Brad Friedel has started an English Premier League record 306 straight matches, but after Tottenham's acquisition of star French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris on Friday, that streak looks to be in jeopardy. Friedel will make it 307 starts in a row today as he leads Tottenham against Norwich City in what might be his final Premier League start for some time.
Tottenham took a step toward being the new favorite club of many American soccer fans after the acquisition of Clint Dempsey on Friday, but Dempsey won't play today since he did not transfer to Spurs in time to be eligible for today's match. Two Americans who will be in action are Geoff Cameron and Maurice Edu. Cameron is starting and Edu is on the bench for Stoke City today as they take on Wigan Athletic.
If you have been craving some women's soccer action since the Olympics, your wait is over as the U.S. Women's national team takes on Costa Rica in their first friendly since winning Olympic gold in London.
If you will be watching today's action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today's TV schedule is after the jump):
TODAY'S SOCCER ON TV
9:30am- GolTV- Nuremberg vs. Borussia Dortmund
9:30am- beIN Sport 2- Werder Bremen vs. Hamburger SV
10am- FOX Soccer Channel- Tottenham vs. Norwich City
10am- FOX Soccer Plus- West Bromwich Albion vs. Everton
10am- FOX Soccer2go- Wigan Athletic vs. Stoke City
10am- FOX Soccer2go- Celtic vs. Hibernian
10 am- beIN Sport- Celta de Vigo vs. Osasuna
11am- Univision- Olympique Lyon vs. Valenciennes
Noon- beIN Sport- Torino vs. Pescara
12:30pm- FOX Soccer Channel- Manchester City vs. Queens Park Rangers
12:30pm- GolTV- Fortuna Dusseldorf vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach
2pm- Univision Deportes- Ajaccio vs. Evian TG
2:30pm- NBC- U.S. Women's National Team vs. Costa Rica
2:45pm- beIN Sport- Bologna vs. AC Milan
4:30pm- FOX Soccer Channel- Swansea City vs. Sunderland (tape delay)
6:30pm- beINSport- Sochaux vs. Montpellier
7:30pm- MLS Direct Kick- New England Revolution vs. Philadelphia Union
7:30pm- MLS Direct Kick- Columbus Crew vs. Montreal Impact
7:55pm- Telefutura- Santos Laguna vs. Tigres
8pm- FOX Soccer Channel- Tottenham vs. Norwich City (tape delay)
8pm- beIN Sport- Deportivo La Coruna vs. Getafe (tape delay)
8pm- Univision Deportes- Monterrey vs. Atlas
8:30pm- MLS Direct Kick- Sporting Kansas City vs. Toronto FC
9pm- MLS Live/Direct Kick- Real Salt Lake vs. DC United
10pm- MLS Direct Kick- LA Galaxy vs. Vancouver Whitecaps
10pm- Univision Deportes- San Luis vs. Leon
Midnight- beIN Sport- Bastia vs. Saint Etienne (tape delay)
———-
Fulham looked pretty awful without Dembele and Dempsey. Just sayin’.
West Ham…they looked good. Carroll’s presence felt.
Ok, so Dempsey moved, Fulham got stuffed, now hopefully the lust for Fulham blood will cease among that portion of the commentariot that accused the club of lacking respect for Dempsey.
I defended Fulham’s back line here yesterday, and of course they had to make me look awful today. However, they have had a busy week and they always struggle against West Ham. Always. So I’ll stand by my defense of them for now, confident the Whites will come good as things become more settled.
Fulham desperately needed Brian Ruiz, but the defense was appalling. Plus away dys are always a disaster.
Lost in all this Dempsey flash mob is the fact that Fulham have assembled a pretty interesting side. Jol was Berbatov’s manager when Berbs was starring at Spurs.
Jol is a very good coach as the Spurs fans ironically enough, will tell you and it will be interesting to see what he makes of all these new pieces.
Fulham got spanked this morning. Spanked like a child who treated their best friend poorly because of their ego.
+1!
Slow morning in the Epl, only goal from a Wigan penalty at the moment, barring the destruction of Fulham earlier.
I wish we had more players at Wigan. Seriously. Roberto Martinez seems like the real EPL (presented by Barclay’s bank) moneyball when you look at their wages vs. table position, and they play a pretty decent style.
Better than sending them off to Stoke City Academy for Gladiatorial Combat.
Hard to tell what position they have Cameron playing – did he start somewhere else?
Also, goal for JJ90YC against Augsburg. 2-0 Schalke
He is starting at CM.
Started at right central mid in a flat four, moved to right fullback when their starter went out injured. Charlie Adam filled the RCM spot.
ah, thanks. At one point it looked like he was at CB, but too good to be true. I suppose it’s good he does well wherever they put him.
Spurs not impressive that half. WHL getting restless. Friedel made an amazing save on 42 minutes.
Dembele will be on soon after half it seems. Spurs lacking any creativity in the middle with the current set. I think they’ll regret not giving Moutinho the extra thousands/week that he wanted.
With nobody else appearing a goal threat, imagine AVB will want a quick look at Dempsey after the break.
+1
“Karma sux.” – Martin “Darth Vader” Jol
“Dempsey won’t play today since he did not transfer to Spurs in time to be eligible for today’s match.”
This is true. Tottenham do not look impressive offensively. The silver lining is that this shows just how important Clint can be to the team. I am a little bit concerned about Villas-Boas, whether he has what it takes to coach in the PL. But he says he learned his lessons at Chelsea and will not make same mistakes twice. Got my fingers crossed.
Jermaine Jones has scored for Schalke. Did not see it, but commentary says a fine effort for the goal.
Probably could have been more clear, but I was referring to the international break. If he was available today, I imagine AVB would have already sent him to warm up along side Dembele.
Tim’s starting. it appears that the goal conceded he got in the way of, deflected it, and it wrong footed Bogdan. It happens.
wow,3-1 about 3 minutes later. Tim cannot be impressing.
I watched a large chunk of that match and Clint’s old team looked shell-shocked, didn’t put out much effort and not much fighting spirit at all. I imagine there is more than just a bit of envy at seeing their two best teammates move to top-level club at huge salaries, plus it has to be discouraging to be playing for a coach like Martin Jol who brutally attacked Clint in an attempt to destroy his reputation after all of the loyal service Clint gave the club for more than five years. I bet some of the players are ashamed that they did not stand up for Clint. And Clint in his statement last night thanking the Fulham chairman and the Fulham fans was pure class, unlike Jol and Fulham management and Fulham fans. And today we have fans who after weeks of mercilessly attacking Clint on this board are now asking Clint’s many supporters to just move on and “cease” being angry.
So, after all that, my point is that I agree it appears Jol has brought in some good players. But his treatment of Clint, I think, has left the team shocked and I bet there are some who would like to follow the more than half a dozen players who have left in the past few months out the door. So it remains to be seen what Jol can do with the team. I will say that Berbatov has some nice moments today.
“Ask yourself? Why is everyone leaving or want to leave??? Hhmm”
No one on Bolton’s defense can be impressing… 1-1 at halftime and then goals conceded in the 47th and 50th.
Wow does Tottenham look horrible. I had to endure AVB trying to reinvent Chelsea last year to disastrous effect. At least when he is doing it to Spurs, it’s funny.
To me at least.
EDIT: I was hitting enter when Dembele scored. Figures. My remarks stand.
ha, JJ90YC. Haven’t seen that before … Hilarious
Dembele with an early contribution. Tension eased at WHL.
Spurs fans don’t get used to those. Dembele is a fantastic player but, not a natural goal scorer.
yikes. Not exactly a dream start to the season for Bolton.
Two games into the season Hoffenheim, which talked of winning a Europa League slot this season, is falling apart, lost 4-0 to Eintracht Franfkurt at home, had two men sent off on yellow-red cards. Hoffenheim is now last place in the Bundesliga, and that comes after getting whipped by a regional league team in the DFB Pokal two weeks ago. Coach Markus Babel has be sweating for his job. One more loss and he might be gone. Two more and no question he will be yanked. Only positive for a USMNT fan is that Babel pulled DM Sebastian Rudy at half-time for Danny Williams. For some reason Babel has preferred Rudy to Williams and I just don’t see it. I think Williams is better.
Beautiful 60-yard pass by Cameron nearly results in a goal. Announcers “what a pass that was!”
Penalty claim for Norwich?
Give it up to our Yanks
Dempsey to Spurs and Gooch to Malaga
Good to see Norwich pull one back. They’ve outplayed Spurs for the entire match in my eyes.
I had to log back on to say that pass from Geoff Cameron was Beckham-esque. What was that, 55-65 yards? Stunning pass.
Also, things you never thought you’d hear…
3 games into the season the top 4 are Chelsea, West Brom, West Ham and Swansea City.
I mean they will all finish the season 20-30 points out of first place, but it’s fun to see early standing.
If you told me before the game that Huddlestone would come off after 8 minutes I would assume injury. Not him getting a straight red for a two footed tackle.
Hey Biff, you always have a lot of good info and commentary about the game. On this topic, though, you’re wearing it a little thin. It was a tough transfer negotiation and BOTH sides used leverage to get the best result.
You’re on the board enough to know that Kevin_Arnold and GW (and me) are also on the board enough to know your position on Jol.
So my thinking is that maybe you want to let it go for now. We ALL know your position and agree or disagree, the story is kinda over. Make sense?
Cheers!
Not Chelsea.
Yeah, it was a tough red, more due to risk of the tackle as opposed to the result. Not unjustified, just right at the border of red and yellow. In real time it looked horrible.
The karma for trashing Dempsey was a convincing win. After Jol backtracked a little and defended Dempsey against the fans, Fulham got a close loss to Man U. Now that they moved Dempsey as was his wish they lost and looked poor. Clearly Fulham should have continued to leave Clint out of the squad and said lots of bad thing about him!
Instead of trying to trade him, you might as well just cut Huddlestone and take the financial loss if that’s how he’s going to play. What the **** was that.
Nightmare finish for Tottenham.
Twas a clean challenge. All ball. Pull his legs back after making contact. If anything it should have been a foul on the Norwich player, as he made contact with Huddlestone without winning the ball
Yes Chelsea
Hate to be that guy but, “he is not that kind of a player”. But, really he isn’t usually a dirty player.
Howard had a terrible mistake for the 2nd West Brom goal. Off a corner, the Baggies have him blocked off at about middle, cross comes in the the frontpost, Howard can’t get around the man, oncoming Baggie knocks it in unmarked (that’s obviously not Howard’s fault) only about a yard or 2 from Tim.
So Everton are back to their usual early season form.
AVB is a horrible coach. Idk what it is about this guy but these players just won’t play for him. Trying to make too many personnel changes when they’re just not needed. Screws up team chemistry and the player’s don’t buy into his system.
Seems like three quarters of Howard’s mistakes come on crosses. . . .
from what I can tell (and I didn’t watch the game), first goal was just a deflection which is really nobodys fault, second one saw Bogdan get destroyed on what should have been a foul against hull, and the third one actually was Tim’s fault as he got runaround and manhandled by Jay Simpson leading directly to the assist and goal. Yeesh.
Didn’t he stomp on someone’s chest or face last year or the year before at midfield? Am I remembering that correctly or am I thinking of someone else?
Really, you throw Huddlestone under the bus for one play? Kinda harsh.
The problem tends to be flat out getting to the ball as opposed to misreading when to come out or catching issues in my opinion. But, he’s a great shot stopper.
Specs had a very good 90 minutes in midfield today. Club rep. Says he has been best player 4 blues this season despite being out for six months. Good to see.
Yeah he was accused of stamping on Elhmander. I forgot about that until you brought it up. But, usually he isn’t a very aggressive player.
I think it would be surprising if Chelsea finished 20 points behind the Manchesters this season. It’s at least a fair bet to expect them to finish within 9 pts.
Good to hear. I’ve always like the guy’s versatility and skills.
Drogba a free agent now..
They lost to Sheffield United too. They’ve lost 3 straight games giving up 7 goals and only scoring 2 I believe.
seems a weekly happening for Tim unfortunately no matter the league; some one is stronger, faster, better than Tim at some point and he gets beat in a goal scoring sequence.
Sheffield Wednesday.
“Dembele scored. Figures….”
Every Fulham Fan
that’s one of the reasons I always thought Bradley made sure to have TWO imposing CBs who could own the air in front of him, then Tim could cover the inside quick stuff which he is awesome at
“Why is everyone leaving or want to leave??”
Is this, indeed, a fact? Does EVERYONE want to leave? What about the players that Jol just brought in. Do they want to leave? The hyperbole around this is just unnecessary now. The saga was tense, but is settled now.
Fulham and Clint had a long, mutually beneficial relationship. This should be remembered more than how it ended.
Well really just dembele. They looked good without Dempsey the first two games. They need to put Richardson in center midfield instead of sidwell for some creativity and with the berbanator, Ruiz, duff, petric, rodillega, they have plenty of talent to push on. Diara was a beast today.
link to dailymotion.com
here’s a clip of it. Sky’s actually rated him an 8 on the day and not blamed him for it. I can see why because it really is a great ball, but if he gets around whoever that is initially, this is catching practice.
thanks for the link…I see what you’re saying, and that was a great ball. Tim also made nice saves in this one that made Matchday highlights but I din’t see the game
M.L.S. M.L.S.
I can hope.
DeRo with the assist on an absolute cracker from Didier!
Just sayin’ would be awesome and all
lol. yup.
It would be righteous.
Oh yeah, they won’t miss one of the league’s leading scorers, will they?
A big proportion of *all* keeper errors come on crosses. That’s one of the big reasons people use ‘em.
Hey, Mig22, you obviously have the right to comment as you want (and I do like reading your comments) and I have no problem with you criticizing my comments. But please respect my right also to comment and if anything I am writing is wearing thin my advice to you, not trying to be flippant, would be to simply ignore me. But is interesting that you too want to stop the discussion and move on. If I remember correctly, you were one of the posters who supported Jol after Jol intimated at the press conference that Clint was on strike. I can’t remember your exact wording (I’m too lazy to go back and read that initial thread when the news first came out), but I do remember that you were down on Clint (I remember because I was honestly surprised to hear that from you).
The point I was trying to make above required that I spell out the background: And my point is that Fulham today in my opinion looked off balance and lethargic and I think that is so not only because they were missing their former two best players, but that they are possibly uncomfortable with the whole drama the past couple of weeks and the way their coach mistreated Clint and that possibly this could pose a problem in coming weeks as the team moves forward. Just my opinion.
Cheers!
ha-ha. I mean really. good one.
and a good reason why keepers who consistently control the air in their 6 are typically the best keepers
+1 on the JJ90YC
Please don’t sue me for infringement if I start to use this.
Zamora cleans up the rebound from AJ’s shot (which was well taken and required a very good save). More ex Fulham players on the tally sheet today.
And Citeh comes back within 2 minutes to go up 2-1
How was Cameron today? I heard rumblings about a nice pass, but I’m looking for commentary on his overall play. Was he involved in the buildup for any of the goals scored and/or responsible for any of the goals conceded?
On another note, if Stoke tie every match this season, is 38 pts enough to keep them up?
That wasn’t hyperbole, that was a quote from Mouamba on Twitter. It wasn’t Biff’s.
Don’t worry, Jeff, in exactly four years THomas will be like those bitter Arsenal fans, wondering why they are so cursed.
What biff does can loosely be termed “projecting”, i.e. he seems to be putting himself in the shoes of the Fulham players and comments on what they must be “feeling” about a given situation.
Of course, since he couldn’t possibly know what they think the accuracy of what he assumes are their emotions is open to debate.
He does the same with USMNT players.
We are all free to do exactly the same thing.
My guess would be the current Fulham roster is full of professionals who are primarily concerned with their own careers and have little time to worry about what they, most likely, see as business as usual. After all almost everyone involved is better off. Dembele and Dempsey have their moves, Fulham get their money and get to freshen up their roster. It’s all good.
I’m sure many of the current Fulham players have seen far worse. Anyone who thinks Jol is some kind of evil character hasn’t seen much.
I know I have seen far worse.
It’s hard to take these opinions seriously that don’t get basic facts correct. It was Dickson Etuhu who tweeted that.
It would be nice to get a video of that pass.
Unlikely.
Traditionally, 40 points is considered the safety cut off but anything is possible.
THomas is right, they looked fine without Dempsey and will most likely miss Dembele a bit more. Obviously it will be hard to replace the goals Dempsey brought but his stats were average up until this last season. Regardless of what happens, both parties are moving on.
There’s something to be said for looking in less expensive places for talent. Wigan seems to have had a lot of non-Brazil/Argentina Latin Americans over the years.
“I think Williams is better.”
Of course you do.
Well, I don’t really want to ignore your posts but yeah, you clearly have the right to continue to comment on the whole deal. My post was just a suggestion because SO much ‘ink’ has been spent and all the regs here have their opinions and have put them out there.
I wasn’t actually a Clint criticizer, but I also wasn’t too angry with Jol/Fulham’s take. I was a bit of the middle ground.Except that I was praying he didn’t go to Liverpool.
38 points has been good enough or more than good enough in 4 of the past 5 years so yeah, that would be wild, eh?
Wow I’m so excited about watching West Brom in the Champions League.
With Parker, Modric, and VdV either out or gone the Spurs need to create a new identity soon or I fear the season will be middling for them. Was not impressed by anyone except Dembele and Friedel today. Bale is such a talent and a mystery. He really needs to find an understanding with someone otherwise he’s just another solo artist. Are there any good profiles of AVB online? Doesn’t have to be recent. I just never read much about him at Chelsea and wonder what the conventional wisdom is.
Thanks, Mig22. I would be interested in hearing more of the (constructive
comments on AVB and the Chelsea experience when applicable. I wanna like that guy and now that Clint is there I definitely want him to succeed as coach, but I am concerned.
Interesting comment. Of course, I don’t have inside information and am just giving my opinion on how it looks. And, your are right, it could be that this is only a little bump in the road. It will be interesting to watch, but my focus now will be much more on Tottenham now.