The rap on Nakazawa has always been his effort level. Kind of like a Justin Mapp. Funny that Bruce thought he was worth a try. Nowak jettisoned a lot of good players this past year - hopefully Kyle will be one of the better ones.
I posted during the in-game portion of this thread that Cobi was very critical of Jordan, Lopes and Barrett during last nights telecast. Unusually critical. He mentioned (paraphrasing) Jordan not having enough skills to be a winger, Lopes making two many mistakes and his tendency to give the opponent too much space and Barrett simply not being good enough to finish a play consistently. He mentioned these points quite a few times during the first half. Rogo even mentioned that at one point Cobi threw his arms up in frustration after Barrett botched a play. Cobi also mentioned having a few conversations with Bruce over the last few weeks. It got me thinking and this is pure speculation but if Cobi can notice the major flaws of some of our players and express this frustration so can Bruce and I'm sure Bruce has the same exact criticisms that Cobi pointed out. Is it possible that 2012 might be the last year for Jordan, and Barrett? I don't include Lopes cause Bruce said straight up Lopes is a short-term solution. Am I reading too much into this?
And it is far to early to toss him aside. How long has Jordan been with this team? Yet we"ll toss Nakazawa aside after a handful of appearances? Now Nakazawa is never going to have the speed that Jordan used to have but he has good skill and if he can channel Jordan's effort, well then we will have a useful player and a 2nd round draft pick.
I don't know. Making mistakes can be expected and can possibly be overcome through more training and experience. Lack of effort is inexcusable though. No one has ever questioned Jordan's effort. And I don't see that as a problem for Meyer, Gaul, Sarvas, etc. If Nakawaza isn't giving 100% effort on the field now (which is the impression several of us have) -- when he desperately needs to impress to get a spot on the field and when the team is desperately in need of wins -- then I have to ask when will he? And why isn't he? I can't come up with an answer except he is lazy or lacks a competitive fire. Either of which is a deal breaker for me. Maybe you have another, more hopeful hypothesis?
Well I don't know about hopeful. I don't feel he isn't giving 100%. He is never going to be a Jordan(thank god). All Jordan has is effort. No skill to go along with it. Naka has lot's of skill. I think he is still trying to find his role in to be honest. The guy is stellar in the reserves. Leads the team in assists I believe. He is probably our 2nd best setpiece option behind Beckham, his freekicks are that good. I'm willing to give him more time to find where and how he will work best for us.
Part of his problem is that he is a center midfielder and not a winger, but he is way down the pecking order at center midfield on the senior squad. Plus, he doesn't hustle enough to do what Beckham or Juninho do at center midfield. So, he likely only works with a stay-at-home defensive midfielder and the only one we have like that is a rookie (Walker) who mostly plays with the reserves or possibly Stephens. Plus, even if/when Beckham is gone to the Olympics, Sarvas is likely to play there ahead of Nakazawa. We have very few true outside midfielders and too many central midfielders. That's why I felt we were better off with Jordan there than with Nakazawa given our available choices on Sunday. I think the trade for Nakazawa came before we got Juninho back. He's surplus on the current roster.
I really hope not. I need Barrett to leave after this season. For the sake of my mental health. I feel like an ass saying that, because I truly believe he gives it everything he has, and if he could do better - he would do better. But I just can't....
Mosquera suspended 3 matches for his hit on McBean. http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news...nes-portland-timbers-defender-hanyer-mosquera
Try to watch it in fast motion then. It'll sure calm you down as you won't see a thing! ...err...bad joke?