He made it knowing he was about to get hammered (again), too. Dempsey's mean streak makes it hard to compare him to McBride (he's one of those guys the opposition seems to get pissed at by about the 10 minute mark of every game he's in), but he's put in a McBride-like effort today.
1-1 FT. Fulham's still unbeaten, but they might want to start winning some of the games. I think Fulham should have won this game, Dempsey came close to scoring his 2nd, Green had a couple of good saves, EJ & Kamara didn't capitalize on their scoring chances
EJ should have taken lessons from Clint on how to beat Robert Green... roll it slowly and straight at him! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXo2nm2ODF0&NR=1&feature=fvwp"]YouTube - USA vs England in Lego[/ame]
FT. Nice game by Dempsey. Sweet goal, looked dangerous all game. Barely missed for a second with his trademarked down snapping header. Plus, after a clumsy touch played a great ball to Kamara for a break which could have sealed all three points for Fulham. Has to be MOTD for Fulham. Johnson on the other hand I thought overall was poor. Watching him in contrast to Dempsey i think just further illustrates his shortcomings as a player. He really isn't up to first division par with his technical ability, generally looks for the back pass or square ball, and when he runs at players (that's when he runs at players which is rare) he always goes right to set up his shot. Plus i thought he kinda dogged it and wasn't pressing as hard as he should. I know it's harsh, but not good enough from him today.
Too bad EJ couldn't score. Fulhamerica would've lived again. Davies might tie Altidore and EJ in scoring this year even if he doesn't play.
Yes, I stand corrected, I just watched Mark Wahlberg's movie but that's still a poor excuse for such a glaring mistake.
Highlights including Clint's goal: http://watchsocceronline.blogspot.com/2010/10/dempsey-scores-for-fulham.html
clint has to be kicking himself. the scoreline really should have read West Ham Thuggery 1 vs. Clint Dempsey Steamroller 3
Yes and no. panstil had some bad form. Brede is definitely not the same defender as the last two years. I blame this entirely on the fact that Hodgs is gone. Brede had a shot at Arsenal but staid because of Woy, then woy takes a powder and brede is left picking up Etuhu and Murphy's mess instead of watching Csec and Arshavin tear up the league, kind of.
Sky Sports rated Dempsey as an 8, the best on the team, while EJ earned a 6. http://www.skysports.com/football/user_ratings/0,19768,11065_3286333,00.html
A change in tactics can do wonders. Fulham played on the ground today a lot more vs. the previous matches and it certainly favored Clint a lot more.
I have to think that a major part of Clint's motivation out there today was to keep EJ in the line-up. He clearly wants him out there with him. I could be wrong, but they seem to have *some* chemistry on the pitch in that EJ starts to resemble a football substance and Dempsey over compensates by putting in a super human shift. Man, if I am Dempsey I come out of this match, beaten and bruised, but with a huge smile on my face because Avram just spent 90 minutes game planning for me and I still got my crunk on. What?
This takes me back to the Sanchez days (I feel Sparky is an advanced replica of Sanchez by the way and only Hodgs tremendous teaching is still carrying them forward with composed build up play) when Clint called the manager out in a post match interview where he called for the ball to be played on the ground instead of in the air that it favored the footballers on the team.
Yes, Sam, Fulham's current success is only a product of Roy's "tremendous" teaching... The tremendous teaching that currently has a more talented Liverpool team in the relegation zone.
Exactly. It really wasn't a change in tactics, EJ was just playing in the target role that Clint had occupied the last few matches. This freed Clint up to play a position he is much more comfortable in (and he had an excellent match...by far Fulham's MOTM).
i hate arguing by analogy. It is lazy. Two things are never the same. He has 30 years experience managing teams with favorable results. He made a mistake. He should have staid with the Whites and built his little empire. He had the young veterans to grow the team with and instead like all tragic englishman he took up the calling of one of the big four and now he is being put to the test.
And Mark Hughes has roughly a decade of favorable results in the EPL. Sam, I like Roy and think he did a great job at Fulham, but I'm not the least bit convinced that Fulham would be in better shape today if he had stayed.