http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=552082 Deuce has a tall order, facing depleted but motivated visiting Arsenal side. Will Jimmy Bullard's return be enough to lift the Cottagers? Maybe...Home field advantage could be a factor, but Arsenal also needs the 3 points to keep pace with ManU. I think Eduardo and Adebayor will ultimately shred Fulham's D in the second half. Hopefully Deuce can unsettle a Gunners D that's missing some key starters though, and bag a couple of goals on the sly.
Re: Dempsey (et al): Fulham v. Arsenal Live on FSC at 10am EST. ...I should probably go to bed if I want to be up in time.
Re: Dempsey (et al): Fulham v. Arsenal I don't believe Deuce has scored against this world class side.
Re: Dempsey (et al): Fulham v. Arsenal http://soccernet-akamai.espn.go.com/match?id=220188&cc=5901 Fulham Starting XI: Niemi Boca Hughes Stefanovic Volz Davies Davis Ki-Hyeon Murphy Smertin Dempsey Dempsey as a lone forward?
Re: Dempsey (et al): Fulham v. Arsenal Fulham: Niemi, Volz, Hughes, Stefanovic, Bocanegra, Ki-Hyeon, Smertin, Davis, Murphy, Davies, Dempsey Subs: Warner, Healy, Kuqi, Bullard, Baird Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Senderos, Gallas, Clichy, Hleb, Flamini, Fabregas, Rosicky, Adebayor, Eduardo Subs: Lehmann, Diaby, Silva, Bendtner, Justin Hoyte Referee: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire)
Re: Dempsey (et al): Fulham v. Arsenal FSC just showed McBride in the stands. Super Mac's got a hot wife!
WTF? Is Seol playing forward? Maybe it's a 4-5-1/4-3-3?(more like 4-5-1 with the way Arsenal will keep them pushed back)
I looks like a 4-5-1.That dosent scream longball/LS football huh.Also maybe its because RH thinks were too rubbish to beat Arsenal straight up with actual skill?
Boca at left back again. Arsenal is only missing one defensive starter, fwiw (toure)-- Eboue has played in midfield throughout the season.
Woohoo! This is the featured match on showtime sports in Dubai! So Im watching.. Boca starting @ leftback and Dempsey up front. Close ups of McBride + compliments from the commentators about his absence being one of the main reasons of Fulhams plight. Have mixed feelings about this one - I want Arsenal to take the title so dont want to see them slip again while at the same time supporting FC Yanks Abroad.
Nice goal.. great run and cross down the left by Clichy and great cross to Ade who heads home nicely. Clichy looking MOTM so far... owning Seol on that side of the pitch.
Seol has been ok, actually everyone on Fulham have been ok, except two players - those being Stephen Davies and Danny Murphy. Those two are walking turnovers, and they're not even getting pressured that much. They need to drop both of them, let Dempsey play in the midfield, and bring on two new strikers. It's not like they lose anything down 2 - 0
Armchair agreement. Goals were both straight down the middle, and Ade was unchallenged. I think Boca would have been a little more physical.
Commentator said Fulhams fire power off the bench was Healy-Kuqi what a joke.How could anyone think LS was prem quality.Which player that he brought in has proven to be prem quality Hughes? I think at this point the first person that thinks EJ is an improvement over Fulhams current stk force is RH
I don't think Murphy's been THAT BAD... his passing has asked questions, though he's had the majority of Fulham opportunities in the Arsenal half and hasn't done much with it. It's kind of funny... my standards have really dropped because, aside from the backline, I'm not too disappoitned right now. They're keeping the ball on the ground much more and the passing is half-decent. I'm not sure what he should do in the 2nd half... I'm not impressed much with Smertin's influence, and I'm not sure why Davies is the player wide left and Seol is wide right when Davies doesn't have much of a left foot? Boca's really-really limited at LB, he doesn't look very good... but at least he's not getting dominated in the air like the other two home boys in the center.
Not true. Stefanovic has been horrible. He was a weak challenge on the 1st goal and a non-existent challenge on the 2nd. Both of those were his man (Adeb..) Stefanovic is simply too slow and too unathletic to start in the center. Even though he's big, he gets beats out in the air by Arsenal on obvious crosses on athleticism, jumping, timing and positioning. When the 2 new CBs are in, I'd be shocked if we see Stefanovic starting anymore, and he may not even make the bench. Depends if Boca is seen as a left back now, or back up CB. In any event, I think Boca would have challenged Adeb. better than Stefanovic on those 2 plays, were he in the middle today.
Its going to be REEEEAAAL interesting to see how Eddie Johnson handles the pace of the Premiership. He is going to have to up his workrate tremendously. Its going to take him a while to get used to 90 minutes of concentrated workrate. MLS allows talented players to take quite a few breaks.. He's a player that can get hot, and score goals however. He has the athletic tools to compete on strength and speed. Hopefully, his friendship with Dempsey will help him integrate faster. Fulham can't afford Johnson having a 1/2 season learning curve- they need goals now.
At least Hodgson has them passing the ball on the ground. Their midfield is still crap and Demspey isn't a main striker, but no one expected them to get anything from this game anyway.
I'm convinced that if Fulham's new CB works out, and they can find a solid stopper for the middle of the park to replace Davis, that they'll really get straightened out and grind out some wins. Their central midfield really lets them down. Bullard will be able to slot in for Danny Murphy soon enough, but they really miss Diop in that anchor role. As far as this game goes, the two wide midfielders have to keep Sanga and Clichy in check. Volz and Bocangera are getting drawn out by two players, and the gunners are getting free crosses all day. Seol especially was exposed for his unwillingness to be tactically disciplined. He's a nice player, but now I see why he's had trouble getting games. If I were Fulham, I'd take off Davis and Seol, bring on Bullard and Boazza, slide Davies out right to match workrates with Clichy, Kamara on the left to run with Sanga and keep Bullard playing close to Dempsey to see if they can nick a goal and set up for a frantic finish...throwing Healy on late as an extra striker. This can could easily get out of control and be 5-0 in the blink of an eye.
Bullard on for Steven Davis at half. Boca's stuck to the outside since there's no other LB options today unless you want... Baird there.