Clint Dempsey as a striker?

[kkmmtt]

I think Clint Dempsey has quality of a good striker (always in the right place at the right time, good finisher)
I think he is better as a forward !
any thoughts !

[BlackLotus]

I think Clint Dempsey has quality of a good striker (always in the right place at the right time, good finisher)
I think he is better as a forward !
any thoughts !
i think it's not a bad idea - mainly because he has the experience of passing being a midfielder right now, but from what i've seen lately he's probably a better scorer and playmaker than one to serve balls to other players.

but then again, if he's grown up playing as a midfielder then that position could be just fixed in his mind and make him have to start all over if he were to convert to a striker. i tell you what though, we are badly in need of defining a 2nd striker to compliment McBride for WC '02, and to compliment Eddie Johnson for the USMNT beyond WC '02

[BlackLotus]

i think it's not a bad idea - mainly because he has the experience of passing being a midfielder right now, but from what i've seen lately he's probably a better scorer and playmaker than one to serve balls to other players.

but then again, if he's grown up playing as a midfielder then that position could be just fixed in his mind and make him have to start all over if he were to convert to a striker. i tell you what though, we are badly in need of defining a 2nd striker to compliment McBride for WC '02, and to compliment Eddie Johnson for the USMNT beyond WC '02
whoops - i meant WC '06

[forza inter]

short and sweet, you made good points.

iw ould like to see him play wherever he can get on the field the most. let him use his strengths up top like you said i think it would work for sure. we will see what happens though, if only he played left back, haha


forza inter

[GenXer]

I'm pissed I didn't think of this first. Why not start him up front? It's not his optimal position, but he could play the role which Alan Smith played for England where he could come back into midfield if he saw fit. Dempsey did play forward in college. He's good in the air, would be tenacious in defense, and I have a hunch he would work well running off of GAM (or vice versa). His only draw back relative to Wolff is that Josh is faster. But, surely he is a better option than Casey.

Man, I hope that da Bruce tries this. (Surely, he's thought of it already though, right? He does get paid the big bucks!)

[dcole]

Getting Dempsey on the field is a priority, but where to put him is a big question. If I were forced to put him on the field, I'd probably put him at attacking MID and move LD up top. But I really like LD at attacking MID, especially when Pablo is available. In the end, I'd probably leave LD in attacking MID, McBride up top and Dempsey on the pine.

[wthoman]

I would love to see Dempsey play striker at the international level. He was excellent in that position for the Revs last season. He's dangerous in the air, a great finisher, and an excellent passer. His style of play also seems to draw TONS of fouls.

[BlackLotus]

you know what - i really wish Arena would put him as a striker and groom him to be paired up with a targetman (McBride, Johnson, Mathis, etc.). if it worked out, we'd fill that position which I think would fill our biggest need right now (even though the left back spot is important too, we actually have legitimate choices for that spot - for a second striker we don't even have a single striker with good passing/playmaking abilities to choose from, and it's still a ways until Freddy Adu's official coming of age).

I still think it's kind of weird to see him be in the center of so much attention in the USMNT when he just played his first game (I think it was, right?). I kind of feel it's better to let him play some more games that don't have as much riding on it and then see how he performs over time (after all, he's still very young and has the time). i think in the long run, that will have the better and more telling effect than just cramming playing time and responsibility down his throat because he's hot in the MLS at the present moment.

[coldfusion]

A few of us here have been making this argument since last season, Voros most eloquently. I think it's simple. Dempsey's not a defender by nature or experience, has always played up top, and the more touches he gets near the box, the more dangerous he is. Maybe he is capable of becoming our Gerrard, but we sure do need another striker. Then again, maybe we should just wait for Sammy Ochoa.

[Hustletown]

I could get used to an American version of Steven Gerrard, that's for sure.

Dempsey looked a lot like him on that midfield to box run seconds after he entered in the game against Guatemala at Birmingham.

Donovan is a very good a-mid when he has the attacking mindset going. I've mentioned this in other threads, but Donovan seems way to tentative to move us forward at times and he's not going to win most physical battles. Donovan is much better suited up top against international competition in my opinion.

Dempsey is very well set for a-mid because he's the kind of player that throws caution to the wind and just goes full steam ahead. Draws a lot of fouls and intercepts a lot of passes because of his work rate. He makes great runs and can get other people involved.

[SamsArmySam]

We just saw in the England game that Dempsey is still adjusting to the speed of international play. Seems like he can make that adjustment best if we don't change his position on him. I say keep him in a midfield role. That's what he plays for the Revs.

[superdave]

In other threads I've suggested the US try a 4-4-1-1 modeled on ManU from maybe 2 years ago, where Scholes played behind RVN. Put Landon in the Scholes role, where he has a ton of lateral space to find openings.* Then give Dempsey maximum freedom to make his patented runs from deep. It would almost be a 4-1-3-1-1. Donovan's such a hustler, he could be an offensive AND defensive asset playing in the hole. Same with Dempsey.

I know people will bring up the disastrous 4-2-3-1 in Azteca, but IMO that was a problem of execution. The gap between Johnson and his support was all wrong, much too large. Plus, Beasley sucked hard playing the attacking central mid. Tighten that up, and I think this could work.

But the general notion is a good one...Dempsey has a great nose for goal, so give him chances to get in front of goal. But his club play suggests he's most effective coming from deep, finding a space, and scoring a diving header. Or like his GOTW against the Mutts last year, where he dribbled 2 defenders and then rounded Johnny Walker.

A 4-4-1-1 like I outlined is the closest thing, with a 4 man backline, to the 3-1-3-1-2 that the Revs are running, and which has Dempsey among the leading MVP candidates.

The wing experiment isn't a good one...Dempsey scored on a set piece, didn't do much as a quasi-winger. Dempsey played a similar role with the Revs late last year when Cancela and Joseph and their centerbacks were all healthy, and Dempsey play on the right, but with Ralston behind him. I didn't think Dempsey played very well like that.

*If you want to get hypertechnical about it, ManU's wings got forward somewhat more than ours would because Dempsey would be getting forward so much, and you wouldn't want to isolate one player as your whole defensive midfield.

[dfb547490]

It won't happen against CR probably, but I'd really like to see us try out a shifting 3-5-2/4-4-2 sometime soon. Something like:

--------------------Keller----------------------
------Dolo--Gooch/Pope--Boca----Gibbs---------
-----------------JOB/Mastro------------------
------Dempsey----Donovan-----Beasley-------
----------------EJ------Ching/McBride--------


The beauty of this is that we have 2 starting-quality guys who can play LB but are better at CB (3 if you include Spector), a RB who is very skilled with the ball going forward but who is a bit of a liability at the back due to his lack of size, and a very good CM who is forced to play RM because there's no room for him in the middle of a 4-man midfield. We come out lined up in the 4-4-2 shown above but during the match we shift at will between that and the following 3-5-2:

-------------------------Keller-------------------------
----------Gooch/Pope----Boca----Gibbs----------------
----------------------JOB/Mastro----------------------
----Dolo---------------Dempsey---------Beasley--------
-----------------------Donovan------------------------
-----------------EJ--------------Ching/McBride----------


This tactic isn't even dependent on having any individual guys healthy: Cherundolo, Hejduk, Reyna, Ralston, and Mullan can all play the hybrid RB/RM role (Klein probably could as well altho we've never seen him at RB, which is something I do want to see maybe in the Gold Cup); and Boca, Gibbs, and Spector can all play the hybrid LB/CB (with Gooch, Pope, Berhalter, and Marshall still providing more than adequate depth at the other 2 CB positions). Meanwhile the RM/CM role is tailor-made for Dempsey but Reyna could also take it on if Dempsey is out. If Dempsey is out you could even run a mirror-image of it, with Gooch at RB/CB; Lewis, Hejduk, or Convey at LB/LM; and JOB at LM/CM.

[Ray Luca]

I think Clint Dempsey has quality of a good striker (always in the right place at the right time, good finisher)
I think he is better as a forward !
any thoughts !

Any thing that keeps him from making 25 back passes a game I am for.

[Ray Luca]

"In other threads I've suggested the US try a 4-4-1-1"

That is how you should play when your in your own defensive half of the field. Then when you are in your offensive half the two strikers should play in tandem.

[Captain10]

I say get him on the field whenever we can! He may not quite be ready for a full 90 minutes quite yet, but it may be really soon.

Clint adds so much energy and fighting spirit when he gets on the field -- and hopefully it will rub off on some of the other players. He usually makes the right move with the ball, rarely loses it by making a bad pass, and makes good runs.

I'd like to see him working right behind EJ and LD -- and switching with them to confuse the defenders. If we can get these three to fine-tune their finishing, it would be very good indeed!!!

[Ringo]

Any thing that keeps him from making 25 back passes a game I am for.


we interrupt the clint dempsey love-fest to make a very good point.

but, I would hope all those back-passes was as much nerves/inexperience/lack of confidence at the international level .... all things that could change with time. Hopefully he'll get more aggressive internationally ....

[Bruce S]

I can tell you that almost every Rev fan would rather see him at midfield.He is OK as a striker, but his work rate, and aggression work better in the middle.Besides, his knack for scoring is mainly surprising the other team on a quick run from deep.

[USA4Life]

I was thinking of Dempsey up front and was thinking of starting a tread. Usually if you wait long enough someone will make your point.

It just seems that Dempsey is more likely to score when compared to Casey, McBride, and Ching. If he is playing next to EJ then the US should have enough size to win a few headers on goal kicks, and keeper punts.

I also don't mind EJ and Donovan up front with Dempsey at the ACM.
Or, Start a big forward next to EJ and bring on Clint around minute 60.

[RalleeMonkey]

Any thing that keeps him from making 25 back passes a game I am for.

I think that was a function of him playing dmid for a large part of the game. Many Rev's fans have been on here saying that he would be "wasted" at Dmid. And I think that Sat was supporting evidence of that.

Actually, I thought he had a nice game. England had a very ltd. number of opportunities, which I think CD has to get some credit for. He seemed to be cutting off several passes. Offensively, he didn't lose the ball too many times. He did get knocked on his azzzzz several times, but by my count, atleast 2 of those resulted in free kicks, & he lost the ball twice. Chalk it up to experience. Btw, I was impressed that he kept his cool (yes, a little more fire would be nice - but I'd thought he was kind of a hot head). And he made several nice passes to Wolff (4) from fairly deep.

Anyway, I think he proved himself a decent option at d mid. But, I'd much rather see him in a position that gives him more freedom.