The Texan Gets His Spurs: Dempsey at Tottenham [R]

Fulham fans are probably not too upset that Dempsey wanted to get to a bigger club, he's given all for Fulham the last few years (his first goal against Liverpool helped them to survive the relegation battle), been one of the best PL scorers for past 2-3 years, and is getting to the now or never point because of his age. Most would wish him well.
Fulham is also very used to losing their best players to "bigger" clubs.

It is hard to understand why Liverpool did not do more to sign Dempsey after they had let Andy Carroll go on loan. For a club pretending to be one of the biggest in the business, their transfer market dealings this year have been extremely puzzling. I would have thought the American ownership would have stepped in and made sure the funds were available for Liverpool to sign arguably the best American field player playing today. What a mess Liverpool is in; zero depth at the forward spot and none of their forwards have been able to consistently deliver. One (1) point from three (3) games just will not do for Liverpool and I am not sure it will get much better this season.

 

He sort of has the same personality.

 

I certainly agree that Lloris is the heir apparent but as AVB says regarding Friedel, the "place is his".

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11675/8042099/AVB-Pressure-is-normal

 

Don't think Lloris will slot in immediately. Think he'll slowly be bled into the team and English football over this season and will take over the number one spot next season.

 

Rodgers admits he only let Carroll go out on loan because he believed Clint would be moving to Liverpool.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/20876/8045128/Rodgers-rues-Carroll-move

 

Rodgers screwup was not getting Management's buy in to pay Dempsey whatever Fulham wanted before letting Andy Carroll go. £4M bid for a player who scored 17 goals in EPL last season ??????

 

Hahahahahaha!


Ha!

 

What a fool.

 

In addition to the scoring, Gerrard has to be a major worry for Rodgers. He just doesn't fit this system. Rodgers will have to finesse the situation, however, better than AVB did with Chelsea's older stars. In candor, the best thing that could probably happen to Rodgers is Gerrard to go down with an injury. That would give Rodgers an excuse for results, and solve the issue of trying to get Gerrard to play differently than he used to.

 

Rogers is being politic, but he seems a bit befuddled by what happened after he let Carroll go - there's some interview excerpts on the BBC - he talks about the process as if there was a disconnect someplace. Wonder what really went on.

But Pool really blew it this window.

 

If they're patient enough, they'll be able to get Nando Torres for some bubblegum and a pack of cigs.

 

I don't disagree with you about Gerrard, but at least through the fall, do they even have the numbers that they can afford to not play someone like Gerrard who might actually score every once in a while?

 

Everyone remember this article whenever someone uses the "the manager knows best; he's the one who's in the game and not on the internet" canard. Who does this? It's like me breaking my lease and moving out prior to getting my home loan approved, and then having to live in a hotel.

That's either awful communication, poor planning, or some unholy combination of both. And to not have a recall clause (or one which you can immediately trigger) is baffling.

 

Liverpool's offense is obviously broken. Here are the issues:

1) Luis Suarez looks like Freddy Mercury. That is disturbing
2) Suarez is as much problem as solution. He has a tendency to dribble down
blind alleys (which sometimes works out for him) but I think his teammates don't
have a clue how to run off him. He often will go 1 v 2 with his head down and because
he is unorthodox, it is hard to know where to be when he does release the ball. I think
some of his teammates just give up on these plays- since his teammates are never are in the box in numbers.
Luis is hurting them as much as helping them. So many attacks die with him trying to do something spectacular vs. keeping the play alive and allowing other players (especially midfielders) into the attack.
Clint would have been a definite upgrade- Clint never misses an opportunity to fly
into the box if there is any chance he'll get the ball
3) Borini....dear oh dear....I'm not convinced at all he can cut it at this level. I've watched
him over 1 1/2 games, and he only was on the end of one 1/2 chance. He had 3 good opportunities to do something this morning vs. Arsenal and his output was dreadful. Just poor, poor shooting and technique. There is no question that Clint is materially better than him and Borini would be on the bench. Borini does work hard to open up space for Suarez, but has no clue how to get the ball back and his goalscoring instincts and shooting leave a ton to be desired.
4) Sterling is a real talent, but he keeps wanting to go out wide and he gets marginalized. Liverpool HAVE NO CHANCE if the idea is for him to lob balls in the box (again, Clint would have helped here, and could have gotten on the end of some of these). Obviously Sterling is new to starting, but it would be something if this kid could figure out in the next 10-15 games to play with Tasmanian devil Suarez and know where to be in the box at the end of service. I don't think that happens. Sterling's best chances to score will be to get space on the wing, cut in and beat a couple guys and shoot. So essentially, he become Theo Walcott from 18-21 years old...a player that flatters to deceive but doesn't deliver the kind of production you need. Those kind of players usually wind up on the bench as a late-game sub, but Liverpool have no options right now.
5) Gerrard, he's too good not to bounce back (some) but Gerrard is clearly in the twilight of his Premiership career. He has (maybe) 2 seasons left at the highest level. He will have to be rested a lot, and he will have some *awesome* games, but a whole host of average/poor games to. He doesn't have the workrate or legs of old. He tries the low odds passes too often for Rodgers system. He probably would have been better fit as guy slinging long balls onto Andy Carroll's head vs. playing Rodgers system. Again, I expect Gerrard and the entire team to eventually play better and score a few goals from run of play- but I don't expect significant improvement in either. Gerrard is no longer a top 5 caliber player over an entire season in my view.
6) Sahin- he didn't show much today, but he most definitely will have to be getting forward more, otherwise this attack is really going nowhere.
7) Allen- I don't expect him to go forward much...not his game
8) Outside backs (Johnson, Enrique)..If I were the opposing team, I'd let them go to the byline and cross all day (and hit them on the counter). Liverpool's offense (forwards and midfielders) are poor/atrocious in the air. Let them get caught out.

Shelvy's a bit a wild card. He looks better going forward than almost any of the midfielders at this point and he could be a surprise help from central midfield- IF he gets minutes at some point.

In summary, Liverpool have an awful lot to work on. They will have some bounce back games where Suarez has a flyer where some of his sh*t works, Gerrard scores a long distance goal or the get the free kick goal, deflected goal, etc. But I see a lot of dysfunction. If Clint was there, Borini would have his a$$ on the bench for sure. BTW- Wait til Liverpool start playing the mid-table sides...they are going to go at Sterling with hard fouls. Suarez- even though he is part of the problem....if he ever gets hurt, Liverpool would be even worse. It is a Faustian tradeoff to have that guy in your team...I'm telling you. He takes his teammates out of the flow. He is a poor man's Tevez, and I don't mean that in a good way.

BTW- Anyone who believes Cint could not start for either Liverpool or Arsenal need to have their heads examined. That is such a stupid meme/myth what-have-you- made by prejudices eyes who don't understand the game.

Clint would have been exactly what Liverpool needed: Someone who could run the channels, put up with Suarez's ridiculous decisionmaking (Clint never quit running when Zamora made the wrong decisions) and someone who understands how to strike when the
"window of opportunity" arrives in the box. Borini is showing little instinct for this and Sterling is a winger, not a poacher. Clint would have allowed Johnson and Enrique to come into the game as well on offense.

It was such a penny wise, pound foolish decision by Liverpool not to get Dempsey. Forget Europe for this team.

 

As an Arsenal/USA fan, I am caught in the awkward position of hoping that Clint does well at Tottenham...but not too well. Here's hoping for many high-scoring draws against the likes of Southampton, Reading, QPR, and Stoke.

 

This one made me laugh

 

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/premierleague/article3526630.ece

 

Nice Liverpool thread.....

 

You're right. That article had nothing to do with Dempsey

 

Yeah but how long are we going to talk about the non-Liverpool transfer? We've had more talk about the failed move to Liverpool than the successful move to Spurs. I feel like stumbled on a RAWK thread.

 

We're going to talk about it for 4 more days, then we'll talk about it again for the week before Spurs play Pool, and probably for a day or two when the documentary comes out on Fox.

 

You've never ventured a little off topic in the Chievo/Roma threads?

 

What when we were talking about potential moves? Man I was way off base. I only talked about Roma in the Chievo threads when we were talking about a potential move. Also what I post in the Roma thread is about the club he plays for, which is relevant to him.

 

I'm joking. I appreciate your posts in those threads.