In their last friendly, Bolton went with Holden paired with Muamba in the center of the pitch. The blond one should start the match. Clint Dempsey seems to have earned a starting spot as a striker under new Coach Mark Hughes, but as with everything in top flight soccer - that's always a temporary position. Eddie Johnson hopefully earned himself a spot on the 18, recently scoring a goal in a friendly against Werder Bremen. He's been given the 21 shirt to start the season.
Wow, starting early, I like it. I'd be surprised if Holden and Dempsey aren't starting, and I think Johnson will be on the 18 (tough I doubt he gets in the game). I'll say 2-1 Bolton with a good performance from all yanks involved.
Ahh, but factoring in that Fulham only wins away when: 1. It's the first game of the season - OR - 2. They are staving off relegation I think Fulham gets at least a point from this one.
I actually think Dempsey will be on the bench, while Gera, Duff and Davies start in the positions he can play in. But I'd love to be wrong.
If we want to be optimistic, Dempsey started the last friendly up top, on what looked to be Hughes' A team. On the more pessimistic side, Gera replaced Dempsey and scored a hat trick, and Hughes appears to prefer traditional wingers out wide.
I would've thoguht Gera will be preferred to Dempsey upfront. With Dempsey there's 3 postions (behind Zamora and on either wing) where it is very feasible he could start, but I don't think he's the favourite to start in any of them. I'd say about 50/50 he starts on the bench, though f he does start on the bench I'm sure he'll feature in the match.
I'm not sure why this made me chuckle but it just did. If Demps sits and can't break into the first team he'll be playing with that same chip on his shoulder that he did a couple years ago which might be nice.
If Dempsey falls out of favor with the new manager then he should demand to be moved instead of waste any time there. He had a plethora of other options this offseason. He'd be playing Europa League football with Napoli.
Do we actually know he had other options? We know that there was rumored interest from a number of teams (the source for those rumors being his agent, as best I can tell). But did any of this purported interest actually lead to a serious offer being made to Fulham?
So much Holden talk... EJ time! No but I completely agree, Stu is going to make a name for himself this year and will end up with a locked spot in the XI for both club and country.
I hope Holden has a break out year. I got him on my fantasy league bench. I expect him to start, in real life. I expect Demps to come off the bench and score a brace. 2-1 Fulham. EJ gets two minutes of stoppage time. I don't think I ever looked forward to a Bolton-Fulham game before this one.
Sparky is no where near as good a coach as Hodgs was. Fulham are going to concede a lot more goals this season, they are going to play faster on the wings, and they are going to be in a quasi-relegation battle. They might start fast, but eventually, I dont see them having any success. It will take Sparky no less than 10 matches to figure out Dempsey is his best midfielder and by then it will be winter break time and he will be looking to bring in midfield help. I dont anticipate Dempsey will have a good year at all. To put it in perspective, Fulham didnt just beat man city last year, they annihilated them. Hodgs out coached and fulham players out played a very talented man city team. Dempsey went for the double.
Hmm... Bobby Zamora played (and played well) for England the other night. There was a time when some on this board were certain he was worse than Titus Bramble playing forward. So I'm perfectly comfortable reading yet more BS prognosticators who decide to once again doubt Dempsey, Zanimal and company. Holden, if he can stay healthy, should have a solid season.
The match you are referring to was actually in the spring of 09. Last season Fulham and Man City drew 2-2 with Dempsey scoring a header with some sick backspin. I can't remember the other PL match result, although Man City defeated Fulham in the Carling Cup where EJ got an assist.
Well, I think its fair to say a healthy Zamora definitely helps England in the WC. Unfortunately, he had done his achilles, and was struggling even in the Europa League final, as he had for the last 2 months of the season. From all accounts, it was actually Zamora himself who withdrew from consideration because of his injury. Certainly would have been a mistake not to bring him if he was fully healthy. He was en fuego.
Injury issues for Fulham might take some of the intrigue out of their starting XI. Duff and some others have some potential injury issues. http://www.skysports.com/football/match_preview/0,19764,11065_3285854,00.html
Last season was crazy for Dempsey. For those of you that whatc a lot of Fulham matches and kept up last season, Dempsey was on a tear. He scored a couple goals early on, and that sparked something in him - He was playing with intelligence and passion, and everytime he had the ball he made dangerous plays (btw, does anyone else notice that many of Dempsey's missed goals make for excellent highlights? He's had some distance laser shots and bike kicks go off the bar or get saved, anyway). Then, he hurt his knee in his prime of the season. Gera, who had struuggled mightily to find playing time, fan support and confidence up to this point, came on for Dempsey, slotted in the position behind Zamora, and proceeded to play great. Gera scored goals, gained confidence and did very well in the Europa Cup. Dempsey came back from injury, but it seems Gera had taken his spot and he was forced to come off the bench. Although, Dempsey still contributed off the bench, who can forget the Juventus goal? From what I can see, the Fulham faithful in the UK are not as bothered about Demps, and they wouldn't mind his departure. They have all of their confidence in Davies, Gera and Duff now. This seems unfair, as Dempsey has played more and been around longer than those three, but it seems that Demps has to continually prove himself to the Fulham fans and every new manager. They'll miss him when he's gone. But for now, I too predict a rough year for Clint before he transfers out. I hope Holden tears it up this season. I predict a few goals scored on free kicks.
It seems that DIRECTV will have this match on replay at 1:30 EST? I wont be able to watch Dempsey's misery live. Darn it. I really hope sparky puts him in the midfield. But he wont.