Fulham boss Martin Jol believes striker Clint Dempsey saved Fulham in recent seasons, but since the American left for Tottenham the Cottagers have struggled. "Clint Dempsey always made the difference," said the Dutchman.
"I feel if Clint Dempsey hadn't been here over the last three or four years, we could've ended up with a real problem.
"If you look at the points Fulham had because of him... Can you imagine the scenario if Clint hadn't been here over the last three or four years?
"Our strikers never used to score a lot of goals. Now I think we're fine, but we don't have Clint. If Clint had stayed I think we would've been in the top 10.
"We sold our top scorer and he (Dempsey) was the top scorer for a couple of years.
"Last year he scored more goals than any year before - and Dembele was my best player, arguably.
"We had to build a new team. If everyone is fit I still feel we're not far from the quality we had last year."
"I feel we will score more goals than before, but we need the important and vital goals," Jol added.
"Clint Dempsey scored all our winners last year."
