Fulham conductor hits the right note

Last weekend's unlikely win at the Theatre of Dreams may have been entirely unexpected but Malbranque's performances have been remarkably consistent since he arrived from Lyon two years ago.

He was brought to the club by former assistant manager Christian Damiano, now first-team coach of Sunday's opponents Liverpool, and at £4.5million represents one of Jean Tigana's better value buys.

Damiano's move to Anfield last summer sparked rumours Malbranque would follow him to Merseyside, but Steve Finnan was the only player to be lured to Liverpool. Rather than looking to get away, Malbranque signed a contract extension earlier this month which will keep him at the club until 2007, a sure sign Chris Coleman is building something special at Fulham.

The youthful enthusiasm of the new manager has swept away the malaise created by the infighting of the Tigana era and the results can be seen in the Premiership table.

Luis Boa Morte, Sylvain Legwinski and Alain Goma are also expected to sign new deals and Malbranque wants to be a part of the exciting new era.

He said: "I was aware of the Liverpool rumours but have always concentrated on giving my maximum effort for Fulham. I've just signed a one-year contract extension which shows I'm committed to the club. I'm happy here and am enjoying playing regularly so it's important to demonstrate my commitment to the fans.

"Several players have signed new contracts and that shows we're confident of building something special. We're all happy working together and there's a buzz around the place."

Damiano has known Malbranque since he was a teenager and is not surprised by his success.

The Liverpool coach guided the Belgian-born midfielder through the ranks of the French Football Federation Training School at Clairefontaine and made him captain of the France Under-18 team in an attempt to make him more forthcoming.

Damiano said: "Steed has always been very quiet and modest. He is quite introverted and would not be one of the players in the dressing room expressing himself or making jokes.

"That is why I made him captain for my France Under-18 team, to try to get him to express himself. But I think he does that on the pitch with his ability and sometimes that is enough."

Damiano's only disappointment is that his protege is yet to win a senior France cap. He added: "I don't know why he has not been picked for the French team yet. It is a difficult era to breakthrough because there are many great players and they are getting good results, but I think his time will come because he is good enough."

Sunday's game at Loftus Road is their first meeting since Damiano's departure to Anfield.

It is a sign of Fulham's progress they go into the game four points ahead of Liverpool and Malbranque is confident they can increase their advantage.

He said: "It's important to get three points to continue our great start. We're confident we can do that."

Fulham are without Dean Leacock (knee), while Michael Owen (ankle), Vladimir Smicer (Achilles) and Sami Hyypia (hamstring) should be fit for Liverpool. El-Hadj Diouf is suspended.