A French club struggling with finance and are aspiring to put themselves back at the top of French football should not be letting a player who once went for 30 million euros run his contract down and leaving for nowt.
I don't know what the story was but there must have been more to it if he was without a club for 6 months! He's done ok for us though.
Also, I had no idea Monaco are playing in the second tier of French football now! Talk about a fall from grace.
Remember when Monaco looked solid as a rock under Didier Deschamps? They seem a decade away from that team.
Yes, they were the beaten finalists, they beat Real Madrid on their way to the final. It was the great team that had Ludovic Guily, Flavio Roma, Patrice Evra, Jerome Rothen, Sidnei Govou, Dado Prso and of course Fernando Morientes. Like Porto, the next season they became decimated as the top dogs of Europe picked off their players. I'm a closest Monaco fan.
Cheers Cappy! Predicted a win against Bolton and now a draw against Chelsea. Maybe I should apply for Lawro's job?
I don't know why I still read his predictions, probably out of habit I guess, but this is how they usually go. Home game: Fulham are very strong at home and have an attacking threat with Clint Dempsey, Pavel Pogrebnyak and Moussa Dembele so always have enough to trouble the opposition. The crowd get behind them so they are very hard to beat. Draw or win for Fulham Away game: Fulham struggle on the road so I expect that to continue here. They don't take that many fans away from Craven Cottage, which is a lovely stadium, so maybe that affects the players. These are the type of games (insert team) expect to win, and I expect them to have too much for Martin Jol's men Fulham lucky draw or defeat.
Originally Posted by Bandit I also think we will get something from the Chelsea game, I'd like to predict a win but we never do against Chelsea. I'll say 1-1 with Clint atoning for his late penalty miss against them Yes, well done Bandit and it nearly was. To get the negatives out of the way first, Chelsea were very average (resorting to long balls to the hapless Torres; Schwarzer had his quietest night in years) and very cynical (some call them 'professional' fouls I call them plain dirty). Of the 16 fouls they committed at least 12 were when one of ours was through/ in a threatening position - Clatteburg was very weak. Ah Clattenburg and that penalty. At the game I thought Murphy had blocked the ball and Kalu fell over him and having only just now watched the replay can't say I've changed my mind. The situation was a bit of a rough and tumble tangle, but the decision was soft. Much has been made about Lampard's celebration and specific chants from the crowd. Well for me it wasn't the kissing of the badge that was at issue (he does that all the time) it was the arm gesture. Maybe it was a reaction to something he heard from the Hammy End but why then did he make the exact same arm gesture to the Riverside? Not good. Still on the negatives I'm afraid. Please, please Danny stop taking short side ways free kicks in their half when none of our players are expexting it. And please stop taking all the corner kicks. When Danny went off Duff took 4, we scored from 1 and drew saves from Cech from 2. So the positives. First up this was our 50th game of the season and and the second in a couple of days. Well you wouldn't have guessed that from the effort and the energy the lads put in to the game. And well done Jol for remembering how young Frei had terrorised Chelsea in the Carling Cup - dropping Kaca who had shown real promise was 'inspired'. And how the 18 year old repaid him for his vote of confidence. He ran rings round what is supposedly one of the best RBs in the Premiership - and that first half dribble when he took on a box of 4 Chelsea players; just amazing. His performance was matched by my MOTM, Riise. Hands up, I have been one of his strongest critics but last night he showed grit, determination, plunging runs, good awareness of space - blimey I'd better stop. No, he was seriously good. The whole back four were (again). And I won't apolgise for repeating that the two Hs together just bring stability and confidence to the table. Murphy was fantastic and (yes, I was wrong again) Diarra beside him excellent. He's getting better and better. Dembele had a stuttery game before Danny went off but then came on strong when he went deeper. Duff was his usual industrious self and of course the corner kick expert ! That just leaves Dempsey of the starting line up. But then I hardly need to comment. As Bandit said 'perfect', all bar the result. We were the only side playing football (especially in the second half) and a win would not have been undeserved. Having got two doubles under our belt (QPR and Bolton) another two (Wigan and Liverpool) are now more than possible. And that would be a record, wouldn't it?
A fine analysis 58 All that was missing from the Chelsea game was Pogrebnyak. We put so many balls into the box but Dempsey cannot win all of them, despite his salmon like leaps into the air! But like you said, if Pog played then Frei probably wouldn't have, which in hindsight would have been a great shame. With a solid and now consistent back four, and two genuine goalscorers in the team, next season promises to be a good one for FFC!
if the goalscorers you refer to are Dempsey and Pog, it remains to be seen whether either of them will be here next season! I'm fairly confident that the Pog will stay, I'm not so sure about Clint.
Pog has opened contract talks with the club and Clint has been offered a new deal, what a perfect end to the season it would be if they both signed them.
Apart from maybe Wolves and QPR, I don't think you'll have seen a worse team come to the Cottage all season than us. Average was an understatement
