http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=7982066 Just listened to the big red head podcast. Right away dumb and dumber waste no time piling on torres for "not defending enough". WTH! He is a creative attacking midfielder and yet he's not fit to start because he's not gennaro gattuso. I twitter battled with Twellman and put him in a box. It's amazing the lack of knowledge these windbags have. Can we please get some commentators with actual tactical knowledge rather than cliche bunker bob advocates? PS - Christmas come early I'm so glad we have NBCsports net
I agree with most everything you said, except he is not an attacking midfielder. I love Torres, and I think he is extremely valuable, but that value comes as a connector! Someone who keeps the flow of the game going. He is not a slicer and dicer, although he is capable of making those passes sometimes. He is not a force defensively, although he does have some bite and is not afraid to get into a tackle. He was pressuring the ball all over the field the other night. If they didnt see that, they are blind.
Thought I saw a stat where Torres led the team in steals (or the soccer equivalent/takeaways) during that game. Anyone with a brain could see he had many interceptions. Heck, his defense and pressure (along with Boyd's) led directly to the first goal.
American soccer analysts (aka washed up no good former NT scrub has beens) are freaking HACKS at what they "do" these days. It's a ********ing disgrace and they should be ashamed at their lack of knowledge. I would make these "pundits" look like the terrible terrible idiots they are. No surprise them giving torres the axe. Why wouldn't they? He comes from a completely different kin/system of play/style than they used to butcher their way to the top of the pops (1 game in italy and a mediocre career in MLS - great!) ESPN has shown they understand a little bit of where we are coming from by not renewing John Harkes. But then they replaced him with someone who is arguably worse (twellman staring of into space trying to collect his.... hmm... "THOUGHTS") are whatever the ******** is going on in the numbskull "brain" of his. idiots and they deserve to be called out.
You think Twellman had a "mediocre" MLS career and you're calling THEM idiots? Let me help you out: http://www.mlssoccer.com/stats/alltime 1. He has the best strike rate in the HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE. 2. Only 3 of his 101 goals came through penalties (compare that to 26 for Landon, 44 for Jaime, 20 for Jeff) 3. At the pace he was on he would have SMASHED Jeff Cunningham's later record of 134 goals, had he not been forced into early retirement by head injuries. Perhaps he is a poor tactical analyst, perhaps he isn't, but don't talk shit about the guy having a "mediocre" career.
a national team failure doesn't have much clout when talking about the national team. he's on espn for the face and personality and that is it.
You haven't a clue what you're talking about. Besides, that isn't what I was responding to. I was responding to his erroneous assertion that Taylor had a "mediocre" career. Ridiculous how clueless some of you people are...and downright disrespectful and ignorant. Additionally, anyone who scores the game-winning goal in a WCQ (see Panama 2005), deserves recognition for his duty to out NT.
Twellman and Lalas may be idiots, but you have aboslutely no right to call them that after what you just said. 1. Torres isn't a creative attacking midfielder for Pachuca, never has been 2. He plays a role similar to that of Gattuso
I should specify. creative/attacking doesn't refer to the position you play, but rather a skill set or strengths. I know he's not a Freddy Adu type, but it's pretty obvious that Torres' strengths are in the attacking half and not as a hard man.
I'm not sure you realize how few players end up getting to play for their country, much less score important goals for them in world cup qualifying. He suffered career-ending injuries at age 28...TWENTY EIGHT. He scored his last international goal at 27, and you think he would have been done? Learn some history, and take a lesson in respecting good players. Again, you haven't a clue what you're talking about.
There are some people that have an ability to make you strongly dislike them just by being alive. These two are in that category.
I think that people saying Torres is a defensive liability arent considering that holding the ball is good defense. Torres has those skills that claudio reyna brought back in Alexi's day. And I'll bet if you ask alexi who he tried to pass to when the USA was pinned in its own box, I'll bet he'll say reyna or Ramos (and not lapper or harkes). I wouldn't mind seeing Torres vs brazil.
He's not a hard man, and he's not an "attacking half" player either. That's not what he does for Pachuca at all. Think of him as a Claudio Reyna type. He plays in a deep midfield position and connects the ball from the defenders to the attacking players. That's what he does for Pachuca anyway. Pachuca ain't the USMNT, though. And if Klinsmann wants to use him in the manner he did against Scotland, then more power to him. It worked.
It's ironic that the guy calling Twellman and Lalas idiots is the one that said Torres is an attack minded player. "I twitter battled with Twellman", oh man grow up. All of you keyboard warriors criticizing Lalas and especially Twellman are hilarious.
Torres strengths are in the defensive middle of the field, where he plays. I would call Torres a central defensive midfielder. He isn't a "sit in front of the back four" defensive of midfielder like Jones for Schalke or Edu for the USMNT, but Torres is typically a defensive midfielder none the less. lol, that's kinda funny coming from you zing!
Ian Darke is such a concern troll, imo. Adding him to the other two meant that I spent the entire game ignoring everything everybody said.
IDK, there are plenty of posters here with NO national team experience that feel their opinions on the national team are correct.
all I ask for is someone to sensibly break down tactics of the action at hand... don't waste airtime with overused cliches and whining rants about how marcelo is such a baby.
Exactly. I like Ian, but not last night. Both him and Twellman were so much homers that it was pathetic. I expect some, but I want a break down of the tactics and someone should have been all over Gooch for his poor performance. Not just lite comments about his "tough" first half and being unlucky on the PK. They should be commenting on deep positioning, poor agility, and his passing decisions.
