Philippe Senderos Fan

Paul Lambert reckons that Philippe Senderos, one of his new signings, would show that he’s good enough to be playing at the Premier League level.

Senderos has recently signed for Villa after being let go by his previous club Valencia.

The 29-year old centre back has played for as many as 4 big clubs in the past and has represented his national side Switzerland in three FIFA World Cups as well, but, still, people don’t consider him a world class player.

Quite a few Football pundits have predicted that he would prove to be a flop at Villa Park, but, Lambert has given his full backing to the player.

Talking to the reporters yesterday, the Villa boss said, “Philippe is immensely experienced and we believe that he would help us sort out the defensive issues that we had the previous season.”
Aston Villa’s defence was all over the place in the 2013-14 Season. More than 60 goals were scored against them throughout the season.

Meanwhile, Kieran Richardson who was Senderos’ teammate at Fulham a year back has also tipped the Swiss defender to succeed at Villa.

Speaking in one of his interviews, Richardson said, “I have spent some time with Phil at the Craven Cottage and I am glad to be reunited with him. He is a sort of guy whom you want in the changing room as he keeps the environment light and help you soak up the pressure of big matches.”

Senderos had joined Valencia only for a brief period of 6 months at the start of this year. He got to play 8 league games there in which he did alright.

In the recently finished World Cup in Brazil, Senderos made just one appearance for Switzerland i.e. against France.

Switzerland just concluded their session of continuous string of injured players as Diego Benaglio, Philippe Senderos, Fabian Schaer and Xherdan Shaqiri have recovered from their respective injuries. All of them are key players in the squad of Ottmar Hitzfeld who will be the man in charge of guiding Switzerland through their 2014 World Cup campaign.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries but fortunately they got injured at the right time and not too close to the World Cup,” Hitzfeld told reporters.

After 31 years of coaching different clubs around the world and a number of accolades which includes: 2 Champions League titles and 7 Bundesliga coronations, it has been officially announced that Hitzfeld is going to step down from coaching and retire after the 2014 World Cup.

Switzerland has never managed to get past the quarterfinal stages of any World Cup and this upcoming one will see them facing off against France, Ecuador and Honduras in the group stages.
France are huge favorites on concluding at the top of the group but the 2nd spot will be highly contested between the remaining nations and the side of Hitzfeld will have their work cut out for them if they want to progress any further.

Hitzfeld displayed his intentions of at least reaching the round of 16 in this World Cup which will kick off in less than 2 weeks.

“I hope we can be a positive surprise and at least get to the round of 16 and take it from there. We will be playing in different climatic zones, so we have to play intelligently. Hitzfeld admitted.
They recently played an international friendly match against Jamaica and a lonely goal from Josip Drmic gave the Swiss the victory, Hitzfeld is hoping they can continue getting positive results for their upcoming matches.

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.