3-3 final. Weird game; men against boys for much of the time and Spurs really should have buried Fulham. As for the Yanks, Dempsey looks quality - certainly Fulham's best player today. Bocanegra - oh dear. Probably the best thing to say about him is that the rest of the defence was as bad as him.
What a comeback, and Dempsey is definatley the MOM! He probably just sealed a starting posistion for a while with his last 2 performances
Congratulations to Clint and Fulham - can't believe they pulled a point out of that. Spurs were totally dominating, but they believed. Very scrappy and could be a good sign for their season. The last goal was pure entertainment.
Baird backed up when he should have stepped up, and Bale was suddenly onside. Baird looks like he can defend okay enough, he just doesn't seem to be much of a soccer player otherwise. I guess that works for NI playing 10 behind the ball against the big teams, but Fulham needs a little more offensive support than he's been providing.
dempsey was simply amazing... this deserves a big soccer implosion because much like in the first half, he was the best player on the field and his effort was unquestioned the first assist to smertin's luck goal was him sliding to make a sweet pass... the flick on for the 3rd goal was clutch and if you didn't notice in the last minute, that was deuce tracking back and stealing the ball off of spurs it was a great performance by dempsey and if he is not on the field, they do not gain a point if he gets anything worse than a 9 from sky sports they should be disowned if boca gets better than a 5, the same principle applies
This was an extremely entertaining match and Dempsey played very well, but some of the defending by Bocanegra was just disturbing.
Clint was awesome, enthusiastic, tons of effort and results. Boca made a bad mistake on the second goal but otherwise was adequate. Fulham's tactics are just really strange. Like the announcer said, like 4-2-4 at times. They have no pressure in midfield in terms of shape and Smertin and Davis are expected to do way too much work. It makes it real hard for the defenders and their offense is a bunch of hit and hope long balls. If there was more build up Kamara and Dempsey would be a deadly combination. If they don't change something they are in for a relegation battle. Problem is, the team is Sanchez' given his spending and they are stuck with him. Jol is gone. He pulled everyone back, took off the skill players and just stopped playing. They should have played possession football and killed the game off. He is coaching scared.
He should've already been starting. Other Fulham players have gotten guaranteed minutes and haven't produced squat. Dempsey's strike rate per minute played is quite good.
He is going to get crap, but I really don't blame him all that much honestly. He has a CB partner who plays just like him (left footed and all), a RB who is quite possibly not worthy of the Championship, and a MF that can't pass at all. GRANTED Bocanegra did not play that well today. I would say on a scale of 1-10 he was like a 6. He did well at moments and did poor at moments. At least he showed up on occassion when everything broke down. Where was the other CB? Worst CB pairing in the EPL (only because they are the exact same player and seem to play the position similarly )
Boca was piss poor today. Hardly a 6. I'd be surprised if Sky Sports gives him more than a 4. Clint OTOH was great. The hustle on the defensive side was def there today, not something we've always seen from him...he was terrific.
Excellent point. Dempsey ends the game with a goal and 2 assists, clearly the MOTM. He had the best technique of any non-Bulgarian on the field...and could give even the Bulgy a run for his money. Fantastic game from Clint. He looked good enough that you could see him leading Fulham to safety. Nice spirit from Fulham, but they need better players. And a better manager. What kind of moron plays a high line against Keane and Berbatov when Bocanegra is his FAST central defender? The new guy was pathetic on the 2nd goal.
I love Boca and all, but if he's your best defender at the Premiership level, you may have a problem back there. Interesting team - It seems like they are on the low end of the talent table, but they really scratch and claw and fight every single game. Makes for some pretty entertaining games. It'll also be interesting to see what happens when they play the Sunderlands and Derbys of the world. Arsenal, Villa, Bolton, Spurs and Boro (am I missing one here?) - not the easiest of starts to the season.
Fulham agrees with everyone's choice for MotM: "fulhamfc.com Man of the Match Clint Dempsey: An oustanding all-round performance by the American. His energy, determination and never-say-die attitude over the course of the game was crucial to Fulham's comeback. His first half goal, an outstanding header from a Simon Davies corner also kept Spurs within reaching distance going into the break." Great pic on Fulham's website:
Dempsey seemed to be in on every play in getting a goal and an assist. Bocanegra looked shaky but then seemed to recover a makeup for some mistakes, Keller should have started as Antti Niemi made a critical mistake on the first goal.
skysports lost credibility from me today... dempsey: 7 "powerful header" bocanegra: 6 "solid performance" best 7 performance i've seen
Boca's 6 is generous, but Clint should have gotten an 8. As rare as they should be, nobody on Fulham deserved a 9 in this game. Clint played very, very well, was the clear Fulham MOTM and was one of the two or three best players on the field in a chippy game (w/Berbatov and Bale), but saying he deserves a 9 is pretty stat-centric, I think: He was quiet for 40 minutes, then kept his team in the game and put his teammates in good positions, but on each of those assists a lot of things had to happen that didn't have to do with Clint-- the deflection, the over-head kick. Both were cases of him scrapping to keep plays alive, neither was him setting up anything more than a half-chance. Great game, they owe the point in large part to him, but a 9 is a bit much.
Additionally, we are starting to see more leadership skills from Clint. His fight became contagious, and the entire team caught on after a while. I really think the key to his career is channeling that 'chip on the shoulder, I'll show you' attitude, balancin it with the confidence he showed today. He definently has a lot of weapons and is a handful. As long as he keeps learning (for example, he made a nice turn and shot from distance. He tried a little too hard to power it. Next time, same situation- if he takes a little off it, that might be a spectacular upper shelf goal. Let's see if he learns that. Certainly, he'll keep getting those opportunites, he creates space well for himself. He definitely belongs, and could even be a star in the league if he can consistently deliver like today. Over Fulham's last 7 or 8 games dating back to last year, he's likely been their best performer...but certainly one of the best (and most dangerous) hands down.