My point about Cole running backward away from the ball for no good reason (he already had 7 teammates defending behind him). It's a dream scenario for Espinoza. At the last second Villarreal realizes Expinoza is wide open and tries to close the gap but it's too late by then: https://gfycat.com/LeadingKnobbyAmethystgemclam To be sure Ema's matador defense that happened a few seconds earlier in this play didn't help but LA still had more than enough players back to cover everyone. But bad switching and Cole forgetting defending 101 - you don't leave the man with the ball unless you absolutely have to (which is very rare).
Yes. I thought Cole should have stepped up, too. Part of that may not be knowing opponents as well as an MLS veteran would - Todd Dunivant, for instance, would (probably) not have backed up with Espinoza ready to take a clear shot.
Yup, though Jaime Villarreal didn't cover himself in glory on that play either. EDIT: And Boateng which you also note. Good stuff.
Well, Jaime and Cole could've been better about handing off the man, but I think it's harsh to blame either of them on that one. I thought Cole had a good match. I seem to remember that his pushes forward lead to the corner and goal. I also thought he had a headed shot on goal or two.
Expecting the Griezmann to the Gs rumor to hit in the next few days. Would it be the biggesy signing in the history of the MLS behind Becks?
I'd disagree. Griezmann in his prime would be a bigger move than any of those guys at the tail end of their careers. Not that it matters it's never going to happen anyways.
This is always interesting, but I think a chunk of the difference too, is where Cole receives the ball. He's much more likely than Romney to dribble forward for a while, and then offload the pass behind him. Romney takes a few touches and gets rid of it instead. That says a lot about the player's comfort with the ball. I'd probably expect that, too. That said, Cole reminds me of Sean Franklin when he's in the final third.
That is a good comparison. But Franklin usually was good about picking his spots and getting back right away after a turnover. Cole not so much. And even Franklin has much better stats (maybe we didn't appreciate him enough): Franklin:10 goals,31 assists,0 red cards in 255 games. 0.16 G+A per gm or 1 per 6.2 gms. Cole: 1 goal,1 assist, 2 red cards in 42 games. 0.05 G+A per game, or 1 per 21 games. The problem with Cole going forward is multi-fold. First he isn't effective himself (see above). Second every pass he receives in the final third and then turns over kills an attack that could have been made by a more dangerous player. Third is his poor off ball movement. Rather than either going wide and pulling his defender out of the middle, he often pinches in and clogs up the middle. Nor does he often make darting diagonal runs that confuse defenders- instead he usually just runs up and then stands next to another of our forwards, hoping the ball will pop up to him and his defender will trip on his own two feet I guess. Fourth, he goes forward at the wrong times. He'll push up in the last 10 minutes of a game we are leading 1-0, he'll push up when he has no cover and our opponent has a super fast forward on his side of the field, etc. He doesn't get the simple principles of challenge, cover, balance. Another pet peeve - watch Cole the next time he has a throw-in far into the attacking end of the field. Rather than finding a quick throw-in to a teammate in the box (a very effective move that opponents have trouble dealing with) instead he looks... and looks ... and looks and .... then usually throws it back to JVD or some other trailing player. Don't get me wrong - Cole is a good defender when he stays back. But he picks the most inopportune times to go forward and when he does it makes us simultaneously less likely to score and more likely to get scored upon.
I blame Diop 90% on that goal, Cole 10%, and Jaime 0%. I don't seem how Jaime could have been much better. When Espinoza received the ball Jaime was several yard behind Cole. Cole was first marking the guy who passed to Espinoza. When the pass was made Cole quit marking the passer and Jaime correctly picked him up. At that point the closest player to Espinoza was still Cole so Jaime had to be surprised to see Cole continue skipping back away from the ball. Finally Jaime realized he had to turn his guy over to the back and 4 and run up to try to prevent a wide open shot, which he did his best to do. Btw if you watch the tape you will see that Espinoza ran right into the space that Cole was standing in when Espinoza received the pass. If Cole had been a statue he could have blocked the shot. Look its basic soccer positioning. You don't want to get too flat and leave wide open spaces for opponents in front of your back four. When Cole decided to follow a player to the middle he cant just suddenly decide to run back to his line and leave the guy with the ball with wide open space in front of him. Cole did look back and at that point he should have been able to see he had all the cover in the world. Stay in the space and clog it up until the ball goes somewhere else and then you can work your way back to the back line. That is soccer 101. You are right that Cole got a header off. He pushed his man down first and the ref was about to call it but didn't when the ball went straight to the keeper. Cole may have created the corner that we scored the goal on - I don't remember.
So just how far was that #LAGalaxy goal over the line? I model it at about 3 inches. (Good eyes by the AR, helps that it came off a CK) pic.twitter.com/zvLc0hy6vY— SoccerPhotogrammetry AKA "A Nice Gentleman" (@OffsideModeling) June 26, 2017
Ya its a win win. He gets to go and try to play himself back on the NT and we get to use other players who be been more effective
To be blunt, who really cares whether we get the points at home or on the road? As long as we get them.
It should be expected that a CB will pass the ball forward a lot more than a full back, especially one who gets forward as much as Cole (as evidenced by your graph). Cole is definitely one of our most solid and important players.
I would 100% rather have home wins than road wins. Having your team constantly losing in front of paying customers is bad business.
I do! I pay a ton of money for season tickets (and parking, food etc), I drive an hour each way to the game, one win at home is unacceptable! Even more galling is the style we play at home, since when do the Galaxy sit back and let the other team have the majority of possession? We pay some of the highest ticket prices in the league and I get to watch Nathan Smith, Mendiola, Garcia etc. It's sheer ineptitude and is as much Managements (Klein) fault as it is Onalfo's. Going into this season without a right fullback is criminal.
OK, but that is totally a secondary consideration. I would "rather" have a team that scores 5 goals a game and wins 5-3 than one that plays defensive and wins 1-0. But in the end, the only important consideration is the wins. So in the end, I would rather have my team make the playoffs and win the MLS Cup by winning on the road than win all/most my home games, suck on the road and not qualify for the playoffs.
I can't blame you for that, but to me the most important thing is to make the playoffs and win the MLS Cup. Maybe if they suck at home but win on the road, start taking some road trips.
Only 2-3 per year, on average, and yes, it sucks when they lose. But I definitely watch all the other games on TV, where winning gives me great pleasure.
I dislike seeing Garcia play as much as or more than anyone here, I guarantee it, yet they still somehow manage to win on the road with these incompetent boobs. It's not like the Galaxy management has decided they wanted to win on the road, but are OK with losing at home.