Niemi woe for Cottagers
03 Dec 2006 - 07:14:38
Fulham boss Chris Coleman has revealed that Antti Niemi could miss the hectic festive programme through injury.
The former Southampton star missed Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Blackburn Rovers as Jan Lastuvka took over in goal.
To add to manager Chris Coleman's woes, Luis Boa Morte limped out of the Ewood Park action as the Cottagers slumped to tenth in the Premiership table.
"Antti Niemi's had a slight operation to cure a cartilage problem and will be out for three to four weeks, and I've had to bring Luis Boa Morte off with a hamstring problem," Coleman said after the defeat.
"And that's been the story of our season - stop start.
"We're doing well in the league and we've just come off the back of a great performance against Arsenal, so I don't know why more fans didn't turn up.
"It was slightly disappointing, but it's a cold afternoon, a long trip up to Blackburn and it's not cheap to follow football.
"I think we were tired. Against Reading last week we played with ten men and we played virtually the same team against Arsenal on Wednesday night. So it's been taxing on us.
"We were slow and sluggish in the first half. We didn't defend how we should have defended, but the second goal is offside.
"But all credit to Blackburn - they played better in the first half. Brad Friedel's pulled off a fantastic save and, with five or ten minutes to go, anything can happen."