Locked: Summer 2007 ins and outs

All the same, if Newcastle United wants to continue their history of poor defense, I say take the money they're offering for Zat Knight and RUN. Those 2-5 million pounds could be used to get a better defender among other possibilities!

 

I agree with most comments. Im english and live in england how come you yanks follow fulham so well? just cusa Macca? Zat wont go to Allardyce the rumours where only around when roeder was there.
One other point we need a good left back Frank Quedrue is so unreliable he gets caught out of position so easily i would like to see middlesborough take him back. Quedrue is simple put aweful. And In comparison to Rufus Brevett and Wayne Bridge he looks even worse. As for his free kicks they are possible the worsed in the prem since hes joined us! he practises b4 the game when me and dad get there early and he scored 0/14 when practising v liverpool.

 

Today's news (link) suggests Claus, Radz, and Crossley are already out and they may soon be followed by Diop, Smertin, and CJ. This worries me a little. Why Diop? He seemed to play better the last few matches. And Smertin is a proven EPL-quality player who hasn't had a chance to establish himself at the club. The others are all understandable for various reasons (age, injuries, lack of production). LS said he wants to improve the size and quality of the squad. I really hope he addresses squad depth before shipping out quality players.

I think the squad is going to look a LOT different come August. If it is to actually be improved, LS better be a freakin' magician in the transfer market.

 

Just read this same thing. Mike can we confirm this? Can't find anything on the official site? If we are loosing all these players we need to start bringing some guys in for sure soon.

 

If true, perhaps Sanchez sees too much redundancy in so many defensive midfielders. Brown, Diop, and Smertin??? I mean, that really is enough guys in the midfield that you don't expect to move forward as well as the likes of Dempsey and Bullard. This could be a sign of a much more offensive approach with the midfield. Good.

But that means the importance of two quality CBs is paramount.

 

I feel like the guy in the movie "Hoosiers" when the coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) is talking to the local townspeople at the little town hall when he said, "I am not interested in talking zone defenses and I ain't got a hair of a notion why we hired a man who has been in the sea the last 10 years. But the bottom line is that if we don't get Jimmy Chitwood back playing ball, we're in big trouble."

Well, I could modify that and say, "I am not interested in talking tactics and I don't have any idea why we hired a guy who has been nowhere near a Premiership club on the management level for his entire career, but the bottom line is this, if we don't get TWO central defenders this summer, we're in big trouble."

The priority for the summer has to be DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE and then after that MORE DEFENSE!!

 

I don't like the sound of this at all. As petty said "blow the squad" experiences are not fun.

I'm very sad to see Jensen go. People on here like to give him a hard time, which baffles me.

Long ball is not the kind of ball I want to play :3d crying:

 

I agree that long ball is NOT the way to go either. There must be a better way than this.

As for Jensen, when healthy he was class on the pitch. Unfortunately, he was injured far more than he ever played. That being said, it is hard to count on a player who is injured as often he is to play and kind of a role on the team.

Fulham already has a small squad in numbers because of not having the money. While letting go of Jensen might be a mistake, I would rather have a player on the team that we can count on week in and week out to at least be healthy.

 

here are Jensen's thoughts on the matter
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... 08&cc=5901

 

As good as a player Claus is the guy can't stay healthy (now watch he'll go somewhere else and won't sustain an injury for the next 3 seasons).
Wished he was given more opportunities, since it seems he was fit a lot sooner than the gooner match.

 

If he plans on signing Healy and Davis then let all of those players leave except for Diop. We need to let go some of the players who are always injured or underperform and that means Radz, Jensen and Smertin should leave.

Also there seems to be some quality players on free transfers and we need to take a look at these players. Obviously CB is a big need and Distin and Ben Haim are both on free transfers. We need to pay big wages if we are to sign players like this, but we really need CB with experience in this league rather than putting money on a player who might not perform in this league.

 

As good as it is to make a good transfer market buy it'd be even more satisfying to see a player come up from our academy and be sucessful. We can only afford to buy so much, so its critical that we come up with at least the occasional sucess.

We've all heard names like Omouzi, Zakuani, Timlin, Ismale Ehui, James, and read brief things about them. In the up coming season we really need one of these guys to come through and be a contributer.

Coleman was woeful in this area, hopefully Sanchez will be able to bring some guys through.

 

Note to Claus:

No one cares much for a whine from sour grapes.

I wonder if LS has actually SAID he's going 'long ball' or do some players just believe it. Never mind it's been pointed out continuously that is how Fulham's been playing anyway.

Radz get your ass to Toronto and stop embarrassing yourself.. or maybe that's why he isnt already there.

 

From the linked article:

If Diop is disgruntled, it hasn't shown in his play. I think letting him go would be a mistake.

I forgot that Ben Haim was going to be available this summer. He'd be a great pickup - bigger clubs than us were rumored to have been interested in him in the January window. In other words, he'll never sign here. :|

 

I have NO problem if the club sells Diop. Ever since his first season with the club in the 2004-2005 season he has been a major disappointment.

He always seems to miss half the games in a season because of injury and when he is in there, he seems so out of shape that he can't even get anything done productive.

Yes, he is a big physical presence, but his passing skills are attrocious and the guy did NOT score a single goal all season long. If someone wants to spend the money to take him off our hands, I would gladly accept it.

One last note, he is already 29 years old and he is NOT getting any younger. Injuries usually do NOT disappear with age, they usually become more of a problem.

Diop is way overrated and watching him on the pitch stumble around and come in late for tackles during a game just bothers me. He is a yellow card waiting to happen and as we saw in the Liverpool game sometime he is a red card waiting to happen.

 

The linked article is by a London tabloid. I'll take it straight from the horse's mouth when Sanchez was quoted on how much he liked Papa and what he thought he's capable of. The one thing that concerns me about Diop though is that the African Cup will keep him away for awhile.

 

In my opinion:

Goodbye Claus: You were a nice guy but you definitely DID NOT earn your wages.
Goodbye Radz: I'd actually like him to stay one more season MAYBE, but not if we get a fine replacement
Goodbye Smertin: Not sure what's going on here but he hasn't played for a reason

Diop? He is NOT disgruntled according to my sources (actually he is quite happy with the new training regime) and if he can stay healthy and play as well as he did recently then we should keep him.
CJ? He could be the player who benefits most from a new manager and coach. KEEP HIM.

Crossley? Keep him if only to be a back-up and maybe a coach one of these days. He is well respected at the club and is still a leader.

As for Claus' comments. Fulham offered him a new contract, he turned it down, they said they were not giving him a new one and now he is talking smack about 'long ball' tactics to justify his reason for leaving. SOUR GRAPES.

 

completely agree with this. Timlin in particular i felt had a great preseason last year....does anyone know how he did on his loan? i forget where he went.