Fulham F.C - A Bright Future?

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AUGUST - DISAPPOINTING START FOR RENE

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Rene Meulensteen (above) has had a difficult start to life at Fulham, with a 4-0 defeat against Chelsea and two other defeats in the league.

Fulham 0 - 4 Chelsea

On the 17th August, the Premier League season started. The first match, a derby against Chelsea, didn't go to plan. Willian scored Chelsea's first goal of the season, and his first goal for the club 21 minutes into the game. Fulham's attacking strategy wasn't working, and a goal just before half time by Frank Lampard made it 2-0. In the second half, Fulham did a good job stopping Chelsea from scoring more, until the 76th minute where Fernando Torres made it 3-0. Some Fulham fans started leaving the stadium, and it only got worse as Ramires made it 4-0 in the 86th minute. Eventually, the whistle was blown for full time, and Jose Mourinho won in his first official game back at Chelsea.

Cardiff 3 - 1 Fulham

7 days later, Fulham travelled to Cardiff for their first away match of the season. The match started with Cardiff looking the much better side, and after just 9 minutes, Magnus Wolff Eikrem made it 1-0 to the home side. The game was pretty equal from there until half time, and at half time it was still 1-0. However, Cardiff started the second half perfectly, with a 47th minute goal by Aron Gunnarson. Fulham quickly scored, 9 minutes later, with a goal from Pajtim Kasami. Immediatley, Cardiff were on the attack and a minute later made it 3-1 with a goal from Fraizer Campbell, and the game ended with the same scoreline.

Fulham 3-2 Chesterfield

Following the defeat, the Capital One Cup campaign started for Fulham 4 days after the defeat to Cardiff. Fulham started well, dominating the game and making it 1-0 in the 10th minute after a goal from new signing Kostas Mitroglou. Fulham got unlucky with Chesterfield's Jamar Loza scoring in the 15th minute to make it 1-1. Fulham kept attacking, and were unlucky with several chances. In the 32nd minute, Mitroglou scored another goal and Fulham scored another, a penalty just before half time, giving Mitroglou another goal and his hat-trick. The second half was slightly less dramatic, the only goal being a consolation goal for Chesterfield, scored by Gary Roberts. The whistle was soon blown, and thanks to a Mitroglou hat-trick, Fulham got through to the 3rd round without too much trouble.

Fulham 0 - 1 Swansea

Fulham's final game of the month was a Premier League fixture against Swansea. Fulham kept with the 4-4-2 formation they used against Chesterfield, and this payed off with Fulham looking a lot more comfortable on the ball. Alvaro Vazquez scored after 35 minutes, and after that, neither side had many great chances, but Fulham can take the positives from this improved performance.

FULHAM'S SIGNINGS:

Sascha Riether - £1,300,000
Fernando Amorebieta - Free
Derek Boateng - Free
Maarten Stekelenburg - £4,000,000
Ange-Freddy Plumain - Free
Scott Parker - £3,500,000
Ryan Tunnicliffe - Undisclosed
Larnell Cole - Undisclosed
John Heitinga - Free
Konstantinos Mitroglou - £11,000,000
Sadio Mane - £3,500,000
Vasilis Torosidis - £2,700,000

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SEPTEMBER - DISSAPOINTING START TO THE SEASON

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JonathanSaunders/_70622196_70622195copy_zpsa41a57ed.pngFulham celebrating (above) following a 2-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur in the Capital One Cup third round, following a 4-0 defeat earlier that monrh in the league to them.

It has been a tough start to life at Fulham for Rene Meulensteen, and at the end of September, they are left in 20th place in the Barclays Premier League, following 3 defeats in August.

FULHAM 0 - 4 TOTTENHAM

Fulham were left humiliated by Tottenham after 90 minutes, with Tottenham easily breaking through Fulham's defence, and their attack not being able to score despite several good chances. However, the story of the match showed that Fulham weren't as bad as the scoreline suggests.

At the start of the match, Fulham came out playing good football, and so did Tottenham. It looked like it would be a rather close match, but unfortunatley for Fulham, that was not to be the case. Tottenham grabbed a goal in the 4th minute from Emmanuel Adebayor, although Fulham seemed rather unlucky, and they made several chances after that but could not finish them.

After 29 minutes, Aaron Lennon got Tottenham a goal which could be considered somewhat lucky as they weren't dominating the match in any way. Fulham seemed demotivated after that goal, and any chance of a comeback was completely taken away from them when Gylfi Sigurðsson made it 3-0 with only a few minutes remaining in that half.

The whistle, was blown for half time, and Fulham left the field dissapointed. After half time, the match was a lot quieter, with Fulham, looking very dejected, tried to not concede anymore goals. Tottenham started to dominate, but Fulham held on to 3-0 until the 83rd minute when Robert Soldado got on the score sheet, making it 4-0.

Many Fulham fans left the game early, especially after the 4th goal, and soon after the whistle was blown for half time. Rene Meulensteen took part in the normal routine of shaking the opposition manager's hand before quickly walking out of the stadium. The players looked exhausted leaving the field, with a dissapointed look across their faces. It could've been a completely different story however, and we're left to wonder if the match could've been completely different if Fulham had scored with one of their earlier chances.

WEST HAM 2 - 2 FULHAM

Fulham were left delighted after getting a point from a situation where they were 2-0 down, but West Ham were left dissapointed to lose their lead a team that had looked completely out of shape all season.

West Ham certainly looked like the best side early on, and after a dominating start Joe Cole made it 1-0 after 4 minutes. Rene Meulensteen was looking stressed, and Fulham were not playing anywhere near good enough. Matters got worse when Stewart Downing made it 2-0 after 25 minutes. Fulham started to improve and West Ham couldn't get another goal before half-time, so the score stayed at 2-0.

Fulham seemed a different side after half-time, and started to make some nice attacks. Their hard work payed off with Vasilis Torosidis making it 2-1. Fulham kept attacking and trying to get an equalizer and after 85 minutes, Alexander Kacaniklic got the goal which Fulham needed. West Ham's fans and players looked shocked, with Fulham looking delighted. But it wasn't over yet. Both crowds looked nervy, and after several final minutes with both teams making sure they didn't make any big mistakes that lost them the point they had, the whistle was blown.

Fulham can be delighted with the performance, especially Vasilis Torosidis, who played in incredible game and was the deserved Man Of The Match. The Greek looks like a brilliant signing, and Rene Meulensteen will keep hoping he can perform like that.

FULHAM 2 - 0 TOTTENHAM (CAPITAL ONE CUP)

An unbelievable performance saw Tottenham knocked out of the Capital One Cup, and Fulham were left estatic. Rene Meulensteen had some of the pressure taken away from him, following some fans already losing patience with him.

The match certainly wasn't exciting the whole way through, with Tottenham not performing at the standard they normally do, especially in their 4-0 win against Fulham that same month. The first half was rather unexciting, and at half-time, you could sense the fustration from Tottenham's fans. Fulham looked relieved, although you could sense they were expecting things to just get worse from there.

After the 15 minute break, the second half started and to the suprise of both sets of fans, Tottenham didn't look any better. Fulham looked more and more confident as the game went on, with the side starting to believe that this was their day.

After 80 minutes, Kostas Mitroglou managed to get his team a goal and celebrated - with style. Now, the task was to hold on, and after 90 minutes, and 3 of stoppage time, Fulham were still ahead, and had a last minute attack. Kostas Mitroglou had the ball, had his chance to make it 2-0. The crowd were still, and then they went crazy. He had done it. Kostas Mitroglou was the hero for Fulham, celebrating once again with style.

The whistle was blown, and the whole of Craven Cottage were shocked. The Tottenham supporters walked away, looking very dissapointed with the team's performance. The Fulham supporters stayed after the match, singing and celebrating their win. Rene smiled, and the team, looking exhausted, celebrated and thanked the fans for their support. Kostas Mitroglou was the hero, and Fulham could do with him performing like that every match.

NEWCASTLE 2 - 0 FULHAM

Following a comeback to get a draw against West Ham, and a shock win against Tottenham, Fulham's fans were left dissapointed following a 2-0 defeat against Newcastle in a match where they didn't perform throughout.

The first half was dissapointing, with neither team playing well. Fulham looked tired, and weren't playing at all well. Newcastle didn't look good either, and couldn't get themselves a goal. It was the second half where they upped their game, and Fulham were left with no chance. Newcastle made it 1-0 in the 55th minute with a goal from Shola Ameobi.

From there, Newcastle dominated and all Rene Meulensteen could do was watch from the sidelines. It hasn't been an easy start for him, with the team looking a lot worse in the league than in the previous season, although that isn't completely suprising. It wasn't going to be a tough job from the start and it'll be tough for him to try and improve the side and make them a lot more competitive in the league.

With 13 minutes to play, Fabricio Coloccini made it 2-0 and Newcastle didn't get any more goals after that, with the match ending with that score. A simple win for Newcastle, but for Fulham, their season is just getting worse and worse. Could Rene's time at Fulham soon be up? It's going to be interesting to see what Fulham do from here.