efter blandt andet Kevin Keagan havde haft fornøjelsen) på trænerbænken tromlede Fulham op i den bedste række med folk som Louis Saha og Luis Boa Morte blandt de absolutte profiler. Da Roy Hodgson kom til Fulham var klubben imidlertid i en bitter nedrykningskamp. Ikke mindst fordi det virker som om Al-Fayeds interesse for holdet er dalet betragteligt de senere år. Holdet reddede imidlertid livet ved at vinde fire af sæsonens sidste fem kampe under Hodgsons ledelse. I sidste sæson skulle man så undgå at havne i en tilsvarende situation igen, og denne mission mere end lykkedes. Fulham overraskede alt og alle, og snuppede til sidst også den 7. plads som gav en plads i dette års Euro League. Manden som nogle måske husker for sit år i FC København har således iscenesat en transformation på Craven Cottage som fortjener respekt og beundring.

Truppen generelt: The usual suspects…

En væsentlig årsag til Fulhams succesfulde sæson sidste år, var at holdet i det store hele undgik skader til de centrale spillere. Særligt vigtigt var det, at målmanden og backkæden stort set overhovedet ikke behøvede blive udskiftet. Således spillede keeperen Mark Schwarzer samtlige kampe, og viste sig at være et regulært scoop for Fulham, da de hentede ham på fri transfer inden sæsonen. Noget kunne også tyde på at Middlesbrough måske kunne have brugt ham et år til… Schwarzer presses i øvrigt fra bænken af ingen ringere end manden med et af fodboldverdenens dummeste navne: Pascal Zuberbühler. Venstrebacken Paul Konchesky missede to kampe, den ghanesiske højreback John Pantsil gik glip af en, det samme gjorde Brede Hangeland, mens hans makker i centerforsvaret, Aaron Hughes, spillede samtlige kampe. Den stabilitet skabte en meget stærk forsvarsenhed hos holdet fra Craven Cottage, som lukkede færre mål ind end alle andre hold i Premier League, bortset fra top tre. Særligt den tidligere FCK’er, Hangeland, tiltrak sig mange overskrifter for sit dominerende spil, og et skifte til Arsenal var på tale i flere omgange.

På midtbanen var den tidligere Liverpool-mand (og uofficielle verdensmester i dårlige mål på langskud som rettes af flere gange inden de ryger i kassen – nummer to er i øvrigt Deco) Danny Murphy i storform og startede også samtlige kampe for the cottagers. Han blev i første halvdel af sæsonen suppleret af Jimmy Bullard, som i januar tog til Hull. I anden halvdel af sæsonen satte Dickson Etuhu sig ofte på pladsen, hvor han foruden at bidrage med et voldsomt sejt navn, udfyldte sin rolle uden nonsense. Det tidligere Tottenham-stortalent Simon Davies så ud til definitivt at have lagt de skader som længe saboterede hans karriere bag sig, og spillede for anden sæson over tredive kampe fra start – hovedsagligt på højrekanten. Sæsonafslutningen blev dog trods alt ødelagt af en skade for den teknisk gode waliser, som dog regner med at være klar til sæsonstart. Venstrekanten tog Zoltan Gera sig af i første halvdel af sæsonen inden skader kom i vejen for ungareren som i mange år har været stjerne hos West Bromwich. Derefter blev han hovedsagligt brugt som indskifter. Amerikaneren Clint Dempsey spillede til gengæld en god sæson, hvor han tog sig af såvel rollen som kantspiller, offensiv midt og angriber, hvor det samlet blev til 7 mål.

På toppen spillede manden som mærker tyngdekraften tidobbelt i straffesparksfeltet, Andy Johnson og Bobby Zamora de fleste kampe. Johnson lavede næsten godkendte 7 mål, mens Zamora trods sin arbejdsiver og mange andre gode egenskaber ikke kan være tilfreds med blot at have bidraget med 2 mål. At Zamora alligevel spillede stort set spillede alle kampe alligevel, siger noget om at Hodgson må værdsætte hans indsats. Begge reserverne, Eric Nevland (som giver truppen ren og skær 90′er-glød) og Diomansy Camara, lavede faktisk dobbelt så mange mål i deres få kampe fra start og hyppige indskiftninger.

Væsentlige transfere: Don’t hassle the Volz…

Fulham har haft en relativt stille sommer på markedet, hvor to mand er gledet ud, mens to nye er kommet til. Den rædselsfuldt dårlige angriber Collins John har endelig fået gjort en ende på sine Premier League lidelser, og kan fremover henrykke i den belgiske klub KSV Roeselare. Mere sørgeligt er det, at ligaens måske mest sympatiske spiller, tyske Moritz Volz, ligeledes er blevet fritstillet. Volzy har med sit gode humør og sin tydelige kærlighed til fodboldspillet været et kærkomment afbræk i forhold til mange af de fimsede, krukkede, napoleon-kompleksramte, blingbling primadonnaer som render og surmuler lørdag efter lørdag. Volzys personlige hjemmeside volzy.com kan anbefales, hvis man vil vide mere. Her kan man blandt andet læse om hans sammenklappelige minicykel som han transporterer sig omkring på i London (når han ikke er med metro), og hans kærlighed til David Hasselhoff og tv-serien Nightrider, ligesom man kan blive linket til hans egen youtube-kanal.

Ind er til gengæld kommet Birmingham-højrebacken Stephen Kelly som kan give konkurrence til backkædens svageste led, John Pantsil, og den norske midtbanespiller Bjorn Helge Riise, som kommer til fra Lillestrøm.

Forventninger: Mere af det samme, bare dårligere…

Det er happy days på Craven Cottage. Næste sæson bliver dog sværere for London-holdet, da truppen i sin nuværende form virker foruroligende smal i forhold til både at spille med i ligaen og i europæisk fodbold. Det øgede antal kampe vil kræve at flere spillere kommer ind omkring førsteholdet, ligesom det synes usandsynligt at Fulham næsten kan undgå skader endnu en sæson. Ikke desto mindre har holdet i Roy Hodgson en træner som ved, hvordan han skal bygge sit hold op, han ved hvordan han vil have dem til at spille, og han har formået at få en række mindre spektakulære spillere til at fungere utrolig godt som en enhed. I næste sæson vil folk dog være forberedte på dette, ligesom den generelle distraktion fra europæisk fodbold plejer at have sin pris i den hjemlige liga. Sidste sæson sås dette med al tydelighed, da såvel Tottenham som Aston Villa i sidste sæson lod reserverne tage sig af deres sekstendedelsfinaler i UEFA-cupen. Derfor vurderer undertegnede, at Fulham – medmindre de virkelig åbner den store tegnedreng i løbet af de næste to uger – kommer til at få en sæson på det jævne. Nedrykning bliver næppe aktuelt, hvis holdet kan spille med cirka den samme stamme som sidste år. Til gengæld bliver der heller ikke tale om en gentagelse af sidste sæsons imponerende resultat.

Tip: Forventet placering: Nummer 13  Supersæson: For Fulham vil det være helt fantastisk, hvis holdet igen kan spille med omkring den nederste europæiske plads og slutte i top-8.