Notts Forest 1 Fulham 1 (U16s) A hard fought draw this afternoon. Wes McDonald scored our goal but MOTM was goalkeeper Magnus Norman with a number of fine saves.
Fulham team to play OGC Nice: Schwarzer; Riether, Hughes, Hangeland (c), Riise; Duff, Diarra, Dembele, Kacaniklic; Ruiz, Petric. Score is 2-0 at half time, goals from Petric and Kaca.
Notts Forest 3 Fulham 3 (U18s) A day of draws but again the team did well, coming back fron 2-0 down. Our scorers were Tankovic (2) and Tom Richards
Were we really playing away ? The team ran out comfortable 4-0 winners with additional goals from Diarra and Mesca (who by all accounts confirmed Jol's faith in him - pacy and, for once, showed composure when scoing) It looks as though Jol is favouring 4-3-3, since he kept that formation when making subs around the hour mark. Edit: Here is the official Club report - http://www.fulhamfc.com/MatchAndTeam/MatchCentre/Matches/1213/PreSeason/OGCNiceAway.aspx COY(stripey)W
As always, thank you for the updates C58. An interesting result for several reasons. Ruiz seems to have been pushed forward (as many of us thought he would be) and it looks like we will see quite a bit of young Mesca this season. I'm also thinking it is unlikely we'll bring in an experienced striker now; I expect someone like Rhodes will come in to sit behind Petric/Hugo, with someone like Jarvis coming in to supplement our wingers. It looks like Jol will look to pair a youngster with a veteran (Frei/Kaca with Duff/Davies) to slowly bring them in. The biggest danger remains losing Dembele. I'd love Dempsey to stay, but Dembele is looking more and more important to our team.
Here are video highlights of the game v Nice - http://www.ogcnice.com/actualite/newstv.php?clef=8214 Forgot to mention, Petric is wearing the No. 10 shirt which of course was/is Kasami's squad number. Not that it's all that significant - Kasami joined the rest of them on Thursday after his Olympic stint - just curious.
Petric's goal was an absolute peach! The build-up and the finish were superb! On the shirt thing - no names on shirts, for either team. Is that a pre-season thing?
The movement and final pass for Kaca's goal was also top quality. Ruiz also looked to be involved in the game, which is encouraging. We do need to get Hugo fit and ready to go as soon as possible though.
In his post-match interview Jol confirmed that Hugo (and Demps) would be 'slotting in' now (the game against MK Dons?). Oh, and he did just manage to mention how good Mesca was (again!). http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2012/August/ManagerReaction.aspx
Mesca Following his goal on Saturday, Jol's favourite young player has a feature in the Club's Monday morning blurb - http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2012/August/ASpecialMoment.aspx And he also features in the local rag - http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/fulham-fc/2012/08/06/82029-31559895/ Having been given a squad number towards the end of last season, I reckon we'll see much more of Mesca.
Fulham Team v MK Dons: Stockdale; Kelly, Baird (c), Burn, Briggs; Mesca, Sidwell, Kasami, Frei; Rodellega, Trotta. Subs: Somogyi, Brister, Kavanagh, Minkwitz, Kacaniklic, Grygera. A glimpse of the future?
MK Dons 0 Fulham 1 Pretty poor game by all accounts. Livened up a bit when Minwitz came on for Frei, early in the second. The Dons missed a penalty after 70 minutes and Fulham upped their game a tad. Kaca came at 80 mins for Trotta and from his corner a couple of minutes later Hugo scored (classic poachers goal from 2 yards). Guess the only good thing about tonight is that Hugo got a full run out - it appears that he needed it. EDIT: Here is the Official account of the game - http://www.fulhamfc.com/MatchAndTeam/MatchCentre/Matches/1213/PreSeason/MKDonsAway.aspx EDIT: And here is Jol's reaction - http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2012/August/JolMkDonsReaction.aspx
Aston Villa 4 Fulham 2 (U18s) The U18s were a tad unlucky to lose to a strong Villa team this afternoon. Like most pre-season games there was a lot of shuffling positions and substitutions which probably made the difference. Patrick Roberts got our 2 which brings his pre-season total to 6. Next game up, Bristol City at the weekend,
Can confirm MK Dons game was quite poor as I popped up there for the night but it was nice to see some of the youngsters. Not sure there was much to take away from this game. Dan Burn looked quite good but there was a lot of loose passing all over the place. Rodellega is in need of some match practice but was there for the goal. Good number of Fulham fans there. It would appear we have quite a lot that live in MK.
Tooting & Mitcham 0 Fulham 3 (U21s) Guess the main query about this match is to wonder who the two 'Trialists' were - http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2012/August/FFCU21sVTootingMitchamUtd.aspx
I am happy to deny the rumours that one of them was me. It's not true. I just wanted to clear that up for everyone. Is all.
Jol talks about his team selection v Charlton tomorrow. Blimey, Hugo is injured (again). http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2012/August/JolCharltonPreview.aspx?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter And Hughes injured as well, which could make the CB pairing interesting. Great chance to see Dan Burn with Hangeland but as Jol says he wants to play the team (more or less) he expects against Norwich so I suspect he'll go for the safe option and play Baird. Can't agree more with Jol about the 'arranged' International friendlies only 3 days before the League starts - 7/8 players away during the week is bad enough without the risk of injuries.
