It wasn't losing challenges, it was they would chip a ball over him or throughball him and exploit the space behind. Kind of like what they used to do to Williams. I don't care what the stats say, they were going after him like he was fresh meat ie the weakest link. Deric cleaned up most of that, but it doesn't compare to Beasley. "Win the starting spot due to performance?" Did you watch the game? Deric doesn't make some saves and mopping up and that's a different first half. We dominated the second and Torres scored and everyone has an optimistic take on Torres and the team. But if all you saw was the first half, Torres? Meh. Remick? Vulnerable. Revisionist history, the scoreline was a little flattering.
So a fullback who was clearly told to stay back and pinched in, to get help from teammates, did so poorly that the only way the opposition could beat him was to attempt to skip him entirely where fellow defenders were waiting to snuff out the attack? And the one time this all failed was due to poor linesmanship? And youre upset? You truly are never happy.
if you were coming up with a plan to attack a team wouldn't you plan to go after a new starter? Finley is in the UMNT pool and is pretty fast. Much of the attack since the year they won the cup has been to play it over the top out wide to finley for him to serve it in to Kei and now Ola is this any surprise? I don't think it is an indictment of weakness on Remicks performance. He was pretty solid but maybe we both saw different things at different times. Just as I should not annoint him as a starter fir alot if the good plays he made, Juve shouldn't make him a scab because he got beat once on a one v one out wide.
Sorry, I watched the preseason, which I am told was meaningless. While doing so, I watched the B Team defense, including Remick, get abused. They are the quality of last season's defense or worse. They might not look totally incompetent with Deric back there sweeping up, or with three other veteran backs, but I think every back we have past the first 4 just plain sucks. Maybe Taylor Hunter can play. What you don't get is that one attribute of a GOOD defender is the ability to position themselves just so, to retreat at just the right angle, and to have the speed to cover ground, where even if you try to play the ball over or by them, they either win it themselves or meet the player/ball when it drops. You act like it is "all they can try," but the difference is Beasley covers the same play. So either (a) they don't bother or (b) he wins it. That they bothered repeatedly suggests they figured out he was the one it could work on. Just like when I watch a football game I am interested what DB gets picked on, and how he does. In this case, they went after Remick, and most of the clean up wasn't him, it was Deric. The defensive bench are like last season's defense, generally in the right position, but not mobile or smart enough for the job. You want to say black is white, fine, but to the trained eye they are brutal. You want to pretend it's ok to be beaten over the top, that it's somehow a sign of invulnerability, let's bring Waibel back. No one ever took advantage of that. Go back and actually watch the preseason and see how much trouble the B Team defense had with positioning, through balls, balls over the top. That does NOT mean the other team is simply desperate. I am not deferring to y'all one bit on this, y'all are the ones like guard Higuain and leave the goal scorer open even closer to the net. Why could I possibly be unhappy? Oh, one of you is already talking the waste of space up as a starter over Beasley. I was saying in preseason start getting rid of the bench defense and find some people who can play. You know with a defense this old they will have to play. Sorry, Remick reminds me of last season's crop of defenders. Out of a pretty decent winter window he is one of the few who reminds me of the past 2 crap seasons' worth of GM work. And then I start hearing how he played well when I thought he was the weak link they went after and Deric bailed us out on.
We have an optimistic take on Torres and the team because they earned it. They are play positively and winning in the process. Yes, there are some faults in play, but no one plays a perfect game... just doesn't happen. People's positivity isn't coming unwarranted, you also must not see most of us pointing out negative aspects of things too. Chill out and people happy for 2 ********ing seconds.... you are far to doom and gloom.
Welcome to Bizarro Orange World, where people try and act like a bit player left dangling by his old team in the draft is the Next Coming, despite him even being picked on during the game. The ones imagining things are the ones acting like he's a starter and not the functional equivalent of Agus, Malki, and the other people on his "shift."
He has one goal from the run of play in his league career here. Three seasons. Maybe I am just not wanting to anoint the third best, not all that great, frustrating part of a three man attack. Like I said, I think it's even better with Manotas. I don't understand why everyone is all defensive, or if they claim to be such sharp eyes, so indifferent to most of the play they see. He has like 3-4 decent plays a game. Otherwise disjointed, beaten to balls by defenders, better running off the ball than being the guy available to pass to. Like, oh, when Quioto beats his man 10 times I might like him open for finish once. The "gloom and doom" bit is spin. I am happy how it is going and said so multiple times. Y'all have a man-boy issue with falling in love with anyone hitting a streak. I think he is a weak link. I think Alexander is a weak link. I think Remick is a weak link. People can play pretend and Cabrera can run them out more, and it might work some of the time. But this is the sort of glitch that bites you in a playoff like Bruin being wasteful. Be wary what players you fall in love with and that maybe you ask for more than 2 goals total in 3 years (1 run of play) before assuming he's fixed.
we love Ching and Derosario don't mistake appreciation for good performance of a player as an endorsement that we think he will help us win a cup you take it too far man quit with all the hang wringing and drama
Difference between me and y'all is I am willing to trust my eyes and say what I am seeing, even if it's unpopular and not fitting the trend. I was saying in preseason this is a pretty good team so DO NOT PRETEND I THINK IT'S CRAP. Interestingly, on that, y'all bade your time. I just think on a team that has some choices, we are winning despite making some bad ones. This will not cost us getting the playoffs, it will cost us in the playoffs. Y'all get complacent the minute results start happening, did it with Barrett and his ties for a few weeks, will do it with Torres and Alexander now. Run out the people who won even if we have an even better XI sitting. Ever consider I might be right twice? That if I had the team pegged in preseason I might grasp from having watched that plus two games plus recent seasons that Torres and Alexander are not the necessary cogs to this working, and might be the weak points? This is not about "Ching" it's more like the people who defended "Ale" alongside him. And then Kinnear did the sharp ruthless thing and got Dalglish and we have a trophy because. Even a good team can use fixing and I've recommended my fixes. I think y'all are falling for what is a suboptimal XI. I mean, up until he was suspended, Cabezas was going to start. Hpw's that his fault? How is that a reason to keep him out? Would you leave Clark on the side 10 years ago claiming we won without him? Silliness. And to me Manotas had 6 goals last season and Torres none and neither played a ton of minutes. So if Torres has 2 goals this year with this team my thinking is IMAGINE WITH MANOTAS.
You can claim I am being contrarian and Quixotic all you want. I was told I was being contrarian talking the team up in preseason and now those same people are giving me crap for not being 100% composed kool aid.
While I am at it, Pro Remicks, look at your own offside photo and tell me who is one of the two backs nominally "marking" the duo, but not goal side, who scored the goal. Leonardo's man scores but both backs were in the same boat.
I don't love anyone on this team.... your eyes are lying to you on that friend. Like Ace mentioned, I have appreciation for the fact that we don't look like the shit box we looked like last year. We are optimistic at this point and time for the future and where the team is heading after two games. This doesn't mean we don't see some flaws, which we have all have pointed out. You like strut around on this forum as a ********ing soccer guru or messiah that needs to open the eyes of the blind. When we see some positives in a team, you take upon yourself to point out every tiny mistake every single player makes like you have morale duty. 9 out of 10 people here aren't drinking any kool aid, so I'm not really sure where you get that from. It's call being happy... you should try it some time
I believe I was once accused by Juve of being a "front office apologist" during a rant last year. He's like a soccer version of Rowdy Roddy Piper getting worked up
Sorry Ace, gotta disagree with you on this one. Cabezas has more talent than Alexander easy. I guess you didn't watch game one vs Seattle where he killed several counter opportunities? His defense was ok, not great. I also wonder if you saw the play where cabezas picked a mf pocket and immediately got it out to the wings for a counter? He has serious upfield vision and that is what we need for a counter style of play. I'm not against Alexander but is not our best option at DM for this team. Back up, yes. P.S.- Alexander did better this game than the first but I still believe he has less talent than Cabezas imho.
HA!!! It doesn't work that way. It never has in the history of soccer. That's like saying: "Bruin had 50 career goals with the Dynamos. Imagine if we were starting Quito, Bruin, Elis, and Joe Willis!!!" At this point this attacking trident has 5 goals in 2 games. It would be insane to make a switch now. It's more about how all three dance with each other rather which three have the fastest 40 yard dash times.
Gonna happen regardless now. Manotas will get PT with all the call ups but he has to do more than kinda score here and there and Cubo has to go on both scoring and assist droughts for Manotas to stay on when they get back. His stage soon so hope he makes an impression to WC. He needs to show consistency on his team build up play for this formation in my opinion. He showed some on Saturday but showed a little of the past as well. Shot when the pass was there kinda stuff. Not rocket science but not best choices either.
Manotas was being selfish because he is deaperate to score so that he can try to get more playing time. Hopefully he lets the game come to him rather than forcing shots that aren't there. Main thing he needs to work on is the hold up play because Cubo is getting better at it.
Yeah I hope a Manotas/Cubo/Wenger uptop combo doesn't become a ManotasvsCubo=WengerWTF type of stuff. That's kinda what happened last year. Manotas got some starts in the middle of Alex's goal streak and both of them chose shot vs pass in obvious pass situations that would have lead to more goals. This was of course during scrap minutes of meaningless games but padding selfish statistics can backfire on you as it did for each of them. Hopefully he sticks to more of the team play vs selfish play during call ups. He's got ton of potential.
Personally, I think Manotas has great upside but I wouldn't currently change what's been working at this point. Cubo is doing well in a bunch of different areas right now. Maybe Manotas would as well, but its not a lock. Cabrera clearly trusts Cubo can do what he needs more at the moment. That's the manager's decision, we'll see how it plays out.