Fulham - An Unofficial Preview

The big day looms ever closer for us Fulham fans with only 5 more days of sweaty anticipation until the big kick off down at the South Coast. 2009/10. What exactly does it have in store?

If I'm completely honest, I am a tad worried with what has happened so far this Summer, but I'm not going to let that cloud my judgement. With football as it is these days, I would expect most of our signings, that's hoping there are some more, will arrive in the last 2 weeks of this window, once we've established ourselves in this league, and got a couple of results behind our back.

With a first 11 seemingly similar to that of last years, and teams like Man City and Tottenham, who finished below us last term, constantly improving, I can all but look a bit negatively on this year. Negatively in the sense that we will not achieve any similar feats to that of 2008/2009.

However, with Hodgson at the helm and a squad of willing labourers, I don't think we'll be feeling quite as tense come May 2010.

From the back, I'm happy with Schwarzer, Konchesky, Pantsil, Hughes and Hangeland; That's hoping the tall Norwegian stays on here at the Cottage.

There were many calls for a natural Left Winger to be brought in this Summer, but I for one am more than happy to leave Dempsey to do his magic there. On the right we are still gifted with the presence of Simon Davies, and it's only the middle of the park I was slightly worried about. However, with the hopeful acquisition of Kagisho Dikgacoi, I feel that area is more than sorted. Here's hoping we've unearthed a hidden gem in the Bafana Bafana international. One last wish for the centre of midfield would be a more pacy, flairy, goalscoring player, as Dickson and I'm sure Kagisho, are quite defensive-minded.

Up front is where I see the majority of my worries, and I'm sure those are shared by a lot of Fulham fans. To start with, we have too many of them, which means the likes of Joe and Eddie Johnson were bound to get unhappy sooner or later. Plus, we never really looked too threatening in the final 3rd last season. I come here in full support of Bobby Zamora, and I am delighted he has decided to stay. Saying that though, I feel Roy would do well to bring in a player that's a bit more of a goalscorer, and perhaps switch the two in and out of the side.

So, with not too much for Roy to sort out in the first team, hopefully things will get off to a good start on Saturday. With financial trouble for Portsmouth, and a lack of good quality first team players, I have a slightly biased feeling that we will get our first away win much earlier than Fulham fans have learnt to expect over the past few years.

As for the season as a whole, I think things will turn out rosy in the end:

Premier League: 10th
Europa League: Round of 16
FA Cup: Quarter Finals
Carling Cup: Semi Finals

Anyone have any thoughts?

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