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A Friday night trip to Kingsmeadow and the chance to see the team from the town of my birth play the team I support. This was billed as a Fulham Reserves side but featured a number of senior players either on the fringes of the squad or in search of pre-season fitness. The team lined-up GK: Neil Etheridge, RB: Moritz Volz (c), CB: TJ Moncur, CB: Chris Baird, LB: Joe Anderson, RM: Wayne Brown, CM: Robert Milsom, CM: Andranik, LM: Hameur Bouazza, ST: Clint Dempsey, ST: Erik Nevland, Subs - GK: Wesley Foderingham, CB: Chris Smalling, MF: Lewis Cumber, MF: Lewis Smith. Conspicuous by his absence (appropriately enough, as you could say that about his entire Fulham career) was Lee Cook who had been listed in the expected squad but completed a loan move back to Q.P.R. earlier in the day.The attractions of the club bar and a bit of confusion on my part as to exactly when kick-off was meant I missed the beginning of the game and also Fulham's first goal (scored by Nevland). The action I did see saw the Whites not really getting out of second gear. Despite looking comfortable in possession we weren't creating many goal scoring opportunities and if anything it was Kingstonian that looked the most likely to score. Dean Lodge looked lively on the right wing and was the inspiration behind most of the K's attacking play. Phillipines number 1 'keeper (copyright Colin at CaB ) Neil Etheridge was forced into making a number of saves as our back four made hard work of the task at hand. Just before the break a defence splitting pass from (I think) Andranik allowed Hammeur Bouazza to race through and fire home a second goal. The second half saw Fulham up the tempo and Wayne Brown scored very early on with "an exquisite curling strike just after the break". I managed to miss that goal as well (the evils of a comfortable bar - what can you do?) but reports suggest this was probably the goal of the game. Nevland doubled his tally, Andranik won a penalty which Clint was first in the queue to take and successfully fired home. Chris Smalling replaced T.J. Moncur in defence. I felt T.J. did as well as any of our defenders on the night. Chris Baird was poor and didn't do anything to suggest he was any better in a central position than he was at right back whilst Mortiz Volz improved as the game went on but also failed to shine. Joe Anderson who had worked hard at left back was replaced by Lewis Cumber (a move which saw Robert Milsom drop into the left back role) and Lewis Smith came on for Wayne Brown. Bouazza blasted a shot into the roof of the net to make it six, before Dempsey added his second and Lewis Smith completed the scoring. New signing Andranik was the player that impressed me most. He always looked comfortable on the ball and pretty much dictated the flow of the game. Playing in that holding midfielder role he was able to help out the centre backs mopping up any loose balls and was usually the starting point for any forward play. Wayne Brown impressed again playing mainly on the right wing. good feet and a bundle of energy he's the one home grown player I've seen who might have enough to break into the first team. Lewis Smith also caught the eye. He had the benefit of coming on for the last 10 or 15 minutes by which time the K's had made several changes and were visibly running out of steam. Like Brown, Smith had some neat touches and took his goal very well.A nice way to spend a Friday night then. It's always great to see your team win a game by 8 goals, even if you do only see 6 of them. There's also a short report from the Kingstonians site HERE. 
Fulham free kick about to be sent harmlessly over the bar (just like the first team!)
Robert Milsom attempts to control the ball under pressure
Bouazza in the foreground looking for space, whilst Andranik directs operations
Fulham reserves played another "secret" friendly, behind closed doors at Motspur Park, against Brentford on Wednesday afternoon. We lost 1-0. Not much information from the Fulham perspective but the Brentford website ran a short report in which they say very little about Fulham. It does looks like, former FFC wonderkid, Paul Brooker featured for the Bees. According to TFI Liam Rosenior featured in the Fulham side and played well. Really not sure what to read in to that though. It must be better to be playing football than not but generally we don't use many first teamers in the reserves side.Chatting with my friends during the Bolton game, we were all a bit surprised that there had been no news of Radzinski or Jensen since they were released. I've been googling a bit today to see if there was any news. According to the BigSoccer forum Tomasz Radzinski was spotted near Elland Road and was talking with Leeds United about a potential contract. Elsewhere there have been a few reports linking Claus Jensen with a move to a Spanish La Liga club (not Real Sociedad!) or failing that a return back home to Denmark.Finally the Hyypia to Fulham rumour has been gaining credence, though maybe just by the number of times it's been repeated. We have been linked with Sami Hyypia on and off for the best part of two years now, so I remain enormously sceptical that it is ever going to happen. In theory Hyypia is exactly what we've been looking for since we lost Coleman to injury but there remains the concern that he could be past his best. However, he still managed 24 league appearances for the Reds last season and played the full match as they beat Toulouse 1-0 yesterday afternoon.
Brian McBride was officially named as Club Captain yesterday. I have no complaints about that, Brian has been a real trooper since he joined us and certainly leads by example. The use of the term Club Captain however suggests Lawrie will not have any compunction to start with McBride if he doesn't want to which I reckon shows that LS believes he has a lot of natural leaders throughout the team.One of those natural leaders is Aaron Hughes, and it also emerged that he picked up an injury in the QPR friendly that could keep him out for around six weeks. That's a bad thing. With no obvious sign that we're any closer to signing that elusive "experienced" centre back a lot of weight was on Hughes' shoulders to ensure he led the back line. Without him we're basically back to the same players that failed Chris Coleman last year. I don't mean that unduly harshly as I still rate a lot of those players, but as a unit they definitely failed to perform. My money's on Zat and Boca starting, but both Pearcey and Christanval made an appearance (if only on the bench) at QPR so may still be in the running.No official confirmation from Fulham that we have signed Leijer the 21 year old Aussie centre back. It was mentioned on TFI that he was at Motspur Park yesterday afternoon for the medical so we should hear something today.Finally the Reserves took on Aldershot in their final friendly on Tuesday night. Yet again this match was shrouded in mystery as far as the Fulham website was concerned but the Shots site says they "rounded off their pre-season preparations with a 1-1 draw against a strong Fulham side at the Recreation Ground. Lewis Chalmers gave The Shots an early lead but it was cancelled out a short time later when the Cottagers equalised from a spot kick". So there you go. I really don't understand why Fulham have refused to advertise the reserve fixtures or provide any news off the players involved or how they got on. I can't believe it's a football decision and am left to assume it's just another symptom of the shoddy website management.
Not much to say that hasn't already been mentioned.Franck Queudrue has left the club to join Birmingham City for around £2.5m. I've had mixed feelings about Franck, having been quite excited when we signed him, but subsequently disappointed when I saw him play. Still feel he could probably have found a better club but it might make the final home game of the season more interesting. Actually thinking about it let's hope that, and maybe the outside chance of qualifying for Europe, is the only reason the final home game of the season is interesting!We played QPR on Friday night and lost 2-1. I didn't see any of it so check Craven Cottage Newsround or the Offal for more extensive reports. It sounds like we didn't take our chances (that sounds familiar) whilst the R's did take theirs. McBride scored our goal early in the 1st half, but also missed three decent chances. Healy started alongside him as Kamara is still suffering from the injury he picked up against Portsmouth. Lee Cook made his first start for us and played 45 minutes, Ian Pearce also made a return coming on as a 2nd half substitute and Philippe Christanval was on the bench. The first game is in a weeks time at Arsenal before our first home match against Bolton on Wednesday night. The BBC are reporting that we have signed Australian centre back Adrian Leijer but he doesn't arrive until Tuesday so I doubt it will be officially announced until then.Updates might be a bit intermittent on here for various reasons. I'm going on a tour of the Emirates Stadium tomorrow with Chop Jr. so will report back with my opinion later in the week. This weeks "humorous headlines" were courtesy of The Fall.
First of all here's a link to the Guardian's Premiership preview for Fulham, which I think is a pretty fair assessment of our chances. If you can be bothered to read it all there's an irksome Plod fan getting shirty in the comments.The reserves managed a very respectable 2-1 win over Staines Town last night. Michael Timlin scored the first with a cracking volley, Goncalves possibly got the second though there is some suggestion it may have been Wayne Brown. Staines goal was an OG scored by Adam Watts. Here are some comments (nicked shamelessly from TFI) from some people who were there; "A decent performance overall, best player was Timlin but Lewis smith looked good despite being a substitute" - James"Hudson-Odoi was much better than Ehui, but Lewis Smith when he came on defended from the front, ran all day and hassled and created opportunities for others and he's only 17. Second half Wayne Brown and Robert Milsom ran the midfield, but the big lumbering Watts kept getting muscled off the ball by smaller players" - The OracleMeanwhile the BBC report we are in negotiations to sign 21 year old Australian centre back Adrian Leijer. No me either. It seems an odd move to me with at least six centre backs on our books already. If we do need one then someone with experience and quality, someone who would walk straight into the first team, is what we require not another potential prospect.There's also been a lot of talk in the red tops about players coming in and going out. The Sun say Reading manager Steve Coppell is preparing a £2m bid for Fulham defender Liam Rosenior (I hope we wouldn't be interested in that) and that Middlesbrough hope to beat Fulham to the signature of Sean Davis. The Daily Mirror mention that Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce is prepared to splash out £3m to sign Papa Bouba Diop (which might explain the Davis thing) and that Sunderland have signed Tottenham striker Mido for £6m (Ha ha ha ha ha ha - THAT is very good news!). The Daily Express says Sanchez is offering £1m for Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia (now there's a CB with experience and quality) and The Times say the Reds have offered possible Whites target Anthony Le Tallec to Sochaux for £2.5m. All interesting stuff but I wonder how much of it is based on fact.
I'm sure I've already mentioned my lack of Sky thanks to Virgin Media and their high horse. No idea then about the game or how well we really played but the Offal has this report of the match and also Lawrie Sanchez post match reaction. There's also reports on Sky Sports and ESPN. The manner of the win seems to corroborate my opinion that we were better off playing South China than the Plod who incidently lost on penalties after drawing 0-0 with Pompey yesterday afternoon.
The reserves played a friendly against Bromsgrove Rovers on Tuesday night, though you'd have been hard pressed to know it was on unless you searched really hard. I eventually found a match report, nestled between stories about an appeal for a missing pony and the Local History Society's exhibition in Chaddesley Corbett, on the online version of the Bromsgrove Advertiser. The report obviously skewed to the Bromsgrove perspective, suggests the reserves has the better chances of the game but having only taken one of them were held to a draw thanks to a last minute goal from Rovers hotshot Paul Lloyd. The whites fielded a fairly standard reserve side consisting of Brookes-Meade - Moncur, Briggs, Omozusi, Watts - Milsom, Anderson, Sanders, Goncalves - Hudson-Odi, Ehui. Ishmeal Ehui scoring from close range three minutes before half time.I may well check back with the Advertiser to bring you an update on the pony situation.
Bleurgh! Been poorly today so not up to writing much. We won our friendly tonight, which is good, despite conceding a goal after 3 minutes. There's a report here. Some interesting selections and positions, particularly in the second half, but probably just shows these games are more about fitness than anything else.Michael Brown's absence might add credence to the rumour that he is going to Wigan. The BBC are also reporting that Heidar Helguson may move to Bolton. Good luck to H if he does go, I've read a fee of £2million being mentioned as well which would surprisingly represent a small profit for the club.
The first friendly of the season was played last night and Fulham got off to a good start with a 1-0 win. Diomansy Kamara striking the winner with a spectacular shot on 44 minutes. There's a decent match report on the offal here with a rather fancy graphic showing the team formation. It has to be good to win these games, even though they are more about fitness, a few more of these under our belt and we'll be in good shape for the challenges to come. The starting line-up is pretty close to the team I would expect us to start the season with. Niemi in goal and a back four of Baird-Knight-Hughes-Konchesky is the defence I was expecting. There's room for more variation in midfield Brown & Davis started, but it sounds like Smertin put in a good 2nd half performance and I would be surprised if Diop isn't pushing very strongly for a staring role. Franck Q played left wing, a strong indication for me that he is on his way. I am sure Sanchez will be pulling out all the stops to get a new left winger signed before the end of this week in time for the trip to Hong Kong. Simon Davies started on the right wing, but his place must also be feeling some pressure from Clint Dempsey. Finally great to see Kamara get on the score sheet straight away, apparently he played in a free role just off Brian McBride and seem to enjoy the freedom. The 2nd half replacements up front were Collins John who had a couple of early chances and David Healy.All this emphasises the depth of our squad now, particularly in midfield, with the only obvious hole being on the left wing. How many players we retain will be interesting. Franck Q seems very likely to leave, both Newcastle and West Ham have been reported in being interested, and rumours have been circulating that Wigan want Michael Brown. Bjorn Runstrom has also been linked with a move away which based on his complete lack of first team action is not surprising. Gabriel Zakuani, Philippe Christanval and Heidur Helguson didn't make the squad but I don't think Sanchez will let anyone go who doesn't want to leave or doesn't attract the right bid.
