FC Kansas City vs Skyblue July 6, 2014

Discussion in 'KC Current' started by Forgedias, Jul 6, 2014.

  1. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    #51 luvdagame, Jul 7, 2014
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2014
    the reluctance to pull arod back is because you lose her quickness and speed up top pressuring the ball as soon as fckc loses it, putting the opposition's defense under extreme pressure.

    the second problem in pulling her back to be part of the 3 is that she'll have to track so far back on the right that you lose her scoring presence up front for large parts of the game. holiday is too slow to be tasked with the right side of the 3.

    I also agree with fckcevans that the bench arod contingent may be missing the value of arod's scoring, her high defensive pressure, and her speed to tire out defenders.

    my philosophy is always to leave success alone. don't mess with it. or don't mess with it too much. we'll see what vlatko does.
     
  2. MRAD12

    MRAD12 Member+

    Jun 10, 2004
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Sorry, but if you don't play Hagen for the sake of A-Rod is a mistake.
     
  3. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    ???huh???

    was only arguing for arod and hagen up front - yesterday's lineup, rather than babranski's suggestion of pulling arod back to be part of a 3.

    still. your reply got me to thinking. i could see vlatko using arod alone up front, with matthias back as the right side of the 3 if the too much running on defense he talked about yesterday is a problem against speedy, goal scoring teams. sbfc has goal scoring anemia, so yesterday was a good day to try both arod and hagen up front. but andonovski has already pointed out the problem with that lineup.
     
  4. Ledbetter

    Ledbetter Member

    Jun 27, 2013
    Club:
    Los Angeles Sol
    Sorry, I don't see ARod playing defense in the video. Watch the video.

    I see one touch back passes; She doesn't even wait a sec, feel the spacing and then pass, it's just a quick pass back. She's like Leroux, speedy, but the least technical player on the team.
     
  5. Forgedias

    Forgedias Member

    Mar 5, 2012
    My issues with Rodriguez is her lack of creativity with the ball. She won't play off with another player to set up runs. The typical 1-2 passing play. Rodriguez first play is the back pass, not to hold it up long enough that a player can make a run and then Rodriguez can then set up the pass to that player and free them from a mark. The 1-2 passing play used to be a staple of the Blues offense last season, its not this year and a big reason is Rodriguez. She won't play that way. She back passes and then wants the ball over the top as she turns. If she at least turned with the ball then I wouldn't so hard on her, but those back passes just kill any momentum the Blues have on offense. The player receiving that back pass can't get the pass back to Rodriguez and then what happens? They are forced to switch the ball and the point of the attack and because of this, the Blues have to restart the build up.

    This is a big reason why the Blues have struggled to create many good scoring chances. They don't create many attacks into the box until this game. Sarah Hagen changed the shape of our offense. She is able to play the 1-2 passing play, and we witnessed it as she tried it several times in the last match. She can hold and turn if she has space, she can take over the top balls and chest it down. She is great technically which means she can play in small spaces. This is what we were missing all season long because Rodriguez was at top.

    Melissa Henderson would of helped, but with Rodriguez in our line up, we would of never seen Henderson handle that role up top. Rodriguez is selfish, she doesn't want to build up between the linking midfielder, she wants the ball sent over the top so she can run under it. That kind of offense creation doesn't work. It doesn't allow Lauren Holiday to be the focus of the offense and that is how our offense is. Its Holiday's offense, she has to be the one dictating like she did last match. With Rodriguez if she doesn't build with the midfield, Holiday gets taken out of the offense, it becomes the Rodriguez show and we know how that can turn out. She can score or she can miss the net like she did last match. She missed 2 1v1 looks. Holiday has to be the one to decide how the the Blues conduct themselves on the offense, not Rodriguez. This is a midfield driven offense, always will be. And last match, Holiday was at her prime and Tymrak as well. So long as these 2 get to run the offense and Hagen is looking to make combination plays with them, then I have a lot of hope for the Blue's attack. With Rodriguez, its just frustration after frustration as she limits Holiday's effectiveness.
     
  6. Ledbetter

    Ledbetter Member

    Jun 27, 2013
    Club:
    Los Angeles Sol
    Or at least read the spacing of the players and look for an angled pass instead of an instant backpass.
     
  7. FCKCEvans

    FCKCEvans Member

    Nov 29, 2013
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    1. I want Hagen and Arod on the field at the same time to develop chemistry and I couldn't care less what formation it is in as long KC is winning. As we've seen with Portland it can be difficult to have two elite strikers at the club level play up to their potential at the same time, but I have to trust the coaching staff on this matter.
    2. I see Arod doing more than just back passing...numerous times she held the ball up on the dribble and distributed to her teammates accordingly. KC's style isn't a perfect fit for Arod but I still see some positives that others don't I guess.
    3. LeRoux isn't a perfect fit in Seattle under their system nor is Sinclair in Portland...the difference with Arod is she may not be the perfect fit but she's still scoring...A LOT...and creating lots chances and tiring defenses. She is 2nd in the league for goals all of which have been in the run of play.
    4. I agree Arod's soccer smarts aren't the best, and distribution at times could be better but let's give her a break. She knows where to position herself in the box to score for sure. Perhaps her lacking in smarts and distribution is seen as selfish but I really just see it as an honest weakness for her to practice on. Never would I argue that she is perfect let a lone overly technical. I'd agree Arod is not creative but I think that is being percieved as selfinesses...which I think is incorrect.
    5. And for the record let's be honest about who we'd be playing in front of her: Henderson-good fit but can't score, Silva-good fit that's a rookie, who coughs up the ball a lot being "creative"...but we already have Tymrak for that, Bogus-just no..ha, Marlborough-not a good fit, not good enough, Gorry-good fit but still finding her place on the team, Mathias-great work-rate but honestly reminds me of a more defensive Arod.
    6. Hey I have mad love for all the players listed above, but I just don't agree that our offense will be 100X without Arod and any of them replacing her. I think we have some blinders on for some of our personal favorites...and just because Arod doesn't exactly fit that bill doesn't mean she doesn't contribute. Silva and Henderson especially are awesome and I think they should be used in offensive sub situtions and LePeilbet and Mathias in defensive sub situations. Pretty deep and well rounded roster IMO.
     
  8. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    hagen did well. and i am happy. but let's not forget it's just one game - a game where both hagen and arod had several chances, and hagen, happily, took hers twice.

    the reason those chances came like free money was because sky blue was silly enough to try to play high when fckc has the midfield that can slice them apart. in gabarra's own words:

    “I think we took a risk and tried to press them a little higher on the field and got too stretched out and gave up two soft goals, and then we were very naïve and just kind of kept banging our heads into the wall instead of consolidating and trying to drop off and right the ship, and gave up two more.”

    other teams will not be so stupid. let's pull for hagen (and arod) to do well against better defenses as well.
     
    FCKCEvans repped this.
  9. Forgedias

    Forgedias Member

    Mar 5, 2012
    You are right about Skyblue. They did play a high line which was dangerous against Kansas City. And maybe FCKCEvans is correct that Rodriguez does bring more to the offense with her speed and her ability to attack. But she cannot be the only option at top. If Rodriguez is going to start, then Hagen has to be up there as well. Holiday has to have Hagen in the line up, or we will see Rodriguez going back to her old style of game where she single mindlessly wants to be the focus of the offense. We simply do not get enough scoring chances with Rodriguez up there. The 4-4-2 today, I liked, so long as we keep the 2 holding mids.
     
  10. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    why? because they'll win 5 or 6 straight with her as the only option? that can't be good.

    i like it too. but....

    4-4-2 with 2 holding mids means that holiday and tymrak have to run around a lot on defense. holiday is too slow to do it, and tymrak is not adept enough to do it. that's what vlatko is talking about. 4-4-2 with 2 holding mids might work against a foolish gabarra tactic and a meager scoring team like sky blue. but it may not be safe against the better teams. i don't mind seeing it, but if the coach has reservations i understand. he knows the team and the game better than i do.
     
  11. babranski

    babranski Member+

    Dec 15, 2012
    Raleigh, NC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Let us stop this nonsense with calling players too slow. Holiday has powerful, efficient strides that covers a lot of ground deceptively quick. Let's nip the "Sarah Hagen is slow" talk in the bud here now as well. I got the sense the argument for Amy Rodriguez relied pretty heavily on her speed, and I was starting to feel like we were one or two posts away from you saying Hagen was too slow and I'm not going to have it.

    Yes, I've been critical of Holidays recent decision making and hesitation. I'm hopeful that with such a great game from her she'll break out of this funk that she's in, but I'll be damned if she isn't one of the most physically gifted players on the field for the USWNT. She is fit, strong, fast, and has a low center of gravity that helps her ride tackles, which unfortunately for her makes it also obvious to everybody when she takes a dive.

    Look at the first goal (Tymrak's) and watch for the moment that Hagen goes to regain possession on the left flank after the defender touches it away. Now look at the space in front of the central defenders. Who is busting her ass to fill that space and become available? Holiday. Hagen recovers a ball behind a defense, that includes Rampone, with speed, and simultaneously Holiday fills a space to help, with speed. Abby Wambach is slow, Sarah Hagen & Lauren Holiday are not. Let that be the end of that.

    Now, that being said, I've kind of watched this debate from the outside and I can't help but notice similarities between it and the Sydney Leroux debate.
     
  12. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    #62 luvdagame, Jul 8, 2014
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2014
    i appreciate your strong argument.

    i totally disagree with it.

    holiday is not fast. she is technical and strong. but she is not fast. hagen is not fast either. but her long strides are a great help. both players are ok in that regard. they cover ground reasonably well. they are not so slow as to negate their good points - altho holiday certainly did in the last game against france.

    i want them on the team.

    but they are not fast.

    leroux is fast. morgan is fast. ohai is fast.

    holiday and hagen are not.

    of course without a definition of terms we'll never agree.
     
  13. Forgedias

    Forgedias Member

    Mar 5, 2012
    Ok going to rewatch the match and I will do minute by minute break downs of what players are doing.

    1st half

    1:12 Leigh Ann Robinson goes to the byline and sends a cross in. Holiday just misses the header, Cameron was defending her and the ball bounces to the far end post.

    1:15 Erika Tymrak makes a run to the end post and chests the ball down after the bounce and taps the ball in beating her mark to the ball for the first goal.

    2:53 Holiday squares the ball to Rodriguez, under pressure, Rodriguez runs back to the Blues half and then sends a long back pass to Phillips.

    3:44 Hagen tracks back and fights for a free throw and forces a turn over allowing Holiday to get to it first who then switches the ball to Kallman across the field.

    5:02 Richmond takes a pass from Sauerbrunn with her back to Freels, turns on her with the ball and then sends a pass down the field to Holiday which starts a run of play. (Normally you would see a player pass back to the defender with a player on their back, Richmond turned on Freels and passed her and there by freed herself from her marker and opened space on the attack. A highly under rated ability.)

    5:07 Holiday in turn takes the ball up and quickly changes direction and fools Schmidt and Holiday holds the ball up and waits for Richmond to make a run and sends her a pass on the run. (1st 1-2 passing play)

    5:18 Richmond then makes a run and chips a long ball to Hagen who is making a run on the left side and holds the ball up and then waits for numbers before passing back to a running Tymrak.

    5:21 Tymrak then sends a back pass to Buczkowski who one times a forward pass to Holiday sitting about 25 yards out of the goal line.

    5:24 Holiday then sends a through ball into the box that Rodriguez sitting inside the box with Cutshall on her back can run onto. Rodriguez gets a 12 yard 1v1 look on Cameron but shot was mishit and easily saved by Cameron.

    6:14 Holiday passes to Robinson who then forward passes back to Holiday as she makes a run. (2nd 1-2 passing play)

    7:40 Robinson throws the ball in, Hagen chests it down and passes it to Richmond who avoids a tackle by Freels and squares the ball to Tymrak sitting centrally. (Richmond showing why she excels in a ball possession based system, doesn't pass the ball off on the first sign of trouble, but tries to get the ball forward and makes a play by doing so.)

    7:51 Tymrak switches to Kallman who makes a run and passes it back to Tymrak and frees herself for another run for the return pass and forces a corner kick for Kansas City. (3rd 1-2 passing play)

    8:39 on the second corner kick attempt Lauren Holiday would bend the ball in, fooling Cameron and score the second goal. (Start of a bad day for Brittany Cameron, she would be pushing her line up and it would cost her.)

    10:08 after missing a high deflected ball in the air, Kallman would recover and shield off Ocampo from making a run into the box and force a back pass and the resulting weak shot on Barnhart was easily saved. (Physical without being overly and getting away with it.)

    10:31 Buczkowski makes a bad forward pass to Holiday which results in a turn over inside the Blues half and allows Skyblue to switch the field of attack and get a run of play. (Forced a pass between 2 Skyblue players)

    10:44 Kendall Johnson would take the ball down to the byline but Richmond is marking her and blocks the attempted cross into the box resulting in a throw in. (Richmond tracked back and covered any attempts to cross the ball in. Kept good body position to do this.)

    10:56 Schmidt takes the throw in from Johnson and sends a cross into the box. Kallman has position over Ocampo and blocks her off from any attempt at the ball. Ocampo yells for a foul. (this is why I think Kallman would be a stud at center back)

    11:12 Tymrak makes a run with the ball on the touchline and passes it to Rodriguez. Rodriguez runs back to the Blues half and sends a back pass deep into the Blues defensive half which gets intercepted by Freels. Phillips is able to charge towards Freels and blocks the pass to Ocampo who was making a run to the box with Kallman out of position behind her. The ball would get knocked to the sideline. Phillips with a good save. (Very bad turn over by Rodriguez that almost set up a counter, 2nd deep back pass to the defender)

    13:23 Hagen takes a pass from Robinson and holds it waiting for a run, Robinson tries to make a run but Hagen is forced to pass it to Richmond, Richmond then sends a return pass back to Hagen who waits again for Richmond to make a run but misses connecting to her. (Good attempted build up play on the attempted 1-2 passing)

    14:00 Robinson would send a pass to Richmond, under pressure by 2 Skyblue players, Richmond would keep the ball and get a good pass back to Sauerbrunn, preventing a turn over. (Robinson put Richmond in a lot of trouble with that pass since it allowed 2 Skyblue players to close on Richmond and under a lot of duress, Richmond was able to keep the ball and get it out safely)

    14:08 Kallman takes the pass from Sauerbrunn and sends a pass to Tymrak who turns and then charges forward, Tymrak sends a foreward pass to Holiday who then passes to Tymrak who continued her run. (4th 1-2 passing play)

    14:13 Tymrak then sends an over the top ball to a running Rodriguez on the left side who would be able to turn on her defender and get a 1v1 shot off on Cameron from 15 yards out and misses high.

    15:01 Hagen would start a run of play for the Blues deep in her own half, Hagen would save a ball from going outside the touchline and then get it to, after fighting off 2 players, Kiryu and O'Hara, Hagen would pass it to Richmond, who then would tap it to Robinson and after a deflected pass, would then retrieve it back and get it to Sauerbrunn, then to Buczkowski and then to Holiday who would back pass it to Robinson who would take the ball up the pitch and send a long pass to Tymrak who would turn and send a sliding through ball to Rodriguez who would beat 3 defenders and get into the box alone but Cutshall would get a foot on it and tap it away from Rodriguez and Cameron would knock the ball out before Rodriguez could get a shot. (Great build up from the back, refusing to punt it out when they were under pressure. Built from the back and set a run of play up by doing this.)

    18:00 Kallman and Richmond would start this passing play and then would include Tymrak as she waits on the touchline. The triangle passing play. Kallman would pass to Richmond, then get the return pass from Richmond, then Kallman will activate Tymrak and send her a pass, Tymrak would pass back to Kallman under pressure but while this was happening, Richmond makes a run, freed from her mark by the passes. Kallman sees this and one touches the pass forward to a running Richmond who is completely open and unmarked. Skyblue defense is trying to react to this but now Kansas City has a 3v3 on the run of play. Richmond sends a through ball to Hagen who is on the run and Cutshall would have to make a slide to cut the ball out before it gets to Hagen. (Impressive passing play by the 3 players, Kallman was the focal point of the triangle passing play, the object of this is to break the marking down and force defenders to commit to a player and free the other one for a run so a pass can then be sent to that player. Worked beautifully. Well done by Kallman)

    19:09 After some passes between the back line, Tymrak would receive a pass from Phillips and advance it forward just pass the half way mark of the pitch, she would then right foot (Her off foot btw) an over the top pass to a running Hagen. Hagen would beat her defender and chest the ball down (No whistle for offside, so good timing by Hagen) and would half volley the ball with her left foot, still bouncing from her chesting down the ball, Hagen would beat Cameron who would try to cut off the angle but would get beat cleanly.

    20:49 Skyblue would start a run of play and quickly bring the ball up the middle. Sauerbrunn would try to dive in to force the player to hold up but Ocampo would one touch a pass to Freels would send a through ball to Ocampo with a trailing Buczkowski with only Robinson as the last defender, Robinson would step in and cut the pass off and stopping the Skyblue run of play.

    21:27 Kallman would see Buczkowski making a run and would send a pass to her on the run, Buczkowski instead of continuing with the ball forward, would one touch the pass to Tymrak on the touchline forcing Tymrak to pass it back. (No options to go forward since Buczkowski continued her run forward and didn't hold up to provide a passing option for Tymrak. Not good tactical awareness by Buczkowski to help Tymrak build through the run of play)

    21:52 Kallman sees Hagen tracking back to her and sends her a pass, Hagen turns with the ball and sends a through ball past 3 defenders with Rodriguez on the run. Cameron who plays a high line, would come out of the box and kick the ball away from Rodriguez (This is when I realized that Hagen has some decent vision for a forward)

    22:00 Holiday would retrieve the ball with the kick out by Cameron and would launch a long ball forward to try to catch Cameron out of her net which almost worked since Cameron couldn't get back in time. Holiday just missed hitting the net by a meter. (Cameron was going to get burnt with her high lines.)

    22:31 Hagen would force a turn over from Cutshall and would hold up play waiting for players to make their run, Hagen would send a pass to the left side of the field to allow Holiday to run onto it and Holiday would then pass back to Hagen who's pass would be off the mark. (Really heads up thinking by Hagen to wait for team mates to make a run and then send a pass to them to start a counter)

    22:33 Starting from this mark, Skyblue would counter from the right side of the field and Robinson would mark Kiryu and then Freels and man marked them by herself. She would force Kiryu to back pass to Johnson and then Johnson would pass to Freels and Freels would try to turn on Robinson but Robinson would have good body position to prevent this and Robinson would block a crossing attempt and the ball would rebound off Freels and the Blues would get a throw in. (Very good marking by Robinson on 2 skilled players)

    25:03 Skyblue would go on a run of play, Foord would get a pass and get a free run into the box with Skyblue switching the point of the attack to the left side. Foord would push into the box but Phillips would mark her well keeping Foord in front of her and the Blues would converge and force a turn over. (Foord should of passed off when she couldn't get Phillips to turn, she got ganged up on and a turn over was the result)

    26:40 Tymrak would take a pass from Kallman and dribble at the Skyblue defense line dribbling through 2 markers and attacking the box and forcing 3 defenders to back pedal with her dribble. With 5 Skyblue players surrounding her in the box, Tymrak options the ball out to Holiday but Schmidt would get a foot in to deflect it out to the middle of the pitch. Rodriguez chases after the ball and Ocampo beats her to the ball and turns with it. (What is very disappointing is what Rodriguez does after this, she gives up and allows Ocampo to press forward without any back marking pressure)

    27:00 On the counter, Skyblue attacks up the field, Freels sends a ball forward to Ocampo making a run and Phillips gets a touch on it to deflect it sideways and then Kallman out muscles Ocampo for the ball and retrieves it.

    29:05 Rodriguez takes a pass from Robinson, back passes to Holiday but one of those rare occurrences. Rodriguez runs to an open spot so Holiday can return the pass back to her. Only problem with this, no run of play was established since Rodriguez would square ball to Richmond and Richmond would not be able to return the ball back since Rodriguez's run was blocked by another marker. (5th 1-2 passing play, though no attacking run came out of this combination)

    30:12 Hagen would take a pass and with 2 players on her back and a 3rd tackling her from the front would keep the ball long enough to force a foul and the Blues would get the ball from it. (Hagen's size and strength coming through)

    30:41 Robinson would switch the ball to the other side of the field to Kallman who would pass to Buczkowski, then forward pass to Hagen who would one touch pass it to Tymrak waiting at the touchline, Tymrak would dribble to the middle of the pitch riding a tackle from Levin in the process, back pass to Buczkowski who would then forward pass it to Hagen and again Hagen would one touch the pass to the touchline to a waiting unmarked and wide open Kallman which would start a run of play for Kansas City. (Beautiful passing, basically a triangle play that would set up Kallman to make a run on the touchline, the passes broke down the marking and freed Kallman from any defender. Hagen was a very big part of this since she was the focal point of this build up)

    31:19 Kallman would send a bad pass to Richmond, Freels would read it and pounce on the ball before it would get to Richmond and launch a counter, Richmond would chase after Freels and catch up to her and there could of been a foul on the play since Freels felt her jersey tugged and she went down but no foul was called and Richmond was able to retrieve the ball. (Great hustle by Richmond to come back and get the ball back and something that Rodriguez did not show when she allowed Ocampo free to maker her counter)

    35:13 Robinson's pass to Richmond inside the Blue's side of the field would get cut off by Schmidt and turned over and O'Hara would try to beat Sauerbrunn but Sauerbrunn would get body position and force the turn over and get the ball back. (Steady Sauerbrunn, knows how to use her body to block off a player from the ball)

    35:30 Kallman would start a run of play, pass to Tymrak on the touchline who would then then pass to Hagen, Hagen in turn would hold the ball up and send an over the top ball to a running Richmond that Richmond would run into the box with Richmond would turn and shed both her defenders and get an open look 10 yards for goal but Cutshall would make a sliding tackle to force the ball off of Richmond. (How Hagen saw Richmond making that run, I don't know, but I was very impressed. Richmond was behind Hagen making her run and Hagen saw her and sent her a ball that was perfect, it got to her feet and Richmond was then inside the box)

    36:41 Kiryu would send a pass to Freels on a Skyblue run of play but Sauerbrunn would read this and intercept the pass. Sauerbrunn would launch a counter and would then pass to Hagen in the middle of the field, Hagen would see Sauerbrunn continue her run on the touchline and then send a return pass back to Sauerbrunn. Sauerbrunn would then charge forward and wait for Hagen to make her run and send a cross into the box letting Hagen go fetch it, Hagen marked by 2 defenders would flick the ball behind her but no other Kansas City player was making a run to take the ball. Rodriguez was the closest player available. (6th 1-2 passing play. Great build up by Sauerbrunn and good recognition by Hagen to see Sauerbrunn continuing her run to continue the build up by sending her a return pass, Rodriguez should of continued her run since she was the closest FCKC player and with her speed she could of made a play on the ball)

    37:25 Kiryu using her dribble would wrong foot Robinson and turn her around, gaining space to attack, Kiryu then sends a forward pass to Ocampo just inside the box who would one touch it back to O'Hara who would slide right catching Phillips off guard and get an open look on goal. O'Hara's shot would not be dangerous, straight at Barnhart. (Defensive break down by Robinson would allow Kiryu to make a run up the gut of the Blue's back line and catch the defense in a bad position)

    37:41 Tymrak would take the outlet pass from Barnhart and would start to build with Holiday, Holiday would forward pass to Rodriguez while Tymrak would move to the touchline waiting for the pass from Rodriguez. Instead Rodriguez would send a back pass to Buczkowski sitting deep in the Blue's half. (Again the 3rd deep pack pass to the defensive player. Tymrak was open on the touchline and Rodriguez could of built through the triangle passing which was set up by Holiday and Tymrak but Rodriguez chose to yet again to back pass. By not using the triangle passing available to Rodriguez, FCKC is forced to switch away from Holiday and Tymrak because of this)

    37:58 Buczkowski would commit a turn over with a bad touch deep in the Blue's side of the field, O'Hara would take the ball and send a pass to a wide open Ocampo and Ocampo would step just outside the box and send a shot wide off the mark. (Buczkowski wasn't good holding onto the ball and she got pressured by O'Hara to force the bad turn over)

    40:16 Johnson sends a pass to a running Kiryu making a run to the byline, Kiryu would get a cross off beating Robinson before she could mark her, the cross would be punched away but right to Levin who could not get a good touch and the ball would get cleared by Sauerbrunn.

    40:30 Starting from this point Skyblue would put quite a bit of pressure on the Blue's box. Foord would send in 2 crosses, O'Hara would get to one but her ball would be knocked up in the air, Ocampo would get the ball and pass to Freels who would send shot high over the cross bar.

    41:25 Richmond would receive a pass from Robinson and would keep her head up. Seeing no passing options, Richmond would take the ball up, still with her head up, she would spy Holiday making a run to the box and a through ball to her that would bounce right in front of her feet, Holiday would take a half volley shot and the shot would pass Cameron and hit the far post. Hagen would continue her run and the ball would bounce high up. Hagen would out leap Foord for the ball and head the ball in for her second goal of the match. (Several good things from this build up. 1) Richmond played a key role to this. The most important part was Richmond keeping her head up watching the play unfold in front of her. I can't stress how important this is and not many players play with their heads up. Richmond saw no passing options, so kept the ball and pressed forward splitting several Skyblue players in the process, she saw Holiday making her run and then sent a very nice through ball that arced up into the air and jumped right in front of Holiday allowing her to half volley it. 2) Hagen's role in this. Holiday's shot beat Cameron but hit the post. What Hagen did perfectly and what Rodriguez failed to do when Hagen flicked the ball into the box previously was Rodriguez failure to continue her run, is what Hagen did. She continued her run looking for a rebound and the rebound popped into the air allowing her to head it in for goal. Players need to realize that they need to continue their runs and look for loose balls. Hagen did this perfectly)

    42:35 Levin would send a throw in and got a return pass, Tymrak would back mark Levin and force a turn over with some good step ins to get the ball away from her. (Tymrak may not be the best at back marking players, but she at least tries unlike Casey Loyd who just floated when the Blues were defending)

    42:45 Skyblue would have a run of possession and the Blues would sit back to defend the attack by Skyblue. The back line would force any attempt to penetrate the box by keeping players in front of the Skyblue player, forcing a back pass to another player, in the end Schmidt would take a long range shot directly at Barnhart for any easy save. (Good defending to force the Skyblue players to stay outside the box and not penetrate it. The only shot came from the outside which Barnhart saved easily)

    43:15 Hagen would start the break out for FCKC by squaring a ball to Holiday who would drive forward and send a forward pass to Tymrak who would hold up and wait for Holiday to make her run and send her a return pass. Holiday would send a through ball to Rodriguez to the left side of the box, but Rodriguez would have to pass it back with defenders in front of her. (7th 1-2 passing plays. Its very obvious that most of these 1-2 plays, Holiday and Tymrak are usually behind most of them)
     
  14. Forgedias

    Forgedias Member

    Mar 5, 2012
    2nd Half

    45:00 Amy LePeilbet subs in for Kassey Kallman. (Surprising sub since Kallman has been very good, but LePeilbet needs playing time so I guess its understandable)

    47:23 Nadia Nadim forces a turn over deep inside the Blues half poaching the ball away from Sauerbrunn, but Skyblue pass back to their half of the field having to rebuild.

    48:14 Skyblue would finally concede the ball after a long shot that would miss the net. Hagen would have to be patched up for a cut so FCKC were down to 10 men.

    48:33 Sauerbrunn would begin to take the goal kicks from now on.

    49:01 Tymrak would get a pass from LePeilbet in her own half but a bad touch would allow Skyblue the turn over but Tymrak would not give up on the ball and chase it and force a turn over from Schmidt and would do a patented spin move with the ball to get out of trouble with 2 players trying to tackle her

    50:45 Rodriguez would take a throw in from Tymrak and back pass it, but understandably she was under pressure with no better options. (4th back pass to a defensive player)

    51:07 Nadim would receive the ball and turn on Buczkowski but Buczkowski would stay with her and step in to steal the ball away from Nadim and get the ball back. (Good hustle by Buczkowski to get the ball back after Nadim was able to turn on her)

    52:20 Skyblue would get their first corner kick of the match. Shows how good suffocating the FCKC defense was in the first half. Freels kick is a good one, looping in, 2 Skyblue players jump up with Richmond and Richmond gets sandwiched between them, the ball comes loose and Rampone fires a shot at goal but Sauerbrunn who was covering the near post would head the ball away, saving a sure goal.

    52:43 Holiday would turn over the ball inside the Blue's half and be forced to foul Foord who charged in behind her. Rampone would take the free kick and sends a cross in that Nadim to get her head to and Barnhart would be forced to a save. (Not a tough save but had to be sharp by Barnhart)

    53:18 LePeilbet forces a pass to Tymrak on the touchline but O'Hara is playing a high line and pounces on the ball and gets a turn over before it gets to Tymrak, Levin gets the ball to Schmidt, passes to Nadim who one touches a pass to Freels who then gets into the box. Sauerbrunn and Buczkowski would force Freels to run into them and both Freels and Sauerbrunn would go to the ground. Buczkowski would get the ball out after that. (Bad turn over by LePeilbet, playing outside back, not her normal position so underestimated how fast Levin would get to the pass and it created a potentially dangerous scoring chance for Skyblue, 3rd turn over inside the Blue's side in the second half)

    54:24 Holiday would pass to Rodriguez who would immediately back pass back to Holiday, turning to make a run. But Rodriguez would be running away from Holiday and only way Holiday could send her the ball was to go over the top. Holiday instead chose another option and sent a through ball to Hagen who then turned on Rampone, beating her cleanly and getting a 1v1 with about 10 yards and Cameron in front of her, Hagen took her shot and it was sent high over the cross bar. Missed chance for a hat trick. (5th back pass by Rodriguez, at least it wasn't to a defensive player this time but back to Holiday, but her turn was away from Holiday, not towards her. The only way Holiday was going to get a pass back to Rodriguez is to send a ball over the top. Holiday took the better choice and sent a through ball to Hagen which almost resulted in a goal. Remember if we didn't have Hagen in the line up, what would happen here? The back pass would invariably force FCKC to switch and rebuild using the wings to move the ball up because there was no holding forward up top to play off to. This time, even with Rodriguez back passing, Hagen was sitting up top, waiting for a pass, she could turn or hold the ball up and she optioned for the turn and got a very good chance for goal)

    55:12 Skyblue would commit 3 players deep to press the Blue's backline, Phillips would send a pass to Buczkowski, then receive the ball back and then Phillips would send the ball to Richmond, but under pressure, the ball would return to Phillips and then Phillips then got her opening to get the ball out of the Blue's side by switching to Robinson who got herself open. (Good display of patience in building out of the back. Phillips stayed patient and was not tempted to punt the ball down the field)

    55:33 Robinson with the ball would have space to run and would pass to Rodriguez who again immediately one touches a back pass back to Robinson. (6th back pass. These back passes do not help in the run of play, it allowed Skyblue to move numbers up when the Blues had the advantage when they switched the field)

    56:10 Sauerbrunn would make a run up the field with some space to run, sends a forward pass to Rodriguez who is unmarked so turns and charges up the field until she encounters Schmidt. She has Hagen to her right and Tymrak to her left who are both open. What option does she take? You guessed it, she back passes to Holiday allowing Skyblue to set up in the box. (7th back pass. Rodriguez could of easily optioned the ball out to the wings, both Hagen and Tymrak were open for the pass and they could of pressed forward into the box, at least Holiday was able to salvage a decent attempt even because of this)

    56:19 Holiday has 2 options, pass to Rodriguez or to Tymrak, who do you think she chose? You guessed right, Tymrak. Tymrak saw Richmond making a run on the left side and held the ball up with her back to the Skyblue defense and sent a pass to Richmond on the run, Richmond then saw LePeilbet making a run herself and sent a pass to her to run onto. LePeilbet would get to the ball and send a cross in but Levin would charge back and deflect the crossing attempt by LePeilbet to the touchline. (Great vision by Tymrak and Richmond to both see the runs happening)

    56:42 Buczkowski would send a pass to Tymrak who quickly one touches a pass to Richmond and forces 2 Skyblue players to mark Tymrak opening up space for Richmond to make a run into the Skyblue defensive 3rd, Richmond passes to Hagen who waits a second to then try to feed Holiday with a through ball but the ball would get cut out. (Really liked that Hagen tried to through ball for Holiday, another big plus for me because you want your holding forward to activate Holiday and having a forward willing to do that is huge for Kansas City)

    57:45 Hagen using her size, jumps up and chests down a long ball by Sauerbrunn and pushes it to Holiday. (Hagen with her size will make it very easy for the Blues if they want to go with that option to send long balls to her to chest down and either hold or turn with)

    58:02 LePeilbet would send a hard pass to Hagen with a defender closely marking her but Hagen somehow knocks the hard pass down and then turns and makes a near pass to Holiday who was on the run. The ball would get cut out by Skyblue. (Impressive footwork from Hagen. For a big girl, she has some good feet to be able to take that hard pass and then quickly turn with it)

    58:56 Rodriguez would get a pass and stumble to the ground but would quickly get up, she would turn with the ball and move it up field. Schmidt would close the gap on Rodriguez and Rodriguez would have sent a pass to Robinson who was making a run on the touchline, through ball it to either Holiday or Hagen who were angling their runs to make the run onto the through ball. What option do you think Rodriguez takes? She back passes. (8th back pass and another to a defensive player in Richmond. The problem with Rodriguez is she just doesn't see what is happening in front of her. Either that or doesn't keep her head up to look at the play developing in front of her. Both Holiday and Hagen were angling their runs towards Rodriguez and she passes away from them? There was space for a through ball so either Holiday or Hagen could run onto. Just no creativity from Rodriguez)

    59:04 Despite the back pass to Richmond, Richmond on the other hand does have vision and sees Tymrak wide open and sends a long ball to her. Hagen seeing Tymrak with the ball comes to her to get the pass and Tymrak obliges and sends her the ball then makes a run on the touchline. Guess what Hagen does here? She then sends a pass forward so Tymrak can run onto it. (8th 1-2 passing play. Again Tymrak or Holiday tend to be involved with these plays. Hagen knowing Tymrak has the ball, coming to her to receive it and then sending Tymrak free on a passing combination. That is what FCKC was missing from their holding forward)

    60:24 Nadim chests a long ball down and sends a square ball to the wings allowing Johnson to run onto it. With Robinson trailing, Richmond marks Johnson, keeping her in front of her preventing her from turning against her. Johnson would be forced to send a cross in but way wide off the mark. (Great face up defending by Richmond to force the bad cross)

    60:54 LePeilbet would take a pass from Buczkowski deep inside her defensive 3rd and then one touch it forward to Caitlin Foord who would then go directly at LePeilbet and pass her on the dribble, LePeilbet turned would not be able to recover as Foord would get to the 6 yard line and pass to O'Hara who would have Phillips on her back and would turn to go back and pass to Freels just inside the 18 yard box and would get a clean look on goal but her shot would be shanked and go high. (Very bad turn over by LePeilbet, her second in her own defensive end and the 4th for the Blues in the second half. Freels should probably of converted on that, but one timed the shot and mishit it)

    63:38 Foord would take a pass and rush down the touchline, LePeilbet and Tymrak would be marking her and Foord would juke both players and turn and quickly dash to the middle of the field just outside the box and slot a pass to Freels who who's touch would be too hard and Levin would retrieve the ball and send a good cross in that O'Hara tried to volley in the air with. (Another bad marking effort by LePeilbet to allow Foord to turn on her and get a good offense chance. Tymrak over compensated on the defense and dove in too hard in trying to block the cross coming into the box)

    66:29 Rodriguez takes a pass from Tymrak and instead of back passing she actually turns with the ball under pressure from a defender. Her pass back to Tymrak was intercepted but better from Rodriguez.

    68:20 Richmond gets a forward pass from Holiday and makes run up the pitch, Schmidt is shadowing her blocking her from passing to Tymrak and switching to the touchline, seeing this Richmond stops her run, turns and cuts across Schmidt and then sends a crossing ball to Buczkowski who is making a run down the touchline, Buczkowski holds the ball up until Robinson is able to pass her on her own run and then passes to Robinson who sends a pass to Holiday who is making a run into the box and gets to her feet 8 yards from goal, Holiday taps the ball behind her and Schmidt who is marking her to open space and Rodriguez would over run the ball and Foord gets to the ball and clears it. (Really heads up by Richmond to see that her options on her run were limited because Schmidt was blocking her passing lanes, Richmond then opted to turn and go around Schmidt and sends a cross over to a running Buczkowski. Really thinking out there and using her football sense, really impressed again)

    69:09 Buczkowski would pass the ball to Hagen who has her back to goal, but she has 4 defenders behind her but sees Tymrak on the run in front of her, so passes to Tymrak on the run who would dribble by 2 Skyblue players and then get a shot off just outside the box forcing Cameron to make a diving save. (Hagen could of easily turned but she held the ball up and waited for Tymrak to make her run, then passed to her. Good vision to see the play unfolding in front of Hagen)

    70:22 Holiday would take the throw from Barnhart and start the run of play, she would pass to Rodriguez who would turn away from Holiday and cross to the middle of the pitch. Both Holiday and Tymrak are making runs and are angling their runs towards Rodriguez. Holiday is open on the right touchline and a through ball to Tymrak can be made to let her run onto it. What does Rodriguez do here? She back passes. (9th back pass to a defensive player and this time to Richmond. Both Holiday and Tymrak are making runs angling their runs towards Rodriguez, Holiday is wide open and Tymrak just needs a through ball to allow her to run onto it. But Rodriguez's first option is the back pass. Frustrating to watch this)

    70:40 Katrina Gorry subs in for Erika Tymrak

    72:16 Gorry sends a long pass forward for Hagen to run onto. At this point, you could see Hagen just give a big sigh and start hoofing down the pitch to reach it. Hagen gets to the ball before it goes out the touchline and then swings a cross into the box for a running Rodriguez who just misses putting a foot on it to deflect it into the net. (I don't think Hagen likes to be lead like that for such a long ball forward especially this late in the match but she is a trooper and raced to the ball to prevent it from going out and got a good cross in)

    74:26 Phillips sends a long ball back out with a header and Hagen just chests it down with ease and then before it touches the ground, uses her foot to stop its roll to control it and back passes it to Holiday who then one touches it forward. (Uhh that impressed me. Hagen has some good technical skills to go with that frame of hers. Just easy in the air to bring balls down under control)

    75:05 one of the few mistakes by Sauerbrunn in the match, mishandles a ball and would bounce out of her control which would allow O'Hara to race in and take the ball and then long ball it forward to Nadim in the box who would run under it and one time the shot for the far side of the post missing it. Close call.

    75:50 Schmidt from 30 yards out would launch a laser shot aimed for the top left corner and Barnhart would make her best save of the match, rising up to tip it over the cross bar. (great save and had to be sharp since Barnhart wasn't really tested yet in the match)

    77:20 Hagen would send a pass to Rodriguez who would outlet the pass forward to Buczkowski who would hold it up and pass it back to Hagen who would forward pass it to Gorry on the wing. Holiday would get fouled in the play which would end the run of play. (Rodriguez sends her first through ball of the match to an open Buczkowski, but Buczkowski would hesitate to make a run and hold the play up, so allowing the Skyblue defense to regroup and defend in a better shape)

    78:17 Sarah Hagen subs out for Liz Bogus

    79:32 Gorry sends a long ball forward to no one and is turned over quickly. Probably trying to hard but Gorry had plenty of options to build and wait for runners.

    81:42 Foord would take a pass down the touchline from Rampone and would dribble at LePeilbet again, instead of facing her, LePeilbet had to back pedal with her back facing Foord allowing to push her into the box and then sliding the ball through LePeilbet, Foord then LePeilbet would get body position over Foord and prevent Foord from turning with the ball and FCKC take back the ball and kick it to the touchline. (Foord nearly burns LePeilbet again, not looking so good for LePeilbet right now, getting exposed by Foord while Kallman was able to face Foord and defend her better)

    84:50 Nadim gets a long ball over the top and would get under it to receive it, Phillips is the last man defending and marks Nadim who runs to the touchline, Phillips does a good job keeping her in front of her, not allowing her to turn on her forcing Nadim to back pass it instead of crossing it in. (Good job by Phillips to face up to Nadim and keep her in front of her, nice defending)

    85:13 Ashley Nick would launch a powerful shot right at Barnhart 40 yards away. The shot would force Barnhart to take a step back from the force of it but Barnhart would make the save easily.

    85:45 Holiday takes a free kick and launches a long ball down to Rodriguez who outpaces her defender to get a open look on Cameron and fires a shot that would go wide left of the net.

    86:45 Schmidt would play the give and go with Foord and get a good run to the byline, Richmond would stay with Schmidt step for step and finally knock the ball to the byline. (Good defending by Richmond to stay inside with Schmidt and not allow her to turn or send a cross into the box)

    88:22 Holiday would start a run but would have to hold up to wait for Bogus and Rodriguez to get onside and when they do, Holiday sends a through ball to Bogus who would send a badly placed crossing ball that I think Rodriguez was supposed to run onto but it was more of a shot to Cameron that was easily saved.

    89:32 Bogus would get a feed from Holiday and then send a ball through into the box that Gorry would one time and chip over the net.

    90:23 One minute would be added in stoppage time and Bogus would receive a pass from Buczkowski and would pass to a wide open Rodriguez who would one time a right footed shot that would beat Cameron on the far post for the 5th goal of the match. Garbage time goal but a goal never less.

    This was a long post, but I will do a final break down and grades on another post after this.
     
  15. Forgedias

    Forgedias Member

    Mar 5, 2012
    #65 Forgedias, Jul 8, 2014
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2014
    Grades and breakdowns of how the players did. Btw I don't plan on doing this or at least to this depth because it took hours to compile this together.

    Jenna Richmond (A+) In the my opinion, played one of her best matches today, also was one of the best players on the pitch. Did not make one mistake on the day. No bad passes, no missed tackles and more importantly was very dominant in stifling the Skyblue attack whenever they tried to build through the middle. Was a big factor in building the attack up with Holiday, Tymrak and Hagen. All 4 of these players were looking up, watching for players to make runs and getting passes to them. Richmond helped set up the 2nd goal by Hagen by sending a through ball to Holiday who hit the post and Hagen got to the rebound and headed it in. Richmond was dominant holding onto the ball and taking tackles and holding the ball while doing so, thereby creating space for her team mates to run onto so she can thread passes to them. Made several spectacular defensive plays, on Kallman's turn over, Richmond charged back and forced a turn over to get the ball back, solo marked forwards on the wings whenever an outside back was caught up the field and Skyblue countered, Richmond was always there to back her back line up. Richmond's presence in the middle of the pitch is bigger then a normal player because of her multi faceted game. Able to provide vision on the attack and stellar on the defense.

    Lauren Holiday (A+) Played her role perfectly. She was the little general ably supported by her partner in crime Tymrak. Between the both of them they fed of so many 1-2 passing combinations whether its to themselves or with other players. 8 1-2 passing plays in total was used today. Had a perfect goal with her bender from the corner kick and assisted on Hagen's second goal.

    Erika Tymrak (A+) Played on the wing mostly but also used the middle of the pitch to attack constantly. Tymrak is more known for her attacking prowess but she did quite a bit of back marking in this match and helped turn balls over. Her goal was her continuing her run into the box and getting to the end of the cross to tap the ball in on the open side. Her assist was even better, lobbing a right footed ball over the top to Hagen who would chest it down and score a spectacular goal. Tymrak and Holiday were constantly in sync with each other and both played off well with Hagen.

    Sarah Hagen (A+) Played a fantastic game, scored 2 spectacular goals and provided the key ingredient that the Blues offense needed. A holding forward with vision that will play off with Holiday and Tymrak. Constantly holding the ball up, passing to running players and providing a target to send long balls too. Hagen is the real deal. Impressive showing.

    Kassey Kallman (A+) The best defender on the pitch. Really was dominant in keeping Foord bottled up and out muscled Ocampo for air balls several times to prevent her from getting good chances in the box. Physical but not so much that she would be penalized, Kallman was dominant on defense but also played very well on the attack. Setting up a triangle passing play that Tymrak and Richmond were apart of and broke down the Skyblue marking allowing Richmond to get free to receive a pass from Kallman to set up a good attack play.

    Nicole Barnhart (A) Had a quiet match but when she needed to be sharp, Barnhart made the key saves to keep her league leading 8th shut out.

    Nikki Phillips (A) Had a very good match, played to her strengths and faced up to any player that she had to mark solo. Her weakness will always be her foot speed and ability to recover from a turn. But Phillips kept it simple and made sure she was never exposed to over the top balls or any chipped balls.

    Becky Sauerbrunn (B+) Only reason why this wasn't higher were her 2 turn overs in her own side. The second one nearly costing a goal. Sauerbrunn was very steady and was the last defender on many sequences and kept the back line very clean by building from the back and did come forward a couple times to start runs of play and had one with Hagen in the first half where Sauerbrunn played off with Hagen in a 1-2 passing combination that allowed Sauerbrunn to reach the offensive third to send a cross into Hagen who would chip the ball to the open side of the box.

    Leigh Ann Robinson (B) Played a very good game, constantly attacking up the flank to create over lapping runs and sending the cross in the 2nd minute of play that resulted in the first goal. Defended well but also had her miscues on defense. Allowed Kiryu to wrong foot her and that set up the shot by O'Hara that could of been dangerous right outside the box. Robinson would also commit another turn over in the first half but Sauerbrunn would bail her out.

    Jenn Buczkowski (B) Probably should be higher, but she did make 2 bad turn overs. One that she tried to force a pass to Holiday with 2 Skyblue players in the way, another bad turn over in her own side was against Ocampo who would get the ball and get a good shot on goal but off the mark. The issues with Buczkowski is when you compare her with Richmond, its very easy who is excelling and making an impact on the game. Even my game break downs, Richmond is very prominent on the recaps. Buczkowski played well, but she just didn't stand out like Richmond does, every game.

    Katrina Gorry (C) Hard to make any decisions on Gorry, looked to be pressing out there trying to make an impact. Good at holding the ball, but wanted to try to move up the pitch so made a few bad decisions like long balling it forward without much hope for a Blues player to get under it.

    Liz Bogus (C) Played only a few minutes, assisted on the goal for Rodriguez, but otherwise, really didn't make an impact on the field

    Amy LePeilbet (D) Really struggled out there. Had 2 bad turn overs in her side of the field and Caitlin Foord was just turning her around and making her look cumbersome on the pitch. While Kallman was able to keep Foord in check, LePeilbet was twice burnt by Foord, one on a very bad outlet pass directly at Foord that Foord would then dribble right at LePeilbet and turn her around and then get a cross into the box that resulted in a near goal and another were Foord took a ball on the touchline and pounced on LePeilbet and dribbled right at her forcing her to keep her back to Foord and giving Foord the advantage in deciding when she would turn or send the ball through. Bad foot work and took wrong angles in defending and marking players.

    Amy Rodrigues (F) Yes you could say I am hammering Rodriguez again, but for good reason. As noted in my break downs, Rodriguez would back pass 9 times in the match. We are not talking about one or a couple times, but 9 times and this means that Rodriguez who had repeated chances to link up with a player who was making a run to receive the pass from Rodriguez never got it. Hagen, Holiday and Tymrak all were angling their runs to receive through balls or even a pass out in the open, Rodriguez could of passed to them in the open but in nearly every chance she got, she chose to back pass to a defensive player. Instead of a run of play where the Blues would be on the attack with numbers, Rodriguez was forcing the play back and the Blues would constantly have to restart their build up with Skyblue now defending with numbers. This constantly happened in this match. And one of those back passes to a defender, her pass actually got intercepted by a Skyblue player and it created a good scoring chance for Skyblue.

    Every time Rodriguez sends a back pass back, she stops a run of play and in many cases potentially a scoring chance. When Rodriguez was the sole forward for Kansas City, this stifled the offense, the Blues did not create many scoring chances because of this, Hagen changed that all today. Hagen was willing to hold up play, play the give and go with a midfielder and wait for players to make runs and through ball to them or in certain circumstances, turn with the ball. When Rodriguez passed back to an actual midfielder, she didn't try to run and angle towards the midfielder to get a pass back to play off with them in a 1-2 combination. She never did this in this match. Instead she angled herself off and away from the midfielder and the midfielder would be forced to switch the ball to another side of the field to build up.

    I've been noticing these problems in Rodriguez for the whole season and its only this break down I did, that I am realizing how often Rodriguez actually cuts down on the offensive chances by the Blues. She doesn't look up, or allow the play to develop in front of her, she immediately wants to pass it back so she can either make a run or turn on the defender and wait for a pass down the field. That kind of thinking doesn't work at Kansas City. They need to having linking players working together. The reason why Kansas City did so well today is a large part is Hagen. Having her hold the center forward role and hold up and actually play off with a midfielder is a massive change for the Blues. She added the ability to get Holiday into the attack, which we normally don't see because Rodriguez would squash so many chances.

    Add to this is Rodriguez, the idea that she actually defends? She did no defending, made no tackles, and more importantly on an important play gave up trying to back mark Ocampo. The Blues were building around the box and a ball deflected goes into the middle of the pitch, Ocampo and Rodriguez race for the ball, Ocampo beats Rodriguez to the ball, here Rodriguez has the option to either tackle Ocampo or at least put an arm on Ocampo and force her to turn and hold the ball up and wait for reinforcements. Instead Rodriguez clearly gives up and just stops moving. Ocampo turns with the ball and moves it up the pitch on a counter. No back marking pressure and it puts the Blues back line under a lot of pressure. At least if Rodriguez stayed with Ocampo, then Ocampo would of been pressured on the counter, but not even that. Rodriguez simply allowed Ocampo to turn and launch the counter. And this isn't the first time Rodriguez would give up on a play. When Sauerbrunn and Hagen were combining to set up a cross, Hagen flicked the ball into the open side of the box, Rodriguez was the closest player to the ball but she made no effort to continue her run, she actually cut it short. If Rodriguez continued her run, she could of made a play on the ball, like Hagen did when she continued her run after Holiday hit the post and there was a big rebound that Hagen would beat Foord to and head it in.

    After breaking Rodriguez's match down, I have a very low opinion of Rodriguez right now, she floated big time in this match. She looked busy when she took passes, but then would constantly back pass the ball and stop run of plays because of this. She did no defending and wouldn't back mark players. She wouldn't look up to see the play develop because she had players making runs and trying to angle their runs to receive balls from her, but she would instantly back pass it to a defender. Why? Its very obvious those players are making a run, pass to them. Rodriguez needs to be played through, or passed to while she is sitting in around the box to score, but when you ask her to create for other players, she refuses and its a dead ball situation for her. The offense build up stops with Rodriguez.

    She is such a bad fit for our offense. The forwards have to be a big part of this offense because they have to activate the midfielders into the attack. Rodriguez did not do this while Hagen was amazing at this.
     
    Namdynamo repped this.
  16. MRAD12

    MRAD12 Member+

    Jun 10, 2004
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    So can we pretty much say that Melissa Henderson is done at FCKC? I understand she has had some injury problems but it seems to me she is receiving no love from Vlatko and I find it hard to imagine she will be back next season at FCKC. The only trump card is the dude she seems to be close to that plays for Sporting KC. ??
     
  17. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    true. very true.

    she has scored a paltry number of goals.

    she is too low in the list of forwards in the league.

    the team cannot win with her.

    andonovski doesn't know what he's doing!
     
  18. babranski

    babranski Member+

    Dec 15, 2012
    Raleigh, NC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #68 babranski, Jul 8, 2014
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2014
    A definition of terms?

    distance/time isn't good enough?

    What do you look for in speed? How fast the legs move? How hard a player is working? Maybe how noticeable the sweat is?

    Makes me think of Ohai, who looks like she is throwing in every fiber of her being when she runs. Watching Kealia for as long as I have, I do think she is fast, but because she hurtles her body forward looking like her life depends on it, it gives the impression she is faster than she really is.

    They did a sports science on this that I base all of my value of speed and quickness in soccer on. I suppose this is the closest thing to a definition of terms that you are asking for. The video is a comparison of Ronaldo to a sprinter. The sprinter won the straight line test, but when they asked them to do a tight zig zag course, Ronaldo beat the sprinter.



    Truth is, I've never attributed Ohai to having this extraordinary speed that everybody seems to want to give her. She knows how to turn on the jets and blaze past people, but like Ronaldo in the tests, her straight line speed isn't her best attribute, and watching this I notice she runs a little bit like Ronaldo in this videos as well.

    On the flip side, I notice that Holiday runs a lot like the sprinter, long, powerful strides that, when you watch it in real time, doesn't look like she's working very hard.
     
  19. babranski

    babranski Member+

    Dec 15, 2012
    Raleigh, NC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Your attributing KC's success too much to her.

    None of that was the point, anyway. The point was this team would attack better with someone who fits the offense better. Last year KC got rid of Cuellar, a similar style of striker to Amy Rodriguez, for the same reason, Ando was quoted for it. She had scored 6 goals at about the same pace Amy Rodriguez did this year. KC was winning games, more than we had at the same point this season.

    Why do you think we've held on to Amy this time around instead? It's not about winning, it's not about her scoring her goals, and its not because she fits the system better than Renae Cuellar. It's because her name is Amy Rodriguez, and like people in the Sydney Leroux debate, its bothering people that some players seem to have a free pass to the starting 11 no matter how bad they are playing or how ineffective they are in a system.

    The point is Amy Rodriguez doesn't fit this system as a striker as good as Sarah Hagen does. Amy is not very good with her back to goal, where she fails to combine with her team mates and take advantage of the space provided to her. Her skill set and abilities would be better suited on the three front, when she can attack the goal with the ball at her feet.
     
    Namdynamo, Forgedias and MRAD12 repped this.
  20. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    has nothing to do with how the player looks.

    it's simply how quickly a player covers ground during the game.

    it's not the only thing in the game. it 's not even the most important thing in the game. but it's one of the important things in soccer. it's one of (just one of) the things that condemned freddy adu to also ran status once his speed advantage disappeared as he grew older.

    holiday has many more important aspects to her game, but fast as in leroux/morgan/thomis (if you want to leave out ohai) is not one of them. It's one of the reasons lauren had a terrible game against a quick, athletic france team.
     
  21. Blaze20

    Blaze20 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Seattle Reign FC
    Sep 22, 2009
    Club:
    Philadelphia Independence
    How can you judge that Hagen fit the "system" better when she have only played one match? Sure we all know the type of player Hagen is but that still does not translate to the actual games. You have to actually step on the field and play. And that's also not even factoring in how defenses will react to you as well.

    It seems Arod was prejudged before she even step on the field and no matter what her results are, people are still holding on to their bias.
    Prior to the season start, people had already made up their minds that Arod does not fit the KC style. Her results however have proved otherwise. You can make up all these excuses as much as you want but the numbers don't lie. Now it seems like the opposite is being done with Hagen. You have decided that she "fit" the KC style better. I have the feeling that even if her output doesn't match what Arod have done, she still won't receive the amount of flack that Arod have.
    When this KC team was in the doldrums earlier in the season, A-rod was the one bright spot and kept them from falling back too much. Let's give her the credit she deserves.
     
    FCKCEvans repped this.
  22. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    see, i'm just querying the "how bad they are playing" when she's one of the leading scorers in the league.

    ...and i wonder about "how ineffective" she is when she's helping the team win so much.

    don't care if she gets kicked off the team for playing badly. just don't think she is.
     
  23. babranski

    babranski Member+

    Dec 15, 2012
    Raleigh, NC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Lauren Holiday was having terrible games dating all the way back to the China games. She was in a funk, making poor decisions, hesitating, and getting caught in possession often, for both the US and KC. She was still running and giving teams fits, but sometimes your just off.

    Sarah Hagen & Lauren Holiday both have the speed to get box to box, run at the back line, and get past defenders. That I think was the point you were trying to make, that she doesn't, and I thouroughly disagree. If we start comparing every-bodies speed to Leroux/Morgan/Thomis ... everybody will be slow to you. It isn't "your fast like Morgan" or "your slow". Soccer is not black and white.

    Hagen just finished a season in a similar 451 system, playing a similar style of football, with a team that also attracted Tymrak after the NWSL season was complete last year.

    Hagen did pretty good with Bayern, 38 goals in 51 matches.
     
  24. Blaze20

    Blaze20 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Seattle Reign FC
    Sep 22, 2009
    Club:
    Philadelphia Independence
    Which doesn't tell me much. Brooks also did well for herself at Bayern but hasn't exactly been setting NWSL ablaze. Likewise, Tymrak was amazing for FCKC last year and pretty much bombed at Bayern. The point is, we can analyze all we want but the actual results will tell the real story.
     
    FCKCEvans and jigsawill repped this.
  25. babranski

    babranski Member+

    Dec 15, 2012
    Raleigh, NC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm not saying she should. I never have. You seem pretty adamant that everybody wants her on the bench. We don't, we want to see her on the wing. She is the best option on the right wing, and she is at her absolute best when she has the ball at her feet and can face her defenders.

    They got the highlights up, so look at the first goal again. You down see how Hagen runs down a lose ball, or how Holiday runs into space to be available, but they do show Amy Rodriguez receiving the ball in the absolute best possible position for her: between the midfield and defense, in a pocket of space, facing goal. She gets closed down, but she takes her defenders on and makes an intelligent decision to create space and then create width with Robinson out wide.

     

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