Season Preview - Fulham

Quick Reminder, Real Life

An odd season at Fulham saw them lose their very successful manager to Liverpool where he was a flop. His replacement managed them to a very solid 8th place finish in the standings with no reason to expect that it was either a fluke or that a huge regression was coming but then he left too. On the pitch, the season saw US International Clint Dempsey stake his claim as one of the top few players outside the top six clubs. He joined Brede Hangeland (also born in Texas) in that category as the big Norweigan had another strong season at the center of Fulham’s defense. The Hangeland-led defense was good enough to tie Arsenal for 4th in the “goals conceded” category. Of the teams below them in the table, only Stoke were even close to being as stingy and they conceded 5 more goals (about 12% more).

Quick Reminder, Fantasy

As noted above, Dempsey made the leap from occasionally spectacular fantasy player to consistently dangerous. Hangeland gave you exactly what you expected - albeit for a higher price as his price caught up to his output. Guys like Mark Schwarzer, Chris Baird, and Damien Duff were solid in stretches and very much viable options when Fulham were home to modest opposition. The interesting developments for Fulham in fantasy last season were at the forward position. When healthy, Bobby Zamora and Mousa Dembele were productive options. We’ve seen it before in stretches from Zamora. It was a little less clear as to whether Dembele was just hot for a stretch at the start of the season and then cooled down to what will become his normal level of production or if his early season form was the norm with the rest of the season derailed somewhat by injury.

Summer Changes

Martins Shock For Big Sam

Do the kids still say "mad hops"?

Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins reportedly has a £13million get-out clause in his contract.

The Nigerian striker signed for the Magpies just last summer for £10million, but new boss Sam Allardyce was shocked to discover a similar clause in Martins' contract to that of strike partner Michael Owen, according to The Evening Chronicle.

Owen could quit the club if someone offers £9million for his services, leaving Allardyce in the nightmare position of not knowing if his top two strikers will be at the club for the beginning of next season.

Martins recently said he was happy at Newcastle, but the north-east newspaper claims Arsenal will make a move if they lose Thierry Henry.

I don't know about Oba to Arsenal, but I'm still pushing for Big Sam to utilize his 4-3-3 with Duff, Viduka, and Milner.

Viduka Closing In On Toon Move

Middlesbrough striker Mark Viduka is understood to have agreed in principle to join north-east rivals Newcastle.

His 19 goals last season - seven of them in his last five starts - were key to Boro's successful fight against relegation from the Barclays Premiership and took his tally for the club to 42 in 100 appearances, 20 of them as a substitute. [emphasis mine -j.]

That's the key. Viduka plays hard when his next payday is the issue. So you invariably get goals from him in August, December, and April. Then he'll go quiet for months at a time. I sure hope Big Sam realizes this. Maybe they'll structure his contract in such a way that he only gets paid when he scores. Or they'll make him sign a series of short-term (like a month at a time) deals. Anything they can do to keep him focused.

Now, is Big Sam going to bring his 4-3-3 to Newcastle? Viduka is certainly the mold of the big center forward he likes. See Davies, Kevin. (As an aside, what would Big Sam have done with Shearer? Wow. Imagine his glee at having the original at his disposal.) But are Owen and Martins the wide attackers he wants? Certainly Duff and Milner would be naturals. In fact, wouldn't a front line of Duff, Viduka, and Milner playing in front of Parker, Barton, and Butt suit Sam nicely? It would be like Bolton but with better quality players. But how do you leave out £17 million worth of striker? Going to be interesting, especially for fantasy managers, how Big Sam works it out.

And can we start the Speed to Newcastle rumours right here and now? He's a former and still much beloved player. He knows and thrives under Allardyce's system. Makes much more sense to me that Sam would go back to Bolton for Speed, rather than Nolan or Diouf.

As for Boro, they now have to replace (and hopefully for them, increase) Viduka's goal tally. Perhaps they should be looking for a bit more mobility to complement Yakubu. In fact, they might just have to replace Yakubu too if his on again, off again relationship with the Nigerian national team is on again for January's African Nations Cup. I think they could do worse than look to prise Louis Saha AND Alan Smith from Manchester United. That would give them the options they would want, and by offering for both players, might sweeten the deal for ManU who have already spent a ton of money, but are still looking for another striker themselves.