Kemp is fine, just too slow to play the position we have him in. Problem is that in a no-forwards lineup (if Ortiz or Neagle are on, that's what we're playing), we need our outside backs to overlap and also be able to get back. I'll agree, that's asking a lot. But that's what we need. Against fast forwards like at Dallas, he couldn't do it. That said, he's actually improved unlike NDL or others...
If only the organization had one person, a teacher of some sort, whose job would be to tell players those things.
I know people don't agree with me, and that's fine. I thought he was basically a serviceable CB, who had a hot run of form for a time last year. This year, he is the same serviceable CB who, as you say and I agree with, is having an empirically bad run of form now. Same player, at different times on the pendulum of performance. My comments on him have been consistent from the get-go. I just don't have the wild swings of opinion on players based on what is clearly temporary form (his good then and his bad now). He simply never had the tools to be an effective national team player. I do hold out hope that he gets back to his normal level of play though, as this team needs it.
That form only covers 2016 to now though. I thought he was very good from when he stepped in for Jeff Parke in 2014 through 2016. What were your thoughts on him in 2014/2015?
I actually mis-wrote, and realized after I had already sent it ... didn't feel like editing. I meant "prior to last year." Honestly, I always thought he was an average defender who wowed people with a few nice headers. I never looked at him as a great defender, and mentioned it several times.
Birnbaum has one major attribute: his impressive vertical leap which allows him to elevate high enough to be a particular threat on set pieces. He isn't slow, and he came into the league a few years older and more mature than the usual draftee. But he hasn't shown outstanding ability as a shut-down one on one defender, IMO, and, not surprisingly, he doesn't seem to have the organizational skills of the veteran Bobby Boswell. But he's not chopped liver, either.
I actually agree. Great leaper. Decent speed. Good overall athleticism. But to me, he also has poor defending instincts, and is a ballwatcher. But I will drop it. No point in me belaboring this. I just wish that this team could find an identity (and more talent) ... and win. There is enough blame to go around. It certainly isn't all about Birnbaum. We have sub-par personnel at every level up the club ... starting at the very top.
In this game I really noticed how slow Worra's footwork is. He moves like he's stoned. I prefer my keepers to be into uppers.
If Kemp (or any other outside back in MLS) could overlap, put in beautiful crosses and track back on defense like crazy, he wouldn't be plsyong in MLS. Such players are a premium in any league, and there's only a finite number of them. Look at all those mud and especially lower table teams and their outside backs. They may try but they can't really do all that either. Look at Najar. As soon as he showed what he could do as an outside back he was off to Europe. And not to a top level team in one of the big leagues.
Yeah, he looks like a far cousin of the keeper we had admired. I thought that if we lost Hamid to Europe at least in that role we would be covered up, now I don't think so anymore