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Philippe Senderos has not enjoyed the best of times on some of the latest clubs that he has joined on loan including his move to Serie A when he made 14 appearances for Ac.Milan and despite having the option on staying on a permanent deal, the Italian club decided to let him go.

His next move was in Everton as he made a total of 3 appearances for the Premier League club but after not making any kind of impact with Everton, his stay did not last long and ultimately was offloaded to Fulham on a free transfer.

While he has failed to make his presence felt neither on Italy nor on England, it did not stop Valencia on making a move for the defender who signed him on a permanent deal during the last day of the transfer window.

Fulham has already offloaded Berbatov, Taarabt and Senderos is the latest player to join the list of performers that made their way out of the club although the Swizz defender is the only one that will be permanently leaving the Premier League side.

Contrary to Senderos, Berbatov and Taarabt both agreed on making loan deals with As.Monaco and Ac.Milan respectively. Rene Meulesteen is trying to shape his squad for the remainder of the season as he tries to steer clear away from the bottom relegation zone.

Just as all of those players will be seeing their way out of Fulham, it’s a different story for Johnny Heitinga who signed for the relegation threatened club. His move from Everton and to Fulham comes as a surprise considering the fact that it was expected for him to leave Everton but West Ham and As.Roma was the clubs showing more interested in signing Heitinga.

Philippe Senderos’ injury has increased the problems of the Fulham boss Rene Meulensteen ahead of the important match against Norwich City which is going to be played on the Boxing Day.

The captain of the side Brede Hangeland is already injured. So, Meulensteen just have a couple of centre backs (Fernando Amorebieta and Aaron Hughes) available for selection now for the Norwich City game.

Amorebieta has also just recovered from his hamstring problem. So, starting with him might not be the smartest thing to do for Meulensteen. He really finds himself in a very tricky situation at the moment.

As far as Fulham’s performance in the ongoing season is concerned, it has been very poor. As all the other teams, they have also played 20 Premier League matches so far out of which they have managed to win just 6. They have been defeated 13 times, while, one of their games was a draw. They are currently placed in the last quarter of the points table i.e. at no. 16.

Talking to the reporters yesterday about Senderos’ fitness, Meulensteen said, “Philippe is certainly not going to feature in the next couple of games. Let’s see if he gets fit for the match against West Ham United.”

“There are not too many options left now, but, I have got full faith in the back up players. They are talented enough and are capable of doing the job.”

Fulham has suffered big defeats in their last couple of league games against Everton and Manchester City respectively. They conceded as many as 8 goals in those two games and that was way too many. They would certainly like to put up a good show against Norwich City tomorrow and move up a few positions in the table.

Martin Jol, the Fulham manager has categorically denied that he is under any kind of pressure following the club’s exit from the Capital One Cup at the hands of Championship side Leicester City this midweek.

Questions have already been raised regarding the future of the former Tottenham Hotspur manager following the club’s poor start to the season after doing reasonably well last season. The London club currently sits at fourteenth in the Premier League standings after managing just three wins from their first nine encounters and Jol will hope that his side starts to deliver very soon.

However, that is easier said than done with the club hosting champions Manchester United at Craven Cottage this weekend and it will be a test of resolve for the both the manager and the players to see if they can come out of the match with a result – and against a side like United, even a draw will do for Fulham.

According to Jol, he doesn’t feel any kind of pressure because the club is not at the bottom of the table, before adding there are six or seven other sides that are on the same points as them and lower in the table. He stated that if people tell him that he is under pressure, then they can but for him, he doesn’t feel that is going to be a problem at all.

After winning two consecutive matches against Stoke City and Crystal Palace, Fulham was brought back to earth with a 0-2 defeat by Southampton and the Capital One Cup defeat to Leicester City and if there is any time that they would have preferred not to face Manchester United, it is now. Considering their dismal record against them, Jol and his boys will do well to get away with a draw.

Martin Jol has confirmed Queens Park Rangers midfielder Adel Taarabt will undergo a medical at Fulham in a couple of days ahead of a proposed season long loan move to the club.

The talismanic midfielder has endured a torrid time at Loftus Road over the summer and was left out of the team’s 18 man squad by Harry Redknapp for their opening match in the Championship last weekend against Sheffield Wednesday. The Moroccan was linked with a move to France and Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint Germain for much of the summer but it now appears he will be making a swift return to the Premier League after suffering relegation with Queens Park Rangers last season.

The talented midfielder was brought to England as a teenager by Jol when he was the manager at Tottenham Hotspur and now, the Dutchman is all set to be reunited with his protégé at Fulham. Taarabt made a handful of starts for Spurs before he was sent out for loan spells at QPR who eventually took up the option of signing him for a meager fee in 2010.

According to Jol, who broke the news at a press conference, the two clubs have an agreement in place regarding the player and the only thing delaying the deal is the medical and Jol added that if that goes well, the player will join the club on a season long loan deal.

Jol added that he likes the creativity of the player and put him alongside Fulham favorite Dimitar Berbatov as players who are moody and are often blamed for their lack of enthusiasm but these are the kind of players that can change a game with one touch and that is something very few players in world football are capable of on this day and age.

Fulham forward Dimitar Berbatov has finally opened up about his relationship with manager Martin Jol and admitted that the Dutchman was the key reason he decided to leave Manchester United for Fulham last summer.

The former Bulgarian international striker scored 15 goals in his first season on the shores of the Thames last term and he puts his goal scoring down to the trust the former Tottenham Hotspur manager shows him on the pitch. The Dutchman was the one who brought Berbatov to English football when he signed him for a fee of £ 10.9 million from Bayer Leverkusen in 2006.

The two were together for just one season at White Hart Lane when he netted 23 goals for Spurs and that was enough for the two to develop a father and son relationship which has again been rekindled since his move to Fulham.

Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson paid a whopping £ 30.75 million for the player in 2008 to bring him to Old Trafford but he never reached the heights of his first season in England and was subsequently sold when United acquired Robin van Persie last summer.

And although several players have previously fallen out with Jol but Berbatov is one who does not fall in that category. Speaking to the club’s in-house magazine, the Bulgarian hero stated that he loves the guy. He added that it had been long since they worked together but he came to the club to team up with him again and it was great because they just click together.

The Fulham also stated that he can see the manager trusts him 100% on the pitch and that is something that inspires him to give it his all for the club on the pitch, which is good for both the club and him.

Fulham manager Martin Jol has said that he is still not convinced by the fact that Fulham have managed to avoid the drop this season. Fulham have been one of the inconsistent teams in the Premier league this season.

As much as they struggled during the Christmas period, they have been one of the inform teams since the turn of the year. It has helped them avoid getting into a relegation dogfight, but the possibility of Fulham being relegated to the Championship still remains mathematically. As a result, Jol wants his players to concentrate on winning matches in the remainder of the season.

Fulham were recently beaten 1-0 by Newcastle during the weekend. As a result of the defeat, they remain on 39 points, which is just one point less than the psychological 40 point barrier that usually guarantees safety. Even though Fulham have a match in hand over their nearest clubs, Jol feels that the club still needs a couple of victories in order to ensure their safety in the Premier league next season. The signing of Dimitar Berbatov has been one of the main reasons for Fulham maintaining a position close to the top 10 of the table.

However, the striker was unable to prevent Fulham from losing during the weekend.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. Ten years ago you needed 44 points and a few years ago it was 42 points. Five or six seasons ago you needed 36 points. I don’t know. You need a lot of points this year to be safe. I think we are fine but you never know. We have a very good goal difference compared to the other teams at the bottom, that is important. Of course, we would like to have more wins. It depends on the situation with the third club,” said Jol.

The manager of Fulham, Martin Jol, has hailed his team for the win against Stoke City, but, he has also said that his team should have won the match by a bigger margin.

Fulham defeated Stoke City by 1-0 on Saturday. The only goal in the match was scored by Dimitar Berbatov. Berbatov found the net with a brilliant volley just a few moments before the half time break. After scoring that goal, the Bulgarian striker ran towards his manager as if he was trying to prove something to him.

In the post match press conference, when Martin Jol was asked why Berbatov ran towards him after scoring that goal, he said, “I had told him a few months back that he hasn’t scored even a single goal with volley. So, after netting with a volley, he ran towards me.”

“It was really a fantastic strike by Berbatov, but, I would give the credit of this win to the whole team.”

“Our goalkeeper was fantastic today. He made quite a few great saves and his contribution in today’s win was huge.”

Stoke had got a penalty in the 55th minute and they had a very good chance of levelling the scores. But, the Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer made a superb save and denied the visitors from scoring the equalizer.

Stoke came close to levelling the scores on a few other occasions as well, but, Schwarzer denied them every time and made sure that his team would maintain its lead right till the end.
With this victory, Fulham has now come very close to Stoke City in terms of points. Fulham has now only one point less than Stoke.

Fulham currently has 32 points in 27 matches, while, Stoke has 33 points in the same number of games. Fulham’s next match will be against Sunderland on Saturday.

The FA Cup match played between Fulham and Blackpool at Craven Cottage on Saturday has ended in a draw. Both the teams scored one goal each.

The manager of Fulham, Martin Jol, decided not to make any change in XI that had started the previous match against West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday. So, Fulham went into this match with its full strength.

On the other hand, Blackpool made three changes to the starting line up that had played against Hull City. Wes Thomas, Stephen Crainey and Gary Taylor-Fletcher were left out and on their places; Nathan Delfouneso, Bob Harris and Phillips came into the side.

Both the teams looked a bit slow in the first 45 minutes and the first half went goalless. But, in the second half, Blackpool started aggressively and took the lead in the 60th minute. The goal was scored by Ludovic Sylvestre, but, Delfouneso deserved the credit as well. He set up the goal with a brilliant pass from the right and Sylvestre did the rest by controlling the ball beautifully and then, tapping the ball into the right hand corner of the net.

Fulham came back into the match with a leveller in the 80th minute. Giorgos Karagounis was the one who found the net for Fulham. It was an excellent effort by the Greece international. He got the ball on the right flank and beat a couple of players in the way before entering the penalty area. The goalkeeper charged towards the ball, but, he didn’t manage to stop a blistering shot and the ball flew into the far corner of the net.

The Fulham players got a few more opportunities in the remaining time, but, they failed in cashing on them and ended up getting only one point from the match.
Fulham’s next match will be a Premier League encounter against Wigan Athletic at the same venue on Saturday.

The manager of Fulham, Martin Jol, has said that Philippe Senderos will be included in the starting XI on the place of Brede-Hangeland in the match against Stoke City This will be Senderos’ first start of the season.

The 27 years old Swiss defender had been struggling with leg injury since a long time. He regained 100% fitness just a few days back and he is ready to make a comeback for Fulham.
Talking to the reporters ahead of the match against Stoke, Jol said, “Unfortunately, Hangeland will not be able to play in the upcoming match because of the ban. On his place, Senderos will get the starting opportunity. “

“He has struggled a lot with the leg injury in the last few months, but, thankfully, he has fully recovered now. He has been training since the last two weeks and he has also played a few reserve matches. He looked quite good in those matches and that’s why we have decided to give him a go in the next match. Hopefully, he would come good.”

When asked how hard it is to comeback from such a severe injury, Jol said, “It is very hard, but, he is a tough bloke. He is a fighter. The last 6-7 months have been pretty tough for him, but, he is eager to show his talent at this level again. The way he has played in the reserve games, if he manages to maintain the same kind of form in the league matches as well, he would prove to be more than handy for us.”

When asked about the ban of Hangeland, Jol said, “Losing the skipper because of the ban is pretty disappointing. But, it’s part and parcel of the game and we need to get on with this.”

Fulham has defeated Wigan Athletic by 2-1 in a Premier League match played at the DW Stadium on Saturday. This was the third victory for Fulham in the ongoing Premier League. Martin Jol’s boys carried on the brilliant form that they had shown in their previous match against West Bromwich Albion.

Martin Jol didn’t make any change in the starting XI that had played against West Brom. On the other hand, the manager of Wigan, Roberto Martinez, made two changes in the XI that had started the match against Manchester United.

It was Hugo Rodallega who opened the scoring for Fulham in the 31st minute. It was a sharp cross from Berbatov and Rodallega made full use of that and beat the Wigan goal keeper with a superb header. This was the first goal of Rodallega for Fulham. The Colombian winger has joined Fulham this summer after leaving Wigan Athletic.

The Wigan players looked much better in the second half. They attacked and created quite a few opportunities, but, they didn’t manage to capitalize on the scoring chances. Wigan got down by 2-0 in the 68th minute with the goal of Damien Duff. Rodallega got the ball near the left wing and passed it to Ruiz. Ruiz got rid of two Wigan defenders and gave a cross to Duff who made no mistake in flicking the ball home.

After that second goal, the Fulham players got a bit defensive and were just trying to prevent Wigan from scoring any goal. They succeeded in their intention till the last minute, but, in the injury time, Wigan managed to sneak in a goal to restore some pride.

In the post match press conference, Martin Jol said, “It was another fantastic performance by the boys. The players executed the plans brilliantly on the field. There were one or two mistakes here and there, but, that’s part and parcel of the game. Overall, it was really satisfactory for me.”