Premiership preview, table prediction: 8. Fulham

Fulham

Fulham Barclays Premier League position preview 2011/12

Manager: Martin Jol

Ground: Craven Cottage

Nickname: The Cottagers

Capacity: 25350

Squad:

Goalkeepers 1 Mark Schwarzer 22 Csaba Somogyi 38 Neil Etheridge ·         Defenders 2 Stephen Kelly 3 Carlos Salcido 5 Brede Hangeland 6 Chris Baird 7 John Arne Riise 14 Philippe Senderos 18 Aaron Hughes 28 Matthew Briggs 32 Rafik Halliche 36 Keanu Marsh-Brown 40 Alex Smith Dan Burn

·         Midfielders 4 Steve Sidwell 10 Pajtim Kasami 13 Danny Murphy 15 Marcel Gecov 16 Damien Duff 17 Bjorn Helge Riise 20 Dickson Etuhu 21 Kerim Frei 23 Clint Dempsey 29 Simon Davies 34 Tom Donegan

·         Forwards 8 Andrew Johnson 24 Lauri Dalla Valle 25 Bobby Zamora 30 Moussa Dembele 33 Danny Hoesen 42 Marcello Trotta Cauley Woodrow

Fulham ended last season with a respectable 8^th position after a bad start to the season. After Mark Hughes decided to leave Fulham they appointed Martin Jol, which I believe was a good choice for Fulham. He is an experienced manager who can take Fulham in the direction they want to go. Jol haven’t done much with the Fulham team from last season, and he only big signing is Norwegian international John Arne Riise. But that is an excellent signing for Fulham. Riise will bring them a lot of experience and a more attacking sort of defender then what they already got at the club. The question is if the Fulham supporters have forgiven Riise after picking Liverpool over Fulham some years ago now?

Fulham have sold a lot of players with premier league experience, like Greening, Gera and Pantsil, so I guess Jol will be looking to sign a couple of players before the transfer window closes.

Pre-Season Fixtures/Results

June 30 vs NSI Runavik (Europa League qualifying) 3-0 – Duff, Murphy, A. Johnson

 July 7 vs NSI Runavik (Europa League qualifying) 0-0

July 9 vs AFC Wimbledon 0-2

July 14 vs Crusaders (Europa League qualifying)3-1 – Briggs, Zamora, Murphy

July 16 vs Stevenage 0-1

July 21 vs Crusaders (Europa League qualifying) 4-0 – Johnson, Duff, Zamora, Sidwell

July 28 vs RNK Split (Europa League qualifying) 0-0

August 4 vs RNK Split (Europa League qualifying) RNK Split 2-0

Players in

07/11 Pajtim Kasami MF US Palermo

07/11 Kerim Frei MF Fulham FC (R)

07/11 Marcel Gecov MF Slovan Liberec

07/11 John Arne Riise DF AS Roma

07/11 Alex Smith DF Fulham FC (R)

07/11 Csaba Somogyi GK Rákospalotai EAC

Players out

07/11 David Stockdale GK Ipswich Town

07/11 Jonathan Greening MF Nottingham Forest

06/11 Zoltan Gera FW West Bromwich Albion

06/11 Eiður Guðjohnsen FW AEK Athen

06/11 Danny Hoesen MF Fortuna Sittard

06/11 Gaël Kakuta FW Chelsea FC

06/11 John Paintsil DF Leicester City

06/11 Pascal Zuberbühler GK BSC Young Boys

Injuries:                              Return date       situation

Davies (Simon)                 27th Aug 2011   Ankle injury

Riise (Bjorn Helge)          13th Aug 2011   Knee injury

Most likely starting lineup for Fulham next weekend:

1 Mark Schwarzer

18 Aaron Hughes  14 Philippe Senderos   5 Brede Hangeland   7 John Arne Riise

20 Dickson Etuhu     13 Danny Murphy          

23 Clint Dempsey                                                                      16 Damien Duff

 

                                     25 Bobby Zamora         8 Andrew Johnson

Fulham have been playing European League qualification for weeks now and should be in good shape for the start of the season this weekend. With a good manager like Martin Jol and an experienced squad they should be fighting for European League spot this season. I think they will finish around 8^th place at the end of this season.