“Dempsey’s been in exceptional form in training, so that was no surprise. But it’s his first goal during my time as manager, which he sometimes reminds me of and sometimes I have to remind him of, so he was really delighted. But it was a good goal.”
October 27, 2008
Roy speaks
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Y’know, that sounds a lot like what Clint’s old manager stateside (Steve Nichols) would say to keep Clint honest, and for a player like Dempsey, it works.
Got a chuckle out of me at the very least!
Comment by A Yank — October 27, 2008 @ 3:32 pm |
Speaking as a proponent of the idea that Dempsey should get more playing time, that’s nonetheless a fair point by Roy – it WAS his first goal since Roy took over, and if Clint is going to prove that he deserves to play regularly, he needs to do so by scoring goals in Roy’s system, not by doing so in another coach’s system.
Comment by Josh — October 27, 2008 @ 3:55 pm |
Absolutely. But if you want to properly motivate Clint, backhanded compliments seem to be the best way to do it.
Comment by A Yank — October 27, 2008 @ 6:08 pm |
Yeah, first goal in how many minutes? He’s gotten what, one start so far, and see the last 20 minutes of a few games.
Throw up a “goals” per minute stat.
I think Roy will RELUCTANTLY start him next game.
Comment by Derek — October 27, 2008 @ 9:11 pm |
From Sky Sports, Roy said, “”There is far greater potential in the team this year and we are still gelling together. Zamora and Johnson are much, much better than they were in the opening two games and are beginning to understand each other, Gera is finding his feet and as a team we are looking a much stronger unit and a much better bet for avoiding relegation.”
Still doesn’t sound like Clint figures into the mix much. He’ll just let Zamora, Johnson and Gera take as much time as they need to find their freaking feet..
Comment by Derek — October 27, 2008 @ 10:50 pm |
chill, Derek! Watch the interview linked to above (the one Sky is quoting). He says that Dempsey’s playing really well in training and that he’s delighted for him. Roy’s been very positive about every Fulham player in the press, he’ll do a Joe Torre: keep it clean for the media and let rip behind closed doors. I’m pretty sure of that. Time to be happy…
Comment by weltmeisterclaude — October 27, 2008 @ 11:03 pm |
Some people complain that Roy speaks in platitudes but in fact he’s more honest almost any other manager.
I think he’s broadly happy with the way things are going. We’re hardly conceding and when we do it tends to be down to an individual’s error rather than a failure in the team plan. He sees things steadily improving as players get used to their place in the scheme of things and match up to his requirements.
We, of course, are impatient. In the summer we were elated after the great escape and excited by the players coming in and others we were supposedly interested in. We expected a much better season.
Remember though what Roy said. It would be tough and we’d have to work hard to stand a chance of staying above the relegation zone. We weren’t listening to that or thought he was underplaying expectations.
No. He meant it.
I think that’s why we see very few changes either in the starting line up or from the bench. If we’re level he’s happy enough. When we’ve gone behind with some time to spare he’s made changes, otherwise not.
He’s also said, and meant it, that we’ve been competitive in every match – no one’s outplayed us. So, no need for changes.
Same again Wednesday, I think.
Comment by Tony Gilroy — October 28, 2008 @ 8:43 am |
Spot on Tony. He’s clearly trying to get his first team to gel. I suspect as the season wears on we’ll see a lot more on Dempsey, Nevland, Andreasen and the others. But injuries permitting and so long as we continue to do two things right (keep possession and play tight at the back) I think we’ll see the same starting line-up for at least a few more games yet. Possible we’ll see some earlier substitutions if things aren’t working or players begin to tire but I’m not sensing anything dramatic in the pipeline, especially now that he’s seen that Nevland and Dempsey can have real impact off the bench.
I think a win against Wigan will settle a lot of people down. I think everyone, even those calling for changes, can easily see how much more controlled a side we are from last season. It’s just our proximity to the bottom that means people are freaking out a little.
Comment by rjbiii — October 28, 2008 @ 11:57 am |
Sorry, hard for me to be calm. Dempsey is my favorite player. He’s the only offensive Yank in the big leagues that is able to score. I think he has a ton of potential, but, as you’ve said, he consistently has to prove himself.
Comment by Derek — October 28, 2008 @ 5:50 pm |
I think Tony’s made an excellent point there regarding Roy’s opinion of where we stand compared with our own. Still think Bullard would benefit from at least one game out and that Dempsey deserves a shot at it.
Comment by Chopper — October 28, 2008 @ 6:04 pm |
Sorry, but I don’t think that Dempsey is good enough to play a true central midfielder position, which Bullard has been playing. If he were, he would play there, and not on the wing or at forward, for the National Team. If we want Dempsey to play central midfield, it would have to be as attacking midfielder, and we would at least want a true holding midfielder behind him, which Murphy is not.
Comment by Ilya — October 28, 2008 @ 6:09 pm |
I have no idea what “good enough” means. He doesn’t lose the ball much, and he is a good distributor of the ball. Sometimes, I think he is the best passer on the Nats. He’s the guy who makes the great through pass with the follow up run to the far post.
Just because he hasn’t played somewhere, doesn’t mean he can’t. How often did he play forward before he started playing there with Fulham? On the Revs, he was a midfielder.
Comment by Derek — October 28, 2008 @ 8:12 pm |
Wow. I just read Bobby McMahon’s blog. That was clint’s first goal in 24 games for Fulham. Prior to that he had scored six in 21 in 07/08. Definitely shows he’s a bit streaky. Here’s to hoping that it is not another 24 games before he gets on the scoresheet again.
Comment by Lucian — October 29, 2008 @ 3:31 am |
I don’t know if that’s correct, Lucian. He played centre-forward for us and scored six goals. Then played left midfield and didn’t score any. So it’s swings and roundabouts I guess.
Comment by weltmeisterclaude — October 29, 2008 @ 9:17 am |
Obviously, it’s a totally different system under Sanchez, when he was up-top for a lot of it. Remember though, he also scored a couple from a midfield position (home v. Reading and v. Wigan). It’s possible that playing different positions leads to the absence of goals for this long. I think, though, that this amount of time between goals (I included cup games) is why a lot of people on TIFF forums get down on Dempsey. It seems to me that Demps has been getting significantly more tidy on the ball over the past month and a half because he’s been working hard to get into the side. I think we’re going to see significant improvement in consistency from him, whether he’s playing midfield or forward.
Comment by Lucian — October 29, 2008 @ 2:15 pm |
fair enough. Incidentally, he scored home and away against Wigan last year.
Comment by weltmeisterclaude — October 29, 2008 @ 2:23 pm |
Dempsey has shown just about all the qualities of a good central midfielder, just not at the same time. He’s been our most accurate passer by a fairly wide margin (small sample notwithstanding), he showed last season that his defensive skills are probably at least on par with Danny Murphy, and we all know he can put the ball on target and score.
Comment by Colin — October 29, 2008 @ 4:29 pm |
i love dempsey. keep it up and find a spot back in the starting XI.
Comment by bryan usa — October 30, 2008 @ 1:58 pm |