3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 6 YAs) [R]

sidefootsitter · Mar 4, 2008

Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R]

Based on the above post, which was perfect, I'd add that one can play him as a "skinny wing" a la Sasha Hleb but you'd need an aggressive fullback overlapping to his right for the width purposes.

Stalteri seemed to be a lot more adventurous in this role than Baird before him.

Bob Bradley holds his fullbacks even further than Hodgson does.

tomwilhelm · Mar 4, 2008

Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R]

sidefootsitter said: ↑

Bob Bradley holds his fullbacks even further than Hodgson does.
Click to expand...

Which is a real bummer, given Cherundolo fits this role nicely...

cleansheetbsc · Mar 5, 2008

Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R]

tomwilhelm said: ↑

You obviously didn't watch Dempsey beat Liverpool last season...

Or watch him quietly carry the team this season...

Without Dempsey, FFC would be even on points with Derby. Or more importantly, if FFC had a defense that didn't give up goals in the last 30 minutes so much, FFC would be a mid-table team, largely due to Dempsey's skill and work ethic.
Click to expand...

One half of one game for Dempsey

10 Monster games for Tevez.

With or without Tevez or Dempsey Fulham is a terrible team.

luvdagame · Mar 5, 2008

Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R]

monop_poly said: ↑

Dempsey's tweener skills are catching up with him. As a forward, his finishing isn't polished enough to convert enough chances - his primary scoring skills are those of a midfielder late arriving in the box ala Tim Cahill and not as the primary option.

As a central midfielder, he is often dispossessed and does not control play. He makes the odd semi-brilliant pass and can occasionally beat players one-on-one, but he's not the type of player who can make an impact just by virtue of frequent touches and having play run through him.

As a wide midfielder, he doesn't sit out there on the wing and doesn't provide width Fulham often needs and doesn't cross basically because his natural inclination is to get in front of the net. It hasn't helped that the coach du jure has decided to play with all central midfielders overlapping each other randomly. From either midfield position, Dempsey's defense though better than before is still shaky particularly late in games when Fulham needs to suck it up.

From all positions, Dempsey's off-the-ball positioning and runs are often good or useful, but I'd put that down to turmoil in the coaching and player selection that has been basically non-stop this year at Fulham.

His best skills for Fulham have been winning the ball as a target forward (from which he is looking exhausted) and a few goals early in the year (headers, tap-ins, front of the net scrums). Since the beginning of the year, I'd say his contributions are average at best because positionally he doesn't fill a clear void for Fulham at any position. He would be at his best for them if Fulham had a go-to goal scorer that Clint could play off as the second forward - alas, Fulham doesn't have one.
Click to expand...

oh! oh! oh!

great post. i know i think it's great because i agree with it. so i'll calm down.

i also shouldn't be agreeing with sfs, but this is truly a perfect analysis of dempsey's plusses and minuses.

could we find a little more speed and quickness for him? he'd be perfect then. especially in the pedal to the metal epl.

or maybe he should move to the spanish league.

sidefootsitter · Mar 5, 2008

Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R]

tomwilhelm said: ↑

Which is a real bummer, given Cherundolo fits this role nicely...
Click to expand...

Bob gives Dolo a little more leeway than to other fullbacks.

But overall, Bradley is not adventurous enough.

I think, at this point, Hogdson has no other choices left.

Golazo · Mar 5, 2008

Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R]
appoo said: ↑
Before I go on with this post, I want to point out that this analysis was done without bias, and only done to get an idea of just what Clint Dempsey's current form is. I am a USA fan, and while I've never been a great admirer of Clint's game, I respect that he's a talented player and wish nothing more than he fulfills his potential and becomes our best player.

This was my thought process, I read here that Clint is Fulham's leading scorer, but then I couldn't remember when he last scored a goal for his club. I looked it up, and his last goal was in a 5 - 1 defeat to Tottenham on Christmas boxing day (Dec 26th). Now I was wondering just how he played in the matches since that day. Obviously I haven't watched them all, so I needed an unbiased source. So I used the SkySports rating (I realize this is still subjective, please understand I'm not trying to draw definitive conclusions, just trying to get a handle on Clint's current form), and took every match he started (7 of the 8 matches he played, not including the FA Cup matches which Sky did not rate), and ran an analysis on it. What you see below is the results.
Code:
FULHAM RATE POINTS	42.72
DEMPSEY RATE POINTS	41.00
RATE POINTS DIFFERENCE	-1.72
AVG FULHAM RATING	6.10
AVG DEMPSEY RATING	5.86
AVG RATING DIFFERENCE	-0.25
% DIFFERENCE	-4.04%
Rate points are the total points "won" in ratings from Sky over the course of 7 matches. Average rating is self-evident.

While I haven't a clue how Fulham's management feels about Clint's form, from the matches I've seen I didn't think he was playing that well, and from Sky's point of view appears to agree with my admittedly non-expert opinion.

The simple reason that Clint hasn't been doing as well as he was earlier in the season, and possibly worse than the team on average, might be the reason Hodgson has put him on the bench. I don't know to be honest, but it's interesting to look at.
Click to expand...
Thanks for making the attempt at analysis other than "I think -x-, therefore -x- is self-evidently true," as is the habit of most of us on these boards. I applaud it.

I'd applaud it even more, however, if you were to re-run the numbers, only removing the English players from the equation. I contend that their ratings are absurdly high (Danny Murphy, I'm looking at you.)

freisland · Mar 5, 2008

Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R]

Golazo said: ↑

Thanks for making the attempt at analysis other than "I think -x-, therefore -x- is self-evidently true," as is the habit of most of us on these boards. I applaud it.

I'd applaud it even more, however, if you were to re-run the numbers, only removing the English players from the equation. I contend that their ratings are absurdly high (Danny Murphy, I'm looking at you.)
Click to expand...

You could also do a more thurough job as there are a number of rating sources. Of course, when I write "you" I mean anyone but me. I'm too lazy.

sidefootsitter · Mar 6, 2008

Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R]

Fulham's team ratings have two sources - one for Niemi, Bullard, Hangeland and Andreasen and another for everyone else.

tomwilhelm · Mar 6, 2008

Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R]

sidefootsitter said: ↑

Fulham's team ratings have two sources - one for Niemi, Bullard, Hangeland and Andreasen and another for everyone else.
Click to expand...

I see what you're saying with the field players, but Niemi? Really?

Fulham fans cringe whenever the ball gets played into the 6...

thebigman · Mar 18, 2008

Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R]

Sam Hamwich said: ↑

dont be argumentative. demps is within shooting distance of C.Ronaldo, just not quite the athlete Ronaldo is. I thought that was pretty obvious.

If you were 80% the player Jordan was you'd be starting for the Utah Jazz.

Dempsey is 80% the player C.Ronaldo is and starting for Fulham.
Click to expand...

bahahahahahahahaha

funniest post on big soccer

tomwilhelm · Mar 18, 2008

Re: 3/1, Fulham v. Man Utd. (as many as 5 YAs) [R]

thebigman said: ↑

bahahahahahahahaha

funniest post on big soccer

Click to expand...

Not really...