After the dramatics of last night, I thought I'd do a thread to show a little appreciation for our second Summer acquisition from Fulham - Clint "Deuce" Dempsey. When he first signed I was genuinely excited - even done a thread saying what a bargain signing he was - £6m for the Prem's highest scoring midfielder, result! But the first few weeks/ couple of months of his Spurs career were bad to watch, he looked out of place and the winner at OT seemed to paper over some cracks in some shoddy performances for the club. I'll admit I was jumping on his case big time and fuming that a returning Adebayor was being benched for him. That said, the past few months he's come to life big time, he's chipped in with a good few assists and got some important goals and his general play has looked far better, in a sense, he's actually taken over Rafa's role in terms of scoring the match winning/ crucial goals in games: Winner at OT. Winner at St Mary's. Killed the game against Reading (albeit deflection). Would've won us the game at Goodison (albeit again a deflection) had we not fallen asleep in the last 2 minutes. Two goals, the second being a blinding header against Coventry to put the game to bed in the first half. Equaliser in the 93rd minute vs Utd. So I'd just like to give the guy a bit of credit, as I've given him a lot of stick since signing but he's certainly proving his worth for us now and actually looking like the great buy I/ we were expecting when he penned a deal on deadline day. Well done Deuce, keep it up matey! "USA! USA! USA!"
Yep,I blinked when we signed Demps but well done. AVB seems to know what he's doing after all let's not forget he won the double in Portugal. I thought Dembele would be instrumental yesterday but it was Demps. O say can you see by the dawn's early light. O proudly we hail at the twilight's last gleaming.
Think Mousa had a great game too but Dempsey definitely deserved to grab the goal. Put in a real shift and was only outshone by Lennon.
He's definitely improving and has been playing well lately but I don't think he stood out yesterday, apart from scoring the tap in at the end.
Really? He nearly scored with a one-on-one earlier after he and Mousa went through the Utd rear guard, forced De Gea into a decent save after Defoe's initial shot got blocked. Link up play was good and then capped it off with the goal. Definitely thought he was up there with one of our better performers.
He was good but he should've scored that earlier chance and he gave the ball away too much to be considered one of our best players yesterday, in my opinion. It was good to have him back starting though, we're much better in that formation, another game of 442 and I think my head would have exploded.
Good thread SOS. I was a culprit forgetting on Dempsey's case a while back, but he's definitely improving. I think his work rate has been superb in recent games and thought he was one of the best players on the pitch yesterday. He seemed to be everywhere and his efforts were well rewarded with that goal. He's a very versatile squad player which is really helping us at the moment. However, unfortunately when we're at full strength, or a couple of "AVB" signings arrive (if they ever do) I think Demps will soon be finding himself on the bench as an impact sub.
Hi Roo I did attempt to reply to your pm yesterday when I got back from the Lane, but your inbox was/is full. .
Yeah definitely, I've always preferred 4-4-2 to be honest but Ade has been shocking this season, Deuce has been far better with Defoe in the 4-5-1/ 4-2-3-1 and I hope it stays like this now, we look more in our comfort zone when Ade's not in the team, he seems to slow us down a lot and loses the ball far too often, quite amazing really as the guy won us points single handedly last season... 2nd season syndrome for him it seems.
I was pleased we got him in the summer and think that he has done pretty well so far and that is certainly emphasised by his goals. His general attitude looks pretty good too, although he is so laid back he's almost comatose. (Don't also forget a couple of great passes to set up goals as well.) I did think he was a bit quicker than he actually is however and if I was to have any criticism it would be that he does get caught on the ball more than most, as he doesn't have the pace to get away. But all in all, Deuce has done all right!!
Hi Spurcat, thanks for pointing that out. Yours truly hasn't been clearing out the "sent items" and was wondering why an inbox consisting of 2 messages, was "full". should be ok now
I think that he's just got back up to full fitness and is gelling with those around him. He had a poor start, but his total lack of a pre-season slowed him down badly and our complete overhaul didn't help him to settle in quickly. He seems to have a better understanding with Defoe than Adebayor. I didn't expect them to complement each other, as Defoe tends to thrive when selected alongside a taller target man, but it seems to work.
I think he is settling in perfectly.....and he may not be as good as vdv as mentioned above but he does have a knack of scoring important goals..which says alot about his mindset...this team is becoming a team that does not think they can lose.
It had to be easier to pass the ball past a keeper already falling on his arse! Doesn't possess the accurate touch and footwork needed around the 18yd box the way our style is atm, stumbling, bumbling runs at best. Both him and Defoe are always guilty of what I now call not ball watching, but Bale Watching! when you see him go, get to the 6yd box, that cross yesterday, you could see it coming, those two never.
i get what you mean totally as it is like that..but i think Dempsey is feeling like an important cog in the team and that is helping his confidence a heap..hes got brains.....he just needs to come to terms with the fact that he plays for the mighty Spurs...he runs about with his mouth open in awe of our great club.....but once he switches back on he can play some good attacking football.
Was completely underwhelmed when we signed Dempsey, however this isn't to say I can't recognise he can be a goal threat, yet he is clumsy & lacking any real skill or vision and it would be unfair to compare him with VDV, as the contest is over before it starts. He trys to make up for his lack of skill/vision through hard work and scoring goals, and both these qualities are welcome! as for all the skill/vision required, we need hard working players that score, and score important goals. I can understand why he has his fans, and I remember earlier in the season against Man Utd, I was actually wanting him to start ahead of Sig, as while both players were being viewed as a let down, Dempseys goal threat was something I felt we needed. So while he doesn't excite me, I can see the qualities he has, yet what future does he have? as we're in desperate need of a creative midfielder, and Dembele/Sandro are 1st choice which leaves the position behind the striker to solve.
i think Dempsey has an eye for a good slide rule pass..seen it quite often..sometimes the pass can be made to look rubbish due to the lack of intelligence shown by the runner and Defoe isnt the brightest in thes scenarios.
For the record I wasn't actually comparing Deuce to Rafa, just that he'd taken over Rafa's role of important goals for the club, something Rafa always came up with. Ability wise, Dempsey isn't half the player Rafa is but he is getting in the right positions when we're desperate for an equaliser/ winner.
