I posted this on twitter, but since my multi-media empire embraces multiple platforms I'll also post it here for feedback. There are many narratives going on about this Crew season, nearly all of them depressing, but 2 stand out as almost contradictory... Narrative 1: Gregg Berhalter stating that the Crew is near the top of the league in "chance creation." This is a narrative we've been fed all season, and one that sometimes even other coaches (like Vanney this weekend) mention. Narrative 2: Ola Kamara is scoring at an unbelievable clip with almost no quality service. Of course, there are many things we know that can be subpoints to either of these narratives to show that they are necessarily diametrically opposed. Among them, Gregg is full of shit about our chance creation, stats can be manipulated, and of course not all chances are good chances. However, we are in the midst of a historically poor season. While there isn't really the opportunity to tear down the complete roster and start over, there most likely will need to be major changes this coming off-season to make sure that we are somewhat more competitive than we are now. In a season where we may be lucky to get to 8 wins, no roster spot should be safe (with the obvious exception of Midfield Boss Tony Tchani, because he is the Midfield Boss and this is my damn thread). Is Ola's goal total a result of our league leading chance creation? Is he feasting on opportunities? Is it because nobody else on this damn team can score that we may be overlooking opportunities that Ola does not put away? Is a mishit Ethan Finlay cross a chance? Does a frustrated Justin Meram dribbling past 4 men and getting the ball stripped by the 5th count as a chance? There's no denying the goals that Ola has scored this season, but should he have more. He is a player that offers little else in terms of distribution, hold up play, or defensive support? Heading into an off-season where a rebuild is almost certainly necessary, are we certain that Ola Kamara is the striker we want to pencil in moving forward? Unfortunately Gregg Berhalter isn't going anywhere. And he seems extremely unlikely to change his system. Is Ola the best fit for his system going foward? Do we actually know how good Ola Kamara really is?
Since Crew twitter's crowing about his hat-trick against Salt Lake, the Crew haven't won. The curse of Kei is alive.
The sample size is too small and this comparison is half-baked but... Ola is a poor man's Stern John right now: Get the ball to his feet in the box and something interesting is probably going to happen. At times last night, we actually attempted balls OVER THE TOP or QUICKLY THROUGH. I thought I was watching some other team go through the paces out there because we never do those things. So maybe Ola does not need to entirely fit the system. Maybe Ola forces Gregg to get out of his comfort zone that everyone has apparently figured out.
He is the best striker on the roster and has earned a starting spot going forward. The fact that he is the only one scoring is more of a problem than his play.
He seems best suited to a primarily counterattacking team, as his movement is probably even ahead of his finishing. The real problem is that in our deliberate possession-based system, there's rarely any space for him to actually move into because defensive units are usually set and there's not enough space in behind them. I think it's a testament to his abilities as a top striker for this level that he has as many goals as he does, in limited time, in a new league, and above all in a system that isn't designed at all to make use of his strengths.
I agree with this. In the current system with Kamara as our main striker even with better wingers and a semi-pro defense I don't think the team is good enough to be any better than a mid table playoff team.
His strike record is better than Mendoza's (even if you take away his penalty goals). So, better than Andres Mendoza. So the real question is, do we know how good Andres Mendoza was?
While Kei was a big body who could hold the ball, I don't think he was particularly good at distribution and had a relatively poor touch. Kei was, however, was very good in the air and good with defensive support, especially on set pieces. I think Ola has a much better touch, is at least capable of a little better distribution, but does not have the hold up capability nor provide defensive help. I don't know that either one is significantly a better player. I think both are obviously starting quality MLS forwards. I'd probably take Ola over Kei most of the time in a vacuum. I might take Kei for this team at this time due to his presence on defense on set pieces. We lack aerial prowess even with Sauro healthy. We have absolutely nothing without Sauro and Kei now gone.
I like Ola because he is younger but he easily could have played with Kei and that would have been ideal. Versatility is important and if Ola can't play wide I know Kei could have. Somehow someway Gregg should have had them both starting. I would take a 442 with Tchani at DM ,Higauin at cam with Kamara's up top ,meram and then put one of the other 8,000 wingers opposite of meram
I would have loved to have seen this lineup for a so many reasons. First, you have someone else that the defense needs to account for. So often Ola (and Kei before him) were on an island. The island has become even more lonely as we dealt with injuries. Saeid, Duka, and god knows Jiminez were not good enough at working into the space that Ola had created with his off the ball movement. Just not good enough or smart enough. The same can be said of our Finlay, Cedrick Meram, etc except that they may have been smart enough, they just weren't good enough. I give Meram a bit more credit here than the other wingers. This was even more problematic after Sauro went down. Trapp doesn't get forward into the attack at all. And since Parkhurst and Wahl (or Barson) aren't very physical (and aren't exactly ball winners) Midfield Boss Tony Tchani has been forced to stay back a bit and assist our hapless defense. This could and should change once we get Sauro back, because you have a bit more of a physical presence allowing the d-mid a bit more freedom to go forward knowing there isn't just a useless void behind him. Point being, even though we don't have Kei, I think Ola and the rest of the attacking players would benefit from a second striker up top. Unfortunately we don't have a second striker unless you think Adam Jahn is it, or you tuck Meram in underneath Ola as a 2nd striker. Still, I'd love to see this happen once Sauro is back. By that point we'll be 10-15 points out of the playoffs and hopefully Naess has a few games under his belt and we can experiment with this. That would require Gregg pulling his head out of his ass, which is unlikely, but one can dream.
Would be a lot more space for him with two talented guys like Kamarax2 he works hard now and often gets the ball about 30-35 ft from gol. That being said we still need a younger cam with more speed who can score as well as distribute.
we also need a gifted CB who can bring the ball out and ping a 40 yarder to feet. Two full backs that can also cover CB. Tall and commanding yet quick with energy to burn. Excellent defensive qualities but just as good going forward. We also need a tricky winger with pace and skill that can float or drill a cross with either foot. He/she must have an eye for goal too. Actually we probably need two of these. Finally, we need a six foot+ striker. Good in the air and able to hold the ball up, but with blistering pace that will stretch their D. And obviously deadly in front of goal. ********ing GGGG it's not rocket science mate.
It's also not Football Manager. Look, I'm disappointed too in the season. But there's no Walmart for soccer players. Salary caps limit how much of what you want--and even need--that you can actually get. So does single entity.
Wwwwhhhhhhhoooooooshh Although in all seriousness. The game is probably more like football manager than ever before with all the stats that are available
I wonder if Precourt forgot to place the order for these new specific players from the player factory?
I heard a weird stat on the way home yesterday on Sirius XM when they were previewing the Crew game. Steve Cangelossi (Red Bulls Broadcaster) and Crew96 legend Brian Dunseth were interviewing John Strong about Wednesday night's games. When they got to the Crew they all suspected that something was off in the locker room and that 1. The team never recovered from MLS Cup last year and 2. They never really found their footing post Kei Kamara trade. They also mentioned a stat that I had to check out. They said Ola Kamara has missed more clear chances in front of goal than anyone in the league but David Villa. Part of me thought this might be true. Ola scored for fun in his first several appearances. But, to the eye test I thought he was in position for so many more goals and wasn't finishing them. Couple that with one goal from run of play in the last 6 games, and I thought there may be some validity to this stat. I went over to American Soccer Analysis to look to see if I could find out more. In looking at it, it made sense to look at xGoals. This has been a stat that we have heard multiple times to show how much better the Crew is than their record. How we are so close to having everything click. http://www.americansocceranalysis.com/2016-player-xg/ If you click on the G - xG column you unsurprisingly see 3 crew players in the top 10. (Coincidentally, you also see Kei Kamara at #3). What's most interesting though, is according to this stat only CJ Sapong has been more wasteful in front of net than Ola Kamara. We also see that Ola Kamara has been more wasteful than Ethan Finlay and Justin Meram by large margins. Now, I've mocked this stat repeatedly at times when people say it shows how close the Crew is to being great. But some people really believe in it. I'm still not entirely sure what to make of it. But I do think this does continue to raise the question....Do we know how good Ola Kamara really is?
Ola has been almost as wasteful as David Villa? Arguably the best striker in the league? Also their notion that we never recovered after the Kei trade is laughable. Did they watch any of those games before the trade? We sucked then too. Would we have been better this season had Kei stuck around? Probably, but our problems are with not being able to close out games and getting lazy and or losing focus in the final 30 minutes or so of the game.
The radio hosts said David Villa, but the stats show otherwise. (Also, good strikers still miss. David Villa went through and captured a rebound had an open net and put it into the side netting just this weekend.) But yeah, the post isn't about Kei if you read the whole post. The post is about Ola who has not scored in 4 games. About Ola who has one goal from the run of play in 6 games, and looking at what certain stats say. To my eye test he had been extremely wasteful at times this season. Some stats say the same. I just don't think you can build a cup winner, or maybe even a playoff team with Ola as your lone striker. That's just me.