SoccerNet Live

Chelsea ensured a miserable New Year’s Day for Roy Hodgson in his debut as Fulham manager. Mohamed Al Fayed, the chairman, had earlier sacked Lawrie Sanchez for entrenching Fulham in the relegation zone, having won just twice in the league. In Hodgson, he now places his faith that better days are ahead. Nevertheless, Hodgson has wasted no time in showing that the battle to stay in the top flight will be anything but easy.

While his counterpart stares into the abyss, Chelsea manager Avram Grant can savor a sweet 2-1 victory at Craven Cottage after gathering a respectable 10 points out of 12 in the hectic Christmas period while struggling with a long injury list. Chelsea FC remain third and in the hunt for the Premiere League title - a remarkable feat, no less.

To be fair, Fulham had their chances and gave a good account of themselves but for all their positive play, they were unable to make it count against a largely reserve Chelsea squad which is still formidable when you add up the experience and class of their players.

The match began brightly enough for Fulham when striker Diomansy Kamara tested Chesea’s third-choice goalkeeper Hilario with a low shot. Hodgson must felt that his Premiere League curse is over when Fulham were awarded a penalty after Joe Cole tripped Moritz Volz. Danny Murphy coolly converted from the spot.

Falling behind jolted The Blues into action. Ivory Coast striker Salomon Kalou who had been criticized for poor performances, was their most dangerous player in the first half. He had the ball in the net in the 17th minute but it was disallowed for handball. In the 26th minute, keeper Niemi charged to the edge of his box and hauled down Kalou, it could have been a penalty or free-kick if not for Kalou’s offside position.

Fulham had a superb chance to add a second goal in the 35th minute. Chelsea’s right-back Juliano Belletti misjudged the ball which fell to Simon Davies but he could not control the momentum when he checked inside and Chelsea cleared the danger. Fulham paid the price for not killing off the match as Chelsea finally equalized in the 54th minute. Alex headed Belletti’s corner back across goal for Kalou, who got the better of Volz to crash in a header.

Chelsea then took the lead in the 62nd minute when Ballack tumbled in the penalty box following some shirt tugging by Clint Dempsey. He fired it into the same spot as Murphy and Chelsea were home and dry. In the post-match interview, Ballack admitted it took some stinging half-time criticism from Avram Grant to lift them out of their lethargy.

“We couldn’t keep playing like we did in the first half so we changed a lot. We put pressure on Fulham and it was better for us. It’s a great pleasure for me to captain Chelsea but it’s more important we come through this difficult period because we have a lot of injured players.”

Frank Lampard watch out… your position as playmaker is in jeopardy with Ballack now in sensational form. If Ballack continues to show his mettle and lead Chelsea in the same inspirational manner as he has done for Bayern Munich and Germany, he will be a Stamford Bridge legend in no time. The board will also have more bargaining chips to negotiate with Frank Lampard who is dragging his feet over his new (and probably final) contract.

Hodgson was eager to get at least one point and threw on all his attacking options - South Korea striker Seol Ki-Hyeon, Northern Ireland forward David Healy and former Blues midfielder Alexey Smertin. To no avail as Chelsea held on to their lead, but at least he learnt about the quality of his bench.

The jury is out on whether Hodgson is a suitable manager for Fulham. If we browse through his CV, he is certainly qualified. With spells at Switzerland, Finland, Inter Milan, Udinese, Blackburn Rovers, Malmo, Grasshopper and FC Copenhagen, he has more than enough experience as a manager. The major blip in his career was at Blackburn Rovers where he was sacked from the hotseat with the club bottom of the table in November 1998.

Despite the unsuccessful stint with Blackburn, he is still one of the most highly-rated soccer coaches. He led Switzerland to the 1994 World Cup and Euro 1996 (their first appearances in major tournaments for three decades), won trophies in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, took Inter Milan to the 1997 UEFA Cup final and sits on various FIFA and UEFA technical committees. His credentials gave him the bragging rights that he had “nothing to prove” in English football.

“I’m fully prepared,” he said. “It may be 10 years since I worked in the Premier League but I haven’t been working at a low level where there is no pressure. Quite the opposite.”

Hodgson has stated that he wants to know his current squad before going on a shopping spree. He is also reluctant to make drastic changes which do more harm than good. Hodgson said: “I would like to avoid going out now and making wholesale changes and then finding out the ones we have brought in are no better.”

After this derby though, he may feel more inclined to make better use of the January transfer window to improve the club’s prospects. Fulham chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed, who owns London’s Harrods department store, has provided his previous managers at Craven Cottage with plenty of funds to bring in players, with Sanchez spending 20 million pounds on 13 players before the current season started.

Hodgson should be able to get Al-Fayed to open his purse-strings but the question is how much money will be available. “I’ve no idea,” Hodgson said. “My discussion with the board was all about how we’re going to improve the current situation and we didn’t have any detailed discussions about transfers.”

Money will be less of a problem compared to attracting players to Fulham. With Hodgson in charge, the situation may improve a little. I believe he will make positive contributions to Fulham FC with his experience, knowledge of European and international football, coaching, and man-management skills - which is a lot to bring to the table. And not to forget his extensive overseas contacts, which will allow him to bring in some quality loan deals.

The pressing task now is to turn Fulham around, once they get a string of good results under their belt, we may see a completely different team. If Hodgson keeps them just above the relegation zone this season, (top ten is out of the question as it is too crowded there), that will already have been a noteworthy success. Patience is a virtue and the fans should not be too hasty in condemning him, next season will be the right time to pass judgment on his abilities, that is if Fulham is still hanging around.

Popularity: 6% [?]