Both back fours have been superb. If Holden were subbed here, I wouldn't complain. It's technically the right move.
As noted above, born in Houston, but according to his wiki page his Norwegian parents were in the oil industry and were temporarily doing some work in Houston when they had him, but he was raised in Norway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brede_Hangeland
this is great news for Stuart, however, as Coyle makes 3 subs...and none of them for Holden. He has a lot of confidence in Stu. I say again: Bolton needs better forwards. They should be looking at Jozy if they aren't.
I missed the Man City - Tottenham game. How was it? (I missed it because in my dream my dad was calling me and I ignored it. Turned out to be my alarm, lol)
I think, and hope, Clint may finally be over playing for Fulham. The immediate rabona, his overall play since coming on reminds me of the first Brazil game in the Confed Cup. Get out son. Move away from your comfort zone and go somewhere the staff will appreciate your talents.
You would have to be deaf, dumb, blind and welsh to not notice Fulham played far better with Clint on the pitch.
Alright, I will go ahead and get this out of the way: If Clint would have started, Fulham would be walking away with 3 points. Oh well, take the point and move on...
Holden looked really good in the first, but faded a bit in the 2nd. Unlucky not to open up his EPL scoring account today. Dempsey came on and really opened up Fulham's attack. Hughes will learn in time.
The color commentator was on about this, but I don't agree. Stuart made some key tackles in the second half, which set up some attacking chances, and also came very close to scoring.
Very few teams are as organized defensively as Fulham. Roy may be gone, but the system is in place. This new Bolton team is built to run. Stu is not your typical #10, but he can run with the ball. Between him, Petrov, and Lee they can get up the field. Fulham just makes it so tight and narrow that its hard for players to find space. It'll be much more interesting to see how they work together after a few weeks together and play against defenses that aren't as good as Fulham's. Dempsey not coming on until the 72nd minute or something? Rubbish. Not only does Clint put up some of the best stats, and not only does he make the players around him better, but Fulham also perform better all around when he's on the field. Hybrid player or not, its gotten absurd at this point that the same thing happens every single time he gets a new manager.
Not surprised at Clint not starting, to be honest. He's a very good player, but for Fulham, especially at the end of last season and in the Europa league, he's been much more effective coming on as a sub rather than as a starter. Gera had a very good preseason as well. Dempsey will get starts this season, but he won't be starting every game, unfortunately. He will get time in almost every game, though.
Much more effective off the bench? Not buying it. He wasn't coming off the bench because he was more effective off the bench than as a starter, he was on the bench because Roy came to prefer a Duff/Etuhu/Murphy/Davies midfield (while Clint was out injured).
I don't claim to be a scout or a coach but to my pedestrian eye he is in the top 3 players on that team. Fulham are better when he plays. Before he got hurt last season he was Fulham's best player and one of the top midfielders in the EPL stats wise. It's crazy he has to prove himself yet again to another coach. But Demps seems to thrive in this role.
You're underestimating Fulham's squad. I thought Gera earned the starting spot over Dempsey in the last pre-season game, and those two will be fighting for time all season, I think. Zamora's got the other spot down pat.