A fairly regular criticism of Jol regards one his promulgations at the start of the season. One of the reasons why the Fulham board felt he was a suitable candidate for Fulham manager was that they felt like the squad was too old, and Jol was only too happy to comply with the remit that the average age should be reduced. However, if you look out onto the pitch, the squad is just as old as it was (besides Ruiz and Riise who has a year on Salcido) before he took over. So what is Jol doing?

Well, Jol’s recruitment policy in the summer focused on signing up young players (pictured above standing next to Murphy is one such example). Kasami is just 19, Gecov 23 (he was when he signed anyway, not sure when his birthday is), Sa also 23, Ruiz 26 which is not young but not old either, especially considering the likes of Gera, Zamora and Johnson are attacking Premier League players into their 30s. Somogyi at 26 and Grygera at 30 were brought in too but have barely featured, if it all, although it was a great shame to see Grygera get injured after a bright start to his Fulham career especially considering the kerfuffle that has ensued around the right back position since. Riise is, of course, our regular left back although he didn’t play yesterday, as didn’t Ruiz, on which basis it’s almost acceptable to title this article ‘None Of Jol’s Signings Play’, but that’s just me being a bit melodramatic On top of that, Frei has made giant strides since joining 13 months ago and was promoted into the first team squad at 17, Briggs is now a recognised Premier League talent and Trotta, Dalla Valle and Donegan have all made debuts. It’s actually remarkably refreshing considering the approach taken by Hughes and even more so Roy before him. Not to mention the Academy’s relentless recruitment drive over the past year or two, seeing the likes of Cauley Woodrow, Dan Burn, Tankovic, Williams and many others join for fees that cumulate into the several millions.

Yet none of these players are regulars, yet anyway. And that is the key. To find talented young players in their teens ready to play consistently at an intensity of this level is infrequent enough, and then there is the consideration that either they play for large clubs so they would be difficult to persuade or they play for smaller ones but would cost alot of money. It is simply unrealistic to expect a manager to go into a club and turnaround a squad which averages 30 to one where half of them aren’t old enough for a provisional.

What is realistic however is for a manager to go into a club with a view of long term integration, buying players who demonstrate undoubted talent but not on consistent display or by promoting from within. Kasami and Gecov and Tankovic and Frei are’t for this season. They are for the many seasons they have ahead of them in their careers. They are rough diamonds, very talented players for sure but not yet ready to play Premier League football consistently. Frei is supremely gifted but still has many limitations; Kasami similarly is a very good young player but does not use it in the best way and so falls short of what is required. There are more exampls. If we were to suddenly throw these players into our first team it would suffer.

Even Dembele is a prime example. Signed for 5 million pounds of thereabouts, his first season in England was inconsistent, suffered from struggles with the physicality and he generally flattered to deceive, yet you could see glimpses of huge talent. A season later and we could sell him for 15 million, theoretically enough to buy three more Dembeles, which is exactly what brings this footballing and financial modelling success.

Don’t get me wrong, this article isn’t meant to be a desparaging comment on our young players, far from it infact; I believe we are fortunate enough to possess some players in our squad who in 3 or 4 years will be playing Champions League football reguarly, and the fact that Juventus have come in for Kasami speaks volumes about his talent (but so does their proposition to loan him immediately to relegation-battling Cesena). There is a vicious circle which goes something like

Player Needs Games To Mature Into Premier League Player -> Doesn’t Play Because He’s Not Ready -> Player Doesn’t Get Games He Needs -> Doesn’t Play Because He’s Not Ready -> Player Joins Huddersfield/Brighton/Other Lower League Club At 23 And Might Regain Some Momentum In His Career

but the way Jol has played it he has done pretty well. The drop off the face of the earth of Kasami is quite strange. although he’s now back on the bench, but Frei still gets plenty of bench time and Briggs is (going off his twitter) injured. Gecov yet isn’t trusted in the first team but next season I think he will make more impact. Not to mention the number of talented young players in our Development and U18 squads.

Essentially what I’m saying is be patient. The young players are here in the long term, and in the short term we are lucky to have a good group of talented proffessionals who can carry the Fulham beacon with pride for another season before it is handed over to the next generation of players, a set which one would think would conform more to Jol’s style of play than the relatively static bunch we have now. Roy’s recruitment policy was a double edged sword; while he brought in some good players, the egg-timer on their career was running down and now Jol has inherited the problem of a squad full of 30 year olds, a problem which shouldn’t be overlooked and if not dealt with will be the demise of our Premier League status. For now however, they are doing just fine on the pitch, on track to avoid relegation comfortably while the successors which Jol has brought are  being groomed to take their place. Maybe the absence of cup competitions, a series of ‘easy’ home games and absence of relegation fear means that the revolution will start sooner rather than later

Expect a dramatic Summer transfer window.

~lork

Any hope that Fulham had of extending their fine unbeaten run against Manchester City evaporated inside half an hour of this clash at the City of Manchester Stadium this evening. Significant questions were awaiting Roberto Mancini’s side after their defeat by Everton midweek and, with skipper Vincent Kompany still unavailable despite completing his suspension after picking up a knock in training, there was a hint of brittleness about the league leaders.

Martin Jol pledged that his side wouldn’t sit back and soak up the pressure but take the game to City, but Fulham never really had the opportunity to get out of first gear. Mike Dean was more than obliging when Adam Johnson took a tumble after running into Chris Baird after nine minutes – the England midfielder making the most of minimal contact that he initiated himself after catching the Ulsterman’s foot with his own. Sergio Aguero made no mistake with the spot kick, planting it past the recalled Mark Schwarzer into the bottom right hand corner.

Baird, a surprising inclusion ahead of John Arne Riise at left back, endured a difficult evening in the snow. He became even more frustrated after Johnson threw himself to the ground by the byline under no challenge, but the telling blow arrived on the half hour mark. Fulham failed to deal with a fizzing cross from Aleksander Kolarov and, when Johnson attempted to return the ball within interest across the six-yard box from the back post, his cross-cum-shot rebounded off the unfortunate Baird and flew past Schwarzer.

Fulham had little chance of recovering from that two-goal deficit, whatever their record of startling recoveries against City might have suggested. Instead, they were fortunate not to be further behind by the break. Schwarzer’s reflexes prevented Philippe Senderos from adding another own goal and Brede Hangeland’s brilliant saving tackle denied Edin Dzeko, who had earlier gone close on two occasions, when Fulham were caught horribly square at the back. Though Clint Dempsey and the returning Moussa Dembele worked tirelessly, the visitors offered little on the counter save for a scurrying run and shot from Damien Duff that crept just wide.

Even though Fulham had the greater share of the possession in a more even second period, Jol’s side were restricted to hopeful shots from distance. Joe Hart, a virtual spectator for much of the contest, smothered a Danny Murphy effort and got down well to save from both Baird and Stephen Kelly. Fulham paid for their failure to stretch the England goalkeeper when the quick feet of Aguero uncovered gaping holes in their back line. Both Senderos and Hangeland were left flat-footed by the nippy Argentine as he sped towards goal and Aguero unselfishly squared the ball to Dzeko as he bore down on Schwarzer, leaving the Bosnian striker with a simple finish.

The game was stopped twice as the heavy snow forced referee Dean to summon the ground staff and their shovels to clear away snow and remark the goal-lines, but the match had long since lost any semblance of urgency. Kolarov was fortunate to avoid a second booking after clashing with Dembele as both players put their heads towards one another after the City full-back had tugged back Dembele. Fulham’s frustrating afternoon was summed up in the dying embers of the contest when substitute Bryan Ruiz’s corner was diverted onto his own post by Dzeko. When your luck’s out, it’s well and truly out.

MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-2-2): Hart; Richards, Kolarov, Savic, Lescott; Adam Johnson (Pizarro 90), Barry; Nasri (Milner 54), Silva; Dzeko, Aguero (de Jong 80). Subs (not used): Pantilmon, Zabaleta, Clichy, Rekik.

BOOKED: Kolarov.

GOAL: Aguero (pen 10), Baird (o.g. 30), Dzeko (72).

FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Schwarzer; Kelly, Baird, Senderos (J.A. Riise 73), Hangeland; Etuhu (Ruiz 68), Murphy; Duff, Davies, Dembele (Gecov 85); Dempsey. Subs (not used): Stockdale, Hughes, Kasami, Frei.

BOOKED: Senderos, Dembele, Baird.

REFEREE: Mike Dean (Wirral).

ATTENDANCE: 46,963.

I imagine there will be people angry about this but City have won every single home game this year, right? So quite what we were supposed to do about that I’m not sure. People talk about our record at Eastlands but that was before City became CITY and, well, honestly…

The shame was that the game was over before it had begun, Adam Johnson managing to fall over Chris Baird in the area to win a dodgy penalty to make it 1-0, then Baird put through his own goal to make it two before we’d even started to play. From there it was really a question of how many, and it’s to the team’s credit (well, and the weather’s) that the second half was reasonable.  City got a late third but a 3-0 defeat to this team isn’t terrible.

Interesting team selection: Etuhu recalled post-window (he’d wanted out, but having stayed, was to be trusted again it seems), Davies, Dembele and Duff as a three behind Dempsey which meant no Ruiz but presumably more defensive solidity. Maybe. Schwarzer was back and Chris Baird was brought in to play left back (combat the inverted wing play of Johnson) and did moderately well after that start, but ultimately we were outclassed.

So in the end the story was the weather, which was snowy. The game’s out of the way now, let’s move on.

Martin Jol was sounding a realistic note during his pre-match press conference yesterday, acknowledging Manchester City’s phenomenal home record and lamenting his own side’s travel sickness. With Roberto Mancini sure to demand that his side deliver a fired-up response to their defeat by Everton in midweek, the pessimist in me wonders whether the Premier League’s first ever free-to-air fixture might be a massacre. Given some of Fulham’s defensive deficiencies lately, it’s not out of the question.

That’s disregarding Fulham’s fine record on the blue side of Manchester though. The Londoners are unbeaten on their last four visits to Eastlands, dating back to that Lazarus-like recovery that kickstarted the Great Escape. They have lost just once in their last six trips – and that was after extra time in a League Cup tie where Roy Hodgson played a shadow side. Even Jol has an impressive record against City. He hasn’t been beaten in seven league meetings – and the comeback at Craven Cottage this season was his first draw after six wins.

But Fulham will need more than merely faith in statistics to preserve that proud record this evening. They might have been the last team to avoid defeat at City last February, but Mancini’s attacking arsenal is truly frightening. Even without the suspended Mario Balotelli, the Italian can still call upon Eden Dzeko, David Silva, Samir Nasri and no Fulham fan will need reminding about the danger posed by Sergio Aguero. When you consider both Vincent Kompany and Micah Richards should return to strengthen the league leaders’ defence and that Fulham have the worst away attack in the league (having managed just seven goals in eleven games), it’s not difficult to envisage a disappointing evening.

In the absence of Steve Sidwell, who has suffered a recurrence of the groin injury that sidelined him for much of 2011, Dickson Etuhu should return to the centre of midfield. The Nigerian had been left out of Jol’s squad of late – as his demands for a regular spot and then a move away tried the Dutchman’s patience – but, with his short-term future resolved, Etuhu should add some bite and drive to Fulham’s midfield. In truth, he was rather unlucky to lose his place to Sidwell so soon after some fine performances, especially away from home against Sunderland and Arsenal. The 29 year-old, who started his career with City, always seem to play well when he comes up against them – memorably scoring the equaliser to spark Fulham’s second half comeback in April 2009.

The bigger decisions will come at opposite ends of the pitch. With Mark Schwarzer reportedly ready to return from a neck injury, does Jol drop David Stockdale? The England number three has done well since replacing the Australian veteran in mid-December – with a fine display at Stamford Bridge springing to mind – but he hasn’t been blameless. As I argued last night, the smart long-term choice would be to give Stockdale the shirt to continue his development but, with all the pressure on them these days, Premier League managers don’t tend to think beyond the next set of fixtures – and who can blame them.

With Andy Johnson still sidelined by a groin problem and Fulham still awaiting Pavel Pogrebnyak’s international clearance, Jol will probably persevere with Clint Dempsey as a lone striker even if Moussa Dembele is fit to play after a heel injury. The Belgian has looked most effective as a withdrawn forward and should be given an opportunity to fill Bobby Zamora’s boots, allowing Dempsey to make those late darting runs from midfield. There’s a reason in such a rich vein of form and that’s due to his nous in the penalty area. Fulham probably won’t spend much time in the City area tonight, so by using Dembele to occupy defenders, the American could exploit the space to great effect.

The only question mark surrounds who should be sacrificed to make way for the returning Dembele. Simon Davies started brightly against West Brom but faded in the second period, understandably given how few full ninety matches he has completed in the last 18 months. Damien Duff has scored on his last two visits to City and his defensive diligence and work ethic might be badly needed today.

MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Stockdale; Kelly, J.A. Riise, Hangeland, Senderos; Etuhu, Murphy; Duff, Ruiz, Dempsey; Dembele. Subs: Schwarzer, Hughes, Baird, Kasami, Frei, Davies, Trotta.

Fulham midfielder Pajtim Kasami has admitted that he was flattered to be the subject of interest from Italian giants Juventus but reiterated that he wants to stay in England and fight for a spot in Martin Jol’s first team.

Having only joined the Whites last summer from Palermo and has had a difficult start to life in England, making the majority of his appearances in the Europa League. The teenager was also fined by Jol for taking a penalty – that he missed – in the League Cup exit at Chelsea that had been allocated to Orlando Sa. The Swiss midfielder hasn’t featured for the first team since the Boxing Day draw at Stamford Bridge, but he wants to prove he is worth a place in the Fulham side.

I’m honoured to have received an offer from Juventus, a great club. But this is the middle of my first season with Fulham and I don’t want to leave at the moment. Of course, lately I haven’t been playing and I’m not happy about this, but I prefer to stay and try to establish myself.

Martin Jol hopes Andy Johnson is close to agreeing a new two-year contract with Fulham after the club offered him a new deal.

The Fulham manager revealed that, after rejecting approaches for the 30 year-old during the January transfer window, the club offered Johnson a revised extension to his contract, which expires in the summer. The former Crystal Palace and Everton striker is currently sidelined with a groin injury but has scored 11 goals in 29 appearances for Fulham so far this season.

There was an inquiry from one or two clubs so we had to make a decision on that. I said to Andy you will stay here whatever happens and that probably wasn’t ideal for him, but it was good for me because we can now get on with the job and hopefully he can play for us and score goals.

It is more to do with his situation. His contract is up at the end of the season and he is a bit insecure about his future. But I don’t think there is any problem with him so we will find a solution. And I think he wants to stay as well.

We have made him an offer a couple of times and in the latest stage we even offered him what he wanted and that was two and a half years. So we are close. The sticking point was a year difference.

Martin Jol’s team selection at Eastlands tonight will be very interesting indeed. Will Dickson Etuhu – badly missed in the past couple of weeks – be restored to the starting line-up? In the absence of Pavel Pogrebnyak or Andy Johnson, will Clint Dempsey continue to plough a lone farrow up front? But the one question that will tell us whether Jol’s a pragmatist or has a true desire to bring down the age of his first team is who the Fulham manager picks in goal.

David Stockdale’s done pretty well since being rushed back from his loan spell at Ipswich. He preserved parity at Stamford Bridge in the derby and made a few important saves against Arsenal and Newcastle. If you were going to be critical, he should have saved Mortem Gamst Pedersen’s free-kick at Blackburn and might have stopped Formica’s crucial third. Equally, perhaps Stockdale could have done better with either of the headers that knocked us out of the FA Cup at Everton. Young goalkeepers – and, 26, Stockdale is young for a keeper – make mistakes and Stockdale is Fulham’s future. He also needs first-team football to cement his position as Fabio Capello’s number three goalkeeper, as Jol himself conceded:

If Mark plays then I will have to sit down with David. He told me at the start of the season he needed to play and I think he was right.

Mark Schwarzer’s quality isn’t in doubt either. He’s had an outstanding career in England with Bradford, Middlesbrough – and latterly with Fulham. The Australian commands his box with authority, which is the area where Stockdale might improve, and has been a key part of the club’s success over the last few years. Yet, there are signs that his powers are waning. His decision to come for a cross at Wolves was a rash one and he let a speculative shot from Leon Best beat him a little easily up at Newcastle.

The reports suggest that Schwarzer’s ready to challenge for a starting spot against Manchester City today. He’s the safer option I suppose and, having just signed a two-year contract, looks like the number one. But there is always the danger that Stockdale might become tired of being passed over. Jol made it clear he would be looking to reinvigorate an ageing squad on his arrival but so far, with the exception of introducing Kerim Frei, has been largely conservative in his choices. Sticking with Stockdale would prove he means business.

Dickson Etuhu could return to the Fulham side against his former club Manchester City after Martin Jol revealed that the Nigerian midfielder had been dropped from the squad because he wanted to move during the closing days of the January transfer window.

The Nigerian international midfielder had been impressive since replacing the injured Steve Sidwell earlier in the season, but lost his place once the 29 year-old regained fitness. Etuhu had been linked with a transfer exit, with reports of a move to Turkey or even to Wolves on loan, but Jol insisted that there was no approach for his services. The former Sunderland midfielder is in contention to return to the starting line-up tonight after Sidwell suffered another hernia problem against West Brom on Wednesday.

He was in the squad then out. Last time he wanted to move. I want players who want to focus on Fulham but there was no approach so he is back in the squad.

His mentality is fine but he’s one of these players – and especially in the transfer window – who comes up to you and tells you he needs to play. And not once, but a lot of times – ‘I need to play, I need to play’. I said ‘okay, wait and see’ so for me it was no problem but there was no approach so we have to sit down again.

Rich made a comment in my previous post that got me thinking, “just how hard was our first half?”

Well, unfortunately, soccer is a bit behind on the sabermetrics such as SOS and RPI and Power Rankings or other crazy mathematic formulas/systems that determine, well, everything.

What we can figure out is our points haul from one half of the season to the other. And, after looking at the statistical breakdown, we’re definitely a second half team. Does that mean our schedules are easier in the second half? Impossible to tell.

But, sure makes you wish we had playoffs eh? (First 19 games on top, second 19 on bottom)

W D L F A Pts Place 2011-12 4 8 8 20 25 20 13 2 1 1 9 7 7 13 2010-11 3 10 6 19 23 19 18 8 6 5 30 20 30 8 2009-10 7 6 6 24 19 27 9 5 4 10 15 27 19 12 2008-09 6 8 5 18 14 26 9 8 3 8 21 20 27 7 2007-08 2 8 9 20 34 14 18 6 4 9 18 26 22 17 2006-07 6 6 7 18 28 24 12 2 9 8 20 32 15 16 2005-06 5 5 9 23 28 20 14 9 1 9 25 30 28 12 2004-05 5 3 11 20 32 18 15 7 5 7 32 28 26 13

As the stats bear out, only twice in the past 7 seasons did our points haul drop from the first to the second half: 2006-07 when the club, for all intents and purposes, collapsed; and 2009-10 when we had the likes of Juventus, Wolfsburg, Hamburg, and Atletico Madrid to worry about (read the sentence after the semi colon back without smiling. It’s impossible.)

Excluding those two seasons, the average point increase from the first half to the second is 7.2 (with them, it’s barely 3).

Things didn’t go as planned on Wednesday  but, if we win the remaining home games we *should* win, I don’t see how we don’t beat the 20 point haul from the first 19 games. By my count, we’ll have 25. And that’s not counting any away matches.

So, even though this club is schizophrenic with amazing highs (comeback versus Arsenal) and awful lows (see: 2011-12 Europa League Group Stages) I’m optimistic about the second half of the season. Even without a recognized forward for the foreseeable future, trying to reach that magic number of 20 (or, 40 overall; which should be more than enough to survive) is still something to watch for in the remaining games.

This is veeeeeery interesting:

This paper evaluates the extent to which the performance of English Premier League football club managers can be attributed to skill or luck when measured separately from the characteristics of the team. We first use a specification that models managerial skill as a fixed effect and we examine the relationship between the number of points earned in league matches and the club’s wage bill, transfer spending, and the extent to which they were hit by absent players through injuries, suspensions or unavailability. We next implement a bootstrapping approach to generate a simulated distribution of average points that could have taken place after the impact of the manager has been removed. The findings suggest that there are a considerable number of highly skilled managers but also several who perform below expectations. The paper proceeds to illustrate how the approach adopted could be used to determine the optimal time for a club to part company with its manager. We are able to identify in advance several managers who the analysis suggests could have been fired earlier and others whose sackings were hard to justify based on their performances.

Download the report here.

Key part:

Martin Jol – Tottenham Hotspur 2007/08 (See Figure 3)
Martin Jol was relieved of his duties as the manager of Tottenham on 25 October 2007 after 113 games in charge. Results from the bootstrapping model showing that Jol’s performance was not only improving, but that it was comparable to the best coaches in England. Only 18 randomised managers were better at the beginning of his tenure, and this had further enhanced to just 1% prior to his release. The model suggests that Jol should not have been sacked based on his performance. The previous season had seen Tottenham narrowly miss out on 4th position in the Premier League and a UEFA Champions League berth to local rivals Arsenal. This may have prompted the kneejerk sacking by the club’s board even though Arsenal’s budget and expectations were significantly higher than that of Tottenham.

The club has announced today that Billy McKinlay and Ray Lewington are effectively swapping roles in the Fulham set up:

As part of a restructure within the First Team and Development Squad, Ray Lewington will take full time responsibility for the Development Squad, in addition to taking charge of the progression of the younger professionals.

As the football Club’s Head of Coaching, Ray will work closely with the First Team regarding the younger players integration into the senior squad. Billy McKinlay has been promoted to the position of First Team Coach, working alongside Martin Jol and his current backroom team.

 

Steve Sidwell is set for another spell on the sidelines after aggravating his hernia injury against West Brom in midweek.

The former Reading and Chelsea midfielder had only recently returned from a hernia problem to retake his place in the Fulham midfield, but manager Martin Jol revealed that Sidwell could need another operation.

We had an injury to Steve Sidwell and he will be out for a long time for four, five or six weeks. We had an injury to Steve Sidwell and he will be out for a long time for four, five or six weeks. He had an operation and we have to wait but we fear he needs another operation.

David Preece on gay footballers.

Kevin Davies’ wife on the transfer window.

Zonal Marking on being good in the air.

On this evidence, life without Bobby Zamora could be very painful indeed. Clint Dempsey toiled manfully as a makeshift striker, even squeezing home his tenth league goal of the campaign, but Fulham were made to pay for their prolificacy as Roy Hodgson’s West Brom grabbed a point on his first return to Craven Cottage thanks to a late strike from substitute Somen Tchoyi.

Despite enjoying plenty of possession and territorial dominance, Fulham rarely threatened Ben Foster in the Baggies goal. Zamora’s departure had long been predicted – given his uneasy relationship with Martin Jol – but the England striker’s switch to QPR leaves his old club desperately light up front. His immediate replacement, Pavel Pogrebnyak, didn’t receive his work permit in time to feature last night while both Andy Johnson and Moussa Dembele remained sidelined through injury.

In their absence, Dempsey played as a lone striker and the paucity of Fulham’s striking resources was highlighted by the fact that 19 year-old Italian striker Marcello Trotta, fresh from a successful loan spell at Wycombe, was their only forward option on the bench. Simon Davies made his 300th Premier League appearance in midfield, but in a largely forgettable first half Fulham made little impression on the visitors’ goal.

Steve Sidwell, clearly given licence to wander forward, missed the target from long range on three occasions and the home side’s only fluid move of the first period – featuring clever interplay between Danny Murphy and Damien Duff – saw Dempsey correctly flagged for his offside before he shot past Foster. West Brom were threatening on the break and Peter Odemwingie spurned two glorious chances to give them the lead before creating an opening for Marc-Antoine Fortune, only for David Stockdale to make a smart save. It took a rare rush of blood from Foster to present Fulham with a clear sight of goal, but Bryan Ruiz’s header floated wide.

Hodgson’s side, who have amassed an impressive eighteen of their 26 points away from home, could have been in front early in the second half. First, Simon Cox – deployed largely on the right wing – had a curling effort held by Stockdale and then the England goalkeeper did splendidly to smother a low shot from Fortune.

Fulham were playing in fits and starts. Ruiz, who was largely anonymous for the first hour, suddenly surged away from two tacklers and into the box but shot straight at Foster as space opened up. From the other flank, the ever-eager Duff nearly capitalised on a mistake from former Fulham left back Nicky Shorey to open the scoring but steered his shot agonisingly across the face of goal from an acute angle.

Fulham did finally break the deadlock in the 69th minute and it owed much to the class of Ruiz. The Costa Rican found himself surrounded by Baggies defenders just inside the box but still managed to thread a ball through to Dempsey and the American fired clinically in the bottom corner from close range.

That looked as though it would be enough to clinch the win that would have lifted Jol’s side into the top half but Hodgson threw on Tchoyi and the Cameroonian international had pinched an equaliser within five minutes. A clever flick from James Morrison released the substitute who had the strength to shrug off Brede Hangeland and lash an outstanding finish into the far corner. Dempsey did have a chance to secure all three points in added time, but headed wastefully header when picked out by a Danny Murphy corner at the far post.

FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Stockdale; Kelly, J.A. Riise, Hangeland, Senderos; Murphy, Sidwell; Duff, Davies, Ruiz; Dempsey. Subs (not used): Etheridge, Baird, Hughes, Gecov, Frei, Trotta.

BOOKED: Murphy.

GOAL: Dempsey (69).

WEST BROMWICH ALBION (4-4-2): Foster; Tamas, Shorey, Olsson, McAuley; Mulumbu, Dorrans, Morrison (S. Reid 88), Cox (Tchoyi 77); Odemwingie, Fortune. Subs (not used): Fulop, Dawson, Allan, Mantom, Thorne.

GOAL: Tchoyi (82).

REFEREE: Mark Halsey (Welwyn Garden City)

ATTENDANCE: 25,689

Some players like lots of time and space, others can operate in crowds.

To play in central midfield you need to be at one end of what we’ll call the space-time continuum; if you are not at the right end you may struggle in that role. In that case you need to find somewhere else where you will get space and time.

Bryan Ruiz in particular seems to get a bit messed up in a crowd. He gives the ball away a lot when he drops deep, and frankly it’s dangerous for him and the team. He is at the wrong end of the space-time continuum to be playing in busy areas.

But when you move him up front something interesting happens. The defenders are one side of him for a start, rather than surrounding him. And often they drop off a little. Suddenly Bryan gets the opportunity to play.

Fine, you might say – all footballers would like time to play. Right, of course. But not all footballers have the wherewithall to take advantage of this space and time. So while Bryan is at the other end of the space-time continuum, really this continuum is not two dimensional because if it was you’d get this:

Happy in a crowd Not happy in a crowd

|—– Danny Murphy/Clint Dempsey/Mousa Dembele ————-Bryan Ruiz/Brede Hangeland/Aaron Hughes—-|

You need some kind of space-time continuum optimisation matrix:

Happy in a crowd/good in space

Murphy (then to a much lesser degree) Dempsey/Dembele

Happy in a crowd/bad in space

AJ?

Unhappy in a crowd/good in space

Ruiz

Unhappy in a crowd/bad in space

Defenders

We might try to plot the space-time continuum optimisation matrix later on.

Anyway, the point is, work out who can do what and put them in a position to succeed. In the right situations Bryan Ruiz is a genius; in the wrong ones he looks stupid. So…..

As London went Siberian (although not for me; watched at home while looking after the boy) Fulham were much as Fulham are.  Yes, we lacked a true number 25, but individual players are always less important than we think they’ll be. In truth we looked more or less okay.

Fulham lined up with what was more or less a 4-4-2, Murphy and Sidwell flanked by Duff and Davies, with Dempsey and Ruiz a surprising but skilful front two. They grew into the game and by the end of it we glimpsed an intriguing future, all skill and happiness. The Fulham goal was a peach, Ruiz reversing a delicious pass into Dempsey’s path, Dempsey spinning and thrashing the ball past Ben Foster for another goal (once more hit first time; he may be the greatest ever first time goalscorer). Dempsey – who seems like a nice chap – made sure he pointed at Ruiz in the celebrations.

Fulham had the ball almost all game, but were occasionally troubled by Albion’s counter attacks.  This eventually led to our undoing, a through ball saw our back four bypassed a bit too easily and the shot slammed past Stockdale for an ‘oh dear’ equaliser.  Really the game should have finished 2/3-0 given Fulham’s dominance, but still we have issues with creating space in the attacking third, so chances remain scarce and snatched.

That’s that then. A comfortable 1-1 draw full of neat passing and not quite enough end product.

Many of us went into January expecting Bobby Zamora and Andrew Johnson to leave; the former clearly didn’t have a good relationship with Martin Jol, whilst the latter was refusing to sign a contract of the length we were offering him.  Indeed, neither had featured in the Boxing Day draw at Chelsea, or the New Year’s Eve draw at Norwich.

I wasn’t alone in assuming that they’d played their last game at Craven Cottage, and that we’d say goodbye to two players who had become part of our old guard.  Indeed, Bobby Zamora had arguably become the backbone of our team, destroying defences that he had no right to destroy.  He effectively finished Fabio Cannavaro’s career in 20 minutes.  He had become an England player at the Cottage, and he was arguably performing the role at Fulham that Andy Carroll should have been performing at Liverpool.  This was all after a first season at the club, where he only scored 2 league goals.  Zamora however, was not just about goals, he was about bringing players into play, and creating opportunities for others around him to get an opportunity at goal.

Andy Johnson’s Fulham career has been much more indifferent career at Fulham.  He was bought to score goals, but has only scored 13 league goals in 80 games.  Whilst he has offered pace, he definitely hasn’t brought the goalscoring prowess that many had hoped when he became Fulham’s second most expensive signing either upon his arrival from Everton.

Before the transfer window, we were linked with a number of strikers: Carlton Cole, Andre-Pierre Gignac, Nicky Maynard and Guillaume Hoarau to name but a few.   Gignac had been top scorer in France in the 2008-09 season, whilst Hoarau had a scoring record of 1 goal in just less than 3 games for PSG.  Nicky Maynard’s Championship record was impressive, whilst Carlton Cole had Premier League experience.  The constant link with strikers made it look like Johnson and Zamora were off, and their replacements had already been sorted out.

Then, on the 3rd of January, we played Arsenal, with Bobby Zamora scoring the winner in injury-time.  He went off at the end, hugging Martin Jol.  It looked like they’d put their differences aside, and that Zamora might stay at Craven Cottage, and carry on at the club where he’d had the best form of his career.  Indeed, he was playing very well, he set up all three of Clint Dempsey’s hat-trick goals against Newcastle, and he even looked vaguely happy, I wouldn’t go as far to say he was smiling, but that was a rarity.  Andrew Johnson too, was playing, and playing well – he made the difference against Newcastle.

The transfer window looked like passing quietly as the end of the window came ever nearer.  Indeed, we had only brought in players for the future in Jack Grimmer and Lisse Vigen Christensen.  We added to this on deadline day, signing youngster Ryan Williams.  Departure wise was the same, we had only left Alex Kacaniklic leave on loan to get some first time experience at Watford.  Marcello Trotta  came back from an impressive loan spell at Wycombe, but he had said that he was looking to test himself at Championship level.

As the transfer window began to close, it looked like we would end the transfer window with the players that we started it with, against all odds.  Then we began to be linked with strikers again: Lucas Barrios, Pavel Pogrebnyak, Peter Odemwingie and Hugo Rodallega.  Barrios would have been a fantastic signing for Fulham, the goalscorer we arguably need.  This link with a number of strikers gave the impression that we were preparing to get rid of Johnson or Zamora.  Indeed, the press agreed, linking Zamora to Sunderland and Johnson to Blackburn.

It looked like we were edging towards a deal with Barrios, with some sources claiming the deal was 90% complete.  But as quickly as I got excited, Barrios announced he was staying in Germany on his Twitter page.   The Odemwingie link was also shut down by his manager, the ex-Fulham manager, Roy Hodgson.  We apparently tried to exchange Hugo Rodallega for Andy Johnson, but both players reportedly want to let their contracts run out in the summer.

It became obvious that we were going to bring in Pavel Pogrebnyak, with the Russian striker declaring that he had had the most vigorous medical of his life, with the Fulham team examining every bone in his body.  It became more obvious, however, that Bobby Zamora was leaving the Cottage.  Sky Sports caught him turning up at the one club that we shouldn’t sell to, QPR, managed by arch-enemy number one, Mark Hughes.

If the £4 million fee is to be believed, it is unbelievable.  We should have been asking for at least double that.  We paid about £5 million for him from West Ham, and Bobby Zamora’s stock has undoubtedly risen whilst at Craven Cottage.  He’s gone from being seen by many as a joke, to being one of the best link-up men in the Premier League, in with a shout for the England 2012 squad.  There is no way he is worth less than what he was signed for.  Moreover, the relationship between Hughes and Al Fayed is so bad that surely Hughes should’ve had to pay over the top for any Fulham player, no matter how bad the relationship reportedly was between Zamora and Jol.  His departure arguably weakens us, and strengthens our biggest rivals.

Replacing Zamora will not be an easy task for Pogrebnyak.  He has a decent goalscoring record in Russia, but has only scored once this season in Germany.  If he can replicate his form from Russia at Craven Cottage, he will be a success, but recent history tells us Russians don’t have the greatest of times in the Premier League – see Diniyar Biliyaletdinov, Yuri Zhirkov, Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko.   We have to give him a chance though.

Hmm, lets get this over with.

His first goal:

 

My favorite:

Best season:

http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/4678124/bobby_zamora_09_10_fulham.swf Bobby Zamora 09/10 Fulham. Watch more top selected videos about: Fulham F.C.

His funniest (scroll to :45 second mark)

http://www.fulhamfc.premiumtv.co.uk/articles/20090815/portsmouth-0-1-fulham_2269935_1811058

His finale:

Tonight sees the return of Roy Hodgson to Craven Cottage for the first time as an opposition manager since leaving Fulham in 2010. It is my sincere belief that we should stand up and applaud Woy rather than castigate him as a villain despite the manner of his exit to Liverpool a year and a half ago.

Hodgson’s conduct as he departed our friendly confines was indeed somewhat unsavoury. Roy spent that summer appearing on the BBC’s World Cup coverage denying any interest in a purported move to Merseyside, notwithstanding widespread media speculation.

Following the conclusion of his tour to South Africa, the dice began to roll, and pieces began to fall into place. Chairman Mo rejected Liverpool’s overtures for our manager, leading Roy to eventually quit his job to force through a move. Something that, at the time, angered, frustrated and saddened the group of fans who had just witnessed the most successful season in the club’s long history. He’d bitten the hand that fed him.

In hindsight though, and with perhaps a pinch of perspective, can you really blame him for wanting to try his hand at Liverpool. In revenue terms, Liverpool remains to this day the 4th biggest club on the planet behind Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

There’s not many clubs that could attract over half a million people to midweek victory celebrations, as Liverpool did for the Champions League parade in 2004. Our Russian funded neighbours from up the road certainly could not. Let’s face it, its not like he left us because we lacked ambition only to wind up taking a lesser job in Shepherds Bush.

Roy gave us a parting gift. He bought Paul Konchesky from us for the princely sum of £3m plus two highly touted prospects in Lauri Dalle Valle and Alex Kakaniklic, the latter of whom has just joined Watford for the remainder of the season on loan. We seem to have the best of that deal with two prospects at the beginning of their careers with Konch now plying his trade a division down.

A further dodged bullet perhaps, as Roy brought Christian Poulsen to Anfield – a player who had rejected a move to Fulham from Juventus the previous summer, and was hounded out of Merseyside nearly as fast as his manager.

However, let us not look back at Roy’s time elsewhere but at what he did for our wonderful club. We were languishing near to foot of the Premiership when Roy was plucked from the relative obscurity of the Finland national team, and parachuted in to replace the ineffective spendthrift, Lawrie Sanchez. Roy led a top to bottom transformation of Fulham from losers to winners (as long as we weren’t playing away). Heck, for that special period of the Great Escape, we could even win away.

Amongst his astute signings over his two and a half seasons were Brede Hangeland, Erik Nevland, Bobby Zamora, John Pantsil, Mark Schwarzer, David Stockdale, Dickson Etuhu and Damian Duff. For now we’ll try and forget about the Giles Barnes, Jari Litmanen and Olivier Dacourt eras!

What’s more, Roy gave us a manager of whom we could rightly be proud. He was one of us. Quite frankly he still is. Roy is more likely to read a Nobel Laureate than his name in the tabloids or to walk his dog along a country lane than name a Monaco bank account after it. Roy epitomised the good about our club. He was articulate, knowledgeable and nice enough to be your own grandfather. It is not often you get a manager who is on UEFA’s technical committee, after all.

On the pitch, Roy led us to unparalleled success. We were disciplined, organised and creative. When he installed Hughes and Hangeland together we had the most improved defence in the league. His impromptu strike force of Gera, another tremendous signing, and Zamora took Europe by storm, between them sinking Basel, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, Wolfsburg and Hamburg in the most astonishing six months I’ve ever witnessed in football.

LMA Manager of the Year, a 7th place finish in the Premier League and a European final. God bless that man. We all loved Cookie as he was Fulham through and through, Sanchez was a braggart and a fool who found himself in the right place at the right time when he kept us up, Hughes despite getting our Whites playing some good football always seemed too arrogant to feel like one of us; but Roy, he was part of our Fulham Family.

After the appalling treatment he got at Liverpool, Roy has found a home at West Brom, a club not too dissimilar from us in size and stature. He’s done well and I for one still count him as my personal choice to succeed Fabio Capello as England boss in the summer.

Hindsight can be a blessing and a curse. Whether or not Roy wishes he left, or not, I for one will be standing and clapping when Woy leads his West Brom team out onto the Cottage pitch tomorrow night and I hope you’ll join me in welcoming home a gentleman and a member of the Fulham Family. Hopefully he’ll even give us the three points to say sorry.

COYW