City boss Hughes hopes to punish tired Fulham

October 25, 2009


Manchester City coach Mark Hughes is hoping to capitalise on Fulham’s tiring Europa League campaign whey they play on Sunday at Eastlands.

Fulham will visit the north-west after a 1-1 draw against Roma at Craven Cottage on Thursday, a match that came just three days after a Premier League encounter with Hull City.

City have a 100 percent home record and and Hughes is quietly confident that that record will continue because he expects Fulham to be drained after their recent exertions.

“They played Monday, Thursday and now they’re heading up the motorway to play us so it’s a big ask for them,” said the Welshman.

“It’s difficult when you’re in Europe, as we found out at times to our cost (last season), so we hope to benefit from that on this occasion.”

Last season Fulham finished in seventh spot to earn their passage to the Europa League, but they have had a stuttering start to this season, while City — aided by big signings like Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor — have flown up the table to fifth.

But, while Hughes is confident of victory, he has no intention of underestimating the west Londoners.

“They are very organised as you would expect. They have a good work ethic and get back into position very quickly and if you are not playing at the required level they are very difficult to break down,” he said.

“We won’t take them lightly because even when they do change their team, they can always make it difficult for us so we will have to be at the right level and make sure we get the job done.”

Fulham have won just once and scored just twice away from home this term and a win for Hodgson’s men would represent a significant upset on current form.

Despite visiting a clearly confident and buoyant City side, Fulham defender Aaron Hughes sees no reason to fear Hughes’s men.

“It’s going to be a big game on Sunday and they’ve got a lot of very talented individuals who are playing well together,” he said.

“They’ve put in a lot of good performances and it’s going to be a very tough game for us but one we relish and we’ll be going there to get something out of the game.”

City are optimistic that Kolo Toure and Craig Bellamy will return after missing last week’s draw with Wigan but Adebayor is a major doubt and Robinho will miss the match due to a setback in his recovery from a stress-fracture.

For Fulham, defender Paul Konchesky joined a growing injury list against Roma that has already ruled out Danny Murphy, Dickson Etuhu, Simon Davies and Andrew Johnson, leaving Hodgson with shortages in most departments.

MANCHESTER, England (AFP)

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Celtic held in Euro grudge match as Everton, Fulham win

October 2, 2009


Celtic’s Europa League ambitions suffered another blow on Thursday when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Rapid Vienna in a match which brought back uncomfortable, ugly memories.

Celtic, who had lost their opening Group C match at Hapoel Tel Aviv, slipped behind after just three minutes at Parkhead when a mistake by Stephen McManus gifted Nikica Jelavic a goal.

Australia’s Scott McDonald levelled in the 20th minute but Celtic could not find the winner as the Scottish giants slumped to the foot of the table following Hamburg’s 4-2 win over Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

Twenty-five years ago, Celtic and Rapid clashed in the Cup Winners’ Cup. Rapid won 3-1 at home before Celtic took a 3-0 lead in the second leg.

But Rapid player Rudi Weinhofer collapsed to the ground, claiming to have been hit by a missile thrown from the terraces before UEFA ordered a third game to be played.

Current Rapid boss Peter Pacult scored the only goal of the match which was played at Old Trafford to take his side through to the next round.

“I think we did enough to get the three points over the 90 minutes,” said Celtic manager Tony Mowbray.

“And yet, in the last three (home) games, we’ve shot ourselves in the foot.”

Meanwhile, Everton resisted a valiant effort by BATE Borisov to leave Belarus with a 2-1 win which put them top of Group I with six points while English Premier League rivals Fulham top Group E after a 1-0 win over Basel.

Everton were a goal down by the 16th minute in Minsk as Dmitri Likhtarovich pounced on a loose ball 35 metres out and smashed it into the top corner past Tim Howard.

Everton equalised through Marouane Fellaini in the 68th minute before Tim Cahill grabbed the winner 10 minutes later.

“It was a really pleasing result considering the number of players who were not available,” said Everton boss David Moyes, whose squad was missing 10 first-teamers.

“We were resilient and that allowed us to get the victory. They scored an excellent goal but we regrouped and managed to get the goals we needed.”

Danny Murphy struck the only goal in the 57th minute at Craven Cottage for Fulham converting a fine pass from Andrew Johnson.

Elsewhere, Lazio beat Levski Sofia 4-0 in Bulgaria.

Brazilian midfielder Matuzalem opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and by half-time the visitors had doubled their advantage thanks to Italian striker Mauro Zarate.

Lazio scored goals in the 67th and 73 minutes through Mourad Meghni and Tommaso Rocchi.

FC Salzburg punched above their weight to beat tricky Spaniards Villarreal 2-0 while Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk thumped Partizan Belgrade of Serbia 4-1.

AEK Athens, PSV Eindhoven and Werder Bremen also won at home.

PARIS (AFP)

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Van Persie, Mannone lift Arsenal to victory

September 26, 2009


Robin van Persie shrugged off the controversy surrounding his recent contribution to the diving debate to strike the match-winner as Arsenal fended off a spirited Fulham to claim a valuable 1-0 victory on Saturday.

Van Persie’s admission that he exaggerates contact inside the penalty area in a bid to win spot-kicks caused raised eyebrows before the Gunners’ trip to Craven Cottage.

But the Holland striker showed the other side of his game when produced an outstanding second half finish that prevented his side dropping more valuable points.

The result was harsh on Fulham who had the better chances and were denied largely because of an outstanding display by Arsenal goalkeeper Vito Mannone.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had spoken optimistically before the game about his side’s prospect of lifting the Premier League title, although that view had been countered by Danny Murphy’s claim that the current Arsenal side is a shadow of Wenger?s previous teams.

It was Fulham who were the hungrier side during the opening period with Murphy and Dickson Etuhu working hard to take control of central midfield and provide front two Andrew Johnson and Bobby Zamora with some quality service.

Arsenal’s back-four was getting stretched and, more galling for Wenger, they received little help from their team-mates further down the pitch who gave away possession much too easily, allowing Fulham to sustain early pressure.

Cesc Fabregas was uncharacteristically sloppy when he presented Clint Dempsey with the chance to shoot and the Arsenal skipper was relieved to see his Mannone smother the danger.

And the Italian produced a much more spectacular double save to keep his side on level terms in the 15th minute when he dived to tip away Johnson’s header before reacting quickly to block Dempsey’s follow-up shot from close range.

Arsenal were looking disjointed although Fabregas shot over from a good position in the 18th minute.

More wasteful though was Andrey Arshavin, back in the side after a groin injury, who managed to scoop the ball over the bar from just 12 yards out after being played in by his captain.

The better chances were coming at the other end where Mannone again did well to divert Zoltan Gera’s 36th minute cross-shot after the Hungarian had been played in by Johnson’s clever flick.

Arsenal had been second best throughout the first half and the pattern looked set to continue after the break when Zamora quickly fired in a 20-yard effort that flew narrowly wide of Mannone’s left hand post.

But while Wenger’s side may still be a work in progress, the one thing they do not lack is quality and the ability to change the course of a game in an instant – and that is exactly what happened when van Persie fired them ahead in the 52nd minute.

There was no sign of danger when Alex Song collected Paul Konchesky’s scuffed clearance inside his own half, but the midfielder moved the ball on to Fabregas who picked out Van Persie with a perfectly weighted chip.

Under pressure from Aaron Hughes, the Dutchman’s first touch had to be perfect. It was, and so was his finish that flew low across Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer and inside the far post.

Fulham responded well and Johnson drew another excellent save out of Mannone when he met Zamora’s cross with a flicked header.

And the keeper’s efforts were matched by two excellent blocks from his defenders, the first by Bacary Sagna to deflect Dempsey’s shot against the post moments before William Gallas dived in to halt Zamora’s drive.

LONDON (AFP)

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Doyle gives Wolves some bite against Fulham

September 20, 2009


Wolverhampton climbed away from the relegation zone as goals from Kevin Doyle and David Edwards secured a 2-1 win over Fulham on Sunday.

Mick McCarthy’s team, promoted as Championship winners, had won only one of their first five Premier League matches, but they ended that spluttering run with a dominant display at Molineux.

Republic of Ireland striker Doyle was the key figure as his first goal for the club capped an impressive effort that added bite to Wolves’ previously toothless attack.

He opened the scoring before Edwards struck soon after half-time. Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy pulled one back with a penalty but it was no consolation for the lacklustre Cottagers.

McCarthy handed a debut to on-loan Red Star Belgrade midfielder Segundo Castillo, an Ecuador international who spent last season on loan at Everton.

After a scrappy opening, Doyle brought the game to life as he notched for the first time since his 6.5 million pounds move from Reading in the close-season.

Doyle had looked the liveliest player on the pitch so it was no surprise when he reacted quickest to Christophe Berra’s flick-on from Greg Halford’s long throw to nod past Mark Schwarzer from close range in the 16th minute.

Fulham had been in Europa League action in Bulgaria on Thursday and their long journey home from the 1-1 draw with CSKA Sofia seemed to have taken its toll.

Roy Hodgson’s team never got going and Wolves added a second goal five minutes after the interval.

Andrew Johnson’s aimless header in the centre circle was picked up by Edwards who released Andrew Keogh.

The midfielder continued his run forward and when Keogh cut the ball back to the penalty spot Edwards’ sweetly-struck first-time strike gave Schwarzer no chance.

Seconds later Schwarzer was forced to tip Aaron Hughes’ back-header on to the crossbar after the centre-back failed to properly deal with Keogh’s inswinging cross.

Fulham were handed a lifeline when referee Kevin Friend, on his Premier League debut, ruled Michael Mancienne had hauled Bobby Zamora to the floor when contesting Johnson’s cross and Murphy rolled home the 66th minute penalty.

But Wolves finished well on top despite that setback and claimed their first home win of the season.

WOLVERHAMPTON, England (AFP)

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Fulham qualify, Roma, Galatasaray swamp rivals in Europa League

August 7, 2009


English Premier League Fulham reached the Europa League play-off round on Thursday where they were joined by free-scoring Roma and Galatasary.

Andrew Johnson scored twice to add to Dickson Etuhu’s opener as Fulham saw off Vetra of Lithuania 3-0 for a 6-0 aggregate win in their third qualifying round, second leg clash at Craven Cottage.

“We were good value for our three goals as we were in the first leg,” said Fulham coach Roy Hodgson.

“I am pleased with our attitude, pleased with the quality of our play and pleased with our passing.”

Galatasary of Turkey, coached by former Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard, crushed Israel’s Maccabi Netanya 6-1 for a 10-1 aggregate with Congo striker Shabani Nonda grabbing a hat-trick.

Veteran striker Francesco Totti, who scored twice in the first leg, also claimed a hat-trick as AS Roma beat AA Gent 7-1 in Belgium for a 10-2 aggregate.

Dejan Lekic was another hat-trick star as 1991 European champions Red Star Belgrade overturned a 2-0 first leg deficit to beat Georgia’s Dinamo Tbilisi 5-2 on the night and 5-4 on aggregate.

Lekic completed his hat-trick in the 88th minute, just when 1981 Cup Winners Cup champions Dinamo were in sight of an away goals victory.

In a fiercely-contested tie, where the Georgians had led 4-1 on aggregate at one stage, both sides finished with 10 men.

Scotland suffered a double dose of misery.

Mark McGhee’s Aberdeen, humiliated 5-1 at home by Sigma Olomouc in the first leg, slumped to a 3-0 defeat in the return tie in the Czech Republic for an embarrassing 8-1 aggregate exit.

Tomas Janotka, Marek Kascak, with a penalty, and Michal Hubnik scored the goals in the first half.

Steaua Bucharest, the 1986 European champions, defeated Motherwell 3-1 for a 6-1 aggregate win.

“We had two clear-penalty shouts and were disappointed not to get the second goal. The belief would have come from that,” said Motherwell manager Jim Gannon.

“I knew the second goal would be critical. If we got it, the mood and atmosphere in the stadium would change in our favour. But, if they got it, it would have been the opposite.”

There will be no European adventure this season for 37-year-old former Celtic, Manchester United and Barcelona striker Henrik Larsson whose Helsingborgs side lost on penalties to Sarajevo.

Larsson was forced to miss Thursday’s tie after breaking a kneecap in the first leg in Sweden.

The 35 third qualifying round winners go into Friday’s play-off draw where they will be joined by the 15 losers from the Champions League final qualifiers as well as 26 other leading sides which include the likes of Everton, Aston Villa, Werder Bremen, Valencia, Lazio and Ajax.

The winners of the 38 play-off ties will be joined by the losers of the 10 Champions League play-offs in the group stages of the tournament.

PARIS (AFP)

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Fulham hammer Perth Glory on Aussie tour

July 16, 2009


Fulham wrapped up their pre-season tour of Australia with an impressive 5-0 rout of Perth Glory here on Wednesday, with Erik Nevland bagging an eight-minute hat-trick.

The English Premier League team had a mixed time in their first two outings against A-League sides, losing 2-1 to Gold Coast and then beating Melbourne Victory 3-0.

But they were far too good for the Glory, dominating possession and creating almost endless scoring opportunities against an outclassed opponent.

“I’ve been pleased with all three games,” Fulham manager Roy Hodgson said, looking forward to the new season and a European campaign.

“What you saw from the team tonight is going to be what we are looking for when we go into Europe as well.

“We took the game very seriously and worked in the same way had we been playing Premier League opposition.

“What I’ve seen is players with a very focussed attitude to how we want to play.”

Fulham were dangerous from the off, with strikers Andrew Johnson and Bobby Zamora creating havoc, Hodgson playing down reports a deal had been struck with Hull that would see the latter join City in a five-million-pound deal.

Johnson opened the scoring in the 17th minute, pouncing on a rebound to slot home.

A rare opportunity to see Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer in action was a big draw for local fans, but the Fulham custodian was barely called into action in the first half and was substituted at the break.

Both Johnson and Zamora, whom Hodgson said would be hard to replace should he move to Hull City, were also rested in the second half as Fulham worked into a strong breeze.

Substitute Nevland got on the end of some crafty passes from Zoltan Gera and Edward Johnson to make it 2-0 in the 60th minute.

Just four minutes later, Nevland made it a brace when he slotted coolly past Alex Vrteski from the edge of the box.

The 31-year-old Norwegian made it a quickfire hat-trick in the 68th minute — Fulham’s fourth — after he ran onto a clever through ball from Johnson and again found himself with just Vrteski to beat.

Andranik added a fifth in the 82nd minute as the Londoners ended their tour in style.

PERTH, Australia (AFP)

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Crunch time for Newcastle survival hopes

May 16, 2009


NEWCASTLE, England (AFP) – There was a time when the launch of a new Newcastle United kit would guarantee lengthy queues of supporters eager to be among the first to wear it.

That was in the days when United regularly featured towards the top of the Premier League, played in Europe and twice played in FA Cup finals.

But this is now. Despite escaping from the relegation zone with the victory over Middlesbrough on Monday, Newcastle are still involved in a desperate fight to beat the drop.

And, just a day before their next game against Fulham, the relatively restrained response to yet another new shirt design was an indicator of how the fans’ relationship with the club has been strained.

Yet, while only a small percentage of the crowd will be wearing a new replica shirt at the clash with Fulham, the noise level will show the passion remains undimmed.

The 3-1 success over Middlesbrough fuelled the supporters’ belief that Newcastle will escape relegation, although the message from manager Alan Shearer was more cautious.

Amid the euphoria surrounding the success, Shearer quickly emphasised that it was only one tentative step towards safety.

It is a warning being echoed by the Newcastle players in the build-up to their final home game of the season.

Midfielder Kevin Nolan said: “The win over Middlesbrough will mean nothing if we don’t get something against Fulham.

“We probably need to win again, but we proved we can do it under pressure against Middlesbrough.

“Our destiny wasn’t in our own hands a couple of weeks ago. We were asking people to do us favours.

“Now, if we perform in the next two games and get the right results, we will stay up. It’s as simple as that.”

What won’t be simple, though, is overcoming a Fulham team whose own stay in the Premier League appeared to be over 12 months ago.

They survived against the odds on the final day of the season and are now in pole position in a four-club battle for the final place in the rebranded Europa League.

A competition where they would have to play 19 games to reach the final may lack some attraction for a club with one of the smallest squads in the league.

But, with little money to spend, manager Roy Hodgson has guided Fulham to some impressive results and, in the opinion of some, would be a worthy manager of the season.

The form of Mark Schwarzer, their Australian goalkeeper, has been a major factor in Fulham’s success, although he diverts much of the credit towards Hodgson.

“The manager has a strong belief in the team that he sends out every week,” said Schwarzer.

“Now we want to finish this season on a high and cap off a very good season, rather than let it slip by thinking about what we’re going on our holidays.

“We also have the big carrot of qualifying for a European spot.”

Schwarzer’s determined approach suggests there may be yet another twist in the survival tale for Newcastle, who hope that Jose Enrique and Alan Smith will recover from injuries and return to the squad.

Joey Barton is still banned and Shearer must decide whether to start with Michael Owen, who was substituted against Middlesbrough.

Owen made his St James’ Park debut for Newcastle against Fulham four seasons ago; now the same opposition arrive for what is likely to be his last home game for the club.

Fulham’s main injury doubt is Andrew Johnson. The striker has been out with a knee injury, but his replacement Diomansy Kamara scored twice last week in his first start of the season.

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Fulham beat Bolton in first away win

March 15, 2009

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LONDON (AFP) – Andrew Johnson, Simon Davies and Diomansy Kamara scored for Fulham in a 3-1 victory over Bolton to notch up their first away Premiership win of the season and stop the rot of two consecutive defeats.

Kevin Davies had equalised on the stroke of half-time for Bolton to notch up his 50th goal for the Trotters and remained the club’s top Premier League scorer with 11.

For the statisticians, Bolton’s Matthew Taylor made his 350th club career start, including matches at former clubs Luton and Portsmouth, Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer kept up his run of playing every Premiership match this season, and Johnson bagged his seventh goal of the season.

Neither keeper touched the ball in the opening 15 minutes and the first shot on goal came after the match had already been going for 30 minutes.

Bolton’s Andy O’Brien made a mistake to concede the first goal three minutes before the break when the centre-back poked the ball past keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen, and saw Fulham’s Johnson slide in at the far post to score.

But with seconds of the half remaining, Kevin Davies scored an equaliser. He chested down a long punt to teammate and namesake Mark Davies who returned the pass to the striker and he jinked his way into the area and fired home.

Then in the 56th minute, Simon Davies put Fulham ahead. He got into the box, took a tumble, then got back up and found Danny Murphy whose first shot rebounded off the crossbar. The ball broke back to Davies who hit a low volley into the net in Fulham’s first attack of the second half.

Kamara completed the scoring with Fulham’s third goal in the 88th minute following his low, left-foot drive to punish a foiled attempt by Bolton to clear the ball away.

Written by: AFP

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Jones celebrates new deal as Sunderland move up

January 27, 2009

SUNDERLAND, England (AFP) – Kenwyne Jones celebrated signing a new four-and-a-half year contract by firing Sunderland to a precious 1-0 victory over Fulham at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday.

The Trinidad and Tobago striker struck ten minutes after the interval to deliver three points that enabled the Black Cats to establish a five-point cushion between them and the relegation zone.

Sunderland welcomed George McCartney back into the starting line-up for the first time since November following his recovery from surgery on both feet.

But the warmest applause was reserved for Jones, who had put pen to paper on his new deal earlier in the day despite firm interest from Tottenham.

It was the visitors who made the more lively start and Sunderland had reason to be grateful to centreback Anton Ferdinand for some important interceptions before Djibril Cisse fired the home side’s first chance narrowly wide.

Fulham responded immediately through Andrew Johnson, who tested Marton Fulop with a left-foot volley, and Simon Davies should at least have hit the target after finding himself with a good shooting opportunity on the edge of the area.

Cisse forced Mark Schwarzer into a good save midway through the opening half and the Australian international produced an even better effort to frustrate Jones ten minutes from the break.

Clint Dempsey screwed Fulham’s best chance of the opening half wide of the target and Jones ensured the visitors paid the price of his waywardness ten minutes after the restart.

Schwarzer did well to palm away a shot from Cisse but Jones reacted faster than the Fulham defenders and was able to smash the rebound in from close range.

That knocked the stuffing out of Fulham and only more heroics from Schwarzer prevented Steed Malbranque from quickly doubling Sunderland’s lead.

Fulham’s best chance of an equaliser fell to Davies, who lifted an inviting knockdown from Dempsey over the bar.

There was still time for Schwarzer to produce a stunning stop from point-blank range to deny Malbranque but, in the end, one goal proved enough for Sunderland.

Written by: AFP

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