I ask this because I honestly want to know, not because I want to start some pissing match. What would you expect from Dempsey with the amount of service and attack he recieved today? How many good runs did the wingers get to put balls into them, and what did they do with them? How much good service from deep did Huddlestone give them? Sandro? How many times was he sprung with a good ball that he pissed away? What didn't he do that he should have been doing? I honestly want to know.
I saw one productive run from the wing, and Bale made a good decision to look for Clint, who was running hard in the center channel. The ball was just a little off.
As "slow" as Dempsey is compared to the rest of the squad and as good as he is poaching goals in the box, I believe that AVB sees him as something of an advanced regista. He links play from the back and tries to start sequences that lead to goals, perhaps with himself crashing late in the box. That makes some sense, but I'm really not going to put too much thought into trying to figure out this Spurs team until their injured mids return. Until then, I think it's flying by the seat of the pants. That said, AVB likes Clint and I think it's probably because Clint helps keep possession.
I didn't claim his teammates helped him, I said nearly as much already, but we can't have it both ways. If Deuce was anonymous (which is my point of view) it can't entirely be the fault of his teammates. It simply can't be. How many good runs did he make? How many defenders did he beat off the dribble? How many teammates did he spring with a nice pass? etc. The answer to all is "not enough", just like the answer to the questions you posed.
I don't get the Spurs fans. On their forum everything that is wrong with the team is blamed on Dempsey, and a typical exchange goes like this: They seem to think that Clint is a #8, say like Torres or Bradley in the USMNT. Overall, he's not exactly shining, but he's not the problem with Spurs. It's their defending, and the selfishness in attack shown by all (and less so by Clint). I've always found the Spurs a difficult team to watch. If it were not Dempsey, I'd be glad to see clubs like Fulham and Everton finish ahead of them. Ugly football they play.
Then I guess they never watched Clint play before he got to their club. He's never been a playmaker, or an "advanced regista." He needs service, and his main contribution is to be a constant threat through the middle running in from the side, and poaching goals in set pieces.
AVB teams can't hold leads and have inconsistent attack in the final 3rd. Doesn't help that Bale wasted himself in Europe. Mancini was bored the entire match, not afraid. He knew eventually he could increase pressure 10% on the pitch, counter and finish AVB in the final 15min.
Dempsey is very easy target for them, he's like the Anti-Spur. He doesn't race to the box, he's not gonna run down his bad pass if it's going to pull him out of position. He plays the game in his head before he plays it with his feet. Untill he starts scoring regularly they wont accept him fully. Scoring seems to be end of the conversation with them. Defoe is good, but any competent striker would of gotten a hat trick off the amazing service he was getting against Maribor. Fan is short for fanatic.
This match absolutely, because they are up against superior competition, but I still believe what I wrote holds true. Those 3 are the worst offenders.
Do you ever offer any actual "analysis" or is it all for the giggles of bashing an American player at every turn with you?
I'm not going to disagree that he, along with his frontmate were a bit anonymous for long stretches. Looking back at the game, spurs had one 15-20min period of actual midfield dominance. That was from about 15' to maybe 35' or so. In that time, they created some corners, they got into City's half and made some chances...scored on the set piece. City held 60% possession in this match. You know who is going to be anonymous in that kind of match? That's right, the strikers in a 442. How many good runs? I saw a few, who was he going to run off? There weren't many to make. When did he miss a run? I didn't see any. On the contrary, I saw him bust a nut getting to the box for Bales lone good run. I saw him combine a few times wiht Adebayor, only to see the ball lost by Lennon or Sandro. How many defenders did he beat off the dribble? Seriously? That is how you judge a good game by a player? One on one playgroung Bullshite like he tried to pull against Moribor? This spuds team is very, very average right now. They suck at rightback and Gallas is a walking disaster. The midfield is missing probably the top 2 players. Until they fix those spots, CD is going to be a whipping boy. I've said it before this game, but I'll say it again. Anyone who thinks the problems with this team are any of the strikers (that is what CD is playing right now) doesn't know what they are watching. You could have fat Ronaldo in his prime on this team, and he'd look terrible with the lack of possession and playmaking. In order to beat spuds right now, all you have to do is shut down Bale and Lennon. The middle of the pitch is a wasteland, and right back is one of the worst in the Prem.
Not entirely, of course not. It's just one of myriad things that are occasionally expected of offensive players. I didn't watch the Maribor match, so I have no frame of reference for what you're talking about. I was disappointed by Deuce today. I've already admitted that his teammates didn't help him much, which as an Arsenal fan doesn't disappoint me in the least bit . It just seems a stretch to list all the deficiencies of this Spurs team but absolve Deuce of any fault or blame. Clearly, he's not in good form right now and he didn't play well today.
Added to that, he started his time there under fire before he ever set foot on the field for not being the kind of transfer they wanted. Spurs imagine themselves to be as ambitious as any club in the league and expected younger, bigger name signings. As far as his performances so far, there's zero cohesion or interplay from midfield up, which is a death knell to the ind ofmgame Demspey plays. Fulham looked like Barca compared to Spurs. His best hope is that Dembele gets back soon.
In retrospect I suspect Deuce would've been much better off at Liverpool. AVB has a bunch of individuals not a team.
Dempsey's 1st half wasn't poor, but his performance worsened in the second half, and AVB should've subbed him out at about the 60th minute. City defenders kept beating him to the ball, winning headers from him, basically outhustling him (then again, they did that to most of the rest of Spurs). And just like the in first half, he continued to seem nervous in possession. He did have that one nifty play around the 60th minute when he nicely back-flicked it to Ade after retaining possession. But he seemed lost and, yes, unskilled, in a second striker role. In Dempsey's defense, City marked him closely all game long. Everytime the ball got anywhere near him, there were one or two defenders running in to stymie him. And no on Spurs seems interested in helping out their teammates more than just occassionally. But so many times, Dempsey just didn't have the quickness of step to get the ball first. That, or his ball-possession skills have regressed. Granted, everything about Spurs seems wrong for Dempsey and his style of play, but the rustiness from three months of inaction remains (I'm hoping it's just rustiness). He had a quietly effective game against Southampton a couple of weeks ago, ball-handling, passing, etc., and it appeared that he had already gotten the cobwebs out of his system.
He's kind of all in with this move, for many reasons. I'm sure he's feeling the pressure. Many of the warnings about leaving Fulham have proven to be prophetic, albeit predictable. It reminds me of an amazing local business that builds a solid following with all the locals and then they go national/public and the magic of the business is lost. It will be interesting to see if these hurdles can be overcome. Again, he still has the faith of the manager. But, AVB himself is probably checking his six as well. One thing we know for sure is that Dempsey will grind and put in everything he can. If it doesn't work out with spurs, oh well.
Hopefully Levy shows a lot more patience with AVB than Chelsea did. I think he has the right ideas, but they'll need to accept the possibility of a step back in order to move forward. That could involve selling Defoe, slogging through the first season, etc.
Liverpool fans are glad they didn't blow serious money on Dempsey. Dempsey at most will end up as an Impact sub at Tottenham. He doesn't dictate play, create chances or work well as a target man.
Like we haven't blown serious money on Henderson and Downing? I bet you Dempsey could tally a few more than Downing has been capable of. Dempsey was never supposed to be a big player with the likes of Bale, Lennon, and Ade. Ade was the only one to have active participation in this match. Bale and Lennon didn't bring their pedigree. Spurs trailed all game in possession and had only two shots on target. One of which was goal from a set piece. If your going to lay it all down on this game, which is what this thread is for, then please identify a few moments in this game where he was shockingly worse than a below average team performance.