Dempsey

[thfcsteff]

Dempsey is a decent Prem forward. However signing Berbatov would have been a better choice.

Fulham have done great in acquiring Count Sulkula (who actually looks very fired up and happy with his move to Fulham. No sulking or arm waving so far)

Our team needs some sublime skill and unpredictability to unlock the door in the final third. Berbatov has this in abundance, Dempsey does not. Bad move AVB and Levy

and by the way, i dont see any witch hunt against Dempsey. The boos were because we needed a goal on Saturday and took off our top scorer. makes no sense whatsoever

I saw a jpeg going around facebook with dempsey on one side and a dog turd on the other. Chich is banging on about actively booing him on thursday if he plays. there are some people hanging it on dempsey.

 

[clevelandspur]

I think he is capable of much more than he has shown with us so far. That being said he has done far more than Siggy who doesn't seem to get nearly the amount of stick as Clint. He is no VDV but he can't be held to those standards its unfair we must get behind him.

 

[diego_maradona]

I think the meat of what you're saying is bang-on, but for all the clamour for Adebayor, he hasn't been fudging interested! As for VdV, comparing Dempsey to him is unfair really. I really think it's worth looking at Dempsey's stats last weekend. he was invoved. He just wan't very good. Indeed, he was more involved than Sig, who I am abasolutely hoping will turn good soon. It's a lack of confidence, yes, but there's something else not clicking right now. Of course I wouldn't coat him any more than anyone else TBH...

I think the reality is that for 3 years, Luka Modric was integral to everything we did, and we are only just waking up to it...that is not Dempsey's problem.

But Dempsey is playing where VDV played last term, so it's natural to compare the two.

As for Ade being interested or not, AVB has said he has been injured in about 8 out of 10 games, so let's give it a chance. Regardless of whether his attitude stinks or not, Ade is more than capable of being the man to change our performances, and may well be what turns either Dempsey or Sig's seasons' around

 

[thfcsteff]

But Dempsey is playing where VDV played last term, so it's natural to compare the two.

As for Ade being interested or not, AVB has said he has been injured in about 8 out of 10 games, so let's give it a chance. Regardless of whether his attitude stinks or not, Ade is more than capable of being the man to change our performances, and may well be what turns either Dempsey or Sig's seasons' around

My take on that is because Sig didn't offer anything whatsoever.
AVB clearly wanted him to be the choice in that position and to have Dempsey off the bench, but after the first few games, it was clear Sig wasn't up to it/ready/whatever the case. So he brought Dempsey in.
In the ideal world, it would be Sig's shirt to lose...

 

[indianspur]

Dempsey is the victim of our ineptitude in the transfer market

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

But Dempsey is playing where VDV played last term, so it's natural to compare the two.

As for Ade being interested or not, AVB has said he has been injured in about 8 out of 10 games, so let's give it a chance. Regardless of whether his attitude stinks or not, Ade is more than capable of being the man to change our performances, and may well be what turns either Dempsey or Sig's seasons' around

if adebayor is unhappy at not playing i would think that says he is interested i agree with you diego

Think avb has to take some of the blame here, he knows that lloris and adebayor are the future for us so he should have gone out of the way to keep them happy above all others, very odd man management from him.

 

[diego_maradona]

My take on that is because Sig didn't offer anything whatsoever.
AVB clearly wanted him to be the choice in that position and to have Dempsey off the bench, but after the first few games, it was clear Sig wasn't up to it/ready/whatever the case. So he brought Dempsey in.
In the ideal world, it would be Sig's shirt to lose...

I don't think it was clear. I think it was a position up for grabs, and for me Dempsey hasn't done any more to really lay claim to it than Sig. Thing is both have been crap. Let's not sugar coat it. They need to feel the love.

My fear is Sig is much better than what he is showing, Dempsey is pretty much playing the way he usually does. I'm happy to be corrected or proven wrong.

And those saying Dempsey shouldn't be compared to VDV, I disagree. He has replaced him and needs to provide as much value to the team as VdV did, be it in one way or another. He is quite frankly no where near that yet.

 

[DHSF]

I didnt want Dempsey and certainly didnt want Sig simply because I just saw no way how they would fit the team I also didnt particularly rate them - we are allowed not to rate players right?

How I saw Dempsey was a player who scored goals but really only last season in a team that revolved around him. At spurs the team was never going to revolve around him and certainly doesnt justify us revolving the team around him.

At present it feels like we play with 10 men when he is on the pitch and when Sig as well then we are down to nine. Lets be honest here Dempsey was a panic buy as a replacement for VDV but fudge me what the fudge was Levy/AVB seeing because I could have told them that he was no way going to be a creative force. Sig? Levy was sold on the highlights package on MOTD. They may well be capable of much more than they have shown but sometimes its just simply not the right fit and they arent and certainly not creative or pacey enough for the way we are set out to play

So in terms of the vitriol towards Dempsey or Sig its actually unfair and im extremely guilty of that but like Indian said they are victims of our ineptitude in the market. 14m for those two I still cannot fathom it. Its a lot of money when you dont have much in the first place.

 

[thfcsteff]

if adebayor is unhappy at not playing i would think that says he is interested i agree with you diego

Think avb has to take some of the blame here, he knows that lloris and adebayor are the future for us so he should have gone out of the way to keep them happy above all others, very odd man management from him.

I agree that he must shoulder some blame, I think he is still learning the gauge between last season's jackhammer approach and this season's 'we are one' approach. So yes, he need to step it up in this regard, and I trust that he is as critical of self as we are TBH.

 

[thfcsteff]

I don't think it was clear. I think it was a position up for grabs, and for me Dempsey hasn't done any more to really lay claim to it than Sig. Thing is both have been crap. Let's not sugar coat it. They need to feel the love.

My fear is Sig is much better than what he is showing, Dempsey is pretty much playing the way he usually does. I'm happy to be corrected or proven wrong.

And those saying Dempsey shouldn't be compared to VDV, I disagree. He has replaced him and needs to provide as much value to the team as VdV did, be it in one way or another. He is quite frankly no where near that yet.

Not that it should sugar-coat his overall average performances, but Dempsey's two goals have technically given us 4 more points. Sig's haven't.

I do agree with those who say Sig would have a better time playing off Adebayor...

 

[onlyme]

Dempsey made his debut as a sub in the 78th minute against Reading.
His first start was against QPR so he has made 6 starts in the EPL and scored the winner in 2 of them. Bit early to be abandoning hope with him or Sig. Hatred for him seems a bit far fetched, too.
In most games he has created chances and the only time he has disappointed me was against Chelsea where it seems he was either told or wanted to pretend to be Dembele and lost possession stupidly loads of times.
If a striker rarely touches the ball and you are the link man with the striker it kinda makes it difficult so I want to see him and Sig get 90 minutes with Ade up front. We looked bright in the Wigan game after Ade came on.

 

[Golfball]

I find the current witch hunt pathetic.

I've never particularly love statistics, but they have their place I suppose, and I will now advocate that some people look them up with regards to Saturday's debacle and Dempsey's involvement versus, say, JD's.

I am a JD fan, huge one, but he did nothing on Saturday. Would I have given 4-4-2 a shot? Probably. But in the event, AVB didn't for whatever reason...here's the thing. Dempsey had three shots on Sat, 2 off-target, one on. JD didn't have one on or off. Dempsey scored against Soton, he dug in and gave it some graft (albeit to little effect).

No-one, least of all me, will pretend he had a good game on Saturday. But neither did anyone. Yet Dempsey carries the can and if others are criticized it is blasphemy.

Flame away, not bothered, but before hanging the padlock of hate on your favorite 'donkey' consider the others that were equally, or more, deserving; there were a few.

BTW, they will all get my unwavering support in the coming weeks. I hope they ALL have your during matches too. As someone said, during the match, support works much better...

Yeah but Dempsey playing poorly is one of the reasons Defoe never got a shot in. Not a lot Defoe could do at the weekend, we didnt have the ball, we couldnt get it to him and couldnt create anything for him.

When Defoe was taken off, it was the frustration of knowing what he is capable off if we start playing... not to mention how much better he plays with a stronger bigger man next to him. Even if you want to keep the same shape and system, I dont think there is anything Dempsey can do that Defoe couldnt do if asked to.

We might be being unfair on Dempsey though, could be the managers fault him and Sig are looking poor players. Remember the Ramos mess managed to make it look like Modric/Lennon/Bale etc were poor players... in came a new manager and suddenly we saw their top level instead of bottom level.

 

[Pirate55]

I think Defoe was one of the worst performers on Saturday. I watched him particularly closely and he did absolutely no running off the ball. The movement of the whole attack was poor, but if you have a CF just staying in the middle of the park, that doesnt create a lot of space for others.

 

[Alex]

I would love Dempsey and Siggy to prove us all wrong. I'd love nothing more but let's be honest they're not Modric or VDV. Even as good as Dembele is (and he's top quality), he's not Modric either. We've repclaced first class players with second class players. Think about those through balls that have led to goals - we don't have that ability anymore. Last game of last season - 1st minute - VDV with a world class ball through to Adebayor - 1-0!

With Hudd/Dempsey/Siggy in the middle we had no pace, no creativity, no movement, no cutting edge, no sublime passing, no changing it up... zilch. If you don't have a middle then we're gonna put too much emphasis on Bale and Lennon who can easily be marked out the game with a 5 man midfield. Defoe didn't have a sniff.

At the end of the day we needed to score 2 goals against Wigan with 35 mins left and we subbed our top goalscorer. Is that not a glaring problem? We should have even taken off Siggy and brought on Adebayor. Made Dempsey drop into midfield and tell him to become a 3rd striker when we had an attack. Then suddenly (plus Bale and Lennon) we have a 5 pronged attack going for goals... but no...

I want to give everyone time but until we get Dembele and Sandro/Parker in the centre of our midfield then we're going to struggle.

We don't have a good enough team anymore to do what we did for large parts of last year.

 

[thfcsteff]

Yeah but Dempsey playing poorly is one of the reasons Defoe never got a shot in. Not a lot Defoe could do at the weekend, we didnt have the ball, we couldnt get it to him and couldnt create anything for him.

When Defoe was taken off, it was the frustration of knowing what he is capable off if we start playing... not to mention how much better he plays with a stronger bigger man next to him. Even if you want to keep the same shape and system, I dont think there is anything Dempsey can do that Defoe couldnt do if asked to.

We might be being unfair on Dempsey though, could be the managers fault him and Sig are looking poor players. Remember the Ramos mess managed to make it look like Modric/Lennon/Bale etc were poor players... in came a new manager and suddenly we saw their top level instead of bottom level.

...it 'could' be AVB? I think injuries are playing a major major part personally, but there is no doubt that AVB needs to address Saturday's performance both as a team and himself as a manager...no argument. I trust in him to do so. Further, absolutely right, Harry did a fantastic job unlocking the world class talent in Modric and Bale. I hope AVB has a player of Modric's calibre in January, because we need him!

 

[King of Norway]

Dempsey is a decent Prem forward. However signing Berbatov would have been a better choice.

Fulham have done great in acquiring Count Sulkula (who actually looks very fired up and happy with his move to Fulham. No sulking or arm waving so far)

Our team needs some sublime skill and unpredictability to unlock the door in the final third. Berbatov has this in abundance, Dempsey does not. Bad move AVB and Levy

and by the way, i dont see any witch hunt against Dempsey. The boos were because we needed a goal on Saturday and took off our top scorer. makes no sense whatsoever

Berbatov. What a joy that would have been. I know he screwed us over, and I tried hating him for a while, but you just can't stay mad at such a man for very long. Watching him play football is beautiful. And I think he would have been great to have in the team at the moment.

 

[Spursalot]

Berbatov. What a joy that would have been. I know he screwed us over, and I tried hating him for a while, but you just can't stay mad at such a man for very long. Watching him play football is beautiful. And I think he would have been great to have in the team at the moment.

He's a c*unt, and will always be a c*nt.

 

[ArcspacE]

Berbatov. What a joy that would have been. I know he screwed us over, and I tried hating him for a while, but you just can't stay mad at such a man for very long. Watching him play football is beautiful. And I think he would have been great to have in the team at the moment.

You and me, both

 

[braineclipse]

Berbatov. What a joy that would have been. I know he screwed us over, and I tried hating him for a while, but you just can't stay mad at such a man for very long. Watching him play football is beautiful. And I think he would have been great to have in the team at the moment.

I'm with you on the joy and failed hate bit, fantastic player to have and watch. I would be lying if I said there wasn't a part of me that really wanted him back this summer.

AVB is trying to build something a bit different though. For the same reasons Berbatov wasn't able to fit into the United system Ferguson wants I don't think he would have been a good fit for us under AVB.

 

[indianspur]

I'm with you on the joy and failed hate bit, fantastic player to have and watch. I would be lying if I said there wasn't a part of me that really wanted him back this summer.

AVB is trying to build something a bit different though. For the same reasons Berbatov wasn't able to fit into the United system Ferguson wants I don't think he would have been a good fit for us under AVB.

tbh id rather have Berbatov than whatever AVB is trying to build