Photo by ISIphotos.com
Clint Dempsey and Fulham take on Manchester United this morning in one of the top matches of the day.
The Cottagers opened the season under new manager Mark Hughes with a scoreless draw against Bolton, and things will only get tougher today against a Manchester United side that needs to keep up with the torrid early pace being set by defending champion Chelsea.
Major League Soccer will also be featuring action today, with the I-95 rivalry between D.C. United and the Philadelphia Union resuming today. They are playing for pride today, as well as for the chance to avoid having the worst record in MLS.
If you will be watching today's action (or if you want to discuss this morning's shocking result in the Newcastle-Aston Villa match), please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today's schedule is after the jump):
TODAY'S SOCCER ON TV
10:30am- ESPN3.com- PSV Eindhoven vs. AZ Alkmaar
10:30am- Fox Soccer Plus- West Bromwich Albion vs. Sunderland (Delayed)
11am- Fox Soccer Channel/FSE- Fulham vs. Manchester United
11:30am- GolTV- Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayer Leverkusen
12:30pm- Fox Soccer Plus- Middlesborough vs. Sheffield United
1pm- Azteca America/FSE- Morelia vs. Necaxa
1pm- Telemundo- UNAM Pumas vs. Puebla
2pm- Direct Kick- D.C. United vs. Philadelphia Union
3pm- Fox Soccer Plus- Paris St. Germain vs. Bordeaux
5:30pm- Univision- Queretaro vs. Club America
6pm- Fox Soccer Channel- Chicago Red Stars vs. FC Gold Pride
Lichaj should get a start soon. Surely some crappy defender will be to blame for their massacre and up comes Lichaj 😀
Couldn’t see the game live.
Is Fulham still wearing those Softball/NASCAR-like outfits they were wearing against Bolton?
Ugliest Premiership uniforms I’ve ever seen.
@Kevin, Andy Johnson is a pretty average to good striker in the PL. Was average at Everton and only average so far at Fulham. He should be on the bench.
Andy Johnson is not going to see another minute in a Fulham shirt… just my feelings..
Who does Dempsey’s haircuts?
BTW this is a perfect pic of him. Really means a lot
Probably a good thing that Lichaj didn’t get the start then.
you can get them all on wikipedia usually. His strike rate was much better, but he also played as a true forward, as opposed to dempsey who is more of a swingman type player
Mark Hughes hates America
Couldn’t agree more. COYW!
There is a club in Greece who want EJ on loan and apparently Fulham have agreed terms. It is now up to EJ if he wants to go.
I think Fulham should have sold him to Aris when they had the chance but Fulham wanted too much money for him.
Gary Cohen
Dempsey doesn’t need to move. Period. He is a good fit at Fulham, and Hughes knows his importance. Obviously there is going to be competition for places, but Gera played 75 last week, and 5 this week. Dempsey played 4 grueling World Cup games. Davies and Duff are very valuable.
Bottom line, Dempsey has had to step up before and he has. He plays best with that chip on his shoulder, ie Ghana, Algeria. He will be fine.
no love for Ray Hudson?
Dempsey played pretty well today. A few bad giveaways, but decent otherwise. It has to be said that the Whites played noticeably better with him in both against Bolton and Man United.
It’s going to be interesting once Johnson is back, to see who falls where. Duff seems to be a mainstay, and Davies is in good form too. Gera and Dempsey seem to be the odd men out right now.
And Mark Hughes starts with two more draws…he must be setting some sort of record as most draws ever for a manager
I hope Dempsey scores next week. Any chance of an interview with him soon? I’d love to hear his feelings on the new manager
Dempsey looked like he might strangle Hughes when he was subbed out. Why didn’t he stay on? He always provided the spark. Heck if you needed to take 1 out, take out Murphy and bring on Gera so that both Dempsey and Gera played support to Zamora.
Come on..hold on Fulham…give ManU some of their own last minute medicine…Is it just me or does ManU look shaky on the defense?
ManU coming on strong …Blame it on Dempsey sub’d!
Way to redeem yourself Hangeland. What a finish!
HANGELAND!!!!!!
Oh, what a game!!
Unbelievable. Stockdale saves!!
Good thing they kept Duff on. He contributed nothing and then yielded a penalty.
Yeah, without dempsey, Fulham have lost their team quickness and inventiveness. however, Dembele looks good on the ball and strong.
I really hope he puts in a transfer request. He must be fed up with having to prove himself to a new manager almost every single year!
Dempsey looked really pissed to be subbed out.
Are you paying attention Sparky? Fulham have lost quite a bit of steam since Dempsey came off. I hope they find a winner but they don’t look like it now.
Definitely the best play-by-play in soccer, but I’d put Doc Emrick’s hockey calling just ahead of him for best in all sports.
Dembele in for Dempsey. I thought Dempsey as a withdrawn forward was linking up very well with Zamora & mids. But he’s gonna have to compete with the $5mm Dembele for that spot.
Stone cold penalty…what a joke…
Not sure about your assessment. Hughes is employing Dempsey in a different way than Hodgson: as a withdrawn forward supporting Zamora, rather than a winger.
Dempsey has look lively, though wayward on a couple of long-range shots and overly ambitious passes.
Great movement from Fulham there to equalize. Man United has looked quite poor since the Scholes goal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/8934039.stm
after that 6-0 thrashing, could Bob Bradley come in?
Love that Ian Darke is announcing this game! Best commentator not only in soccer but in all sports
Not sure why everyone thinks Dempsey should move on from Fulham? He plays really well for them and I think the level of talent that he’s playing with on the team is about equivalent to his own. I mean I wouldn’t say he’s setting the world on fire…its just a good fit for him
19 goals in 66 appearances as a winger/attacking midfielder. Those are Dempsey’s US stats. 2goals in 2 World Cups. 3 goals and 1 assist at the 2009 Confederaions Cup not to mention 2 MotM awards. Dempsey is soon to be 28. He’s a star. Would love to see him at a club like Valencia in Spain or Napoli in Italy or Bayer Leverkeusen in Germany.
O/T but does anyone have stats of McBride’s from his time at Fulham? I wanna compare to that of Dempsey’s.
Fulham loves Dempsey. But I think or I would like to see him leave in January for either a bigger club ie Aston Villa or Everton in the PL or head to Spain or Germany. Certaintly 4 years of Fulham he has achieved much of what he possibly could.
So Dempsey started. Fulham got better slowly but surely after Man U scored. Look to see Gera be brought on early in the 2nd half probably for Dempsey. That’s his competition for a starting spot. Plus a new striker they brought and AJ who may finally be back from injury. EJ should head back to Greece or the Championship or he will just be playing for the reserves all season
Fulham playing beautiful football after the early scholes goal. I love to watch them play. If they can keep it up in 2nd half, they’ll tie or win this match.
Dempsey with a brilliant back heel flick to put etuhu clean through. Van der sar with an even more impressive double save.
He put etuhu’s second attempt over the bar from a sitting position. Incredible sequence…
Friedel might have been able to do better a one or two of those, but you can’t hang all six goals on him.
That was a pretty comprehensive team failure.
Or that Bob Bradley will be the Villa coach soon. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I know, sorry, bad joke this early…
Certainly not reluctant to pull the trigger. Too bad he can’t play against rob green every week…
The only positive about Friedel playing bad is that Guzan will get a look soon.
Dempsey is at least looking for net, being aggressive, but Man U is really playing well all-around
What a goal from Scholes.
Vintage scholes.
Friedel just got OWNED by Newcastle.
Newcastle just laid the beat down of the season on Aston Villa.
What a dominating performance, 6-0.
hate to have been Friedel today.
No EPL debut for Lichaj.
Maurice Edu does 90 in Rangers 3-0 win.
Dempsey starting for Fulham.
EJ watching from home.
No Charlie Davies, but he’ll play reserve game today.