You might have thought that, coming off such a successful season, Fulham might have more loftier ambitions than to simply avoid the drop. But Brede Hangeland, who seems to have more sense that your average professional footballer, is taking nothing for granted.
We are in Europe, but the Premier League remains the most important thing. Even though we finished seventh last year, I am sure the goal for the next season will be to avoid relegation.
The Norwegian defender, who looked a little below-par against Vetra last night, admits that just qualifying for the inagural Europa League competition was a real achievement and took him a bit by surprise.
It is pretty crazy that we are in Europe. No-one had thought about that before last season and for Fulham as a club it is a fantastic achievement and very exciting.
I wonder if his comment “it is pretty crazy” is indicative of how the whole team feels about the teams achievement. It they do, I think it is a good thing as it means they are probably in awe of what they accomplished rather than overly confident.
Yeah, I would think that most of the players were surprised by their achievement last season but will see Europe as a good test to see whether they can compete at this level. Those that have played there before (Schwarzer, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Murphy, Davies, Nevland and Johnson to take just a few) will feel that they can, but it will be interesting to see how the likes of Etuhu, Zamora, Seol and some of the other fringe players will go given the chance.
I imagine that this season will show just how good/resilient these players are. We’ll have a lot of games to play and the signs are that there won’t be significantly more players to pick from. It’ll certainly be a test of Hodgson’s managerial skills.
Hi Nick and Dan,
I write for ‘Low-Life Opinions’ (www.lowlifeopinions.com) which is a football and music blog and we’re currently putting together our preview of the new Premiership season. We’re asking a fan from each Premiership club to say how they think their team will do next year and it would be great if you could do it for Fulham. Therefore, if you’ve got a spare ten minutes to answer the questions below we’d really appreciate it. We’d include the answers in our preview article and stick a link to your blog next to it. The piece will hopefully be up on the site in a couple of weeks time.
Don’t worry if you’re busy with your own blog and aren’t able to do it. Good luck for the new season.
Cheers,
John
1) Are you pleased with Fulham’s transfer activity over the summer?
2) Are there any youngsters who you think will make a big impact for Fulham this year?
3) What’s the minimum Fulham have to achieve this season in order for it to be considered a success?
4) Do you think Fulham will be able to hang on to Hangeland?
5) Name one player you’d like Fulham to sign before the transfer window closes.
6) Will Man City finish in the top four?
7) Where will Fulham finish in the league?