Nobody is pining away for Franklin's crossing. We are wishing we didn't have Leonardo in the center and we are wishing we had the solid defense of 2011 and late 2012.
I don't disagree with your view with what fans want, but I might point out that Bruce was resistant to the Dunivant, AJ, Omar, Franklin quartet long before Sean departed. He started moving AJ to RB, and Franklin to RM or the bench, last season. Even with Leo out, or on the outs, he played Opare there rather than AJ. Even if Franklin stayed, I don't think Bruce planned to play AJ at CB.
And that is what I posted---that moving Franklin created a situation where you KNOW Leo is playing, and that even when we had Franklin there was no guarantee the Leo wouldn't play. But it is definitely a factor this year in Leo playing so much, particularly with Opare, the 2nd option, out hurt.
I was at the game and haven't watched the tv coverage, so excuse me. 62min and Sarvas is bundled over, by Morales (#17) threw an elbow into Sarvas' ribs. CR and AR missed it. Perhaps the committee may take action for violent conduct there's a clip in this weeks review 2:12 into the video http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2014...-replay#ooid=dtN2czbTqhWn5UJKfwagG6LhdQADv2Zr
I agree with this sentiment except to note that he really isn't that selfish, and especially not compared to other elite goal scorers - many of whom have never seen an assist they like. While he did miss a couple of good passing opportunities to LD last game it should be remembered that he led the Galaxy in assists last season and in fact had the 2nd highest assist rate in the league (his .50 assists/90m was just edged out by set-up man Valeri with .51). Those are not the stats of a selfish player. And from watching him play I would say that unless he is in the box or right at the edge of it he probably does more 1 touch passing than anyone on the team other than Landon and Landon is usually his first target to pass to. Now obviously when he has the ball in the box he often is like a dog with a bone. But I think that trait is a large reason he leads MLS in goals per game over the past two seasons. All great goal scorers are at least a little bit selfish. How the hell do you think they developed those dribbling and finishing skills?
On the Robbie thing...he's been like that since he's been here. He's crap on breakaways, and he has issues holding on to the ball too long and trying to pass it into the net. But you take it for what it is. On the overall reaction and formation...we're playing our right back at left back, third choice right back, and a CB pairing of a walking disaster waiting to happen, and a good player trying to find his mojo. Along with a cdm (Juni) who has a pretty extensive record of going to sleep at times and not tracking midfield runners. So to solve it, Bruce is playing 3 defensive midfielders, who are decent (but not creative) passers to keep the ball and get your well paid front 3 the ball. Creating chances isn't the problem...watch the highlights. The Keane half volley in the 7th was a good chance, Husidic had a free header from the corner, Landon had a free header, there were 2 clean breakaways that should have been goals at the end. Honestly 1 was about the absolute minimum goals we could have ended up with out of that game. And we gave up next to nothing...most keepers not named Cudicini make 2 of the saves Panedo did...the one where he came off his line when Gargan whiffed was excellent.
Rob Friend had two good chances as well. In fact, if you consider last season, imagine how many more goals we'd have scored if Zardes could finish. Our biggest issues have been that nobody seems to be able to deliver a set-piece anymore and our wing play has been wasteful. I'm anticipate Ishizaki improving our wide delivery. I would personally prefer us to have a large share of the possession with the quantity of chances we're creating, over bombarding the opponents penalty area but risking frequent turnovers. We do seem to lack a specific offensive strategy and tend to rely on chances emerging organically as the game goes on and are guilty of sometimes playing too conservatively and holding off on pulling the trigger, but I'll take it. As long as we minimise the defensive brainfarts, we should win a majority of our games this season as long as the squad stays fit.
I noted tht Ishizaki, not Landon, was serving on corner kicks last game. This is a step in the right direction. LD has just been off on his corner kicks for quite a while.
And frankly, I'd rather one of our best finishers be near the box to finish, or retrieving the ball to serve up another cross, than serving in the initial cross.
Has anybody looked at the BS Whitecaps board to see what they say about the game? I looked. If there is a P/I/P type thread there, I didn't see it. Nada. Either there is some other board where Caps fans go to discuss things, or they have the deadest fanbase of all on these boards.
I think Seattle, Portland and Vancouver all had forums that pre-dated BS and got lots of traffic. Or at least I heard that from a Timbers fan.
As much as I hate those teams, I don't think that is the case. It's a case of them having fanbases before MLS, and therefore starting in a different way. I'm sure that's carried over from when they entered MLS. Don't worry though, I'll just on the next Pacific Northwest joke that comes along with a vengeance.
I don't know Van's but POR use stumptownfooty.com mostly and SEA use sounderatheart.com and the main website mostly.
Seriously, what are you talking about? The Galaxy has 2 goals against in the first 4 games. Best defense in the league, despite the early fumbles in pre-season and CCL. Give them a chance.
Don't be misled by the stats. We played a toothless Chivas and an out-of-form Whitecaps. The only tests were RSL. We gave away blueplate specials and got bailed out by the keeper. I know "that's the keeper's job" but if you continue to test a guy like that, don't expect miracles every time. Now, MAYBE, Leo is growing into the job and now understands the league. And MAYBE Omar will decide to return to the form we know he is capable of. But I will be very surprised if we end up "best defense in the league" by the time mid-season rolls around. Particularly if we are playing a journeyman right back and an intelligent but out-of-position left back.
I don't think you can discount the CCL. That is part of our season too, a BIG part (or was) and our defense got us dumped out. And Cadaver is right--I don't think you can watch our games and not have some concerns about the type and quality of chances we are giving up.
Very true, but I’d say I’ve had the same concerns every season since Bruce took over. I’ve come to terms with it and the number of years it is likely taking off my life span.
The 2nd CCL match is an outlier because we won't face an attack as good as that one for the rest of the season. And arguably the diamond has been deployed to prevent what happened in that game, which is getting overrun in midfield.
I don't agree that the problem that game was getting run over in the midfield. That happened, but there was a LOT more bad defense going on than that. And we will face good offenses, perhaps some as good as that. We've already lost to RSL at home. In this case Outlier just means the worst time the defense has been exposed. You don't disregard outliers. You consider them just like other data, but being aware they are outliers. Xolos were not so far above us we couldn't beat them. We didn't get killed by Bayern. Our defense let us down badly and we got beat by a team in a tie we were quite capable of winning. The midfield played a role in that. The defense played a bigger role.
I'm not saying to disregard it, but if you look at what happened during the Xolos away leg, you can't really lump it in with the other goals we've given up for the basis of identifying a trend. There simply isn't a midfield in MLS that can play us straight up and get that kind of result. RSL is the closest, and even they only try it at home--any other time they cede possession. Since that match, we've given up 0 run of play goals. I'm not saying to disregard it, but I also don't think there is a trend that indicates a systematic issue with defense (besides Leo's errors, I guess). Last year, for example, crumbling in the last 10 minutes was a systematic problem you could set your watch by. Something like that may emerge this season (let's hope not!) but it's probably too early to tell now.
It's true that it is early. For sure. But the Xolos goals sure looked a lot like the other goals given up this year which looked a lot like last year....people losing marks on set pieces, confusion on switchoffs, just dumb plays by Leonardo, Omar losing concentration....sure feels like last year to me.