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Afternoon Ticker: Johnson scores, Deco transfers and more

Eddie Johnson 1 (ISIphotos)  

photo by ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO 

Eddie Johnson's pursuit for playing time under new Fulham manager Mark Hughes took a step in the right direction as Johnson scored in the club's 5-1 win against Werder Bremen on Saturday.

Johnson netted the final goal in the match, receiving a pass in space from Zoltan Gera before finishing from 10 yards out. Jonhson did not start the match. 

Fellow American Clint Dempsey started the match at forward and played 61 minutes.

Here are more stories from Saturday:

Deco signs with Fluminense

Deco has found a new home. 

The former Chelsea midfielder has agreed to a two-year deal with Brazilian club Fluminense, and is expected to be presented to press on Monday. A Brazilian-born Portuguese international, Deco will link up with former Chelsea teammate Juliano Belletti at Fluminense.

Bayern Munich wins pre-season cup

Bayern Munich won the Liga total! Cup 2010 title, defeating Schalke 04 2-0 on Saturday. Goals from German national team standouts Miroslav Klose and Thomas Muller paved the way for the victory.

Schalke and potential U.S. national team midfielder Jermaine Jones, who scored the winner in the club's semifinal match last week, did not play.

Arteta signs long-term deal with Everton

Mikel Arteta has agreed to a new five-year deal with Everton, ending speculation about his future. Arteta, 28, had been linked with Arsenal and teams in his native Spain, but the midfielder will stay at the club that he has played at since 2005.

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How much playing time do you expect Johnson to get this season? Do you see Deco retiring in Brazil? Think Bayern Munich will claim the Bundesliga title to go along with its pre-season cup win? Glad to see Arteta secure a long-term deal with Everton?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. BS. Fulham would sell him in a heartbeat at the right price.

    Fulham are a selling club, always have been always will be. It’s why they like Americans; they are mostly good and cheap.

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  2. Gera was one of the best players in the Europa League last season, I agree with the lineups above but would put dempsey in over duff, I think the most important role for Fulham to beef up is a replacement for Danny Murphy, I would love to see them get another midfielder who can control the game as he can, dont think he’ll last a complete season.

    Hopefully Zamora and Gera can continue theri form, and Dempsey of course is very important for them. He didn’t start the Euro Final because he had missed time through injury and Hodgson had found a winning formula without him and rightly stuck to it, however Dempsey was always the first choice to try and turn a game around.

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  3. Dempsey is the Star at Fulham and I think if he stays healthy he will have his best season this year, and I will go with 10 goals. Also Im a huge Bayern fan and I just wanted to say taht Bayern will be playing for the Treble again this season.

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  4. Dempsey is Fulham’s X Factor. Dempsey may have to fight to start every match this year if Gera’s form continues to improve, but I doubt it. He’s earned a starting role more so than even Zamora whose last season was his best since 05-06.

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  5. you must remember, dempsey didn’t even make it to the starting XI in their europa final, he came off the bench. no “star” would start a match on the bench in a final, period.

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  6. that’s a bit of a stretch. if the price was right, they would let him go. dempsey doesn’t put butts in the seats. the fans’ love of the club and the premier league status puts the butts in the seats, and that would continue if dempsey were to leave. not saying dempsey isn’t valuable, but fulham aren’t completely reliant on him.

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  7. Look guys…

    Dempsey : Fulham :: Donovan : MLS

    Fulham doesn’t want their star, yes, star, to leave the team. Zamora, Gera, Schwarzer, Hangeland are all good, but Deuce puts butts in the seats.

    He’s worth more to Fulham than the rumored Rossoneri transfer offer, my guess.

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  8. Fluminense is putting together quite a team. They have a ton of young talent and bringing players like Deco, Washington and Belleti will create quite a mix of talent youth and experienced players,

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  9. I think Zamora and Gera start up top and Davies and Duff are starting on the wings. Clint is the odd man out, as he was towards the end of the year, after his injuries. I’d like to see Fulham try him in the middle as Murphy is past it.

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  10. First of all, his call-up rejection wasn’t because he wanted to play in today’s preseason game. Anyway, I have absolutely no knowledge of why he didn’t play today, but isn’t it possible that Schalke is taking his return slowly and making sure he gets plenty of rest between appearances?

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  11. Trust me you guys. Dempsey is 1 of the most popular players at Fulham and 1 of the best on the team. The best being Schwarzer than Hangeland than Dempsey than Paintsil than Zamora than Davies than Murphy.

    i wonder if AJ will ever play again for Fulham considering all the injuries.

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  12. Agreed. Dempsey was on a goal scoring run last season with I believe 4 or 5 goals in like 8 consecutive matches or so and than he got injured and missed loads of matches allowing Gera to start more and push up and get chances to score and he did.

    If Dempsey starts every match I’m sure he’ll be club top scorer this season with 10 goals. Zamora got 8 league goals last season and he gets a call up for England. How crazy right? The season before he got 2 goals.

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  13. Dempsey is better than Gera but Gera certaintly has played out of his body the past 6months. Great for the team. Most likely Zamora will play up top along with Gera supporting him leaving Dempsey at his usual RM spot.

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  14. He was there to scout Ozil. SAF actually missed his youth trophy presentation at OT to go and watch Ozil. He had Rio present the trophy instead.

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  15. Because every season at Fulham there seems to be a new manager, and every season Dempsey starts on the bench. If Dempsey plays outright in the beginning of the season I think he can go double digits in scoring. Each season he scores more because the new managers dont wait as long to play him after the season starts.

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  16. Ummm, yeah, that is what happens in the best leagues. That competition for playing time is what makes people and teams better. Even the best players in the world aren’t guaranteed playing time. So if he does get PT then fighting tooth and nail is a good thing. It is rotting on the bench that is bad, and that ain’t gonna happen to The Deuce.

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  17. because every year no matter what he does, it seems like he has to fight tooth and nail for a spot

    its not a question about his ability, more his security

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  18. I’m sure Mark Hughes loves Dempsey. Deuce is exactly the kind of player Hughes values highly. Also, has EJ scored for Fulham before?

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  19. Ives/Franco, do you have any idea why Jones didn’t play? What do your sources say? Quite odd that he rejected the Brazil call-up and then didn’t play.

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  20. why wouldn’t you be confident about Dempsey having an important role? He’s been one of the most important players on this team for the last couple years.

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  21. Gera and Dempsey are both great players who can be used in the midfield or at forward. What doesn’t seem right? I love Gera and I’m happy about this hat-trick and the 2 goals he scored last week.

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  22. After seeing the photos of the game on the Fulham website I’m feeling a bit more confident about Demspey having a more important role. 5 out of the 7 pictures were on him.

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  23. Dempsey is not a forward. Period. He’s competing with Gera for playing time and Gera, a player not known for his goal-scoring, got a hat-trick.

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  24. Hughes has commented that he wants to sign strikers, so I could see Dempsey moving forward a lot more. If Fulham do get some more forwards, EJ might be on his way. If he does stay, he might just play as a late sub with speed. Nevland did leave so it’s a great time for EJ to take advantage of it.

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