No, it was well worth the trouble. He can stay at a higher level and face high level opponents – what is the problem? The FULHAM team in general is doing terrible – if he made a difference, then would you still be saying the same thing? Doubtful. The team is terrible, Martin Jol left a bad taste in their mouth – and it’s evident by the amount of necessary new faces the Fulham management have to bring in. FWIW, the USMNT is playing better football than Fulham are – so when he gets solid players around him – it will be like he was never on a “drought” – and this article will be just another pointless rant.
Matthew Evans
Matt, thank you for the comment. To answer your question, I would still be saying the same thing even if he made a difference with Fulham.
The problem with this loan was that he did not play against high level opponents; he did play 90 versus Arsenal and 26 versus Southampton. His other appearances? 90 versus Norwich, 78 versus Sunderland, 70 versus Swansea (all teams still fighting to survive relegation) and 120 versus Sheffield United, who themselves are in a relegation fight to the fourth division.
I really hope that he does break out of this “drought” for the sake of himself, the USMNT and the Sounders.
john
‘any glimmer of hope’ of advancing rests on dempsey’s shoulders??? No. If our hopes rest on Dempsey, we might as well not even go. Dempsey’s gone rapidly downhill since he left Fulham. He’s a different player when he puts on the national team jersey, but he’s simply not as good as he was… and playing as he has for the last 18 months, if he didn’t have such a favorable history with the USMNT, he wouldn’t set foot on the field. I’m less worried about him, as we have the midfield depth, but more worried that Jozy will get grandfathered in, despite being in terrible form and being outplayed by Johannson, Boyd, Gomez, Agudelo, hell, even Wondo…