ASN: Premier League Prospects Stay Dim for People

Dempsey? Donovan? McBride? Gone, gone, and gone. Jozy Altidore and Geoff Cameron are the one two American outfield gamers more likely to see motion within the EPL anytime quickly, and neither is in an ideal scenario.

BY

Blake Thomsen

Posted
September 11, 2014
10:11 AM

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AFTER A LENGTHY STRETCH wherein American outfield gamers had been constant contributors to various English Premier League golf equipment, we now discover ourselves in a traditionally dry—in comparison with the final decade or so, at the very least—spell for Yanks on this planet’s hottest league. With Brek Shea’s mortgage transfer, Jozy Altidore and Geoff Cameron are the one two American outfield gamers wherever close to the primary group of an EPL membership. Sadly, even their respective conditions are much more difficult than can be very best.

Now that we’ve got just a little extra info concerning this toddler EPL season, let’s check out Altidore and Cameron’s prospects transferring ahead.

Geoff Cameron
Proper Again/Middle Again/Defensive Midfield

Stoke Metropolis

The Cameron scenario seemed very promising across the begin of the season, when a number of Premier League and Bundesliga golf equipment had been rumored to be concerned with Cameron and so they had been keen to grant him his want to play as a central defender. However a transfer by no means occurred, and Cameron has but to look in any of Stoke’s first three league video games. To make issues worse, yesterday Cameron underwent a minor hernia surgical procedure that can preserve him out for just a few weeks.

Upon his return, it doesn’t appear as if he’ll be as a lot of a assured starter as he’s been for the previous two seasons at Stoke. New proper again Phil Bardsley is not any pushover, so Cameron’s finest route again into the primary group may be at heart again. The difficulty there’s that Stoke has by no means appeared to favor Cameron at that place. Additional, Stoke has had a robust begin to the season defensively, conceding simply twice in three video games, together with a historic shutout win at Manchester Metropolis. With these type of defensive performances up to now, it’s unlikely that supervisor Mark Hughes will likely be too eager to modify issues up.

Nevertheless it’s not all doom and gloom for Cameron. Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross is nailed on to play each recreation at one heart again spot, however his present companion within the heart is Marc Wilson, a gifted Irish worldwide but in addition one who has performed extra often as a midfielder than as a middle again for Stoke. With that mentioned, Wilson performed the second half of final season in central protection and did a superb job (as he’s continued to do that yr), so Cameron actually has his work minimize out for him.

The opposite choice is defensive midfield, the place Cameron performed for Stoke within the League Cup earlier than withdrawing with the harm that required surgical procedure. However this doesn’t appear to be a very promising avenue, as Steven N’Zonzi is a star in that place and Charlie Adam and Steve Sidwell present additional high quality within the heart of the pitch.

In sum, Cameron has his work minimize out for him. With that mentioned, realizing Cameron, don’t guess in opposition to him regaining a beginning place—who is aware of the place?—shortly after he’s wholesome.

Jozy Altidore
Striker

Sunderland

Altidore at Sunderland Vol. II is off to a predictably uninspiring begin. That’s not a knock on Altidore, however fairly a close to inevitability given his delayed return to Sunderland’s preseason work as he recovered from his World Cup hamstring harm. In Sunderland’s first three video games, the massive heart ahead has come off the bench every time.

Now it’s as much as Altidore to make his transfer into the Sunderland beginning XI. It doesn’t harm his prospects that Sunderland’s beginning strikers—Connor Wickham and Steven Fletcher—have didn’t contribute a lot to begin the yr, with neither participant scoring or helping in three begins. Much more importantly, Sunderland didn’t safe a deadline day take care of ahead Fabio Borini, a near-guaranteed starter for the Black Cats final season whereas on mortgage from Liverpool.

The larger downside than competitors from Fletcher and Wickham, although, is the shortage of high quality service Altidore will obtain if and when he will get a begin or two. This limits his probabilities of scoring, as he’s by no means been the kind of participant who has thrived on creating his personal shot.

Nonetheless, summer season signings Jack Rodwell and Will Buckley ought to show a major improve in comparison with Sunderland’s choices final time round. Buckley appears to be like particularly promising, and the earlier Altidore can strike up a partnership with the younger winger, the higher. Nonetheless, Rodwell and Buckley aren’t precisely Fabregas and Hazard, so Altidore nonetheless received’t get the kind of service he’d choose.

Given the relative lack of high quality of Sunderland’s different strikers, all it would take is a objective or two from Altidore to lock down a beginning place—let’s see if he can ship sooner fairly than later.

Is it good, unhealthy, or impartial for American soccer to have so few gamers within the EPL? Is that this the yr that Altidore lastly breaks via as a productive EPL participant? Tell us within the feedback part beneath.

Blake Thomsen is a frequent ASN contributor. Observe him on Twitter.