Archive for August 23rd, 2006
Tonight’s game against Bolton
Coleman is putting a positive spin on things:
“We have to make sure we are positive against a tough Bolton side. It took us four matches to get our first win last season but now we can do it in two.”
Fair enough.
Jensen and Pembridge are still out. Physioroom.com has a fantastic injury listing, although Malbranque is listed as being out with a groin injury with ‘no return date’ set. They could have had ‘engaged in strange childish standoff with manager (Coleman: injured nose cut while spiting face)’.
Michael Brown has blisters on his right foot. Good. But he should be fit to play…
Changes coming? Steed to Hammers? Boa Morte on his way?
The BBC is reporting that Malbranque may now move to West Ham for £2.5 million.
The article makes liberal use of words like “could” and “may”, so they might just be throwing some content up for a laugh, but it’s a move that does make sense, and perhaps Malbranque might want to go to another London club (Newcastle and Villa were the two other teams mentioned, and both would’ve necessitated relocation to some degree).
This has all been a bit of a shame. In America players in the last year of their contract are generally believed to make an extra effort so as to earn that little bit more when it comes to signing a new deal, or simply to attract clubs that weren’t otherwise interested. I don’t know that this would have applied to Steed Malbranque, but I do know that I’d rather he was playing than not.
I worry that Fulham are not good enough to play without a player of Malbranque’s calibre. And while it’s all well and good Coleman sticking to his principles, would we rather get a few more points or not? Humph.
At the end of the article is this quote:
“I’ve been told we can’t buy but I’ve been looking at the position since last season. Selling Steed would release cash for us, maybe enough for two players.”
So here’s hoping.
Update: today’s Independent is reporting that Chris Coleman will listen to reasonable offers for Luis Boa Morte. If the papers are reporting this presumably Coleman’s trying to drum up some interest. So we’ll see, but perhaps changes are on the way.
