What, you don't care for our D-mids on front line starting line-ups? Even if it means our first ever DP rides the pine to do it...
In the off season, Powers has to use that Notre Dame brain to figure out how to change his game as he advances to the final third. His comfort zone is the back 2/3rds. It's a mental thing, imo, he has the tools to play the full pitch. It doesnt help that his forwards are disorganized sandlot players but I think Powers is somewhat at fault too.
The same could be said of Zardes who could easily have upwards of 20 goals this season if he wasn't such an atrocious finisher (he should have had 3 straight hat tricks in his first 3 starts if he could finish). Going into this season Mattocks said he's going to score 20 goals but teams have figured him and his movement (or lack there of) out and adjusted which unless Brown continues to evolve will happen to him next year. Guys like Brown, Zardes and Mattocks get into these great positions because they're freak athletes and they catch people on their back foot but the longer they're in the league, the less likely the stuff that worked earlier in their careers will work later on. Case in point Mattocks. His entire life he's been able to use his speed to score goals and he's never had to refine other parts of his game and he's now beginning to do that. Hope Brown really focuses in on the small stuff this off season and rounds out his game because if he does he could be an international level striker sometime in the future. Brown has good upside but to say he'll put 20 into the net next year is generous.
Agreed. He will figure it out. As the season has worn on, Powers has been victimized, I think, by his body adjusting to playing so many games. It's been a reason for the poor-ish decision making and turnovers. I do think OP has recognized this and has willingly taken him off the pitch or, in a rare instance, not played him from the start. All rookies that earn significant minutes go thru this. So no worries on my end. OP just has to continue to monitor the minutes and the wear and tear on his body. Once Powers has earned a little bit of trustworthiness with himself and with Oscar, that's when you'll see him truly be that box-to-box midfielder that can reek havoc on both ends of the pitch. I expect him to review all his matches in-depth during the offseason and look to clean-up his game. He's a slightly different player than Dax McCarty but he needs his game to evolve into that type of impact.
Powers may be the nominal CAM but Colorado play the most traditional 4-3-3 in league, meaning that Powers is playing more like an 8 than a player in the hole. Brown's form has really dropped. His finishing is very poor, 8.1% which is 2.7% below long range sniper Rowe.
No doubt. Zardes and Brown are essentially one in the same. however, what does separate them from Mattocks in the fact they are stationary. Mattocks just waits and waits, hanging off the defender's back shoulder, just for the instance he can blow by them. Zardes and Brown are pretty mobile and their movement isn't terrible. They look for those pockets to make smart runs. Zardes has two guys -- probably the two best in the league -- in Donovan and Keane at making runs. I wish Brown had those role models. It will serve Zardes well. [quote}Guys like Brown, Zardes and Mattocks get into these great positions because they're freak athletes and they catch people on their back foot but the longer they're in the league, the less likely the stuff that worked earlier in their careers will work later on. Case in point Mattocks. His entire life he's been able to use his speed to score goals and he's never had to refine other parts of his game and he's now beginning to do that.[/quote] I think I covered what separates Brown and Zardes from Mattocks. I think they will easily surpass Mattoks. Mattocks' game has become recognizable and thus easier to defend. Brown and Zardes, if they play their cards right, have the ability to become smarter and less dependent on speed alone. I don't know about Zardes but Brown has racked up 4 of 5 assists. I've been pleasantly surprised that he's shown a degree of wherewithal to recognize when, where, and how to make a dangerous pass or two. All he needs is a few tweaks here and there. Seriously, if it was just down to showing improvement, he would already been at or near 20. I don't think it's unreasonable. I think it obtainable but there is no way to reach that number without improvement. He's a pretty humble dude and would never been as brash as mattocks (at least publically) and spit off a goal scoring number. . In fact, I'd be willing to bet Brown becomes a bigger part of Jamaica's squad down the road
Last week, Pro Soccer Talk's Steve Davis said ROY was a 2 horse race between Dillon Powers and Deshorn Brown: http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/...powers-deshorn-brown-still-ahead-of-the-pack/ They were hot early, Davis picked Powers as his midseason ROY. Powers, of course, is managing somehow to keep Martin Rivero off the field. Also, in the running, of course, are Yedlin, Farrell and Zardes. Gysai Zardes will have a huge opportunity to step up when Donovan and Keane are called to international duty next week.
He's definitely improving month by month. Looking more confident in taking players on, putting in more crosses, crosses are more accurate and well timed, and in general his decision making in the attack is improving. Reading the game better defensively as well. I'd argue aside from Nagbe, no young player in MLS has improved as much this season as Yedlin, and what's great about it is he's a few years younger than a guy like Nagbe.
Liga MX is not a top 10 league, lol. It's better than MLS, but not top 10. It's probably not even top 3 in the Americas.
Pre-Gold Cup, while Landon's commitment was far from certain, that was a sensible thing to say. Now it seems ludicrous. I do think there are plenty of people who think Powers should be the ROY. I spoke with some folks around FC Dallas about that two weeks ago. The "sexy" pick by the fans is Yedlin. He's got the hype. It could be that the folks that play these games and are on the field with these players think Powers has been the more impactful player. Powers is the hub of the Rapids attack. He's keeping a designated player off the field. If Powers played for the Galaxy or Sounders, people on these boards would be slobbering over him like they have been about Yedlin.
He said it right before the Sept qualifiers, well after Landon's GC and while Landon was tearing apart MLS. During that same period Zusi had been injured and had back to back poor performances since his return. This was not pre-GC. As an aside, anyone know anything about the Besler situation? Not one MLS writer has touched it or asked why Besler has been benched two consecutive weeks.
Agree that the radio silence on this has been really weird. If he's not called up (doubt it) something really odd is going on.
Could be that he IS being called up for these games in October, and Vermes isn't too pleased with Besler for accepting those call-ups to essentially meaningless games. So he says " I'm gonna have to play Ike Opara for a couple of games anyway, might as well start now. You can sit there and think about the USMNT Matt..............." Vermes seems like the kind of nutter that would do that. And Ike Opara is pretty good, BTW. With consistent playing time, he could easily be a high-level MLS centerback.
um, no . . . here are Davis' remarks pre Gold Cup: Graham Zusi keeps making it harder for Landon Donovan to get back into U.S. national team Steve Davis Jun 19, 2013, 12:48 PM EDT this was immediately following Zusi's solid performance vs Honduras in the Hex. If you're going to trash a soccer journalist, you may wish to consider linking your assertions, in the future.
Typically, a player would sit out if a serious negotiation were in the offing for his services at another club. Not sure how common it is in the MLS.
Zardes is a center forward who happens to be athletic and useful enough to stay on the field as a wide midfielder. He has good technical skills. Deshorn Brown is more similar to a young EJ, as a speed forward type. His technical skills like those of a young EJ are weak. Both Zardes and Brown are horrible finishers though for different reasons. The media has already touched on the Matt Beslar situation:
Uh, what makes you think that's the article I was referring to? If you want to step into a conversation and trash another poster, you should probably have a clue about what you're talking about. http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/...united-states-in-coming-world-cup-qualifiers/ From Sept 4th, right at the time I said he wrote it. He commented on it on twitter as well. Why when I said he said that right before the last qualifiers you decided to link an article from June 19th, over two months before, is pure troll behavior. But, that hardly qualifies as trashing a journalist, bringing up he thought Landon would make a useful replacement for Zusi well after the GC. It's also a minimal statement for you to get all bent out of shape about. Should I flag your post? You a) accused me of "trashing a journalist" when I did nothing of the like and b) replied with information not related in any way, shape or form to what I originally posted. That's extreme incompetence. I probably should flag your post for trying to start an argument based on incompetent trolling.
If we have an MLS coach penalizing the best CB in our pool for accepting NT callups, one of which which will be played in his MLS stadium, and he's being punished weeks before the actual callups, Besler needs to get the hell out of KC. And Vermes isn't punishing Zusi, is he?
Except it really wasn't, since he had been chomping at the bit to get back in the team since coming off his break feeling rejuvinated way back in March. And thinking Graham Zusi, who at his career peak is below an out of shape Landon, would beat out Donovan over the course of the upcoming qualifiers for a starting spot was as dumb then as it is now.
The Fire have shown Dilly Duka a lot of patience this year, but needing a result tonight, they've left him on the bench.
Beitashour called up for Iran for the Asian Cup. Could be cap tied. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...ender-steven-beitashour-added-iran-roster-asi