Fulham this season and the impact of managers. A mini blog on my team by M.D.K.

[Adam Wrong]

A lot of the time I will be one to defend managers when a team performs badly due to the fact that I believe it's down to the players theierselves but I have to praise Roy Hodgeson for a simply phenomenal season from Fulham this season. He is a wise old bastard that knows the intricacies of European football as well as the Premiership and is leading us to our best season in the premiership with us now looking at 7th!

I do think that his management tactics have led to Fulham playing this well as he made some clever buys and discovered some awesome talent for cheap (Brede Hangeland) as well as making clever sells on over-rated players (Jimmy Bullard)

From a fan's point of view he pisses me off because he is such a realist which is a good thing if you are a neutral spectator but from a fan's point of view he comes across as so negative. He is declaring he doesn't really want a European place, he said he didn't think we had a chance the other week against Man Utd and he plays down players that fans love like Bullard.

I hope he stays until he retires and then we bring back Chris Coleman who in my opinion we should never have sold. He was berated for not getting the results and was given no budget. They bought in Lawrie Sanchez who was given a shitload of money and bought the entire Northern Ireland squad; all of whom were wank bar Aaron Hughes and Steven Davis. If Colman had been given Sanchez's budget we would not have had THAT season last season.

This summer I hope we get a decent centre mid as Dixon Etuhu and Olly Dacourt just don't fit the bill. We should get rid of Zamora or maybe move him from a striking position into an attacking feeder in midfield to fund Johnson + 1 other striker as Zamora is not a striker despite his claims; 2 goals all season does not make a striker. Possibly have dempsey and Zamora feeding two strikers to potentially play a 4-2-2-2 kind of formation would be beneficial for us and get the goals which we have lacked all season. I think Diomansy Kamara needs to be given more pitch time as he has proved vital in the few minutes he has played since coming back from injury.

What does annoy me though is despite our season being awesome, pundits and papers still write us off and point out the negatives. They skim over the fact we have taken  points off of Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd this season and that we have one of the tightest defences in the league having conceded one of the fewest goals.

As for the summer, despite going up with Wolves we could do with somebody like Ebanks Black or maybe raid the soon to be relegates teams. I mean Michael Owen is worth a couple of quid and I would still like to be dealing with somebody like Marlon King despite his age.

Discuss?

[Cory]

I dont think Wolves would get ride of Ebanks-Blake....hes got like 26 goals or something, and they'd need him to have any form to stand a chance, but Fulham is full of players from teams who had just gotten recently relegated, so yeah I could see Owen or Duff from Newcastle if they go down, or Alves from Middlebrough.

[Kenfucius]

Not Alves... PLEASE not Alves.

I want to like the guy, I really do, but Jesus, it seems like every time I watch Boro he misses five sitters a game. It's like watching Brattbakk all over again (I expect only Sam to get that reference).

Duff will be a VERY hot property, I'd expect, I think a lot of teams would be looking at him when (not if) Newcastle go down.

Still, there are a lot of decent players in the Championship that might be worth looking at. At the risk of Scottish bias, how about Ross McCormack? He's not even an out and out striker and he's been scoring goals for fun, plus he's just broken into the Scottish National set-up and netted at that level. I think he'd do well in the Prem, honestly.

[Cory]

Maybe Downing from Boro? He seems to be a good young player....from the 1 boro game a year we get over here.

[Kenfucius]

Downing's a fair shout.

All in all though, ROy Hodgson has done a remarkable job with Fulham, he's a very smart and very under-rated manager who has never gotten enough credit in England, and he's worked wonders with Fulham.

He'll probably end up signing a bunch of players nobody thought of in the summer and getting a bunch of gems, probably, he knows the game all over Europe inside out, in Mainland Europe the guy is well remembered and thought of very highly.

[Ian "Wolfie" Trumps]

One thing I think Coleman did incredibly well was shop in markets such as MLS. There they got Carlos Bocanegra who was a good servant to the club, a developing striker in Eddie Johnson and of course I think one of their better signinings Dempsey.

To me Hodgson is of the same thinking of having a sniff abroad in leagues which aren't as well known and then picking up supersized centrebacks like Haalend who is quite a good player.

From the relegation fodder...I dont see Fulham signing any of these lads. Owen will end up at one of the top four I'd imagine, Duff will go to somewhere like Everton or Villa as for the likes of Downing he is highly overrated and I fancy Boro to escape the drop anyways.

Sylvain EBanks Blake use to play footy near where I lived once (near Camridge) and I have been following his career for sometime as he also on United's books for a number of years before we fucked him off to Plymouth. The lad is talented, but I will tell you now, he is not going to set the Premiership alight Cory. There is a HUGE gap between the standard of a Championship side and The Premiership and one position which stands out for me is up front as someone who can be a hit in the Championship and be shite in the Premiership

guys like Chris Armstrong, Michael Chopra, James Beattie and to an extent Kevin Phillips are just Championship strikers...heck even that ginger tosser Kitson has hardly bagged a goal for Stoke this campaign after being Reading's Golden Boy.

If I am Fulham and to be back on track, I would look at taking someone like Stephen Hunt of Reading to aid the side.

They also desperately need a quality striker. Andy Johnson is overrated as hell for me and almost falls into the names as mentioned above. I dont see him as the answer. Bobby Zamaro is shite as well.

If I am Fulham next year my priority is to get some height and power up front. Someone like Peter Crouch would be an excellent signing for them and with Pompey's money troubles he might be a cut price deal. Or bring in someone like Jozy Altidore who played in MLS and was signed for Villareal, but could well be avaible for loan next season. Joe Ledley if Cardiff fail to go up could also be a target.

All that being said and done...perfect signing for me for Fulham would be John Carew, but I think thats a complete and utter wish list moment.

And your right...Coleman should have never got the boot.

[Cory]

As far as Championship strikers, Beattie has done extraordinarily well for Stoke, and I think that is one of the main reasons why they're not in the bottom three. The others I agree upon, and as far as Ebanks-Blake, I was just saying, 26 goals in the Championship, means that if they toss him once they get promoted, where do they look to get goals from? If hes netted 26 goals or whatever, he must be their go to guy.

[Ian "Wolfie" Trumps]

As far as Championship strikers, Beattie has done extraordinarily well for Stoke, and I think that is one of the main reasons why they're not in the bottom three. The others I agree upon, and as far as Ebanks-Blake, I was just saying, 26 goals in the Championship, means that if they toss him once they get promoted, where do they look to get goals from? If hes netted 26 goals or whatever, he must be their go to guy.

James Beattie has had half a season at Stoke...he isn't a Premiership striker...thats why he is at Stoke in the first place lol

[Cory]

True lol, but jesus, 6 goals in like 15 games in the Prem coming from Sheffield Utd. is damn good in my books....even if he should have never slipped and left the prem in the first place.