I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. He's 22 and his team just added two multi-million dollar pieces. Hard to strike that balance between asserting yourself and supporting your teammates on offense.
Where's the fifth assist? None against Central FC, one against Seattle (Keane's goal), one against Dallas and two tonight.
Your right. ESPN wrongly has him down for an assist vs Central FC. http://www.espnfc.us/player/93495/giovani-dos-santos
Actually that has been a problem of his (holding the ball too long) from the beginning. Keane even made a comment about it to the press. And Keane and everyone else is right - he does hold onto it too long. The somewhat mitigating factor is that it sometimes works. And that's the key - how often it works. Because Keane is the king of holding on to the ball "too long" - he just pulls it off and turns it into a score often enough to make it all worthwhile. The move that Lletget did tonight that I think brought SoCalYid's comment is one he's done before and gotten an assist off of. Here is the move: He is wide on the edge of the box facing the defender and tries once or twice to cut to the endline, the defender reads it each time and blocks his path. So he gives up, dribbles slowly back out a bit and opens up his body to pass the ball back to the midfield. As the defender relaxes he suddenly cuts back again and races to the endline to and gets the cross off. He tried that tonight and the defender took it away from him on his final run, so he ends up looking like a ball hog. But indeed at this level he needs to move his needle toward making quick passes more and dribbling less.
I'm completely with you on this - he and Garcia turn the ball over way too much by forcing these straight-up-the-field passes to closely marked players. Those are just candy for our opponents to scoop up. Yummm.... But I will point out that Walker also got two assists tonight, both from brilliant forward passes. The 2nd one we all saw - it was a glorious little chip/scoop pass that Keane mined for all it was worth. But the first one was interesting as well. Check out highlights vid above, starting at 2:16. He is just over the midline and quickly spots Keane at the top of the box. Unlike the case with many of his other passes this pass is actually on as Keane is wide open. Walker immediately hits him with a great 25-30 yard pass which Keane ends up dishing to Gordo for our 3rd goal. What I like is Kennys great reaction at 2:24 when he sees his pass has turned into gold.
It has always been there it just hadn't shown up too egregiously in games yet. And there is a big difference between A ball hog who sees the pass but chooses to take an opportunity for himself, and the guy who doesn't see the pass. I'm sure Keane is the first kind. I'm not sure about Lletget yet. P.s. And I know Keane is the first kind because he didn't miss too many runs by Donovan and he sure seems to be aware of where Gerrard or Dos Santos is at all time when they are around the box.
I would encourage him to take players on and be clever. This is though and you touched on it, it's not like he's only done that twice and has a 50% success rate. He tries varying forms of the same move, holds the ball too long, or tries to dribble players too often in general. Just cause you can sometimes doesn't mean it's always the best option. Often times all that work is just to drive in a cross, not to break inside the box and play a more intricate pass. I actually don't mind it when he's trying to beat his man or two and the defense is set. It's good to have players like that, the problem for me is when the play is stretched/open and we have a bit of an advantage and he misses opportunities he can release the ball because he's too focused on beating his marker(s). That has happened several times when he's made an appearance and it only allows the defense to get set and make things more difficult. If that was indicative of how he performed for West Ham's developmental side, him not getting selected for more first team minutes makes a bit more sense. That's something in England will definitely drive managers crazy, let alone Big Sam. In England because of the athleticism of the players and lack of time, you really can't have players who dither on the ball. I mean you look at a guy like Dembele, he can beat just about anyone on the dribble and its so hard to get the ball off him, but the higher up the field he gets the easier it is to deal with him because the amount of time he spends on the ball. When that's one of your main midfielders it's hard to get penetration. Overall I like him a lot but if I had to point to one thing he can improve it would be that. Side note - I did have the thought that part of it may be adjusting to playing out wide, in England he played through the middle. Sometimes players have a slow time adjusting when they don't have the same options as you do centrally, so they revert to just trying to take guys on and being very direct.
Gives a whole different meaning to "Bruce Face"! Great quotes! "My thinking was that I'd either get punched in the face by Robbie or I'd play him." - Bruce Arena on playing Robbie Keane in #SCCL— Adam Serrano (@AdamSerrano) August 19, 2015 Robbie Keane answered Bruce Arena's comment by saying, "maybe not once, probably twice." #SCCL— Adam Serrano (@AdamSerrano) August 19, 2015
Nice to see that the second stringers can hold their own with the lower half of regional talent. That wasn't always the case. But boy does this team look deeper than anything we've had in a long time (maybe ever?). Now we need to get some good results on the road so we can get the 1 seed and avoid a Mexican team in the first knockout round....
But what was Keane doing when he was 22? It's not like Lletget hasn't shown the ability to pass quickly and interchange with other players. And it's not like Dos Santos hasn't shown some selfishness at times. Let's just hope they all work it out.
I do hope Lletget that as he is young, and players (Keane) and coaches will demand it, that he will learn to think about moving the ball quickly first and then holding the ball second. Being strong on the ball and showing the ability to beat your man is an asset as it is so it doesn't mean he has to become world class at it - he just has to become proficient at it to improve his game. BTW I haven't seen Dos Santos miss too many open teammates - and he certainly has made a concerted effort to get Keane the ball.
I didn't see the play, but someone commented that he didn't want to pass a ball to Gordon last night. I realize Gordon is not Keane and I'm not saying Dos Santos is doing anything wrong. Lletget has been just as good for us in his early games as Dos Santos, stats-wise, and they are both still really new. If they can both click then we are going to be powerful. If Dos Santos is a success but Lletget fades, we're going to be limited, especially if (when?) we lose Gyasi.
I'm sure they both will have ups and downs but in the long run they are going to work out just fine and be gigantic assets to the team. They have certainly started out strong.
Watching Lletget, my feeling is that the only thing that can hold him back is what's going on in his head. He has tremendous touch and poise, but he's got a bit of a chip on his shoulder. The question is whether he uses that chip to drive him to be a better player or he lets it get in the way of listening to his coaches and improving. Dempsey and Keane are good examples of guys who let their arrogance and determination drive them to be better while not letting it lead them to make bad decisions. I'm optimistic that Lletget can do the same.
He wasn't doing that. Actually the Keane we see in MLS is quite different to how he's played his career in Europe. A lot of him holding the ball or dribbling players you wouldn't see him do in England because he knew he couldn't get away with it.
I just don't post in the Roma section anymore. One of the mods I feel was disrespectful and dishonest.
Compare and contrast to that article a few weeks ago where Chad Barrett said playing in CCL is a drag. I know what Chad is trying to say, but I love Keane's attitude.
I do think his arrogance/confidence has helped carry him from being a poor kid from Podunk, Texas to an EPL and top USMNT player. I know many posters here kind of hate him and he did a dumb thing recently but I give the guy credit. He isn't the most gifted player and doesn't have the touch or speed of a Landon or most other players at that level but he made it to the top anyway. If you think about it his game is built on arrogance. I doubt he would have had the success he's had if it weren't for his fiery nature.