Hardly setting things alight for Leeds.
Crazy wages & a long contract. ::wine::
...and been subbed off
Quote from: FFCpmd on October 25, 2026, 05:59:42 PM...and been subbed off
...and done bugger all this season.
Think anyone who performs well needs to know it comes from a mixture of two things, personal reflective work and attention to detail and effort, but also being in the right environment to allow you to thrive.
Some of the world's top players go to the so called big six, or the Real's, Barca's, Bayern's of this world and fail.. a prime current case of that is Nicholas Jackson who's doing incredibly well for Villa this season and did averagely at Chelsea and Bayern.
Michael Owen was considered a relative flop at Real Madrid, Torres tore the league apart with Liverpool, and failed to even register at Chelsea, Shevchenko was a legend at AC Milan and then stuttered at Chelsea.
Success in a team environment and physical sport, especially at an elite level, is so much more than just the mental ability.
It took years of being at Fulham for him to feel like he could perform at the top level he did. Yes he did incredibly well last season, but he still fell very shy of being the best in the league and his success was very much a case of success by his standards and the clubs. But what contributed to that was the rest of the squad knowing how he played, how he'd react off how they played and having a manager like Marco.
It's the same reason as to why Carvalho, Elliot, Roberts all failed to live up to their undoubted potential. Why Dempsey failed to take off at Spurs.
It's the one blind spot footballers and ambitious people have, which is to assume all their success is their own doing
They played him on the left wing when his biggest attribute is cutting in off the right. No surprise from me he only did it for 3 months.
Very glad we didn't throw money at him staying.
Yeah, watched most of that Leeds game. Wilson almost invisible out there. Not impressed at all. He was first choice though in that game, I think in other games he comes in late off the bench. He did provide some exciting moments for FFC, but he also could go missing in games. Never regretted his departure.
Quote from: General on October 26, 2026, 09:37:40 AMIt's the same reason as to why Carvalho, Elliot, Roberts all failed to live up to their undoubted potential. Why Dempsey failed to take off at Spurs.
Not sure I'd include Clint and his time at Spurs in the same paragraph with the others here. I mean he did have 19 goal involvements in his one season at WHL (12G 7A in ~2900 minutes across 4 competitions).
Quote from: General on October 26, 2026, 09:37:40 AMThink anyone who performs well needs to know it comes from a mixture of two things, personal reflective work and attention to detail and effort, but also being in the right environment to allow you to thrive.
Some of the world's top players go to the so called big six, or the Real's, Barca's, Bayern's of this world and fail.. a prime current case of that is Nicholas Jackson who's doing incredibly well for Villa this season and did averagely at Chelsea and Bayern.
Michael Owen was considered a relative flop at Real Madrid, Torres tore the league apart with Liverpool, and failed to even register at Chelsea, Shevchenko was a legend at AC Milan and then stuttered at Chelsea.
Success in a team environment and physical sport, especially at an elite level, is so much more than just the mental ability.
It took years of being at Fulham for him to feel like he could perform at the top level he did. Yes he did incredibly well last season, but he still fell very shy of being the best in the league and his success was very much a case of success by his standards and the clubs. But what contributed to that was the rest of the squad knowing how he played, how he'd react off how they played and having a manager like Marco.
It's the same reason as to why Carvalho, Elliot, Roberts all failed to live up to their undoubted potential. Why Dempsey failed to take off at Spurs.
It's the one blind spot footballers and ambitious people have, which is to assume all their success is their own doing
This is so true and not just in football or indeed sport in general. In most cases one person's performance is a consequence of multipe other factors beyond their own efforts and yet it's so easy to think that "because I did well there, I can just take my abiities and do it again somewhere else". It's a logic which ignores so much of the wider picture. And to be fair it's a trap I fell into once in my career when making a job move!
Quote from: Chi_FFC on October 26, 2026, 03:12:20 PMQuote from: General on October 26, 2026, 09:37:40 AMIt's the same reason as to why Carvalho, Elliot, Roberts all failed to live up to their undoubted potential. Why Dempsey failed to take off at Spurs.
Not sure I'd include Clint and his time at Spurs in the same paragraph with the others here. I mean he did have 19 goal involvements in his one season at WHL (12G 7A in ~2900 minutes across 4 competitions).
Fair, but he didn't last long there - 1 season before heading to the US, and came back to us on loan in 2014. So can't be called a resounding success. For spurs in the PL he got 7 goals and 4 assists, which is very much middle table standard in the PL.
6 of those goals/assists (out of the total) came in 3 PL and EL games and 4 more came in two FA cup games against Coventry and Leeds. Coventry were in league 1 at the time, and Leeds finished that season in 13th in the Championship.
So 10 g/a in 5 games, with almost half of them against lower league opposition in FA cup and in the EL 4 g/a against Basel and Panathanaikos.
I have an odd relationship with Dempsey, I think as a fan I was always more frustrated by him as a player, even for us - bar the one exceptional season before he jumped ship - he was always in my book slow and had a poor first touch/anticipation and should've arguably done a lot better.
That's not to say he didn't have an impact for us, and for that I acknowledge it and am grateful.
Coutinho is another player who did very well at Liverpool and failed to shine at Barcelona.. Ultimately the point still stands, even if you did make a somewhat fair push back on Dempsey.
It's a strange one with him he regularly played well for wales , and yes had his best season with us before he left but his time with us before that was very mediocre . Plus as already pointed out it's a large wage bill off the books. I wish him well except when we play them.
He's playing in a different position, in a completely different system and has much more defensive and pressing responsibilities than he did at Fulham.
For someone with limited minutes with the above changes it's very early to pass judgement.
Quote from: General on October 26, 2026, 04:01:05 PMUltimately the point still stands, even if you did make a somewhat fair push back on Dempsey.
Somewhat fair??? In one season at Spurs the guy had 19 goal involvements in ~2900 minutes and you're saying that he "failed to take off". I guess I'm not quite sure what you were expecting from an almost 30 year old heading from a midtable club where he was the focal point to a team competing for a Champions League spot featuring players like Bale/Defoe/Adebayor. I know he significantly exceeded my expectations that season. Look, even if you want to ignore his production in Europe and the Cups, he still had 11 PL goal involvements in ~2000 minutes (T3 for Spurs that season behind the aforementioned Bale and Defoe) including goals in a win and a draw against the eventual champions and a goal in a win against the league runner up.
Now as for why he left Spurs after only one season, there were a number of reasons but by far the biggest was the offer of a 4 year contract worth $32M. That was a time when MLS was throwing silly//life changing money at USMNT players which was very hard to turn down.
Quote from: General on October 26, 2026, 04:01:05 PMI have an odd relationship with Dempsey, I think as a fan I was always more frustrated by him as a player, even for us - bar the one exceptional season before he jumped ship - he was always in my book slow and had a poor first touch/anticipation and should've arguably done a lot better.
I couldn't disagree more strongly with the bolded...and I say this as someone who for a variety of reasons was never Clint's biggest fan, but I struggle to think of a player who got more out of what given ability he had than Clint Dempsey. He squeezed every last bit of talent out of his body.
Harry showed his best form when playing for Marco Silva.
Yes, a slow start from Harry.
But the season is still young...
I think we saw the best of him,
I think the Goals he scored kept us up last season.My biggest criticism of H was some of he's performances away from home were really poor.
He accepted the Leeds shilling to end his career in comfort with a very good 4 year deal
With some mates, not too far from his beloved Wales
He latterly gave us some great times, great goals, making a contribution, keeping us in the Premiership
Disappointing no loss to us now
Good luck to him, he is Leeds problem now
Quote from: Chi_FFC on October 26, 2026, 06:20:22 PMQuote from: General on October 26, 2026, 04:01:05 PMUltimately the point still stands, even if you did make a somewhat fair push back on Dempsey.
Somewhat fair??? In one season at Spurs the guy had 19 goal involvements in ~2900 minutes and you're saying that he "failed to take off". I guess I'm not quite sure what you were expecting from an almost 30 year old heading from a midtable club where he was the focal point to a team competing for a Champions League spot featuring players like Bale/Defoe/Adebayor. I know he significantly exceeded my expectations that season. Look, even if you want to ignore his production in Europe and the Cups, he still had 11 PL goal involvements in ~2000 minutes (T3 for Spurs that season behind the aforementioned Bale and Defoe) including goals in a win and a draw against the eventual champions and a goal in a win against the league runner up.
Now as for why he left Spurs after only one season, there were a number of reasons but by far the biggest was the offer of a 4 year contract worth $32M. That was a time when MLS was throwing silly//life changing money at USMNT players which was very hard to turn down.
Quote from: General on October 26, 2026, 04:01:05 PMI have an odd relationship with Dempsey, I think as a fan I was always more frustrated by him as a player, even for us - bar the one exceptional season before he jumped ship - he was always in my book slow and had a poor first touch/anticipation and should've arguably done a lot better.
I couldn't disagree more strongly with the bolded...and I say this as someone who for a variety of reasons was never Clint's biggest fan, but I struggle to think of a player who got more out of what given ability he had than Clint Dempsey. He squeezed every last bit of talent out of his body.
My memory of him at Spurs is that he got over-shadowed when compared to our other transferee Dembele.