Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R] To each his own path. If a Michele Wie can be washed up at 16, then riddle me why a EJ can't still show improvement at 24?
Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R] One thing to keep in mind is that Clint Dempsey was 23 going on 24 when he moved to England from MLS, and I think most here would agree that he's improved since relocating.
Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R] But is it necessary for you to share your negative opinion of him generally in a game thread? I guess I'm in the minority, but I find the hating on EJ really tedious because, in spite of EJ's crimes against the beautiful game, I'm still a fan. I know what his limitations are but it's fun rooting for him to do well at this level. Regardless of what you think of him, here's a stat for you since you've been clamoring for him to be dropped: World Cup Qualifying Stats GP: 7 – Goals: 7 And FWIW, McBride wasn't half the player at 24 as he became at 32, and people were clamoring for him to be finished from the National team as well. Just because EJ isn't Henry or McBride doesn't mean he can't find a way to be an effective player.
as one of EJ's critics, laying into him, on his second overall match......and first start in the EPL......playing out of position most of the game.......against Manchester United, is simply rediculous on any and all accounts. Give the guy a year, one year in Fulham's system wether its this league or the CCCL. Id be expecting results 6 months in at a bare minimum, this is gonna take some work. If you dont know that your clueless.
7 goals in qualifying doesn't mean shit. A lot of those were in that drubbing of some crappy CONCACAF team in a meaningless game that i have completely forgotten about. Everyone was raving about him because it was his first game. None of the goals were good. It was all garbage in front of the net with poor defending. Give him time, give him time.....god dammit he's had all the time in the world. he was shit in mls. If you just look at the stats then you might think he's decent, which is why he got signed in England. If you actually watched him play in MLS or International he's shocking. He was a disgrace in the world cup. He was terrible in Copa America. As a person he's got such little confidence it's amazing. He's weak and shy and it comes off on the way he plays. He even said it himself in the interview with US Soccer that hes scared of playing in big games. He admits he's a **********. It's a joke. Any other professional athlete would never ever admit they had any fear. Most of them really don't but he does. It comes off on the field.
Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R] I agree in spirit--I'd say that EJ at this point can become a more effective version of what he already is. But for me that's not the same as claiming that he'll develop into a different (better) player that will be unrecognizable to the current, fresh-out-of-MLS EJ that we now see. I'm not sure that kind of development is possible for him. But it's just an opinion. Edit: Matabala, you are, of course, correct. It would be ridiculous of me to argue against the singularity of players' development paths. It's just an opinion, which doesn't discredit the possibility of future progress--the only thing I do wonder about is its likelihood.
Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R] I wouldn't agree at all. What is the evidence that he improved one iota?
Regarding Dempsey's absence from the bench. Is there some BPL rule that limits the number of non-Europeans on a game day roster? I seem to recall that there was such a rule and that the number was five (5). If so perhaps the fact that EJ, McBride, Staltieri started and Keller and Bocanegra were on the bench meant that the manager could not include Dempsey. Then again I could be talking out of my ass.
Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R] I agree. He has not improved at all. On the other hand, had he moved to a league outside the UK, he would have improved tremendously!
Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R] Great, so why are you making your point in this post game thread when for his second premier league game he played well by all accounts despite playing out of position for about 2/3 of the game against the likely champions? Seriously? I mean, I just don't understand why every Fulham thread from now on has to devolve into an EJ discussion. Can we not take this discussion to the US MNT boards or even the Yanks Abroad board. Why does it have to be in every single Gameday thread? Can't I just read reviews of how he played without 5 pages of EJ is crap/no he is not posts? I think when you look at the improvement Dempsey got playing for Fulham and you look at the improvement that McBride has made playing the EPL....I don't know how anyone can argue the player is not going to improve and/or is done when a technically naive (by all accounts from european coaches) US player starts playing in a top tier league (I know its not Spain). Regardless, why not start an EJ is a piece of crap thread in yanks abroad? Why do this in every single post game thread that the kid plays in. You aren't even saying....see EJ's play today shows you that I am right, he is a crap player. That would at least be partially relevant. But in a game against the champions when he was arguably one of Fulham's top players while playing out of position for 2/3 of the game, we have to get your opinion of EJ as a player and whether he can grown. (I am not just focusing on you as the opinions that think he is going to be Louis Saha II or God or the best forward in the US pool or other glowing praise are equally as useless to everyone).
Agreed that almost 24 typically means "as good as you'll ever get" for a 24 year old sprinter forward. But not for an MLS guy who has been in EPL for a month. By April 2009, if he stays healthy, whatever EJ we see is likely to be the best possible EJ. Not yet, though.
EJ was more active and dangerous than Saha today. Maybe we need to check our expectations a bit. I think if Hodgeson can a greater work rate our of him, he will be more of an asset for the US. I think that is why Arena held back on giving him minutes in the World Cup. I played div 1 soccer and remember how I wanted to save my legs during the run of play for the times I needed to go on the attack. Soccer is so grueling. It may be that in his best cardio-condition, EJ just does not have the cardio to run all over the field. I knew a lot ofplayers like this. SOme players just has more efficient combustion. I was jealous of them!! I am in the kids corner because he's one of our own and wants to test himself in Europe unlike ...
Eddie Johnson at 24 is 3rd all time in World Cup Qualifying goals, tied with Landon Donovan. The other guys ahead of him have played more than 3 times as many games and Landon - who is considered our best player - has played almost 3 times as many. The point is - regardless of how you rate his goals, scoring in Qualifying has proven very difficult for our players in spite of the weakness of our opponents. At MLSNHTOWN's prompting, I'll drop it from this point, especially since it saves me from having to respond to your feelings about EJ's manhood. The point of my original rant was mainly to request that folks stop chiming in about how much they think EJ sucks, and let the rest of us enjoy his playing in the PL.
Seriously? A sprinter/forward can often get pretty far as a youth and then they have a chance to get better at other parts of their game as they see that sprinting is not enough to get by with. I think EJ has lots of room for growth. Remember he's been playing at FC Dallas and Kansas City the past few years... its more than conceivable that he'll get a lot better coaching in the EPL.
I was one of the people who said EJ looked slow/lost in the 1st half. This is his 2nd game right? I expect that he'll need a little bit of time to get used to the PL -- and Man Utd was probably a bit of a shock. Getting used to a new team and/or league isn't a requirement only for American players, btw. See Carlos Tevez, for example. I assume that every Yank Abroad comes with at least 1 person who has hated them since junior high -- and they all post on BS. Weekly.
Your comment that he looked slow/lost in the 1st half is completely and totally welcome in this thread. You are watching the game and you are conveying your opinion of his play in the game that you are watching to the people who read this thread that have not seen the game. The issue of whether he is a horrible player/great player or is total crap/god can be put in the Yanks Abroad general discussion or the USMNT or some place else IMHO. Look all I can do is complain about it and hope that my complaints register with the people who come in here and have the same argument in every gameday thread. My guess though is that ultimately, they get more responses to their troll like comments in gameday threads so they come in here because it somehow amuses them to either annoy some of us or to try to validate the importance of their own opinion on the player. I am not limiting this post to the anti-EJ posters. It goes both ways. I don't care (at least in the gameday thread.....) if you think that EJ is the best striker in the USMNT pool and is a lock for 2006 just as much as I don't care if you think that he is on the downhill of his international career.
http://www.skysports.com/football/user_ratings/0,19768,11065_2848779,00.html Sky gives Eddie and Brian a "6" each, though the comment for Eddie is "hardly involved" (of course, by his previous standards Eddie was another di Stefano today).
I didn't know that soccer was a single's sport for so many people to be bashing EJ like that. I am sensing most of the haters on this thread are just people who are praying for him to fai no matter whatl, even if he were to score a hat trick every game these people will still find something to b!tch about. I have seen players who have done worse than EJ most of you are still praying for them to get better , yet many of you are so ready to stone the guy to death for what? because he had good game today. Hypocrites, I said quit hating and give the guy a fair chance to prove himself.
Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R] So folks, should I pull out the discussion about EJ's development here and put it in a "development" thread, as has been done with Michael Bradley?
wow. just wow. we have bruce dropping gems, yea, Dempsey certainly hasn't developed/improved at all in England.... EJ didn't play bad, his team was shit today, he had some dangerous plays and generally played as well as any Fulham player AGAINST ********ING MANCHESTER UNITED. Now WCQ goals mean nothing Get real guys, it's his second freaking game in the premiership and he's playing out of position. He played OK, he's not running after enough balls, but outside of that he had an OK game.
Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R] I come to these threads to read the PBP (if any) and then read the reviews of how that particular player played. Of the 16 or so pages, I think that maybe 7 are dedicated to the PBP, and post game reviews, etc. So if you want to move 9 pages every Fulham game over to the Yanks Abroad section, more power to you. I imagine you don't get paid enough to do it though IMHO. I can muddle through the crap to read the relevant pages, but it just gets old and my hope in brining it all up would be to deter the people who do it in every single game day thread.