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This isn’t the Fulham Clint Dempsey we’re seeing in the Red, White, and Swoosh.
The Fulham Clint doesn’t do silly tricks, dribbles, passes etc for the sake of doing silly tricks, dribbles, passes etc — especially ones that lead to fast breaks and goals.
The Fulham Clint also appears to hustle, enjoy his teammates, and argue with opposing players...
His body language is reminding me of Craig Bellamy in a Wales Shirt, or Juan Román Riquelme in an Argentina kit. Its the inexplicable “I’m beyond this” gait and aura.
Statistically Clint is better with the Yanks (13 goals in 50 caps versus 14 goals in 81 appearances) than with Fulham. But there still seems to be a difference in favor of the Fulham version.
Maybe with the Nats he is releasing his inner self, a self that is presumably quelled under the schoolmaster Roy. Or maybe he just has respect for and of his peers with the Whites and not the Nats.
That was written by a
Fulham blogger during the Gold Cup. But it holds true for the match last night, too, and far too many national team matches (although certainly not all of them; he looked fine v. El Salvador.) But last night was a disaster, at least until he moved up front towards the end.
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Posted by
Auguste on 01:29 PM •
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Yeah, it was frustrating. I kept wondering if he’d caught the swine flu now…
Maybe it’s because there’s more direct attention on him with the USMNT? I mean, he’s one of the bigger names for us (in a sense), but in the Prem he’s really just another player. But you’re right, he did look better after the subs when he’d moved up, but that can’t be the only solution. And while I agree that he looked good vs ES and has looked great in some other games this year, lacking consistency at this point in his career is worrisome to me. Every player has an off night, but it should be a rarity.
Maybe he really wants to pack it all in and just be Deuce from now on. I hear rap stars make lots of money.
Does Hodgson try to ask him to do a lot of defending? That’s one thing I’ve always wondered about Dempsey - he’s got an instinct to go forward, and Bradley wants him to play a bigger role in defense, so maybe he’s just getting pissed and quitting on Bradley altogether, except when Bradley moves him up front so he can be free to go forward all he pleases. If this is the case, Bradley might be better served to start Holden over Dempsey and bring on Dempsey as a super-sub for one of the forwards, at least until Spector matures into a legitimate defensive force at right back…
He wants to be an American Berbatov. Dempsey thinks that anyone critcizing him doesn’t get his game: he may appear lazy, but it’s just because he doesn’t need to move quickly to get past defenders. The problem? Dempsey is no Berbatov. Dempsey is just fucking lazy.
Jeff - you’ve probably got something there, although shit - he can’t let himself get that hot and bothered by having to play some defense. I mean…they all have to, at times, sadly enough. He needs to watch it, because Altidore, Davies and Holden are all only going to get better as they get more experience IMO, and I don’t think Dempsey would be pleased about being a sub.
Demspey is, as best as I can tell, just a very strange person. Hard to say what affects his motivation and drive, but it does seem to be more consistent at the club level than internationally.
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Yeah, it was frustrating. I kept wondering if he’d caught the swine flu now…
Maybe it’s because there’s more direct attention on him with the USMNT? I mean, he’s one of the bigger names for us (in a sense), but in the Prem he’s really just another player. But you’re right, he did look better after the subs when he’d moved up, but that can’t be the only solution. And while I agree that he looked good vs ES and has looked great in some other games this year, lacking consistency at this point in his career is worrisome to me. Every player has an off night, but it should be a rarity.
Maybe he really wants to pack it all in and just be Deuce from now on. I hear rap stars make lots of money.