Player Focus: What Dempsey's Signing Means for the Sounders

Such was the delirium across the Pacific Northwest when rumours of Clint Dempsey’s potential return to the States surfaced that a crowd of Seattle Sounders supporters camped out at the city’s airport, hoping to get the scoop on their alleged new signing. There was even a trending hashtag (#DempseyWatch). But he never showed.
 
Of course Dempsey did sign for the Sounders, putting pen to paper on the most lucrative contract in MLS history. He’d been smuggled into a van on the runway.
 
The wider significance of Dempsey moving to MLS in the prime of his career has been debated at length. Indeed MLS wouldn’t have been a credible option for Dempsey several years ago and his signing is a statement of how far the American game has come since David Beckham became the league’s first DP signing in 2007.
 
But what does his arrival mean for his new team in the immediacy? How will the Seattle Sounders benefit on the field?
 
On the face of it Dempsey appears to be a perfect fit for the Seattle Sounders, linking the lines of midfield and attack with his fluid, almost position-less, style of play. At Fulham the American played as an archetypal number ten at times, occupying and exploiting the space behind the strikers.
 
In his most successful season at Craven Cottage (2011/12) Dempsey netted 17 times in 37 appearances, complimenting his impressive scoring record with six assists to anoint him Fulham’s most productive player.
 
But Andre Villas Boas at Spurs used him as more of a second striker. Dempsey averaged 2.4 shots per game, putting him ahead of fellow attackers Emmanuel Adebayor and Gylfi Sigurdsson, and ranking him third at the club on the basis of average shots per game.
 
In fact Dempsey’s statistics with Spurs are impressive. In just 22 starts for the North London side Dempsey netted seven times, providing four assists in the process and ending the season as the club’s third top scorer (behind Gareth Bale and Jermain Defoe).

 
Dempsey failed to make the overall impact he made at Fulham but those who insist he was a failure at White Hart Lane are ignorant of his statistics with Spurs.
 
So which will he be at Seattle? Will coach Sigi Schmid use him as he was at Fulham, an attacking midfield pivot, or the advanced attacker he was at Spurs?
 
Assuming Schmid retains his usual system, deploying Eddie Johnson and Obafemi Martins as an attacking duo with Osvaldo Alonso anchoring the midfield, Dempsey will revert to a midfield role, surging forward from the centre as support to the strikers.
 
Despite Dempsey’s versatility on the wings Seattle already boast an abundance of creativity and invention in the wide areas, with Mauro Rosales normally on the right and Lamar Neagle on the left (interchangeable with Johnson).

However, the Sounders are somewhat devoid of imagination through the centre, with midfield partners Osvaldo Alonso and Brad Evans representing a robust pairing.
 
While Evans leads the Sounders for assists, with five, Alonso’s offensive statistics are less than impressing, picking up just one assist from 13 appearances and playing an average of 0.7 key passes per game.
 
Of course deploying Dempsey in a more advanced position could leave Alonso exposed in the centre, making it easy for opponents to bypass the Cuban.
 
Subsequently, should Schmid decide to keep his central platform of Alonso and Evans, instead the real loser from the Dempsey transfer could be Neagle, who has impressed this season in what is his third stint for the Sounders.
 
In such a scenario Johnson would likely move back to the left wing position, allowing Dempsey to slot in behind Martins and dropping Neagle out of the starting line-up.
 
The signing of Dempsey will presumably improve Seattle’s potency in front of goal, with the Sounders ranking 15th in the average shots per game column (11.3). Seattle’s tendency to test the keeper is equally feeble, maintaining an average of just 4 shots on target per game.
 
During the 2011/12 season Dempsey alone averaged 3.9 shots per game, playing 1.5 key passes per game and maintaining a WhoScored match rating of 7.17 to give an impression of ‘Deuce’s’ overall attacking prowess.
 
In simple terms the USA captain should also contribute to and boost the Sounders’ goal tally, with his new team finding the net just seven times away from home this season (the second lowest amount in the West).
 
Seattle are currently slumped in seventh place in the Western Conference, two points off the play-off spots. If the Sounders are to mark Dempsey’s arrival with their first MLS Cup there’s work to be done.
 
However, after making the biggest signing in the league's history the Sounders should believe anything is achievable.