Clint Dempsey Becomes 1st American To Notch Hat Trick In An EPL Match

(Pardon the video's quality, it's the best I could find on YouTube. I'm not sure of the UK laws but it looks like the EPL doesn't allow YouTube or other websites to post highlight videos of their games. Weird).

No matter what you did today, odds are that Clint Dempsey had a better day than you. The U.S. national team star scored a hat trick for Fulham this afternoon in their 5-2 win over Newcastle.

Dempsey became the first American ever to score three goals in an English Premier League game. What's more, his first of the match was the 50th of his career. He now has 15 (2 more than his career-high from last year) for his club this season, including nine in EPL contests.

"We never found our rhythm in the first half but we began to get into their penalty area in the second half,'' Dempsey said after taking his Premier League tally to nine goals. "Danny Murphy scored the first goal and then we kept going and going. Luckily the ball kept going in. We never took our foot off the gas and we took our chances.''

Fulham manager Martin Jol was delighted with the American's performance and was keen for it continue as the team moved eight points away from the relegation zone.
"Clint Dempsey is our top scorer,'' Jol said. "He is doing what he does best. Clint scores goals and if he can score 12 goals this year and some other players do we will be fine.''

This came two weeks since Dempsey's first career hat trick: in an FA Cup game against Charlton.

It'll be interesting to see if Dempsey gets transferred to a bigger English club (cough cough Arsenal or Liverpool) that needs a goal-scorer. You never know, it could happen.

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Ajax coach Martin Jol is out; Newcastle lets Chris Hughton go, wait what?

Big doings today in the coaching ranks of European soccer.

Ajax's coach Martin Jol resigned and Newcastle got rid of its coach Chris Hughton.

What makes this story even more interesting and connected is the rumor that Jol might be next in line at Newcastle.

Newcastle took the shock decision to axe Chris Hughton on Monday afternoon, citing a desire to bring in a manager with greater experience. Peter Beardsley has been placed in temporary charge while the club seek out a successor and a host of names including Martin O'Neill and Alan Pardew have been linked with the role.

Jol was prominent in a number of bookmakers' lists for the position and he would now appear free to discuss his future with any club after tendering his resignation at the Amsterdam Arena.

Ajax announced on their website that former Holland defender Frank de Boer would take temporary charge until the winter break, while Jol claimed the criticism the club have got for their stuttering form has caused unrest in the squad.

The former Hamburg and Tottenham boss told the club's official website: ''With pain in my heart I say goodbye to this wonderful club.'We started something last summer that I would have finished. But I have come to realise that the expectations after last season were too high.

''We cannot meet such expectations. The amount of criticism that the club has had to endure daily has led to unrest in the club and among players.

''I take this decision consciously before AC Milan v Ajax (in the Champions League) is played (on Wednesday).

''The coming weeks are very important and I sincerely hope that something happens in the squad to make it in the short term a winning team.''

The Amsterdammers finished second in the league last term, a point behind FC Twente, scoring 106 goals and with a staggering goal difference of plus 86. They have struggled to repeat their end-of-season form in the early part of this campaign, though.

While Jol's removal was somewhat understandable, Hughton's seemed unexplainable, especially to his players.

Sol Campbell, who made his 500th Premier League appearance this weekend, told ESPNsoccernet: "Chris is such a lovely guy. Top man. This will hit the players hard. The players admired him, and liked him, and won't be happy now he's gone like this."

The former England, Arsenal and Tottenham centre-back added: "You have got to ask yourself why this has happened because it makes no sense. Here is a guy who has done an unbelievable job. He got the club back into the Premier league and any manager would have been rewarded for that with a new contract - but Chris wasn't.

"The players are sure to be asking themselves 'what the hell is going on?', that is only natural.

"We all had a good relationship with the players, and when we left training this morning none of the players had a clue this was coming.

"But word started to spread that the bookies had stopped taking bets and the players started texting each other with the news.

"Yes, it has come as a shock, and it will affect the dressing room there is no doubt about that."

Stay tuned to see what shakes out with both of these high-profile teams in the near future.