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 11-10-2007, 06:10 PM | #78 (permalink) | |
| Fredua Koranteng Adu Offline Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Estados Unidos Posts: 256,709 vCash: 20158194 Rep Points: 916 | Quote:
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| 11-10-2007, 06:11 PM | #79 (permalink) | ||||||
| Fredua Koranteng Adu Offline Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Estados Unidos Posts: 256,709 vCash: 20158194 Rep Points: 916 | Torres sparks Liverpool´s late show Written by: AFP
Antti Niemi had threatened to dent Liverpool's title ambitions as Fulham's veteran Finland keeper produced a string of spectacular second-half saves to frustrate the hosts. But substitute Torres, who had only been on the pitch 12 minutes, eased the tension after turned visiting captain Aaron Hughes before hitting his eighth goal for the club in the 82nd minute. And Gerrard sealed Liverpool's first home win in the league since September 1 from the penalty spot two minutes later after Peter Crouch had been fouled by Carlos Bocanegra. It left Liverpool three points behind joint leaders Arsenal and Manchester United in the table. Rafa Benitez, who was taking charge of his 200th match with Liverpool, saluted Torres's match-winning cameo role. "We knew they had fresh legs but we had Torres's quality. That was the difference," Benitez said. "He has made a good start and hopefully he will score more goals." "We needed to be patient and keep passing the ball. We had a lot of chances but we couldn't score until the end. "I didn't know I had been here for 200 matches. It's good and I hope to be here for another 200 or even 400 more." Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez admitted the late goal were a hammer blow. "The lads are devastated," he said. "I thought we were quite comfortable, then Torres does some great work, as you'd expect from someone who cost the best part of 20 million pounds. "The second one wasn't a penalty. Yet again a referee has made a mistake against us but we are getting used to that." Benitez sprang a major surprise before kick-off when he named an unchanged starting line-up for the first time in 13 months. The Spaniard was persuaded to keep faith with the same side which crushed Besiktas 8-0 in the Champions League four days earlier, which meant seven-goal leading scorer Torres was once again left on the bench. It was only the second time in his spell as manager at the club. Yet Benitez must have wished he had opted to make changes as he watched his players produce a disjointed first half performance against a team which had failed to win in 26 visits to Anfield. Niemi was forced to parry a powerful low effort behind for a corner from fellow countryman Sami Hyypia in the sixth minute while Crouch was denied his first Premier League goal eight months by the woodwork on the stroke of half time. Yet that was about all Liverpool could muster in a frustrating opening 45 minutes for the hosts. Fulham were certainly more resilient than Besiktas and did not look like a team which had gone 14 months without an away win in the league. The London club arrived at Anfield on the back of their best run of form since Sanchez, the former Northern Ireland manager, took over. They were unbeaten in their previous three outings and might have taken a shock lead had Jose Reina not produced a flying save to deny former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy in the 15th minute. But it was Niemi who was the busier of the two keepers in the second half as Liverpool upped the tempo in an effort to break the deadlock. Niemi produced a string of top-class saves to frustrate the hosts. Andriy Voronin was twice denied by the 35-year-old, while Yossi Benayoun, who scored a hat-trick against Besiktas, was denied a place on the scoresheet by Niemi's finger-tips. But Benayoun was guilty of a bad miss in the 55th minute as he fired over from inside the six-yard area after man-of-the-match Niemi had produced another wonderful save to keep out a free-kick by Brazilian defender Fabio Aurelio. With the clock ticking down and home fans growing increasingly restless, Benitez sent on Spanish international Torres for the final 20 minutes in place of Voronin and the change did the trick. Within 12 minutes the club record signing broke the deadlock with his fifth league goal for Liverpool after cleverly turning Hughes inside the Fulham penalty area. Gerrard guaranteed victory from the spot - his fifth goal in his last six outings - after referee Steve Tanner had adjudged Bocanegra to have fouled Crouch. | ||||||
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| 11-11-2007, 02:54 AM | #80 (permalink) |
| Fredua Koranteng Adu Offline Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Estados Unidos Posts: 256,709 vCash: 20158194 Rep Points: 916 | Liverpool's Benitez hails super Torres Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez admits Fernando Torres has given him a selection dilemma after his superb goal in their 2-0 defeat of Fulham of Anfield. Injury-hit Torres came off the bench in the closing stages to achieve the breakthrough against a defiant Fulham, who had withstood everything Liverpool could throw at them. But Torres, playing only his second league game in five weeks, scored a superb opener, with Steven Gerrard clinching the 2-0 win with a late penalty. Benitez said: "It is good he is back fit, now I have the sort of problems I like with several fit strikers to choose from. "It was important for Torres to be back and important that he can score goals like that. "At the end I said well done to them all, not just Torres, his job is to score goals." Benitez had kept an unchanged side for the first time this season following the 8-0 win over Besiktas in the Champions League on Tuesday. He said: "I felt it was right to give a side who score eight another chance, but you could see some were tired at the end, so I had to make changes. Would I do it again? Only if they score another eight goals." Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez said: "I felt we were heading for a point, and so I think did 43,000 other people. "But Liverpool brought a bit of talent off the bench and it changed the game. I actually felt that Torres mishit his final shot, and that is what confused Hughes and Niemi. It was a soft goal in the end to concede. "As for the penalty, I don't believe it was in the box, it wasn't a penalty. "I felt we had kept them quiet, restricted them to shots from outside the box in the first half. "It wasn't working for them. That is why they brought on three substitutes. One at £25million, one at £11million and one at £5million. I think there should be a cap on the price of players you can bring on, maybe no more than £20million of players." |
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| 11-11-2007, 09:42 AM | #81 (permalink) | |||||||
| Soccer Forums Rookie Offline Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 20,159 vCash: 23720747 Rep Points: 1487 | Israel´s Benayoun in doubt for Euro 2008 tie against Russia Written by: AFP
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| 11-11-2007, 11:04 PM | #82 (permalink) |
| Fredua Koranteng Adu Offline Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Estados Unidos Posts: 256,709 vCash: 20158194 Rep Points: 916 | Liverpool's Benayoun out for three weeks Liverpool midfielder Yossi Benayoun has been ruled out of action for three weeks after a scan revealed an adductor tear. Benayoun suffered the injury during Liverpool's 2-0 win over Fulham at Anfield and is now set to miss Israel's Euro 2008 qualifier against Russia on Saturday. Liverpool team-mates Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch had been hoping Benayoun would inspire Israel to get a win or draw against Russia to boost England's hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008. |
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| 11-13-2007, 11:53 PM | #83 (permalink) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fredua Koranteng Adu Offline Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Estados Unidos Posts: 256,709 vCash: 20158194 Rep Points: 916 | Matchday 15 ~ Man.United vs Fulham Man.United vs Fulham  Premier League 2007/2008 | Campeonato | Day 15
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| 11-15-2007, 01:25 AM | #84 (permalink) |
| Fredua Koranteng Adu Offline Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Estados Unidos Posts: 256,709 vCash: 20158194 Rep Points: 916 | Fulham plan bid for Palace whiz Bostock Fulham are making a concrete move for Crystal Palace whizkid John Bostock. The People says Fulham hope to beat Chelsea and Pompey to Bostock. They have had the 15-year-old midfielder watched SIX times and reckon the fact he would get more opportunities at Craven Cottage could swing it. Portsmouth have already had a £2m bid rejected. |
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| 11-15-2007, 01:25 AM | #85 (permalink) |
| Fredua Koranteng Adu Offline Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Estados Unidos Posts: 256,709 vCash: 20158194 Rep Points: 916 | Fulham chairman Al Fayed backing Sanchez Fulham chairman Mohamed al Fayed is delighted with the work of manager Lawrie Sanchez and has promised money for two top strikers should results improve. "Sometimes you are unlucky, but I think he's fantastic in putting the team together," Al Fayed told Sky Sports News of Sanchez. "He is supporting, caring about the players. He's a very human person. The players love him and I am sure we are going to produce quite good games in the next three or four weeks. "We spent, I think, about £26million and if he needs any more it's no problem, but he has to deliver the results. "I think one or two top strikers cost money, but I'm there. If we get the results, he gets the money. This is the principle." |
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| 11-15-2007, 01:26 AM | #86 (permalink) |
| Fredua Koranteng Adu Offline Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Estados Unidos Posts: 256,709 vCash: 20158194 Rep Points: 916 | Murphy already thinking of new Fulham contract Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy is ready to sign a new contract at Craven Cottage as he has "no great desire to go back up north". The 30-year-old made his fourth consecutive start against Liverpool and the former England international has impressed manager Lawrie Sanchez. Murphy signed a one-year contract following his move from Tottenham on transfer deadline day and has enjoyed a successful start to his Fulham career. He said: "My move happened very quickly and I haven't thought about it too much as it's kind of out of my hands really. "I had a year left at Tottenham and Fulham took over the contract and that's something we'll assess further down the line. As it stands right now if that contract came to me I'd sign it. "I'm sure the club need to be convinced by me, on and off the pitch, especially because I hadn't really played that much in the 12 months before I came here. "They probably wanted to have a look at me and see where I was at physically. Hopefully I've shown that I'm capable and as I said that's something we'll have to look at further down the line. "I have no great desire to go back up north. That couldn't be further from the truth. I've got a house here and my family have been settled in the same area for three plus years and I'm looking to extend and stay here as long as possible. "Nothing else has entered my head. Some players do have that 'want to go home' situation but I'm happy and settled so hopefully I can look forward to two or three more years to come. "For now, I'm concentrating on getting us in a more comfortable position in the Premiership and assess that later. The most important thing is we're in a position that we can kick on in the Premiership." |
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| 11-15-2007, 01:26 AM | #87 (permalink) |
| Fredua Koranteng Adu Offline Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Estados Unidos Posts: 256,709 vCash: 20158194 Rep Points: 916 | Fulham boss Sanchez: Difficult to quit Northern Ireland job Lawrie Sanchez has revealed how difficult he found it to quit as Northern Ireland boss to take charge at Fulham. The former Wycombe boss had intended to stay with Northern Ireland until the end of the Euro 2008 qualifiers, when he initially took over as caretaker boss at Craven Cottage halfway through the qualification campaign. "I felt I could combine both jobs and I meant it. That was my initial reaction," Sanchez said in a new book 'Lawrie Sanchez: The Northern Ireland Years'. "We'd come so far with Northern Ireland. It was something I wanted to complete - six more games and we had a chance of getting there. "But the Fulham job was too good an opportunity to turn down. The fact it was for a month gave them the chance to see if they liked me and if I could do the job. "It became clear that it's 24-7 being a Premier League manager, and combining it with 24-7 as an international manager would have been very difficult. "The pressures on me would have been intense. When push came to shove I had to make a decision. "I decided that the Premiership was where I always wanted to manage." |
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| 11-15-2007, 01:27 AM | #88 (permalink) |
| Fredua Koranteng Adu Offline Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Estados Unidos Posts: 256,709 vCash: 20158194 Rep Points: 916 | Palace boss scoffs at Fulham interest for Bostock Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock has laughed off Fulham's chances of signing teenage sensation John Bostock. Chelsea, Portsmouth and even Barcelona are thought to be monitoring his progress. But it was the link to Fulham that Warnock chose to comment on, insisting that rumours linking the schoolboy with a move to Lawrie Sanchez's side are outrageously wide of the mark. He told the Croydon Guardian: "No disrespect to Fulham but I think we've got more chance of signing David Beckham. "There's all this speculation but I've not heard from anybody about Bostock." |
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| 11-15-2007, 01:27 AM | #89 (permalink) |
| Fredua Koranteng Adu Offline Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Estados Unidos Posts: 256,709 vCash: 20158194 Rep Points: 916 | Fulham's Volz has German treatment Fulham defender Moritz Volz has undergone treatment back in Germany to help him overcome the shoulder and groin problems that have hampered him all season. The defender hopes to return to full training at the end of the month and said: "I'm itching to start playing again." |
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| 11-17-2007, 03:09 AM | #90 (permalink) |
| Fredua Koranteng Adu Offline Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Estados Unidos Posts: 256,709 vCash: 20158194 Rep Points: 916 | Fulham's McBride targets Christmas return Fulham expect to have Brian McBride back in contention over the Christmas period following the striker's dislocated knee injury. The Cottagers captain has been sidelined since picking up the injury - which also resulted in a rupture of his quad muscle - when scoring in a 2-1 defeat by Middlesbrough back in August. But Fulham's head physio Jason Palmer has revealed the veteran American striker remains on course for a December return. "Brian is progressing soundly following a rupture of his quad muscle which was surgically repaired by the US national team's knee specialist," he told the club's official website. "At this point in time we are hoping to have Brian back and involved by around Christmas." |
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