TEAM OF THE SEASON - CLINT DEMPSEY

The top point scoring midfielder in the Barclays format with an incredible 17 goals and 7 assists, the mid fielders performances way exceeded any expectations before the season started.   He was always a consistent performer but this year was something special.  There was, interestingly,  also a big bias towards points in home games. This mirrored  Fulhams form which saw the team score 36  goals at  home compared to 12 away.  This lead to the rather bizarre need to bench an approx £9.0m player for away games as there never seemed a realistic prospect of attacking returns.  The home bias did have the advantage of making him a realistic captain option for home games though often with some fantastic hauls.

Here's his stats:

Points:  209 (highest scoring midfielder)

Games:37

Points per game: 5.6

Goals:  17

Goal scored every 2.1 games

Assists:  7

Bonus points:22

Bonus points as a % of total: 10%

Price range:  Start £8.5m.  Lowest £8.3m round 17.  Highest £9.8m round 37.  Finished £9.6m.

% owned:  18%

One strange point was the lack of bonus points for the amount of goals which bucked the trend of bonus points which pretty much followed the goal scorer. I remember a number of times looking at the lack of points in astonishment after a typical goal haul which was often coupled with respectable key pass stats.  I can only think that the high shooting rate produced off target attempts which counted against him.  However, who can tell,  in the bizarre world of bonus point allocation in the Barclays format.  

In addition, Dempseys base shooting stats were easily the highest in the Premier League for midfielders with him consistently taking a shot around every 30 minutes.  This stat  was only even closed to being matched by Bale VDV and Sigurdsson.  Always getting forward and in to shooting positions, there was a high percentage of shots in the box and his on target ratio was good.  This is no Adel Taarabt shooting from anywhere outside the box and taking 66 shots to score.   Dempsey's  stats for this year though were complicated by an ever constant changing of positions by Martin Jol which saw him used as a striker, left sided midfielder and an attacking midfielder playing just off the striker.  Its no secret which gave the highest returns and his positioning next year will be crucial to his success.

Next year will undoubtedly see a price hike to at least £10.0m and there are reports that he wants to leave Fulham.  These factors plus a question mark over his position if he were to stay at Fulham will give managers some reticence over putting him in their initial line up.  However he will have a full summers rest as he wont be involved in the Euros which will give him a freshness advantage of many other midfielders.  Its hard to imagine he could replicate this incredible season but on the other hand,  imagine what he could do given a consistent central attacking role and if Fulham suddenly find a way of scoring away from home....