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Despite footballers being paid a sackload of cash, it’s always a shame to hear about injury bringing an end to their playing career. At least in this case, we are talking about someone who has reached the age of 36 before calling it a day, rather than a youngster with plenty of potential who never gets that shot at the big time. [Read the rest of this entry »]
One game down, forty-five to go as far as the 24 teams in the Championship is concerned, but what did the opening weekend of fixtures tell us? Many regard Doncaster’s 1-0 win at Derby as the performance of the weekend, but that’s only working on the assumption that Rovers were playing League One football last term, while their opponents were in the top flight. [Read the rest of this entry »]
After conceding a ‘mere’ 60 goals this past season and staying up by way of goal differential, you’d think Fulham would have their wits about them to go out and bring in some defensive quality this summer. After all, the club owes it to their supporters after taking them on a near heart attack experience this past season.
Well apparently the club doesn’t care much about how the supporters feel. The Guardian is reporting that Fulham are keen to bring current Derby keeper Roy Carroll and his brilliant stopping skills to Craven Cottage next season.
Fulham are so determined to avoid a relegation battle next season that they’re to splash out on … Derby goalkeeper Roy Carroll. (The Guardian)
If you’ll recall, Carroll and his Derby mates gave up a Premiership-worst 89 goals last season, making them the eternal laughing-stock of the EPL.
So I guess if you’re Fulham, giving up 89 goals is more impressive than conceding 60? It makes no sense, but then again, what does make sense when it comes to Fulham recently?
So what’s your take Fulham fans? Is Carroll worth your time? Or would you rather see the club go out and actually grab some defensive quality?
That’s the question that many people will be asking after the Tigers landed promotion on Saturday afternoon, thanks to an amazing strike from Dean Windass. The 39-year-old has been an influential figure for City this season, yet it’s hard to imagine him or many of his team-mates cutting it in the Premier League.
Not that Hull are too bothered right now, with the BBC reporting that chairman Paul Duffen is experiencing a ‘life-changing’ moment, having seen the club go from relegation fodder to promotion contenders in the space of a season.
Duffen, who took over last year, told BBC Look North: “I’ll have a chance to reflect properly in the summer.
“It is life changing for the city and for all sorts of people. It’s something that needs a bit of sober reflection.”
Will Hull ‘do a Derby’ next season and accrue only a handful of points or will some sound investment, allied to a good working relationship between board and manager, ensure that the Tigers finish seventeenth or better? They are already at a disadvantage due to the fact that they have less time to sign new players compared to West Brom, Stoke and every other club in the Premier League. It’s going to be a long hard season for the promoted trio but the fans must be in dreamland right now.
What happens when a team who have won just one home match all season come up against a side who have won one away match in the league this term? All will become clear at Pride Park on Sunday, when Derby host Reading in a match which the visitors need to win if they’re to stay in the Premier League.
The Press Association reports that County boss Paul Jewell is far from happy with some of the comments made by Royals assistant manager Kevin Dillon ahead of the match. The latter has said the following.
“Let’s put it this way, if we can’t beat Derby, it will be hard to take.”
However, the fiery Scouser has not taken these comments lying down and Reading probably could have done without indirectly motivating a team who might otherwise have gone through the motions instead at the weekend.
“Kevin Dillon’s comments lack tact. You would think Reading had been playing Champions League all these seasons instead of down in the Championship and the Second Division where Derby and Wigan also came from.
“At Derby this year we’ve been sneered at, we’ve been laughed at, we’ve been ridiculed and I can accept it after the season we’ve had – but for Reading to say things like that is not right.
“The lads have been speaking about it and if I was Reading, who do you want to come to last game of the season? A side that have won once at home all season – but it’s a dangerous game they’re playing,” Jewell added.
Can Derby go out with a bang and drag Reading into the Championship with them? It doesn’t bode well for Steve Coppell’s men, who have failed to score in their past six matches and will be relegated if Fulham win at Portsmouth anyway. Just what is going to happen at Pride Park on Sunday?
They’ll be dancing in the streets of Hanley and Newcastle-under-Lyme after Stoke City bagged themselves the second automatic promotion spot on Sunday. The Potters have done magnificently this season, coming from behind on several occasions to land wins or draws against Championship opponents and it’s hard to argue that they don’t deserve their place in the Premier League next season.
Quite whether they’ll stay there for longer than a season is another matter. Many have commented that this season’s Championship has been bereft of quality, with West Brom winning the league with the lowest points total for over two decades. Not that the Baggies or Stoke care at this particular moment in time, with the BBC reporting Tony Pulis, the manager of the latter, in a bullish mood.
“I have to say a special ‘thank you’ to the chairman. Peter showed a lot of character to buy this club and spent a lot of money on it.
“This is a great day for this club and an opportunity for us to build and push on for next year.”
However, the fun starts next week when Pulis and Coates have to start planning for next season. With just eleven points on the board this season, Derby County have demonstrated how promotion to the top flight can go terribly wrong and while the Rams will be much richer for their season in the big time, it’s obvious that the promoted three will be desperate not to disgrace themselves in such a manner.
The new boys will take heart from Sunderland’s efforts this season, a team who were floundering in mid-table of the Championship when Roy Keane took over and have now completed a successful season of consolidation in the Premier League. Birmingham too have shown that the gulf between the teams at the bottom of the top flight and the top of the second division isn’t that great, while the Baggies and Potters will also be confident of finishing above at least one other team – the one who is promoted through the play-offs and has less time to prepare for the new campaign.
There’s an almighty scrap at the top of the Championship to determine who will be playing Premier League football next season, which teams will the likes of West Brom and Stoke City be replacing? The bookmakers still don’t give Fulham much of a chance, despite their heroic comeback at Manchester City last weekend. A victory against fellow-strugglers Birmingham on Saturday would mean that their top flight safety could potentially be in their own hands!
Surely Reading fans are a touch on the concerned side, considering their team’s inability to score, let alone win a game. OK, so they managed a creditable 0-0 draw at Wigan last weekend, although the decision to bring back Leroy Lita from his loan spell at Charlton smacked of desperation, while the Daily Mirror report tension in the camp ahead of Saturday’s game against Spurs. The Royals record signing won’t play for his ‘stupid team’ anymore apparently.
“It is not clever at all to suspend your own players, it is stupid,” said the 24-year-old. “The sanction is heavy – two weeks!
“I cannot understand their attitude. I refused to play with the reserves and they said: ‘Okay let us meet on Thursday’.
“But in the meantime I received a letter saying I am axed.
“They are not courageous enough to tell me things in the eyes, man to man, in five minutes.
“I am an adult, I can recognise when I make mistakes. I can also admit to people when I am wrong. The team needs all their players for the last two games.
“For sure my future is not with Reading.”
Not exactly what you need when you’re teetering on the edge of the drop zone, although perhaps this will galvanise the rest of the Reading squad, who face a last-day trip to Derby after the weekend game against Spurs. Bolton are in action at home to Sunderland and will at least have the comfort of the Black Cats having nothing to play for after their 3-2 win over Middlesbrough last weekend.
Despite an impressive 3-2 win at Manchester City, the bookmakers still expect Fulham to go ‘down with the Derby’ this season. However, the fact that they still have a chance of survival is pretty amazing when you consider that they were several points adrift of safety a couple of months ago.
A draw at Blackburn on 8th March seemed to provide the required confidence for the team to go on and record victories at home to Everton, away at Reading and now at Eastlands on Saturday. With Birmingham the visitors to Craven Cottage next weekend, retaining their Premier League status is a definite possibility, with the BBC reporting that manager Roy Hodgson now believes.
“It was a splendid victory for us, one we so badly needed.
“It looked bleak at half-time, and we had a mountain to climb – we didn’t deserve to be losing. But we did it.
“At 0-2 I honestly thought we weren’t out of it. I never lost hope, but to win it was extraordinary. We’ve given ourselves a chance now.”
It’s likely that they’ll need to beat the Blues to give themselves any chance of climbing out of the drop zone. They then face a tricky last game of the season at Portsmouth, although they’ll hope that Pompey have one eye on the FA Cup by this stage and perhaps lack motivation or even rest key players.
Reverse psychology or is Gary Megson just stating how he sees it? Bolton managed to clamber above Birmingham in the Premier League last weekend, yet the Wanderers gaffer is making the Blues favourites to stay up at the expense of his team or Reading.
According to ITV, Megson thinks that City having two home matches left gives them a far greater chance of accruing the points required for survival, whereas his Bolton team still face trips to Tottenham and Chelsea.
“When you look at the games Fulham, Birmingham, ourselves and Reading have got I think you would probably look and say that Birmingham are favourites in this relegation battle to stay up because of the fact that they have got two home games,” Megson said.
“I know they got a poor result against Villa last week but I think one of the things they’ve got is a huge partisan crowd.
“I know very well from being in that part of the world and I don’t think it’s any coincidence the amount of penalties and free-kicks they seem to get at that place that have enabled them to pick up results.
“So I would say that Birmingham are probably favourites to get out of this because of the two home games.”
Alex McLeish’s men face an understrength Liverpool team on Saturday, while they’ll be playing a Blackburn team on the last game of the season with nothing but pride to play for. Meanwhile, Reading have a tricky trip to Wigan on Saturday, while they also have to host Tottenham and visit Derby.
After all, the might Villans have thrashed the ‘Big Two’ that are Bolton Wanderers and Derby County in recent weeks. They powered past the Trotters 4-0, before knocking half a dozen goals past the Premier League’s whipping boys last Saturday. Now Gareth Barry is warning their Midlands rivals that a tricky afternoon beckons on Sunday.
The Birmingham Mail reports that Villa’s captain is feeling super-confident ahead of the match, especially as he has scored three in two himself. He doesn’t appear to be too keen on explaining why such a vibrant attacking team are only mid-table as we head towards the end of the season.
“The impetus is with us and they will be fearing what we have got. We’ve got great attacking players and I’m sure they’ll be worried about that,” said Barry, who is buoyed by wins over Bolton and Derby.
“We are at home, it is up to us to try and break them down and get the goals. On the back of two great wins we go into the game confident.”
Villa fans will be hoping that they can win for two reasons. One, it’s always a joy to beat your arch-rivals and two, it will push Birmingham closer to the drop. Whatever you say about the Blues, however, they have a much stronger backbone than Bolton and Derby at the moment.
Will the names of F Torres and S Gerrard make it on to the teamsheet for the match at Craven Cottage on Saturday? With Liverpool playing Chelsea in the Champions League only days later, it’s clear that Rafael Benitez will make some alterations to his team, which is likely to include resting the likes of the above for the crunch clash with the Blues.
The Daily Telegraph report that Fulham and their midfielder Danny Murphy are hoping for a few favours from the Reds, something which is always controversial with other managers in charge of struggling teams.
“I will speak to the boys this week and hopefully Stevie Gerrard, Torres and a few of the others will stay at home,” joked Fulham’s former Liverpool midfield player, Danny Murphy, on Saturday.”
You may recall that at this stage last season, Liverpool played a number of second string players and it looks like it could be a case of history repeating. Fulham know that only victory will do if they are to stand any chance of staying in the Premier League this season, with the bookmakers making them strong odds-on to go down with Derby.
Birmingham City thought they had the transfer in the bag. Gary Cahill appeared to be on the verge of making the short journey from Villa Park to St Andrews during the January transfer window, thereby bolstering the Blues defensive line-up for the relegation scrap. However, the centre half instead plumped for Bolton (maybe it was the lure of European football?) and has been part of a Trotters team without a league win in seven matches.
Nevertheless, according to the Manchester Evening News, the player has no regrets about signing for a team who are looking nailed-on to drop into the Championship. He’s even claiming that his transfer was not a bad decision as he’s improved as a player. Clearly not enough to help steer his team away from the drop zone.
“I’d be devastated if we went down because I’m happy and settled here. Everyone wants to play in the Premiership and I’m no exception.
“I’m not looking at it as a bad decision. I’ve improved as a player.
“I needed regular football and as long as I keep doing that I might prove a few people wrong.”
Is this his way of saying that if the team get relegated, he will be on the look-out for a new Premier League club? Surely that’s the central reason why players want to stay in the Premier League, especially if they’re getting a shoeing every match. After all, some fans of Derby and Fulham might even enjoy next season when they’re seeing their team win more matches than lose.
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