Tim Ream returned to English Premier League action with Fulham on Monday and walked away not only celebrating a convincing derby victory, but also with his first league goal and a new contract with the club.
Ream scored his fourth-career Fulham goal and his first in Premier League play as Marco Silva’s squad defeated London rivals Crystal Palace 3-0 at Selhurst Park. It was Ream’s first goal overall since November 2021 as Fulham moved to eighth in the league standings.
His new contract with Fulham will run through the 2023-24 EPL season. The 35-year-old has totaled 271 appearances for Fulham since joining the club from Bolton Wanderers in 2015.
“I’m still not retiring,” Ream said postmatch in a club interview. “I’m going to be here for year number nine, and I’m excited. I feel the best I’ve ever felt, as confident as I’ve ever been. To extend it another 12 months into 2024 is a proud moment for myself and my family.
“I’m happy to continue on this journey with the Club, the fans and all the guys in the changing room,” he added.
Bobby Reid’s first-half header propelled Fulham in front 1-0 before halftime as Aleksandar Mitrovic’s cross was slotted home. Crystal Palace was reduced to 10 men before halftime as Tyrick Mitchell received a straight red card for a foul on Andreas Pereira.
With Fulham already holding a 1-0 lead and Crystal Palace down to nine-men following James Tomkins’ ejection, Ream benefitted in the 71st minute. Ream pounded on a pass from Mitrovic in the box and roofed his shot into the top of the net.
Mitrovic capped off his impressive performance by scoring Fulham’s third and final goal in the 80th minute. It was Fulham’s first road victory over Crystal Palace since 2013.
Antone Robinson also logged 90 minutes for Fulham in his return to league play, while Chris Richards played 30 minutes for Crystal Palace in his first appearance since late-August.
Ream also finished the match with five duels won out of seven, two interceptions, and two tackles completed. Robinson completed one dribble and won four duels.
Fulham closes out its 2022 schedule with a home league match vs. Southampton on New Years Eve.
Pep Guardialo made a comment that if Ream was ten years younger he would be playing for him. So, it seems Ream is highly thought of by one of the best managers in the game today.
So how many EPL goals you scored IV? How many World Cup matches?
Oh zero and zero? Yeah.
Keep dragging Ream. Keep looking like a fool.
Tim’s having himself quite the year.
Gotta love it…and I gotta admit I definitely never saw it coming.
Tim Ream……I remember people saying all kinds of negative things about him…..even though he is performing at the highest level.
Congratulations 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Never been a fan of Ream and have pointed out multiple times what his weaknesses are. That said, Tim did well at the WC playing to his strengths (positional awareness, passing, etc…) and avoided getting into situations that exposed his weaknesses (speed & 1 vs 1 defending). Granted having his club teammate (Jedi) helped insure continuity.
I would argue that having Tim next to Jedi helped Antonee more than it helped Tim.
JR
“having Tim next to Jedi helped Antonee more than it helped Tim”
How do you measure that?
Jedi and Ream played, overall, the 4 best games they have ever played for the USMNT.
In Timmy’s case they are the only 4 games where Timmy was worth a fuck for the USMNT. Excellent timing on his part.
you’re parachuting in for one tournament plus a league game against a weaker opponent. his critics are looking at the more mixed bag of recent world cup cycles, or his whole FFC season, which is shall we say more complicated. i give him credit how qatar looked but let’s be real, if everyone was healthy he would have been fighting to even make the team eg miles and richards. what i would say is he had increasingly looked slow afoot — particularly when deployed as a LB — but today he looked fit and lively. it’s a running game and mobility matters.
“slow afoot”
That’s not the same as lacking mobility. Timmy’s been slow afoot since he was a Red Bull. He’s still a high level pro and even a World Cup starter and the USMNT’s best defender. I see that as proof that he’s figured out how to make the most of what he does have.
“if everyone was healthy he would have been fighting to even make the team eg miles and richards. ”
Guess what ? Everyone not being healthy is a very typical reality for a high level pro soccer team. They don’t deal with your flights of fancy and hypotheticals.
They have to deal with the bloody reality of injuries and loss of form.
Chris Richards may never be a top flight CB. He keeps coming up hurt.
Miles, whose calling card is relentless aggression, may have missed his golden chance to impress at Qatar and then get to the next level in his career. And it may be over for him now as younger, cheaper, better center backs show up.
Given who the manager is of course Timmy “would have been fighting to even make the team eg miles and richards. “.
And that would have been unfortunate.
Miles and Richards don’t do what Timmy does.
Which is calm down the back four, take the ball out of the defense in a calm fashion and pass the ball well. Under the regime of Berhalter, I’ve never seen the USMNT defense look better. Is that because it finally all came together at the World Cup?
Sure. But it wasn’t an accident that Ream started every game and that he was their best defender.
Ream is experienced and confident at a very high level and Timmy showed how important that was for such a young naive team in Qatar.
Qatar was Timmy’s first and only chance to show what he could contribute to the USMNT defense, when it really mattered.
That said, maybe the defense would have been better with Richards and Miles in and Ream out. But we’ll never know and that remains another of those hypotheticals
Chris would have ousted Zimmerman as a starter.
Miles was the best version of pre-Achilles Aaron Long if Long was actually any good.
On the other hand, Miles was great but he was not proven at the World Cup level and remains unproven above the CONCACAF level, which is pretty crap. You could say the same thing about Zimmerman and we saw how that worked out. Some good and some bad but in the end both are flawed CB’s.
I’m pretty sure if Miles or Chris had been healthy that Ream doesn’t make Qatar .
We’ll never know but given that Ream was our best defender I suspect that would have wound up being a net negative.
Sometimes the best moves you make as a manager are the ones that are forced on you.
I think Ream will continue with the National for at least another year. Allowing Richards and Robinson to get healthy and come back strong, and be a mentor for Trusty at LCB.
I’ve no problem with a Ream inclusion as a Mentor, but we need to give the in-game minutes and experience to the younger players. Since we don’t have qualifiers, we need to get people playing together in as many games as possible.
LiS: you’re continuing last cycle’s mistake of starting the gel before you identify who should play. hence our issues at 9 and other positions. to me it’s more important the next year or two to try tactics and have position competitions than to settle on something. it’s more important you find the right guys than begin getting anyone used to each other. cuz to me 90% of the time talent wins out. you had guys left off for lack of caps. you had positions where no one ever really won the job. now is when to have those debates again. not 2026.
Mr tone and Mr. Space,
“be a mentor for Trusty at LCB.”
“a Ream inclusion as a Mentor,”
In a National team setting, where you spend very little time with your team mates, comparatively speaking, Mentors are only useful if the “mentee” already has all the tools and is pretty much on his way and just needs a few minor corrections along the lines of just keep doing what you’re doing son.
Ream didn’t mentor anyone in Qatar. what the did do was play his position with authority and calm professionalism. He also happens to be good on and with the ball and passes it very well. Thus he served as a useful outlet if the team needed it. That calms things down.
Panic, especially in a defense, spreads through a team quickly; but so does calm professionalism.
Timmy may or may not be a good mentor. But what matters the most about him is he is their best defender. As long as that remains true he has a place on the team.
Henry was probably a fantastic mentor for those NYRB players. But he also happened to be maybe their best player and main draw.
Silva is not playing Ream because he’s a good mentor. He plays him because he’s maybe Fulham’s best defender.
The EPL is a remarkably unsentimental place.
If the USMNT is playing a game they need to win then bring Timmy in.
Otherwise, don’t bother him.
Gregg has to focus on building the 2026 team now and he’s wasted enough time already.
waste of time. tim ream is 35 and will be 39 next tournament. your best case scenario is you set us up for “jermaine jones” ie klinsi’s favorite mid gets to continue for another run then blows up from old age mid-cycle to the point he never appears again and retires. we have younger options, richards subbed into the game for palace (though i was underwhelmed, he gave mitro a lot of space on the 3rd) and miles is on the road back. we also have options like CCV and EPB who weren’t fully tested, as well as kids to trial. common sense and most coach’s process is you pasture the old farts and make space for the next cycle. if we are desperate in a year or two we pick up the ream-bat-phone. but to hand ream time now is setting up a scenario where we invest in an older player we ultimately can’t use (zardes) and then don’t know who else to pick for his position. ditto seanjohn, yedlin, morris, and long.
IMO pretending someone is a mentor and should be rostered to teach is the last refuge of people trying to defend a player. i have seen a few players club and country kept past their sell by date for supposed teaching purposes. i have rarely seen it rub off on the supposed mentees. bradley got the mentor slot last cycle and he seemed aloof and like he was there for himself. if someone who soon can’t play wants to stay involved, become a coach. we need to prepare for 2026 and anyone too old to be involved with that is surplus. clear the slots and start the competition for next time. particularly if it’s a new coach.
btw our current coach is a back. how many center back mentors we need?
Isn’t our former current coach our former coach… out of contract?
rico po,
I believe Gregg’s deal runs through the end of December.
But don’t panic, they’ll probably extend him until 2026. Must be all that Leadership Authority he exudes.
I’m confused “Ream was only there because Miles and Richards were hurt” “the manager wanted middle aged established players”. The US had its youngest roster ever during qualifying and by switching Ream for either of the injured CBs would have had the youngster roster in Qatar. I’m sure it’s hard to keep track of all your “great” takes.