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

Belgium's Golden Generation?

Courtesy the Royal Belgian Football Association

At the same time I was contemplating the lack of a Brazilian super-duper-star at the peak of his powers, another thought related to a national team occurred to me.  It felt like I'd been hearing about a lot of Belgians either being very good players or being seriously high-end prospects.  For a country of just over 10 million people that is currently ranked 57th in the FIFA rankings you are left to wonder if they'll be the surprise package of Euro 2012 or WC2014.  What has me jumping on the bandwagon before Euro qualification has kicked into gear? Here's a quick look.

Great Spine
You often hear that you can't have a great team unless you are solid through the middle.  So how do the Belgians stack up down the middle? Let's take a look:

Premier League Round Up

Following on from our earlier, extensive list of injuries suffered and overcome on international duty and our dilligent follow-up work, here's more news and notes from around the English Premier League.

Fulham striker Moussa Dembele out for two weeks

Fulham striker Moussa Dembele out for two weeks following challenge from Stoke City's Andy Wilkinson - report - Goal.com

Fulham manager Mark Hughes has received some good news as striker Moussa Dembele is only set to be out of action for two weeks following a horror challenge by Stoke City's Andy Wilkinson in the League Cup tie on Tuesday night, according to the Daily Mail.

The Cottagers had already seen striker Bobby Zamora ruled out for a considerable length of time with a leg-break and Hughes will be relieved to know that his forward line is not as depleted as first thought.

There were initial fears Dembele could be facing a lengthy spell out of action, but the £5 million summer signing from Dutch club AZ Alkmaar is set to return to the fold within two weeks

Hosting a desperate Everton side this weekend, do we see an all-USA frontline of Dempsey and Eddie Johnson? Or does Zoltan Gera move into the hole where he's always promised so much but delivered so little?

First Impressions and Second Thoughts - Week 4

Dembele, Dembele, Dembele!

Sometimes you just get a feeling and have to go with it.  As readers of The Week Ahead will recall, I was agonizing over the choice between ChamWow and Dembele and ended up keeping Dembele as much to be different from everyone else as because I was convinced that he'd be better.  The good news is that there were no losers in that decision since ChamWow had his second strong week in 4 tries.  The better news is that Dembele was better still and justified my choice.  Who knows if Dembele can keep this form or not but with Zamora out, I know I'll be sticking with him for a while longer to see how it goes. 

The big question I'll be contemplating this week is whether to move from Carroll (at 5 and change) to ChamWow for the balance of Arsenal's easy early schedule.  I like having Carroll at such a cheap price but Drogs/ChamWow/Dembele looks like it could be a pretty strong combination.

On to what we learned this weekend:

Bobby Zamora suffers broken leg

Premier League - Zamora suffers broken leg - Yahoo! Eurosport

Fulham striker Bobby Zamora suffered a broken leg in Saturday's 2-1 Premier League victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers, manager Mark Hughes confirmed.

The forward suffered the injury in a challenge with Wolves midfielder Karl Henry after 27 minutes and left the pitch on a stretcher after receiving oxygen.

"He has broken his leg just above the ankle," Hughes told the BBC.

"He will have an operation tomorrow. He's out for a minimum of four months but if it's worse it could be longer. It's a big loss."

Zamora is the fulcrum of what Fulham do, so this is a big loss. But perhaps it's tempered by the arrival of Neal's latest soccer crush, Mousa Dembele. Dembele has hit two goals and two assists in his first two Premier League games and seems the real deal. It will also provide a chance for Zoltan Gera or Clint Dempsey to claim a place as second striker. Gera has always looked better on paper than he does on the field, and Dempsey is still relatively expensive. So at the moment, Dembele is probably the way to go.

Just ask Neal.