Yea I agree, where is the game thread already? Pearce has traveled to LA to assess Becks for the Olympics, if he sits in for the Dallas match then DAMN! Becks will put it all out there and against Dallas it's the perfect time
i know Becks is gonna go into Playoffs mode if this Pearce guy evaluates him during the FC Dallas match, im still not happy about him leaving this summer tho
Well the game gave us a second data point on Lopes. There was good and bad. The good was his height and athleticism really did help clear balls on set pieces. And he wasn't easy to push around. And the PK was not his fault - that was on the ref. The bad was that he over-commits on defense too often and again made a costly mental mistake that cost us a goal. We are up 2-0 in the 2nd half sailing with confidence when a routine long high ball is sent toward Cummings. If Lopes just stays tight with him (like say Duni would) all is ok. But instead he decides to leap for the ball, misses it by a foot,and this leaves both the ball and Cummings going past him. The ball bounces high to a surprised AJ (who meanwhile is marking another guy) and under pressure he is composed enough to head the ball away but unfortunately to Cummings. Now suddenly our lead is down to one and the whole tone of the game changes. Colorado gets hope, plays better, we start looking nervous and play worse. BTW I'm not saying that Franklin couldn't have done better or possibly AJ on the play, but Lopes bad decision is the one that turned a routine play into a frenetic defensive scramble that came to a bad end. So this game is just another data point showing that Lopes is going to bring a physical dimension the defense has been lacking but along with it a lot of wtf were you thinking? plays that will likely cost us more goals as well. And my real conclusion? David Junior Lopes is basically Omar's body with Bryan Jordan's brain.
The good Thing is you can teach him to sit back. You can't teach size and speed. We can make him serviceable until Omar or Leo are ready to go. If we can develop him to be just a bit smarter and patient we have a very good mls defender. he is young and can still learn, Unlike Boyens and doesnt have bad College habits ala Meyer so I think he is worth the investment in training. He obviously works better with AJ than the other two do.
Come on, that goal is much more at AJ's feet than anyone else. Lopes was marking high, he probably could have gotten the header if he had faded a few feet back, but then he wouldn't have been covering his mark. He didn't miss because of over-commitment, he missed because he was tight on his mark. AJ's bad decision and header directly to Cummings is what led to the goal. That said, I basically agree with the rest of what you're saying about his pluses and minuses. He does tend to over-commit and that can hurt us. But it hasn't, yet (whereas AJ's lack of physicality and lack of leadership on the back line has hurt us repeatedly). We need Lopes much more than we need AJ right now. I would like to see more of Lopes with Meyer and I would still like to move AJ to RB or LB. Franklin is still making an infuriating number of stupid mistakes and is becoming a black whole and where the attack goes to die. Duni just seems like he needs a breather, he doesn't seem to have the legs. AJ's brain and better skill on the ball could be an asset as a fullback in combining with the midfield and forwards on the attack and he has better positioning than Duni or Franklin while defending.
if he goes... Men's fixtures: Thursday July 26, Old Trafford: v Senegal Sunday July 29, Wembley Stadium: v UAE Wednesday Aug 1, Millennium Stadium: v Uruguay and maybe.. Quarter finals are 4th Aug Semi finals are 7th Aug 3rd place (bronze) play-off 10th Aug Final (gold - silver) is 11th Aug Plus Pearce will call camp early. the 16 mens teams and 12 womens teams will train at Strathclyde University just outside of Glasgow in Scotland.
Junior you seem to have some anti-AJ and pro-Lopes glasses on. You say the goal is completely on AJ and that Lopes missed the ball b/c he was "was marking high, probably could have gotten the ball if he were further back". That is not what happened. Don't believe me - here's the video: http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2012-04-21-col-v-la/highlights?videoID=183000 Lopes actually was about three yards behind Cummings when the long high ball was launched and in a pretty good position to handle both the ball and Cummings (video :03 & :04). Also note that Lopes should be playing a bit conservatively since he has no close cover since AJ is more toward the center of the field occupied marking the Colorado player (#23?) and Duni is upfield marking his player. But despite this when Colo kicks the ball long Lopes runs forward, attempt to heads the ball, and misjudges the flight of the ball so badly that he runs completely under it for a a complete whiff. So now he lets both the ball and his man get behind him, violating the basic #1 "last man" rule for defenders - make sure that you get one or the other - the man or the ball, even if you have to make a tactical foul. AJ, who you so roundly blame, has to think quickly because no one on the field (or the stands or watching on TV) expected Lopes to so quickly take himself out of the play and let the ball get through untouched. When AJ reaches the ball he is being pressured by a Colorado guy running at him from approx 2 yards away 05). I admit he does make a mistake under the time and space pressure - it looks like he tried to head the ball toward Dunivant when he should have headed it out of bounds. Meanwhile Lopes tries to recover from behind. Lopes is pretty fast and actually catches Cummings at 0:11. It looks like he might be able to now shepherd Cummings away from the goal or put a legal shoulder to shoulder challenge on him. That would have made shooting and controlling the ball difficult. But instead Lopes goes for and misses a sliding tackle (ah, memories of The Buffalo) and watches from the ground as Cummings uses the small space he's gotten to unleash a fantastic finish. Anyway this whole play within a span of two seconds went from the LA defense having everyone solidly covered w/ all Colo players marked goalside at :03 to an utter mess at :05 with our defenders under seige and in scramble mode, where mistakes are more likely. All because of Lopes going for (over-committing if you will) and completely missing a routine header, plus missing a sliding tackle on his recovery run (over-committing again, if you will). (In contrast your foil AJ, btw, made at least two goal-saving perfectly executed sliding tackles this game alone.)
At some point you also have to just give credit to Cummings. Once he's gotten the ball he's made a nice run, shrugging off both some shoulder to shoulder and a tackle attempt and lashed one into the upper corner. If that's the best chance we're going to give up, we're not getting many goals scored against us.
No, I'm countering your very anti-Lopes position. Lopes misjudged and didn't get his head on the ball. AJ had time to put the ball where he wanted and put it in the worst place possible, right at Cummings, when AJ truly was the last man back. There are two errors there but you are deciding to say that one is worse than the other. I'm pointing out that that value judgment isn't justified (because it isn't), and if anything AJ's error is the one that led to the goal most directly "all because of AJ misplacing a routine header (despite time and space)... ." I'm also pointing out that if anyone has had a season replete with errors, it's AJ. Yes, he did make a couple plays this game, doing his job. Thank G-d he finally showed up. Should we also go through the game and point out every positive play that Lopes made?
I don't think anyone is counting on Lopes to be the 2012 Defender of the Year. But given that this is his second game after a week and a half with a brand new team, and the fact that he is dealing with a lack of match fitness (how long was he on the bench for Chivas?) at altitude.... yeah. Lopes gets a pass.
I disagree. Lopes made the decision to dive in when tracking back on Cummings (after the give-away). If he stays on his feet, and stays shoulder-to-shoulder with Cummings, the odds of putting that shot on-frame drop significantly. It was simply a bad decision to go to ground at that point. So yeah... AJ didn't get the ball where he intended on the header, but Lopes is AT LEAST equally to blame for his two bad decisions leading to the goal.
This is simply incorrect. Go watch the replay. AJ heads the ball into space towards Lopes. He just doesn't hit it hard enough, so Cummings (just barely) has time to beat Lopes to the ball. I'm not trying to pile on Lopes here, but you don't need to inaccurately tear down AJ to defend Lopes. EDIT: Sorry... I somehow missed some of the above posts. Sorry for rehashing ground that has been covered.
Yes, but if AJ had not headed the ball where he did, this doesn't happen. Given that AJ's header to Cummings led directly to the goal, IMHO his error edges out Lopes, if slightly. My original comment was to counter the notion that this goal was more on Lopes than anyone, as well as to disabuse any notion that AJ is free from blame for our defensive woes to this point. I watched the game and watched the replay. What the heck are you talking about? You want to try to mis-characterize it as him heading the ball to the correct place, but it was clearly a mistake. You could just as well have said "Lopes tries to head the ball but he just didn't jump high enough." I'm not "inaccurately" tearing down AJ. I am pointing out the error that he made in this case that led directly to the goal against us. That's not tearing down.
it's AJ and Lopes' fault! OK!?! Lopes over committed and AJ did a poor job cleaning up his mess. You can also blame Franklin for marking the other runner but once he was offsides Franklin should've committed to blocking Cummings shot rather than pulling his body together as thin as possible
This. He's serviceable, and he gives the team confidence. We have played much better with him in the line-up. So, he stays. For better and worse. And boy does he have both of those. Offense needs to do their job and put some in the net. Likelihood of us winning 1-0 games this year is slim. So, offense needs to do more.
Agree. All three made errors on the play. Flash Gordon pointed out Sean's error way back in the game thread. And he's right on him too. AJ's header was poor. Lopes's slide tackle decision was poor. And Sean standing around and literally watching the play go by? Poor. Shared errors minus Todd Dunivant - wherever he was. Plus, that shot was simply divine from Cummings. So you gotta give him that. 9 times out of 10 don't think that shot is made.
Without going back and watching the play, and just to add to this mighty debate, sometimes for a shot from distance the best thing a player can do is make sure the keeper sees the play. If you can block it great, but if you're going to deflect it so it surprises the keeper, maybe it's better to just get out of the way. Who knew Cummings was going to hit a wundergol? I'd be curious to hear from some keepers, what is their opinion? Knowing keepers, if it's a miracle rocket shot in the corner, then you get yelled at for not marking up 35+ yards from goal. If it's deflected for a fluke goal, that the keeper doesn't see, then you get yelled at for obstructing the keeper's view?
I am a retired amateur goalie and to be honest the it is best for the defender to just shepherd the attacker to an angle where his choices are limited. That being said yes if the shot is coming and the defender is out of position don't stick out a leg it will deflect and leave me out of position. At that point the goalie is positioning himself to cover as much of the angle as possible. Sometimes though it is just a great shot.
How can AJ be blamed for "not cleaning up better" for Lopes mistake? What sort of argument is that? AJ was lucky to get back and stop the lobbed through ball. Lopes over-committed twice in that play and did so a couple others times in the match, allowing attackers to get behind him and leaving the defensive line scrambling. Even if you must blame the other defenders on the play, failing to hold up an attacking player in the way Lopes did is an AYSO-level defending mistake and shows his poor decision-making at times. The willingness to include AJ and Sean in the blame only shows how far people are willing to go to overlook Lopes' obvious problems (which are the same ones reported to us before we saw him in a single game). He compensates with his attitude and athleticism (which are both laudable) but his faults are there and they're obvious.
I was a 'keeper in HS & college too. I agree with ssanchez, but I would add that there was nothing that pissed me off more than having a defender screening me, but playing five yards off the attacker with the ball . If you're gonna pressure the player, get right up on him. Otherwise get out of the way, or stay to one side. At that distance, anything that you block, I'm going to save anyway, but I can't react to something outside that area if I can't see the ball.