It is regularly used as a reason in NFL which is the only other sport that comes close to being comparable to MLS in the sense that road trips are head out for one game, go home (although NFL only has to do it 8 times per year). With MLB, NHL and NBA any West Coast road trip is at least a week long with multiple cities.
We all see the games differently (obviously). I watch each match twice. Second time I am spending a long time, rewinding, watching the off-the-ball play, etc. as I have to write about it and prep to podcast about it. From my standpoint. Barnes has consistently been one of our best 3 players (through only 3 matches) this season. His speed has caused defenses problems (at this point, he is faster than Cummings), his ability to create with the ball at his feet is rivaled only by OBG, his service into the box from the wings has been quality. His off-the-ball runs (along with the pace) have created loads of space for teammates. Bruin's 2nd goal against New England came because Barnes made a near post run that pulled the defense away from Bruin such that he was completely unmarked on the far post. Plays like that do not show up in the stats, but are just as important as an actual assist. Only knock I'd give on him is that there have been a few times where he should have passed but took a shot. Frankly, though, you want your forwards shooting. You don't want Will Bruin of 2013 who looks too scared at a certain point to even have a go.
Don't get me wrong, I think he's done alright. I just wish his decision making with numbers up on the break was a little better. Although that could be a better reason to leave him at forward instead of AM. Like you said, you want forwards that want to shoot.
Not that it matters, but Simon Borg thought we could have had 2 penalties. It's toward the middle of the video... http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2014...tle-red-card-simon-borg-weighs-instant-replay I saw the Davis one, though the Vancouver tv didn't. Never saw the missed handball though. And by the way, what's with all the questionable calls that don't have a better look? Does MLS only use one camera per game? And the Dallas game's two reds weren't even on camera....
I saw the tackle on Davis live during the match, and thought that we got reffed. I couldn't be sure until later though. That's a bit frustrating, when the replacement referees are better than the referees that we have now.
another reason why we probably won't see this is that this line up calls for rico to be responsible for large portions of the middle of the field. when he pushes up to close down an opponent, he will often be near mid field center circle. this creates a huge amount of space behind him (between him and CBs). Taylor and Horst are not speedy enough to have one of them step up to take up such space and then track back. they would often have to play staggered and this would cause our D to get taken down like lindsey lohans knickers! (was that last comment "magisterial"?)
I saw Davis go flying and thought something was odd but Vancouver never mentioned it. It was too hard to try to rewind on the ipad to watch it again. I was also mad when they said Boniek "went down theatrically" after he was brought down and was obviously hurting. I thought about that play when I saw Sunday's Simpsons. Homer gets to ref at the World Cup because of his honesty. He's not fooled by legendary Brazilian "El Divo" when he falls in the box and calls for no penalty. Even after the medics take him off unconscious in a stretcher. And after an added 6 hours of "funeral time" Brazil losses, which causes the Brazilian fans to chant "olé, olé olé olé" like a dirge. And when Homer later visits El Divo's grave, he still says "no penalty!" And completely off topic, as they are carrying El Divo off, one of the sign boards on the field says in Portuguese (or anyway in Spanish...) "Welcome American fans. Quit calling it "soccer." You have been warned enough!" It was a very good Simpsons. Even had Andrés Cantor.
Really, 4-4-2 with a CAM? We already use that formation. Which brings me to a point that I did not really want to bring up. I think that a rotation system at CDM could be useful this summer. Carrasco, and Rico could rotate to keep Rico fresh. Luckily we do have two athletic fullbacks who can fulfill their defensive responsibilities by dropping and pressuring when the ball turns over.
Like Heft says, this is basically what we are doing now. OBG is playing as a CAM, Clark as the holding midfielder. As is the case now, being CAM in this system doesn't mean you don't get back and defend. Both OBG and Barnes got back and defended well when they were in the CAM spot this weekend. Horst has really surprising recovery speed. Late in the 2nd half, Manneh got around him. Manneh is fast as hell, yet Horst recovered and got back in front of him.
pub talk: Which goes back to my argument. I prefer more mobile CBs that can play with their feet (dime a dozen in Paraguay, Argentina, Brasil and Mexico) rather than bruisers because it lessens the responsibility on destroying mid if he's upfield. I understand that MLS is a different style but you do have some very mobile CBs in the league. The modern game has evolved that a good CB should be mobile enough to double as a defensive mid (think Geoff Cameron).
my take was geared towards the specific instance of the diamond formation with barnes as the CAM. not whether a CAM works or if 4-4-2 works.
OK, understood. I don't put a whole lot of stock in formations in general, because they are all the same in many instances. The main thing that matter are the players roles. A 4-4-2 can look like a 4-3-3 in shape, but what separates them are the use of speedy wingers, for instance. You could use a more defensive roster by using a single striker up top, and two CM's with defensive responsibilities, but we don't have the player that can make a difference in a single striker role. What makes the most sense to me is a 4-4-2 for this squad, though a 4-3-3 could work using players like Cascio/Cummings on the wings. I've been intrigued with the idea of using a 5 man defense if Davis, and Boniek are out at the same time for whatever reason. --Omar---Bruin---Cascio -----Carrasco--Creavalle Ashe-----------------Sarkodie -----JT----Rico----Horst ------------Hall
Brad Davis is an honest footballer and when he goes flying from a shove, Kevin Stott should been soccer savvy enough to make the correct PK call which of course he didn't. Such is the life as a Houston sports fan. Hakeem used to get prison raped with three defenders draped on him like a bad suit...no foul called. Obviously that no call on Davis alters the game drastically as our guys don't have to chase the game. It was nice to see Rico get of the mark for this season. ON to the small matter of the Texas Derby! DALE DYNAMO!!!