New deal on cards for McBride at Fulham
Fulham will extend Brian McBride’s contract in January with boss Chris Coleman labelling the USA striker a “manager’s dream“.
McBride has carried his fine form into Christmas with his three goals against Chelsea and Aston Villa taking his total for the season to nine.
The 33-year-old revealed earlier in the week that Fulham had yet to offer him a new contract – his existing deal expires at the end of the season – but Coleman insists negotiations will begin soon.
“Brian has been fantastic. We’ll be sitting down with him in the first week of January to make sure we keep him. He wants to stay and we want to keep him. He’s a terrific, terrific player,” he said.
“The fans absolutely adore him for obvious reasons and he’s a manager’s dream. He trains like a true professional and when he’s on the pitch he gives everything.
“Sometimes when he comes off the pitch he looks like he’s been in a bar brawl with cuts and bruises everywhere, but that’s the way he plays.
“Brian doesn’t like the limelight. He’s a family man who loves his football. He’s fantastic in the dressing room and the rest of the guys love him. He just gets on with his job.”
McBride was paired alongside Heidar Helguson for Chelsea and Villa and the partnership has proved an unlikely success with the duo’s strength terrorising defenders.
“Brian and Heidar are working very well together. They have a lot of presence and power. They make it difficult for defenders,” said Coleman.
“I’m surprised at how well they work together because they are very similar. They gave John Terry a bad time at Stamford Bridge and they don’t come any better than John.”
Fulham are a slick outfit in attack but their Achilles heel is no secret with sloppy defending continually leaving them exposed at the back.
Alongside tomorrow’s opponents Portsmouth, they are the least resilient team in the Premiership having led in six matches only to then draw or lose, costing them 15 points.
The 3-3 draw with Aston Villa may yet emerge as the nadir of their leaky defence after taking the lead three times only to finish with a point.
Coleman’s described the performance at the back as “sickening” and has read his defenders the riot act.
“It’s was sickening. We led three times but come away with a point – I can’t accept that. With 15 minutes to go we should have shut up shop,” he said.
“I know the guys are tired. We had a humdinger of a game two days earlier against Chelsea, but the players had done the hard work against Villa and got themselves in front.
“Then there were the lapses in concentration. We lost the game at the back and that’s not acceptable. We’ve done this too many times – leading games then given up the lead. It’s been staggering.
“We’ve given away a lot of points and I don’t like that. You have to start asking questions and I’ve been doing that. I still haven’t calmed down about the performance. Normally I’m ok after a few days but that result has hurt me.”
Coleman expects to complete the signing of New Zealand central midfielder Simon Elliott from Columbus Crew when the transfer window reopens.
Elliott, who has more than 50 caps for his country, will arrive on a free transfer from the Major League Soccer outfit which also sold McBride to Fulham.
“The negotiations with Simon are going well. We played against Columbus Crew in pre-season and I’d watched him before then. He’s an experienced midfielder who would add quality to the squad,” he said.
