The value of Dempsey to Fulham.??

[jarv]

Is it me or does anyone else see how valuable dempsey is? When RH took over, he didn't pick Demps. After a short time, when he did, their form changed tremendously. Last season, when he was injured, there seemed to be a dip in form and results. (no stats to back this up though). Even on Saturday v. Bolton, what a difference he made in the last 15 minutes. I thought he should have been on sooner.
In my opinion, he really is a top class player. Maybe because he is American, he still doesn't get the credit he deserves.

[BestOfBrede]

I agree - I think he would be a very big loss and very difficult to replace, if we were to sell him.
We should be using some of the 'purported' money from Mr Fayed, to secure our best players on long term agreements. Mind you will Mr Hughes have the same players in mind???

[JBH]

Clint Dempsey gets all the credit he deserves, he has been a great player for FFC he has also played nearly 24 months of competetive Football without a break so to see him not start on Saturday at Bolton was no great suprise.
And why do people have to play the....Maybe its because hes American card every time!

Clint is part of a squad and knows that he won't start every week  

[SmithyFFC]

Clint signed a new deal last summer so theres no worry about his contract situation.

However, he is a great player and, it wouldn't suprise me if a Everton or Villa came in with £8 million and he went.  :dft006:

My opinon is that Clint should try and take over from Super Dan. Clint has the fitness, the energy, skill and strength, all of the attributes of a good central midfielder.

[LBNo11]

...I seem to remember our former manager explaining why he didn't pick Dempsey on the grounds that he had to prove to him that he was as good as he thought he was.

Dempsey fought his way into the first team and proved his worth.

He brings excitement to the game and you expect things to happen when he has the ball and season on season he has improved.

If he was English he would be a £10 million player - if Citeh were interested £30 million.

The thought of Dempsey, Dembele/Gera and Zamora feeding off of each other is a mouthwatering prospect...

[AlFayedsChequebook]

I think, as usual, Clint is somewhere between 'Fulham saviour' and 'Useless American'.

There can be no doubting his talent and his value to the team, but he is just that, part of a team, and I get the impression sometimes he forgets this. Now I am not talking about his attitude, more that sometimes he can be a little wasteful, going for shots himself rather than passes to team mates. I have an inkling that this is why Hodgson was hesitant in putting him in the team. With Hughes, I am sure he will become an automatic choice.

[HatterDon]

I think MarkyMark is being the clever little taffy boyo here. When he left Dempsey on the bench against Bolton, he KNEW that Deuce would come on fired up with something to prove. It's not a bad ploy, actually, to come to the Proud Texan every August and say, "Yes, well you did nicely against Juve and all that, but that was yesterday and yesterday's gone. What you got for me now, kiddo?"

Deuce has spent his whole life as an outsider. It feeds him. He'll be as important to Hughes as he was to Roy and to Whatsisname.

About the "is it because he is an American" thing, I also used to think that it was only American signings who were treated harshly by Fulham supporters and that it was only Americans that they wanted to fail in order to be proved right. Now that I've "been around" a bit longer, I've discovered that it's EVERY NEW SIGNING that is constantly trashed ... until they reach saint status and then can no longer do wrong.

[mattiesafer]

I think, as usual, Clint is somewhere between 'Fulham saviour' and 'Useless American'.

There can be no doubting his talent and his value to the team, but he is just that, part of a team, and I get the impression sometimes he forgets this. Now I am not talking about his attitude, more that sometimes he can be a little wasteful, going for shots himself rather than passes to team mates. I have an inkling that this is why Hodgson was hesitant in putting him in the team. With Hughes, I am sure he will become an automatic choice.

I find that in a team that is often quite reluctant to shoot Dempsey's willingness to attempt difficult shots has a value (beyond the fact that they do go in reasonably often) in that it helps open up the play.  This is true of his play for his country as well. 

I don't think anyone needs to read too much into his not starting that one game.  Dempsey will play and excel, everything will be great and we will finish 7th again this year and make it to the semifinals of the FA Cup!

[LordNelson]

Everyone who watched the Bolton match saw and felt the tempo change when Dempsey came on.  Whether you want to call it "creativity," balls, moxie, or a certain "je ne sais quoi" (God forgive me for using that froggie pish), we are a much more dangerous club when he's out there.  MH has got to find a way to get Dempsey on the pitch--on not 15 f'in minutes before the final whistle.  Anyone who's played knows it takes a while to get the feel of the match, so to say (it's hard to express in words what I'm referring to, but if you've played you know).  I'm not trying to read too much into it after 1 match, but those are the ones we are going to have to win to finish in the top "10, 7, 5, ?."

[richie17]

just throwing this back out again.  Expectation is result vs Ladbrokes' prediction.  Suggests we're better with Clint in the side....