ok i live in columbus and have always rooted for both the rapids and the crew. oddly enough denton went from columbus to colorado and my personal experience as a fan of both squads, is that everyone hates eric denton. and i cant quite figure out why. now b4 u folks flame away at me, here me out. now is eric denton an all star? NO! is eric denton a super star in this league? NO! but he is not the worst thing to happen to this league since lothar matthaieus(sp?).... here is why i DO like eric denton: *he is a quality(not great, but certainly servicable) left footed/sided player for starters(hard to come by in MLS for sure) *can be used decently at either the left back or left wing middy positions. *works his butt of game in, game out *can service decent corners crosses from the left side. also makes the goalie think a little when he lines up along side a right footed player on free kicks. so in the end u get a hard working, hard to come by(when i say that, i mean a left footed player), servicable, versatile player who doesnt piss or moan ever. but yet fans everywhere seem to completely hate him. somebody please let me in on the secret. is it just the thing to do in hating eric denton? or what?!?! i dont get it! now again, am i saying he is some superstar who is worthy of national team play?? for God sakes, NO!! is he capable of a miscue here or there? sure, but 90% of the players in this league are. but in the end he IS worth a roster spot and worth even starting for this Rapids team. ok, so flame away!!
I'm embarrassed that Eric Denton plays for the Colorado Rapids. I look at Eric Denton and I see a player who should never be able to make it in MLS, or as a professional soccer player period. Basically, I see guys like Denton as the litmus test for when MLS will have arrived as a respectable, quality soccer league. When players as crappy as he, and particularly he, get cut or can no longer make a team in this league, MLS will finally establish global respectability. Included in that list of players are Wolde Harris, Joe Franchino, Craig Waibel and Brian Dunseth. They're hacks, thugs and just plain rubbish players with little skill who couldn't play in any other respectable league in the world. Bottom line: For everything that Eric Denton could bring to this team, there is nothing he can do that Richie Kotschau couldn't do at left back or Chris Henderson or Mark Chung have done at left midfield. Moreover, there's no use playing a crap player like him who will never improve past his current abysmal ability rather than a great prospect like Hunter Freeman.
"Why does everyone hate Denton?" First off "everyone" doesn't. 1) Herd mentality, after enough people slag any player it is assumed that to defend them might show some weakness or lack of soccer knowledge. 2) Genuine lack of soccer knowledge results in people judging players on non-soccer attributes i.e. longer hair, headband or misunderstood soccer related attributes like a more creative playing style. 3) Creative playing style sometimes gets burned badly, so sometimes a scapegoat really is a goat. But sometimes creative is great as in creates a goal scoring play. Get him a short haircut, lose the headband and have him play more rigidly in position and most of the shallow criticism would move on to someone else. The net contribution to the team's effort might also drop slightly as well. Oh, and maybe let him play just one position and get a little more specialized, that couldn't hurt either.
That's mainly your problem right there, bub. Oh wait, you were asking what's wrong with Denton and not you... My bad. Denton's ****. He doesn't have much skill, he's not that quick, he doesn't have a good soccer mind for this level, and basically he's just an ugly mother ****ing pr!ck who flicks off his fans.
Denton does put some nice balls into the center of the field, but he also loses a lot of balls and seems to run back towards Cannon with the ball a lot. IMO he's an above average team member. He's no Seth Trembly.
He really had a bumpy start to this season, he couldn't keep the ball in bounds. He had a lot of giveaways, tended to lose most of the 50/50 balls. But, defensively he is playing better, he does have a high work rate and in spite of his wacky appearance he is playing with heart. I hope he proves me wrong by scoring many goals.
It's the hair. No kidding he's joined a line of Rapids players who get criticized for the hair and then their play. He's a cast off, and Rapids fans are tired of cast offs. We've never had the experience of picking up another teams cast off to find that he really can play. The way Chicago got Armas and Razov. Denton's actually not very high on my kill list. Wolde and Leo are near the top. I haven't been bashing Denton much, but here's the things I'd like him to work on: He needs to be more choosy about when he pushes forward from the left back position. He needs to recognize that sometimes you serve the ball, and sometimes you maintain possession. He's a hard working very rigid player, it'd be nice to see him vary what he does from time to time.
Once Hunter Freeman gets the confidence and experience he needs he will replace Denton in the lineup, unless he has some dirt on Clavijo.
Ah ... so you're the reason!!!! I agree that denton can take a corner better than most on our team. And I'll agree to the left footed freekick aspect (though he rarely actually gets it on frame!). But I think you'll find that most people do not like Denton because ... even though he attacks ... his passes suck nads. He turns the ball over time and time again ... and for a group of fans that are so desparate for offense ... when you see someone do something so stupid ... you want to jump on the field ... run to FC and yell "WHAT IN THE FREAKING WORLD ARE YOU THINKING!". But maybe I just feel that way