I am concerned out the lack of a coordinated offense. Seattle won this game, like the past few, on defense midfield pressure. If anyone recorded the game, count the number of times where Seattle combined well on the offense - talking about give and go, attacking movement off the ball, short leading passes....stuff that breaks down a defense. Practically zilch. Or the few times we have good breaking movement off the ball, it is ignored. The strategy appears to be run it into the corner and cross, then hope the someone can get a head on it. Estrada got lucky (at least he is trying) and it would have ended in tie were it not for Sounders defense (the athleticism and reflexes of Hurtado). I am particularly dissapointed with Montero's play. He looks like a spoiled, lazy prima-dona out there. Bench him. Who to replace him? Does not matter. Anyone. He not is doing nothing up there anyway. It baffles me how he and Oz can be such buddies when Oz plays like man with his head on fire and Montero looks like a lost kid at the mall looking for his mommy. Osvaldo, por amor de Dios, da una medida de su fuego a tu amigo.
Oh, and what happened at the end of the game to clear the bench and cause Evans to pop his cork?? Details?
Seems like it was a late challenge to start it. Evans was actually trying to calm everyone down until a fire player came up and shoved him, then he just got pissed.
I'm trying to watch the replay. This looks offside. But still, the movement is so fast, any AR could miss it.
He was even with the goalie and there were two defenders behind him. He was definitely on side when the ball was played.
Benching Montero would be a terrible idea. I'm not sure some people understand how much he contributes off the ball sometimes.
I feel like some (newish)fans don't understand what his role is and what should be happening off the ball.
Unfortunately, a good part of his game should be scoring goals and he isn't getting that done so far. Not that I think he should be benched, but he needs to start putting balls into the back of the net.
As long as we are winning and he's doing his job off the ball there is no reason to bench him. If this had been a long losing streak, yeah, bench him. But the fact that we are winning WHILE he's struggling to score goals is pretty awesome. That being said, in this stretch of games I wouldn't be surprised to see Fredy rested for a game.
Please. Enlighten us. What is his role? Not being in the stadium, watching on TV, it is hard to really see what he is doing off the ball. From what see on TV, he gives up easily, spends a lot of time walking around watching the game, and most of his possession/movement is not directed toward the goal. I don't want to hyperfocus on Freddy though. My larger concern is that the front line is not connecting well and generally has not all season. When Seattle goes on the attack, we usually end up passing laterally around the box until it gets to the wing and some one boots it in. The forwards are creating very little in the way of their own opportunities. Instead of "give and go" with movement directed toward the goal, we get "give and give back" with a lot of lateral/back passes. The offense stalls, the ball gets stolen, and the defensive midfield pressure recovers. Oh, and while I am asking naive newbie questions, what is up with Gspurning catching the ball at shoulder height, clutching it to his chest, then, after it is well under control, dropping to the ground and pumping his hips? Someone tell him to stop that. I do not want to have to explain to my 13 year old son why he is hugging the ball and humping the pitch.
I'm assuming you mean at the end of the game. It is generally a form of time wasting. Any other connotations you get from that are purely of your own design.
He draws defenders out of position. You have to guard montero, no matter what his form is you've got to put a guy on him. And then he does stuff like this http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2012/04/28/goal-eddie-johnson-scores-his-first He took a shot and tested the keeper. The reason we got that goal was because of Fredy's set piece. On this goal, watch Fredy carefully. He hangs back, it looks like he's not trying, but there is purpose to what he's doing. When he makes his run, it gives Estrada space. Now, Estrada didn't mean to score this goal, but watch how two defenders follow Fredy's run. It opens up space. http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2012-04-28-chi-v-sea/highlights?videoID=183824
Video 1. you cannot remotely give Montero any credit for that goal. He took a poor shot - essentially right at the keeper who fumbled it. Any number of players could have taken that shot as well or better. Hurtado pulled some sort of gymnastics out of his bag of tricks to land it at EJs feet. Video 2. Yeah! He is running! He is watching the ball! He is actually in front of the goal and in a position to recieve a pass (which appears to have been Estradas intention). I have no issues with his play on this goal. BTW, of the 6 defenders in the box at the time of the "shot", only 1 was on Freddy.
I will say one thing, Montero took over a lot of the play maker role when Rosales went down. If you watch him throughout the game, he's not playing up top like he has been in previous seasons, he's playing way back. Heck, it isn't uncommon for him to be back helping on defense. Hopefully with Rosales back, we'll see him playing up top more.
I didn't give him credit for the goal, but I do give him credit for being our best set piece taker in those situations BY FAR. For video 2, It isn't about the player directly ON Fredy or where they were at the time of the "shot." It's about what he does to clear space for Estrada to get a pass off. He does this plenty of times in every game and I think that the importance of it is vastly underrated by our fans and it is seen as "lazy play." Ironically, so far this season this is the hardest I've seen Fredy work in his time with the Sounders. There are still 28 more games to go, the goals will come.
Yes, that the goals will come is the shared hope of us all. We are waiting for Freddy to, as he says, "hablar con goles". Habla Freddy! Habla!
When someone tells me how good a player's workrate is and how much he hustles, my first instinct is that he ain't all that good.
So Thierry Henry, he works hard... Not that good I guess. The reason I brought up work rate in the first place is because of the accusation that Fredy is lazy. Geez just can't win.
Re: Captain Ski When a newbie account shows up after a win and starts bitching about Montero being lazy, claiming Gspurning is humping the ground, and telling seasoned posters to "enlighten us," my first instinct is he ain't nothing but a troll.