I understand why you would have that impression - in the playoffs they didn't look that good against us. But in the regular season they were quite good, ending up in 2nd place for the SS, with 1.7 ppg, 58 pts total and a 15W-6L-13T record, +7 gd. Their record might reflect a little bit of luck - they won more often than expected given their goal differential. But a strong season in any case. As far as Jones - he only played 9 regular season games (8 starts) so obviously COL wasn't good because of him. They were good with or without him. But when he was on the field COL was even a bit better - 6 wins, 2 ties and 0 losses when he started. In fact when Jones started playing for COL he was en fuego - scoring his season total of 3 goals and 2 assists in his first 4 games. In the playoffs Jones played was coming back from injury and sat out the first half when we played and beat them 1-0 at home. He started the next 3 playoff games, and got 1 assist. Overall JJ's MLS playoff scoring record is meh - 1 goal, 3 assists and one complete meltdown in 10 games (9 starts).
I liked how you backed your erudite post with solid research. I hope you continue to be a valued contributer to this forum.
I just wonder if he is a year older and it is catching up to him. There is a huge hole in the middle of the field where he should be. In many of the games this year I could swear he was playing center forward, in years past his engine allowed him to get back, not so much this year. Unless Onalfo is telling the whole team to press high, and no-one else is doing it.....
In which matches did you see "a huge hole in the middle of the field where he should be"? In which matches did that lead to goals?
The Seattle game. It's more than just one game, but I don't have the inclination to go through every game and give you video clips. I think pretty much every poster on this forum agrees he is undisciplined, that does not work on this G's team, hence why we have looked like such a better TEAM since he has been out. Hopefully he can change and fit into the overall structure, instead of destroying it. We are awful thin in the middle and need him.
I guess if pretty much every poster on this forum agrees that Jones is undisciplined it must be true? Of course we never heard that from any of his former club teams and certainly not from his prior 2 MLS teams. I asked which matches because I wanted to take a look at what you are seeing. The Seattle match was where Onalfo in a bizarre move took off Ema and replaced him with Husidic because Pedro was invisible and the CM needed help so of course Jones was further upfield. He was moved to CAM for most of the Seattle match along with the Philly and then Chicago matches. I hope you knew that.
OK. But playing CAM does not give you license to be the highest player on the field, that's where I repeatedly saw him. The guy clearly has talent, but he has to play with the rest of the team as well. When I watch him, he pushes up and takes his time coming back. While he has been injured, the team has looked way more compact and connected. BTW we have heard repeatedly that he is undisciplined, it is a common critique of his game, this is not something new.
I find it amazing that you noticed Jones position on the field, but either failed to notice or chose deliberately not to mention that in that game both Pedro and Husidic had problems advancing the ball passed the midfield line. Consequently, both Jones and Dos Santos were dropping back into the Galaxy half to get the ball and advance into Seattle half by dribbling. Of course when Gio did this (in a 4-2-3-1 lineup) Jermaine magically transformed into the highest player on the field. Note Gio does this regularly, you might have even heard Cobi mention this (since he does it pretty much every game and sometimes multiple times). As for Jones taking his time getting back, I have seen Jones make more than one recovery run this season and in at least one case getting a yellow card for a late tackle.. Please give me a single example of Pedro making a recovery run followed by an effective defensive play.. I don't recall having seen one, but then again since he appears slower than everyone else on the Galaxy except possibly Husidic perhaps he never made one. What I have seen over and over is Pedro jogging back and watching the play. And I do thing Jones can be undisciplined especially when he is trying to do too much.
You must not watch much soccer if you think that a CAM in a high-press 4-2-3-1 cannot be the highest player on the field. This is just moving the goal posts, if you think that JJ's play for LA has been "undisciplined" then how about Gio or JVD. Is Lletget also undisciplined since he is frequently far up field when he played the #8 next to Husidic. Jones and Pedro were not very good together because Pedro was terrible as a #6. The fact that Pedro has looked OK as a #8 with Husidic as a #6 does not change the fact that Pedro was terrible as a #6. Jones has proven in his career and certainly in MLS that he can be a special b-t-b force when paired with a competent #6 (Cronin or Azira in Colorado and Caldwell in NE). I would give Jones a look partnered with a competent #6 (Husidic or even Garcia) before reaching any conclusion. I would give you 5 to 1 odds that Lletget will have the same issues as Jones if Lletget was partnered with Pedro.