Right - I'm going to say it...

[Tktd]

I don't really rate Dempsey...

Don't get me wrong he's improved a lot but he's too flat footed and I can't help but think that the goals he's scored for the time he's been on the pitch if had there been someone else on we would've still got them or perhaps more from other players in the team.

TBH I've never really rated him as a player and believe that whatever work he does on the training pitch must be the constant reason he finds himself initially on the bench and the works his way onto being a starter - does that mean it's not just me?

Yes I know he's a big game player in many respects but he's always done best when he's come on (for the most part) as a substitute.

His first touch is poor, he's not the fastest player in the world, he normally ends up slowing the game down and If i'm being honest I rarely see him successfully track back.

I can see how he gets first team football - anyone who works as hard as I assume he works can find that an endearing quality and he does score but I think he's not good enough to start, especially when you find more explosive players who can give us a more dimensional attack sitting on the bench.


I think Dembele is a richer mans Dempsey if i'm being honest and don't think / would be suprised if they can both play on the same pitch... both obviously have skill but I'd put dembele technically ahead of Dempsey and wuld also put him down as thefaster of the two.


I know fans are going to disagree with m here but I just don't see it and often fnd myself annoyed at games (and suprisingly so surrounded by seemingly lik minded fans) regarding his ability to frustrate whilst playing. You'll rarely see him successfully chase down a ball he's lost and you'll rarely see him keep the ball close to his feet constantly whilst dribbling - we hav player who can bring more to the fore.


Anyway - now to the dogs....

[ImperialWhite]

[ImperialWhite]

To elaborate - first season with a new manager, we have a massive striker crisis (we didn't have any) so we ask an attacking midfielder to pretend to be one.

He's scored double the number of goals of his nearest rival. Despite us being the 17th lowest scorers in the Prem, he's just one goal away from being in the top ten strikers all season. He's scored a quarter of our goals. He scored that Juve goal.

But you're joking, right? (I never get irony, especially in written form).

[mike_f]

"His first touch is poor, he's not the fastest player in the world, he normally ends up slowing the game down and If i'm being honest I rarely see him successfully track back.
"

Wrong - "His first touch is poor"
Wrong - "I rarely see him track back"

Correct - "He's not the fastest player in the world"

Kinda right/wrong - "he normally slows the game down"

He's an integral part of the club in my opinion. Yes, when he is poor , he is very frustrating but when he's good he's superb.

Dempsey has become one of my Fulham icons and would hate to see him get sold.

[AlFayedsChequebook]

Of all the time to doubt Dempsey, I am not sure how this season you have decided that you dont like him.

Dempsey is the reason that we are not adrift at the bottom of the table - he has had a few lesser games recently, and that penalty miss, but he has been pretty much faultless this season.

What is funny about Dempsey is that he is a bit of a utility man, and I think this is why he has often found himself on the bench, yet despite this, has been one of the clubs top scorers in most of his seasons here.

[Tktd]

To elaborate - first season with a new manager, we have a massive striker crisis (we didn't have any) so we ask an attacking midfielder to pretend to be one.

He's scored double the number of goals of his nearest rival. Despite us being the 17th lowest scorers in the Prem, he's just one goal away from being in the top ten strikers all season. He's scored a quarter of our goals. He scored that Juve goal.

But you're joking, right? (I never get irony, especially in written form).

You're just looking at what you want too... I also said in the statement that I thought that if we had other players who were faster, had better first touch or didn't slow the game down we could've had more in our game and possibly scored more than the 10 goals he's contributed.

Your points are void - there's no point in having a striker (attacking midfielder) who's in th top ten strikers in the league when as you said he scores a quarter of the goals... best thing about last season is that we had a lot of players contributing and scoring goals from all over the park - Davies and Dempsey and Duff all got near to 10 goals, whilst Zamora scored 19 and then you're missing out contributions made by defence and other midfield players.

Maybe the fact that he's cored a quarter of our goals and we're 17th in the leaguein goals scoed says it all - maybe he hogs the ball too much, maybe whilst he's scoring goals a faster player could've been scoring more, setting up more or giving us the extra time to make the most out of the games we play by using he ball faster....


Also I said I rarely see him track back successfully.... there's a big difference and it's right, not wrong.

His firs touch is also extremely frustrating - I sit in the riverside stand and keep a close eye on himin quite a few games and there hae always been games where his first touch has been so poor that the ball's run away from him and gone to the oppositions players leaving someone else on our team to track back.


Now whilst I'm a sinic against Dempsey as you'r all finding outhe does have his games where you jut have to sit back and say it's his day - the 2-2 draw against Chelsea at the cottage a couple of seasonsack rings a bell and he scored that liverpool goal but I can't help if we got rid of him and AJ and replaced them with more tactical and skillfull (ot to mention faster) players we'd be doing a lot better and on a much more even field across the team.

[AlFayedsChequebook]

To elaborate - first season with a new manager, we have a massive striker crisis (we didn't have any) so we ask an attacking midfielder to pretend to be one.

He's scored double the number of goals of his nearest rival. Despite us being the 17th lowest scorers in the Prem, he's just one goal away from being in the top ten strikers all season. He's scored a quarter of our goals. He scored that Juve goal.

But you're joking, right? (I never get irony, especially in written form).

You're just looking at what you want too... I also said in the statement that I thought that if we had other players who were faster, had better first touch or didn't slow the game down we could've had more in our game and possibly scored more than the 10 goals he's contributed.

Your points are void - there's no point in having a striker (attacking midfielder) who's in th top ten strikers in the league when as you said he scores a quarter of the goals... best thing about last season is that we had a lot of players contributing and scoring goals from all over the park - Davies and Dempsey and Duff all got near to 10 goals, whilst Zamora scored 19 and then you're missing out contributions made by defence and other midfield players.

Maybe the fact that he's cored a quarter of our goals and we're 17th in the leaguein goals scoed says it all - maybe he hogs the ball too much, maybe whilst he's scoring goals a faster player could've been scoring more, setting up more or giving us the extra time to make the most out of the games we play by using he ball faster....


Also I said I rarely see him track back successfully.... there's a big difference and it's right, not wrong.

His firs touch is also extremely frustrating - I sit in the riverside stand and keep a close eye on himin quite a few games and there hae always been games where his first touch has been so poor that the ball's run away from him and gone to the oppositions players leaving someone else on our team to track back.


Now whilst I'm a sinic against Dempsey as you'r all finding outhe does have his games where you jut have to sit back and say it's his day - the 2-2 draw against Chelsea at the cottage a couple of seasonsack rings a bell and he scored that liverpool goal but I can't help if we got rid of him and AJ and replaced them with more tactical and skillfull (ot to mention faster) players we'd be doing a lot better and on a much more even field across the team.

How can the fact that he has scored 10 goals this season be void?

He is not really a ball hog either, and has taken a battering playing up front on his own.

Your argument that others 'could' have scored more goals if they have been given the chance is a ridiculous statement. Kamara, EJ and Gera were all given extensive time up front this season and pretty much contributed sweet fa.

Our problem with a lack of 'team goals' this season is more to do with key injuries to strikers than to then fact that Dempsey is on the field, by your reckoning we are actively worse with him on the field, which is one of the most ridiculous statements that I have ever read on this forum.

[clint23]

His first touch is poor - Wrong
He's not the fastest player in the world - You're right, but we are Fulham, not Barcelona
He normally ends up slowing the game down - Wrong
Successfully track back - Well, I think his best position is as a striker, not as a RM/LM
I think Dembele is a richer mans Dempsey - Dempsey scores, is technically better than him; Dembele is younger, that is his advantage... and both are doing great on the pitch, Dembele as LM and Dempsey as a striker would be ideal

Now, Dempsey scored very important goals, and not just this season. Without him, we would be 17th or something like that.

But, look at the statistics: Dempsey, 9 goals in the Premier League, 1 in the Carling Cup. Kamara has a total of 5 goals, 2 goals in the Prem, one against Arsenal after a perfect pass from Dempsey.

As for assists, Dempsey is the second alongside Davies with 4, both after Gera with 6.

Right now he needs a rest, for one game, that's all. And yes, I'm a big fan of him, and I think alongside Zamora, Hangeland, and Murphy, he is our most talented player.  

[clint23]

Despite us being the 17th lowest scorers in the Prem, he's just one goal away from being in the top ten strikers all season. He's scored a quarter of our goals. He scored that Juve goal.

+1

[BalDrick]

He's good, sometimes very good, for us but let's not kid ourselves he's Liverpool (or similar) quality.

Oh and he's not on pens anymore!

[Ordar]

Dempsey is ok. Things that annoy/frustrate me about him.

- Going down stupidly easily
- The incredibly annoying shots from 30-35 yards...(Yes he scores 1 a season out of probably 100)

He works hard enough though and pops up with some headed goals....trying to think of any shots he's scored this season that werent pens.... cant think.....help....

[Logicalman]

it's easy to pick apart someone else's argument, so I will. But I will say upfront, that of the two, I find Dembele a more consistent player than Dempsey, but then again, he is more consistent than anyone else in the team. Only Hughes can come close to Dembele for that.

Don't get me wrong he's improved a lot but he's too flat footed and I can't help but think that the goals he's scored for the time he's been on the pitch if had there been someone else on we would've still got them or perhaps more from other players in the team.

I don't see this so much. Putting the Juve goal aside, I see Dempsey going for balls in the box, putting his head where most others wouldn't dare, just to get the chance to get a goal. Perhaps that means he needs to try that harder because he hasn't got the natural predator style of some of the great strikers, perhaps not.

TBH I've never really rated him as a player and believe that whatever work he does on the training pitch must be the constant reason he finds himself initially on the bench and the works his way onto being a starter - does that mean it's not just me?

Well, I don't see that Sparky is one to have the wool pulled over his eyes so easily. I believe he sees Dempseys work rate and understands that he does give a lot to the team and provides the kind of play that Sparky wants to see.

Yes I know he's a big game player in many respects but he's always done best when he's come on (for the most part) as a substitute.

Perhaps that's because he seemed to be used as a substitute for so long when we had our full compliment of Strikers, and a plethora of midfield players to select from. Since the striker shortage, very few of the other midfielders could step into that role with any chance of success.

His first touch is poor, he's not the fastest player in the world, he normally ends up slowing the game down and If i'm being honest I rarely see him successfully track back.

This  I would totally disagree with. He does slow the game down, that's his style of play, but that is also Bobbys as well. His first touch is rarely worse than the Smurphs, and as for tracking back, you should keep more of an eye on him, as, especially since Salcido joined us at left back, Dempsey is often seen supporting him at the back, and that's no mean feat for a striker. He is seen more tracking back than either Bobby or Dembele has been seen in a very long time. And don't get me started about AJ, that guy seems to think he will disappear in a puff of smoke should he be the defence side of the half-way line!!

I can see how he gets first team football - anyone who works as hard as I assume he works can find that an endearing quality and he does score but I think he's not good enough to start, especially when you find more explosive players who can give us a more dimensional attack sitting on the bench.

I guess the question is, who? And what more can they bring to the game, especially, as you rightly mention, comparing work-rates.

I think Dembele is a richer mans Dempsey if i'm being honest and don't think / would be suprised if they can both play on the same pitch... both obviously have skill but I'd put dembele technically ahead of Dempsey and wuld also put him down as the faster of the two.

No argument from me on that one at all.

I know fans are going to disagree with m here but I just don't see it and often fnd myself annoyed at games (and suprisingly so surrounded by seemingly lik minded fans) regarding his ability to frustrate whilst playing. You'll rarely see him successfully chase down a ball he's lost and you'll rarely see him keep the ball close to his feet constantly whilst dribbling - we hav player who can bring more to the fore.

Again, I guess the question is, who?


I'm not trying to destroy your arguments here, just giving a perspective from another side, and yes, I am in the Dempsey camp, I believe he still has the potential to become a better player, and his staying with Fulham, I believe, is a great bonus to us. There are very few outfield players I can honestly say I believe in, in the Fulham side for many a year, perhaps Saha, and Steed spring to mind in more recent times, to name a few.

[Tktd]

I love the fact that before the last three posters posted the posters who were trying to back him up were still disagreeing on what he was good and bad at...


Pretty sure where one poster said he slowed down the game another said he didn't and then the same poster said he was good at something else which another poster then admitted they thought he was no good...

Which is it!?

[BalDrick]

'trying to think of any shots he's scored this season that werent pens'

First goal against Wigan for a start.

[Fletchino]

I'm not a massive fan of clint yes he pops up with goals some very important but I don't find him a team player and rate him even less as a midfielder

[Ordar]

'trying to think of any shots he's scored this season that werent pens'

First goal against Wigan for a start.

Was that not a header?

Although I now remember the second was a Volley so I'll give him that....

[BalDrick]

'trying to think of any shots he's scored this season that werent pens'

First goal against Wigan for a start.

Was that not a header?

Although I now remember the second was a Volley so I'll give him that....

You might be right in the order, but certainly one goal was a volley, and a damned fine one at that.

Actually, his heading is something that may get overlooked. He's not that tall but he still gets enough headed goals. Who else does for us? Brede, that's about it.

[ImperialWhite]

'trying to think of any shots he's scored this season that werent pens'

First goal against Wigan for a start.

Was that not a header?

Although I now remember the second was a Volley so I'll give him that....

You might be right in the order, but certainly one goal was a volley, and a damned fine one at that.

Actually, his heading is something that may get overlooked. He's not that tall but he still gets enough headed goals. Who else does for us? Brede, that's about it.

http://www.football-lineups.com/team/Fulham/FA_Premier_League_2010-2011/Stats/

According to football-lineups:

Demps: 5
Hangeland: 3
AJ(!), Hughes, Zamora: 1

[Ordar]

Well we have score more headed goals than anyone else in the league, and also the highest percentage of goals to headed goals.

Very surprising really as our set piece delivery on the whole is terrible.

Obviously playing Dempsey wide is going to pretty much dry up his goal scoring, as he doesnt get into the heading positioning in open play from wide.

[ImperialWhite]

Ha ha, well how about this! Stat from OptaJoe posted a few minutes ago:

@OptaJoe 37 - Only Didier Drogba (39) has hit more shots on target in the PL this season than Fulham's Clint Dempsey. Offense.