Magath's Palace Preview
Friday 9 May 2014 14:45
Felix Magath wants his Fulham team to put on a good performance for the fans in our last game of the Barclays Premier League season.
Defeat at the Britannia Stadium last weekend confirmed the Whites would be playing Championship football next term, but Magath is keen for his side to bow out in style.
Crystal Palace are the visitors to Craven Cottage on Sunday (3pm) and Magath was in agreement when it was put to him that Tony Pulis’ side have done ‘amazingly’ this season.
He stated: “Amazingly is the right word so unfortunately they come to us and they have been on a good run, so you cannot promise that we leave the season with a win, but we will try.
“I ask the fans – they were tremendous over the whole season – to hold on because we will try to make a better performance than the last weeks.
“We have a strong opponent on Sunday but I think the players will be able to show they are better than before.”
Despite stating to the contrary on almost a weekly basis, Magath was asked once again whether there was any possibility that he would leave the Club following relegation.
“I love it here,” he said. “I like the Club, I like the English style of football and London is a nice place to live.
“It was never an idea to stop [working] here at Fulham because it was not the idea to come only for the season. It was always clear I was coming here to build up a new team.
“Before I came here it was clear to everybody that it wasn’t working so well, so we had to change something. For me there was no doubt that I’d be here next season, it doesn’t matter which league.
“It [relegation] was a very bad experience for me but I was realistic and I had known that it might be a possibility to get relegated.
“I’m very disappointed but it was a thing that could happen and unfortunately did, so I was prepared to build up a new team here. That was my idea for coming to Fulham and working for Fulham and that is what I’d like to do.”
During his pre-match press conference, Magath put plenty of emphasis on his plans for the younger players at the Club going forward.
“In the future we will give our youth academy more attention,” he explained. “In the last years there were not many players from our youth academy but in the future there will be some players who will join us in the First Team.
“We have started [doing that] and that is the good thing about this situation. The future is to come back to the Premier League and now we can make a change to younger players as the basis of the future.
“For me, I like to build up a team, to work with young players, and that is what I already talked about with our Owner. We try to build up Fulham as a club which can play a good role in the Premier League and not only play against relegation. So that is now the situation and that is, for me, a nice challenge.”
He continued: “We have to look forward now. We have to change our philosophy, we have to take care of our young players and we have to work with our young players to build up a team for the future, not only for one season. I think we have to go forward and not look back.
“At Fulham we have a very good youth academy so for me it is logical to work here with young players. Look at Southampton; they do things the right way. They started with young players and now they have some international players in the team, and that is the way we want to do things.”
While our Manager was keen to stress the importance of a youthful injection into the team, he is well aware that a balance of experience will also be of massive value.
“If you build up a team you need not only young players,” he explained. “That is a little bit too much. To lead the young players you need experienced players, so we will have a mixed team in the future, but it will be based on the young players.”
The futures of a side’s playing squad always come under scrutiny whenever a club is relegated from the Premier League. And while Magath insisted that the Club are under no pressure to sell, he explained he would only be willing to work with individuals who are committed to Fulham.
“Yeah sure, that is no question,” he said when asked if he had the backing of the Chairman. “We talked about it and sure we can, if we want, keep the players here. That’s not the problem.
“But, for me, it is very important that the player has an identification with the Club and with the team. That is what we have to build up and therefore I don’t want to work with players who are thinking there is a better club for them anywhere, so if somebody wants to go he can leave.
“He has to bring us a club which is ready to buy him and give us the money. I only take care of players who identify with Fulham, who love it here, and that is the basis to have success in the future.”
Regarding those players whose contracts are up in the summer, Magath stated: “For me it was not a question until last weekend because it was more important to think about the end of the season, so I didn’t make up my mind.
“The team have contracts and now we have to speak to the players which want to stay and have contracts. So we have to find out which ones will be here and which ones will leave us but it will happen in the next days.”
Sooo, nun ist erstmal Sommerpause!
schön, dass man keine Zeit verschwendet.
