Fulham - Hangeland Holds the Key

Ahead of our visit of Arsenal, the necessity to get something from the game is becoming obvious.

A defeat would leave us marooned at the bottom and not having the chance to redeem ourselves, thanks to Manchester United being otherwise occupied next weekend, until we entertain Bolton Wanderers.

In his pre-match press conference, Roy Hodgson reminded us about the corresponding fixture last season, a fixture that came early in his tenure as Fulham manager and a fixture that saw us lose 3-0.

Roy had this to say,

"Our ability to defend from crosses the last time we played Arsenal was very poor."

"As a result, we were punished for it with two quite simple headed Adebayor goals."

"If we don`t want to concede against a player like Adebayor, we`ll have to defend better positionally, we have to block crosses better, we`ll have to double up on the guy who is trying to cross the ball and then we`ll have to challenge for any headers that might happen."

"The signing of Hangeland was important for us because of his height and because of his quality."

Brede, when questioned on his recollection of last season had this to say,

"For the most part I was happy with my performances."

"But playing in the Premier League was a big transition for me. It is probably the toughest league in the world."

We`d like to think that Brede was being a touch modest there as we`re of the opinion that his performances, alongside Aaron Hughes, were part of the reason we survived.

It`s a fact that`s not lost on Brede as he remarks,

"By the end of the season, Aaron and I had developed a good understanding. We both work hard and if we continue to be paired together I`m sure we can improve."

Let`s hope that Hangeland can keep a tight grip on Adebayor and if he does we just might surprise a few people tomorrow evening.

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