Currently there are 4 main squad players not with the party in Germany: Duffers, Hugo, Senderos and Kelly. The Club have confirmed that Duff is training at Motspur Park and as soon as his work permit comes through, Rodellaga will be joining him. This makes sense since the squad will be returning home after their game on Saturday. Of Senderos and Kelly there is no sign. The preferred view here, is that Senderos is injured (seems to happen frequently pre-season) but that was based (I believe) on a dodgy photo. However, I'd be prepared to give him "benefit of the doubt". So Where's Kelly ??
I am not to concerned about Senderos,a player in my opinion is not quite up to premiership standards, and who who i fear this season, will be taking over the warm physio couch vacated by AJ.
Well, as I've said before, I still rate Senderos. I believe that he's in the Swiss Olympic squad (although I may be mistaken). If he is, that might explain his abscence. I know Senderos picked up an injury as soon as he signed for us, but he didn't miss much of last season with injury, did he? It's a bit harsh to label him that way. Some people on this site have never forgiven him for not being Aaron Hughes. Hughes finished last season strongly, but for much of the season Senderos looked as good if not better. I would expect this season to be another one of both players (and maybe even Bairdinho) competing to play alongside Hangeland, not a straightforward case of Hughes (or, for that matter, Senderos) being automatically picked ahead of the other.
I waver over Senderos. He can bring the ball out from the back better than Hughes but the way he goes into tackles in the area sometimes really worries me. He often seems like a penalty waiting to happen. And I just feel he lacks concentration sometimes and gets caught out. I prefer Hughes but don't throw my hands up in horror if I see his name on the team sheet.
Senderos isn't in the Swiss Olympic squad: http://www.fifa.com/mensolympic/teams/team=1889338/index.html Kasami's in, though. I'm pretty sure he's the only Fulham player at the Games. For the second game in a row Dempsey didn't feature in the pre-season friendly in Leipzig despite pretty much every other squad member getting a run out.
I stand corrected, fulhamish. Thanks for putting us right. I thought the Olympics was an 18-man squad. How come the Swiss have named 22 players? I stand by my defence of Senderos' ability though.
I agree that Senderos is a better passer etc, but too many times he was AWOL at key points, which cost us goals (as did Diarra's wanderings).
Agree with you GeraScores Senderos is better passer, but lacks concentration. But I think both he and Hangeland get pulled out of the center when Riise and Kelly are slow in getting back.
It would appear Baird is set to stay with us and with the arrival of Riether from Cologne this could spell the end for Kelly. A shame as he seemed to be coming into his own (No Norwich jokes please) towards the end of the season. Has there been any news on Grygera?
I'll be sorry to see Kelly go if that's correct, Bandit, but I'm glad to hear that Bairdinho is staying. I prefer Kelly at right back, but Baird offers so much more elsewhere on the pitch.
A while ago Big Mart said he was going to give him the chance to get fit and train with us before considering offering a new deal. Sounds reasonable to me.
He's due for a full finess check, almost as we speak (ie the middle of this month). Just on Senderos (and I have no clues on his situation), I have noticed Halliche being kind of centre stage in all the Club 'images of Germany'. That might be to make potential buyers/loanees aware of his existence or he may be back in Jol's good books after his (Hallliche's) pout in February. Time will tell I guess.
I'm not sure you can really read into who plays during pre season and who doesn't. For example, LDV played and scored yesterday but if he makes more than five league starts next season I'll eat my hat.
A mini update on the fab four - Duffers - the Club have issued a bit of blurb confirming that he's training at Motspur Park http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2012/July/DuffReturns.aspx Kelly - well, the bit about Duffers says 'not due back till later this month because of International duties', so that could equally read across to Kelly. Uhmm ??? Hugo - still waiting for his work permit Senderos - his website has a diary entry that says "11th July pre-season training started after holiday", but no further entries. A twitter type rumour said Real Betis had made an enquiry and they are in need of a central defender (his father is Spanish, not that that should necessarily make a difference). However, he's obviously not in Germany and the Club have been completely silent, so it's still, watch this space.
All who read the FFC post know my views on Senderos,so if he was to go elsewhere,with a small fee attached, it would suit me just nicely.as others have said when defending in our area, he is a penalty waiting to happen.
I like Senderos, but it's no coincidence that the season he comes into the team regularly is the season we don't look like a defensive fortress any more. He's a good continental centre back (good distribution and confident on the ball) but when it comes to good old-fashioned defending he does come up short. I'm still hoping he'll improve by playing alongside Hangeland (who also wasn't his imperious best last season) though. Rio Ferdinand was a liability at times up until his late 20s. And I would think it's safe to assume Kelly is no longer at the club, unless we hear otherwise.
Or is it? You could just as easily argue that the season we stop playing the Hodgson two banks of four, hard to break down system is the one that we don't look loke a defensive fortress any more. I would argue that's the more likely correlation. And as for 'penalty waiting to happen', has he actually given one away? (I don't know my facts on this, so I might be opening myself up to someone telling me precisely when he gave one away!) Apart from Hughes' excellent run at the end of the season, there wasn't a lot to choose between the two of them defensively. The difference was that when Hughes makes a mistake we say, 'Everyone has a bad game from time to time', when Senderos does we say, 'He's always likely to give one of those away, isn't he?' Sorry, I seem to always be the one repeating the same old argument in defence of Senderos, but that's only because so many others are always repeating the same old assumptions against him. I'll say it again, long term - for his age, but not only because of that - I'd rather have him than Hughes.
When you have watched all Senderos home games,you can almost hear a gasp from the crowd when he goes charging into a tackle in our penalty area, most of my fellow ticket holders fell the same way,but it appears they do not air their views on this forum.
Following up on C58's post earlier about Betis and Senderos, their president spoke to the press yesterday about several players, none of whom were Senderos (of course that doesn't mean he ain't going anywhere. For info I have Google Translated the page so it is a literal translation rather than a grammatical one - which does make for a bit of fun. I would do it properly myself but it's nearly midnight and I'm shagged out to be honest. Anyway, here you are: The president of Real Betis, Miguel Guillen, offered at noon a battery of statements about the movements that are starring in the club Betis on signings, and express the unyielding belief that this season the stands of Estadio Benito Villamarin get to have 40,000 subscribers: 10,000 members: "We all wish the rate was even higher, but the reality is that we are on track. We are keeping the same numbers as last year. Hope that when you close the period, we can reach the ambitious goal of 40,000 subscribers. " Roque Santa Cruz: "The times are set by the Manchester City. No wonder it takes a little longer than we all expected. We have the advantage that the player has said he plays there or at Betis. Has turned down offers interesting , so we hope. " Gonzalo Rodriguez: "I can not confirm anything. I have not received anything. The sports management will be speaking with many players who might be interested, but names until there is something concrete, you can not say anything." Beñat: "His contract is at Real Betis, which is a pride. When the time comes, we'll sit down with him to bring his contract to the reality of the player, but we must not put an exact day. Probably before the season if necessary we will modify the conditions of your contract and see what you can do. " Nolito: "As a good player he is, has a high price, but Real Betis has other priorities, other plots to cover. Our resources will go to that, not players who are today beyond our reach." Salva Sevilla: "It's a question for Vlada Stosic. I was not present in the conversation. I doubt that will inform the player who could get out of here free. We do not give away anything, we find it hard to get the signings. Salva Sevilla is a great player, this season may have played more or less, but has played an important role in the last two seasons. does not seem logical to leave a free player you have. If you get a reasonable offer, they will study and the sporting determine whether to go or not. We can not let great players go out without any compensation. " Juanfran: "They have said many things, but all I can say is that is Real Madrid. Now must be respected. Real Madrid have their rights and Betis not have much to say. There may be an approach, but if that arises then is not interesting for both clubs, there is qeuda. not take anything for finished until closing the transfer market. There has been no change in the negotiations. " FC Sevilla situation: "Neither the club nor Real Betis and I as president we will assess situations that occur at other clubs. It would be disrespectful, we have enough work here to enter reviews from other teams. All teams know very well what they must do within their institutions to address their situations. "
Thanks very much Fulhaman - I completely forgot your Sevilla presence and should have gone straight to you first off. As you say, there's no specific mention of him. However, even allowing for Google, the Betis guy does seem to have left his options open and quite rightly said that they do not discuss other club's players. Whatever, we should know a bit more about Senderos and Kelly on Monday when everyone is expected to be at Motspur Park.
