I don’t mean to sound harsh but Dickson Etuhu’s not looked too clever since his return from the Africa Cup of Nations. Hopefully, his displays will improve as he gets back into the groove of regular football once more.
It is good to be back. Prior to the recent game with Bolton my last appearance for Fulham was at Chelsea towards the end of December. It felt like a very long time since I last pulled that white shirt on.
If I’m honest it has been a frustrating season for me so far. I got injured at the start of October and then I picked up another not too long after I was back. I also found myself out of the starting line-up for a bit too.
It is difficult because, as I have said in the past, I’m a player that always wants to be playing and doing all I can to help the team. But I can’t complain because I’ve been very lucky in the fact that more often than not I have started games.
And Bairdy, who I love to bits, took his chance. I have been very pleased for him because he has deserved it. He’s been very patient and you’ll never find him moaning about the situation.
That’s how you have to be because this is a team game, and when my chance came along I made sure I took it. It was a bit fortunate because it kind of coincided with the loss of KG which was a shame as he had been doing very well. But it has been nice playing for Fulham again, I had missed it and hopefully there is a lot more to come from me now.
It was a very sad day for football and, of course, the people of Togo. The bus driver, a member of the press team and the assistant coach died after coming under heavy gunfire. A player could have easily joined that casualty list.
It should have been about the football, but that tournament will always evoke those upsetting memories. It was a difficult time and we were all scared.
The idea to return home did cross my mind, and I had a call from the Club to say that they would support any decision that I made – which was nice. But you can’t let these people win and obviously with the security stepped up, the football went ahead. But those who were affected remained in our prayers and thoughts throughout.
Unfortunately I wasn’t too well, so I ended up missing the semi-final. I missed the third place play-off as well and it was really disappointing because I think we should have been in the final with Egypt.
It was a good chance for us, but for whatever reason it just didn’t come together. But it was good to get some games under my belt, playing four games and two friendly fixtures beforehand.
It got me back into the routine of playing again and certainly did a lot for my match fitness. It was also great preparation for the World Cup in June, where we also hope to do well.
Of course, I would love to be part of that and I think I have every chance. But right now I’m just focusing on Fulham, which is my number one priority.
The Manager has made sure we all know what we have do to. I have never played in a team like this before – where everything is just so simple. It certainly works for us and is one of the main reasons we do well.
He makes our jobs much easier and I think every member of the squad would agree that they have improved as a player under Roy Hodgson. ’ve heard people say that Fulham have been on a slump of late and are back to their best again. The fact of the matter is that we never stopped playing well. I watched the games while I was away and I thought we were extremely unlucky, especially against Stoke and Blackburn.
But that’s football, and teams will always have their ups and downs. You can’t win every game because it just doesn’t work like that.
Like the rest of the squad, Etuhu’s eagerly eyeing the FA Cup quarter final against either Bolton or Spurs.
We’ve played against those two many times before so we know what they are all about. We wanted a home draw so we have to be happy with that and although Tottenham and Bolton are both good sides, I think it’s a positive draw for us.
We got to the Quarter-Final last season so, of course, it would be nice to go even further this time and get to Wembley. It’s been a long time since the Club were last there so it would be fantastic to help with that.
It all could be building to a memorable summer for Etuhu with a World Cup in Africa to look forward to but, for the moment, he’s firmly focused on establishing himself in the Fulham first team again.
First and foremost I have to establish myself in the First Team. Then I can start thinking about other things. But what I will say is that I have every intention of finishing the season very strongly.
