Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Davis Is Wrong About Kenny Deuchar

I'm not sure where Steve Davis got his numbers on for Kenny Deuchar his recent column looking at Real Salt Lake's upcoming 2008 MLS season. He says that Deuchar has scored 10 goals in his last 21 Scottish Premier League matches. The thing is Deuchar hasn't played 21 matches in the Scottish Premier League! This year with Gretna is the first time that he's played in the Scottish Premier League. While 6 goals in 15 games for Gretna, including a recent brace against Beasley's Rangers, Deuchar is 28 years old. He hasn't racked up the stats refer to in Davis' column. Worse he's spent nearly a decade in the lower leagues in Scotland just to get a shot in the Scottish top flight.

Kenny Deuchar spent a large portion of this season on loan at St. Johnstone in Scottish Division 1 (2nd division). The year previous, when Gretna was in the 2nd division, he spent the last 2/3 of the season on loan at Northampton in League One (England 3rd division). Previous to that his numbers look great but much of that time was with Gretna and East Fife in Scottish Division 2 (3rd div.) and Scottish Division 3 (4th Div.).

Not having a sparkling CV doesn't preclude Deuchar from doing well in the MLS. But he hasn't hit the numbers Davis refers to nor does it seem like that in a maturing MLS Deuchar is going to be the guy to net goals for RSL. That may not matter as Kreis is likely looking for a foil for Findley and Espindola. But if he fails to put in decent performances don't be surprised to see Deuchar concentrating on medicine (he's a doctor) and RSL making a mid-season trade for another big body to put up top.

2 comments:

playtherapy said...

Sorry, COMPLETELY Off topic...

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2. Then pick the Division "Blogger MFLS Invitational Champs". The password for joining our division is- bloggy

Email me if you have any trouble. playtherapy@hotmail.com

Results will be published at the Nutmegged Blog site but feel free to write about the competition on your own site.
Cheers
Jeff (playtherapy)

Anonymous said...

As you can see already, this guy can score goals. Scottish prem standard is really not too bad these days, and late developers frequently are the hardest players to play against (Afonso Alves anyone?).

Generally in Scotland, there's a greater likelihood of having to really graft your way up through the divisions or at least from slightly smaller clubs to gain recognition, and Deuchar's overall record is second-to-none. 63 goals in 90 games for Gretna is a fantastic statistic.

Also, how many football players are even in the same ballpark in terms of intelligence?