It hasn’t been the best of times for former New England Revolution midfielder Clint Dempsey since he traded MLS for Fulham FC of the English Premier League three months ago. Soccer New England’s Andrew Hush analyzes the player’s dip in form, which unfortunately for his employer, has coincided with Fulham’s drop toward the relegation zone. On Monday against Manchester City (a 3-1 loss), Dempsey received his first minutes of action since playing against Manchester United on Feb. 24.
That, for those of you who don’t remember, was the night that Cristiano Ronaldo saved the Red Devils with a late surge down the left side of the field that culminated with a deflected shot past Fulham keeper Antti Niemi. It was probably Fulham’s best team performance of the year, and it took a moment of individual brilliance from Ronaldo to ruin it. Oh, and but for Dempsey’s late, missed tackle, Ronaldo might never have gotten that far.
In the 20 minutes he was on the filed against City, Dempsey didn’t see a whole lot of the ball, says Hush, but even so, “the verve and precociousness” that Revs fans had become accustomed to was noticeably absent. Some might say that that’s OK; many good players take time to adapt to the Premiership. But the good ones always show up, eventually.