Say what you want about the guy, but he is somehow telepathically linked to the rest of his team. Fantastic.
So far, the guy has been excellent. He keeps this form up and he's going to be our MVP. A saving grace in the midfield. Well, I guess if Donovan keeps scoring 2 goals minimum every night, he'll have a good case for MVP...
Much props to you Calexico77 for admitting you were wrong about Franchino. People on these broads were absolutely crucifying him. I hope he doesn't ever have a bad game.....but if he does I hope people wont jump off the Franchino bandwagoon as quick as they have jumped on. What am I saying....this is BigSoccer......of course that will happen!
Well, yeah, I was thinking about that too. But to win a starting spot after your second game in what's probably our deepest position. . . Vagenas must be just miserable. I think he may tire by the end of the season, but he's been fantastic in just two games - I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I didn't think he'd have that many!
I admitted I was wrong about Frappuccino, too. He is a revelation; a pure kick-a** midfielder that we lacked. Franklin and McDonald are phenoms. Imagine how much better they would be if they didn't have to cover X and Vanney's a**es all night!
Those criticizing the move were working under the assumption that Franchino was being brought in to play left back or left mid. As it is, I'm not sure whether Franchino is making more of an impact by playing well or simply pushing Vagenas off the midfield depth chart... but he's clearly an improvement. For that matter, I don't think Franchino had the best of games tonight, but with Vagenas being a fixture in midfield for so many years, it seems to me we're at least even with most of the league in central midfield for the first time since Cien retired, so as long as Franchino plays decently I'll be extremely happy with him.
In his past 1 and half appearances, he's just been pulling everything together in midfield, something we were really lacking before he came. He always seems to be there when play is getting stifled on the wings, and he also battles for balls when we dont have position. He's just been huge these past 2 games. Id like to see him paired with Pires when he comes back and maybe the midfield will be even more effective.
If you read my reaction on the Franchino deal..it was just confusion on my part. I assumed he was coming in as a left back and that just didn't make sense to me. All it took was about 15 minutes of the second half against Houston for me to see the light and understand what a brilliant aquisition it was. New England did us a huge favor by giving us a player that really is a missing piece of the puzzel on our team. The rest of the league has a legitimate beef with Nichol and Mariner. It's not that Franchino is a brilliant player but he has the fight and the bite in central midfield that we just don't have anywhere else on our roster. McDonald is developing well and can benefit from Franchino's example. I think Franchino and Pires will be a nice pairing in the middle too, eventually.
I was watching the game on FSC last night and toward the end, Sullivan said what I had been thinking all night long: Franchino is the Galaxy's Gravesen. He's a tough, no-nonsense, bald-headed presence in the midfield who can actually deliver some accurate passes. He definitely adds some aggressive bite to LA's midfield.
Goddammit, that was my line! Actually, it was going to be a 'poor man's Thomas Gravesen.' The spark plug build and white head really help the comparison. But Nails brought some nice offensive linking last night -- not simply a destroyer, yet certainly destroying the shit out of their rhythm. And for the record: Hi, my name is Crimen y Castigo, and I was wrong about Franchino.
Don't mean to pick a fight, but I'm afraid you might be wrong about Buddle also. Buddle should never start. He belongs to the bench. Permanently.
For all of our problems last year, our biggest one was the fact that we couldn't keep possession. Our defense was getting overrun because we never had the ball. Franchino and McDonald are ball winners and they don't give the ball away much. McDonald is still learning so he's a bit more prone to errors, obviously, but these two guys in there give us stability. I sometimes question the need for BOTH of them being on the field at the same time... a pairing of Franchino and a little more attack-minded central midfielder might make more sense, but right now I don't think we have that guy. (I'm not talking about a CAM so much as a true two-way mid that just provides a bit more in passing and maybe getting involved w/ late runs into the box. But it's clear that we're not going to get that out of Pete V., probably not yet out of Tudela, etc., so the Franchino and McDonald/Pires duo is probably the deal for awhile.) Off topic: I don't feel too bad about that Toronto loss any more. We owned the first half and should have put it away early. And, most notably, Toronto is no joke. I have seen them play a bit now this year and they have got some very good players in that midfield.
franchino is great.... he fits right into this position for this team, he busts his ass all game and is like a pit bull reminds me alot of Gattuso on a side note, does anyone else think he looks like Vic Mackey from The Shield?
My wife saw him and said OMG! he should be playing rugby. We definitely needed someone who could have played rugby
Randolph & Franchino almost make Donovan look tall! So far I was wrong about Franchino. I definitely thought he was brought in for left back - my error. Elninho and skydog called the fact that he was a Vagenas replacement. He's made an immediate impact & it's good to have him out there. McDonald is doing quite well, too. What I like about this whole team is that they move into space well & get open for each other, they have decent first touches, they pass pretty smoothly, and there is some speed spread out around the field. And they know that have to score a lot of goals if they want to win!
And what about all those people who said that Lalas was an idiot to get Joey? I guess, if the move works out, they will decide that it was a Bravo move. Of course, if it blows up, than it's all Lalas' fault.
Props Calexico77, I too crucified him, even though it was for his antics off the field. He has been nothing less than the Roy Keane, Patrick Viera type of player we needed. He is like a Bulldog....Props Franchino!!!
Lalas still has a few years of missing playoffs to make up for. And a LONG list of dumb trades and players that have come and gone that he would need to account for. Plus, he's still hanging on to Pete Vagenas.